Chapter 154: The Black Shadow

“Thump, thump.”

Dull yet powerful sounds echoed along the mad street of Happy Town.

Surrounded by countless Human-Fruit Trees laden with humanoid fruit, the air had been thick with chaotic, scattered noises. Innumerable sounds and mad whispers intermingled, filling the surrounding dozens of meters with a clamor that, while not loud, was exceptionally complex, grating on the nerves and causing sharp, intense headaches. Yet, the moment this new sound emerged—a heartbeat—it overwhelmed all others.

“Hiss…”

From the main trunk of the Human-Fruit Tree that had sprouted from Qin Ran’s corpse, sixteen identical-looking fruits that had just awakened simultaneously turned their gaze forward, their panicked eyes landing on the Black Shadow behind Lu Xin.

They heard it. The moment that Black Shadow appeared, the heartbeat sound emanating from within Lu Xin’s body drowned everything else.

It felt as if all surrounding noise vanished, leaving only that heartbeat.

Then, as the Black Shadow opened its blood-red eyes, Lu Xin also abruptly lifted his head and opened his eyes.

His eyes were equally bloodshot, crimson pools.

“Ah…”

Lu Xin’s body was already covered in countless faces. Yet, when the Shadow manifested, those faces seemed to sense an uncanny terror. Simultaneously, they opened their mouths, letting out pained screams. Their expressions tightened unbearably before suddenly—they exploded.

One after another, the faces burst apart, spattering bright red blood plasma.

“What’s happening?”

“Why can it expel us?”

“…”

Upon the Human-Fruit Tree, all the Qin Rans screamed.

Their expressions varied — fearful, panicked, bewildered — as they stared at the youth covered in wounds before them, they yelled out.

“That is our Will!”

“Following like a shadow, clinging like maggots to bone…”

“How did he do this?”

“What’s going on? Just moments ago, I was hauling cargo out in the Wilderness…”

“…”

“Useless trash…”

Lu Xin sneered coldly, a pair of bloodshot eyes like a greedy beast spotting prey.

The corners of his mouth stretched into an eerie angle. A crimson tongue licked his lips as his gaze pierced intensely forward.

“Thieves who break into someone’s home without the owner’s permission…”

“…deserve to die!”

“…”

As he growled his rough curse, a gleam of excitement appeared on his face. The red light in his eyes visibly intensified, becoming brighter, fiercer.

Then his Shadow grew darker, denser. Because countless faces on his body’s surface had shattered, his frame was now a mangled mess of flesh and gore. Clumps of tainted blood were squeezed out, dripping and splattering onto the ground. This foul blood was the residue from those shattered faces.

Those faces represented Qin Ran’s Will.

Through this Will, they could influence an opponent, even remake the opponent into one of their own.

Yet now, these faces had been stretched to bursting, the tainted blood forcibly expelled.

It was as if someone profoundly obsessed with their own private domain was violently ejecting all uninvited guests.

Kill them first, then cast them out!

……

Lu Xin began to move, slowly, swaying his body as he shifted.

His frail frame swayed unsteadily as he advanced.

Blood still dripped from his wounds. Crimson footprints smeared one after another on the ground, as if he might collapse at any moment.

But standing behind him was that immense Black Shadow.

That Shadow seemed real, yet illusory. A closer look revealed it was more like a specter constructed from the refraction of Psychic Energy. However, that Psychic Energy was so densely concentrated, it felt viscerally real.

“Ah…”

As Lu Xin started to move, the residents of Happy Town who had sprouted around him—previously contaminated by Qin Ran, but who, having succeeded in their revenge, had fused not with Qin Ran but become distinct, individual miniature Human-Fruit Trees—roared in unison. This grotesque forest of two-meter-tall blood and flesh surged towards him like a wave.

They clearly lacked the intelligence of the Qin Rans upon the original Human-Fruit Tree’s trunk. They possessed no Memory, nor the gift of thought.

So, they simply sensed the threat and attacked proactively, like a true Source of Contamination.

……

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Vines, each topped with a Human-Shaped Fruit, swayed and contracted their limbs and heads like five fingers of a hand. Their faces revealed both confusion and fervor as they lunged collectively toward the center, toward Lu Xin.

Like a net woven from countless black figures, they immediately submerged Lu Xin within themselves.

…

The myriad likenesses of Qin Ran on the towering seven-to-eight-meter Human-Fruit Tree opposite all showed expressions of fervor and anticipation.

…

Crack…

Compared to these thirty-plus two-meter-tall, smaller Human-Fruit Trees, Lu Xin’s slim, sub-one-eighty frame seemed rather short. Combined with the whipping Tentacles and the near-human-sized Human-Shaped Fruits, the instant they lunged, Lu Xin was overwhelmed. Multiple embraces wove together, interlocking, wrapping him tight.

Limb by limb, head squeezed head, like clenched fingers tightening with force.

On the fruit-heads, mouths stretched to their widest, corners tearing back to the ears before snapping down with a vicious bite.

Lu Xin, besieged by so many Monsters, showed not a flicker of unusual reaction.

He only watched with those crimson eyes; fury deepened the bloody hue within them the red. The Black Shadow clinging to him grew denser and more distinct. The seemingly calm and stable Shadow at his back, in its minute details, trembled violently, vibrating like boiling water.

Then Lu Xin thrust out his hands, gripping directly two of the Human-Shaped Fruit traps beside him, tearing them forcefully off his body.

Where his hands grasped them, the two Human-Shaped Fruit traps began to twist and grow brittle. Lu Xin’s trailing black Shadow flowed like liquid, passing through his hands and onto the two captive entities.

Upon contact with this black Shadow, the trapped beings began to convulse in violent struggle, emitting agonized howls.

Not just them; the cramped space ensured contacts and overlaps between all these Human-Shaped Fruit traps. As the two caught by Lu Xin felt the effect of the Shadow behind him, the influence rapidly spread to others tied to them.

Four or five Human-Shaped Fruits began screaming in unison, their torment multiplying. More joined the chorus.

It was as if a powerful current flowed through Lu Xin, surging viciously outwards, crackling through the mass.

Heh heh heh heh…

Lu Xin relished their piercing, painful screams, letting out a hollow, dry chuckle. Excitement flickered across his face. He brought one hand to his mouth, opened wide, and bit down fiercely…

Crunch!

That crisp sound held a unique brand of Fear.

Pah!

But the very next instant, Lu Xin spat out the chunk he’d bitten off, his expression twisting into greater fury.

“Pitiful. Worthless. You’re not even palatable…”

…

His wrath surged hotter with each word, as if the texture had thoroughly destroyed his good mood. He raised both hands high overhead, then slammed them down savagely.

Crack!

The sturdy concrete ground of Happy Town buckled beneath the impact, erupting into a massive crater etched with fissures like a Spider Web.

The pitch-black Shadow trailing behind him swept upwards with his lifting hands, then plunged down with brutal force, mirroring their descent.

Blasting out from the epicenter of the crater came a burst of Chaos—raw, discordant power ripping in all directions.

The two Human-Shaped Fruits he had clenched and hurled against the earth shattered instantly into powder. Those nearby Human-Shaped Fruits already wracked by the Shadow’s tormenting power were simultaneously slammed downward by the blow. Caught in the shockwave exploding from the crater’s web of cracks, their forms grotesquely contorted, fracturing inch by inch.

This was annihilation. True disintegration.

Stripped of all cohesive form, all vitality, whether fleshly or belonging to a Spiritual Entity.

Heh heh heh heh…

That same hollow, dried-out laugh escaped Lu Xin once more. It seemed to carry some peculiar vibration; surrounding walls, the small stones on the ground, all trembled faintly, caught in the tremor of his mirth.

Within that roar that held no restraint, Lu Xin radiated an unnerving blend of madness and exhilaration. His gaze swept over the remaining handful—less than half—of the still intact beings. Though distorted and shrieking, they persisted.

Then he, together with the Shadow at his back, lunged outward anew.

“Useless trash! Your sole worth lies only in the pleasantness of your dying screams…”