Chapter 308: Rotten Meat

Already furious, Father finally had someone cornered. Like a starving wild dog sinking its teeth into prey… scratch that… he viciously coiled around the man in the suit, ignoring the mental fluctuations rolling off him as the Shadow wrapped tighter and tighter. From within the embrace of darkness came the sickening sounds of tearing flesh, the crisp snap of breaking bones, and a strange, unsettling rustle.

That must have been the sound of sharp edges slicing through muscle fiber and sinew!

“Ah…”

An indescribably rough voice grated from within the suited man’s body.

Blood instantly flooded the eyes on his face, betraying utter terror and agony.

Lu Xin snapped back to reality, the strange influence receding completely. He scanned his surroundings—the eyes that had encircled him were gone. He still couldn’t tell if they’d been real or just a hallucination.

Even so, a faint trace of that influence lingered deep within him.

Part of him, for instance, was quite tempted to just give up resisting and hand the file back.

The only reason he didn’t was because Father had clearly gained the upper hand.

…

Beneath the Shadow’s embrace, the man’s suit ripped apart, revealing the body underneath.

His entire form was a grotesque blood-red, the same shade as that Brain Lu Xin had encountered before—like raw flesh stripped bare. A mouth gaped from his lower abdomen, stretching at least twenty centimeters wide.

That was the mouth that had just spoken.

Now it let out terrified screams, surprisingly melodious.

But the Shadow was engulfing the mouth, its screams fading rapidly.

Before the Shadow swallowed it completely, it managed one final shriek: “Infant, save me…”

“Waaah…”

A piercing wail echoed through the empty motel courtyard.

“Hm?”

Lu Xin, who’d been cheerfully watching Father’s ‘friendly exchange’, tensed instantly. He snapped his head up, eyes darting around.

Even he hadn’t sensed it—there was a third monster hidden in the courtyard.

The cry sounded like an infant’s, yet it was piercingly loud and jarringly sudden.

The moment it rang out, Lu Xin felt his eardrums vibrate. An indescribable nausea washed over him causing his vision to blur with phantom images. Immense pressure surged from within, like blood pounding against his vessels and brain.

Severe dizziness struck him; he nearly collapsed.

Simultaneously, the man in the suit—already enveloped by the Shadow and mostly torn apart—snapped upright. Though stripped of most flesh and bone, his body instantly began to regenerate. Fresh tendrils of meat sprouted, knitting him back together. The growth didn’t stop there; it continued rapidly.

In moments, his body swelled into a terrifying, ever-expanding mass of flesh.

*Vmmm…*

The expanding flesh slammed against the Shadow. A powerful shockwave erupted from the suited man, radiating outwards. The thick layer of gravel covering the ground sprayed violently in all directions like shrapnel. Windows on the row of trucks parked dozens of meters away instantly spiderwebbed with cracks, their massive frames shuddering and rattling from the impact.

Behind Lu Xin, all the windows of the large dorm room shattered. The door slammed violently back and forth, splintering its frame.

Lu Xin stumbled, barely keeping his feet. He narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning grim.

He saw the Shadow momentarily forced back by the explosive growth before contracting tightly once more.

But devouring that surging flesh took time. In that brief window, the suited man, though clearly in agony, managed to separate himself. Just as the Shadow consumed the excess mass, he broke free.

Suit gone, body tattered, he dove swiftly into the darkness.

He vanished without a trace, along with the sudden infant cry, leaving only the briefest glimpse of terrified eyes.

The small courtyard fell utterly silent.

Only the heavy, cloying stench of decay and blood remained, silently filling the air and assaulting the nostrils.

…

“What was that cry?”

Lu Xin frowned, slowly straightening up as he murmured to himself.

So, besides the Hide-and-Seek monster and this suited one, a third monster had been lurking in the shadows.

And this third one was surprisingly powerful.

That cry seemed to hold some bizarre power. It had somehow managed to briefly resist Father’s strength head-on, breaking his hold and snatching away the half-dead man in the suit.

If it could do that, why hadn’t it acted sooner?

If it had teamed up with the other two from the start, maybe even I…

…would have had some trouble, right?

…

“Hehehehe…”

The Shadow that had spread out from Lu Xin slowly retracted, leaving behind only a pile of rotting flesh on the ground.

“What’s so funny?”

Lu Xin glanced down at the Shadow. He felt a flicker of relief; he’d loosened his control for a moment, giving Father a chance to leave, but he hadn’t. Lu Xin hadn’t even sensed any hesitation from him, and a warmth spread through his chest. Still, his words came out sharp. “You actually let one get away…”

“…No, two.”

…

“It’s all your fault, you useless thing.”

The Shadow suddenly writhed, its voice laced with anger. “If you’d let me loose sooner, none of them would’ve escaped! You wouldn’t have gotten hurt! They wouldn’t have even dared to mess with you! This happened because of you!”

“Shifting the blame isn’t a good look…”

Hearing Father lose his temper actually cheered Lu Xin up considerably. He looked at the Shadow with feigned innocence. “But you were the one doing the fighting just now. I always thought you were so strong, but you couldn’t even finish off that wide-eyed ‘cute kid’ in one go. And when that cry started, anyone could see you got knocked right back. That…”

He trailed off, suddenly clamping his mouth shut.

He realized the Shadow was genuinely furious now, swelling ominously.

Powerful negative emotions flooded Lu Xin’s mind, and he faintly heard what sounded like furious banging on a door.

“Thank you…”

Lu Xin sighed, suddenly looking at the Shadow, his expression a little unnatural as he spoke.

…

The Shadow instantly calmed considerably. From within the deep darkness, an unseen gaze seemed to fix on Lu Xin, filled with suspicion and wariness.

“Mom isn’t here, so it’s all up to you to protect me and Sister.”

Lu Xin continued sincerely, “You’re rough, I know, but I think you did a pretty good job.”

The Shadow shifted slowly, seeming somewhat bewildered.

Beside him, Sister turned her head curiously, wondering why she’d suddenly been mentioned.

She glanced at Lu Xin’s Shadow, then gave a small pout, clearly unimpressed by Lu Xin’s praise.

“You have a bad temper, and the family’s pretty scared of you. That’s why we used to hide from you, afraid you’d get out and hurt someone. But Mom was right, family should help each other. With more understanding and tolerance, we’ll be more united. Nothing can stop us then. Like just now… Don’t worry, I’ll try harder to understand you and be considerate from now on…”

Lu Xin spoke earnestly to the Shadow, “I promised you before, and now really is the time.”

The Shadow subsided further, though it still stirred faintly like the surface of a deep dark sea. It felt like some massive being suddenly covered in goosebumps, strange emotions flickering in its blood-red eyes.

After a long moment, a voice whispered beside Lu Xin’s ear, “Do you realize how incredibly insincere you sound right now?”

“Huh?”

Lu Xin paused, scratching his head awkwardly. “Do I? I’m not really good at this sort of thing, haha…”

“Hehehehe…”

The Shadow chuckled darkly too, making the atmosphere extremely awkward.

Sister watched them from the side, made a soft sound of disgust, and pursed her lips.

“Actually, I meant what I said. It wasn’t *that* insincere…”

Lu Xin masked his embarrassment perfectly with a smile and quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, why did they manage to escape? Was the third hidden monster stronger than you, or… did it counter you somehow?”

Father remained silent for a long moment before letting out a cold laugh. “Do you know what it feels like to get a mouthful of rotten meat?”

“Well…”

Lu Xin thought seriously for a moment. “Is it like fermented tofu?”

…

Father clearly refused to answer.

But Lu Xin understood his meaning without needing an answer. He stopped asking and smiled instead. “Actually, that’s not bad.”

“Even though two got away…”

His gaze shifted towards a specific spot. “…there’s still one left, isn’t there?”

The Shadow slowly stopped struggling. A pair of blood-red eyes opened within it, also turning to look.

Sister reacted too, looking down in the same direction.

Nearby, the skinless Dog wagged its tail happily, its gaze fixed on the same spot, a fierce glint in its eyes.

…

“So, the three of you went together, and not only did you fail to eliminate the Ability User…”

“…you actually let him capture one of you?”

The escaped Infant and the Man in the suit had reached a hidden villa.

In the pitch-black darkness, someone listened quietly to their report, their voice tinged with surprise.

“We didn’t dare bring Hide-and-Seek back. We suspect he’s already been polluted.”

The Man in the suit’s voice echoed in the darkness. “And Infant didn’t even attack. It only helped me break free from that person’s Mental Power when I cried out at the very end…” His voice trembled suddenly. “That Mental Power… it’s terrifying.”

“Why didn’t Infant attack?”

The voice in the darkness turned colder.

Silence hung in the darkness for a moment before a soft sob broke it, sounding deeply wronged.

“Because Infant was scared.”

The Man in the suit understood and spoke for it, “It was afraid that if it attacked, neither of us would make it back.”