Chapter 130: Aberrant 20

Black Rabbit’s way of holding the child was surprisingly practiced. Qian struggled, leaning back, but Black Rabbit supported her back with one hand and held her steady.

Having been lectured countless times by Chen Cailing, Qian was no longer the kind of kid who would obediently go over just because someone waved at her. Now that she was grabbed, she grunted and cried, trying to break free, refusing to answer his questions.

Black Rabbit changed his grip, holding her under the armpits with both hands. Watching her wriggle in midair like a little worm, the eyes beneath his mask curved into a smile.

“Fine, go play by yourself,” he said, setting Qian down.

Surprised by the sudden release, Qian’s feet hit the ground and she dashed off. Instinctively, she wanted to go back to find her mother, but after a few steps, Black Rabbit shifted his position and blocked her path back to room 414, clearly not letting her pass.

The kid puckered her lips and had no choice but to turn and run the other way. Since she was closer to the stairwell, she headed upstairs.

Black Rabbit glanced at the child’s round little back but didn’t bother with her, instead walking toward the door of room 414.

With his abilities, passing through that door and transferring into the space beyond should have been simple. But as soon as he approached, his senses flared with frantic warnings—immense danger was right ahead.

His power was spatial in nature. The room behind this door was both real and illusory.

This Survival System really knew how to assign tough Missions.

If he guessed right, the Aberrant was probably sleeping inside. If he barged in, it might awaken the Aberrant prematurely.

After weighing his options, Black Rabbit decided to step back.

Better to wait until after the third night, when the Aberrant woke and left to hunt. Then, he could use others—like the Judgers downstairs—to hold her off before making his move on 414.

After all, you only break into a house when the owner’s not home.

For now… Black Rabbit cracked his neck.

Better to go find that strange little kid to play with.

Heading upstairs, he naturally encountered several more weird phenomena along the way. Except for the fourth floor, which was relatively calm, the other floors were full of endless oddities.

Just a little calculation told Black Rabbit there were at least ten different types of supernatural weirdness packed into this building—every corner stuffed with anomalies.

Every step could trigger a new bizarre event: shoes mysteriously appearing on stairs, staircases that moved, even a painful sting when touching the stair rail, as if it were sucking blood.

After shifting through multiple spaces several times, he was lucky to avoid major harm and arrived at the sixth floor.

In his memory, Tianzi Building only had six floors—but now there was an extra one.

Standing at the sixth-floor stairwell entrance, Black Rabbit felt restless.

Having been to several S-grade Domains, high-level players like him generally understood their layouts. He had never heard of a seventh floor here before, so his curiosity was piqued.

There was no overwhelming sense of danger—at least not as intense as room 414.

So he spatially transferred up to the seventh floor.

What he saw surprised him with a click of his tongue.

There was… a supermarket?

He moved silently to the corner of a shelf, hearing the rustling sounds inside.

There sat the little girl who had run away earlier, playing by the shelves.

The floor was covered with a layer of white laundry detergent powder. Nearby lay two large, open bags of detergent spilling onto the floor, and she sat right on the powder, scooping it up and playing with it.

Just moments ago, she had been scared and fled, but now she was happily playing—such a child.

Black Rabbit’s steps were light as he approached from behind and bent to look at her.

But she was utterly absorbed, scooping powder into different cups, occasionally licking her lips and clicking her tongue.

“What are you eating?” Black Rabbit asked.

Startled by the sudden voice overhead, Qian froze with a handful of detergent, and a hard candy dropped from her wide-open mouth.

Both Black Rabbit and Qian instinctively looked at the candy nestled in the detergent heap.

“Are you really one of the aberrations here? I’ve never seen a ghost eat hard candy and play with detergent before.”

Black Rabbit picked Qian up again. As she was raised in front of him, she immediately slapped a handful of detergent powder onto his face.

Though most was blocked, his eye holes were exposed.

The formidable Pyramid troublemaker Black Rabbit was caught off guard and painfully struck by a chubby little kid.

“Ugh!!”

Black Rabbit set the kid down, pulled off his mask with one hand, and brushed the detergent from around his eyes.

Beneath the mask was an ordinary teenage face, just somewhat pale, now showing a frustrated expression.

Qian watched as he walked to another shelf, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, and rinsed his eyes. After a moment, only a couple of sips remained in the bottle, which he tilted back and drank.

Qian rummaged through the shelves, watching him. When he tossed aside the empty bottle, he casually grabbed a bottle of cola and twisted off the cap.

“Shhh—” the cola sighed, as if anticipating being drunk.

Qian hadn’t had cola for some time. She watched him drink it for a while, then crept over.

Standing beside Black Rabbit, she tiptoed and handed him another bottle of cola, looking up at him with wide eyes: “Help me open it.”

Black Rabbit took the bottle with two fingers and, seeing her sudden bright smile, said, “You just threw detergent powder on my face—did you say sorry?”

Qian looked at him and dropped the smile.

Black Rabbit: “Say sorry.”

Qian obediently said, “Sorry.”

Black Rabbit: “Want me to open your cola bottle?”

Qian nodded.

Black Rabbit: “Say, ‘Brother, please help me open my cola bottle.’”

Qian did as told, showing the cute little face of someone who could humble herself for a treat.

Black Rabbit opened the cap and watched her gulp down a big mouthful. Suddenly thoughtful, he reached out and patted the patch of white detergent still clinging to her head.

He thought of his own little sister, who had died when she was probably just a little older than this kid.

After their parents died, he had lived with his sister for a while. But he hadn’t really liked her much—their age gap was too big, and he was rebellious, struggling in school and with his abilities, drifting aimlessly.

But suddenly one day, their parents died, and he had to take care of his little sister. He didn’t know how to raise a child, so he just fed her whatever he ate himself. He took her with him to eat at the hangouts of his godbrothers from the gang. When he couldn’t watch her, he left her alone at home.

Whenever he went back, he’d find things broken by his sister again. She always cried, calling for their parents, which annoyed him deeply.

Only when he took her out to buy snacks would she behave a little.

He’d buy a bottle of cola, drink more than half himself, then give the rest to his sister. She’d sip twice, then shake the bottle, holding his hand as they hopped home together.

Sometimes, when he wasn’t too annoyed with her, he would think that once he made something of himself, he’d buy her some good food and they’d live a better life.

But his sister was so unlucky—she was pulled into the domain early by the System and then used as bait for monsters by his godbrothers in the Wolf Walk gang. She was eaten.

His troublesome sister… the closest family he had, just gone like that.

“Hic.” Qian put down the cola bottle and hiccupped.

Black Rabbit put his rabbit mask back on.

Qian looked at the mask and only then realized it was a rabbit.

“Is this a rabbit?”

“Yeah, can’t you tell?”

“Why did you paint it black? It looks better white.”

Black Rabbit rubbed the edge of the mask. This simple rabbit mask was one he had bought for his sister before—it was originally a white rabbit.

After she died, he went to the Wolf Walk gang to fight those people. His head was swollen like a pig’s. When he came home and opened the door, he saw this rabbit mask placed on the sofa where his sister used to sit. For some reason, he suddenly broke down.

Later, when he joined Pyramid—where basically everyone wore masks, partly because they knew their deeds made them hated, and partly because some thought it looked cooler—he painted the rabbit mask black with a pen the day he joined, and from then on he became “Black Rabbit.”

Compared to others’ masks, this rabbit mask was crude and cheap. It was obvious it had been painted over, but no one dared to ask him about it directly—after all, weirdos don’t owe anyone an explanation, and besides, they were afraid of angering him.

“I like Black Rabbit.” Black Rabbit put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away, losing interest in teasing the kid further.

“But rabbits are white.” Qian took two steps to follow.

Black Rabbit glanced back at her, then disappeared right before her eyes.

Qian: “Huh!”

After leaving Tianzi Building, Black Rabbit was tracked by Tianping, who had special tracking abilities on the first floor of Tianzi Building. Sensing Black Rabbit’s departure, Tianping also turned and left.

Perched on the rooftop of a nearby building, Black Rabbit soon noticed Tianping closing in.

His arrows had tracking magic, able to hit targets accurately even from afar. But this skill, which never failed before, met its match with Black Rabbit.

In an instant, Black Rabbit appeared from the left rooftop to the right rooftop, then at the eave Tianping was about to land on.

“I’m not in a good mood right now. You’d better not provoke me.”

The enemy suddenly appearing at his landing spot and saying this provoked Tianping deeply. Without hesitation, he drew his bow and fired an arrow.

As the arrow flew out, he felt a kick from the right side in midair.

“Why not live two more days?”

Tianping grunted and tumbled onto a nearby rooftop, rolling before leaning against the edge, alert. But Black Rabbit had vanished again.

This was Tianping’s first direct encounter with Black Rabbit, and he realized he was harder to deal with than expected. Pressing his aching waist with a serious face, he gritted his teeth and temporarily gave up the chase.

Moving to a safe place, Tianping checked his System and found he had been assigned a special Mission: enter Tianzi Building 414.

He had only reached the first floor of Tianzi Building today but already encountered countless strange phenomena, not to mention the fourth floor. As always, the System’s designated places had special significance and were not easy to approach.

Tianping decided to investigate Tianzi Building again during the day.

Daytime in the Monster Domain was very short. Tianping had barely slept all night and rushed to Tianzi Building at dawn.

During the day, Tianzi Building was much less dangerous—surprisingly calm. The vague shadows and sounds vanished. Occasionally, faint sinister feelings came from open doors, but advanced players could easily resist.

Tianping carried a pendant on his wrist that sensed ghostly energy and had a talisman between his fingers, cautiously heading upstairs.

Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap.

He heard footsteps upstairs, like a child running.

Why would there be a child here? It must be a noise created by the supernatural.

Tianping stuck the talisman onto an arrow and went upstairs.

Qian was coming down from the seventh floor carrying snacks and a new bottle of cola.

She had finished the bottle from yesterday. All the drinks with straws in the little supermarket were gone, leaving only a few bottled drinks with screw caps, but she couldn’t open them.

She decided to wake her mother to help open the bottles.

On the fourth floor, she unexpectedly ran into Tianping.

Qian froze for a moment, instinctively looking at the cola bottle she was holding.

As soon as Tianping saw her, he raised his bow.

“Are you one of the aberrations?” His tone was dangerous.

Qian turned and ran. Seeing her reaction, Tianping fired an arrow without hesitation.

This arrow targeted the feet; a human wouldn’t die from it, but if it was an aberration, the Ghost Repelling Talisman on the arrow would cause severe damage.

Qian, of course, couldn’t outrun the arrow. Just as it was about to hit, her figure suddenly vanished, leaving only a rolling bottle of cola behind.

Black Rabbit stood on the fourth-floor railing, holding Qian in his hands.