Chapter 92: The Fifth Son of the Huo Family (2/4)

I made a circuit of Wu Mei’s bedroom, then fixed my gaze on her as she lay in a drugged sleep.

If the skin flayer’s next target was her, would he still show himself if I stayed here?

Better to leave first and set a trap.

No sooner had I decided than I took out a talisman brush and the cinnabar I carried with me, then began drawing a human-form spell array across Wu Mei’s body.

“This is top-grade cinnabar. I’ll have to bill headquarters for this later,” I muttered as I worked.

Her curves rose and fell before my eyes, a field of snowy plum blossoms standing proud against the frost, but I regarded none of it.

Whether as a doctor or as a practitioner of yin and yang, one had to possess at least the barest professionalism.

Once I entered the proper state of mind, there was only flesh and organ before me, not a beauty.

It took nearly an hour before I finally covered Wu Mei from front to back. After dressing her in her nightclothes, the task was at last complete.

I stepped outside, crouched in the shadows of the residential complex, and began to wait.

Minute followed minute. With my eyes shut, I dozed lightly.

Then, at that very moment, a person suddenly appeared inside Wu Mei’s home.

The figure was entirely wrapped in a black robe, face hidden from view, yet in his hand he carried a skinning knife glinting with a bloody light.

Step by step, he approached Wu Mei’s bedroom. When he saw her lying in bed, apparently fast asleep, he smiled soundlessly.

Then he turned the knife in his hand. Two barbs sprang out, and he lunged straight for Wu Mei’s eyes.

To strip a living person’s skin, one had to begin with the eyes, so the skin would not be damaged.

But at that instant, a ring of magical light burst from Wu Mei’s body, and the skinning knife in his hand was knocked flying.

In a flash he realized it was a trap and turned to flee.

Yet the moment he reached the doorway, a foot slammed into his chest and sent him crashing backward to the floor.

I walked in, looking down at the black-robed figure with a cold smile. At last, I had caught the big fish.

The black-robed man sprang to his feet and hurled a punch at my face.

I raised a hand, caught his wrist, twisted, and with my other hand ripped away his hood.

When I saw his face, my pupils constricted at once, and a chill ran through me.

His mouth, nose, and ears had all been cut flat away. There was no tongue in his mouth, only a pair of demonic eyes left behind.

Then, all at once, the man’s body split open in countless gashes, and blood gushed out.

I let go and stepped back, watching with my own eyes as the skin flayer dissolved into a pool of blood water.

“Damn it!” I cursed, then took out my phone and called Chen Ying’en to tell her what had happened.

Not long after, Chen Ying’en and Niu Dali arrived.

Chen Ying’en glanced at the foul, reeking pool of blood on the floor and let out a sigh. “It should be a Blood Servant of the Blood Spirit Cult. We’ve probably alerted the snake.”

“What happens if we alert the snake?” I asked.

“It means...” Chen Ying’en’s expression suddenly changed drastically. “Damn!”

At that very moment, she received a call. After listening for only two lines, she hung up and smashed the television in Wu Mei’s bedroom with one punch.

“What happened?” I guessed the answer in my heart.

“The other two were skin-flayed as well. They don’t have just this one Blood Servant. It’s just that all along, they’ve been taking their targets one by one, making us fall into habitual thinking and assume there was only a single skin flayer,” Chen Ying’en said through clenched teeth.

“Damn it. We really got played,” Niu Dali roared in anger.

I took out a cigarette and lit it, feeling just as stifled myself.

“Now the only lead left is Lu Zhiruo. Everything else is cut off,” I said in a dull voice, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

Back to the Wushan Hotel,” Chen Ying’en said.

...

At the Wushan Hotel, Lu Zhiruo’s room was thick with wanton charm.

Dim lights. Two entwined bodies.

Not long after, Chi Yan shuddered violently all over, his face filled with satisfaction as he fell into sleep.

Lu Zhiruo pushed him away in disgust, got up, and the human skin on her body peeled off once again, revealing a blood demon beneath.

If Chi Yan woke and saw her like this, who knew whether he would piss himself on the spot.

The blood demon began to apply something across the human skin, utterly focused.

Suddenly, a surge of sinister energy gathered behind her, and a shadow appeared.

“What do you want now?” The blood demon turned her head. The flesh of her face trembled, hideous beyond words.

“There are four human skins here, all soaked in the blood evil of a yin-born fetus. You will paint the skins,” said the figure behind her as he threw a box toward her.

“Fine, leave them here,” said the blood demon.

“Don’t play dumb. I want you to use the Tao family’s secret technique, Skin-Painting Soul-Birth. Now,” the man said in an icy voice.

The blood demon bared her teeth and snarled, “Easy for you to say. My Tao family’s Skin-Painting Soul-Birth technique exacts a tremendous price, and the blood spirit pearl you promised me still hasn’t been delivered.”

“There was a small accident, but rest assured: if there is no blood spirit pearl, I will make it up to you with the Blood Demon King’s sovereign blood,” the man said lightly.

“Really?” The blood demon was tempted. Sovereign blood was even more conducive to her evolution than a blood spirit pearl.

“Of course it’s true. But you should be careful; the lunatic hounds of the Ninth Bureau have already caught the scent and are coming after us,” the man said coldly.

“They’re suspicious of me?” the blood demon asked.

“Hard to say. But even if they suspect you, they won’t move against you so easily, because they’re still hoping to reel in a bigger fish. Hahaha!” The man laughed in a sinister and self-satisfied way.

Then he said to the blood demon, “You may begin painting the skins now.”

“And the sovereign blood?” the blood demon asked. She was not stupid; she would not start without seeing the goods.

The man waved a hand, and a transparent glass bottle flew before the blood demon.

Inside the bottle, bright red blood shimmered with a crystalline radiance.

The blood demon stared at the sovereign blood in the bottle, looking extremely excited.

The four human skins were spread open, and the blood demon began to paint.

...

I paced back and forth on the rooftop while smoking, then suddenly stopped and looked at Chen Ying’en. “Captain Chen, let’s just rush in.”

“No. Headquarters hasn’t sent word yet. If we mess this up and cause trouble, we can’t afford the consequences,” Chen Ying’en said.

“Things are different now. We’re being led around by the nose, and if we keep following the original plan, we’ll still be played for fools,” I said through gritted teeth.

Chen Ying’en frowned. She knew I had a point, but the matter was too grave, and she could not decide at once. She looked toward Ghost and Niu Dali.

“I agree,” Niu Dali said.

“Me too,” Ghost said, nodding.

Chen Ying’en drew a deep breath. “In that case, then—”

Before she could finish, I cut her off and glanced down below. “Bring up the lobby surveillance.”

Chen Ying’en shot me a glare. Who exactly was the captain here?

Still, she did as I asked, pulling out her phone and bringing up the Wushan Hotel lobby camera.

On the screen, a woman was just entering the lobby.

“Ho... Ho something?” I narrowed my eyes. It was Huo Xingyu’s younger sister.

“Huo Sirui,” Chen Ying’en replied.

“So someone from the Huo family is showing up here. Interesting,” I said with a chuckle.

“Let’s see which floor she goes to,” Chen Ying’en said.

Huo Sirui entered the elevator and pressed the button for the sixteenth floor, which was precisely where Lu Zhiruo was staying.

“The big fish has arrived. So do we still make a move?” Ghost asked.

“No move.”

“Move.”

Two voices rang out at once. Chen Ying’en said not to move; I said to move.

“I already said it. The person behind this knows we exist. He’s been leading us by the nose the whole time. Under normal circumstances, when someone from the Huo family appears, we naturally wouldn’t act rashly, but that would play exactly into his hands,” I said.

“But what if you’re wrong?” Chen Ying’en stared at me.

“So what if I am? Nothing in this world can be decided with absolute certainty. Everything carries risk. But in our present situation, only by taking the initiative can we seize it back,” I said.

Chen Ying’en shut her eyes for a long while. When she opened them again, she said, “No. Risk comes in degrees, and your decision is too reckless.”

“That’s because Captain Chen, you’re too cautious,” I snapped.

“I think you’re the one blinded by hatred. I know one of the victims is your brother’s girlfriend, and you’re eager for revenge. That’s understandable, but you still have to keep the bigger picture in mind,” Chen Ying’en said, staring at me.

I flung my cigarette butt to the ground and ground it out under my shoe. “I do want revenge for my brother, but that has nothing to do with my judgment.”

“Who’s the captain here, you or me? Are you following my orders, or am I following yours?” Chen Ying’en said.

We locked eyes, neither willing to yield.

“Uh, Captain, Brother Qin, could you two stop arguing for a moment? Huo Sirui has already entered Lu Zhiruo’s room,” Ghost said.

At that moment, in Lu Zhiruo’s room:

Huo Sirui could not move, her whole body bound by strands of blood-red threads.

Her face pale with terror, she tore her gaze away from the blood demon in the middle of painting the skins and looked instead at the figure before her, half-real and half-illusory.

“Who are you? Why did you use my uncle’s name to trick me into coming here?” Huo Sirui asked in fear.

“I did not trick you. I really am your uncle,” the figure said, wrapped in dark light, his voice cold and ghastly.

“You’re not,” Huo Sirui said.

At that, the black light surrounding the mysterious man vanished. He lifted his hood, revealing a gaunt, pale face.

That face...

Huo Sirui was horrified, because this man did bear a certain resemblance to her father, Huo Mingdong.

“My name is Huo Mingzhong, your youngest uncle. The year you were born, I even held you in my arms. I never imagined you would grow so big in the blink of an eye,” the middle-aged man said.

The old master of the Huo family had four sons: Huo Mingdong, Huo Mingxi, Huo Mingnan, and Huo Mingbei. No one had ever heard of a fifth son.

And yet Huo Sirui believed him.

“If you really are my uncle, why did you trick me here? And why are you controlling me?” she asked through clenched teeth.

Huo Mingzhong stared at his niece, strange light flickering in his eyes, and slowly said, “Originally, bringing you here was to make you the saintess of the Blood Spirit Cult. However, because of certain accidents, you can no longer become the Blood Spirit Cult’s saintess. And because of those same accidents, your usefulness has changed.”

“What Blood Spirit Cult? What... what do you mean? Let me go at once. If my father finds out, he’ll never forgive you,” Huo Sirui said, trembling.

“My elder brother has known for a long time. Without his consent, you would never have appeared here,” Huo Mingzhong said with a faint laugh.