Chapter 186: Monsters Beneath the Skin

Lu Xin’s heart sank slightly.

He had seen coffee shop staff who could sprout tentacles from their bodies, witnessed monsters stitched together from human faces, encountered a man who multiplied from one into sixteen upon being killed, and observed the Queen… Those monsters were aberrations or frenzied abominations, yet none of them made his heart pound and scalp crawl like the scenes unfolding before him now.

These individuals and scenes felt more terrifying than any monster.

It wasn’t just terror; it left a visceral discomfort in the gut…

… More dreadful than monsters were monsters cloaked in human skin!

Passing through Hell, Lu Xin ignored everyone and charged straight upstairs.

The moment he stepped into the twelfth floor corridor, a sight clenched his heart.

Surprisingly, the twelfth floor was densely packed…

Lu Xin didn’t spot the two Psychic Entities, but he saw Drunkard’s apartment door wide open. Ghostly figures sneaked through the hall—neighbor after neighbor, each tiptoeing, eyes alert yet gleaming with satisfied malice.

By their attire, they resembled Drunkard’s neighbors.

Each carried weapons: kitchen knives, daggers, electric batons—even submachine guns.

They lined up, filing into Drunkard’s home one by one.

Still channeling his Mother’s power, Lu Xin’s vision revealed not just these neighbors’ Spiritual Entities tinged an eerie shade, but also what they did inside Drunkard’s apartment.

They slipped into the room of Drunkard’s parents, raised kitchen knives and daggers—and savagely hacked downward.

Cotton stuffing flew; blood spurted, staining every face.

Then, casually wiping crimson from their cheeks, they queued out, self-satisfied, handing the “opportunity” to those behind them.

“Could it be—”

A flash of dread struck Lu Xin—just as heavy thuds echoed from above.

He froze mid-step, pivoted sharply on his toes, and bolted upward.

Drunkard’s parents were hacked beyond saving—entering their room was pointless.

Through his “Mother Vision,” Lu Xin detected no Mental Fluctuation from the mangled couple.

Beyond hope.

Decision made, he didn’t hesitate. In two seconds flat, he surged into the next level’s corridor.

Planting both feet on the hallway wall, Lu Xin whirled around—only for thick blood-scent to assault him. Gargantuan, grisly carcasses—resembling flayed flesh—filled the passage: two Psychic Entities crammed into the cramped space, writhing bulks occupying every crevice.

The corridor drowned in near-darkness, drenched blood-red.

Massive flesh mounds crawled sluggishly. Snakelike tentacles threaded the claustrophobic maze.

Though vast enough to block Lu Xin’s entire view, these Psychic Entities paradoxically seemed transparent under his gaze.

As though Lu Xin’s vision had split: his left eye seeing one thing, his right eye another.

So one eye took in monsters brimming the hall; the other saw nothing but distorted air.

Was this vision-overlap at work?

Ordinary eyes wouldn’t perceive the monsters’ true forms—just clumps of twisted, oppressive air. But Lu Xin glimpsed the entities clearly—yet retained a mortal perspective, meaning two parallel visions now overlaid inside him.

Thus, he could see the monsters—and peer through them to spot Drunkard fleeing down the corridor as both monsters chased her.

That Drunkard remained the High School Student: ponytailed, sporty-shoed, youth’s defiance aglow. Yet this girl now darted through tight spaces, dodging tentacles lunging to bite and entangle.

“Hiss…”

The monster draped in a Necklace of Human Heads screeched from its belly-maw, shredding walls layer by layer.

The shriek crashed like turbulent seawater onto consciousness.

Mid-flight, Drunkard wobbled—sound-staggered. Instantly, the Creeping Vine monster flowed across walls toward her, every tentacle firing forward—weaving a cascade black as ink, each tip sprouting a venom-beaked orifice poised to clamp down.

Cornered, Drunkard jerked her head up, shot backward, and charged the window. “Whoosh!” She burst through twelfth-floor glass—snake heads hot on her heels.

In mid-air, she spun—drawing both hands to her left hip—then thrust them outward,

shouting: “Hasaaki!”

…

“Thump!”

A white-air sphere blasted from Drunkard’s palms, slamming into the Creeping Vine monster.

It worked: several tentacles snapped; eyes peppering them burst instantly.

But the wounds barely hindered the monster. Instead, greed flared—it plummeted faster toward her.

“CRASH!”

Drunkard—High School Student dressed—touched down one-knee-first as if cracking the pavement apart.

Then she immediately jumped up again, turned around, and… ran!

Behind her, the monster resembling Boston Ivy immediately climbed along the building’s surface and pursued her.

Behind her too, the obese and robust Psychic Entity, with a Necklace of Human Heads wrapped around its body, also shifted its body and inched forward.

“Is this possible?”

Lu Xin was already striding forward, and from a distance, he saw the Drunkard’s exaggerated movements; he felt a bit surprised.

However, he could not afford to think too much at this moment.

He had originally been thinking about how to use his Father’s method, only he couldn’t find the feeling; when that obese Psychic Entity opened its mouth and roared, releasing intense radiation, he was quickly submerged by an indescribable anger in his heart, and an icy coldness enveloped his entire body.

Yet this anger brought him a strange sense of lightness.

Normally, his most common Emotion was calmness; sometimes he felt a faint happiness or curiosity.

The feeling of anger was rare.

This was also why earlier he had tried to forcibly borrow his Father’s ability, but it had no effect at all.

But now, he suddenly developed that feeling of anger.

In an instant, it was like a floodgate opening, unstoppable.

He didn’t even know if this should be an Emotion of anger or, in fact, an Emotion of happiness.

His eyes suddenly turned blood-red, and he rushed forward with large strides.

“Big Brother…”

On the light fixture in the hallway ahead, the Shadow of Little Sister appeared; she looked at Lu Xin with a smile.

After remaining unseen all night, she finally showed her form.

“Get out of the way.”

But now, Lu Xin only made a sound from deep in his throat and charged directly past, with no intention of communicating with Little Sister at all.

Little Sister’s expression instantly became somewhat stunned, and she stared blankly at Lu Xin.

…

After pondering what his Father would do and developing an excited feeling, Lu Xin felt that everything around him became different.

Especially when he jumped up, reaching toward the Monster, all his attention suddenly concentrated, and he felt like he was in water—the kind where a casual wave of his hand could carve a path through the surrounding current.

“Kill him, kill him…”

On that Monster, some of the human heads were facing backward, just gazing at Lu Xin, and at the same time opened their mouths and screamed fiercely.

But before the Monster could react, Lu Xin had already grabbed it.

The feel was soft and fluffy, seeming somewhat unreal, but he was certain he could grasp the Monster’s body.

Lu Xin let out a muffled roar from his throat, bent his arm, and directly pulled the Monster tight.

With a “ripping” sound, a chunk of the Monster’s body was torn off by him.

It was like real flesh, and he could even see blood-like liquid oozing from the wound.

“Can kill…”

Lu Xin’s face showed an excited expression.