The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

Cold, trembling.

The chubby man's fat trembled, his eyelids twitched slightly, and he woke up from his coma.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw... Su Buxian standing in front of him, busy with something in his hands.

"You...."

He had barely expressed his astonishment with a single word.

When Su Qi interrupted him with a gentle smile, "Awake? Congratulations... after my wonderful healing, you no longer have to worry about menstrual disorders."

To hell with menstrual disorders!

"You damn bastard, what did you just do to me!" he growled, disheveled and fierce, but tied up and utterly unable to break free or move.

That moment... was too bizarre!

He was still in the midst of battle when he was suddenly hit by a spiritual skill, and even with his Spiritual Defense Equipment, he failed to block it, and those eyes...

The chubby man suddenly lifted his head to look at Su Qi, who was smiling, and a sense of inexplicable fear rose in his heart.

This feeling...

It was hard to articulate, a nameless terror, an unspeakable unease.

Just like... before.

He and his boss had the fortune... to participate in a meeting between the organization and the Abyss, and of course, they were just minor characters standing far off, not worthy to be on stage.

And at that time...

Everyone was half-kneeling on the ground, looking respectfully toward the Abyss, where a phantom appeared...

That gave him the same sensation.

And that phantom... seemed to be a significant entity of the Abyss, beyond their reach to make contact, only known that those in the organization held it in high regard, and some sort of cooperation was reached between the two sides.

He had also occasionally heard someone respectfully address it as

— Venerable

"Ah!"

The chubby man suddenly came to his senses and screamed as he saw Su Qi's knife drawing a wound across his body!

"What are you doing!"

Su Qi calmly replied, "Good question, the background and rules of this world are not just thrown together willy-nilly, and while it still focuses on combat, there are hidden details."

The chubby man was puzzled, "What the hell are you talking about!"

"I mean... the projection of Ancient Paradise is like an Easter egg. To awaken the other party, players from all four Sanctuaries must arrive here, and using their own blood, draw the Rune that appeared on the Sanctuary at the respective positions."

The chubby man was baffled.

But the last part reminded him of the ruined temple where he and his boss, Su, had awakened. Indeed, there were runes on that statue.

He remembered... but it was also clear that Su Qi needed this.

The voice of the chubby man became graver, and he hissed hoarsely, "...Want to know? I will never tell you."

"Just because you've lucked out capturing me doesn't mean much. It's like dancing on the edge of a knife. You've avoided my Bone-Shattering Hammer, but little do you know about my boss's Cold Light..."

Su Qi interrupted him, "Stop with the 'boss' already... I thought the boss had come back to life."

The chubby man sneered, about to speak up when suddenly he frowned, for he saw others standing at the two other positions nearby.

One was the wounded Bai Yilin, Butterfly Giant Axe.

The other.

Was a few of his teammates... Mo, Bald, and Silver Hand, standing somewhat rigidly, seemingly still in a state of shock, fear, and disbelief.

"Why, why are all of you here..." the flesh on the chubby man's face tightened as he spoke in a deep voice.

But everyone remained silent, and no one responded.

"Where's my boss..."

"Your boss..." Mo opened his mouth with some difficulty, his dry lips uttering a few words: "Behind you."

The chubby man frowned and squeezed the flesh on his neck to barely turn his head.

It was crucial not to turn too much, but the sight he saw made his eyes bulge and his pupils dilate!

... A huge Puppet was crumbled into fragments, with many razor-sharp threads, broken and scattered all around!

And his boss!

Lying atop a large pit!

Glasses shattered, his head bloodied and bowed, seven blood-red swords pinned to the ground, and the bespectacled man's body was skewered mid-air.

"Boss!!!!"

He shouted in horror!

He still had some spirit, his eyes red with rage: "Why! How did my boss end up like this! Did you do this!"

"You damn bastard!"

"Stop shouting."

Su Qi's knife directly pierced his shoulder! Dabbing the blood that spurted out.

Then he began to trace... the Rune on the ground, not needing any other information, having already acquired the pattern of the rune from the bespectacled man.

"Making me look like the bad guy."

Everyone: "...."

Really though.

Seeing these circumstances and his current appearance, they all felt a chilling unease about Su Qi.

The chubby man struggled frantically but was tied up tightly.

He looked down.

And realised why he couldn't break free.

Because what tied him was none other than his boss's threads!

"Damn it! Damn it!"

Su Qi ignored him, his knife quickly tracing pattern after pattern on the ground.

And the others began to bleed, tracing out the runes they had seen earlier in the Sanctuary according to their recollection.

"Su Buxian..."

A weak hissing sounded feebly.

It was the bespectacled man... he wasn't completely dead yet, but his Spiritual Energy was nearly zero, his Vitality teetering on the edge of death, unable to muster any resistance.

The chubby man heard the sound, his face lit up with joy, ready to shout 'boss'.