"Cough... cough..." Blood foam kept spewing from Su Xiaoxiao's mouth. Her ribs were fractured inward, piercing her lungs, making each breath extremely difficult.

Chen Ran seemed to be waiting, as if unwilling to miss any exciting moment. He leaned close to Su Xiaoxiao's ear and licked his lips. "Miss Su," he said softly, "guess... how will I entertain you next?"

He swallowed excitedly, his mouth stretching open in an exaggerated grin. The excitement and madness in his eyes were almost uncontrollable, but he still pretended to be subdued, saying, "I'll start by chopping off one of your arms and throwing it on the stone plate."

"If I can get what I want, that would be the best. If not..." He paused. "We still have another arm and two legs to try."

"Of course, I believe Miss Su's luck won't be so bad that we have to use your body," Chen Ran said with a smile, his mouth opening to reveal a set of white teeth. "Don't you think so, Miss Su?"

Chen Ran didn't like killing people in nightmares, as it would taint him with so-called karma. He just liked to torture them. The pitiful, desperate way they struggled to survive was what moved him the most.

Because only then would they understand the preciousness of life.

He would even mercifully throw teammates who had been tortured to the brink of death through the door first, letting them leave and return to the real world.

Torture wasn't the goal, just a means. What he really wanted was... edification!

Yes, edification!

Some people were just too fragile. They would cry and clamor to go back as soon as they arrived in the nightmare world and encountered some strange events, unwilling to take even the slightest risk, even... for clues.

Too many stupid, humble, and shameful fellows were waiting to reap the benefits without sowing.

They had completely become slaves to fear.

If the team suffered major casualties or encountered some supernatural and terrifying events, some of them... would even be so afraid as to commit suicide.

Whenever he encountered such people, Chen Ran would control them and then torture them little by little.

He would first try to cut open their blood vessels, letting them watch the blood flow from their wrists, little by little, then more and more, dyeing the plants and soil around them red...

But what Chen Ran didn't understand was that every time, these people who were so eager to die would beg him bitterly, saying they didn't want to die, that they wanted to live.

What a bunch of hypocritical fellows.

They had no respect for life.

Of course, he would eventually satisfy them, but before throwing their half-dead bodies through the iron gate, they would inevitably suffer a bit.

Chen Ran was more accustomed to cutting off their limbs.

It made them much lighter to carry and easier to transport. The only problem was that stopping the bleeding was too troublesome, so he could only use this method for a very short time before the door opened.

After returning to reality, their missing limbs would be restored to them. Chen Ran was very satisfied with this characteristic of the nightmare.

He didn't mind people calling him a madman, because after tracing the origin of the word, it had no clear meaning of praise or disparagement. It was merely a matter of perspective, representing something not understood by the world.

Like Beethoven, Van Gogh, Nietzsche...

They were also once called madmen by the world and were not tolerated by secular eyes.

But the greatness of time was that it would make the true, wonderful, and radiant scenes last forever, while burying all the false and vulgar ones.

Beethoven used stormy melodies to refute the argument that music should be a pleasing work of art external to personal emotions, an idea that had been prevalent since Bach.

Only when Van Gogh left his ear and lived in Saint-Rémy would he have exaggerated and distorted starry skies and irises, as well as those restless, deep blue tones.

And... Nietzsche.

Oh, Nietzsche!

Chen Ran's eyes revealed an infatuated emotion.

Nietzsche's proud and unyielding personality and pessimistic thoughts were indelible labels.

In Chen Ran's eyes, neither the ambiguous relationship with Salomé, the separation from Wagner, nor even being packaged by his sister as an evil spiritual godfather, and finally dying in a mental hospital... could obscure the brilliance of the moment when the latter pointed to the signboard of Christianity and said faintly to the world, "God is dead."

A person is alone not because he wants to be lonely, but because he cannot find his kind around him.

Chen Ran smiled with tears in his eyes.

Nietzsche's tragedy was not repeated in him. What Nietzsche could not find, he... had found.

Crimson...

Was his final destination.

"Miss Su," Chen Ran squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. If you have nothing else to say, we'll have to..."

Su Xiaoxiao, who was curled up on the ground, moved. Chen Ran stared at her with interest. She had obviously reacted to what he said. Did she... have something to say?

"My brother... cough, cough..." Su Xiaoxiao spat out a mouthful of blood foam, some of which even splashed on Chen Ran, but neither of them cared. She trembled with difficulty and said, "Is he..."

"Miss Su, please rest assured," Chen Ran interrupted her, then narrowed his eyes, leaned close to Su Xiaoxiao's ear, and said quietly, "Your brother is most likely dead. Even if he's not, he will be after I return."

"Cough, cough..." Hearing this, Su Xiaoxiao coughed up another mouthful of blood. The "huffing" sound of her breathing was as rapid as an old bellows with a leak.

Chen Ran was very satisfied with Su Xiaoxiao's reaction.

He had decided to spare her life. After all, there were very few interesting people like her anymore. He was looking forward to their next meeting. Perhaps... without the burden of her brother, this woman would be even more interesting.

"Miss Su, please straighten your right arm." Picking up a spear-like weapon from the side of the grave, Chen Ran tested the blade with his finger, tilted his head, and said, "The weapons here aren't very handy. Cooperate a little. It'll be better for both of us."

Just as Chen Ran was looking for an angle, wondering where to start for the most comfortable cut, he suddenly heard a somewhat harsh sound. He put away the spear, lowered his gaze, and looked at Su Xiaoxiao, who was like a dead dog.

"Heh... heh..."

Although the sound was very low and mixed with "huffing" breaths, it could still be heard clearly.

She was laughing.

This woman, who was about to have her limbs chopped off and might even lose her life if she wasn't careful, was actually laughing.

"Even if... even if you can... cough, cough... kill... kill me, you... you can't defeat him," Su Xiaoxiao said in a hoarse voice.

"Who?" Chen Ran raised his eyebrows. "That Hao Shuai?"

"You... you don't really think I believed what you said, do you?" Su Xiaoxiao laughed even more wildly, her whole body convulsing from the pain caused by the laughter. "Guess... why Hao Shuai and the others haven't appeared?"

After a moment, Chen Ran put away his weapon, and the look on his face as he looked at Su Xiaoxiao also became gloomy. "It seems Miss Su has more than one partner."