Chapter 48: The One Behind the Scenes

The person in front of him was neither human nor his friend Wang Zikai.

"Wang Zikai" never existed. It was just a beast in disguise, a mutated lost soul.

It was dead, so let it be. There was no need to feel sad.

Gao Yang told himself this, but it didn't help. His chest felt tight, and it was hard to breathe.

In an instant, memories flooded his mind: On the first day of school, he had almost been run over by Wang Zikai's sports car at the school gate; on the third day of military training, he had fainted from heatstroke and was carried to the infirmary by Wang Zikai; the first time Wang Zikai dragged him to an internet cafe to play games, and they ended up losing all night; the first time they got drunk together and Wang Zikai cried, saying he didn't want his parents to divorce...

Gao Yang slumped in front of Wang Zikai's body, lost in despair.

Qing Ling walked into the room holding a knife, clutching her bleeding arm.

Fat Jun hesitated for a moment but still stood up from beside Wang Zikai and walked over to Qing Ling, placing his hands on her injured arm. "Healing!"

Qing Ling glanced at Wang Zikai and frowned. "He's dead?"

Officer Huang nodded. "No heartbeat." Then he looked around at the scattered corpses of the beasts on the ground. "I didn't expect that we'd really end up slaughtering the village. If it weren't for Wang Zikai, the four of us would probably already be dead."

"...Are we sure we're not missing anyone?" Fat Jun asked anxiously.

"I just counted. There were 31 outside and 22 inside. In total, 53."

"No one missing! So does that mean we can finally leave this hellhole? All the enemies are dead!" Fat Jun said impatiently.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Gao Yang's chest tightened painfully.

He pressed his hand to his chest. "Something's not right..."

"What's wrong?" Officer Huang became alert.

"It just feels... wrong." Gao Yang couldn't explain it, but maybe because of his heightened spiritual perception, he could sense the presence of hidden enemies.

"It's not over," Gao Yang said with a touch of despair in his voice. "Something's still out there, near us. It's strong, excited, and dangerous..."

"Yang-ge, please don't joke like that, it's not funny!" Fat Jun, who had barely escaped with his life, looked around nervously. "What's still out there? Where is it? I don't see anything!"

Gao Yang closed his eyes and entered the system.

[Warning! You are facing an extremely dangerous situation.]

[The Lucky Points benefit multiplier has increased to 1000x.]

—1000x?

Gao Yang didn't know what that meant. All he knew was that, in their current state, the four of them were doomed!

He opened his eyes and shouted, "Run! Run quickly!"

The four of them didn't hesitate. They rushed out of the house, leaving Wang Zikai's body behind.

As they ran out into the yard, Qing Ling, who was at the front, suddenly stopped. She didn't turn around but raised her hand, signaling to the three behind her, "Stay back! Don't come near me!"

The three of them stopped in confusion, holding their breath.

Gao Yang was the first to notice. His eyes widened in shock as he saw something was wrong with Qing Ling... more specifically, her black hair. Some strands of her hair were defying gravity, slowly floating upwards.

Gao Yang quickly realized—those floating strands weren't Qing Ling's!

"Hissssss—"

The strands of black hair tightened around Qing Ling's slender neck, attempting to strangle her. Qing Ling's fingers curled, and a blade hidden in her chest pocket shot out swiftly.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!" The blade cut through the strands of hair, and Qing Ling dropped to the ground, rolling back toward the others.

The severed strands of hair didn't pursue her. They floated in the air for a few seconds before scattering, resembling long, floating creatures, slowly drifting upward.

The four of them looked up in unison, feeling a chill down their spines.

A human-shaped skull fell from the sky, with dense black hair covering it.

"Look at the ground!" Fat Jun shouted.

Gao Yang looked down and saw that the hair from the corpses under their feet had all detached, gathering into strands that moved like thin black snakes, wriggling across the ground. Soon, they defied gravity, drifting toward the sky-bound creature, as if they were thousands of lost "tadpoles" returning to their mother's embrace.

In a short time, the creature took its complete form.

Gao Yang couldn't even begin to describe it—a strange human skull, with billions of black strands of hair attached, floating in the moonlight, resembling a massive seaweed-like creature deep in the ocean.

It slowly descended, and its hair spread in all directions, blotting out the sky. An overwhelming darkness pressed down on the four of them, like the end of the world.

"This is..." Fat Jun finally remembered. "It's the hair monster that attacked us that night!"

"Exactly."

Gao Yang's heart sank. To be honest, even if the five of them were at full strength, they might not be able to defeat this thing, let alone when they were already weakened and on the brink of death.

He turned to Officer Huang. "Does the Zodiac Organization know about this?"

Officer Huang's face darkened. "They probably know. That's why they sent us here."

"This isn't a trial. They sent us here to die." Gao Yang's voice was tinged with bitterness.

"We were used." Qing Ling said coldly. "We were just cannon fodder."

"I'm sorry, I brought all of you here. Wu Dahai doesn't seem like a bad person. I thought my judgment on people was sound..." Officer Huang said, full of guilt.

Gao Yang shook his head. "It's not your fault. We chose this path ourselves when we decided to join the organization."

"Forget about that! Think of something! I don't want to die!" Fat Jun shouted anxiously.

"Qing Ling, can you still fight?" Gao Yang asked.

Qing Ling was silent. She had at least three broken bones, and her right arm's muscles were severely torn, rendering her powerless. Although she still held the Tang Dao, it was nothing more than a show of force.

Of course, she could still use her [Metal] ability, but with her level 2 metal affinity, it was useful for controlling hidden weapons to sneak attack a human. But against a beast of this level, it was completely useless.

Gao Yang realized this too. Qing Ling's silence said it all.

—Escape? Impossible.

—Fight? Certain death.

Everything in his mind screamed that this was a dead end.

There was nothing more agonizing than waiting for death, but this torment didn't last long. The massive black hair, like an inverted carnivorous flower, descended upon them, surrounding the four in the yard.

"Everyone, be careful!"

Gao Yang shouted, but it was in vain.

Fat Jun was the first to be entangled by the black hair. He completely gave up resistance, closed his eyes, and sobbed in pain, hoping he would die quickly and without much suffering.

Officer Huang was the second to be caught. He struggled for a couple more seconds, but was quickly bound tightly like a dumpling.

Gao Yang was in the same situation as Officer Huang. The extra agility points didn't help him evade the black hair's grip.

Qing Ling held out the longest. Using her metal ability, she controlled knives, blades, and the Tang Dao, making them spin rapidly around her. Countless strands of hair were cut, but more hair slipped past her defenses. In just six or seven seconds, Qing Ling was tightly bound by the black hair.

The black hair slowly lifted Gao Yang and his three companions off the ground. They were all suspended in mid-air.

Qing Ling was the last to be captured, but she seemed to be the monster's most desired prey. She was pulled toward the skull with incredible speed, soon hanging upside down right in front of it.

The black strands around her, like cold, slithering snakes, slowly wove their way into Qing Ling's long, flowing black hair, as if trying to merge with it.

At that moment, the skull suddenly spoke. It was a hollow, cold, and twisted woman's voice: "Hair, hair, such beautiful hair..."

Qing Ling stared at the skull, showing no fear.

Suddenly, she opened her mouth, and a small blade hidden under her tongue shot out, aimed at the skull's forehead.

"Metal!" Qing Ling shouted, focusing all her control on the blade.

It was useless. The blade was too thin and fragile. It was crushed by the overwhelming mental force, leaving only a small scratch on the skull's forehead.

But this attempt at a sneak attack angered the hair monster.

Hundreds of strands of hair tangled together, instantly forming a sharp "black needle," like a scorpion's tail, twisting upward to pierce Qing Ling's chest.

"Qing Ling!" Gao Yang shouted.