I can rewind time to prevent death

Chapter 164 Dead End? (Please subscribe, request monthly ticket)

[Ghost Silk branch task, completed, no Different Dimension Energy gained upon completion of the task.]

Inside his mind, the task completion prompt popped up while Yan Junze still lay on the back of the male corpse.

This strangeness was being controlled by Zhenzhen, desperately rushing toward the tunnel exit, but Yan Junze noticed that the body beneath him was shaking violently.

This trembling didn't stop as they moved away from the Boss, but rather intensified.

When they were about halfway to the tunnel exit, Yan Junze warned, "Zhenzhen, disengage from this strangeness, we can leave now."

The male corpse crawling forward suddenly face-planted into the ground without any reaction, while Zhenzhen's soul had already flown out, grabbing Yan Junze who almost tumbled out as well and using a flying method to quickly escape the tunnel.

After exiting the tunnel, Yan Junze slipped from Zhenzhen's grasp and fell heavily to the ground, rolling several times.

The fall made him grimace in pain, and it took a good while for him to recover his senses, rubbing his waist as if it were torn, slowly sitting up.

A flashlight had also flown out, but there was still one clipped to his waist.

Yan Junze immediately took out this flashlight, switched it on, and shone it around, only to find that Zhenzhen, who had just fallen out as well, had now vanished without a trace.

"Zhenzhen."

Sitting in place and looking around, eventually, he vaguely saw a figure standing behind a row of old sofas against the wall, motionless.

Yan Junze, enduring the intense pain in his waist, propped himself up with one hand and stood up with much effort, flashlight in the other hand, limping over there.

"Zhenzhen?" he called out to the figure, but there was no response.

Yan Junze was puzzled and moved a few steps closer; from this angle, he could see most of the figure in the darkness, and he was sure that it was Long-tongued Zhenzhen.

But strangely, Zhenzhen seemed very calm, showing no eagerness like the one she showed rushing out of the tunnel, just standing quietly facing the wall, not looking back at Yan Junze approaching.

Yan Junze felt something was wrong and illuminated Zhenzhen with the flashlight: "What are you doing here?"

Exposed to the light, Zhenzhen seemed to react and slowly turned toward the direction of the flashlight.

The moment he saw her, Yan Junze was startled.

Zhenzhen's expression was gloomy, her lips slightly parted, and a tongue at least half a meter long hung out of her mouth, swaying gently as she turned.

"How did you turn into this?"

Yan Junze was initially shocked, then he remembered the side effects of taking on a strangeness's body, noticing Zhenzhen's cold gaze, it seemed she no longer recognized him.

With a step forward, Zhenzhen walked towards him.

The moment the thought crossed Yan Junze's mind, without waiting for Zhenzhen to make any further move, he immediately stored her into the Atlas.

"It must be the disturbance and confusion caused by the strangeness's magnetic field after taking on its body; she should return to normal after resting for some time," Yan Junze speculated.

He then looked at his own palm, no longer bearing any trace of being tainted by the Dark Poison— it seemed that the threads controlling both strangenesses and humans had been cleared away.

Yan Junze pressed against his waist, perhaps he had twisted a muscle earlier, as now, just after walking for a short while, cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

With the task completed, it was time to leave this warehouse.

But his waist hurt terribly, and because the place was cluttered with debris, it had taken him over twenty minutes to walk in from the outside, and he wondered how long it would take now in his condition.

Yan Junze simply released the Crawler Monster and instructed, "Clear the path to the outside, I need to get out."

The Crawler Monster, without a word of protest, shook its off-parting and got to work right away.

It first used its tongue to roll up large items blocking the way, stacking them elsewhere, and the smaller debris at hand was simply shoveled away with its hands.

About five or six minutes later, a path to the outside was roughly cleared by the Crawler Monster.

Yan Junze tossed the backpack on the ground to the Crawler Monster, "Carry it for me, let's talk after we get out."

The Crawler Monster seemed somewhat speechless, picked up the backpack, and slowly crawled towards the outside of the warehouse.

Yan Junze, clutching his waist, followed behind.

A monster and a man walked out of the warehouse and stopped outside the warehouse door.

Looking up at the sky, although the night was overcast and there were signs of impending rain, it still hadn't rained by the time Yan Junze's mission was complete.

Motioning with his mouth toward the camera set on a flat stone not far away, Yan Junze wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Go get that camera, and let's head back."

The Crawler Monster looked back and crawled toward the camera.

Just as it neared the operating camera, suddenly a dark shadow jumped out from behind the large flat stone and shot past the Crawler Monster at incredible speed.

No longer as before, since obtaining nourishment from the Different Dimension Energy in the Atlas, the Crawler Monster had greatly improved its strength. The instant it spotted the dark shadow leaping, its forked tongue immediately lashed out.

The next second, the long tongue was neatly severed, black liquid splattered in the air, the Crawler Monster retracted its severed tongue, black fluid leaked from the corner of its mouth, it retreated in panic, its body shaking.

In front of it and Yan Junze, a child with dark purplish skin crawled on the ground. This child had thin limbs, sticky hair that clung to the scalp, and its fingers and toes seemed to be deformed, becoming long and sharp as if they were blades.

And it was those sharp nails that had just severed the Crawler Monster's forked tongue in a brief encounter.

The Crawler Monster was retreating, while Yan Junze was staring in shock at the strange and unknown child in front of him that looked like a boy.

He had never seen this boy before, but it seemed like it had been hidden behind the stone where the camera was placed all along. Fortunately, it was the Crawler Monster that had gone to retrieve the camera; had it been himself, his throat would probably have been slit by the child's sharp nails by now.

It now appeared the Crawler Monster was no match for this creature.

Yan Junze was standing on the spot, clutching his waist; even standing and moving were already difficult for him, let alone running.

Even if he could run, he believed he wouldn't be able to outrun this swiftly moving, eerie child.

"This guy... could it be related to the Boss in the Ghost Silk, or is it the strangeness itself? It has caught up so quickly?" Yan Junze speculated inside his head.

At that moment, the crawly child suddenly accelerated, leaping towards Yan Junze's direction.

The Crawler Monster, which had been in front, scuttled behind Yan Junze fast, due to the fear of having its tongue cut.

Yan Junze, who was impeded, brandished the cudgel in his hand and swung it over.

The bizarre child moved erratically, and after several swings of the cudgel, not even a corner was touched.

It was at that moment that Yan Junze felt a chill on his neck, as if a liquid was seeping out and slowly dripping down.

The child, unnoticed, was already perched on his shoulder, its nails piercing through the skin of his neck.

Rewind!

This was his last chance!

After a dizzy spell, Yan Junze stood inside the warehouse door with the Crawler Monster, not immediately leaving.

Yan Junze crouched on the floor, pressing his sore waist with his left hand; his energy could only get him back here, and this had been the last time, as the rewind feature was now unusable.

His gaze was cold as he stared intently behind the large flat stone.

From this position, nothing could be discerned, but Yan Junze knew that a sinister child was hiding there.