Chapter 192: An Unexpected Welcome

The old apartment building where Lu Xin lived was only six stories high.

Looking from afar the surrounding buildings were mostly taller, often obscuring this old structure.

Even during the day very little light filtered in, leaving the rooms perpetually dim.

Moreover due to the crisscrossing roads nearby, the closest building to this old apartment block was still fifty or sixty meters away. It felt like a forgotten corner of the city, surrounded by a few winding paths.

Because it was close to the main road and led to several other populous residential areas, the streetlights were well-maintained.

At this moment one could see the streetlights beginning to extinguish one by one, starting from the far end of the small road.

It was as if two monsters that devoured light were crawling towards the old building from both sides of the path, bit by bit.

Without the lights the glow of the Red Moon in the sky above the city seemed even more vivid.

Lu Xin nodded, then returned to the living room sat down on the sofa and quietly watched television.

…

…

Below the old building the wind began to turn chaotic, perhaps because it was situated at the intersection of multiple roads.

Newspapers and plastic bags on the ground were swept up by the turbulent wind, flying into the air before silently disintegrating.

From the distance as the streetlights went out, two invisible masses of energy seemed to converge in front of the old building.

Normal people couldn’t see them, they would only feel a slight distortion in the air where the entities were. Instinctively their gaze would trigger an unconscious fear of that area.

However under the light of the Red Moon falling from the sky, the distorted air faintly revealed blurry patches of light and shadow.

With a little imagination these patches could form patterns.

One was an ivy-shaped Mental Monster and the other was a stout creature adorned with a necklace of human heads.

They appeared from nowhere meeting before the old building and looking up towards it.

Nearly all the windows in this old building were dark voids except for one on the fourth floor which glowed with warm light.

Thus the two monsters began crawling towards that window simultaneously via different routes.

The monster shaped like ivy clung to the wall face, spreading upwards inch by inch.

The obese Mental Monster wearing the Human Head Necklace dragged its heavy body squeezing into the hallway bit by bit.

“Ksh…”

As it passed a motorcycle parked in the hallway, the motorcycle’s dashboard immediately flashed with a harsh red light.

This was the mental detector installed on the motorcycle.

The eerie red light illuminated the pitch-black hallway in flickering bursts, making it look both dilapidated and garish.

This Mental Monster seemed to sense something amiss, its forward crawl slowing slightly.

However its own intelligence seemed insufficient to discern the meaning, so it continued crawling forward slowly.

Where they passed the air began to distort, growing heavy and oppressive.

Whether it was rats in dark corners or stray cats in empty rooms, all were terrified, squeaking and scrambling to escape.

Mother cats carried their kittens, while rats bit each other’s tails forming a line, panicked and fleeing rapidly.

The longer they stayed inside the old building the darker the entire structure seemed to become.

As if enveloped by an even thicker darkness.

Only that one window on the fourth floor continued to shine with a cozy light.

It seemed even cozier now.

…

…

Slowly the ivy-shaped Mental Monster spread across the old building’s wall, extending upwards bit by bit.

It had already passed all the other windows, engulfing the entire building face.

The only thing left was the window glowing with light.

Under the moonlight dark red tentacles resembling a mass of snakes approached the window from all directions.

They gathered their power like flowing water, preparing to pour into this window…

Meanwhile in the hallway the obese Mental Monster had reached the fourth floor. It slowly moved its body towards the tightly shut door from which slivers of bright light escaped through the cracks, crawling closer and closer.

All the heads on the necklace wore expressions of malicious glee.

Just then a giggle suddenly echoed in the air, like the laughter of a lovely girl.

…

…

“Creak…”

As the ivy on the building wall prepared to extend into the only open window, that very window suddenly opened gently. A woman dressed exquisitely as if she had put on light makeup especially for welcoming guests appeared at the window.

“What are you waiting for?”

She smiled demurely yet warmly, “Why haven’t you come in yet?”

Simultaneously inside the hallway, when the obese monster with the Human Head Necklace heard the girl’s laughter, it saw the light ahead suddenly brighten because the door in front was slowly being pushed open.

The warm light that could no longer be contained within the room flooded into the dark hallway.

But the light dimmed almost immediately, as if a tall shadow stood blocking the doorway.

…

…

Both Mental Monsters paused slightly in their actions.

The ivy-shaped Mental Monster which already had countless tentacles clinging beside the fourth-floor window suddenly hesitated.

The Mental Monster in the hallway also stopped moving abruptly.

All the heads on its body now wore expressions of hesitation and strangeness.

…

…

“Swish!”

At this moment in Satellite City No. 4, only two wontons had been eaten from a bowl.

The high school student with the cold expression suddenly looked up, his brow furrowed.

“What’s wrong?”

The people sitting with him asked subconsciously.

A trace of hesitation and confusion appeared on the high school student’s face: “I… I don’t know…”

…

…

“Bzzzz…”

Also at this moment in the Second Satellite City, inside the only lit room of that old building, the voltage suddenly became extremely unstable. The lights flickered incessantly and this flickering unstable state even seemed to spread outwards from the old building extending to the adjacent roads. All light bulbs whether on or off flickered simultaneously, then shattered with a ‘pop’.

The Red Moon in the sky became brighter and more vivid.

The ivy that had climbed to the window began to flow into it bit by bit.

But if one looked closely they would see it wasn’t voluntary. Its body was tense, a state that made its form even clearer under the Red Moon, like a group of snakes desperately trying to pull themselves back.

But this struggle seemed futile; it still flowed into the window bit by bit.

“Hiss hiss hiss…”

The speed at which it involuntarily flowed into the window increased, even emitting a sound like steel wire scraping against glass.

Thus soon its body which had spread across almost the entire building face, covering a vast area, flowed completely into that window.

Whether it wanted to or not.

Faced with such an elegant and gentle hostess who could possibly refuse?

…

…

At the same time the Mental Monster that had crawled to the door of apartment 401 suddenly found its meager reason or perhaps instinct completely replaced by vigilance toward danger. It began to retreat desperately. Because the hallway was too cramped for its massive body it couldn’t turn around, merely reversing its direction, frantically crawling backwards.

“Little Doll…”

But as it started to retreat the heads behind it simultaneously saw a small shadow on the ceiling.

She wore a dirty white dress her messy hair dancing in the air.

“Don’t run now that you’re here…”

She jumped down from the ceiling extending two small hands to hug the monster’s plump body…

…Then she used all her might, kicking her little legs and began to push.

Caught off guard the monster was pushed back a step by her.

Or perhaps it wasn’t pushed but startled by her sudden appearance from the ceiling.

Its large bloated body trembled violently shrinking back subconsciously.

Just by shrinking back a part of its body was bathed in the warm light.

Then suddenly a large hand reached out from the room grabbing that part of its body.

The monster’s body instantly underwent violent expansion and contraction. All the heads on the Human Head Necklace showed expressions of terror and despair.

“Swish!”

The entire monster was instantly dragged into the room.

Because it was pulled into the room so quickly and its body was abnormally large and bloated, it looked as if its entire body was instantly torn apart into a pile of shredded flesh and then dragged into the room.

Even the Human Head Necklace on its body snapped instantly all the heads scattering across the floor.

Most were pulled into the room while a few directly disintegrated turning into pure mental power and vanishing into the dark hallway.

Only one complete head remained its face showing terror as it started rolling away.

“Hee hee…”

But this head heard a little girl’s giggle.

It fearfully lifted its eyelids and saw a little girl squatting down gently hugging it.

“Ahhhhh…”

“La la la…”

Amidst the head’s terrified screams the little girl hugged it and skipped back home.

…

…

“Bang!”

The door suddenly slammed shut plunging the hallway into darkness.

The window also slammed shut at this moment, the curtains drawing automatically blocking the warm light.

The world outside the building suddenly became exceptionally quiet utterly silent.

The voltage had stabilized but the streetlights remained dark as their bulbs had shattered.

Only in the sky a Red Moon shone incomparably bright and beautiful.

…

…

“Whew…”

Lu Xin who had been sitting quietly watching TV for a while looked up to find his home much livelier.

Mom was chatting with the guest her face bearing a kind and friendly smile even preparing to trim the guest’s nails with scissors.

Father was very enthusiastic already in the kitchen seemingly preparing an extra dish.

“Thump thump thump thump…”

The sound of him chopping bones was particularly loud exuding a reassuringly domestic atmosphere.

Sister had received a new toy from the guest and was now crawling on the ceiling happily playing with it.

“I’ll make a call…”

After waiting a while feeling that more than the three minutes the Drunkard had mentioned had passed, Lu Xin stood up.

It seemed the family had detained these monsters; they wouldn’t disappear now.

He got up went to the window took out the satellite phone and dialed a number connecting to the Drunkard in Satellite City No. 4:

“You guys can make your move now.”

“I haven’t found the Ability User yet but he should come over later so you don’t need to worry about him.”

“Even if he doesn’t show up I can still lock onto him he won’t escape.”

“Right you just focus on catching the people you want to catch.”

“Okay if I get any information later I’ll share it with you.”

…

…

After the call ended in Satellite City No. 4 the pretty young girl in a command vehicle looked grave.

She looked up at the fully armed captain beside her who was staring at her nervously and nodded: “It’s time!”

This captain who had cooperated with the Drunkard many times didn’t ask much not even a single question.

He just immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered in a deep voice: “Move out!”

“Take them all down!”

“If resistance is met lethal force is authorized!”

…

“Clatter clatter…”

Team after team of fully armed soldiers rushed out simultaneously from various hidden corners.

Some stormed directly into a coffee shop located on a bustling street quickly bringing everyone inside under control.

Some burst into a residential house apprehending people gathered inside chatting as if at a tea party.

Some raided what looked like an ordinary company firing two shots ‘Bang Bang’ felling the person at the front desk reaching for a gun.

“Everyone freeze! Don’t make any movements…”

Also in Satellite City No. 4 beside the food stall on that street many people around who seemed to be eating strolling or chatting suddenly drew guns and rapidly closed in on the wonton stall.

More than a dozen guns were aimed at everyone at the table including the high school student and the little girl.

“What’s happening?”

The middle-aged cleaning lady cried out in panic: “What is going on?”

Meeting the panicked gazes of his companions the person looking like a high school student rubbed his chest which felt uncomfortable.

“I sense the breath of reality…”

He slowly looked up at his companions a smile appearing on his face: “We’re going home…”

“Don’t move don’t speak…”

A gun was pointed directly at the high school student’s head accompanied by a stern shout.

But the high school student didn’t listen. He just smiled as his body slowly leaned backward.

He wasn’t moving; he had instantly lost his life his body becoming rigid in a moment.

The surrounding police officers looked at each other completely bewildered unsure of what had just happened feeling intensely strained.

…

…

“Everyone must die but death is not the end.”

“We will eventually return to our hometown. There we never need to pretend…”

“Our hometown holds all our truths perhaps ugly perhaps forgotten but it is our original form.”

“I believe in my hometown I will remain in my hometown forever…”

…

A reassuring voice echoed in his mind. The high school student who had slowly fallen backward slowly opened his eyes again.

He saw warm lights somewhat old but ordinary decorations.

This made him feel relaxed the most hidden trace of worry in his heart vanishing.

So what those people said was true after death one really returns to their hometown…

Slowly sitting up he felt his body was very light and his vision seemed much broader.

“So am I back in my hometown now?”

…

As he muttered to himself his gaze shifted slightly and he saw a sofa.

On the sofa a young man with a warm smile turned his head to look at him.

“No.”

He answered with a smile: “You’ve come to my home.”