Chapter 131: Aberrant 21

Tianping was already convinced that Qian was an aberration. After all, even he faced danger at every step inside Tianzi Building—there was no way a human child could move around freely here.

Now seeing Black Rabbit appear to save her only made him more determined to kill them both with his arrow.

What kind of person was Black Rabbit? A Pyramid member who did countless evil deeds—would he really go out of his way to rescue an ordinary little girl?

Impossible. There had to be something fishy. Tianping even suspected that this little aberration was connected to the System Mission Black Rabbit was trying to complete, which explained why he intervened.

His arrow instantly shifted its target to Black Rabbit.

At the same time, Black Rabbit dragged Qian, falling backward, as Tianping climbed over the railing.

Qian’s eyes couldn’t keep up with their movements. She only felt herself suddenly lifted with a “Hey!” and then falling from the upper floor with an “Ouch!” before spinning midair with an “Ah!” and landing inside a room.

Before she could see which room it was, Black Rabbit dropped her onto a chair and disappeared again.

Qian sat on the chair, scratching her head: “?”

Tianping grabbed the railing and dropped to the next floor, searching for Black Rabbit’s figure. Suddenly, Black Rabbit appeared beside him.

“You’re really annoying. I was going to let you live a couple more days.” Black Rabbit’s tone was somewhat dark.

Having been attacked once before, Tianping reacted quickly this time and dodged Black Rabbit’s kick. But even as he dodged, his momentum didn’t stop, and Black Rabbit vanished to another spot.

A flash of silver—pain shot through his wrist, terrifying him. He immediately let go, dropping down to put distance between himself and Black Rabbit.

A faint outline of thin gloves appeared on his hands—gadgets his brother had given him. Without them, Black Rabbit’s strike would have severed his wrist.

Tianping didn’t see what weapon Black Rabbit had used. It was said he favored daggers, but that strike didn’t look like one.

Still falling, Black Rabbit pursued again—this time aiming at his neck.

The murderous aura radiating from Black Rabbit was much stronger than before, as if their brief earlier clash had been a mere warm-up. Now that he was serious, he targeted vital spots directly.

At the critical moment, a burst of white light exploded from Tianping, deflecting Black Rabbit’s hand. Amid sharp clashing sounds, Tianping finally saw the blade held between Black Rabbit’s fingers.

The situation reversed—their previous cat-and-mouse chase suddenly flipped. Tianping tried to flee while Black Rabbit relentlessly pursued.

Once he decided to kill, he wouldn’t stop.

He had a taboo against attacking children, but if someone violated that taboo, no matter who, he would kill them.

Black Rabbit was one of the most fearsome members of Judgers. He had killed before, but Tianping was loaded with gadgets, and after many attacks and pursuits, none had landed a fatal blow.

With so many valuable gadgets, Tianping’s identity was surely not simple. But Black Rabbit didn’t care. No matter who he was, the damned would die.

That night was Tianping’s most humiliating one. Exhausted and desperate, he finally understood his brother’s past assessment of Black Rabbit. He had been reluctant to accept it before, but now he had no choice but to admit he was no match.

Yet why did such a villain possess such overwhelming power? It wasn’t fair!

Exhausted and on high alert, Tianping hid in a dead corner and took out a bottle of restorative medicine. Suddenly, Black Rabbit loomed down from above like a shadow.

“Shh—” A nearly inaudible sound, perhaps from a sliced windpipe. Blood splattered on the wall.

“Shh—” Black Rabbit twisted open a bottle of cola in his hand.

He sat on the railing of Tianzi Building, sunlight shining on his back.

Qian stood beside him, took the cola bottle, and sipped twice, eyes fixed on his face.

There were some bloodstains on Black Rabbit’s collar and a few dots on his neck and mask.

“You have…” Qian touched her own neck, then pointed at her face. “Something here.”

Black Rabbit took off his mask to look, then skillfully pulled out a tissue from his pocket to wipe it clean. The dried blood took off some of the black paint underneath.

After wiping, he pulled out a pen and carefully retouched the black paint.

Qian watched curiously as he fished around in his pocket.

His pocket was clearly flat, empty of anything.

“Hey! What are you doing? Your eyes are almost falling into my pocket!” Black Rabbit laughed as she got closer, seemingly ready to shove her head into his pocket.

He deliberately shoved the pen into the pocket and patted it.

Qian reached out and felt the outside of his pants but couldn’t find the pen’s outline.

Black Rabbit then pulled out a lighter, twirled it a few times between his fingers, then slipped it back into his pocket.

Next, he took out a pack of gum and tossed it twice in his hand.

Qian’s eyes followed the gum. “You can eat this.”

Black Rabbit understood and said, “Yes, you can eat it, but you can’t have any.”

Kids often swallowed gum by mistake. His sister had once, which had scared him.

Frowning at the child, Black Rabbit shoved the gum back into his pocket, then generously opened his pocket to show Qian she could take some herself.

Qian immediately put her hand in but pulled out nothing.

Black Rabbit laughed loudly, “Hahaha!”

Seeing him so cocky, Qian suddenly grabbed the rabbit mask from his hand.

Black Rabbit’s laughter stopped. He knew kids hated to let go of things they’d got.

“You can’t have this.”

“I want to wear it.”

“…Let go.”

Qian held tightly onto the rabbit ears.

Black Rabbit’s expression darkened, seeming about to get angry.

His face changed, and Qian’s did too. Just as she was about to burst into tears, Black Rabbit, feeling a headache, gave in. “Alright, alright, just wear it for a bit, okay?”

Qian happily put on the ugly Black Rabbit mask. Because her face was too small, it didn’t fit well, and the strap couldn’t reach the back of her head, but she insisted on wearing it, covering her eyes with both hands.

Black Rabbit sat on the railing again and thought about his sister.

After their parents died, he basically never bought toys for his little sister. This rabbit mask was probably the only one—but it was something he casually bought one day while passing through the plaza, without much thought. It was too big for a child to wear properly, but she still liked it and played with it often.

The smile on Black Rabbit’s face softened as he lifted the mask on Qian’s face, aligning her eyes with the eye holes of the mask.

Qian played with the mask, and Black Rabbit strolled behind her, occasionally urging, “Isn’t it about time to give that back?”

Qian turned around and gave him an adorable smile.

Black Rabbit said, “Your smile won’t help. Hurry up and return it.”

Qian led him upstairs to the supermarket and took a plastic bucket off a shelf, handing it to him.

Black Rabbit crouched down to look at the bucket. “What’s this for?”

Qian raised her hand and placed the empty bucket over his head.

“Let’s trade.”

“…I’m not trading.”

Black Rabbit pulled the bucket off his head. Setting aside whether it was reasonable to trade the mask for a bucket, it was a green bucket, after all.

In the end, Black Rabbit took back his mask and promised to bring Qian a new one next time—a white rabbit mask.

Before dark, Black Rabbit left Tianzi Building.

Tonight was the time the Aberrant would awaken. He had to wait outside until the Aberrant emerged to hunt, so he could sneak quietly into Room 414.

He crouched on a distant rooftop, watching Tianzi Building light up in the night. The gray floors rose tall beneath him, a sign the Aberrant had already awakened.

But he waited and waited, never seeing the Aberrant appear in any corridor.

Usually, after sleeping for days, an Aberrant would be ravenously hungry and come out immediately to hunt.

At that moment, the just-awakened Aberrant was brushing her daughter’s hair.

She had just woken up, and with a comb right in front of her, she started fixing Qian’s messy hair without a word.

Qian sat in her mother’s lap, twisting a bottle cap with her head. Though the cola was already opened, twisting it again still took some effort.

“Mom, you drink the cola!” Qian finally opened the bottle cap and turned half the bottle toward the Aberrant’s mouth.

Aberrant dodged, but Qian got impatient, stepping on her leg and lifting the bottle higher, insisting she try. When Aberrant took a hesitant sip, the child finally brightened.

Holding Qian’s head steady, not letting her move, Aberrant quickly finished fixing her hair.

She lifted the child and was eager to eat.

“Mom, smell me—do I stink?” Qian asked.

She sniffed her own arm, wrinkled her neck, and gave a disgusted little face. “Ew, stinky.”

Got it. She wanted her mom to help bathe her—or maybe she wanted a new dress.

Aberrant “…”

She opened her mouth, then after a pause whispered hoarsely, “No, stinky.”

But the voice was so soft, almost a breath, the child didn’t hear it. So the mother’s first words were completely ignored.

Black Rabbit waited and waited, shivering in the cold night air. To avoid the aberrations gathering after dark, he moved several times, circling Tianzi Building before finally spotting the Aberrant’s figure in the corridor.

Recently, two Players entered Tianzi Building’s first floor, likely on some special mission. Black Rabbit didn’t act hastily but waited until the moment felt right before suddenly performing a long-distance spatial jump into the building.

The Tianzi Building after Aberrant’s awakening was livelier than on the first night. Even with spatial jumps, moving inside was still difficult.

He finally reached the fourth floor and stood at the door of Room 414.

Reaching out to touch the door, his hand felt icy cold, but after resting there for a while, it felt like touching human skin—slippery and smooth.

Pushing the door open, Black Rabbit stepped inside.

The System notified Mission success just as Black Rabbit saw the scene in the room.

Rows of shelves held urns with ashes, red lights, and Buddhist statues on an altar—all undeniably eerie. But the little girl who refused to let go of his mask during the day was sitting on a stool eating instant noodles.

The air was thick with the aroma of instant noodles.

Qian saw him and immediately roused the person nearby.

She picked up a sausage from the table and held it up. “Help me peel this.”

Black Rabbit wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating. At a time like this, instead of running, he actually moved over to peel the sausage for her.

After peeling it, she took a bottle of orange juice from the stool beside her.

“Click.” Black Rabbit twisted off the cap, and suddenly every hair on his back stood on end.

Danger! Danger was approaching!

He was about to instantly activate Spatial Transfer to leave.

But the surrounding space began to fluctuate unstably—a sign reality was transitioning into illusion. In this state, his abilities would have a delay. That delay of one or two seconds was enough for the Aberrant to appear behind him.

To this intruder, the Aberrant immediately revealed her transformed body. Her form spread like a spider looming above his head, her arms stretching out.

“Mom.”

Qian called out, taking the orange juice from the motionless Black Rabbit.

Even in this crisis, Black Rabbit was shocked by the word “Mom.”

There was no record of the Aberrant having children.

Besides, he had thought this child was some useless little aberration—she looked so small and weak, with no deformities. But she was the Aberrant’s child.

The Aberrant stood still in front of him, and Black Rabbit felt she was studying him, unsure whether to flee.

This was another mystery. According to his knowledge, Aberrants should have devoured him immediately by now.

“I’m done eating.” Qian put down her noodle fork, holding the half-eaten sausage, and got down from the stool.

Aberrant’s gaze shifted from Black Rabbit to Qian. She reached out, handing her some tissues to wipe her mouth. Only then did Black Rabbit notice a pack of tissues placed on the altar.

This whole scene was strange.

Stranger still, Aberrant pushed the child toward him, then pushed both of them out the door together. She slammed the door shut in front of them and then turned to go downstairs.

Black Rabbit stared at the closed door of Room 414, then looked down at the child clutching the orange juice and nibbling on the sausage.

“…”

He’d never encountered something so hard to understand in his entire life.