On the streets, in the skies above, countless grotesque and terrifying creatures stood in ranks, their presence overwhelming. As far as the eye could see, they were packed so densely, so tightly, that the horizon itself seemed to vanish into the abyss.
It felt as though this were a world of aberrations, where humanity itself was the true anomaly.
Figures, shrouded entirely in shadow, roamed the streets—faceless, featureless humanoid beings devoid of all distinguishing traits.
Behemoth-like giants, their heads absent, strode between towering buildings with a chilling, unstoppable presence.
Men, their flesh peeled away, hovered beneath massive, eyeless skulls, their necks connected to an array of writhing, crimson tendrils. There were countless other creatures, misshapen, twisted, with faces contorted into nightmarish expressions, drifting aimlessly like dandelion seeds in the wind.
Yet, these eerie entities paled in comparison to the true horror looming above, where a terror far more incomprehensible awaited.
High above, a pair of enormous, pure white wings blotted out the sky, radiant with a holiness that mirrored that of an angel's. However, these wings were attached to a singular, grotesque eye, swollen with blood vessels and tumor-like growths. This eye, far larger than the sun, radiated a sinister, oppressive red glow—an aura of dread, forbidden and foreboding.
In the distant heavens stood a bride, slender and elegant, adorned in a bright red wedding gown with the character "囍" embroidered across her chest. Her hands, pale as ivory, were gracefully folded in front of her. But there was something amiss—her head was that of a rabbit. Its fur was pristine white, its eyes blood-red like two rubies, and a smile played upon its anthropomorphic features.
The strangeness was profound, the rabbit-headed visage almost paradoxically elegant—like a noblewoman from ancient times, exuding an unnatural yet striking beauty.
In addition to these, other grotesque forms loomed: giant, gray, slimy bodies covered in an ocean of eyeballs, each eye popping like bubbles before new ones grew in their place; a Buddha's head, black as coal and studded with fleshy tumors; shapeless voids filled with howling human faces trapped in suffocating black mist; massive, eerie statues of deities wrought from mud; each one a grotesque, forbidden aberration.
Together, these eldritch entities formed an unearthly, jarring tableau—forever radiating forbidden, unutterable truths, their very presence a continuous assault on the soul. The distortions they conveyed battered against Fang Xiu's very spirit, each pulse of chaos hammering away at his mind.
In that moment, he could hear countless whispers, filled with evil and corruption. These were not the sounds of humanity; each syllable carried an insanity-inducing taint.
Had this been the Fang Xiu of before, he would have been driven to madness at a mere glance.
But now, after dying eighteen times, after being consumed, devoured, and obliterated over and over, if he still had a soul, it had long been twisted by death, madness, and hatred. His soul was no longer pure—it had been shaped into something far darker, far more volatile.
These horrors, though terrifying, were no longer enough to shatter his mind. If anything, they only further twisted and drove him toward the edge of madness, as his sanity had already been worn away by his repeated deaths. The insanity that now clouded his soul was not a curse—it had become his salvation, an unholy form of rebirth.
"Ha... haha..."
Fang Xiu suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter, a laugh so twisted and repressed that it sounded as though it were forcibly wrung from his throat—a laugh that sent shivers down the spine.
For reasons unknown, upon witnessing this grotesque world, he found himself laughing, unable to stop.
He didn't want to be noticed by the eerie creatures, so he covered his mouth, yet the warped laughter still seeped through his fingers.
He bowed his head, his pale face shadowed by the falling darkness, but those burning, maddened eyes still betrayed the storm within him.
"How... interesting..." he muttered with a chilling calm, "This world is truly... too interesting! Hahahaha..."
Cough, cough...
The laughter intensified, causing him to cough violently, but with each cough, his laughter grew even more unrestrained, until it became an almost painful fit, leaving him gagging.
"Uncle, are you okay? Are you sick?"
A small voice pierced through his madness.
A little girl, no more than four or five years old, with two pigtails and a lollipop in her hand, appeared before him.
Her sudden appearance did not surprise him; from the memories of his past life, he knew that this world appeared normal on the surface. People lived ordinary lives—going to school, working, marrying, having children. It seemed that no one else could see the abominations that had plagued this world.
So, the appearance of a little girl was hardly out of place.
He attempted to suppress his laughter, hoping to appear more kindly.
"I'm fine, little sister. But you should call me 'big brother,'" he said with a forced smile, extending his hand to gently ruffle her head, a gesture that reminded him of the daughter he had once dreamed of having.
However, the little girl's next words froze his hand midair.
"You can see me!"
Her innocent expression instantly vanished, replaced by a twisted, manic joy that mirrored his wife's—wild, ecstatic madness.
Fang Xiu was momentarily stunned, before his laughter erupted once again, uncontrollable.
"Hahaha... this is truly interesting! How utterly fascinating!"
This time, tears streamed from his eyes as he laughed.
Slap!
He pressed his hand firmly against the little girl's head, ruffling her hair with a force that was almost affectionate.
But in the next instant, his hand was violently repelled.
The little girl began to swell at an alarming rate, her body expanding like a balloon. Crimson blood and flesh erupted from her form, spilling and oozing out as if her body could no longer contain itself.
In the blink of an eye, the innocent, cute little girl transformed into a grotesque mass of flesh, towering over two meters tall, a monstrous, blood-soaked form, covered in twisted, exposed veins.
Her pigtails had transformed into thick, dark horns, and the lollipop had turned into a massive white bone club, resembling the leg bone of some unknown creature.
"You can see me!!" the girl screamed, her voice guttural and filled with rage.
Fang Xiu watched, a mad glint in his eyes, the light in them seeming even more insane than the monstrosity before him.
"Compared to your previous form, I prefer you like this... because... it will make it so much easier to kill you," he said, his tone dripping with malice.
The girl roared and raised her bone club, the shadow it cast engulfing Fang Xiu entirely, a shroud of death itself.
Fang Xiu continued to laugh. "Now I understand why I'm laughing. There are just so many of you, so many of your kind... it excites me! There's no need to worry about running out of victims to kill!"
"Hahahaha... You all... must die!!!"
Bang!
The bone club came crashing down, and Fang Xiu was reduced to a pile of bloody pulp.