Chapter 3

3

Law of the Jungle

(t/n: In this translation, jiejie and gege may be used in place of "older sister" and "older brother" when addressing females/males older than oneself . It can show up either as the address or as a suffix to someone's name . )

Thinking back on when I first arrived here a year ago, I couldn't help finding it laughable . Back then, seeing a crown-less man had made me scream out loud . There was also the blond man who explained everything about this place .

Now though, I'd already been dead for a year, my consciousness relegated to Split Zone No . 13 .

I was currently dashing through the streets of this city, and as I regained my senses, I suddenly felt that there was a figure following behind me .

Even without thinking about it, I knew who it was . But just in case, I quickly turned around . At the same time, I grabbed the bow on my back with my left hand, and by the time I saw him behind me, I already had an arrow aimed .

He was dressed entirely in black, and his strong and healthy figure was quick to respond . He jumped up above my head, and as I looked up, I saw him smile jokingly down at me . I reached out an empty hand to grab his ankle, and then the both of us started falling .

He unceremoniously kicked away my hand, going off my momentum, and we both seemed to hit the ground at the same time .

My crimson skirt swept across the ground, my red heels landing steadily . My messy, red hair blew with the wind as I shot a look at the stalker before me .

He was dressed completely in black, as he's always done . He looked the same as he did one year ago, only he'd traded his black turtleneck for a black windbreaker . His hands were casually inserted into his jacket pockets . His slightly long, black hair danced in the wind, with his shining, black eyes fixed onto me .

"Nie Zun, it's already been a year . Can't you wear something with a bit of color?" I scoffed as I looked over him .

Nie Zun shrugged, his lips curving upwards just slightly . "Aren't you the same? Always wearing red, always running through the streets at night, like a maniac . Have I ever asked you to change?"

I raised one of my eyebrows . "It's not often that you're so lively . I didn't know you could say so much at once . "

"Depends who I'm talking to," he replied, with a charming smile .

His smile caused my heart to skip a beat . But immediately afterwards, I silently berated myself for being unable to resist a handsome man's smile . I looked spitefully at him, who was still uncommunicative and feigning a sullen expression after an entire year . And for whatever reason, this man was loitering around me today like the devil .

I was about to make an ironic response when a cute little girl suddenly appeared in front of me .

She was a newbie who'd just arrived yesterday . Laurel, her name was . They said that she was brought here after a serious case of Stockholm syndrome triggered schizophrenia .

Her appearance was a very pure and innocent one, and her character was also sweet and kind . I guess, because she reminded me of myself when I was younger, I immediately took a liking to her . And she was in Westside, my territory, so of course I would do my best to protect her .

Laurel scurried over when she saw me . She pouted her little, red lips and looked at me sadly as she asked, "Ah Shen jiejie, I still don't really get it, the way time works here, so I can't get to sleep . "

I pat her on the head, her fine and soft blond hair feeling nice beneath my fingers .

I carefully explained, "This place is different from the world we came from . One day is divided into sixty periods . You can think of them as sixty hours . Day lasts for thirty of these hours, and then night lasts for the other thirty . During the day, things are as you've seen . The sky is gray, but everything is clearly visible . When night comes though, like right now, the sky is completely dark, and we can see maybe ten meters around ourselves . No matter how you try to light things up, you'll only be able to see as far as this district . "

"Then, jiejie, how can you run through the night so quickly? You can't see in front of you, but you're still so fast . " Laurel raised her head, her big, bright eyes shining towards me .

I smiled . "I've grown used to it . And when I run, I don't only rely on my vision . I use all five of my senses . "

"Like a bat?" Laurel asked, with a tilt of her head .

"Right," I said, with a gently rub of her head . "But don't worry . An hour in this place is much shorter than an hour in the world we came from . Once you get used to it, you'll be fine . "

"That big brother is really good looking . He's always following you, Ah Shen jiejie . " Laurel reached out her hand, attempting to grab onto Nie Zun's clothes . And surprisingly, he didn't try to dodge her . He simply shot her a shallow smile .

I scoffed . "That's because he can't leave me . "

"Oh? Why can't he leave you? Did he fall in love with you?" Laurel asked with amazement, her big eyes glistening .

In my mind, I couldn't help rolling my eyes at the thought . Him, love me? Please . Two people who couldn't wait for the other to die—what kind of love could there be between them? I looked over at Nie Zun's cunning eyes, and a trace of hatred flit across my heart .

"If you're going to roll your eyes, just do it in your head . If you actually roll them... In the dark night, a woman dressed in red rolling her eyes at you is really quite horrifying," Nie Zun said leisurely .

I grew a bit embarrassed . Had I really been unable to contain my eye-rolling to my thoughts only?

I grew a bit embarrassed . Had I really been unable to contain my eye-rolling to my thoughts only?

When she heard Nie Zun's words, Laurel started giggling . Seeing Laurel's bright smile made me feel much better .

But her laughter was brief, and suddenly, she screamed . It was a little girl's scream . I followed her gaze until I saw a green-haired snake woman, roughly as tall as a human .

I describe her as a snake woman because she had the lower body of a serpent, and her upper body appeared human . And that thick tail, or should I call it a snake leg... Wow . I really wanted to tell her to lose some weight .

Your appearance in this world was conjured up by your consciousness, so as long as your mental prowess was strong enough, you could change into any form you wanted . That's the reason behind all the strange creatures in this place .

In this place, our mind's capabilities equated to our strength, so we call it our mental force (MF) . Our abilities are quantified by this mental force .

When a person first arrives here, their mental force is measured by the leader—that is, the blond haired, mixed man . The upper limit of the MF measurement is 100, with most people having an MF between 10 and 20, or 30-40 if your mental force is a bit stronger .

The strength of one's consciousness can slowly be improved with time and practice, just like willpower . However, unless your willpower was extremely strong while you were alive, in the physical world-in other words, unless you were very strong before you came here-you could practice day and night, but your MF would only ever increase about 3 levels .

So, when you arrive to this place, your abilities have essentially already been decided .

Generally speaking, because one's mental force has a limit, and because the strength of one's brain waves has a limit, once you've set your appearance, it's difficult to change it . Moreover, we only have a certain amount of mental force, and to maintain a different appearance would require spending a portion of it .

One month after my arrival here, I'd grasped how to manipulate my mental force, but I'd only expended about 3 levels to make myself slimmer, more elegant, and to turn my hair red . Aside from that, I maintained a human appearance . I really couldn't understand those people who spent so much of their mental force to maintain a weird, monstrous appearance .

For example, the snake woman in front of us that needed to lose some weight .

I comforted Laurel, "Don't be scared . Her name is You Ji, and while she's far from being kind, she won't harm you . "

"You Ji, look at your appearance . You're scaring the poor kid . Can't you turn into something more pleasant?" I looked over at her serpent tail .

You Ji extended her hand and stroked her green hair . She gave me a coquettish look . "I really liked snakes when I was still alive . Now that I have the chance to use my mind to shape shift, it's only natural that I'd want to be melded together with a snake . "

My lips twitched as I pointed to her spinach-like green hair . "A snake that can grow green hair is attractive to you?"

"Hngh . It's called being trendy . " She rolled her eyes at me . Her eyes were still very charming though .

"Hngh . It's called being trendy . " She rolled her eyes at me . Her eyes were still very charming though .

She looked at the still-frightened Laurel, and then she looked at Nie Zun behind me, slouched with his hands in his pockets .

Then her eyes returned to me . "You'd better be careful of Sly S . I don't know what kind of trick she's trying to pull, but she's been roping in a lot of strong people recently . Eastside is growing more restless by the day, and there are always corpses everywhere . There are some really dangerous people among the ones she's gathered . "

I laughed lightly . "She's always done things strangely and without order . I figure that, as long as I don't offend her, she also won't take the initiative to bother me . "

You Ji laughed along . "Oh, please . Doing things without order? Who could compete with Westside on that front? Who's as strange as you, coming and leaving without a trace? You know, you're the commander of Westside . Don't just live each day without a care, playing around, leaving Nie Zun and me to take care of things . I'm telling you because I'm worried that, even if you don't provoke her, she'll decide that someone as carefree as you would be easy pickings . "

I nodded, to let her know I'd be careful . When I didn't say anything else, You Ji simply let out a sigh . With a flick of her tail, she left .

As You Ji disappeared from my sight after just a few steps, I found myself lost in thought .

Of course I knew about Sly S .

Northside's Blondie .

Southside's Si Luo .

Eastside's Sly S .

And Westside's Li Zhen .

Not too long after my arrival here, before I'd become the Westside commander, I was on a street in the Eastside . With my own two eyes, I saw the Eastside commander, Sly S, tearing a girl to shreds .

The girl had been screaming in anguish, but Sly S was expressionless . It was like she was simply ripping up a piece of paper . She pulled the girl's limbs off, one by one, and after the girl's limbs regenerated, Sly S would, once again, tear them off .

She seemed to have spent an entire day doing that .

Because only our consciousness existed in the split zone, any time our bodies were torn or wounded, they would regenerate and heal soon after . Our physical appearance was simply an illusion, and not our true physical shells .

But because our consciousness existed here, we were still able to feel pain .

In other words, when someone repeatedly rips you to shreds, you will feel the pain boring into you, but you'll be unable to escape it .

That was one of the frightening aspects of this world .

That was one of the frightening aspects of this world .

Every person in the split zone had something that could protect them—that is, their splitting key . At the same time, every person carried a weakness—their split symbol .

When someone inserts their splitting key into another's split symbol, that person will truly die . In whatever form they were in, they would die in this world .

And their body in the physical realm would be declared brain dead soon after .

While I couldn't believe everything about this world, you come to realize some things . And I'd already seen a lot of people die .

This place wasn't without rules though . Anyone who inserted their splitting key into an innocent person would, at the same time, hear the sound of a flute flow down from the gray sky above . As the flute sounded, their body would burst into a million pieces, like a beautiful shower of blood . You wouldn't be able to see any pieces of flesh, just bloody residue .

Those who assassinate another will die here, in this cruel fashion . They would feel that pain until the flute no longer sounded, and then their consciousness would also cease to exist in the physical world .

Of course, these are legends . While it's true that the killer will burst apart and die, whether or not one hears the sound of a flute... Well, I've never killed anyone, so naturally, I've never heard it .

All I know is that, when someone starts to burst apart, they will cry out in anguish before their death . Even if I've grown some guts in my time here, I still get chills when I hear the sound .

The only way to leave this place is to find the soul splitter that brought you here and insert your splitting key into their split symbol .

You may be wondering, then, why someone would use their splitting key on an innocent person instead of their soul splitter?

It's very simple, really . Being able to find your soul splitter in this place is harder than climbing to heaven .

Don't even mention finding the soul splitter that brought you here, I still haven't even seen a soul splitter in my time here .

People eventually grow tired of this place . They don't want their families to wait for them, to suffer as they care for a vegetable . And so, they choose to kill another and be destroyed with them .

In this place, you cannot kill yourself . If you want to die, you're either killed by someone, or you kill someone to suffer the consequences .

Every day, there are people who become fed up, so this is hardly a safe place . It's full of slaughtering and conspiracy .

Hiding our split symbol has become a daily source of concern for everyone here .