"Insert the materials."
Li Ran selected “Dark Cub” on the machine, then fed the collected materials into it one by one, following the order in the manual.
Power on!
Li Ran stared intently at the transparent, glass-pod-like incubation chamber.
As the machine began chugging and clanking, a reaction imdiately occurred in one of the conduits inside the chamber. The machine produced a tiny lump of flesh, about the size of a sesa seed, which started to grow visibly into a small fleshball…
Li Ran couldn’t fathom how those materials were capable of creating a creature. It was all so incredibly surreal.
The fleshball gradually took on the shape of an embryo, continuing to grow as if a ten-month pregnancy was fast-forwarding before his eyes.
Eventually, the embryo took on the form of a fetus.
But unlike a human baby, this little one inside the chamber was pitch-black all over. Two tiny horns protruded from her forehead, and her tailbone was slightly extended like a stubby tail. She had four fingers and toes each, and although her facial features were nearly identical to a human fetus, she looked like a little demon.
Li Ran also noticed a tether rope appear on the round belly of the dark offspring.
“You little brat, got you now!”
Li Ran pressed himself against the glass chamber with a wicked grin on his face.
“Ee!”
The little demon baby opened her pitch-black eyes and stared in terror at Li Ran outside the chamber, her tiny expression as if she’d just seen a monster.
She clearly hadn’t expected a human to find her.
“Ee-ya!”
Frightened, the little demon baby sped around the chamber like a whirlwind, her feet kicking up fire and wind.
But she wasn't so lucky this ti. Li Ran smashed the glass with a punch and grabbed the tether rope attached to the little demon baby's back.
The mont the rope returned to his hand, its enslaving effect imdiately activated.
The demon baby’s escape ca to an abrupt halt as she was slowly dragged back toward him.
Without hesitation, Li Ran took out a [Contract Scroll] and activated it.
The tether’s control wouldn’t last long. If he couldn’t ta the little demon baby, he’d be trapped here with no way out.
Only by taming her and using her Dark Gate could he return.
In this dark world, he was nothing but an ant—far too weak to survive on his own.
“Contract!”
When the target is weakened, enslaved, or loyal to the player, the contract may be used. Once successful, the target becos the player’s contract beast, and the player gains access to part of its abilities.
A halo of light appeared, connecting Li Ran’s brow to the demon baby’s.
“Ee?” The little demon baby tried to flee, but a strong ntal force instantly suppressed her, rendering her unable to move. Fortunately, the human in front of her hadn’t hurt her.
Still, she didn’t understand what the beam of light between their foreheads ant. It looked… fun.
anwhile, deep within Li Ran’s ntal realm, a new image erged—a little dark demon baby.
Contract Beast: Little Dark Demon Baby
(Infant Stage)
Class: S-Rank ntal Infected
Eerie Force: 300
Active Abilities:
Flight: Can fly freely through the air at rapid speeds.
Evil Thought: Can manipulate dark elents to attack targets.
Dark Gate (Exclusive Skill): Opens a portal leading to the safehouse.
Toy: Uses telekinesis to turn a target into her preferred “toy,” provided her eerie force exceeds the target’s.
Passive Abilities:
Disillusion: Upon taking damage, her body turns into a black mist, teleporting a short distance before reforming.
Negative Charge: Absorbs nearby negative emotions and converts them into eerie force; the more intense the emotions, the more energy she gains.
The contract process went smoothly. The mont Li Ran saw the demon baby, it was complete.
And in return, Li Ran gained a contract skill—[Soul rge]
[Soul rge]: The contract beast can rge its soul with the player’s body, allowing the player to share in so of its abilities.
“Ee?”
The little demon baby let out a soft sound, tilting her tiny head in confusion as she looked at Li Ran.
With her floating ability, she hovered around him in circles, seemingly curious and oddly attached to the human before her.
“Call daddy,” Li Ran said with a mischievous grin.
“Ee!”
With a shocked expression, the demon baby zipped onto Li Ran’s head and started yanking at his hair. Within monts, his hair looked like a bird’s nest.
For a mont there, he regretted everything.
He felt like he hadn’t tad a contract beast… but adopted a little demon brat.
Li Ran told her to stop pulling his hair. She obeyed imdiately—then flew down and started biting his clothes.
He couldn’t help but feel like he was babysitting.
“You’ll gnaw on anything, huh?” Li Ran grabbed her and held her in front of him.
The little demon baby showed no fear at all. Instead, she grinned mischievously and began nibbling on his fingers. Her teeth were like a puppy’s—sharp, but not enough to hurt.
Li Ran realized that the demon baby could understand ntal commands clearly, but verbal instructions didn’t register well. She acted just like a human infant—curious about everything.
Babysitting was both exhausting and tedious. He admitted he didn’t have the patience to keep entertaining a baby like this.
“Co on out, Chitong.”
Li Ran opened the Summoning Gate and summoned Chitong.
And so—
One fox.
One baby.
Their eyes t.
“Ee?”
“Screee!?”
After handing off the little demon baby to Chitong, Li Ran collapsed onto the floor.
He was utterly exhausted. What should’ve been rest ti was interrupted by the Faceless Cat, nearly getting him infected.
He barely escaped through the Dark Gate, only to face another trial from the demon baby.
It wasn’t until now that his tense nerves finally relaxed.
“So this place is called the safehouse?”
Li Ran looked around the room. This ti, the room was pastel pink, and the walls were covered with soft fluffy fur.
Recalling the earlier mont when he could breathe inside the warm fluid, Li Ran speculated, “Maybe, for the little demon baby, being in amniotic fluid was the safest feeling she knew—so this room is modeled after that safe space?”
“The demon baby always fled back to the safehouse, and at night, she’d return through the Dark Gate—traveling between her ho and the dark world.”
“So… that ans I can also use the Dark Gate to hide in the safehouse during midnight? That way, I can avoid the nightti virus!”
“Maybe even the final night—the Night of Madness!”
The thought made Li Ran inexplicably excited. “During the Night of Madness, I’ll just hide in here and survive till the end of the world!”
Creak~~
Just then, an eerie sound of a door opening echoed out.
Li Ran instantly sprang up from the floor, his face filled with shock as he turned to look at the door behind him.
Chitong and the demon baby froze mid-play, both turning to look as well.
The door had opened just a crack—and through that crack, a pair of eerie, ghostly blue eyes stared directly into the room.
Li Ran’s scalp went numb. His face turned pale in an instant.
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)