Chapter 305: An Unsettling Invitation

Uh… Thanks!

The figure seemed surprised by Lu Xin’s reaction, thanking him with a rather strange expression.

Of course, his expression wasn’t easy to read directly. You could only gauge it from the single eye on his face. The pupil constricted slightly and the eyelids on either side twitched, almost like a person knitting their brows.

This seemed to indicate he wasn’t sure if Lu Xin’s assessment was genuine or sarcastic.

Still, his manners remained elegant. He gently pulled out a white handkerchief, dabbed the corner of his eye and spoke softly, “I hope we can talk first. We’ve always held Ability Users in high regard.”

Lu Xin noticed the voice originated from the man’s lower abdomen.

‘So you’re real too?’

Looking closely, Lu Xin realized this person also cast a faint shadow beneath his feet.

He frowned slightly.

He got the feeling this person was similar in nature to the Brain encountered in White Tower Town – impossible to classify as strictly human or monster.

Facing someone polite, he responded in kind, “Alright, what do you want to talk about?”

The man with only a single vertical eye seemed to smile, the eye curving slightly as the voice from his abdomen continued, “You’ve done some things detrimental to us recently. Of course, we prefer to believe it was all a misunderstanding. You killed many of our people—that, too, could be a misunderstanding. But most importantly, you took some rather crucial materials…”

He paused briefly before adding, “If you’re willing to return them and keep this confidential, we would be very grateful. Alternatively, an Ability User like yourself might consider joining us. That would certainly put our minds at ease…”

‘Join you?’

Lu Xin was slightly taken aback. After a moment’s silence, he asked, “How much is the salary?”

The single-eyed man seemed speechless, apparently not expecting that question.

He hesitated, then said, “Money shouldn’t be an issue for us. It’s merely a number.”

Lu Xin sighed. “You need at least a million a year to have the confidence to say something like that…”

The man fell silent again, his single eye narrowing slightly as if perplexed.

Then he spoke softly, “Your perspective is too narrow.”

Lu Xin looked a bit sheepish and chuckled, “Can’t be helped, I have a large family to support…”

Then he couldn’t resist asking, “If I join, what kind of work would I be doing?”

The man replied earnestly, “We don’t even need you to do anything. We’ll simply help you realize your dreams… all of them!”

Tsk…

Lu Xin was slightly stunned. He said frankly, “Honestly, that sounds a lot like a scam!”

…

The single-eyed man seemed at a loss for words again.

After a moment, he sighed softly, “I am genuinely inviting you to join. Can’t you show some sincerity?”

Lu Xin paused, then shook his head. “Actually, I am being sincere and everything I said is true. Your organization doesn’t seem legitimate and it’s clearly illegal. I’m formally notifying you now: release the convoy members immediately and turn yourselves in. You might receive leniency. Otherwise, if things get physical later, I might not be able to hold back…”

He looked seriously at the man in the suit. “You could die.”

…

The single-eyed man in the suit paused again, then chuckled. “You actually sound serious. But right now, your people are in my hands and you’re surrounded by us. Where does this confidence come from?”

“My friends are indeed in your people’s hands.”

Lu Xin corrected him, glancing behind himself. “But I’ve also got *it* cornered in the room!”

“Is that so?”

The man in the suit chuckled, then suddenly raised his hand. *Bang!*

A bullet flew towards Lu Xin with uncanny precision.

With a gun, it’s easy to catch an opponent off guard. But when Lu Xin was fully focused on him, finding such an opening was difficult. Yet, the man in the suit raised his gun and fired abruptly, the action feeling unnaturally sudden—as if he excelled at exploiting momentary lapses in concentration, firing the instant attention wavered.

*Swish!*

Lu Xin’s feet didn’t move, but his body snapped sideways, bending sharply at the waist as if broken.

The movement neatly dodged the bullet, which slammed into the wall behind him.

“Spider-type?”

The man in the suit showed a hint of surprise and continued firing relentlessly.

If human attention is a line, it’s inevitably a broken one; no one can maintain peak focus indefinitely. This man, however, seemed adept at exploiting those breaks. Every bullet he fired felt unnervingly precise, almost pre-emptive. At times, Lu Xin felt like he was dodging *into* the path of the bullets.

This feeling of being constantly predicted was deeply unsettling.

Growing impatient, Lu Xin sent his shadow lunging forward.

He was standing with the light bulb behind him, casting a large, wide shadow that surged forward.

It advanced like a charging wall. Neither the shadow’s coverage nor its speed seemed avoidable by the man in the suit. Logically, based on any calculation, he should have been caught.

Yet, the man reacted instantly. He darted forward, reached the prone form of the boss’s wife and stomped on her rear, pinning her flat against the ground with a *smack*. Simultaneously, he leaped high, using the momentum to scramble onto the front of a large truck.

Then, twisting his body, he fired another shot at Lu Xin.

This shot seemed meticulously calculated, aimed precisely at Lu Xin’s lower abdomen.

For Lu Xin, standing steadily in the doorway and controlling his shadow, this was the hardest point to evade.

One shot followed another.

The second shot seemed to miss, heading for a spot slightly to Lu Xin’s left.

*’He knew I was going to dodge in that direction…’*

Lu Xin had already lifted one foot, intending to step left, but abruptly stopped himself.

A hypothesis flashed through his mind: he couldn’t step that way. In that split second of hesitation, Lu Xin realized he couldn’t dodge the first bullet either. With thoughts racing and no other choice, he quickly raised his hand. The shadow instantly returned, coiling upwards to intercept the bullet aimed at his abdomen.

*Kach…*

The bullet twisted, crumpled into scrap metal.

Instantly, numerous negative thoughts flooded Lu Xin’s mind.

Many were complaints from his Father, berating him for being useless, for letting the opponent see through his intentions.

The man in the suit had known Lu Xin wouldn’t want to harm the boss’s wife, hence using her to evade the shadow’s attack and then forcing the shadow back with gunfire. This feeling of being manipulated was infuriating, unbearable…

As these thoughts surfaced, two sounds came from behind Lu Xin.

One was the second bullet from the man in the suit hitting the wall.

The other was a strange sound of bones twisting and cracking—*snap, crackle, pop*—suddenly echoing from the large dorm room behind him.

Lu Xin whipped his head around and saw a splash of vivid red.

At the same time, he caught the foul stench of decay and blood.

It was countless tentacles, seemingly erupting from a monster covered entirely in them. Like a blood-red octopus, it lunged forward, its massive tentacles ensnaring Lu Xin’s body before he could react. A strange, cold, hollow feeling flooded his mind, as if he were about to be devoured…

A feeling surged within him—the feeling of being forgotten by the world.

It was like one late afternoon, as the sun set, a group of friends skipped home for dinner after playing games, completely forgetting about the one person who genuinely wanted to play with them, hiding earnestly behind a tree, waiting expectantly to be found.

You don’t play hide-and-seek just to hide, but to be found by the others.

But the other children forgot to look for him, so he remained hidden forever.

…

*Phew…*

Lu Xin quickly regained clarity. Looking up, he suddenly saw the person who had disappeared earlier.

In front of him, binding him with tentacles, was a short monster. Its body was nothing but blood-red flesh exuding a putrid smell. Where its arms should have been, only a few tentacles grew. Its face had no features, just two abnormally large ears, as if it constantly hoped to hear something.

There was a strange quality about it; it seemed you could only see it when you were looking directly at it.

But the moment your gaze shifted slightly, it would vanish—not just become unseen, but disappear entirely from the world.

It was as if your own mind refused to acknowledge its existence.

Even if you saw it, you’d overlook it. Even if you touched it, you’d subconsciously forget it.

And the people behind it.

Person after person trailed behind this monster.

Among them were Old Li, Tian Niu Zi and others from the convoy, even the Boss was there.

All of them had their hands placed on the shoulders of the person in front, heads bowed, forming a line like in a children’s game. They seemed to have lost all awareness, merely following numbly behind the one ahead.

Bringing up the rear was Old Zhou.

They looked like segments of a toy snake, completely devoid of their own consciousness and perception.

They just moved slowly, hands woodenly resting on the shoulders ahead.

…

Lu Xin’s dissatisfaction faded, replaced by a look of pleasant surprise.