When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)-Chapter 690: Cursed Day

Shen Nianzu’s feet moved faster than his brain could catch up. Only God knew why he was reacting like this in the presence of his closest family members. It was pure reflex, a spontaneous move he could not even explain.

But before he could take more than three steps, his arm was abruptly seized.

"Where are you going, Young Master?" Qing Mo gave him a disapproving look. "Madam said that you don’t want to cooperate with the doctor, is it true?"

Shen Nianzu tried to wrench his arm out of Qing Mo’s bruising grip, but then he was shocked to discover that the other person’s hold on him was as strong as a vice, and he was unable to break free despite using all of his strength!

What the hell! Had Qing Mo always been this strong?!

"Sigh, this stubborn child..." With a helpless sigh, Master Shen stepped forward and clamped down on his other arm, his movement so swift that Shen Nianzu failed to dodge in time. "Your mother and I have really spoiled you rotten. Let’s go, we will discuss this at home."

Then, the two of them started to lead—or more precisely, pull—him toward the entrance.

"No..." Shen Nianzu’s pupils shrank as he cried out, "Wait! Mom, Dad, Qing Mo— please wait a minute. I need to wait for someone here!!"

Alas, his protest fell into deaf ears. Even Madam Shen simply wiped the moist corner of her eyes and coaxed him like he was a naughty child, "Be good, Nianzu. Listen to your Father, okay?"

"I-I won’t go anywhere, I swear! I just need to wait for someone here! Ten minutes— no, five! Let me wait five minutes here! The person I’m waiting for will be here soon!" Despite his pleas, the three of them acted as if they had heard nothing and continued half-dragging half-pulling him away. Their strength was so immense that any resistance was rendered futile. Shen Nianzu even tried to brake and plant his feet firmly on the ground—he swore he could hear the tiles shattering underfoot due to the excessive force he exerted—but they didn’t budge even a bit! It almost felt like what he was contending against were not humans but an impregnable steel fortress!

"MOM, DAD, PLEASE—!"

Desperation seeped into every fiber of Shen Nianzu’s being. He knew that there was a high chance he might end up being disappointed again, that the meeting with the mysterious stranger might not lead him anywhere— but still, he was not willing to let go of the slightest clues he could have uncovered.

It was like catching a glimpse of hope while sinking in a quagmire, only to have it robbed away just as he was about to reach it.

The feeling was so unbearable, Shen Nianzu was about to go insane. "Let go! LET GO OF ME—!" he struggled like mad without a single care for his image, screeching on top of his lungs. "I TOLD YOU TO GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES— JUST FIVE MINUTES!!!"

But in the end, it was all useless.

"Sorry, sorry for the commotion we have caused," Qing Mo bowed apologetically to the crowd who had been drawn here by the commotion. "Our family’s young master... he’s a little sick."

Understanding instantly dawned on their faces, and the gazes they directed toward Shen Nianzu shifted into a mix of pity, mockery and curiosity, as if they were merely watching a spectacle.

No one came to his rescue.

No one.

***

By the time they arrived home, Shen Nianzu was already numb, half from exhaustion and half from the sheer absurdity of the whole situation.

He had cried and cursed and lashed out inside the car, adamant on waiting for that mysterious stranger, yet all his struggles were easily subdued by his mother. His kind and gentle mother. He was as helpless as a weak little child in front of her, and everything he said was merely treated as mere temper tantrums.

"Don’t be like this, Nianzu ah..." she’d said as she locked his wrists in an unyielding grip, almost as if she was about to break his bones. Yet her expression remained gentle and concerned, the lids of her eyes reddening from unshed tears as she coaxed him softly. "You’re going to make Mother sad this way."

Her tears had always been his weakness. Whenever he saw them, he would instantly fold and yield in to whatever she wanted. He hated to see his mother cry, even more so when he was the reason behind these tears.

But now...

When Shen Nianzu looked at her like this, he only felt a wave of chill running down his spine. The more normal she behaved, the more it gave him the creeps.

And he couldn’t believe he was even feeling this way. This was his mother, for God’s sake! His beloved mother, the person who had given birth to him, who had raised him with love and affection and felt pain on his behalf whenever he underwent medication— so why did the mere sight of her make his skin crawl like this?!

Shen Nianzu didn’t know... he truly didn’t know. And the more he wanted to unravel the root of the problem, the more his head ached.

He had no idea how he managed to get through dinner. Hell, he didn’t even know what he shoveled into his mouth. He just went through the process, and when his parents praised him for being sensible, Shen Nianzu felt a sickening sensation churning in the pit of his stomach.

Just like last night, when Qing Mo handed him his pills, Shen Nianzu pretended to swallow them under their waiting eyes, and it wasn’t until he sent them out of his room that he spat them all out once more. On his palm laid a cluster of black and red worms, writhing and squirming as if salt had been rubbed over their bodies.

Shen Nianzu stared at them blankly, too numb to react.

But when he thought of how he had just kept these disgusting creatures under his tongue, his stomach abruptly spasmed. "Hurg—" Covering his mouth, he staggered to the bathroom and vomited all his dinner on the sink. But instead of half processed food, what he hurled out was a deluge of thick red-brownish substance, interspersed with bits and pieces of raw flesh in between.

His entire body trembled.

And when he looked up at the mirror, he saw his own disheveled self— messy hair, bloodshot eyes, with the foreign reddish substance that had gotten all over his face and shirt...

At first glance, he looked just like the mirror ’Shen Nianzu’ from the previous night.

"...!" Shen Nianzu recoiled at the thought, his lips trembling. Like a madman, he frantically wiped the filth on his face with his shirt before discarding it altogether, as if the mere thought of any similarities between them repulsed him so.

Breathing heavily, he faced himself in the mirror once more,

"You’re still not coming out?" he forced out in a strained voice, his teeth chattering— whether from fear or anger, he could no longer tell. Maybe the mixture of both. "After messing with me like that, you’re just going to disappear?! Come out—I TOLD YOU TO COME OUT!!!"

CRASH—

His fist slammed into the mirror, shattering it to pieces. What remained were only jagged fragments clinging stubbornly to the wall, faithfully reflecting Shen Nianzu’s distorted, frenzied image back to him. Tiny shards bit into his knuckles, blood blooming across his skin. But Shen Nianzu didn’t even register the pain.

"Ha..."

Trembling violently, he kept retreating until his back collided with the wall. Then his strength gave out, and his body started to slide down inch by inch. His palms scraped uselessly against the wall as he tried to hold himself up, but it was no use. He felt too weak. His legs could no longer support himself.

In the end, he collapsed onto the cold bathroom floor with his knees drawn to his chest, huddling as small as possible like a small injured animal left out in the rain.

Had he been too loud?

The thought surfaced all of a sudden, unbidden, as he bit down on his nails with near neurotic anxiety. Had his parents or Qing Mo heard? Would they come running after this commotion?

Shen Nianzu felt just like the broken mirror, his mind split into two. Half of him was on the verge of hyperventilation, paralyzed by the fear of being discovered yet too weak to move, while the other half was coldly and numbly analyzing his situation as if it belonged to someone else.

Until the end, he came to a single conclusion—

No one could save him.

Not his parents, not Qing Mo, not the doctors and nurses, not even the strangers he met along the way.

If he wanted to escape his current predicament, he could only rely on himself.

That’s right, the only one who could save him now was his own weak, useless and pathetic self—no one else. For that, he could not break down here.

"Get yourself together, Nianzu..." gritting his teeth, Shen Nianzu forced himself to get up several times before he succeeded. Then he dragged himself to the shower stall for a quick rinse. He didn’t give the broken mirror a second glance. Either way, everything would return to how it was tomorrow, with no trace of the mess he had caused.

Shen Nianzu had no idea whether he should call it a curse or a blessing.

After the shower, he felt even more unwell— his head pounding, his stomach queasy, and his teeth couldn’t stop chattering despite having taken a warm shower. He had a feeling that he was about to come down with a cold, which was extremely bad in his current condition. But he didn’t search for any medicine. He didn’t dare to.

He could only wrap the blanket tightly around himself and hope he could sweat it out overnight.

One thing he was grateful for was that the commotion had not alerted anyone in the house. Although it was a little strange, considering how attentive and watchful they were toward him, Shen Nianzu no longer had the energy to analyze their behavior.

He was like a cornered animal, clutching onto the blanket as if it was the last armor that could protect his soft and fragile body. His back was pressed against the wall, one hand clutching onto the phone.

Staring unblinkingly at the screen.

Thump-thump-thump.

The room was silent save for the frantic thud of his heartbeat and the rasp of his shallow breaths. His eyes grew sore, but he forced them open, fearing that a moment’s darkness would cause him to miss whatever came next.

23.44 PM/11th December

The battery was still 95%, ample enough to get through the night and the day after.

23.52 PM/11th December

23.58 PM

"Haa... haa..." Shen Nianzu could no longer control the rhythm of his breathing. He gasped like a fish stranded on land, desperately taking in the air needed to breathe, his temples slick with sweat. At this moment, he felt like he could finally understand how a death row prisoner felt when they stepped onto the execution ground, waiting for the blade to fall upon their neck. For he was feeling exactly the same right now.

Please... he prayed, though he had no idea what he should be praying for.

Confirming his doubt, proving he was not insane or... for everything to be a mere product of his imagination?

23.59 PM

Time flowed forward with cruel indifference, uncaring of the human swept along in its tide. Tick-tick-tick, Shen Nianzu could almost hear the clock ticking beside his ears. He thought it resembled a countdown to his death. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

And finally...

00.00 AM

The Damocles’ sword hanging above him fell.

Shen Nianzu went deathly still, staring at his phone screen.

00.00 AM / 11th December

Again, it was December 11th.

Now he could be sure this wasn’t some trick of his mind.

"Ha... haha... HAHAHA—!" the laughter started off weak, growing louder and louder until his entire body shook and tears spilled from the corner of his eyes. He laughed until the phone slipped from his trembling grasp, the screen bright and vivid, as if mocking the sheer irony of his struggles.

See that? He was not insane.

He was not insane!

It was still 11th December! For three days in a row, it had been 11th December!

He had indeed been repeating this cursed day—again and again!