Chapter 74: The Core Key

Lu Xin could also perceive the changes occurring in the living room.

For an ordinary person, this was indeed an extremely bizarre transformation. Every object in the surroundings seemed to come alive, pulsing with vitality. While the rational brain might still be issuing commands, warning that “none of this is real, don’t believe it,” various hormones within the body were already being secreted uncontrollably.

And when this surge of hormones reached its peak, it began overriding the commands from the rational brain.

Losing your mind probably felt like this…

Lu Xin thought inwardly.

……

The head-tipped tentacles, which had merged into the surrounding furniture, were now wriggling desperately. Some even emitted soft, suggestive giggles that made one’s cheeks flush and ears burn. The surrounding Mr. Xu was merely affected by it, but Lu Xin was positioned right at the center.

For him, everything in the living room seemed to be smiling at him.

Lu Xin simply thought for a moment and slowly extended his palm.

Though these head-tipped tentacles had rendered the entire living room incredibly eerie, how could he possibly be attracted to them?

How abnormal would someone have to be to be influenced by them?

“Contamination is confirmed now…”

Thinking this, he merely stretched his palm out slowly.

Since the existence of the psychic entities had been identified, it was simple: they just needed to be dealt with directly.

“No need…”

But this time, Little Sister didn’t rush over to take his hand like she usually did.

Instead, she let out an excited laugh and swiftly lunged forward by herself.

She crawled across the floor like a spider, or perhaps like a small ghoul in a dirty white robe. She instantly shot to the nearby coffee table, her hands clawing down forcefully. Though the coffee table itself remained unchanged, she now held a head-tipped tentacle she’d torn out from within it. Delighted, she ripped it in two, then grabbed both halves and tore them into several pieces…

Immediately after, she leapt towards a pillar, wrapped her hands and feet around it, and bit down fiercely.

……

Lu Xin felt rather helpless. Little Sister was clearly having fun this time and didn’t need his help.

So he could only stand silently in place, watching her scramble around above and below him, shredding tentacles of all kinds of bizarre shapes. She was having such a good time that her distinct “giggles” could be heard. Laughing, she dug around like digging a hole, pulling out tentacles from different places and tearing them apart. In just a few dozen seconds, she had already shredded over a dozen tentacles.

As Lu Xin watched this, Mr. Xu nearby seemed plunged into deep confusion.

He looked around; objectively, nothing had changed.

Yet in his eyes, infinite, never-ending transformations seemed to be occurring constantly.

That potted plant sometimes seemed irresistibly attractive, then abruptly turned entirely unremarkable…

At other times, the nearby pillar suddenly resembled a person, then immediately looked like just a pillar, only to shift back into a person shape moments later.

This plunged him into a powerfully disorienting cognitive dissonance.

“Little Sister is not handling this effectively…”

Observing for a while longer, Lu Xin gave a slight shake of his head.

Compared to these tentacles, Little Sister was obviously much more powerful, but there were simply too many of them, and they were cunning.

Some were torn to pieces, others managed to hide away.

They even seemed to understand how to retreat when Little Sister lunged, only to poke their heads out again shortly after.

Sometimes, Little Sister would still be squatting by a corner wall, digging diligently, while a tentacle would already be peering down at her from higher up on the wall.

It almost looked at times like Little Sister was being toyed with by them.

As her big brother, how could he let her be treated unfairly?

……

So Lu Xin frowned too, scrutinizing the scene carefully.

From the start until now, Little Sister had shredded quite a few tentacles, yet their overall number didn’t seem to have decreased at all.

These tentacles were vivid, varied in appearance, yet all wore the same expression.

Thanks to his recent period of specialized training, Lu Xin could easily identify the crux of the issue: “The mental power radiating from the source of contamination can manifest in diverse forms through different reflections, but the total psychic magnitude remains constant!”

“Theoretically, mental power cannot be killed, nor can it be diminished by non-specific means.”

“Every source of contamination possesses its own logic chain and core key…”

“…”

“Therefore…”

Lu Xin shifted his gaze to the motionless girl lying on the floor.

The problem still lay with her.

Thinking this, Lu Xin drew his gun from the bag and walked towards the girl.

His movement immediately provoked a violent reaction. The various head-tentacles on the walls, embedded within objects, seemed to all notice his approach. Suddenly becoming incredibly agitated, they let out hissing shrieks and lunged at him.

“Whoosh!”

Little Sister rushed back to Lu Xin’s side, perched on his shoulder, and shredded every tentacle that got close.

Then she looked down with some curiosity.

Lu Xin also tilted his head up slightly, giving his little sister an expression of resigned disapproval.

It was a look that clearly said he found her approach clumsy.

Little Sister instantly pouted her small mouth, looking also a bit angry, and swiftly leapt out again.

She leapt directly towards the girl lying prone on the floor.

As she jumped towards this girl, the surrounding tentacles also suddenly surged towards the girl simultaneously.

They seemed to mutate back into that patch of “seaweed” sprouting once more from the girl’s back!

Little Sister crashed into them, grabbed hold of several tentacles at once, and ripped them away forcefully.

These grotesque, twisting appendages were immediately torn away in large chunks. The remaining tentacles seemed to convulse violently as if suffering immense trauma, writhing and stretching in chaotic frenzy. They desperately intertwined, twisting countless individual protrusions into a single thicker tentacle like braiding rope. At the very top of this new, amalgamated tentacle, a head also sprouted immediately, its features far more complex and expressive.

This head then abruptly split open from the middle, transforming into a gaping maw lined with jagged, razor-sharp teeth.

It lunged towards Little Sister, an unnerving aura of terror and extreme menace radiating from it.

Faced with this terrifying sight, Little Sister’s eyes suddenly lit up with pure, eager excitement.

Then, she also suddenly widened her mouth. Her eyes turned pitch-black yet luminous. Her jaw seemed capable of opening infinitely wide, revealing teeth as sharp as knives. Her whole face stretched in an exaggerated, distorted fashion, like she had turned into a warped yet somehow endearing little abomination.

“Ah-wooo!” With a chomp, she bit off a substantial chunk of the snake-like thing.

That amalgamated tentacle seemed to register fear and abruptly began retracting rapidly back into the girl’s body.

But Little Sister’s eyes flashed. She pursued it swiftly, grabbing hold tightly.

This time, however, she didn’t try to wrench it apart. Instead, her two small hands alternated rapidly, pulling on it with incredible speed. Though she kept hauling it out section by section, only about half a meter ever remained visible in her grasp. Finally, when she tugged the very end – perhaps another head? – that portion too emerged, yet only half a meter ever stayed in her hands.

She held its body between her two hands, her eyes sparkling as she stared fixedly at it.

It looked like a fierce and agile snake. But unlike a snake, this creature had a gaping maw filled with jagged teeth at both ends, screaming soundlessly. Its entire form twisted violently as if suffering, emitting agonized shrieks…

It seemed to want to struggle, even to retaliate against Little Sister.

But before Lu Xin’s eyes, which were urging restraint, Little Sister had already gone Crack! – her razor-sharp teeth sinking deep into the snake-like body.

The thing’s shrieks instantly intensified, filled with even more profound agony and despair…