Chapter 187: Negative Emotions Unleashed
by xennovel“Ouch, that hurts like hell…”
All the human heads circling the Monster’s body opened their mouths and screamed. The sound was like sharp spikes piercing eardrums making one’s head reel in chaos.
“Awooo…”
At the same time the piece of flesh Lu Xin had ripped off the Monster suddenly writhed and changed violently. It morphed into a huge mouth that clamped down hard on Lu Xin’s arm. Lu Xin could even feel sharp teeth grinding against his bone like two steel saws constantly cutting and chewing on his arm. It was disgusting and terrifying.
Meanwhile the Monster’s main body facing Lu Xin also split open revealing another enormous mouth.
This mouth gaped wide lunging straight for Lu Xin’s head.
If it bit down Lu Xin was certain his neck would snap like it was sawn off completely severing his head.
“Smack!”
Lu Xin quickly retreated pulling back some distance.
The Monster immediately squirmed its body chasing after him.
Simultaneously every face on the human head necklace wrapped around its body widened its mouth and started cursing viciously.
Their curses were silent but seemed to directly assault the mind stirring up endless negative thoughts. It felt like suddenly recalling past grievances instantly boiling with rage even wanting to burst into tears.
This Monster seemed to possess a power that could influence others.
But the Monster was facing Lu Xin now.
And Lu Xin was trying hard to mimic his Father’s display of power as realistically as possible.
So when this wave of negative emotion hit his eyes immediately turned bloodshot.
He gritted his teeth feeling utterly useless.
He hated this disgusting Monster before him yet felt powerless against it.
As this emotion intensified it turned into reckless abandon.
“Swish!”
His retreat halted; instead he surged forward with large strides.
The circle of human heads on the Monster’s necklace facing Lu Xin all fixed their gazes on him unleashing vicious curses and abuse. These relentless curses seemed to become a force constantly impacting Lu Xin’s thoughts.
But Lu Xin met the curses head-on his face shifting through expressions of regret pain and anger finally settling on excitement.
“Heh heh…”
Hollow dry laughter escaped his lips as his speed increased again.
This laughter also seemed to hold some strange magic; the human heads on the Monster visibly showed expressions of bewilderment.
“Swish!”
Just then Lu Xin charged right up to the Monster lifting the arm still clamped in the smaller creature’s jaws.
The arm was being chewed as if to be pulverized.
But now Lu Xin’s fist clenched inside the smaller monster’s mouth and he forcefully smashed it towards the disgusting main Monster before him.
It was as if the small monster biting his arm had become his fist-glove.
A fist-glove made of skin and flesh the size of two basketballs smashed directly onto the main Monster’s mouth.
“Crack…”
The Monster’s mouth was smashed into a grotesque shape; even its sharp teeth seemed to shatter.
The small monster biting Lu Xin’s right hand writhed in pain trying hard to open its mouth perhaps wanting to spit out Lu Xin’s hand. But Lu Xin had already gripped its tongue from inside its mouth preventing its escape forcing it to obediently serve as his fist-glove.
He seemed to find this amusing a faint smile creeping onto his face.
“Heh heh…”
He laughed again continuing to smash forward.
But the Monster with the large mouth on its stomach now seemed somewhat afraid of him squirming backward.
All the faces on the human head necklace wrapped around it showed expressions of terror.
Amidst their terrified expressions Lu Xin closed the distance and brought his fist down hard.
“Splat…”
The Monster suddenly seemed to turn liquid collapsing onto the ground and then rapidly disappearing.
“Huh?”
Unwilling to let it go Lu Xin rushed to the window and jumped straight down.
While airborne he looked down.
He saw the ivy-like monster that had been chasing the Drunkard downstairs in the residential area also quickly collapsing on the ground like a puddle of water before vanishing swiftly. The Red Moon in the sky shone with an eerie brightness. The surroundings became clean and empty.
“Boom!”
Lu Xin landed heavily downstairs crushing the cement tiles beneath his feet into spiderweb patterns.
Then he snapped his head up looking around fiercely but found nothing.
“Oh my…”
The Drunkard ran back from ahead her steps light and agile like a female student out for a night run.
She looked at Lu Xin in surprise: “Young man are your legs okay?”
Lu Xin abruptly looked up and glanced at her.
The Drunkard was startled and her shadow instantly vanished.
Only then did Lu Xin realize even this Drunkard before him was fake. The ringing sound in his ears completely disappeared.
The night was cool and quiet.
The feeling of escaping all mental radiation and returning completely to the real world brought a strange sense of reality.
Like suddenly breaking the surface after being submerged in water.
It was because of this feeling that the irritation in Lu Xin’s heart suddenly vanished like flowing water.
He was slightly taken aback: “What was I just doing?”
“Why did I feel… so angry?”
…
Taking two deep breaths he turned his head to look sideways.
Amidst the flower bushes a corner of a dirty little skirt peeked out. From deep within the leaves his Sister’s timid eyes appeared.
“Brother are you calm now?”
…
Hearing his Sister’s voice Lu Xin felt a bit flustered quickly waving his hands. “It’s fine it’s fine…”
His Sister cautiously crawled out from the bushes but didn’t dare get too close. She tilted her head carefully observing Lu Xin as if confirming something before obediently saying “Brother I won’t be playful anymore. I’ll always protect you…”
Truthfully when Lu Xin had been eager to act earlier but couldn’t find his Sister he did feel a bit angry.
But now hearing his Sister’s cautious words his heart couldn’t help but soften instantly.
“It’s okay how could this be your fault?”
He forced a smile and extended his hand towards his Sister.
She hesitated for a moment before crawling to his side reaching up and taking his hand.
The familiar cool sensation returned to his body. Lu Xin lifted his Sister into the air and then pulled her into a hug.
He fished a piece of candy from his pocket and gave it to her.
“Actually you deliberately didn’t come out to help me… Mom taught you that right?”
…
His Sister blinked her eyes but didn’t answer.
Lu Xin didn’t press further sighing softly before turning and walking towards the building where the Drunkard lived.
Re-entering the hallway Lu Xin saw that the chaotic and oppressive scene from before had vanished.
He saw everyone in the hallway slowly returning to their rooms like sleepwalkers looking somewhat tired and bewildered. And in the chaos earlier the things they did were actually fake.
That Grandma Wang who came down with her basket to give fish to the neighbors actually had nothing in her basket.
The arguing couple was actually one arguing with their reflection in the window and the other arguing with a clothes rack.
The student who poured gasoline wanting to light it was actually pouring water.
The housewife pouring green liquid into a pot actually had no pot in front of her.
The one trying to push the old man downstairs was just repeatedly pushing against the wall…
…
…
Arriving at the eleventh floor Lu Xin realized that he thought he had rushed up to the twelfth floor earlier but it was actually the eleventh.
His footprints were still on the wall; he could recall his route from that.
At this moment the door to the room corresponding to the Drunkard’s home on the eleventh floor was wide open.
Lu Xin walked in and saw the Drunkard dressed in her Special Cleaning Department uniform silently smoking a pipe in the room. In the bedroom the bed had been chopped to pieces. Beneath the quilt were two pillows completely dismembered by the neighbors…
“What happened here?”
Lu Xin looked at the scene feeling a sense of absurdity and asked in a low voice.
“It’s the monster’s radiation…”
The Drunkard sighed. “One of the two monsters that came over seems to have the trait of amplifying people’s negative emotions. Looks like they couldn’t find me the other day so they changed tactics today choosing to influence my neighbors.”
“So…”
She wore an expression of having seen through the world smiled and said “These people all turned into madmen.”
“Negative emotions?”
Lu Xin frowned looking towards the head of the bed where the Drunkard sat. Under the quilt where two pillows were originally hidden they were now stabbed to shreds. Looking around again he noticed that even this house felt strange. The layout was the same as the Drunkard’s home just much simpler. Traces of a forced entry could be seen at the door and the whole room looked extremely messy.
*The Drunkard’s parents I saw getting hacked to death back then must have been these two pillows right?*
Lu Xin thought secretly and asked “What about the neighbors who entered your home earlier?”
“It’s the same principle…”
The Drunkard chuckled crossing her legs and smiling nonchalantly. “We all live in the same building it’s inevitable we interact and naturally there are things we’re dissatisfied with about each other. Although everyone usually gets along well when their dark sides were provoked those who were usually unhappy with my family naturally came to my home to cause trouble.”
“People unhappy with your family…”
Lu Xin thought of the scene he saw of people lining up to get inside and couldn’t help saying “Your family’s interpersonal relationships…”
“My family has the best reputation in this building you know…”
The Drunkard smiled explained her face holding a look of detachment. She sighed “Little Wu and Little Wang are both university professors. You know professions like professors and doctors have pretty good salaries nowadays. Plus they both have good temperaments. Usually if anyone in the building needs help they never refuse if asked. They have quite a bit of prestige among the neighbors…”
“But who would have thought so many people actually harbor dissatisfaction towards them…”
“Of course…”
She smiled as if somewhat consoled “Those two mental monsters came looking for me. Their will also influenced these people’s actions somewhat. Meaning these neighbors might usually have some opinions but they wouldn’t… be this terrifying!”
…
Listening to her seemingly relaxed tone Lu Xin could still sense she was actually a bit down.
Although the mental monster’s will influenced her neighbors making their reactions perhaps more intense one thing couldn’t be changed: only those who already harbored resentment towards the Drunkard’s parents would be driven to act.
So many neighbors who appeared very friendly even amicable on the surface actually harbored thoughts of killing them…
…This kind of thing felt deeply unsettling.
As Lu Xin was thinking the Drunkard relaxed smiling “But luckily I was prepared.”
Pointing to the room she said “This is a room I prepared long ago just in case.”
“I can distort people’s senses making them see hear and even touch false things. But sometimes completely false things can’t truly deceive an opponent. So using this room as a basis to distort their cognition makes it easier. When encountering an enemy’s surprise attack I distort their cognition making them come to this room.”
“Because this room’s layout itself is somewhat similar to my home the realism effect is better.”
…
As she spoke she glanced towards the door “The neighbors in the building are also fine. They were always within my ability’s range. Everything they did just now was actually fake. They wouldn’t truly hurt themselves in such chaos.”
With a light smile she tapped her pipe “When they wake up they’ll just think it was a nightmare!”
…
Thinking about the scene he had just witnessed Lu Xin realized the Drunkard was truly strong.
While misleading the two mental monsters she had also taken care of all the neighbors.
Allowing them to vent their negative emotions without hurting anyone lest they regret it deeply upon waking.
However despite this the remaining traces in the building still felt terrifying.
Recalling the madness he had seen earlier he sighed almost imperceptibly after a moment:
“Can people turn into such madmen just from the monster’s influence?”
“Heh.”
The Drunkard glanced at Lu Xin “You’re naive young man…”
“Those negative emotions are all real just usually hidden very deep. They were merely drawn out by this monster.”
…
Lu Xin frowned slightly “Are there no good people in this building?”
“Naive again!”
The Drunkard with her world-weary look smiled “People who can normally hide those emotions aren’t they already considered good people?”