Chapter 11
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Fu Xuezhou left the school and entered a secluded alley with no one around. Suddenly, he stopped and turned his head to look behind him.
His silver hair swayed behind him, tracing a dangerous arc.
Fu Xuezhou said lightly, “Come out.”
A middle-aged man wearing a dusty gray work suit walked out from behind the wall, looking timid. He ran to Fu Xuezhou and knelt heavily on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he banged his head hard against the ground. “Please, please save my daughter, little brother! She’s also been taken by the ghost. Please save her, she’s only sixteen, please…”
Fu Xuezhou looked down at him calmly. The middle-aged man, afraid, but determined, grabbed Fu Xuezhou’s pants leg, pleading desperately, “Please, as long as you can save my daughter, I’ll do anything. Even if it costs my life!”
“Is that so?” Fu Xuezhou smiled and said softly, “Then go and die.”
He bent down, and his pale, slender fingers inserted into the man’s chest like a knife before the man could react, crushing the heart that represented life.
The middle-aged man’s eyes widened suddenly, disbelief in them as he stared at Fu Xuezhou. Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth as he stiffly collapsed to the ground.
Fu Xuezhou flicked the flesh and blood off his hand, then took out a tissue to wipe off the remaining dirt.
Lowering his head, he meticulously wiped from his fingertips to his joints, not missing a spot. After cleaning his hands, Fu Xuezhou turned and walked deeper into the alley, holding in his other hand an anomaly’s heart he had obtained at the school. The crimson blood smeared on his lips and chin as he slowly consumed it, savoring it like a delicacy. His eyes gradually lit up with a red glow.
In a corner unnoticed by anyone, the middle-aged man’s body quickly decomposed, turning into a pile of flesh resembling an anomaly.
Happiness Residential Area.
The cold wind howled, and there were not many apartments with lights on inside. The security guard at the entrance of the community was also napping on the desk, his snoring getting louder with each breath.
Fu Xuezhou walked leisurely, neither fast nor slow, until he reached his doorstep, where he heard clear chewing sounds coming from behind the anti-theft door.
He stood in front of the door quietly for a while, until a gust of cold wind blew his silver hair onto his face. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
***
An hour had passed when Lou Yan returned to Li Sanxin’s home with Duan Zege.
Fortunately, it was late at night, and there weren’t many people on the road. Otherwise, seeing Lou Yan covered in blood, others would have to call the police.
Li Sanxin and Lu Haoxiu were shocked and almost called for an ambulance. Lou Yan rolled his eyes at them, left Duan Zege to explain, and hurriedly ran into the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes.
As someone who paid great attention to his appearance and luxury lifestyle, Lou Yan could barely tolerate rolling around in the black, bloody water before returning to the city. He disdainfully threw his clothes into the trash can and turned the water to the maximum.
Most of the bloodstains on his body had already dried and needed to be soaked in warm water for a while to wash off. Lou Yan carefully inspected his body, confirming once again that all the wounds had healed completely.
He couldn’t help but sigh again, “This is the effect of merging with the anomaly.”
After merging with the anomaly, one could no longer be considered human. With an anomaly creature hidden inside the body, a person became half an anomaly. Lou Yan speculated that his current physique was close to that of a monster, and ordinary injuries would be difficult to kill him unless it was a severe injury like cutting off his head or injuring his heart.
With a thought, Lou Yan picked up the fruit knife he had placed on the sink when undressing and lightly scratched his arm.
Beads of blood instantly surged out, and Lou Yan stared at the wound, counting silently. By the time he counted to twenty, the wound had clotted and scabbed at a visible speed.
“Indeed, it’s no longer the healing speed of a normal person…”
Lou Yan sighed and muttered. He should have been happy, and he was indeed happy because he possessed powers that he had never had in his previous life, and these powers were incredibly powerful. But Lou Yan also felt genuinely sad because he knew he wouldn’t live long.
Merging with the anomaly to gain power was a risky path. Every time anomaly power was used, the anomaly creature inside the body would revive to some extent. It was like playing with a time bomb. When the anomaly inside Lou Yan’s body completely revived, Lou Yan would transform into an anomaly and lose his human reason completely.
Standing under the shower, Lou Yan could already see his final outcome. Either he would die from the revival of the anomaly inside him, or he would end his own life before completely turning into an anomaly.
It seemed like there were two choices, but for Lou Yan, there was only one answer.
When he decided to merge with the anomaly, he had already chosen the latter, giving himself a countdown to freedom.
Lou Yan regretted and felt sorry, but compared to death, what Lou Yan feared most was the feeling of helplessness when faced with danger, unable to defend himself and only able to flee helplessly.
He allowed his thoughts to wander freely after a long night of exhaustion. With his brain relaxed by the impact of the hot water, Lou Yan felt drowsy as he washed.
Li Sanxin knocked on the bathroom door, “Lou Yan, I brought you pajamas. Come in.”
Lou Yan lazily responded with a grunt, feeling a bit sleepy.
Li Sanxin opened the door and walked in, immediately being enveloped by the steam. He skillfully placed the neatly folded clothes and towel on the sink, then glanced at his little brother, “Do you want me to give you a rub down?”
Li Sanxin was a genuine northern man, tall, handsome, and strong. Letting him give you a rub down would make you cry tears of pain.
“Forget it,” Lou Yan opened his eyes and glanced at him, “Just bring me a bottle of ice-cold beer and wait. I’ll be out in a moment.”
Li Sanxin agreed and didn’t rush to leave. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and efficiently tidied up the messy bathroom, putting away the fruit knife, picking up various bottles and jars that had fallen on the sink, and straightening them out. Then he swept the floor, sighed, and took out the dirty clothes Lou Yan had thrown into the trash bag to wash, “Didn’t I tell you before, wash dirty clothes before throwing them away next time?”
Lou Yan dragged out his words, “Annoying.”
Li Sanxin took out a plastic basin and soaked the clothes in it, sprinkling bleach and laundry detergent inside. “If it were normal society, I wouldn’t say anything if you threw such dirty clothes at me. But the current society is obviously becoming dangerous. Your clothes still have your bloodstains on them. What if they attract other anomalies?”
He was right. Lou Yan responded nonchalantly, “I know.”
“Do you really know?”
“…You’re so annoying, Li Sanxin.”
Li Sanxin chuckled a few times, saying, “Okay, okay, I won’t bother you anymore,” before leaving.
After taking a shower, Lou Yan walked out to get a towel. Li Sanxin was very considerate, placing the towel and clothes in convenient places for easy access. The neatly folded pajamas had a brand new pair of underwear on top. Lou Yan changed into the clean pajamas and left the bathroom, his face expressionless as he walked up to Li Sanxin, pulling at the pajamas, “Why did you bring me this outfit?”
The green pajamas were adorned with several large red flower patterns, very northeastern and very elegant. Li Sanxin held back his laughter and innocently said, “I had no choice. All the other pajamas were given to Lu Haoxiu and Duan Zege. This one was left for you.”
Lou Yan coldly snorted, “Do you think I’ll believe that?”
Li Sanxin boldly reached out and patted Lou Yan’s head, “This one is the most comfortable. My mom made it herself, and you know it. I gave it to you because you looked tired today. Just cherish it and wear it to sleep.”
Lou Yan swatted his hand away lazily and walked over to the sofa, too lazy to argue with Li Sanxin.
In the living room, Lu Haoxiu and Duan Zege were sitting together chatting. Li Sanxin greeted, “The late-night snacks I ordered just arrived. Let’s eat together before going back to sleep?”
So the four of them moved to the dining room. Since it was late at night, Li Sanxin didn’t order anything too greasy, just a portion of wontons and two large bowls of mushroom soup noodles for each person. They chatted, deliberately avoiding the topic of anomaly resurgence that they had just discussed, hoping to leave each other with a relatively relaxed mood before going to sleep.
Among this group of people, Li Sanxin felt the most complicated. At least Lu Haoxiu and Duan Zege had faced the anomaly directly and awakened their own talents. Only his childhood friend was unaware of all this, only able to glean some information about Lou Yan’s experiences and risks from others.
He didn’t show anything on his face, but his mood was somewhat heavy. He wasn’t in a hurry to eat either, just lit a cigarette and watched the other three eat and drink with a smile.
Lou Yan looked at the noodles, “You guys already know each other.”
Lu Haoxiu nodded obediently, sounding a bit excited, “My stomach was growling just now, and Brother Li ordered takeout for us. I was curious about what we were going to eat, and Brother Duan even did a tarot reading for me. He said the designated late-night snack would be something soupy like wontons and noodles, and it turned out to be true!”
Now it was Lou Yan’s turn to look at Duan Zege speechlessly, “You have time to calculate such trivial matters? Don’t you have too much mental energy?”
Lou Yan’s words were too direct, and Li Sanxin was afraid that Duan Zege would misunderstand, so he quickly brushed it off, “Brother Duan, Lou Yan didn’t mean it like that…”
Unexpectedly, Duan Zege interrupted Li Sanxin, “I understand.”
Lu Haoxiu was really hungry. He slurped his noodles while listening to the conversation. His head turned to whoever was talking.
Duan Zege had just taken a shower, and his clean hair still fell in front of his face. The large, low hat was back on his head. It looked strange to wear a hat indoors, but Duan Zege didn’t seem to find it odd at all, behaving quite naturally. After interrupting Li Sanxin with a smile, he patiently explained to Lou Yan, “We’re about to go to sleep, so using our talents a bit now isn’t a big deal. Since I’ve decided to join you all, I must show you my abilities and let you understand my talents.”
Lou Yan thought Duan Zege made sense and nodded, eating his late-night snack quietly. He didn’t have the habit of eating much at night, so he only ate half of the wontons before putting down his chopsticks. After eating and drinking his fill, sleepiness overwhelmed him.
The four of them yawned contagiously, said goodbye, and went back to their rooms to sleep.
Before going to bed, Lou Yan specifically found Li Sanxin, leaned against the door, and said, “Those two will stay with us for a while. If you feel uncomfortable, I’ll ask them to leave tomorrow.”
Li Sanxin laid on the bed, legs crossed, and said indifferently, “Let them stay. It’s livelier with more people.”
Lou Yan nodded, yawned again, glanced at Li Sanxin before leaving slowly, “Don’t overthink it. Do you think encountering anomalies is a good thing?”
Li Sanxin was taken aback, but when he looked again, Lou Yan had already closed the door and left. He chuckled, surprised that Lou Yan could actually comfort others. Li Sanxin shook his head, closed his eyes, feeling a little lighter in mood.
Once back in his room, Lou Yan collapsed onto the soft and comfortable bed. He smelled a fresh scent of laundry detergent, and his consciousness became hazy within a few seconds. After a night of hard work, he finally fell into a deep sleep.
All those anomalies, dangers, and Fu Xuezhou were tossed aside.
This sleep lasted until dawn.
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