The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 138: Chapter 137 Facing Fear

[Orphanage]

The region that had the greatest impact on Yi Chen in his life; it was already unimaginable that he could walk out of the orphanage alive and return to normal society.

At least in the known history of the orphanage, he was the only one who had left.

Under the guidance of psychological experts arranged by the government, it took a whole two years for all memories related to the orphanage to be sealed deep within the consciousness space through “locking,” and then replaced by a fabricated normal childhood through hypnosis.

At least before Yi Chen transcended, there had not been any problems.

However, as he arrived in a world infected with disease, filled with despair and death, those locked-away things began to slowly seep out of the lock, as if drawn by like kind.

Yet, the ‘orphanage experience’ wasn’t entirely bad; it was precisely because of such extreme and terrifying experiences that Yi Chen was able to survive various dangers and quickly adapt to such a pathological world after arriving in this place. @@novelbin@@

The current thinking tests led by the principal caused Yi Chen to inadvertently fall into the deepest layer of consciousness, releasing the memories sealed away through the opportunity provided by the [Door].

The element of [Door] left a profound impression on Yi Chen during his time at the orphanage.

Whether it was the iron door of the solitary confinement room, the dining hall’s iron door, or the iron door of the play area, once they were shut, a price had to be paid to reopen them.

The iron door that Yi Chen pushed open from between the paintings corresponded to his old dormitory [Room 107].

Looking back,

The pitch-black, narrow room with rat holes crammed with six people’s beds,

Housing roommates who were skin and bones, covered with sores, and even missing fingers or skin, were enjoying a brief and peaceful night’s rest. They were completely tamed, their brains would never entertain the idea of escaping.

In Yi Chen’s hand was the fine piece of wire he had painstakingly obtained that morning, successfully unlocking the dormitory door.

Crackle and pop~

Grains of rain pelted the corridor windows frantically, with ceaseless thunder.

During that afternoon’s outdoor activities, by observing the changes in soil moisture, he deduced that tonight there would be a rare torrential downpour… the perfect opportunity to escape.

However,

Yi Chen stood motionless at the door as a black substance corroded his eyes.

Perhaps suddenly being transported back to scenes he least wanted to recall left him stunned and unable to accept his reality,

Or perhaps he doubted whether the so-called escape from the orphanage, growing up, and the experience of transcendence were all just a fantasy, and that for more than twenty years, he had never left this place.

Or perhaps he was preoccupied with some other thought,

For standing at the dormitory door for such a long time, he missed the best chance to flee for his life.

Minutes passed, and a harsh, nails-on-a-chalkboard sound carried from the end of the corridor:

“Yi Chen, what are you doing here? Thinking of running away again? And you managed to open a locked door… that’s just like you.”

The source of the voice was a woman with her head growing upside down, her lips painted a bright red, her eyes like grainy pupils.

The familiar voice triggered a ‘stress response’ in Yi Chen’s body, making him instinctively tremble,

Suddenly recalling some of the escape attempts by his peers, where other children in the orphanage were invited to witness the painful torture of those caught fleeing.

However,

When the specific details of the torture sprang to mind, Yi Chen became less afraid and instead remembered the joyful times spent with Tutor Zede in the Underground Paradise.

His trembling body instantly steadied.

Yi Chen suddenly turned his head, casting a gaze reserved for patients, “I’m not thinking of running away… I just want to come out and execute all of you.”

“You seem to have some mental issues, being able to say such things. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you unless the headmaster gives a special order.

Security, come and catch this little bugger.”

As soon as she finished speaking,

Two security guards emerged from both ends of the corridor, their service guns not at their waists but instead implanted where heads should’ve been, jutting out from their necks.

One holding a studded leather strap, the other wielding a stun baton, they used their robust bodies to block off the corridor completely.

Yi Chen, however, was not at all panicked. He stared at the empty wall before him… and under the influence of his subjective consciousness, a glass cabinet with a fire axe materialized out of thin air.

Elbow strike!

Clang~ Glass shards scattered across the floor, and the appropriately weighted fire axe was firmly in Yi Chen’s grasp.

The two security guards closed in for a pincer attack, and the cocking of their head-guns could be heard.

Sounds of chopping, striking, and gunfire filled the corridor.

After a minute,

Two muscular bodies lay in a pool of blood,

Yi Chen, disregarding the bullets that had pierced his abdomen and thighs… grasped the axe handle and yanked upwards!

Woosh~ The fire axe lodged in a guard’s back, along with blood and shattered bone, was pulled out, and he hoisted it back onto his shoulder.

Furthermore,

Yi Chen bent down and with his free left hand, grabbed one of the guards’ ‘gun-heads,’ and pulled with force~

Muscles tearing… the gun-head that had grown at the nape of his neck was uprooted, now clutched in his hand.

One hand hoisting an axe,

the other gripping a handgun,

he twisted his body to the side, turned his head,

and with bloodshot eyes, he glanced askance at the woman at the end of the corridor,

“You’re next, Teacher.”

…

[Swan School]

Hovering at the roof, Yi Chen just made the three-minute mark of the test, his body slowly descending from above.

Whether it was Qian Bosen or Zede, or even his fellow peers, they all sweated bullets for him.

But…

Though Yi Chen was descending slowly, his eyes had yet to open.

He stood in a strange state on the ground, with strands of slightly black aura even seeping from the surface of his head.

Whoosh!

With eyes closed, he suddenly drew out the Hand Axe and his sidearm (Today, considering the test might involve real combat, Zede stuffed the weapons from his suitcase directly into Yi Chen’s garments before leaving the house with them.)

The handles of the gun and axe spun simultaneously in his left and right hands.

After three and a half rotations,

Pop! He grasped them both at the same time!

The muscles in his calves tensed up completely, even revealing the plant veins bulging on their surface, and he lunged forward with a burst of speed that pushed the limits of humanity.

Not only that,

Yi Chen’s body was also exuding two kinds of auras at the same time: a bright red Slaughter Aura and a black Death Aura that seemed to come from nowhere, which combined to form a dark red curtain.

His target was none other than the principal, Daislin Baldivia.

His right hand pulled back the axe, poised like a winding arm gathering strength, willing to lock onto the principal’s delicate neck and chop her head off.

His left hand adjusted the firearm to scatter mode, aiming at her shapely body, intending to slice her torso in half with a spray.

In that moment,

as Yi Chen’s direct tutor,

Zede was the first to scramble over the last row of desks,

his toes elongating and thickening to improve his kicking power,

his fingers increasing to thirteen to greatly enhance his Crawling speed,

prepared to intercept Yi Chen while pleading for mercy from the principal, attributing Yi Chen’s anomaly to the “special training” and taking the blame as his tutor.

On the other side,

Professor Qian Bosen was also waving his arms, instantaneously casting magic to raise a wind wall in an attempt to block Yi Chen’s impolite act.

Sweat streamed down the sides of Qian Bosen’s gray temples as he thought about how to plead with the principal and explain such aberrant behavior.

However.

Before Zede could arrive and while Qian Bosen’s wind wall was still incomplete, the principal had already made her move.

She didn’t use any offensive attacks, nor did she dodge.

Rather, she moved forward two steps and spread her arms wide.

Before Yi Chen’s attack could land, she embraced him in her arms… gently stroking his head as if she were a mother, with a warm and tranquil voice drifting out from beneath her mask.

“It’s okay now~ it’s all right~”

…

[Consciousness Space]

Yi Chen, his eyes bloodshot with hatred in the middle of charging at the old woman flipping her head,

was suddenly enveloped by a pair of arms, sketched with the lines of the night sky, which broke through the barriers of consciousness from behind and held him tight… with a forceful pull, he was yanked out from the Deep Layer area.

The scenes around him scrolled backwards, the Orphanage teacher with her flipped head waving goodbye to the departing Yi Chen, a wicked smile on her red lips as if she was looking forward to their next encounter.

Buzz!

Consciousness returned.

Yi Chen, whose eyes snapped open suddenly, was yet to adjust to the light within the school, as something soft completely covered them,

and he felt the peculiar sensation of threads, skin, and flesh all intertwined, brushing against the front of his body.

With each breath, a scent that could relax one’s entire body filtered into his nostrils, compelling Yi Chen to immerse in the comforting embrace.