Strange game designer.

Chapter 760 Tiger Bone Soup

"I still couldn't find the right method. My master gradually lost patience and started to harm himself. He wouldn't let me sleep and forced me to go deeper into the forbidden zone."

"For seven days and seven nights, it felt as if my soul and body had separated. My eyes began to see strange scenes. It was as if large holes had appeared in the city, with wriggling roots and boundless darkness outside the holes."

“The terrifying things he had me visualized started appearing around me. I couldn’t touch them, but I could feel them watching me all the time, trying to take over my body and control everything about me.”

"Later I fainted in the restricted area. When I woke up, I was in the martial arts school. My master had lost an arm. He said it was because he was saving me."

"My fellow disciples all deeply respect our master. Some felt that it was unnecessary for him to do this for me, but he himself was very happy. He told me that I had broken through to the fourth level of martial arts—the 'Intent Penetrates the Heavens,' where my inner energy, will, and body are perfectly unified, harmonious and unobstructed, and endlessly vital."

“Everyone thinks that my master takes great care of me and I should be grateful, but this is not what I want. I am willing to repay my master, but definitely not in this way.”

“After returning from the restricted area, my mind became increasingly abnormal. I would see all sorts of terrifying things that ordinary people cannot see. They would just stare at me. When I was eating or sleeping, I felt that as soon as I closed my eyes, they would approach me until they burrowed into my body.”

An Luan spoke of these things with immense pain.

“I’m the only one in the martial arts school who has reached the fourth level. The other students are still training their muscles and bones, so I am also everyone’s expectation. I don’t want to let them down, but this matter is really wrong. It has developed to a terrifying and abnormal state. Do you understand?” An Luan had never been to school, so he didn’t know how to express himself.

“My mental state became increasingly unstable, and I started to become unlike myself. In order not to hurt others, I started to self-harm. Once, the bleeding was so severe that I was sent to the hospital, where I met my current wife.”

"She is a very stubborn doctor. I wanted to be discharged after my treatment, but she refused, saying that my real illness was not in the physical wounds, but in my mind, and that I needed to get out of my original environment and recuperate for a long time."

"The martial arts school was urging me to go back to practice, but the doctor was adamant about not letting me go. In the end, my master let me choose for myself." An Luan slowly lowered his hand, as if he had returned to that day.

"You chose the doctor?"

“Yes, I feel very safe with her.” An Luan’s voice became steady: “A year later, I married the doctor. My master was very disappointed in me. He no longer forced me to obey his orders. He just hoped that I would not neglect my martial arts. I went to the martial arts school to work every day, and I could only eat the medicinal food he prepared for lunch—tiger bone soup.”

"The martial arts school was the beginning of my life change. It holds my memories of growing up and many fellow students who helped and took care of me, so I agreed."

"The real change came after my daughter was born. She got injured while playing that day, and I took leave to go home. I didn't even have time to eat the medicinal food that my master had prepared, so I just took it back with me."

"After taking good care of our daughter, as I was getting ready to eat today's medicinal meal, I suddenly noticed my wife sitting solemnly next to the lunchbox, using tweezers to pick out a strangely shaped bone from it."

"The bone wasn't overcooked and still retained its original shape. My wife looked at it for a long time, referring to the book, but in the end, she didn't say anything. She just placed the bone and the book in front of me."

An Luan couldn't continue speaking at this point. The subway seemed to have entered a special section, and the shaking became more and more intense, while the red light on the display screen became glaring.

Raising a hand, An Luan first touched his Adam's apple, then made a "pinching" motion with his thumb and forefinger: "Humans have a very unique bone, unlike those in other animals, called the hyoid bone. It supports the tongue between the mandible and the larynx and serves as the attachment point for some tongue muscles. It doesn't form a joint with any other bone, and is attached to the sides of the mandible by ligaments." "My wife's book says that this feature is designed to make humans better suited for speaking, so the hyoid bone is also called the speech bone. In non-human mammals, the hyoid bone forms a joint with other bones; the two are not the same."

Gao Ming narrowed his eyes. This time he didn't reply. The subway shook violently, and everyone was a little unsteady on their feet.

"In the master's tiger bone soup, there is a piece of hyoid bone that belongs to a living person."

An Luan felt like vomiting, but he couldn't vomit anything. What tiger bone soup? The ingredients in that medicinal dish weren't tiger bones at all!
“My master was lying to me from the very beginning. I kept forcing myself to believe him. In order to repay him for taking me out of the slums, I was willing to become a monster.”

“But things are different now. I have a wife and children. I can’t go on like this. I have to go home. I absolutely have to go back!”

With each word An Luan spoke, the train became increasingly unstable. It was as if he had reached a crossroads in his life, and his next choice would affect the fate of many others.

"Don't talk to them! Don't talk to them! How many times have I told you! It turns out the biggest danger is you, Li Sansi!" Ci Nian was furious: "Don't meddle in other people's fates. We're just passing through!"

The red light became blinding, and just as the vehicle was about to go out of control, the eerie announcement suddenly rang out again—"Tiger Bone Soup Station has arrived. Open the left door and passengers who wish to disembark, please exit from the left side."

The subway slowed down, and the group felt a sense of relief.

"Tiger's Mouth Station? Tiger Bone Soup Station? Are these station names important turning points in An Luan's life?" After the train came to a stop, Gao Ming looked at the platform, where a dense crowd of rotting figures thronged one side.

The car door slowly opened, and in the flashing red light, those rotting figures boarded the vehicle.

They were numerous and did not go to other carriages, but surrounded An Luan and a few other living people.

"Get off at this station. Once you receive the order, detonate the bomb immediately." Ci Nian tugged at a priest's clothes, who understood and walked off the subway alone against the flow of people.

"Can he manage on the platform by himself?" Gao Ming was a little worried.

“As long as he listens to me and stays away from you, he definitely won’t die.” Ci Nian curled up on the subway seat, her whole body covered in a white robe, looking like a giant white rabbit.

"You little brat, you're really sharp-tongued." Gao Ming didn't have time to argue with Ci Nian. He was completely captivated by An Luan and felt that An Luan's life was comparable to Li Sansi's. They were both chosen by darkness.

"People living in this city have such rich life experiences."

(End of this chapter)