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Evil As Humans - Chapter 40

Published at 22nd of March 2023 05:47:19 AM


Chapter 40

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Zhong Chengshuo didn’t act immediately.

Instead of provoking the two ghost masters on the second floor, he returned back outside the same way he came in. He turned to a covered area and started climbing the exterior wall to the second story with his bare hands.

Dark clouds obscured the sky. The night was like ink, and the moisture in the air was getting thicker. In the whistling wind, Zhong Chengshuo keenly captured a suppressed groan in the room.

He crawled over the windowsills like a gecko and found the source of the sound.

The bathroom on the second floor.

Plastic sheets were hung on the walls of the bathroom as Master Liu stood naked in the middle of the room, groaning in pain from time to time. The other person was a burly man who looked to be in his forties. He was wearing a dirty butcher’s apron and waving strangely shaped bone objects in his hand by Master Liu’s side.

Zhong Chengshuo recognized that person was Mud Meat Zhang. He squinted his eyes and looked at the chaotic scene in the room.

There were ordinary items such as hair dye and hair dryers on the ground, as well as some bottles and cans that were emitting a strange stench, and he didn’t recognize their contents.

Most of Master Liu’s body was slightly fat, with his stomach being the most prominent. His skin was sagging, and he had chloasma spots that were unique to the elderly. A small portion of his skin was like cream and had round curves, similar to that of a young woman.

He didn’t have an inch of hair. The only thing he was wearing was a necklace with a cloth bag hung around it.

Bones were flying about as Master Liu’s skin was randomly pulled and twisted, then picked up by the muddy flesh sheet. Occasionally, it would mix with the various colors of powder as if it turned into a soft pile of meat. As Mud Meat Zhang moved, the skin under Master Liu’s hands became younger, smoother, and exceptionally white.

“Ugh…” Even after experiencing such a bizarre thing, Master Liu simply groaned.

“Don’t move.” Mud Meat Zhang concentrated on his carving without raising his head.

“Is it really okay?” Master Liu swallowed and cried out in pain.

Mud Meat Zhang raised his wide butcher-like face, rolling his eyes, and revealing its whiteness. “If they don’t test your blood or check your bones, then you’ll be fine. If you want to make a fool of yourself, don’t blame me when the time comes.”

“I’m asking you about this look.” Master Liu glanced down. “I just want to escape, but I don’t want to become a woman in the future.”

“Calculate the time yourself. This effect will only last for three days.”

Mud Meat Zhang took out a bone knife and slowly flattened the folds of the skin. He didn’t even look at the bag around Master Liu’s neck, as all his thoughts were on this weird body in front of him.

“It’ll take a few hours to get back to your original state. At that time, your body will be deformed, and the process will be quite painful. Remember to find a place to hide after three days, so as not to be seen by others.”

Master Liu frowned and looked out the window at the sky.

When Mud Meat Zhang finished his work, he would be able to leave this place with the look of a teenage girl. Mud Meat Zhang was skillful. Master Liu made a contract with this smith because he promised that his craftsmanship wouldn’t be detected by Shian.

It was important to escape in a timely manner. Since Sunken Society had bitten and refused to release, Master Liu decided he needed to leave as soon as possible.

As for the core members of his gang… Within a month, even if they weren’t shot, “Good Boy” would help him silence them.

Thinking of this, Master Liu clenched the small cloth bag on his chest tightly. “How long will it be before you finish the transformation?”

“Finish? Do you think I’m really playing with mud? I have to work in the dark, and you won’t even allow one of my subordinates to help. Do you really want to see King Yama?”

After he said “King Yama”, Mud Meat Zhang was taken aback and grimaced*.

*Clarity: Double meaning. He’s basically saying: Are you in such a hurry to seek death/the King of Hell (because you’re rushing me), and when he said it, he realized that this also refers to the #1 Nightwalker (which Master Liu also tried to invite).

Zhong Chengshuo stood motionless against the outer wall. Under the moonlight, he was like a thin shadow. He stared at the pendant bag on Master Liu’s chest like a lurking predator, patiently stalking.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Gunshots and loud noises came from not far away. The heavy rain had resided to a light drizzle. On the second floor of the villa, the old man suddenly shouted, “Shian! Shian’s men are coming!”

Mud Meat Zhang’s movement didn’t stop. He kept carving while the other hand held a hair dryer that kept roaring nonstop. Master Liu clenched his fist as a thin bead of sweat glinted on his forehead.

“Hurry!”

“What’s the rush? It’s not a Black Seal who’s coming.” Mud Meat Zhang wiped the bone knife on his apron. “You paid for those two ghost masters, didn’t you? Aren’t you clear about how much they’re worth? Those two old things aren’t easy to deal with.”

“But the police are following Shian…”

“Shut up and change your face.”

Just as the sound of fighting sounded from downstairs, Mud Meat Zhang finished his last cut.

He took off his gloves with satisfaction and marveled at his work for a while, then lowered his brows.

“My business is settled. Remember to make the final payment.” Mud Meat Zhang hung the tool bag around his waist.

“You…” Master Liu opened his mouth, and a clear voice that belonged to a girl came out.

“I told you earlier, I won’t fight.” Mud Meat Zhang quickly put away his handbag as he responded roughly.

As soon as he left, there was a burst of blue light in the corridor. Master Liu didn’t know what strange spirit weapon he had used, but the two-hundred pound burly man seemed to evaporate, leaving no movement behind in the corridor.

The naked “Master Lieu” cursed, kicked his men’s clothes to the corner, and hurriedly put on a long skirt. At this moment…

The door to the bathroom slammed open, and a figure in protective clothing and a gas mask appeared at the entrance.

……

Both Li Xiaozhen and Li Xiaoli were specially assigned to Unit 6’s science post. They both graduated from B University with a Ph.D. in agronomy.

Ten minutes ago, the police were exchanging fire with the criminals in Villa 8. It was determined that Villa 8 didn’t need the support of the science posts, so the two began to track down the children who had run away.

They quickly found Ge Tingting, who was in a semi-coma.

After the two of them quickly treated her, the girl’s complexion improved. She started muttering nonsense in a hoarse voice and was desperately pointing to the area where Villa 18 was located—that was the exact direction that Feng Qi had run to.

However, the scope was still too general.

The twins checked several villas before locating Villa 18.

As soon as they stepped onto the first floor of the villa, the two felt cold air blast their faces. The sisters glanced at each other, put on a gas mask at the same time, took out a spray can in one hand, and clenched the nozzle with the other.

Li Xiaozhen: “Can you handle it?”

Li Xiaoli shivered with goosebumps under her protective clothing. “Yes.”

The sound of spraying sounded as the exorcism potion, specially prepared by a spirit smith, filled the room. The two operated skillfully, just as if they were spraying pesticides in a field. Not long after, there was a sharp scream on the second floor.

“Shian! Shian’s men are coming!”

“This reaction is from a Nightwalker, right?”

“It seems to be a Nightwalker.”

The two spoke at the same time and then smiled at each other. With a smile on their faces, the two sisters had already moved back vigilantly.

The bottles and cans in the backpacks of the two collided with each other. The potion raised an armor-like mist around them. While the cold feeling became stronger, it didn’t seem to affect the two.

There was a vague complaining sound in the parlor on the second floor.

Amid the smell of burning paper ashes, abandoned office appliances rattled and slammed at the two of them fiercely. At the same time, broken furniture rolled down from the corridor, blocking the entrance to the stairs as it twisted and turned.

The sisters didn’t panic at all. Li Xiaozhen laughed and continued to spray, while Li Xiaoli changed her posture and pulled out a big shovel for digging up trees from behind her.

“Let’s go!”

They sprayed the exorcism spray as if they were swinging a bat. As the spray touched the flying objects, they fell to the ground one after another.

Li Xiaoli turned her shovel and glanced at the pile of furniture blocking the way. She found the fulcrum and used all her strength to pry it away.

With a rumble, the furniture was pried off and fell to the side.

The two girls dexterously climbed over the mess and went straight to the parlor. The old man and woman in the hall were still frantically burning talismans as they tried to command their ghosts. Before they could react, an anesthetic can rolled to the center of the room.

It clicked and quickly spewed out paralyzing gas.

The two old people cursed and slumped to the ground.

“Their strengths are medium, close to high.” After entering the parlor, Li Xiaozhen played with the spray can. “Looking at this configuration, they should be guarding something.”

“Hm, like the bathroom.” Li Xiaoli knocked her shovel on the ground. “I heard the sound of a hair dryer.”

Without delay, the two went straight to the bathroom. The door of the small room was tightly closed. Li Xiaoli gripped her shovel tightly and kicked the door open with a bang.

However, what greeted them was a girl with short hair.

The girl was wearing a suspender skirt that didn’t fit well. She was tall and looked to be about 17 or 18 years old. She huddled beside a pair of crumpled clothes and looked at them in fear.

The ground was wet, and there was an indescribably strange smell in the air.

“Are you—are you the police?” The girl asked. “I’ll cooperate, fully. Please don’t harm me!”

Li Xiaoli blinked and kept her distance vigilantly. “Who are you?”

“I’m Liu Aigo’s daughter.” The girl’s way of speaking was weird and awkward. “Dad asked me to wait here, but he never came.”

She looked at the two of them pitifully and moved her body slightly.

“Stop. Just stay there and don’t move.” Li Xiaoli gestured with her shovel. Li Xaozhen took out her phone and prepared to call the police…

On top of her phone was a display showing [Suspected curse influence—signal interrupted].

…It was obviously normal just now.

The moment she saw this, Li Xiaozhen lunged at Li Xiaoli. The latter stumbled back and only heard the muffled sound as a bullet grazed her cheek.

The girl pulled out a gun from the pile of clothes and fired at the two of them mercilessly.

Li Xiaozhen turned around and shielded Li Xiaoli firmly behind her. The bullet pierced through her protective clothing and hit her bulletproof vest. A few of them grazed her arms and thighs, causing blood to immediately gush out.

Li Xiaoli grabbed her lapel, quickly avoided the bathroom door, and took out a bright red spray can.

Ignoring the dense warning on the jar, she tore open the seal and threw it towards the room…

High-intensity anesthetic explosives could incapacitate a person for 24 hours. Unlike the hissing anesthetic canister before, this one exploded the instant it landed.

The “girl” Master Liu sneered. He held his breath and rushed to the window, skillfully trying to jump off the second floor.

However, the small window was tightly closed.

It was a simple setting, and all he needed to do was open it from the inside, but the window felt as if it was welded down from the outside. No matter how hard Master Liu pushed and hit, the window didn’t budge.

Master Liu’s scalp exploded. He tried to use the gun to break the glass, but the high concentration of anesthetic drugs had wrapped around him, weakening his movements. He was slowly getting feebler, and the smile on his face gradually became desperate.

In his blurred vision, half a human head poked out from the window.

In the blurry night, the man’s face was hidden in the shadow of his hood, which made his black and white eyes particularly conspicuous. Those eyes stared calmly at him as their black hole-like pupils slowly moved down, watching him slide to the ground.

Master Liu continued pounding on the glass unwillingly, and in the end his hand weakly slid down. The gun fell to the floor with a click.

“Done!” Li Xiaoli breathed a sigh of relief. She cautiously stepped into the bathroom and opened the cloth back on the “girl’s” neck.

“The cursed object suspected of being ‘Good Boy’ has been confirmed.” Li Xiaoli was wearing gloves full of runes as she carefully grabbed the piece of jade. Under the faint light, the surface of the jade dolphin was glowing with a cold luster.

Li Xiaoli looked at it in disgust. “Help me prepare the storage box, Xiaozhen… Xiaozhen?”

Her sister didn’t answer.

On the edge of the gas mask’s field of vision, Li Xiaozhen’s arm, wrapped in protective clothing, lay across the ground at the door. Li Xiaoli’s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

She turned her gaze away for a moment.

The chilling sensation, surrounded by fierce ghosts, struck thousands of times stronger than before. Li Xiaoli opened her mouth, and a burst of white steam floated out from the breathing port of the gas mask.

It’s so cold.

She made a quick decision and held the jade dolphin firmly in her hand.

This time she didn’t bother to pay attention to the enemy but sat down in front of her unconscious sister. Li Xiaoli quickly pulled out various bottles and jars. Layers and layers of aerosol were sprayed onto the protective suit before they created a gelatinous texture.

Finally, Li Xiaoli curled up and tightly protected her sister and her head. The jade dolphin was firmly held in her hand as she pressed it against her chest.

The ghost master this time was distinct from the other two Nightwalkers. He was a real master. Somehow, Li Xiaozhen’s gunshot wounds were filled with nails and she had fainted due to blood loss.

Li Xiaoli knew this technique. It belonged to Kong Wanqing from Sunken Society.

Sure enough, the next moment, countless nails broke through the air and plunged straight into her body. They cracked the reinforced protective clothing and tried to smash Li Xiaoli’s mask.

Li Xiaoli remained motionless as she tried to protect her sister by curling her body tighter.

She had to hold on.

Their signal had disappeared for eight minutes. As long as there was no contact after ten minutes, Shian’s system would automatically sound the alarm. The surrounding support would definitely come then…

The problem was that the attacker also knew this. Before support arrived, the ghost master would use all means to attack her.

Now her only armor was her belief in being a science post.

She must not waver, must not fear, and must not deny herself before all this danger and strangeness. Once she was shaken, not only would it be the nails, but the curse of the ghosts would come crashing down on her head.

Under wave after wave of attacks, Li Xiaoli bit her lips tightly. She didn’t know if the mask had cracked and the powerful anesthetic was slowly seeping in, but she was gradually losing her consciousness.

Until she was unconscious, she still maintained her protective posture.

The ghost in the room seemed to be aware of her powerlessness. The nails formed a hand out of thin air and went to pick up the “Good Boy” in her hand…

Clink.

They suddenly collapsed on the ground. The nails rolled away along the wooden floor, leaving clattering sounds behind.

Outside the community, Kong Wanqing, the ghost master, cursed angrily.

The two Nightwalkers were immobilized by Shian, Master Liu was unconscious, and Shian’s “spray sisters” were also attacked by him. “Good Boy” was at his fingertips. This matter should have been settled as the mantis hunts the cicada while the oriole stalks behind*.

*Proverb describing people who pursue immediate gains while neglecting the greater danger behind. || In this context, the “spray sisters” are the mantis while he was the oriole stalking them.

However, in an instant, his internal organs jerked, and the pain of his ghost breaking their contract felt like frostbite.

…For some reason, his ghosts had suddenly broken off contact.

Villa 18, second floor.

Zhong Chengshuo was already indoors. His dark pupils scanned the area. The bathroom and corridor were empty.

As always, his vision and the surrounding temperature hadn’t changed, and he still couldn’t perceive any ghosts. It was still raining, which made the air hot and muggy, smothering his skin with a layer of sweat.

Except for the countless iron nails floating in the air, everything was normal.

Zhong Chengshuo spun the “Evil Fruit” in his hand a few times and quietly watched the nails fly.

One of the ghosts was annihilated, but the ghost master from Sunken Society didn’t give up. The nails began to brew up a storm on the second floor, indiscriminately attacking everything.

Ghost masters are always like this. Zhong Chengshuo shook his head regretfully.

A little blurred light penetrated through the window. The nails reflected the shimmering light as if they were schools of fish passing through the ocean. Porcelain tiles and glass mixed into fangs and started biting non-stop. The doors and windows crazily slammed open and shut, creating a buzz in one’s brain.

Zhong Chengshuo walked to the eye of the storm, moving playfully.

Tap, tap, tap.

It was like he was dancing. The nails scratched his sleeves, and tiles stuck to his head, but they didn’t hurt him at all.

It didn’t matter if he couldn’t see the ghost or felt the cold in this battle.

Zhong Chengshuo turned his body neatly, and his eyes swept over the murderous aura. Their faint light was like shooting stars, passing through those dim eyes of his from time to time.

He observed with unparalleled concentration.

Whether it was magnetic force, inertia, or evil qi that were making these objects fly, as long as they revealed their trajectory, he could calculate the “source of the interference”.

The ghosts attacked indiscriminately for a while, but they didn’t touch their target. Under the increasing murderous intent, the corridor on the second floor seemed like it was going crazy. The floor tilted in the air, and the toilet and faucet spewed brownish-red sewage, which quickly formed into ice on the floor.

Zhong Chengshuo stopped. The “Evil Fruit” circled in his hand, spinning out a dark red light.

For a moment, he suddenly raised his hand and slashed toward a place in the air with his short knife.

Sharp glass fragments stopped in front of him, then they suddenly lost power and fell to the floor.

Zhong Chengshuo turned around and moved his fingers slightly. The short knife was connected to a chain. It narrowly passed the unconscious twin sisters and shot to the door of the bathroom.

The violent sound of the doors and windows abruptly stopped, and the floor froze helplessly in place.

Zhong Chengshuo sharply retracted the thin chain, and the Evil Fruit fell back to his hand obediently, stabbing a picture frame along the way.

The ceiling, stairs, and the end of the corridor…

The red light of the Evil Fruit swept across the dark corners, putting an end to all abnormalities as if it were bringing “daily life” back into the eyes of the public. The iron nails and tiles piled all over the floor as the surrounding area became so quiet that one could hear the drop of a pin.

The battle seemed to be over. There were noises coming from around Villa 18. Reinforcements from Shian and the police were getting closer.

“There’s still one left,” Zhong Chengshuo murmured, calculating the possible hiding places of the other party.

According to his deduction, there were ten sources of interference just now, but according to the “curse feedback” of the Evil Fruit, he only eliminated nine targets.

There was no basic sympathy for his own kind, no instinctive fear of the unknown, and not the slightest doubt or wavering of his mind.

In the face of this almost horrible “fearlessness”, even if it was a curse with extremely powerful evil effects, it could at most feel like a weak shock—it was defeated by this person’s mental strength, and there was nothing it could do.

The “limited one-for-one” had become more like a “vibration of a controller”. If the Evil Fruit possessed a mind, it would most likely explode out of anger.

At this moment, it was being carried by Zhong Chengshuo, who gave the final blow to the toilet.

With the annihilation of the last ghost, Zhong Chengshuo’s hand perfunctorily shook.

Not far away, Kong Wanqing vomited a mouthful of black blood. The retreat spell in his hand was blown to pieces before he could finish, and his ten elite ghosts were all wiped out.

Blood was seeping out of all of Kong Wanqing’s orifices. He let out a beast-like whimper and smashed the binoculars against the wall…

The police and Shian had already noticed the target, and without the help of his ghosts, he was powerless.

The windows of Villa 18 were pitch black, like a bottomless abyss. His ghosts had melted like snow, and they didn’t have time to bring back anything, whether it was information or spoils.

He couldn’t figure it out. Could it be that Villa 18 actually had another mystery? What powerful exorcism prop did he trigger?

At the same time, the “extremely powerful exorcism prop” was pulling “Good Boy” out of Li Xiaoli’s hands.

Zhong Chengshuo put away the Evil Fruit and switched back to an ordinary knife. He cut off a very thin piece at the bottom of the jade dolphin.

He packed it in a bag full of runes and put it in his chest pocket. After this was done, Zhong Chengshuo put the jade dolphin back into Li Xiaoli’s hands and restored her to her original posture.

As soon as he escaped out the window, Shian and the police arrived at the scene.

Zhong Chengshuo sneaked into the bushes quietly. Flames spontaneously ignited, gently lighting a corner of his clothes. In the deepest part of the shadows among the trees, a dim flame appeared on his black hoodie. The flame swept across his skin and hair, turning the black hoodie into green smoke and leaving nothing behind, not even ashes.

The hoodie was burned, revealing Zhong Chengshuo in only an ordinary long-sleeved shirt.

He retrieved a bag from the bushes, put on his glasses again, and stuffed the Evil Fruit into the bottom of the bag. The night’s rain had drenched his hair. Zhong Chengshuo shook his head and then sneezed.

It took him only ten seconds to regain his harmless appearance.

Zhong Chengshuo lowered his head and glanced at his watch.

23:28. Exactly as planned.

……

At this moment, Yin Ren hugged the weak Feng Qi tightly and flew straight into the sky.

Ping’an Manor shrank rapidly under the two of them. When they passed through the rain curtain and the clouds, a brilliant starry sky appeared above their heads. At this moment, dark clouds were rolling under the feet of the two of them. The sky was full of stars in their vision, and the surroundings were extremely quiet, as if they had truly entered another world.

At this height, even if the boy blew up into a fleshy firework, the evil qi wouldn’t contaminate others.

Due to the high altitude and low temperature, Feng Qi, who was drenched in the rain, was shivering violently. His whole body was scalding hot. He still had a sliver of sanity as he stared at the sky full of stars without blinking.

“Why… take me away?” He hugged the silent Ibby tightly, struggling to say his words. “Black market… dragon scale…”

“The dragon scale is fake.”

Yin Ren thought about it for a while and decided to tell the truth.

“You have been deceived. That kind of scumbag isn’t capable of taking my things.”

It wasn’t like a certain bold roommate who really took away some of his broken hair.

Honestly now, Yin Ren was in a special situation. Most of his power was used to suppress the power of his evil qi. The remaining “petty evil qi” was really not much, so he had to use it tightly.

In the past, he wouldn’t have noticed the slightest “loss”.

Feng Qi looked at him blankly. “But Ibby… won’t lie to me…”

Yin Ren glanced at the emptiness in the boy’s arms.

“Ibby will not deceive you, but it may also be deceived.” Yin Ren didn’t expose the truth, but played along. “You have come into contact with people you shouldn’t have, right?”

The boy lowered his head. “But…”

He still couldn’t understand the conspiracies and deceptions.

“Don’t worry, I won’t lie to you.” As if seeing through his confusion, Yin Ren patted the boy on the back. “Come on, look at my strength—you’re too weak now and I have nothing to gain by lying to you.”

“Sin value 139,478…” the boy replied drowsily. “You’ve killed… so many people…”

About 140,000? That was a similar number in his memory.

Yin Ren retracted his hand and scratched his nose. “What about ‘Death’?”

“Too—too far. I can’t see…”

The boy grasped Yin Re’s neck and opened his broken eyes wide. As if he realized something, he shook like a dead leaf in the wind.

“Lord Dragon of Destruction,” he choked. “Can you… give me a scale?”

“What are you thinking? If you touch this kind of thing again, you’ll surely die.”

“It doesn’t matter if I die.”

“Kid, I was going to save you. Now you’re making things awkward.”

Feng Qi was stubborn. He grabbed Yin Ren’s collar tightly, dyeing his neckline red with blood and tears.

“I have to clear the game. I have a wish that must be fulfilled. Please…”

Yin Ren was silent for a few seconds.

“Is it because of this?” he asked softly.

Yin Ren took out the source of corruption that was soaked in evil qi—it was a cheap, plain-looking keychain with a small photo clipped in the transparent acrylic plate.

In the photo, a boy was hugging his parents and smiling happily.

There was a very conspicuous crack on it that was covered with old blood and brain matter that had solidified, exuding a faint odor.

In Yin Ren’s invisible world, Ibby opened its eyes.

The young dragon struggled to get close to the keychain and licked it very lightly and cherishingly.

The author has something to say:

Come on—!

Xiao Zhong: As long as real objects move, it must follow Newton’s laws, okay?

Xiao Yin: (Flying high over people’s heads)




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