Just Right

Jin Rongxu was stunned.

The hand clamped around him had already released its grip. Ma Dong, the military doctor, and the “pot lid”—all three of them—were charging stiffly forward, just like every other [Walking Corpse].

Only one [Walking Corpse] remained behind—

It had crushed that heart, and its blood-soaked hands continued clawing into Li Panlong’s viscera.

Yet “Li Panlong” still wore an unconcerned smile. The [Walking Corpse] was cursing him incoherently, but he seemed delighted, as though he were listening to music.

“My son! My son has to be alive! Give me back my son! Give him back to me!”

Jin Rongxu’s mind went blank.

He couldn’t make sense of the scene before him.

What was going on?

Had Li Panlong been killed?

Then who was this Li Panlong?

Weren’t they told that the [Hunter] was here too? Where was the [Hunter]?

Jin Rongxu felt something sticky on his skin. He raised a hand and wiped it across his forehead, finding it drenched in cold sweat.

Amid the screenful of scarlet letters, there was nothing but Li Panlong’s bloody chunks of innards and a monster that had descended into complete madness.

Under the pitch-black sky, between the blurred plants on either side, Jin Rongxu saw no sign of Zhu Zeyu.

He narrowed his eyes and gripped the writhing lump of flesh in his hand.

Whatever. The creature in front of him wasn’t very high-level.

At worst, he could simply go on a killing spree!

As for clearing the instance, there were plenty of ways to do that.

Even if the prophet had made a mistake this time and Zhu Zeyu died, he could still offer the [Hunter] some benefits and see if he could extract any information from it!

…

Hidden inside Li Panlong’s body, Zhu Yan silently estimated the time.

He was waiting for the [Walking Corpses] to break through the basement door and realize that something was wrong.

That way, he wouldn’t even need to say a word to achieve his goal of intimidation.

Jin Rongxu was still standing there in a daze, his face actually frightened deathly pale.

Zhu Yan truly didn’t want him to learn the secret of the [Nightmare Book].

Once he knew, and took the information back to the [Human Alliance], who knew what kind of trouble it might cause?

Bang!

Zhu Yan heard the faint, distant sound of someone pounding on a door. The corners of his mouth lifted even higher.

Everything was proceeding just as [Fog] had said when it threatened the players back then.

They could harm the body it used, but that couldn’t harm it.

They could hurt Li Panlong, but they couldn’t hurt Zhu Yan, who was hiding inside Li Panlong.

Another part of [Fog] was drifting through the air. At any moment, it could descend and burrow into the puppet “Zhu Zeyu”!

“I did lock the door,” Zhu Yan said lightly. “Big sis, with so many shells at your disposal, don’t tell me you still haven’t managed to break through after all this time?”

…

Inside the basement.

The wooden door was fragile to begin with. Ma Dong—the strongest of them—stepped forward and began throwing punches and kicks. In just a few seconds, the door had been torn open.

It hurriedly reached out, ripped away the warped wooden slats, ducked down, and stepped inside.

At the garden entrance.

The [Walking Corpse] abruptly froze. One hand was still tugging on one of Li Panlong’s lungs, but it stopped moving.

It could see what another shell was seeing—

Inside the screening room, foul-smelling blood slurry had congealed on the floor.

Li Daochang’s corpse lay sprawled in the middle, while his head had been casually kicked into a corner to face the wall.

The clothing on the corpse’s back had been slashed open—or rather, the entire back of the corpse had vanished.

It was clear that whoever had removed the skin had possessed terrible knife skills. They had obviously cut away flesh along with the skin, and the meat beneath had been carved unevenly, thick in some places and thin in others.

Li Daochang’s white spine and ribs were faintly visible beneath the rotting, green-tinged muscle.

“…The tattoo?”

“Ma Dong”’s expression darkened.

At the same time, the [Walking Corpse] lifted its head and stared at Zhu Yan, its expression frighteningly grim.

A chill suddenly flooded the entire space, the cold invading every inch of “Li Panlong’s” body.

Even Jin Rongxu, some distance away, shuddered violently!

He retreated farther, his eyes darting nervously from side to side, afraid that another deadly threat might leap out from some dark corner.

The tattoo.

What was this tattoo?

Why was there so much he didn’t know?

Zhu Yan smiled and said, “Ah, I forgot to tell you, ma’am.”

“I cut the tattoo off. You should know very well where the memorial tablet is.”

“You—”

“Show a little more respect.” Zhu Yan blinked once more. “I’ll give you some time to think it over. Will you surrender and let me out yourself, or should I kill you and walk out?”

The [Walking Corpse] broke down.

A sharp shriek spilled from its throat once again, but this time, the gunshot came first.

A bullet cleanly pierced the [Walking Corpse]’s throat, and it collapsed on the spot, looking no different from an ordinary corpse.

“I know you’re all in the basement.” “Li Panlong” kicked it once. “Take your time and think it over.”

In any case, he already had the ashes and the [Nightmare Book] in hand. Zhu Yan had nothing to worry about as far as his [Hunter] mission was concerned.

That left only one item on his to-do list.

He continued manipulating Li Panlong’s mutilated body and slowly turned toward Jin Rongxu.

“Oh my,” Zhu Yan said with a wide grin at Jin Rongxu’s pale face. “I’m guessing this is—”

Before he could finish, the lump of flesh Jin Rongxu was holding suddenly took root in his flesh and began writhing rapidly.

Across from him, “Li Panlong” reached out and made a grabbing motion in the air, causing Jin Rongxu to let out a scream of agony.

“Ah—!”

“Captain Jin of the [Human Alliance].”

Zhu Yan finished the sentence.

Jin Rongxu clutched his hand as blood poured between his fingers.

That damn [Hunter] had just used the ability [Telekinesis] to forcibly rip away the monster tissue he had intended to transplant!

Damn it.

Jin Rongxu clenched his teeth and bent down to pick up the fallen military knife.

“Li Panlong” had already collapsed in the distance, replaced by a thick cloud of fog.

It rapidly condensed into the shape of a cloaked human figure. One sharply jointed hand held a standard-issue pistol, its black muzzle aimed directly at his stomach.

“I heard that…”

The [Hunter]’s voice was still young, carrying the distinctive magnetic quality of an adolescent boy.

Jin Rongxu felt that the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but when he listened closely, it seemed completely unfamiliar again.

He heard the rustling of plants. Someone was pushing through the greenery and sprinting rapidly toward them.

“If you shoot someone in the stomach, their gastric juices will slowly eat away at their internal organs.”

The [Hunter] spoke with complete seriousness.

Zhu Zeyu would arrive in a few seconds.

He had to get the timing exactly right. He absolutely, absolutely couldn’t let his guard down…

“For a useless piece of trash like you—someone with no abilities of your own who can only rely on a [Hunter] to carry you through instances—you deserve—”

“Captain!” Zhu Zeyu shouted.

The gunman had to look startled, and Zhu Yan manipulated “Zhu Zeyu” into sprinting toward Jin Rongxu.

“Captain, watch out—”

The trigger was pulled, and Zhu Zeyu stepped squarely in front of Jin Rongxu.

The bullet pierced him.

In that instant, the pain stabbed through Zhu Yan’s mind.

He felt Zhu Zeyu’s hand seize his cloak with perfect precision, and then his form suddenly dispersed into the air.