Chapter 119: Aberrant 9

Aberrant doesn’t appear during the short daylight hours, and the five-member team had no choice but to retreat once again, exhausted, and escape from the Tianzi Building.

Even though Aberrant hadn’t shown up, the numerous anomalies within the Tianzi Building were still difficult to handle. They had fought through the night, Teacher Wen’s Safe House had broken countless times and could no longer be summoned for the time being, Nurse’s medical supplies were nearly depleted, and the other three members were all injured.

Since Teacher Wen’s Safe House couldn’t be deployed, the five of them had to move away from the Tianzi Building and temporarily rest at the outermost edge of the Monster Domain.

Here, they encountered more than twenty ordinary players. Some gathered in small groups of three or five, while others stayed alone but didn’t stray too far from the main group.

As long as the System didn’t require it, most ordinary players wouldn’t actively go to places where anomalies were concentrated. Monster Domain wasn’t like some other domains that required players to complete exploration or puzzle-solving missions, so they could mostly just stay in the outermost areas, dealing with low-level ghosts and monsters.

But in S-grade Domains, the death rate was always high because, as the game progressed, all players would be affected, especially on the last day, when they would be drawn to the Tianzi Building like moths to a flame.

Most players didn’t even make it into the Tianzi Building before being killed by other anomalies.

The ordinary players here were well aware of their fate; no one looked happy, but they had managed to struggle this far because they didn’t want to die. Those who were truly afraid of death had already perished on the first night.

When the five-member team appeared at the perimeter, several people’s eyes lit up.

They were randomly grouped players, usually strangers, temporarily united, but the five of them had an obvious team synergy, which meant they were high-level players who had come in using the “Ticket” item.

White Eagle coldly rejected several ordinary players seeking refuge. Whether they cried, begged, or promised large rewards if allowed to leave later, White Eagle refused them all without hesitation and sent them away.

Two mid-level players came over to inquire about the situation in the Tianzi Building. White Eagle didn’t chase them off and briefly explained the situation.

Nurse leaned toward Teacher Wen and said, “Let’s see if any of these people can help us, and maybe they can join us in the attack on Aberrant?”

Teacher Wen rubbed his aching temples and smiled bitterly. “If we take these mid-level and low-level players, they’ll probably get killed by other anomalies before they even see Aberrant.”

“Exactly. We’re in such a sorry state, let alone them. They can’t be of any help unless we bring them along as meat shields, but we’re not that kind of people,” Big Bear said, focusing on treating his arm wound.

Many high-level players like to bring low-level players into anomalous domains, but not out of goodwill. They used them as test subjects or cannon fodder.

In their Association, there were many such high-level players who thought that low-level players would die eventually in S-grade Domains, so if they could be of any help before dying, it was a death with value.

“Tonight, are we going back to the Tianzi Building?”

“Let’s rest. We’ll try again on the last night. That’s our final chance.”

In just a few days, Qian had completely gotten familiar with Aberrant as her mother.

Her presence had disrupted Aberrant’s previously regular routine. Although Aberrant had so many little babies, when she encountered Qian, it was as if she was a first-time mother. She was often stumped by new problems she’d never faced before and spent a lot of time dealing with them to meet Qian’s needs.

Qian, after instinctively testing Aberrant’s limits and personality as a mother, quickly transformed into a little troublemaker.

As the oldest of the many children, and the first to experience life in a large family, Qian instinctively sought her mother’s attention, desiring all of her love to solidify her place in the family.

There were some siblings who tried to fight for her attention, but they couldn’t compete. Qian knew how to beat them into submission, crying louder than they did, and she was the most normal and cutest of the babies, looking just like Aberrant.

In a short time, Qian established her position in the family and used vague memories of kindergarten—or perhaps some instinct—to tame her siblings.

In a sense, these little, ugly siblings also served as her playmates and toys.

Every time Qian sneaked out, she’d bring something back with her.

She found a lot of empty bowls and a chopping board next door to the room with the television on the first floor, and she dragged them back to play cooking games with her siblings.

On the first floor, there were two vegetable plots surrounded by red bricks, growing small, green vegetables.

Qian remembered planting vegetables with her father, so she went into the plot and pulled out most of the plants.

“I’m going to make hand-torn cabbage now,” she said seriously, holding up the little greens, and ordered her siblings to sit still.

“Sit properly, or I won’t give you any food later!”

The younger babies, subdued by her, sat still. Qian continued “cooking,” though the juice that oozed from the torn vegetables was red.

She was slightly puzzled and decided to call it red cabbage.

Qian placed bowls in front of each of her little siblings, putting the torn vegetables into their bowls and adding the bougainvillea flowers she had picked as seasoning.

“Alright, the dish is done. Now we can eat,” she said, pretending to take a big bite.

The babies, however, curiously began to eat for real, gnawing on the cabbage leaves and bougainvillea flowers with their sharp little teeth. Qian thought she heard many small, painful cries from somewhere but didn’t know where they came from, looking around in confusion.

Then she remembered something and stopped her siblings.

“Wait a minute, we haven’t poured the wine yet.”

She ran off again to drag back a large bottle of water, pouring for everyone, and reminding the unruly, disobedient babies, “You can’t drink yet, we need to wait for everyone.”

“We still need to toast, understand?”

The babies couldn’t hold the cups, and instead, they made a mess, knocking over cups and bowls everywhere and scattering the vegetable leaves all over the floor.

When Aberrant came back, she saw this scene.

Her “womb” was in unprecedented chaos.

Qian saw her mother’s figure, then looked at the floor, immediately pointing to a baby still chewing on a bowl. “It’s their fault, I’m cooking for them.”

When she was picked up, Qian thought she was going to be punished. Making a mess at home usually meant a spanking or at least a scolding, she knew that.

But Aberrant didn’t hit her, nor did she scold, because her mother didn’t speak.

Qian felt her stomach being rubbed by Aberrant, then squeezed a little—it was flat.

Qian hadn’t eaten anything, but she didn’t feel hungry, until this morning when she suddenly felt a bit of hunger, which made her think of playing the cooking game.

But if she was hungry, what should she eat? Qian had looked everywhere, but there was nothing to eat, not even in those rooms.

After touching the child’s stomach, Aberrant opened her blouse.

Qian realized her mother was going to feed her something because she had tried to make her eat before.

Qian squirmed and twisted, “I’m grown up now, I can’t drink milk, it’s embarrassing!”

But when she saw that her mother, who had let her get away with making a mess, wasn’t indulging her this time, no matter how much she struggled, her mother had enough strength to hold her still, making her behave.

Qian also understood a lesson: if your mom wants you to eat something, you have to eat it, even if you don’t want to.

After feeding all the children, Aberrant cleaned up the scattered items, then, as usual, coaxed the children to sleep, tightly holding the most mischievous and largest one.

In the past, Aberrant never worried about the children’s safety because the place they stayed was the safest.

They were unborn children, so they could only stay in the Infant Room, which was also her “womb.” But the new child was different. She had already “been born” and could freely leave that room.

So, if she didn’t watch closely, she wouldn’t know where the child had gone.

This also troubled Aberrant. In the beginning, every time Qian left the Infant Room and was discovered, Aberrant would quickly go out to bring her back. Then, to prevent her from running off again, she would try to coax her to sleep.

But this method didn’t work very well. The child would be quiet only while asleep, but once she woke up, she couldn’t be kept in check.

The child would also sneak out to play while Aberrant was asleep, and by the time Aberrant woke up, she’d find the child wasn’t quietly sleeping at her chest.

Thus, when the child sneaked out to play again, Aberrant captured her once more, then tore a strand of her own hair and tied it around the child’s wrist.

Qian raised her wrist, watching the hair automatically wrap around it. It was smooth and cold, and she curiously tugged at it, but not a single strand of hair came off.

Once the child was securely tied, Aberrant let her go. If she ran out again, Aberrant didn’t rush to catch her.

Her mother was tired. Recently, her schedule had been chaotic, and she’d been sleeping for too long. Every time she caught the child, she had to coax her back to sleep, and by the time the child wasn’t sleeping for long, Aberrant would sleep for a long time.

After noticing her mother didn’t care when she ran out to play, Qian became bolder. While her mother was busy with her siblings, she ran out openly.

The entire building felt like a playground to her, with so many rooms she hadn’t explored yet.

Every time she found something interesting in those rooms, it felt like digging for treasure, and she happily brought her “treasures” back home.

Meanwhile, the five-member team had moved back near the Tianzi Building and was observing the situation in the building. Teacher Wen spoke seriously, “Based on my observations, the resentment and hostility coming from the building have been growing stronger over the past two days.”

The others speculated, “Is it because of Aberrant? She was woken up by the Pyramid people on the first day, so she’s angry?”

“It’s more likely because this round of the Mission is coming to an end. More players have died in the Tianzi Building, which is why there’s so much resentment,” Teacher Wen concluded.

The others nodded, fully believing this explanation.

Once again, Qian found a box of water pens in one of the rooms, the kind with markers on both ends.

She opened the cap, drew a red line on a nearby piece of paper, and happily took the box of pens home with her.

As soon as she left, the door was immediately slammed shut. Though the child could still get in next time, at least for now, the sound of the door closing was loud.

When Qian ran back home holding a box of water pens, Aberrant was feeding the children.

Unlike the older children who disliked eating, the little babies were very eager to eat.

Aberrant sat sideways, her blood-stained white dress spread on the floor.

“Mom, I’ll draw flowers on your dress,” Qian said, lying on the soft floor, swinging her legs and shaking her head as she took the red water pen and started drawing on her mother’s dress.

The two reds blended together, and the bloodstains were gradually painted into large red flowers.