Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 5: A World Filled With Specters

Nightmarish creatures called Specters swarmed every street and filled the skies. They sprawled across the landscape, covering everything in sight. It felt like this world belonged to them, not humans. 

Dark, faceless figures dressed in black silently roamed the streets.

Headless Giant Specters, as tall as skyscrapers, walked between buildings.

Beneath a floating skull with empty eye sockets were bloodied figures entwined in crimson tentacles. A myriad of other eerie creatures with mangled bodies and furious faces floated aimlessly like loose feathers. 

The most terrifying Specters lurked high in the sky. High above, a massive pair of wings resembling an angel's, stretched wide, obscuring the sun. However, these wings were no divine creation; they were part of an enormous eyeball filled with pulsating red veins. 

This eyeball was bigger than the sun itself, emitting a chilling red glow that served as an eerie warning sign. 

Then, there was a bride in the sky. She wore a traditional red wedding dress with a huge 'happiness' symbol on it. Her pale, delicate hands were gracefully folded in front of her. However, her head was that of a rabbit, with bright white fur and red eyes. She even had a human-like smile. It was an uncanny sight. Even though she had a rabbit head, she exuded an air of nobility and beauty, like a real bride. 

There were more crazy Specters, too hard to describe.

A big blob of goo, with countless eyes that kept popping and growing back.

A large black figure with a head full of weird bumps.

A black fog swirling with faces contorted in eternal screams. 

A creepy clay statue.

All of them were so frightening yet bewildering. 

The Specters in the sky cast an eerie and unsettling atmosphere, relentlessly bombarding Fang Xiu with bizarre and disturbing messages, toying with his mind. 

Right then, he could hear a cacophony of sinister whispers of inhuman origin. Each word dripped with malevolence, capable of driving anyone to the brink of madness. 

The old Fang Xiu would have been paralyzed by fear, but this Fang Xiu had already died and come back to life eighteen times. If he had a spirit, it would have been all marred by the ravages of death, insanity, and hatred. 

Even though the Specters were horrifying, they didn't cause Fang Xiu to break down. Instead, they fueled his already chaotic mind, intensifying his madness. Perhaps it was because his mind was already a mess, and the onslaught of sinister influence acted as a sort of weird cleansing. 

"Hehehe!"

"Hahaha!"

Suddenly, Fang Xiu erupted into fits of laughter. His laugh was strange and unsettling, like it was forced out of his throat. 

For some reason, the sight of a world teeming with Specters filled him with an overwhelming urge to laugh, and he couldn't contain it. To not alert the Specters, he placed his hand over his mouth, but his crazy laugh still slipped out. When he looked down, his pale face was hidden in the shadow, but there was no hiding the madness in his eyes. 

"What an interesting world this is! Hahaha!"

His loud laughter caused him to start coughing. The more he coughed, the more he laughed, until he started to gag. 

"Sir, are you okay? Are you sick?" A little girl came into view. She looked about four or five, with cute pigtails and a lollipop in her hand.

Fang Xiu wasn't surprised. From his old memories, he knew the world looked normal. People went about their daily lives, attending school, working, getting married, and having children. It seemed like nobody was aware of the existence of the Specters. So, seeing a little girl in the neighborhood was normal.

He tried to control his laughter, trying to appear more affable. 

"I'm fine, little sunshine. You don't have to call me sir. I'm not that old," Fang Xiu replied. He wanted to pat the cute little girl's head. He used to dream of having a daughter.

However, what the little girl said next made him stop. "You can see me!"

The innocent look on her face was gone, replaced by the same wild euphoria he felt. 

Fang Xiu was surprised, then started laughing uncontrollably again. "Hahaha! Interesting! This is really interesting!" 

This time, he laughed so hard that he started crying. 

He patted the little girl's head, ruffling her hair. But then, he had to pull back his hand.

The little girl's body began to expand, swelling up like a balloon. All sorts of red flesh burst forth from her small frame. 

In a matter of seconds, the once cute little girl transformed into a seven-foot-tall flesh Specter. Her appearance was now like a big pile of meat, with strips of flesh and an intricate network of blood vessels on display. 

Her adorable pigtails morphed into two strong, black horns. The lollipop in her hand changed into a bone club, like a leg bone from some strange creature.

"You can see me!!" the little girl screamed maniacally. 

Fang Xiu laughed loudly, watching her. His eyes looked even crazier than the Specter in front of him. "I like you better this way. I won't feel bad about killing you now."

The little girl let out another ferocious scream and lifted the huge bone club, its ominous shadow engulfing Fang Xiu like the shadow of death. Yet, Fang Xiu just kept laughing. "Now I get why I have to laugh. There are so many Specters like you; it excites me! There are so many that I won't run out of targets to kill! Hahaha! You all! Must! Die!!!"

BANG! 

The bone club came crashing down, reducing Fang Xiu into a pile of bloody flesh. "