Chapter 267: The Discordant Dance

As Lu Xin looked at the woman, the other villagers were also watching her.

They, especially the men, stared wide-eyed, mesmerized by the woman. Some even drooled.

Their heads followed the woman’s every movement.

All eyes watched her sway unsteadily until she stopped two or three meters in front of Lu Xin.

But she didn’t stop moving. She continued swaying, her limbs twitching almost unnaturally. The twitches grew larger and faster, her distorted movements becoming surprisingly fluid.

Countless people were captivated by her movements, stiffly and awkwardly moving their own shoulders and limbs.

Overhead, the crescent Red Moon shone exceptionally bright, casting down a crimson waterfall of light.

Beneath the Red Moon, everyone in the village was entranced. They watched her so intently, completely absorbed, that some subconsciously began mimicking her, raising their hands, twisting their waists, contorting their legs.

It was as if they’d caught some kind of infection, compelled to imitate the woman’s actions.

As time passed, their movements quickened and grew wider, stirring the air around them.

Gradually, their movements became increasingly synchronized with the woman’s, almost perfectly unified.

…

“Huu…”

For a moment, Lu Xin too was captivated by the woman’s graceful figure, but he quickly snapped back to reality.

When he opened his eyes, he witnessed a large, bizarre dance unfolding.

He saw all the hunched, strange villagers desperately trying to stretch their bodies, joining the woman in that peculiar dance.

It was obvious many had never danced before; their stiff muscles and limbs gave it away instantly.

Yet they danced with intense seriousness, fanatical expressions on their faces, completely engrossed.

*Crack, crack, crack…*

Chilling sounds of bones cracking echoed intermittently, coming from the villagers’ bodies.

Lu Xin suddenly understood why the villagers’ bodies were so hunched and deformed.

Those twisted, complex movements were clearly beyond their capabilities. Forcing themselves to follow her difficult, intricate steps could only result in torn muscles, broken bones, or even… snapped spines.

But they didn’t realize the horror; instead, they seemed to revel in it.

They were putting all their energy into imitating the woman, effectively striving to destroy their own bodies.

…

“What type of Pollution is this?”

Lu Xin sighed, subconsciously asking his Sister on his shoulder.

Sister didn’t answer, merely staring at the dancing woman with her little hands crossed, looking somewhat disdainful.

“I dance better than her.”

…

Lu Xin grumbled inwardly, *You should learn to walk properly first…*

Now clearly wasn’t the time to scorn his Sister. Lu Xin was considering whether to eliminate this Pollution Source.

As a professional specializing in Pollution cleanup, it was his duty.

But he hesitated now.

Because he noticed the woman didn’t have a Mental Monster attached to her. Though she looked like a Monster herself, she clearly wasn’t extending an eye or head to bite those around her. This meant… she was more like an Ability User.

A Pollution Source could be cleaned up directly, but if she was an Ability User…

…at the very least, she’d need to undergo judgment!

…

These thoughts made Lu Xin pause for a moment, as if he were simply watching the performance unfold.

The dancing woman, hair loose and wild, kept her eyes fixed on Lu Xin from beneath her locks.

When she saw no reaction from Lu Xin, a hint of confusion seemed to flicker in her eyes.

*Crash…*

Just then, the door to a house burst open, and a fast, small figure darted into the crowd.

It was the old lady’s grandson.

The strange child. His face lit up with excitement as he dashed into the crowd, moving along with the woman. Not only did he adapt to her dance rhythm the quickest, but his imitation was also startlingly the most accurate…

To some extent, his movements had even become perfectly synchronized with the woman’s.

Lu Xin frowned instantly. He realized that the more the strange child’s movements matched the woman’s, the larger the eye on his temple grew. The ghastly white eyeball was blinking incessantly now, displaying an almost frenzied expression.

Lu Xin had a bad feeling that something would happen when their movements became completely identical.

But Lu Xin didn’t know if he should intervene directly right now.

He wasn’t even sure which of the two seemed more like a Mental Monster.

Moreover, under this strange rhythm, he felt the woman and the crowd madly imitating her dance had become a single entity. Cleaning up any one of them would mean cleaning up all of them.

To stop her now, he needed to break her Logic Chain.

But at this moment, Lu Xin still didn’t know what this Logic Chain actually was.

*Bang…*

Also at this moment, a loud shattering sound erupted as a house window was smashed open.

“Damn bitch! You deserve to die…”

“Give me back my grandson…”

A vicious curse echoed from within the dark window frame.

Then Lu Xin saw the old lady who had been lying in bed suddenly squeeze out through the window.

The window frame splintered. The old lady’s figure was both bloated and swift.

She wore a thick cotton jacket on her upper body, her expression twisted. She looked like an old woman worried about her grandson, recklessly charging towards these frightening monsters. The only thing amiss was her lower half – it was just a spine.

Dragging a bare spine behind her, she climbed out of the window, cursing as she rushed towards the dancing crowd.

So she was also a Mental Monster.

Or rather, she didn’t even need the ‘Mental’ part – she was simply a Monster.

…

The synchronized dance, filled with a strange beauty, became discordant with the old lady’s intrusion.

This discordance grew. After the old lady crawled into the crowd, the spine trailing behind her began to lengthen, like a snake extending itself. As she weaved through the people, she wrapped her spine around the dancers, naturally disrupting their movements.

Consequently, more and more people’s distorted movements lessened slightly.

Some even seemed to snap back to awareness, terror flashing across their faces, yet they couldn’t control their own bodies.

Their limbs still twitched arduously, struggling to keep up with the dance.

It was as if the desire to dance had overwhelmed their reason.

…

The long-haired dancer continued to stretch her limbs with utmost grace.

Her dance possessed a strange magic, carrying an inherent emotion that was brewing.

This brewing reached its peak, feeling like it was about to crest.

This made her even more engrossed, ignoring everything else around her.

Gradually, the surrounding people were drawn in again, resuming their imitation of her movements.

Even those bound by the old lady swayed desperately, continuing even if the spine broke their bones.

This further explained why the villagers had become like this.

It turned out they weren’t just influenced by the woman’s dance.

They were being torn between two different powers, their struggle worsening their condition.

Especially the strange child. His ugly face showed utter fascination, his movements wild, his eyes feverish.

The old lady, dragging her spine, climbed relentlessly through the crowd with a distorted glow on her face, like navigating a maze. During this process, her spine continuously lengthened, binding villager after villager as if trussing them up. After a struggle, she finally reached the center and embraced the strange child.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she desperately held onto the child engaged in the eerie dance.

But the dance continued. The movements of the bound people strained against the spine, producing grating cracks that set teeth on edge.

One lost in the dance, the other holding on desperately – they seemed to be fighting over something.

The core of this struggle was the strange child.

No wonder this child’s physical mutation was the most severe in the village.