Chapter 7: Could This Be Just My Imagination?

This was not the first time Li Wei had lured people to their doom in such a manner.

Whenever the interior of the bus transformed and the demonic warriors boarded, any normal person would naturally descend into a panic. At such moments, he would feign being equally terrified, approaching his target to persuade them to escape the bus with him. This trick had never failed. Humans in unfamiliar environments subconsciously tend to trust their own kind, much like how people abroad might blindly trust a self-proclaimed "fellow countryman."

However, Ron’s reaction left Li Wei completely stumped.

Watching Ron’s performance, it was clear he had not realized that the passengers around him were terrifying demonic warriors. Could it be that the ominous aura radiating from those demons was invisible to him? Ron’s casual words left Li Wei bewildered, and he sat there in a daze.

As for Ron, as he leaned forward, the cat in his arms took the opportunity to jump onto the back seat, landing directly on one of the demonic warriors. The warrior’s body noticeably shuddered. Seeing this, Ron immediately offered a fawning smile: "Sorry! My apologies! She’s just like that. Don’t worry, she’s very well-behaved and won't bite."

"Won't bite" was an understatement. As he spoke, the little black kitten had already begun rubbing her cheek against the warrior’s arm, emitting a pleased, purring sound.

Ron gazed at the demonic warrior before him, his mind rapidly calculating every possibility. His origin character card had yet to unlock any real-world combat power, and in this environment, he was incapable of fighting his way out. Under these circumstances, using violence to escape this "instance" was essentially impossible.

According to the group files, there were three ways to leave an instance: first, kill the Resonator who triggered the intrusion of the Spirit Realm; second, alleviate the Resonator's symptoms to bring their consciousness back to reality; and third, destroy the entire Spirit Realm instance.

Though Li Wei appeared to be a frail bank clerk, this was merely a facade. Having already triggered the "door-opening" state, he clearly possessed power within this resonant Spirit Realm. Ron decided that prioritizing the alleviation of the man's symptoms was the best way to escape the instance first.

The demonic warrior before him was named Toya Cross. While not the strongest warrior present, she was the only one Ron could find a pretext to interact with. As a "cat person," she had absolutely no resistance to cute kittens. In this life-or-death situation, Ron didn't mind letting his spiritual avatar resort to being adorable in exchange for protection.

"So cute." The kitten’s rubbing melted the cold indifference on Toya’s face. Her voice, carrying the roar of flames, echoed heavily throughout the bus.

"Right? I think so too," Ron replied, chatting with her as if he had met a kindred spirit, even discussing tips on cat care.

To Li Wei, who was watching from the side, all of this was mind-boggling. He could not comprehend how Ron was conversing so calmly with a demonic warrior. The languages of their two worlds were completely different—how were they communicating so fluently?

Watching them laugh and talk, Li Wei could not help but fall into self-doubt. Could all of this be a hallucination? Was there no Demon Realm, no demons, and no war?

The bus rattled on. Ron and Toya had become quite familiar. From the look in Ron’s eyes, Li Wei even sensed a hint of affection toward Toya.

*Wait, buddy! Are you seriously not noticing anything strange about her?*

The demon women of this world were nothing like the demon girls in ACGN works! They lacked the sexual characteristics of human females, and as they were not mammals, they had no need for the "assets" to nurse offspring—there was no such thing as "buxom demons" here. Toya’s appearance was that of a classic demon woman: a square face with dark, crocodile-like wrinkled skin, and crimson horns atop her head that exuded an unsettling aura.

*How could you possibly be attracted to that?*

*Could it be that she isn't actually a demon? Is this all just a delusion I've conjured up?*

Li Wei refused to believe it. He had never doubted the reality of his demonic experience. As the weakest demon in his village, he had been constantly bullied and humiliated by his peers, a painful cycle that caused his sanity to gradually collapse. His real life was equally cowardly; he spent every day groveling before his bosses and colleagues, unable to salvage his increasingly twisted soul.

He began to crave power—immense power. To obtain it, he violated the pact between demons and humans, secretly murdering humans weaker than himself to fulfill the devil’s contract. The distortion of the Spirit Realm’s consciousness had also begun to affect Li Wei’s soul in reality. He suddenly realized that compared to the sparse population near the demon gathering grounds, the humans in the real world were countless; they were the perfect sacrifices.

*If all of this is just a hallucination, then all my efforts up until now have been a joke!*

Pale-faced, Li Wei reached out and grabbed Ron’s arm. "Brother! Wake up! Can't you see their true faces?!"

His outburst caused the two who were chatting happily to look at him simultaneously. Ron naturally brushed Li Wei’s hand away. Through the ability of the Demon King Meow, he had already seen what Li Wei intended to do.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Ron asked with concern. "How about I take you off at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital station in a bit?"

Li Wei froze. "Is there a stop for the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital?"

Ron looked at the station sign again. "Can't you see it yourself?"

He was lying; the No. 37 bus did not actually pass by that stop. However, Li Wei, hovering on the verge of a breakdown, clearly failed to notice. The conversation with Ron only made him doubt himself even more.

Watching Li Wei tremble while clutching his head, Ron’s nerves grew taut. He did not believe that someone who had actively opened the "door" could be cured through such simple conversation.

Toya, who was happily petting the Demon King Meow, looked at Li Wei’s performance and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. He might be suffering from war trauma."

At the mention of this, Toya could not help but feel sad. Most of the adult males in her village had already died on the front lines, otherwise, a girl like her would not have been sent there. She, too, was terrified of the coming war. But if they did not fight, the entire world would be finished, and the descending Outer Gods would slaughter everyone.

"You're lying to me... you're lying to me..." Li Wei began to mutter to himself.

Ron’s behavior had indeed plunged him into deep self-doubt. He desperately needed to verify his suspicions to stabilize his emotions. Li Wei slowly turned his head to look at Ron, his eyes gradually turning fierce.

"You're lying to me! You're lying to me!"

Ron’s heart sank.

The next second, Li Wei roared and lunged at Ron. His body transformed in that instant; the human form dissipated, revealing a dark, terrifying physique no different from the surrounding demonic warriors. His thick arms, radiating a horrific aura, swung toward Ron’s head.

Li Wei’s logic was simple: Ron was the only anomaly on this bus, and as long as he killed him, everything would return to normal.

This was exactly what Ron had hoped to avoid. His current strength was no different from that of an ordinary person. However, facing the incoming attack, Ron did not panic in the slightest. He silently leaned back.

*Bang!*

A sturdy arm grabbed Li Wei’s limb.

"Mototak! Have you lost your mind?!" Toya’s icy voice boomed from the back row.