Chapter 29

Ever since the little monster absorbed that fake mannequin last time, it remembered the smell. So, when that strange scent appeared again outside, it noticed it immediately.

“This smells full… like food!”

The monster in Shi Yu’s belly pressed against his stomach eagerly. Shi Yu could almost imagine the excited expression on its face.

“Stop, stop, stop! I can’t think about this anymore,” he told himself.

Thinking about it more would only make him lose his sanity.

He took a deep breath and stared at the curve of his belly for a minute. In the end, he decided to go out.

Not just because the little monster might get upset if he didn’t—but because they were already stuck in this strange, dark world. Staying inside or going outside didn’t seem much different. Going out was the only way to find out what was happening.

Shi Yu wasn’t the type to just sit and wait. He quickly got ready and left with an umbrella.

He had no choice. The sky outside was dark and something weird—maybe blood or some other nasty liquid—was falling. It was disgusting. There was no way to go out without using an umbrella.

He frowned, turned the doorknob, and took the elevator down. Everything was fine for now.

But when he got to the bottom floor, he noticed something strange: there was no one in the neighborhood.

The students who usually played in the garden at night were gone, and the security booth across the street was empty.

Shi Yu slowly walked out with his umbrella. When he looked around, there was no end in sight to the darkness. He didn’t expect it to cover such a large area, and it seemed to be spreading even more.

“Which way?” he asked, placing one hand on his stomach.

The little monster was the one that wanted to eat, so it made sense to ask it.

“Wah wah!” it cried happily.

Mom is talking to me!

The little monster was excited but quickly figured out what Shi Yu meant. It started sniffing to find the food scent among all the human smells.

“Wah-la.” — West.

West… near Yunxiao Mall?

Shi Yu looked in that direction, confused. Could this strange black shadow have come from Yunxiao Mall?

He was right. The rotting butterfly had come from the mall.

That group of people had thrown it into a basement next to Yunxiao Mall. After it broke free from the jar, that’s where it first went wild.

A man with a horse-like face, who placed a special stone on the rotting butterfly to monitor it, sneered. He was waiting for the Psychic Association to find out—but by then, the butterfly would’ve finished its “mission.” It would be too late.

The group called “Gu Jin” were crazy people who raised strange creatures like poisonous pets. They were definitely not good people. After Yunxiao Mall’s manager, Mr. Wu, refused to work with them, they held a grudge. They didn’t act out right away because they were hiding from the Psychic Association, but deep down, they wanted revenge.

This time, when they used the strange item to create chaos and draw attention from the Psychic Association, the first place they targeted was Yunxiao Mall and Mr. Wu’s home. They wanted the rotting butterfly to “play” with the manager who had ruined their plans.

The headless butterfly flew around the mall, couldn’t find its target, and flew out again. Then it picked up a familiar smell from the air—one it remembered from the jar—and changed direction to follow it.

That evening, Mr. Wu was walking home with his wife. When he looked up and saw the strange sky, he was confused.

“The weather forecast didn’t say anything about this. What’s going on?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s smog,” his wife replied.

“Let’s just go home. It’s getting harder to breathe out here,” she said while coughing and covering her nose.

They nodded and were about to go upstairs, but when they reached the elevator, they noticed the hallway lights had gone out.

They lived on the 33rd floor. Without the elevator, it was impossible to get up.

Mr. Wu turned to find someone at the front desk on the first floor—but no one was there. Even their phones had suddenly lost signal.

“What’s going on?”

“We had internet just a second ago,” his wife said, confused as she tried refreshing the page.

Mr. Wu had a strange feeling. Their neighborhood was expensive and well-managed. There had never been a sudden power outage before. And now the front desk was empty?

He looked at his phone. Just before the signal died, he had a missed call from the mall’s security team. It looked urgent.

There were dozens of guards patrolling at night. Had something happened?

He frowned and suddenly remembered what the Psychic Association officer, Captain Fu, told him earlier that day: to be careful, because those weirdos might come back for revenge.

At the time, he didn’t think much of it. But now, he was starting to worry.

Did something really happen?

Could those people really cause a blackout and internet outage for a whole area?

Mr. Wu had never seen supernatural powers before. Even though he saw someone with a strange left hand that day, he thought maybe it was just a birth defect. Now, after exchanging looks with his wife, he tried to stay calm. They decided to go to a nearby café outside the neighborhood to get Wi-Fi and make a call.

They turned around and left the building.

Meanwhile, up in the sky, the butterfly flapped its wings and finally locked onto its target.

Its headless, bug-like body dropped down—excitedly turning in a new direction.

…

The rotten smell in the air was getting stronger. The further Shi Yu walked, the more disgusting it became. He started to regret not wearing a double-layer mask.

“Damn, this smell is horrible!”

It was unbearable.

The little monster couldn’t smell the stench. It just excitedly followed Shi Yu around, sniffing everywhere. Afraid that Shi Yu would scold it, it tried hard not to scream “Wah wah!”

After walking about a kilometer and reaching the residential area near Yunxiao Mall, the stench of rot was at its strongest.

“Ugh.”

Shi Yu gagged and tried to hold back the painful feeling.

Is this the place?

Is the strange thing showing up here? It’s so close to the mall…

Shi Yu pressed his lips together and, without hesitation, held up his umbrella and walked over. He just wanted to deal with this quickly and get away from the suffocating scene.

Thankfully, when the bad smell appeared earlier, the street had already become empty.

This fancy neighborhood was just like Shi Yu’s: the security booth was empty, so no one stopped him or asked for his information when he entered.

But as he got closer, Shi Yu suddenly stopped and turned to look at a surveillance camera still working at the gate. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a piece of black cloth from his pocket and covered the camera’s view. Only then did he go into the neighborhood.

…

Elsewhere, at the Supernatural Abilities Association, everyone was about to get off work when the alarm suddenly went off.

The loud “woo-woo-woo” sound filled the whole building, stopping everyone in their tracks.

It was well known that only A-level or higher strange events could trigger the alarm—and when it went off, it meant the situation was serious.

Shen Yan stopped taking off his gloves and quickly returned to the control room. Even Han Chuyi, who was about to head home, turned back.

“Ugh.”

“More ghostly stuff again?”

His face darkened as he arrived and saw Fu Nanyao staring coldly at a screen showing energy waves.

“On the west side of Chengyang Road, Yunxiao Mall and the nearby housing area are covered in a dark unknown shadow.”

“The surrounding blocks are also affected.”

Han Chuyi’s expression changed immediately.

“Is this revenge from that cult?”

The location was too much of a coincidence—it was right near Yunxiao Mall and some apartments. If he remembered right, Manager Wu Han lived there.

Fu Nanyao nodded. “Yes, it’s clearly targeting Wu Han.”

He paused. “They might also be trying to distract us.”

Earlier, Fu Nanyao and Shen Yan had tracked down a man named Wang Chenghe, a contact from the group. Sang Huaiyu had just sent more information.

These people were not working alone. They were part of a full organization called “Gu Jin,” a cult made up of lunatics who had been fused with strange creatures and lost their humanity. They had committed similar strange crimes in remote villages before.

As Sang Huaiyu spoke, his grey eyes paused slightly, and he looked off to the side before continuing:

“Those rats have already escaped.”

They were clearly prepared ahead of time.

Those idiots, who claimed to be “blessed by the heavens,” were always cruel to their own kind. These events had happened before. Sang Huaiyu sighed calmly. They treated strange creatures like pets—couldn’t they see they weren’t human anymore?

He raised an eyebrow, not really interested.

It had been nearly a month without detecting that previous “energy wave,” which left him uninterested. But now, the way others acted toward Shi Yu piqued his interest again.

Too bad he didn’t get Shi Yu’s contact info last time. Otherwise, he could “check in” and ask how he was doing.

What do humans call this behavior?

“Building affection points?”

Sang Huaiyu thought casually and smirked.

…

Shi Yu didn’t know the evil god regretted not getting his contact info. After entering the neighborhood, he was looking for the strange creature—but then he suddenly heard a scream nearby.

A terrified human scream.

Shi Yu was surprised. He thought there were no people here, like outside. But the scream… it sounded like someone had seen something scary.

He frowned and walked over with his umbrella, but saw nothing—just two unconscious middle-aged people lying on the grass.

That scream probably came from them.

Shi Yu checked their breathing. They were still alive—probably just fainted from fear. But the moment he crouched down, the area suddenly became eerily quiet.

The whole place was already silent, but now even the wind stopped. A chilling feeling crept up his back.

He didn’t need to look to know—something was behind him.

The strange thing that scared those two hadn’t left—it was still here, waiting.

Was it laying a trap?

It was surprisingly smart. Even though he was in danger, Shi Yu still had time to think about that.

The unseen creature behind him stood still. Its shadow on the grass looked like a butterfly.

But even from the incomplete shadow, it felt nothing like a normal butterfly. Shi Yu noticed it was standing upright like a human.

Was it trained to be this way, or naturally like this?

Either way, its human-like posture gave him goosebumps. It was even creepier than those fake mannequins.

In the dark, with blood dripping onto the grass, the “butterfly” behind him took a step forward after observing him. Even then, it still moved like a person.

Shi Yu took a deep breath. His mental threads had already extended out, invisible in the air, ready to attack.

The air was dead silent. His little monster seemed to sense that its “mom” was hunting and quietly held its breath in his stomach.

No matter how human-like it looked, this butterfly was still just a creature made for hunting. It judged Shi Yu as less threatening—and more delicious—than the two unconscious people. The smell of blood from its rotting body grew stronger.

In an instant, Shi Yu heard a strange buzzing sound from the monster’s belly.

Its wings snapped open violently—it was going to attack and eat him.

But at the same time, Shi Yu struck with his mental threads.

Only after clashing with it did he realize: the creature had no head. Where a butterfly’s head should’ve been was just rotting flesh. The rotten smell came from its wings.

He briefly wondered—was this thing even edible?

Would he get sick from eating it?

Most strange creatures looked gross like this. This one was just extra weird.

Shi Yu sighed and stopped himself from immediately destroying it. He gave his little monster an order:

“If you’re going to eat, hurry up.”

“You’ve got ten minutes.”

If it wasn’t done in ten minutes, he wouldn’t hold back anymore.

The little monster didn’t understand time, but it understood that “mom” told it to eat. It quickly opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, afraid mom might change her mind.

As it began eating, strange energy from the butterfly’s body flowed into the monster’s stomach.

Shi Yu twitched his mouth, feeling torn between being full and being grossed out. After a while, he turned around.

Honestly, now that the butterfly had been mostly eaten, it wasn’t as scary. It had lost its human-like look and lay collapsed on the ground.

Shi Yu frowned. Seeing the little monster almost full, he was just about to pull back his mental threads when he spotted something unusual—among the butterfly’s broken wing pieces on the grass was a black stone.

Huh? Why is there a black stone on the wing?

The two gave off different energy.

After dealing with several strange events, Shi Yu had learned to sense energy. He could clearly tell—the stone and the wing weren’t part of the same creature.

But if that’s the case, why is this thing here?

Wait a minute—could this not be an ordinary stone?

Shi Yu paused and squinted his eyes. Instead of touching the stone right away, he used his mental threads to wrap the thing on the ground first, then slowly moved closer.

He raised his hand. The black stone didn’t move at all, but the feeling coming from his mental threads told him clearly—it was alive.

So, what is it for?

He hesitated and frowned as he looked at it. The small creature, now full and satisfied, also noticed the thing in Shi Yu’s hand.

It had the strange smell of food too, but it was too weak—not tasty.

The little creature made a “wawa” sound and lightly moved closer to Shi Yu’s skin.

Shi Yu looked down and said, “You’re curious too?”

He felt it was strange. This little guy really acted like a kid… After eating, it started getting interested in other things.

Its curiosity was strong.

That thought flashed through his mind, and when Shi Yu came back to himself, he brought the well-wrapped, harmless stone close to his belly, showing it to the little creature through his clothes.

The black stone stayed silent, but under the mental threads, strange energy slowly leaked out.

Far away, over ten kilometers away, the man with the horse-like face noticed the monitoring stone he placed on the rotting butterfly flashing. He thought the butterfly had completed its task—killing Wu Han and his wife. He smiled with excitement.

He picked up another stone and placed it against his eye.

“You did a goo—”

Before he could finish his sentence, a terrifying tentacle suddenly appeared on the stone.

“Ah!”

The horse-face man screamed in surprise.

The moment he made eye contact with the eyeball on the tentacle, it felt like he saw something horrifying. His mind went blank, and when he came to, his left eye suddenly burst.

Blood flowed down his face.

“What was that?!”

He came back to his senses, terrified, and threw away the monitoring stone. But the image of the tentacle stayed in his mind, making him clutch his head in pain, feeling like his brain was about to split apart.

Shi Yu didn’t know the stone was a monitoring stone—not only could it watch the other side, but it also allowed two-way communication. When the little creature got close to it, just with its ugly form and flesh, it made the other person go blind.

Shi Yu took back his hand and saw the stone had lost its life—it was just a normal rock now.

“Dead already?”

He hadn’t even done anything yet. That was fast.

The little creature also looked confused and waved its tentacles while saying “wawa,” showing it didn’t know what happened either.

Shi Yu looked down and said, “Quiet.”

“Now that you’re full, no more moving around.”

“Did you forget what I told you today?”

The creature immediately quieted down.

Shi Yu sighed in relief and didn’t think about it anymore. He crushed the stone with his mental threads until there was no trace left, then erased his presence from the lawn and left quickly before the people from the Ability User Association arrived.

Why so fast?

Obviously—there was such a big disturbance here. How could the Ability User Association not notice?

Half an hour later, the main members of the association were probably already on their way.

Shi Yu had to go back before they arrived and act like nothing happened, so no one would suspect him.

Just as he walked out of the mansion area, Fu Nanyao and the others had arrived in a car. As the car turned into the street, Zhao Wen, who had a detection device with him, suddenly noticed something.

“Wait, Captain Fu!”

“The detector is changing!”

He looked at the device in surprise. When Han Chuyi leaned over, Zhao Wen pointed at the screen and asked uncertainly:

“Han, am I seeing this right?”

“Why is the strange energy level dropping?”

Earlier it was 60%, now it was down to 30%.

And it was still going down.

Han Chuyi frowned, reached out, and transformed part of his hand into a bone-wolf form to test through the car window. Then he confirmed:

“It’s really dropping.”

“And the dark shadow is shrinking.”

In the rearview mirror, the shadow that had covered the street earlier was slowly fading away. The road under the night sky began to return to normal.

This was good news for them.

But why did it suddenly change?

Shen Yan looked outside and remembered what he had seen last time in the Haolai Building. A guess formed in his heart—but he wasn’t sure yet.

When Shi Yu got home, the shadow had completely disappeared. The security guards, who had stood confused under the shadow without knowing why, now stood at the gate, unsure of what they had been doing.

Shi Yu skillfully avoided the cameras and went home. After taking off his hoodie, he immediately went to take a shower.

Who knew how long he had endured?

Finally, finally, he could take a bath!

He had to completely wash away the smell from that rotting creature!

As the fresh scent of body wash replaced the stench from earlier, Shi Yu stepped out of the bathroom and appreciated how nice fresh air could be.

He went to the window and opened it to get some air.

Just then, his phone rang.

Han Chuyi, now near Chengyang Road, had sent Shi Yu a message without thinking. But Shi Yu hadn’t replied right away.

It was said that when the shadow appeared earlier, all the communication devices in that area had lost power.

Han Chuyi tried calling again, and this time Shi Yu picked up.

Han raised an eyebrow but felt relieved.

“You okay?”

“You didn’t reply earlier. I was worried.”

Message?

He sent a message?

Shi Yu was confused but replied, “I’m fine.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Tsk, nothing. Just stay home if you’re fine.”

“Don’t go out tonight—we have things to do,” Han said, then got out of the car when Zhao Wen urged him. As he passed Shen Yan, he met his gaze.

They looked at each other. Shen Yan had heard who Han Chuyi was calling, but didn’t interrupt. He just frowned. When Han Chuyi put away his phone and walked past, Shen Yan suddenly reminded him:

“Don’t forget—”

“Shi Yu is the one Huai Yu likes.”