Chapter 19: Revenge
[Choose to Return Early?]
Items to Carry:
World: Hellraiser Universe (100,000,000 Survival Points)
Mysterious: Hell Portal - Ice Crystal Sphere (12,000 Survival Points)
Common Items: 5 x Century-Old Ginseng Roots (100 Survival Points), $20,000 Cash (20 Survival Points), Reinforced Briefcase (3 Survival Points), 40x40 Sewer Tiles (1 Survival Point), Tattered Clothes (1 Survival Point).
"Yes!"
"Carry the Ice Crystal Sphere, Century-Old Ginseng, and Briefcase."
[Survival Points Deducted Successfully, Teleportation Begins]
Marcus felt as if he had passed through a barrier. His vision went black, and he felt weightless. When his vision returned, he was in a void, black space. He looked down and saw that he had returned to his previous form, shirtless with two empty wounds on his sides.
Marcus regretted not exchanging for the tattered jacket as well.
Text began to appear before his eyes:
[Summary]:
[Lighthouse ID: SL914]
[Anchored World This Time: Hellraiser 1]
[Survival mission completed by default, 500 Survival Points gained]
[Completed Story Missions: Activate the Lament Configuration, Enter the Labyrinth, Kill the Cenobite. 20,000 Survival Points gained (Completing all story missions increases story rating)]
[Story Rating: S]
[Exploration progress reached 50%, all story missions completed, Root Fragment *1 (Bound)]
Friendly Reminder: Root Fragments cannot be produced again in the Hellraiser world before the Guardian dies.
[Lighthouse ID SL914 completed the first dungeon, obtaining the Guardian's Mark.]
Lighthouse ID SL914 has successfully become the Guardian, unlocking the personal information template and unlocking one cubic meter of Mark space.
Note: Items carried from this story world: Ice Crystal Sphere, Reinforced Briefcase, and Century-Old Ginseng have been placed in the space.
Marcus felt a slight pain in his arm. Looking down, he saw a lighthouse-shaped mark slowly appearing on his forearm. He touched the mark with his mind,
and personal information appeared:
Lighthouse Number: SL914
Identity: Lighthouse Keeper
Strength: ** Rank (Please test yourself in the Lighthouse Testing Room and upload your results.)
Survival Points: 8397.
He also sensed a one-cubic-meter space containing a crystal sphere, a briefcase, and five century-old ginseng roots.
Marcus had specifically arranged to acquire these ginseng roots at a high price, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He figured he would return to the real world penniless. Having gotten used to spending money freely in the story world, it would be best to bring something valuable with him.
Money from the story world is different from money in the real world. Marcus had originally planned to bring gold, but firstly, he didn't know when he would return, and secondly, the amount of items an individual can carry is limited. Gold is sold by weight; selling a small amount is fine, but selling large quantities could lead to problems at the pawn shop, and if Marcus was investigated, it would be difficult to explain.
So he spent a lot of money to carry five century-old wild ginseng roots with him. According to his predecessor's memories, a century-old wild ginseng root sold for three hundred thousand dollars in this world two years ago.
[This world settlement is complete. The settlement space will disappear in 10 seconds.]
[Choose to return: Reality, Lighthouse]
Marcus remembered what his contact had said. The Lighthouse and the real world are synchronized. That means if he returned to the Lighthouse and wasted time, people outside might have already seen him disappear and would likely leave, exposing him.
"Return to reality."
Marcus felt dizzy and his consciousness blurred.
In the dimly lit basement.
The woman dressed as a nurse gently put down the syringe and watched the young man slowly close his eyes.
She gently took out a scalpel and wiped Marcus's chest with alcohol.
A sadistic smile appeared on the nurse's beautiful face as she slowly brought the scalpel closer to Marcus's chest.
Lying on the dirty operating table, injected with drugs, Marcus, who had been slowly closing his eyes and about to pass out, suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with fury.
He was like a lion with its eyes wide open, all traces of the despair and fear from a second ago gone. His eyes were fixed intently on the nurse.
"You...you..."
The nurse was startled by Marcus's sudden, clear-eyed gaze, as if he had risen from the dead. She instinctively took a step back, pointing her scalpel at him and stammering.
Marcus could feel the power surging through his body. In the story world, he had only transformed into his character; his actual body was still his own, naturally carrying back the power of the Cursed One.
Marcus exerted all his strength, and with a tearing sound, he broke free of the restraints binding his hands and legs, flipping himself to his feet.
In a flash, Marcus had already reached out his left hand and grabbed the woman's right hand, which was holding the scalpel.
"Sweetheart, you're the first person I've seen since I woke up."
Marcus said, pulling the woman's hand and plunging the scalpel into her own chest.
"Let's take this final journey together!"
The woman screamed.
Marcus tightened his grip on the woman's neck with his right hand, and with a snap, the scream stopped abruptly.
The woman's body went limp.
Using his absorption ability, the withered and sunken wound on Marcus's side healed rapidly, the stitches being squeezed out of the skin and falling to the ground.
The pain in his body completely disappeared, and he felt as light as if he had recovered from a serious illness.
Marcus threw the woman down and was about to turn and walk toward the door.
"Hey babe, I forgot—" A man's voice sounded from the doorway.
The well-dressed man turned back, seemingly to say something, but then saw that the victim, who should have been lying on the operating table, was standing upright.
"How the hell are you standing up? Where's Amy?"
the man shouted sharply, slightly panicked.
In his eyes, this wounded victim was useless even standing up; just a lamb to the slaughter. He despised him from the bottom of his heart, only curious about where his girlfriend was.
The man's eyes swept around and finally saw what appeared to be a desiccated corpse under the table. Judging from the clothing, it seemed to be his girlfriend, Amy.
"You son of a bitch, what did you do to Amy?"
"Amy!"
The man finally became afraid. Seeing his girlfriend's miserable state, tears streamed down his face, and he turned to run away.
"Leaving so soon? That's rude!"
Marcus pounced on the man like a predator, grabbing him and lifting him up.
The man struggled frantically, and Marcus slammed him straight to the ground with force.
The sound of bones breaking came from the man's legs.
"Ah, you'll go to hell, you bastard!"
the man cursed in pain.
"Hell? Been there, done that!"
Marcus said as he used the scalpel in his right hand to cut open the man's chest.
"You really like hearts, don't you?"
"No, no, I don't!"
The man pleaded in terror.
"Your heartbeat says otherwise."
"Come, listen to the evil voice deep within your soul."
Marcus placed the still-beating heart near the man's ear. Blood stained Marcus's face, and the man fell silent.
'You sick bastard. You've hurt countless innocent people before you got what was coming to you.'
Marcus threw the man to the ground and sneered.
He stood there in the basement, blood-covered and breathing heavily, finally home. The Hellraiser world had changed him, made him stronger—and far more dangerous.
But as he looked at the carnage around him, Marcus felt no remorse. These organ traffickers had gotten exactly what they deserved.
He wiped the blood from his face and headed for the stairs. Time to disappear and start planning his next move.
(End of Chapter)
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