Yin Xiu was not surprised; he knew from the first moment he saw this person that it was his former self.
Only I, six years ago, would have been so ruthless as to kill all the players and monsters on every floor I passed through.
He was like a cold corpse, only capable of killing, devoid of any emotion, without a trace of pity or wavering, his hands stained with blood as he traversed every instance, searching for his sister.
Looking at the person in front of him, Yin Xiu could clearly feel the fear he brought to the monsters, and the reason why he was once called the God of Slaughter.
The other party did not draw his sword, nor did he exude any threat. He was not in an attacking state, and Yin Xiu could tell at a glance that it was him.
The "he" stared straight at him, his eyes devoid of any light, only filled with a bloodthirsty aura. His expression and voice were utterly indifferent. "Yin Xiu, my future self, tell me, what do you possess now?"
Yin Xiu remained silent.
Have you found Xiaoxiao?
"No."
Do you have any good friends yet?
"have."
"But he's dying, right?"
"...Um."
"Then you will soon be left with nothing again."
"..."
Do you have a new family?
Yin Xiu took the prop coin out of his pocket and stared at it. "Do you think this counts?"
The reflection in his own eyes darkened slightly. "Am I so pathetic that I need to treat monsters as family?"
Yin Xiu silently clenched the prop coin in his palm. "But she will call me brother."
"That's just a strange phenomenon."
Yin Xiu slightly curled the corners of his lips, "When you were in the Jealousy Layer, did you see the person next to me?"
"I see him. He's a cold and dangerous monster. If you let your guard down, he'll definitely kill you."
Yin Xiu's smile deepened, but it was icy cold. "Don't you think it's nice to have a monster by your side?"
That version of myself remained unmoved, coldly replying, "Monsters will only kill you."
"You're right." Yin Xiu reached out and gripped the hilt of his sword, then looked up at the face opposite him that was exactly like his own. "Monsters will kill you too."
He suddenly swung his knife.
A sharp, cold light flashed, and the person in front of him turned into a slice of paper, slowly floating down to his feet.
Yin Xiu coldly lowered his eyes and stared at the papers on the ground. "Great, you're not the real me."
"Six years ago, I actually denied the hard-won family and friends. Luckily, you're not really."
He put away the knife, picked up the paper on the ground, on which a line of words was written.
[A person who lives with monsters, is cold-hearted, and has nothing.]
Yin Xiu's gaze lingered on the first half.
"To live with monsters?"
The paper in his hand twitched, and images instantly appeared in the surrounding darkness.
White mist swirled around a large gate that stood within it—a scene familiar to Yin Xiu, the scene after the dungeon ended.
The person in the picture appears to be the warden, who was once a prison guard, walking in the fog with a file and a stamp on a copy of the prison record.
At that moment, he saw Yin Xiu, his body radiating blood and his pupils lifeless, walk through the mist.
Beside him followed a small, dark figure.
Countless tiny tentacles extended from its head, swaying happily behind Yin Xiu, its eyes darting around, taking in the surroundings, before finally meeting Yin Xiu's gaze.
Yin Xiu shuddered and returned to the small courtroom, to the high and mighty judge's seat. The warden was stunned for a moment when he saw him appear, and then slowly trembled.
"You...how were you able to get back here? You couldn't have come out of there!!"
Yin Xiu silently took two steps forward, knife in hand.
The warden slowly backed away, his voice filled with utter madness, "Don't you want your family? Don't you want everything you desire most?"
Yin Xiu's eyes were indifferent. He stepped onto the courtroom platform with one foot, looking down at the warden's pale face, and raised the knife in his hand. "I don't need it."
The light that filled the space shone on him, enveloped in a cool, white mist. His eyes were calm and serene, without the slightest hesitation.
His answer and his appearance seemed to instantly provoke the warden, who bared his teeth and shouted.
"Impossible! Impossible! I know you best. I've seen you come out of the dungeon countless times. Cold and ruthless, covered in blood like a monster!"
"I know what you want most... I know exactly what you were like six years ago."
"The rules I created for you, the instance I created for you, Yin Xiu! You will never be able to escape my instance!"
Yin Xiu tilted his head slightly, his dark pupils coldly staring at his disbelief. "Is that so?"
"The Yin Xiu I know, he absolutely cannot get out. He has no emotions, no sins, he's just a walking, killing corpse, destined to succumb to everything he desires!" The warden glared at Yin Xiu. "Why were you able to get out? Why!"
With the warden's incredulous, piercing scream, Yin Xiu raised the knife high in his hand, his gaze cold and detached. "This time, I'm angry. I won't listen to your last words."
The moment the blade swung down, the coldness and ruthlessness emanating from him seemed to remind the warden of Yin Xiu from six years ago.
The legendary god of war, who has emerged from dungeons covered in blood countless times.
Every time he entered the dungeon, all the monsters there would fight him with all their might, trying to kill him inside. Each time, he thought Yin Xiu would definitely die in the dungeon, but he always managed to get out.
However, he became increasingly indifferent and less and less like a human being.
He was unlike any other player he had ever seen; he was aloof and distant, always alone, and even the monsters felt sorry for him as a human.
Finally, after one of the dungeons ended, the warden blocked his way.
"According to the dungeon rules, you...you have killed too many people, violating the dungeon's special rules, you...you..." The jailer, still a prison guard, trembled and could barely speak in front of the legendary god of death.
Those dark eyes stared at him, and the cool voice was quite pleasant, "Before you die, is there anything you want to say?"
He froze, and in that instant he knew he was going to die.
He remained silent for a long time before finally saying with difficulty, "I want to know, someone like you, what... what do you want most?"
Yin Xiu's dark pupils reflected the warden's face, yearning for an answer. His face was shrouded in white mist, and the answer that squeezed out of his lips was like a rusty gear, hesitant and trembling as he uttered: "Family..."
"friend..."
"Many things... things that normal people should have... things that I should have..."
His eyes brightened for a fleeting moment, like a shooting star streaking across the night sky.
But the next second, his eyes turned cold again, as if his knife had struck the warden.
Perhaps because it touched on Yin Xiu's sensitive emotions, his knife was not so decisive and clean. The warden was spared, but he could never forget the glint that flashed in Yin Xiu's eyes.
He saw another side of the God of Slaughter that none of the monsters had seen—that was the real Yin Xiu.
He also wanted to see that light, like a shooting star in the night sky, seemingly erase Yin Xiu's coldness and ruthlessness in an instant, leaving only a faint gentleness, and the corners of his mouth that curved up seemed to melt people, like honey stirring into their hearts.
"Everything you want... is in this copy..." In the small courtroom, the warden lay in a pool of blood, staring blankly at Yin Xiu, murmuring with difficulty, "You can't leave here... You shouldn't have come out..."
"You can get everything you want... You... should sink here..."
"Only here...can you..."
Yin Xiu couldn't hear his weak murmurs, but he looked up at the piece of paper he had just picked up from inside, on which was written a short sentence for him.
Yin Xiu crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it at the warden. He stared at the blood that had soaked the paper and said calmly, "I thought I had really met my past self. I wanted to use everything I have to give my past self some warmth, but it was all rejected."
"So this is how I was seen by others in the past."
[A person who lives with monsters, is cold-hearted, and has nothing.]
The warden did not answer him again. The surrounding scenery slowly disappeared. He looked up and found himself back in the warden's office. The difference was that he now had a coin from the Pride of Sin in his palm, and the warden had disappeared.
Yin Xiu stared coldly at the coin in his palm. "What do you think you can give me?"
To reopen his wounds, just to fill his empty life with false fantasies?
He doesn't need to indulge in falsehoods; he will only brave the cold wind to pursue the truth.
Yin Xiu gripped the coin tightly, a cold glint in his downcast eyes. "I know better than anyone how pitiful I am, and I don't need your pity."