Chapter 154: Shadow’s Wrath
by xennovel*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*
A dull heavy sound echoed through the streets of the crazed Happy Town.
With human-shaped fruit trees sprouting everywhere the air was already thick with a chaotic jumble of noise. Countless voices and whispers intertwined filling the area for dozens of meters around. The sound wasn’t loud but it was exceptionally complex making one’s mood irritable and causing intense headaches. Yet when this heartbeat sounded it drowned out everything else.
*Hiss…*
From the main body of the human-shaped fruit tree that had grown from Qin Ran’s corpse the sixteen newly awakened fruits identical to Qin Ran simultaneously looked forward. Their horrified gazes landed on the black shadow behind Lu Xin.
They heard it. The moment that black shadow appeared the heartbeat within Lu Xin’s body overpowered all else.
It seemed as if all other sounds had vanished leaving only that heartbeat.
Then as the black shadow opened its blood-red eyes Lu Xin abruptly looked up opening his own.
His eyes too were completely blood-red.
*Ah…*
Countless faces had already grown all over Lu Xin’s body. When the shadow appeared these faces seemed to sense some strange terror. They opened their mouths simultaneously letting out pained cries their expressions tightening more and more before suddenly bursting…
One after another the faces exploded spraying bright red gore.
“What’s happening?”
“Why can it expel us?”
…
All the Qin Rans on the human-shaped fruit tree cried out.
Their expressions varied—fearful horrified confused. Looking at the scar-covered boy before them they screamed.
“That’s our will!”
“Like a shadow follows the form like maggots cling to bone…”
“How did he do it?”
“What is this? I was just hauling goods in the Wasteland…”
…
“Worthless trash…”
Lu Xin sneered his blood-red eyes like a greedy beast spotting its prey.
The corners of his mouth stretched into an unnatural angle. His scarlet tongue licked his lips his gaze fixed intently ahead.
“Thieves who break into someone else’s home without the master’s permission…”
“…all deserve to die!”
…
As he cursed hoarsely his face lit up with excitement the red glow in his eyes visibly intensifying.
Then his shadow grew denser. Because countless faces on the surface of his body had shattered he became a mangled mess of flesh and blood. Clots of dark blood were squeezed out dripping onto the ground. This dark blood was the remnants of the previous faces.
Those faces represented Qin Ran’s will.
With this will one could influence an opponent even turn them into oneself.
But now these faces had been stretched until they burst their foul blood squeezed out.
It was like someone extremely protective of their personal space driving out all uninvited guests.
Kill them first then throw them out!
…
…
Lu Xin began to slowly sway moving his body.
His thin body staggered forward.
Blood still dripped from his wounds leaving bright red footprints one by one on the ground. He looked like he could collapse at any moment.
But behind him stood that massive black shadow.
That shadow seemed both real and illusory. Looking closely one could see it was more like a reflection of mental power a phantom constructed from it. It was just that the density of the mental power was extremely high making it appear very real.
*Ah…*
As Lu Xin started moving those Happy Town residents around him—who had previously been polluted by Qin Ran but had turned into individual small human-shaped fruit trees after achieving their revenge instead of becoming part of Qin Ran—began to roar in unison. It was like a grotesque forest of flesh over two meters tall surging towards Lu Xin.
They clearly weren’t as clever as the Qin Rans on the main human-shaped fruit tree body which possessed memories and could still think.
So they merely sensed a threat and attacked proactively like true Pollution Sources.
…
…
*Swish!* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish*
Vine after vine each tipped with a human-shaped fruit opened and closed contracting their limbs and heads like the five fingers of a hand. Their faces bore vacant yet feverish expressions as they simultaneously lunged towards Lu Xin in the center.
Like a great net woven from black figures they instantly engulfed Lu Xin.
…
…
On the opposing human-shaped fruit tree which stood seven or eight meters tall all the Qin Rans revealed excited and expectant expressions.
…
…
*Crack…*
Compared to these thirty-odd small two-meter-tall human-shaped fruit trees Lu Xin’s thin frame of less than 1.8 meters seemed somewhat small. Coupled with their waving vines and the ‘human-shaped fruits’ roughly the size of a person he was instantly overwhelmed the moment they pounced. Embrace after embrace intertwined overlapping as they grabbed hold of Lu Xin.
Limbs and heads clenched like five fingers tightening their grip.
The mouths on the heads also strained to open wide stretching to the ears before biting down fiercely.
Besieged by so many monsters Lu Xin showed no unusual reaction.
He just watched them with those crimson eyes. Fueled by anger the blood color in his eyes deepened. The black shadow behind him grew clearer and thicker. While appearing calm and stable on the surface subtle parts of the shadow trembled and churned violently like boiling water.
Then Lu Xin stretched out both hands grabbing two of the human-shaped attackers beside him and forcefully tore them off himself.
Where his palms gripped them the two human-shaped attackers began to twist and grow brittle. The black shadow behind Lu Xin flowed like water through his hands onto them.
And as these human-shaped attackers came into contact with the black shadow they began to struggle violently letting out agonized shrieks.
It wasn’t just them. Due to the limited space these attackers were inevitably touching or overlapping. As the two caught by Lu Xin were affected by his shadow’s power the influence spread to the others.
Four or five of them started screaming in agony together and the number kept increasing.
It was as if a powerful electric current emanated from Lu Xin rapidly spreading outwards.
“Hehehehe…”
Lu Xin savored the sharp pained cries of these human-shaped attackers letting out hollow dry laughter.
Then an excited expression appeared on his face. He brought one hand to his mouth opened wide and bit down hard…
*Crunch…*
The crisp sound carried a unique kind of horror.
*Ptui…*
But the next second Lu Xin spat out what he had bitten his expression becoming even angrier:
“Weak pathetic you don’t even taste good…”
…
The more he spoke the angrier he became as if the taste had utterly ruined his mood. He raised both hands high then slammed them down hard.
*Crack…*
He smashed a deep spiderweb-like crater into the hard concrete ground of Happy Town.
His black shadow mirroring the downward slam of his hands surged upwards then plunged down violently.
Chaotic turbulent power radiated outwards from the crater in all directions.
The two human-shaped fruits he held and smashed into the ground instantly disintegrated into powder. The other human-shaped fruit trees already affected by the black shadow’s power and screaming in pain were slammed hard onto the ground by his movement. Caught by the shockwaves emanating from the cracked earth their forms twisted and shattered inch by inch.
It was true destruction.
They lost all basis for form and all vitality as humans or mental entities.
“Hehehehe…”
Lu Xin once again let out that hollow dry laughter. This laughter seemed to possess a strange resonant quality; the surrounding walls and small pebbles on the ground vibrated faintly as if affected by it.
In this completely unrestrained roar Lu Xin appeared strangely crazed and exhilarated.
He looked towards the remaining small fraction of human-shaped fruit trees that hadn’t been destroyed but were already distorted and screaming.
Then he and the shadow behind him lunged outwards together.
“You worthless trash your only value is that your screams sound rather nice when you’re being annihilated…”