Chapter 903: We’re All Family!

For a moment, it was as if time itself had stopped. The only movement came from the tentacle that had been shot, writhing on the ground as scalding blood plasma oozed from it.

A breeze stirred the blood-red mist swirling around them.

Lynn, seated in his wheelchair, and the enormous, ten-story-tall mass of flesh and blood before him formed a scene frozen in time. A murderous atmosphere rolled through the surroundings.

Yin Yi felt as if her consciousness had stopped working. Trembling all over, she stared at the scene, too terrified to move a muscle.

She swore it.

This was absolutely the most unbearable moment she had experienced in her entire existence.

It was as if the slightest movement would get her killed, as if icy blood flowed through every corner of her soul.

Silently.

She had no idea how long passed.

“Ahahahaha!”

A hoarse laugh from within the enormous mass of flesh and blood broke the eerie silence.

Then Yin Yi saw the flesh of the giant facing them begin to writhe. It slowly parted to either side, and a humanoid creature wearing a black cloak, its entire lower body made of tentacles, wriggled out with a loud laugh and came to stand before Lynn. It took the hundred Skeleton Coins Lynn held out, then raised its head, revealing a huge eyeball that covered half its face.

“You should’ve said so! If you’d told me earlier, how could we not make things easier for a brother from our own sect? If that tentacle was getting on your nerves, why spend twenty Skeleton Coins to buy its life? For ten coins, we’d have taken care of it for you! We’re family, after all, all part of the same sect!”

“Ahahahaha!”

Lynn laughed mysteriously too. He amiably reached out a tentacle and shook hands with it.

“Exactly! How could members of the same sect hurt each other? The moment I saw you, I felt this inexplicable sense of kinship! It’s like you’re a long-lost brother of mine. What a beautiful friendship.”

Then, beneath Yin Yi’s stunned gaze,

the two “people” laughed and gave each other a great big hug, just like real brothers. They even bumped the tips of their writhing tentacles together as if they were the closest of friends. If she hadn’t known how murderous the atmosphere had been moments ago, she might really have thought they were family.

ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾒ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ

But wait...

Something was off!

Wasn’t this a little strange?

The atmosphere had been so terrifying just a moment ago. They’d seemed ready to kill them, so how had handing over a hundred coins suddenly made them as close as old friends?

Yin Yi (；OдO) even wondered whether what she’d just experienced had been an illusion. She could tell her brain was having trouble keeping up!

“Come on! Brother from the Desire Sect, hop in with me! Once we get to our base, we’ll be sure to give you a proper welcome!”

“Oh, you’re so hospitable! I really can’t refuse such a warm invitation. But my legs aren’t very convenient. How about you push me in?”

“What do you mean?”

【Ding! Your Skeleton Coins -20】

“Ahahaha! You only had to say so! We’re family. It’s embarrassing to make you pay for this! I feel so bad!”

Then, under Yin Yi’s rigid gaze,

the one-eyed Tentacle Monster laughed with delight and eagerly pushed Lynn’s wheelchair himself. Just like inseparable brothers, he warmly wheeled them toward the giant mass of flesh and blood.

Something was off!

Why had the whole scene suddenly gone so wrong?

Shouldn’t they have met, stood off against each other, exchanged a few harsh words, then broken into a fight, each showing off a little before battling to the death?

Had she gotten the wrong idea about how this was supposed to go...

Yin Yi was dumbstruck.

Glug, glug, glug...

With more than a hundred coins’ worth of bribes, the enormous mass of flesh and blood once again billowed out clouds of blood mist. Countless tentacles writhed into motion, carrying it onward as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that a humanoid creature who did not belong to their sect had joined them inside.

...

As the flesh parted before them, Yin Yi, her mind completely blank, was pushed inside alongside Lynn by the cheerful, hospitable Flesh and Blood Humanoid.

Yin Yi swallowed and stared wide-eyed at the writhing Chamber ahead. She spoke through consciousness.

“Mr. Lynn, I... I don’t think I understand. Weren’t they acting all high and mighty just now, like they were going to kill us? How... how did they suddenly become so welcoming?”

Lynn still wore his (*￣︶￣) expression as he casually sent her a sound transmission.

“I bribed them. Didn’t you see? More than a hundred coins.”

Yin Yi (；OдO) swallowed, staring at him. “But this... this is just too...”

Lynn smiled and glanced down at Yin Yi, nestled in his arms, then sent her a gentle sound transmission.

“Too strange? No, Yin Yi, this is the most normal thing in the world. If they hadn’t accepted the money, that would’ve been strange. I’d have wondered if they were some other faction impersonating the Flesh and Blood Cult. After all, the chaotic members of the Flesh and Blood Cult can’t resist the tempting aroma of opportunities to line their own pockets.”

Yin Yi stared blankly.

She immediately remembered what had happened when he interrogated that Flesh and Blood Humanoid earlier.

But... but even so...

Yin Yi (；OдO) said, “Then... why didn’t they just kill us? If they did, wouldn’t everything we have belong to them?”

Lynn’s smile suddenly widened. His lips curled as he sent her a sound transmission.

“That hits the nail on the head. You’ve got the makings of an Evil Ghost. Exactly, and that’s why I fired that shot. So remember this: bribery only works when you’re on equal footing. No matter what your real strength is, you must never show weakness in front of them. If you’re afraid, they’ll kill you. If you aren’t, they’ll hesitate. If you act superior, they might even fawn over you.”

“Like now. They can’t figure me out, so they’re welcoming me inside. We’ve all only got one life, so why fight and kill? They can flatter me and get paid for it. What could be more comfortable?”

Yin Yi was dumbstruck.

That made so much sense...

As expected of Mr. Lynn. He really had figured out the rules of survival in hell.

Treating an opposing Alignment like your own family was no ordinary feat. At least, a normal person definitely couldn’t stay as calm as Mr. Lynn in a situation like this.

“Then... what do we do next?”

Lynn smiled and adjusted his Monocle as he looked ahead.

“Obviously, we find out what they’re really like. They weren’t with that Flesh and Blood Humanoid before, so they’re probably cultists who were just sent here. And that... is very interesting.”