The wind on Coal Hill carried the scent of blood and vegetation, bitingly cold.

Wang Chengen knelt on the ground, mind completely gone, repeatedly kowtowing to the smiling Chongzhen Emperor, muttering over and over: "Your Majesty, please calm your anger, Your Majesty, please calm your anger..."


"Calm anger?" Fighting the needle-like pain in my head, I yanked him up from the ground. "Does he look angry to you? He's been possessed by 'something'! If we don't leave now, we'll all become sacrifices!"

My voice rasped with fear and the echoing whispers in my mind. The feeling was all too familiar—that state when your Sanity drops to critical levels in the game. The geometric shapes in my vision grew clearer, and I could even see the thin layer of "mortal" fortune around Wang Chengen slowly eroding from the black mist emanating from Chongzhen.

"You—protect the emperor," I pointed at Chongzhen and gave Wang Chengen the simplest order. Then I turned to face the emperor who stood there like the abyss incarnate.


"Zhu Youjian," I tried communicating as I would in the game—using logic and mutual interest rather than emotion. "You want revenge, don't you? Against Li Zicheng, against the Manchus beyond the Great Wall, against all who betrayed you. Beijing is about to become a slaughterhouse, and staying here means certain death. Come south with me, where you still have armies, territory, and... more sacrifices."

I deliberately emphasized the word "sacrifices."


The word seemed to trigger something in "It."

Chongzhen's eerie smile faded slightly as his pitch-black eye sockets turned toward me. He didn't speak, but the black mist around him churned violently. I felt the "Black Dragon's Curse" within my body suddenly boil up, as if triggered by remote control, sending violent, destructive impulses surging through my brain.

[Sanity Check: Passed]

[You have temporarily suppressed the assimilation urge of the "Black Dragon's Curse"]

[Analysis: Target shows logical response to "efficiency" and "optimal solution"]

Useful! My gaming experience became a lifeline. This emperor, corrupted by evil gods, still retained some instinct for the "optimal solution" from a ruler's perspective.

He slowly nodded.

"Let's go!" Without hesitation, I grabbed Wang Cheng'en and supported one of Chongzhen's arms as we rushed down the mountain.

Cold to the touch, hard as iron. Nothing like a human at all.

The mountain path was pure chaos. Rebels shouting, civilians wailing, and the sporadic clash of weapons all blended into an apocalyptic symphony. We avoided the main road, instead trudging through the forest, stumbling as we went.

Wang Cheng'en, a palace dweller after all, quickly exhausted his strength and fell repeatedly. Chongzhen, however, moved like a weightless shadow. No matter how rugged the terrain, his footsteps remained terrifyingly steady—he even ended up dragging me forward.

"This way!" Relying on my memory of the game map, I headed toward the northwestern corner of the Forbidden City, toward Shenwu Gate. I knew there was an inconspicuous side door there—in the early game, it was the only escape route from the palace that didn't lead to certain death.

Emerging from the forest, we rushed along the red wall of the Imperial City. A group of seven or eight rogue soldiers charged toward us from the opposite direction. They wore tattered clothes and wielded mismatched weapons. Upon seeing us, their eyes gleamed with greed, especially when they spotted Chongzhen's dragon robe, still magnificent despite being covered in dust.

"Rich pickings!" shouted the scarred-faced leader as he brandished his broadsword and charged.

"Wang Chengen, hold them off!" I shouted instinctively, preparing to pull Chongzhen to safety.

But Chongzhen moved faster than I could.

He simply raised his head, his pitch-black eye sockets staring directly at the scarred-faced man leading the charge.

No wind, no lightning, not even a sound.

The greed on the scarred man's face froze instantly, transforming into pure terror. His body, as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, twisted into an impossible posture, his bones making sickening *crack-crack* sounds. Fresh blood gushed from every orifice, and in less than two seconds, his entire body was "wrung" into a shapeless mass of mangled flesh.

The remaining soldiers screamed in terror and tried to flee.

"Sacrifices... must not be wasted..." Chongzhen growled deep in his throat.

He raised his hand and made a grasping gesture toward the fleeing soldiers.

Their bodies instantly collapsed to the ground like deflated sacks, as if their skeletons had dissolved. Beneath their skin, something writhed and multiplied rapidly, transforming their flesh into pools of indescribable meat paste that continuously emitted black vapors.

[Witnessing a horrifying event, sanity check...]

[Check exemption (contamination of the same source)]

My stomach churned violently as I fought the urge to vomit. Was this the power of the "God-chosen Champion"? No elaborate spells—just pure, primitive, unreasonable distortion and devouring. He wasn't killing people; he was "processing" lower life forms.

"Hurry!" I pushed down my fear, hauled up the nearly collapsed Wang Cheng'en, and continued running without looking back.

Chongzhen followed behind us expressionlessly, as if he'd just crushed a few ants.

We finally found the hidden side door. The lock had been destroyed long ago. We slipped in, and the howls of the rioting soldiers outside faded away.

I leaned against the cold palace wall, gasping for breath. My heart pounded wildly—half from exertion, half from terror. I glanced at the "Living Calamity" behind me, then at the distant sky streaked with fire and black smoke.

I knew this was just the beginning.

"In the game, there are three southern escape routes," I forced myself to calm down as my brain raced, merging game strategies with cruel reality. "The water route is fastest, but easily cut off by the rebel navy. The land route is safest, but passes through Henan and Huguang, already overrun with bandits. There's also another way..."

I looked toward Chongzhen.

"There's a route through the Taihang Mountains, cutting through Shanxi before heading south. It's the most treacherous path, but in the late game, it's the only 'safe route' that avoids most contaminated zones."

I was explaining to Wang Cheng-en, but also making a "proposal presentation" to this darkened emperor.

In Chongzhen's pitch-black eye sockets, there seemed to be a flash of "thought." He nodded gently in agreement.

My heart sank.

His agreement meant this was indeed the "optimal solution" under the current situation.

It also meant this sole path to survival would inevitably lead to him—or rather the eldritch god behind him—having prepared even more terrifying "game content" for us.

A mad emperor, a terrified eunuch, and a cursed time traveler.

These were all the assets we had... to fight against the entire abyssal invasion.