Chapter 152: The Growing Faces

“Sister…”

Qin Ran, still caught by the neck, wore a clear expression of surprise.

The voices that had been somewhat muffled moments ago now sounded clearer.

“Your ability should be Spider-type…”

…

“Looks like you don’t know everything either…”

Lu Xin frowned and yanked Qin Ran outward. As he pulled forcefully, an expression of immense pain twisted Qin Ran’s features. When he’d first emerged from the trunk, it looked like he was separating from the tree, but now, being ripped out by Lu Xin, it was clear they were fused together, tearing countless threads of flesh and blood.

It was like pulling a dough figure out of a larger mass.

Forcibly tearing him out like this would surely kill him.

But Lu Xin decided to pull him out anyway…

He hadn’t expected, however, that as he forcefully pulled Qin Ran out, Qin Ran suddenly closed his eyes. Immediately, the part Lu Xin gripped turned into something like lifeless wood. He succeeded in pulling it free, but only held a chunk of wood. The Qin Ran he’d grabbed had lost all vitality, his living skin turning dull.

This Qin Ran was dead…

Whether as a living being or a mental entity, his activity was clearly fading.

But what Lu Xin didn’t anticipate was the moment this ‘Qin Ran’ died.

Overhead, one of the human-shaped fruits at the tip of a tentacle suddenly snapped its eyes open.

A terrified expression appeared on its face as it gasped for air, as if just escaping suffocation.

And it was only the first. Immediately, a second followed, then a third.

On this grotesque flesh-and-blood tree, all the human-shaped fruits opened their eyes one after another, gasping raggedly. Before, they were merely fruits at the ends of the tree’s vines, woodenly obeying its commands, opening their arms to capture prey. But now, they clearly showed a different reaction, coming alive one by one…

…One Qin Ran died, sixteen ‘Qin Rans’ came alive!

…

…

*Rustle, rustle…*

They struggled and trembled at the ends of the vines, then simultaneously plunged downward.

Lu Xin immediately sensed intuitive danger and instantly retreated seven or eight steps back.

Sister wasn’t beside him now, so he was using his own power. But to some extent, he had forcibly borrowed some of Sister’s power, making him slightly faster. It was obvious, though, that while his speed was decent, his movements were somewhat stiff and clumsy, completely lacking the flexible, twisting agility he had when Sister was near.

Although he retreated quickly enough and wasn’t seriously injured, he was still touched by the sixteen descending Qin Rans.

With those forest-like vines, each tipped with an agile figure, complete evasion was impossible.

Relying on the Sister’s power he’d forcibly borrowed, Lu Xin only managed to avoid critical hits.

But several parts of his body were still touched.

“Hahaha…”

“Hahaha…”

After Lu Xin pulled back, he immediately saw all the Qin Rans on the grotesque tree laughing.

Amidst the chaotic, noisy laughter, Lu Xin felt a strange sensation. He subconsciously looked down. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, but he saw a face struggling to emerge from beneath the skin on the back of his hand, staring grimly at him.

It wasn’t just his hand that felt strange. He pulled up his sleeve and discovered a face growing on his arm too.

His neck felt slightly cold. Reaching up, he touched a raised area.

That too was a face forming.

Every spot touched by the human-shaped fruit tree now sprouted a face.

With each new face that appeared, Lu Xin felt his body grow stranger, as if parts of his will were being stolen.

Extremely noisy sounds filled the air around him, like countless people speaking at once.

Whispering, laughing softly, or shouting loudly.

These different sounds overlapped, creating an immense chaos.

Layer upon layer assaulted his mind, like continuous waves of sound simultaneously shouting:

“I am you”

“You are me”

“Give yourself to me”

“Give me to you!”

…

These sounds should have been illusory, yet Lu Xin could hear them clearly.

It felt more like fluctuations on the level of mental power.

The sounds irritated Lu Xin, and the faces sprouting one by one across his body made him extremely uncomfortable.

But when he subconsciously turned, he realized the problems didn’t end there.

*Spurt* *Spurt* *Spurt*

The thirty-six people previously polluted by Qin Ran—but not devoured by the largest human-shaped fruit tree because they had achieved ‘Revenge’—their flesh simultaneously split open. Then, small human-shaped fruit trees grew out from their bodies, one after another. At this stage, they each had only one long vine, the tip of which slowly split open, revealing faces.

Every single face looked like Qin Ran.

Their bodies were smaller, and they had fewer vines, but there were many of them.

Bursting forth from bodies simultaneously, they instantly transformed the surroundings into a grotesque ‘forest’.

Swaying their tentacles, influencing the area.

An ever-widening area fell under the radiation, and more and more town residents were affected.

Their aggression seemed to multiply countless times as they charged forward, brandishing weapons.

Looking around, it seemed the small town had instantly become an ocean of monsters.

…

…

Lu Xin clumsily dodged their attacks, feeling surrounded by monsters everywhere.

The faces growing on his body affected his speed, even impacting his combat awareness.

It left him feeling disoriented and unsure how to react.

He much preferred dealing with opponents like the Puppet-type ability users.

Their abilities were easier to grasp and didn’t seem quite so bizarre.

Qin Ran himself was like a puzzle, and his ability was just too insane.

…

…

“It’s about time, isn’t it…”

Just then, Mom’s gentle voice sounded before him.

Mom had reverted to her refined and gentle appearance. Her gaze seemed filled with pity as she looked at Lu Xin surrounded by monsters. She blocked most of the attacks aimed at him and said softly, “We agreed, didn’t we?”

“This time was specifically for letting him blow off some steam, relax a bit.”

“Otherwise, if he’s cooped up too long, he’ll get angry and cause big trouble…”

…

Mom’s words made sense, and Lu Xin had no reason to object.

After all, this was decided in the last family meeting.

They hadn’t dared to casually let Father out before understanding the logic chain of Qin Ran’s ability. But now, they at least understood the logic behind Qin Ran turning into a human-shaped fruit tree and polluting others. The third ability he was displaying now didn’t seem specifically targeted at Father’s temper anymore. Besides, for Lu Xin, there were only two situations best suited for letting Father handle the problem…

One was when they completely understood the opponent’s logic.

The other was when they completely failed to understand the opponent’s logic.

So, he nodded slightly, then slowly looked up towards the northwest.

That was the direction of Qinggang City.

In Qinggang City’s Second Satellite City, near Moon Platform Station, stood an old apartment building.

At this moment, the locked door of Apartment 401 on the fourth floor suddenly burst open with a *bang*.

There was nothing in the room, but the entire building suddenly trembled slightly.

…

…

“Using this ability again… I wonder how many more ‘me’s will be born…”

At this moment, Qin Ran—or rather, Qin Ran’s face on the flesh-and-blood tree—looked towards Lu Xin, who was submerged in monsters. There was no excitement on his face; quite the contrary, his gaze held a hint of vigilance as he looked at the other human-shaped fruits on the tree. An unconcealable hatred lurked in his eyes. Strangely, many of the other human-shaped fruits also looked back at him with the same expression.

They grew on the same tree, yet they despised each other, even harboring murderous intent.

“But luckily, my consciousness is the strongest, and I have the best hope of becoming the real me…”

“And having completed two out of three tasks, there’s hope I can exchange this for a solution…”

“Judging by the current situation, there’s even hope of leaving before ‘it’ wakes up…”

…

Thinking this, he looked up towards the room behind him.

One of his companions was still there. He remembered what Lu Xin had just said.

“Sister went to find him?”

Qin Ran didn’t understand exactly what that meant, but he already felt a flicker of worry for his companion.

This worry lasted only an instant.

Because not far away, Lu Xin, who had been overwhelmed by monsters, suddenly stood up.

At the same time, all the Qin Rans on the flesh-and-blood tree were slightly startled and turned their heads simultaneously to look at Lu Xin.

Expressions of faint surprise appeared on all their faces.