Zhao Mingyue gripped her Beak Hammer Magic Staff—a solid magic staff shaped like a crane’s beak—tightly in her hand. Thanks to the power boost from perfectly completing the previous quest, the might this “brutish weapon” could unleash in her hands had significantly increased.
“What exactly is that thing outside? It shouldn’t be Lu Liangting, right?”
Standing to one side of the door, Zhao Mingyue asked Bai Yu in a low voice.
Was she scared? She had merely found the situation eerie moments ago, but real fear was minimal. How could she be afraid when she had a female ghost in her room who gave her such a profound sense of security?
“Li Nan.”
“Ah?! It’s him? How does he have Lu Liangting’s number?”
“Just an illusion art. He can use it once within a certain distance from you. That’s not the key point, though. The key is the thing on him that’s projecting the illusion.”
Bai Yu had an unsettling feeling.
Li Nan was a weakling. The problem was the person backing him—they were truly not simple.
She didn’t believe the thing on Li Nan’s body was something he acquired recently.
But whether that was the case or not, she’d know for sure once she killed him.
“Get ready to open the door. I’ll handle the thing on him. Li Nan is all yours.”
“Okay!” Zhao Mingyue nodded emphatically.
Her ten jade-like fingers clenched the magic staff, raising it high above her head.
Her two slender, lotus-root-like arms hardly inspired confidence in her strength. However, the “tool” in her hands certainly looked vicious enough.
Bai Yu stepped back. Zhao Mingyue yanked the room door open.
Almost instantly, a long, black shadow stabbed out from Li Nan towards them. Looking closely, it was a stretched-out, shadowy arm.
Bai Yu gave a cold snort, casually raising a hand and seizing it tightly in her palm.
Her situation was similar to Zhao Mingyue’s, perhaps even more absurd. With her slender arms and legs, looking as delicate and pretty as a porcelain doll, no one would ever imagine she possessed any significant strength.
The reality was that while Zhao Mingyue might indeed be that way, Bai Yu was the exact opposite.
Her slender arm now erupted with a shocking, terrifying power. Her one hand’s five fingers clamped onto the black shadow’s wrist like a vice. Her face barely changed expression, yet the shadow’s hand was grotesquely deformed. The wrist was crushed as if the bones had been pulverized, leaving only connected flesh.
The black shadow trembled, but Bai Yu didn’t release its hand. She forcefully yanked, trying to pull the shadow over, but it promptly chose to sever its own arm instead.
On Zhao Mingyue’s side, things looked equally ferocious. The instant the door opened, she didn’t bother confirming who was outside, whether it was actually Li Nan or not. The pointed, solid magic staff in her hands came smashing straight down.
And standing in the doorway was indeed Li Nan.
Seeing Zhao Mingyue open the door, a cruel smile couldn’t help but spread across his face.
He could no longer suppress the urge to pour out the most vicious and darkest desires of his heart onto Zhao Mingyue’s delicate body in every possible manner, to completely possess her.
However, the moment the door swung open, a hammer—its front end shaped like a red bird’s beak, with a pair of cute little white wings attached to the back—rapidly expanded in his field of vision.
Li Nan’s pupils constricted. The conical protrusion at the front of the Beak Hammer Magic Staff smashed solidly into his nose. His nose immediately caved in, nosebleed spraying, his face contorting in agony.
Because it was a blunt weapon, the strike didn’t sever his nose or slice his skin open. But Li Nan heard a crisp, sickening crack. In his dazed confusion, he had absolutely no idea what had just fractured.
Tears and blood streaming down his face, Li Nan collapsed onto his backside.
He was still wearing a black hoodie and a face mask. As he fell, the very distinctive yellow, center-parted perm hairstyle was exposed to the air.
Before coming—no, to be precise, before the door to Room 404 had opened—Li Nan would never have imagined Zhao Mingyue’s combat strength was this formidable.
He had deliberately used the illusion art to scare Zhao Mingyue. One reason was to let the monster on his back devour fear, which would make it stronger. The other was that Li Nan genuinely wanted to see the look of terror on Zhao Mingyue’s face, and then, amidst her fear, to freely toy with her.
He was sick of her usual aloofness. He relished the thought of seeing panic in her eyes.
Behind the door, Bai Yu single-handedly held the shadow’s severed arm. Threads of blood surged from her palm and devoured the arm clean in an instant.
Her expression was blank. She stood in a snow-white dress, two low pigtails resting quietly behind her left and right. Her forehead’s bangs were pinned back with a red hairpin. Behind her neck, two large red butterfly bows securing the low pigtails were visible.
She was flawless from head to toe, like a masterpiece crafted by God.
Assuming, of course, one ignored her black eyes radiating a faint red gleam.
It had to be said, the meticulous care Zhao Mingyue had put into Bai Yu’s appearance significantly reduced her oppressive pressure. But to underestimate her strength because of it would certainly lead to a very gruesome death.
Clutching his nose, Li Nan, still on the ground, scrambled backward several steps until his back hit the wall.
His face mask was soaked red, blood dripping down his chin.
In his vision, Zhao Mingyue stood at the doorway, the magic staff held in one hand. Her face wasn’t frightened at all—she even wore a faint smile. And that Fierce Ghost was like her shadow, simply standing silently behind her.
“Li Nan, so it really is you. I don’t understand. What is it about me that attracts you so much, you’d go so far as to try and kill me?”
A thin, black humanoid figure was crouched on Li Nan’s back, utterly terrifying. Except, this figure was curled up, not daring to even poke its head out.
“I… I worked so hard to gain this power! How can you have it too?!” Li Nan was somewhat hysterical.
He had paid a near-death price to form a symbiosis with the black shadow. Yet this incredibly powerful black shadow was so terrified of the Fierce Ghost behind Zhao Mingyue that it didn’t even dare to make a move. It was cowering!
He refused to believe it!
This had to be fake. This was his Master’s power! How could it lose?!
“How could I have this power?” Zhao Mingyue blinked, glancing back at Bai Yu.
“You mean her? She’s my dear sister.”
Finished, Zhao Mingyue turned back—to the real one?—and flashed a smile at Bai Yu, pointing at Li Nan. “How should we deal with him? Call the authorities?”
Bai Yu shook her head, remaining silent. She simply vanished into Zhao Mingyue’s shadow.
Zhao Mingyue was puzzled as well. Why had Bai Yu suddenly stopped attacking? Turning her head back, she discovered that Li Nan had gotten up and started running.
Where he found the strength, she had no idea.
Zhao Mingyue quickly grabbed her magic staff and chased after him, but hadn’t run more than a few steps when Li Nan suddenly stopped again.
Because around the staircase corner, someone was striding quickly out.
“Lu Liangting!?” Zhao Mingyue recognized the figure coming down from the fifth floor. It was Lu Liangting himself!
Earlier, Bai Yu had indeed said Lu Liangting was on the fifth floor confronting a female ghost. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so spooked by Li Nan’s messages earlier.
“Li Nan?” Lu Liangting stood in Li Nan’s path, spotting the black shadow on his back.
