Chapter 355: City of Flesh

“Any other abilities?”

Lu Xin walked down the street, a pleasant smile on his face as he asked softly:

“I can sense these aren’t your real abilities. So, what can you truly do?”

As he spoke, the God entity, which had been pursued all the way from the lab, watched him coldly from the end of the street.

Six eyes stared back—four vacant, the other two fixed intently on Lu Xin.

Beneath its feet, a writhing, expanding mass of flesh spread out like a viscous sea of blood.

And hanging before it were three cocoon-like objects.

These three ‘cocoons’ dangled in mid-air, suspended by thin blood threads dropping from above the street.

Two ‘cocoons’ had already ruptured, leaving only the third intact.

Based on what Lu Xin had encountered chasing it here, those two cocoons held the Inner Demon and the Infant from the Hell Team. Both monsters should have been killed by the Central City Ability Users, yet their powers now resided within this creature.

Could this be one of the final stages of the experiment? Lu Xin wondered silently.

Transplanting other abilities onto this monster?

So, besides the Inner Demon and the Infant, what else was there?

…Couldn’t recall. Maybe that was it?

…

As Lu Xin walked forward, his gaze fell upon the third ‘cocoon’. Just then, a faint *crack* sounded.

That ‘cocoon’ also split open.

A dining knife emerged from within, slicing through the fleshy outer layer.

Then, Little Nineteen, with her black hair hanging down and wearing a white skirt, crawled out of the ‘cocoon’.

In the next moment, more Little Nineteens emerged from the flesh. Some appeared in the empty windows on either side, some crawled out from the writhing gore, some burrowed up from underground, and others slowly descended from mid-air.

A dozen or so Little Nineteens surrounded Lu Xin from all directions.

Each clutched a dining knife, heads and limbs dangling, prominent knife scars visible, like a collection of puppets.

Lu Xin paused slightly, looked up, and said softly, “Little Nineteen, I finally found you.”

…

The first time he had held Little Nineteen, he knew it wasn’t her.

What he held then must have been some kind of mentally modified person.

But now, he had finally found the real Little Nineteen.

“Clack clack clack…”

The sound of wooden joints colliding echoed, merging into one continuous noise.

All the Little Nineteens simultaneously raised their heads to look at Lu Xin, their eyes hollow and lifeless.

Lu Xin continued walking forward, his voice as patient as possible, “Be good now, come back with me, okay?”

“I’m not very good at comforting children, but I know… you must have had a terrible, painful time these past few years.”

“So…”

…

*Swish!*

As Lu Xin took his second step, one of the Little Nineteens beside him suddenly lunged forward with eerie speed.

The sharp dining knife instantly slashed towards Lu Xin’s neck.

Lu Xin’s shoulder abruptly slumped, his neck twisting to the side as if broken.

Simultaneously, his hand shot out, piercing through the Little Nineteen’s body.

This Little Nineteen’s body twitched erratically, like malfunctioning parts, before its head lolled to the side.

Lu Xin kept walking forward, saying, “…I’ve come to take you home!”

“Clack clack clack clack…”

Suddenly, the sound of twisting joints intensified around him as all the Little Nineteens lunged at Lu Xin simultaneously.

Their dining knives sliced through the air, creating crisscrossing flashes of cold light. Countless white skirts fluttered chaotically.

Invisible filaments instantly crisscrossed the entire street.

Lu Xin let out a soft sigh, calling out, “Sister!”

His body instantly became boneless, lunging forward rapidly.

Within the web of invisible filaments, space was divided into countless small cubes.

No one should have been able to pass through these tiny squares.

But Lu Xin seemed to defy this logic. Moving swiftly, his body contorted into one posture after another—unnatural for a human, yet possessing a strange beauty from certain angles—as he rapidly weaved through the filaments.

Using this method, he dodged the attacks of over a dozen Little Nineteens, abruptly appearing before the innermost one.

That Little Nineteen expressionlessly raised her dining knife.

Her eyes were vacant as she watched Lu Xin approach, seeming unsure whether to strike.

Lu Xin, however, offered her a warm smile. He then knelt down, ignoring the knife, and pulled her into his embrace.

*Schlick*

The dining knife plunged into Lu Xin’s chest, ten centimeters deep.

The smile on Lu Xin’s face didn’t waver. He continued to hold Little Nineteen tightly.

The knife sank deeper.

A cold pain spread through his chest.

Yet, Lu Xin felt a sense of emptiness being filled, which paradoxically brought him a feeling of joy.

Blood splattered from the knife onto Little Nineteen’s face.

A strange emotion flickered in Little Nineteen’s vacant eyes, her small body suddenly stiffening.

“Little Nineteen…”

Lu Xin placed his hand on Little Nineteen’s struggling, shaking head, gently stroking the base of her skull. Softly, in a tone careful not to frighten her, he whispered in her ear, “Don’t be scared anymore. I remember you now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have forgotten you for so long. More importantly, I shouldn’t have forgotten that I once… killed you.”

“It’s okay if you’re scared of me, if you think I’m a big monster.”

…

“Big monster…”

These words seemed to trigger something in the indifferent Little Nineteen.

Her struggling gradually ceased.

Not only her, but behind Lu Xin, the dozen or so other Little Nineteens, suspended mid-air at various points along the filaments and sliding towards him, also abruptly stopped. The same bewildered, vacant expression appeared on all their faces.

From every angle, they watched Lu Xin embrace one of them, as if each recalled different memories.

Some seemed to remember Lu Xin cornering them in front of the building.

Others seemed to recall even more terrifying events…

Within their vacant eyes, a layer of mist seemed to slowly materialize.

“Guh…”

A hollow, ethereal sound echoed.

From the monster behind them, countless blood threads extended, resembling colorful nerve tissues and blood vessels.

A large portion of these blood threads connected to the ones on Little Nineteen.

At that moment, more blood threads crawled along the ground and walls, surging towards Little Nineteen. Simultaneously, it felt as if some kind of will was being infused into her body, causing her frame to tremble slightly, a hint of madness surfacing in her eyes.

“Hsss…”

Lu Xin exhaled softly, holding Little Nineteen even tighter. “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered.

The madness faded from Little Nineteen’s face, replaced once more by bewilderment.

Madness and indifference flickered rapidly across her features.

Little Nineteen clearly had a strong connection to the monster known as “God.”

In other words, she was constantly under the “God’s” influence.

This influence could naturally be described as a form of pollution.

Lu Xin didn’t know how to sever this pollution, but what he could do was hold Little Nineteen.

Chen Jing had recently mentioned a concept called “reverse pollution.”

He had also learned about the concept and nature of pollution during his basic Ability User training.

Ordinary people could cause pollution too.

Laughter, tears, even an unconscious gesture could potentially be pollution.

So now, his only hope was that his embrace could “pollute” Little Nineteen.

At the same time, the shadow beneath his feet spread outwards.

At such close range, there was no reason to let the “God” entity remain unchecked.

…

“You can endure? You can embrace?”

As the monster manipulated Little Nineteen, a face on its chest snarled ferociously.

“Is power of this level meant for children like you playing house?”

Zhao Shiming seemed close to losing himself entirely by now. At the very least, his voice lacked its earlier reason, growing increasingly frantic. Even his tone no longer sounded like his own, thoroughly steeped in madness:

“I shouldn’t have wasted so much time with you earlier…”

“But now, I finally understand. I finally know what true divine power is…”

…

*Omm…*

As he shouted, Lu Xin remained silent, but his gaze turned cold and sharp, suddenly fixing on the entity.

In that instant, the shadow beneath Lu Xin’s feet abruptly stretched, lunging towards the monster.

*Shuala…*

This time, the “God” reacted faster. Its six eyes blinked simultaneously, unleashing another mental impact.

The collision between mental power and shadow gouged deep, horizontal scars across the ground.

However, perhaps because the shadow had already broken through the mental impact once and remembered its nature, this time it penetrated much faster. Like fine, black particle saw teeth, it rapidly cut and ground away, layer by layer, consuming the distorted air representing the mental impact. Within moments, it was barely a meter away from the “God.”

The “God” seemed to panic, or perhaps it was roaring.

Countless blood threads suddenly shot out from its body like dense, sticky filaments, burrowing into every surrounding crevice.

In places unseen by the naked eye, who knew how many more of these threads there were, or how deep they burrowed.

These threads were like the roots of a tree.

“Kaka Kaka…”

As the threads spread, the heavy, crushing sound of viscous matter engulfing buildings suddenly filled the air.

*Crash!* A dilapidated building shattered, and blood-colored masses of flesh surged out.

These masses, already connected to the fine blood threads, swarmed like living things, merging with the “God.”

This was just the beginning.

From all directions, enormous masses of flesh converged.

…

Viewed from mid-air, the scene transformed into a city writhing with countless monstrous tentacles.

From the shadows of every street, within every abandoned house, vast quantities of bizarre, indescribable flesh moved rapidly.

Wherever they passed, buildings collapsed and toppled, raising clouds of dust.

The entire ruined city teemed with crawling flesh.

Through this process, the abandoned city seemed to spring terrifyingly back to life.

*Sizzle.*

Substances resembling blood vessels and nerves spread across building surfaces like vines, ultimately connecting to the monster.

The entire city, all the monsters within it, were gradually becoming a single entity.

Or perhaps, they had always been one entity, merely awaiting the arrival of this “heart.”

“Hualala…”

As the flesh converged, the monster’s mental impact grew increasingly powerful, instantly pushing the shadow back three meters.

Simultaneously, the “God’s” body began to rise.

The gathering mass of innumerable flesh acted like a pedestal, lifting its form towards the highest point in the city.

Zhao Shiming’s face had vanished, or rather, completely melted away.

The “God” now possessed only a single, indifferent face, looking down upon the ruined city beneath the crescent red moon.

Or rather, looking down upon the tiny figure of Lu Xin beneath its feet.

*Omm…*

In the next moment, the “God’s” six eyes blinked in unison. Wave after wave of mental impact surged forth, seemingly inexhaustible. Not only was the shadow beneath Lu Xin’s feet instantly forced back to his side, but the almost tangible force of the impact washed over Lu Xin himself. Layers of dirt and sand were scraped from the ground, pelting him like bullets.

*Papapa…*

A distorted force field appeared around Lu Xin, deflecting the incoming small stones in all directions.

But the next moment, countless tentacles suddenly extended from the “God’s” body, instantly wrapping around the high-rises on either side.

*Rumble!*

Contracting like massive serpents, they tightened their grip, squeezing the buildings that had stood for thirty years into hourglass shapes. Then, they smashed them inwards, jagged fractures and twisted, sharp steel bar ends aiming straight for Lu Xin’s body.

Mud, rock, and building debris rained down, completely filling the street.

Lu Xin’s figure was completely obscured, his fate uncertain—whether he was crushed into paste by the collapsing structures remained unknown.

But the entity wasn’t satisfied. Its python-like tentacles reached further.

House after house, building after building, were pulled towards it and slammed heavily into the center of the street, piling onto the ground.

This exertion seemed to drain its power.

Consequently, the masses of flesh fused with it simultaneously extended countless vessel-like monsters, thin and serpentine, rapidly surging towards the outer city. Over a hundred thousand drifters resided there, potential ready-made “materials.”

Or perhaps, these drifters were the materials prepared by the High Table all along.

This was the true power of a “God.”

To pollute and control the entire city with overwhelming, unstoppable force.