Chapter 42: The Song

The door to the security room rattled violently under a forceful grip, yet it refused to budge.

"There's no time!"

Behind him, a terrifying wave of malice surged. Lu Yuan abandoned the idea of breaking down the door and dove to the side.

A second later, Zhuo Yan slammed both hands onto the door. Stimulated by the blood moon, she had undergone a grotesque transformation. Her eyes were now a blood-red, and her fingernails had grown with unnatural speed, dripping her own blood onto the floor.

BOOM!

A deafening crash echoed. Lu Yuan scrambled further away. He narrowed his eyes, a strange, eerie light flickering within them as he assessed Zhuo Yan’s current state.

Her nails were embedded deep into the heavy security door. To Lu Yuan’s astonishment, even that powerful strike had failed to blast the door open.

"What an incredibly sturdy door!" Lu Yuan was stunned.

Its durability defied his expectations; he knew that in her current state as a frenzied specter, unleashing her full malice, she should have shattered it. Yet, she had only managed to drive her nails into the metal.

But this was good news. Zhuo Yan was stuck. Her nails were wedged deep into the door, and pulling herself free would clearly be no easy task. Furthermore, using his Ghost Eye, Lu Yuan noticed a small detail that was easily overlooked: the malice radiating from Zhuo Yan was fading. The cause was the door itself—it was absorbing the malice from her body.

"This door..." Lu Yuan’s mind raced.

If he couldn't return to An Shi's villa, he would need to find another safe house. Since this door could absorb a specter's malice and keep it at bay, it would be a perfect sanctuary. The problem was, not only could the specter not get in, but neither could he.

"I need to find the key to this security room." Lu Yuan glanced at the struggling Zhuo Yan. He had no idea how long it would take for her to return to normal, and he couldn't afford to wait.

He would have to walk the rest of the path alone.

Zhuo Yan continued to shriek, but the door devoured her malice bit by bit, offering her no chance to fight back. In truth, Lu Yuan even felt a twinge of concern for her. At this rate of absorption, it wouldn’t be long before she was drained into a withered husk, nothing but skin and bone.

"Good luck to you."

Lu Yuan took one last look at Zhuo Yan and turned to leave. Before he did, however, he took An Shi’s head with him.

The roles had changed. Clutching a fruit knife in one hand and An Shi’s head in the other, Lu Yuan stepped out into the journey alone.

In the end, he was back to being by himself.

"Zhuo Yan is a specter, after all; she shouldn't die that easily. I’d better worry about myself," Lu Yuan thought, his vigilance at its peak.

The fruit knife in his hand offered little comfort. The handle was slick with his sweat. Without Zhuo Yan’s protection, he had to be even more cautious. The only good news was that he had memorized the entire map of S City. He had long since planned the shortest route from the villa to his psychological clinic.

Two hours later, Lu Yuan finally neared the edge of the urban area. Every building looked familiar, yet strangely, they all shared a single color: pure, abyssal black. If not for the blood-red halo cast by the moon above, this dream world would be nothing but an expanse of total darkness. There wasn't a hint of any other hue!

"I hope my luck holds."

Lu Yuan mentally reviewed his path. Once inside the city, following his pre-planned route, he could reach the clinic in just one hour—provided everything went smoothly.

He glanced down at his clothes. Dark-colored; they wouldn't stand out too much in this environment.

Lu Yuan plunged into the black city. The urban landscape didn't so much as ripple, the buildings looming like the gaping maws of an abyss, watching his every move.

As he walked, a sudden chill washed over him. It came out of nowhere. He had no idea where the danger might be, but he had always trusted his instincts.

"Danger."

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks. Without a second’s hesitation, he looked toward a convenience store nearby. Unlike the other structures, its door was still open. He dashed inside, quickly scanned the area to ensure no specters were lurking, and then pulled the door shut and locked it.

Just then, he heard a faint humming. The melody was hauntingly lyrical.

Lu Yuan stayed motionless, his back against the door, sitting on the floor, his grip on the fruit knife tightening until his knuckles turned white. The singing grew closer.

From a faint, barely audible whisper, it grew to a clear, distinct sound. Cold sweat beaded on Lu Yuan’s forehead, his heart hammering against his ribs.

*He is on this very street.* It was the one thing Lu Yuan feared most, and it was happening.

There were no footsteps. Only the singing. That meant this specter was also hovering, not walking.

He could feel his heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst from his chest; in this silence, the thumping was deafeningly loud. Lu Yuan closed his eyes and took deep, steadying breaths. He had to calm down. He had to lower his heart rate.

The singing reached the entrance of the convenience store. Just as Lu Yuan thought it might pass by, the voice suddenly cut off.

The entire city of S City fell silent. The stillness was agonizing!

Lu Yuan didn't dare to breathe. But in the absence of his own breath, the world seemed reduced to the sound of his heart—*thump-thump, thump-thump*—ringing in his own ears, deafeningly loud.

He couldn't calm down. He felt as though the unknown specter outside was leaning in to peer through the glass, perhaps right above his head.

Deep in his mind, that familiar sensation of being watched returned.

Lu Yuan’s hands and feet went cold. Seconds ticked by like hours. He was enduring a torture beyond measure, restless and terrified, separated from a monster by nothing but a door. Compared to the visceral struggle of combat, Lu Yuan hated this agonizing suspense even more; living in constant fear was worse than death itself.

In the absolute darkness, Lu Yuan’s vision grew incredibly sharp. He could see every corner of the store, every item on every shelf.

And there, hanging directly opposite the sliding glass door, was a mirror.

The muscles in Lu Yuan’s face began to twitch uncontrollably, and he nearly lunged out with his knife.

In the reflection of the mirror, a massive, dark, amorphous shape loomed over the glass door, staring down at Lu Yuan as he cowered on the floor.

It... had found him.