Indeed, when Lu Yibei first saw Lu Xu, she was terrified—the walls, the ground, and even the ceiling were painted with bloodied handprints, and they still dripped with fresh blood.
And a familiar stench that made her shiver.
The corridor had a thin layer of mist, just like what she saw in the village.
A cold breeze blew from the window at the end of the corridor, silently parting the grey mist.
The doors of the labs down the corridor were all tightly shut, but Yibei felt that if she were to get close to them, a pair of bloodied arms would burst out and pull her in.
It was as if she had entered a new world the moment she stepped into the corridor.
Her eyes continued to burn, warning her of impending danger.
‘Seems like Professor Ma is here, and…
The power of the bamboo scrolls is manifesting into reality, and thinking of her perils in her dreamscape; she couldn’t help but shiver.
‘That thing in the pit… it must be a fallen god. Even if the Night Division was here to deal with it, I’m afraid that…’
‘Should I run?’
‘No! What the hell! We came this far! It’s not the time to be a coward! I have to save Professor Ma!’
Although she was timid and afraid of death, she mustered up the courage and trudged down the bloodied corridor.
Kitchen knife in one hand, charms in another, and the incantation to summon fire was fresh in her mind.
The closer she got to the lab, the quieter the corridor became, as if something was about to pounce on her.
Her eyes burnt harder, and her white hair shifted from light pink to a deep scarlet. Despite her fear, she felt an inexplicable sense of excitement.
Yibei was on guard, prepared to retaliate against anything that might pounce on her, but nothing happened.
Where are they hiding?
Just as she was thinking about this, she could see a figure wriggling about in the darkness—thin limbs, big belly—and it disappeared into Professor Ma’s laboratory before she could take a good look at it.
Her hair stood on its end, and she stopped abruptly.
After calming down a little, she looked in the direction of the lab and cautiously moved forward.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the door was locked from the inside. She came to the door and turned the handle slightly, leaving a small gap open. Then she tossed two charms through the gap.
Snap!
The charm didn’t activate as it plopped to the floor, and Yibei pushed the door open.
It was dark inside the lab; the light switches were on, but no light came from the fluorescent lights above, and even the moonlight flooding in from outside the window seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness.
Even with her enhanced eyesight, it was difficult to see. It was as if the shadows were concealing everything from her.
“Professor Ma? Are you in here?”
Although it wasn’t smart to talk right now, she needed to confirm if Professor Ma was here.
She called twice but got no response from Professor Ma.
She bravely moved into the lab. At this moment, her eyes swept across the direction of the storage room, and she suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain.
Looking away from the storage room, the pain lessened, and she froze.
‘Something’s inside there!’
‘Is it that thing, or is it Professor Ma…?’
With each step she took towards the storage room, she left a trail of charms to protect herself, and everything became strangely silent.
But the quieter it was, the more frightened she became. Like a hallucination, she heard a soft rustling sound coming from inside the storage room.
There were many shelves inside the storage room, and each of them was labelled carefully to provide Professor Ma and his students with the convenience of searching through materials.
However, this arrangement of shelves irked Yibei. It was like they were waiting to devour her.
When she came to those bookshelves, she stopped moving. Something lurked in the darkness, surveying her movements.
She took a few deep breaths, and like a goddess bestowing rain upon dry land, she rained down charms straight into the darkness.
The charms clunked on the floor before rumbling violently, and a dazzling blue light flooded the storage room.
True enough, something was lurking in the darkness.
The light blinded Yibei, but beyond that, she could hear pained screams erupting from the darkness.
They were like cockroaches, densely packed as they scattered relentlessly from their hiding spots, only to turn into ash the moment they came into contact with the light.
Her vision returned to her, and she couldn’t help but take a step back.
A bloodshot eye was staring at her beyond the darkness.
Yibei’s brain buzzed, and for a moment, it was as if a nightmare was crawling out from the dark side of her memory, taunting her.
It reminded her of the despair she felt watching the monster reveal itself from the pit.
In a trance, a strange growl sounded in her ears, and amidst the growls, she heard a cry for help.
“Help me…”
A strong stench filled the room, and the bloodshot eye moved towards Yibei as it morphed into a full body.
It twisted erratically, and watching the body form before her, her stomach did flip uncontrollably.
When she regained her senses, she could see a figure floating towards her.
The facial features of the figure were distorted, and a scarlet lantern was growing out of its body, but Yibei could tell that this figure was Lu Xu.
Lu Xu closed the distance between them, and Yibei ducked forward, rushing past him.
At this moment, Lu Xu’s feet touched the charm that she had scattered, and once again, the storage room was filled with a dazzling blue light.
Resisting the glare of the light, Yibei could see Lu Xu screaming in the blue light, twisting his body in pain like a strange snake disguising itself as a human.
‘Kill him!’
The next moment, she felt something ignite in her body. The blood in her body rushed like magma, and the dazzling scarlet spread upward from the tip of her hair.
At the same time, Lu Xu broke free from the influence of the spell and pounced on her.
However, this time, Lu Yibei did not dodge. Her eyes flashed with an unusual calm, and the speed of Lu Xu pouncing towards her seemed to slow down infinitely.
She silently raised one hand and covered her eyes to isolate herself from the world and raised the other hand to pick up the kitchen knife that was glowing red from the heat radiating from her.
She took a step forward and pierced the knife straight through Lu Xu’s chest, hideously carving a giant hole in him from top to bottom.
The kitchen knife greedily sopped up the blood dripping from his body, and not a single drop of blood hit the floor.
“P-pause! So, you killed him! In a single stab!”
‘Not just a single stab,’ Yibei sighed inwardly. ‘At least twenty-eight.’
The moment Lu Xu started to scream, it was as if something had awakened in her body, and she couldn’t help but stab him over and over again.
Once again, Lu Yibei felt afraid of the power in her body.
Professor Ma’s lips quivered, and noticing his expression, Yibei rummaged through her pockets for a moment.
She quietly placed Lu Xu’s urban legend core on the table.
“I didn’t kill him,” she lied. “He ran away, and he hesitated before he could hit me. Maybe he still has a bit of Lu Xu left in him.”
“Good, good,” he sighed. “By the way, you were covering your eyes when you opened the bathroom door just now, so…”
“My eyes were hurting.”
“Oh, I see…”
Facial paralysis is a blessing in disguise. Yibei didn’t know that she could just lie twice in a row and not be caught.
Indeed, when Lu Yibei first saw Lu Xu, she was terrified—the walls, the ground, and even the ceiling were painted with bloodied handprints, and they still dripped with fresh blood.
And a familiar stench that made her shiver.
The corridor had a thin layer of mist, just like what she saw in the village.
A cold breeze blew from the window at the end of the corridor, silently parting the grey mist.
The doors of the labs down the corridor were all tightly shut, but Yibei felt that if she were to get close to them, a pair of bloodied arms would burst out and pull her in.
It was as if she had entered a new world the moment she stepped into the corridor.
Her eyes continued to burn, warning her of impending danger.
‘Seems like Professor Ma is here, and…
The power of the bamboo scrolls is manifesting into reality, and thinking of her perils in her dreamscape; she couldn’t help but shiver.
‘That thing in the pit… it must be a fallen god. Even if the Night Division was here to deal with it, I’m afraid that…’
‘Should I run?’
‘No! What the hell! We came this far! It’s not the time to be a coward! I have to save Professor Ma!’
Although she was timid and afraid of death, she mustered up the courage and trudged down the bloodied corridor.
Kitchen knife in one hand, charms in another, and the incantation to summon fire was fresh in her mind.
The closer she got to the lab, the quieter the corridor became, as if something was about to pounce on her.
Her eyes burnt harder, and her white hair shifted from light pink to a deep scarlet. Despite her fear, she felt an inexplicable sense of excitement.
Yibei was on guard, prepared to retaliate against anything that might pounce on her, but nothing happened.
Where are they hiding?
Just as she was thinking about this, she could see a figure wriggling about in the darkness—thin limbs, big belly—and it disappeared into Professor Ma’s laboratory before she could take a good look at it.
Her hair stood on its end, and she stopped abruptly.
After calming down a little, she looked in the direction of the lab and cautiously moved forward.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the door was locked from the inside. She came to the door and turned the handle slightly, leaving a small gap open. Then she tossed two charms through the gap.
Snap!
The charm didn’t activate as it plopped to the floor, and Yibei pushed the door open.
It was dark inside the lab; the light switches were on, but no light came from the fluorescent lights above, and even the moonlight flooding in from outside the window seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness.
Even with her enhanced eyesight, it was difficult to see. It was as if the shadows were concealing everything from her.
“Professor Ma? Are you in here?”
Although it wasn’t smart to talk right now, she needed to confirm if Professor Ma was here.
She called twice but got no response from Professor Ma.
She bravely moved into the lab. At this moment, her eyes swept across the direction of the storage room, and she suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain.
Looking away from the storage room, the pain lessened, and she froze.
‘Something’s inside there!’
‘Is it that thing, or is it Professor Ma…?’
With each step she took towards the storage room, she left a trail of charms to protect herself, and everything became strangely silent.
But the quieter it was, the more frightened she became. Like a hallucination, she heard a soft rustling sound coming from inside the storage room.
There were many shelves inside the storage room, and each of them was labelled carefully to provide Professor Ma and his students with the convenience of searching through materials.
However, this arrangement of shelves irked Yibei. It was like they were waiting to devour her.
When she came to those bookshelves, she stopped moving. Something lurked in the darkness, surveying her movements.
She took a few deep breaths, and like a goddess bestowing rain upon dry land, she rained down charms straight into the darkness.
The charms clunked on the floor before rumbling violently, and a dazzling blue light flooded the storage room.
True enough, something was lurking in the darkness.
The light blinded Yibei, but beyond that, she could hear pained screams erupting from the darkness.
They were like cockroaches, densely packed as they scattered relentlessly from their hiding spots, only to turn into ash the moment they came into contact with the light.
Her vision returned to her, and she couldn’t help but take a step back.
A bloodshot eye was staring at her beyond the darkness.
Yibei’s brain buzzed, and for a moment, it was as if a nightmare was crawling out from the dark side of her memory, taunting her.
It reminded her of the despair she felt watching the monster reveal itself from the pit.
In a trance, a strange growl sounded in her ears, and amidst the growls, she heard a cry for help.
“Help me…”
A strong stench filled the room, and the bloodshot eye moved towards Yibei as it morphed into a full body.
It twisted erratically, and watching the body form before her, her stomach did flip uncontrollably.
When she regained her senses, she could see a figure floating towards her.
The facial features of the figure were distorted, and a scarlet lantern was growing out of its body, but Yibei could tell that this figure was Lu Xu.
Lu Xu closed the distance between them, and Yibei ducked forward, rushing past him.
At this moment, Lu Xu’s feet touched the charm that she had scattered, and once again, the storage room was filled with a dazzling blue light.
Resisting the glare of the light, Yibei could see Lu Xu screaming in the blue light, twisting his body in pain like a strange snake disguising itself as a human.
‘Kill him!’
The next moment, she felt something ignite in her body. The blood in her body rushed like magma, and the dazzling scarlet spread upward from the tip of her hair.
At the same time, Lu Xu broke free from the influence of the spell and pounced on her.
However, this time, Lu Yibei did not dodge. Her eyes flashed with an unusual calm, and the speed of Lu Xu pouncing towards her seemed to slow down infinitely.
She silently raised one hand and covered her eyes to isolate herself from the world and raised the other hand to pick up the kitchen knife that was glowing red from the heat radiating from her.
She took a step forward and pierced the knife straight through Lu Xu’s chest, hideously carving a giant hole in him from top to bottom.
The kitchen knife greedily sopped up the blood dripping from his body, and not a single drop of blood hit the floor.
“P-pause! So, you killed him! In a single stab!”
‘Not just a single stab,’ Yibei sighed inwardly. ‘At least twenty-eight.’
The moment Lu Xu started to scream, it was as if something had awakened in her body, and she couldn’t help but stab him over and over again.
Once again, Lu Yibei felt afraid of the power in her body.
Professor Ma’s lips quivered, and noticing his expression, Yibei rummaged through her pockets for a moment.
She quietly placed Lu Xu’s urban legend core on the table.
“I didn’t kill him,” she lied. “He ran away, and he hesitated before he could hit me. Maybe he still has a bit of Lu Xu left in him.”
“Good, good,” he sighed. “By the way, you were covering your eyes when you opened the bathroom door just now, so…”
“My eyes were hurting.”
“Oh, I see…”
Facial paralysis is a blessing in disguise. Yibei didn’t know that she could just lie twice in a row and not be caught.
