Chapter 552: The Onslaught of Darkness
by xennovelBang bang bang…
Black particles spread out like immense waves of darkness, crashing over the surface like a tidal surge.
A heavy, trembling echo reverberated around the plaza.
Lu Xin charged forward; every step on the ground sent out ripples of dark waves.
This caused the swamp-like environment and its murky colors to quickly recede, revealing the original stone-paved road.
It seemed as though the Nightmare Serpent had summoned the marsh, yet with every shockwave from Lu Xin the swamp vanished. Even if the area was originally a marsh, under his powerful steps it felt as firm as solid ground.
“Stop…”
“Come back…”
“Don’t abandon me…”
“…”
Countless chaotic mutterings surged into Lu Xin’s mind.
Countless arms burst erratically from underground, twisting like thorns and clattering with joint-cracking sounds as they reached for Lu Xin, each seeming to have its own will as they futilely clung on.
They swarmed densely, creating the impression that living creatures teemed all around him.
Yet Lu Xin remained completely unfazed.
The way ahead was wide enough, was it not?
Surrounded by quivering black particles, he strode onward, crushing every grasping arm in his path without hesitation.
“Smack smack smack…”
The hands that had latched onto him—even those merely nearing him—were snapped and trampled as he tore them apart.
They broke into segments, writhing weakly and painfully like torn earthworms.
Then, an immense force spanned the plaza, and before Lu Xin a smooth, radiant thoroughfare appeared.
It was as if not only the ground he stepped on, but everything within his sight, had been cleansed of all corruption.
……
……
Rumbling…
Stone slabs underground tumbled as a massive serpentine body crawled over the earth and walls, coiling menacingly toward Lu Xin.
After the serpent slithered by, enormous chunks of stone, the ground, and even nearby building walls seemed to take on a life of their own—tearing apart, splintering, and hurling clouds of dust in a colossal roar reminiscent of a level 12 earthquake, with towering walls crashing down.
Compared to the Nightmare Serpent, Lu Xin appeared as insignificant as an ant.
At that moment, he was battling not only with his own body but against the very heart of the plaza that symbolized Heichao City.
“Hm…”
Yet as the entire plaza erupted in a roar that seemed to change the very fabric of the sky and earth, Lu Xin merely let out a soft hum. His eyes filled with swirling black particles as he charged headlong into the crushing mud and rock waves.
“Bang bang bang…”
The black particles provoked violent tremors.
Everything before him decayed and crumbled under that onslaught.
Lu Xin strode through, leaving a gaping hole amidst the scattered stone blocks and collapsing wall fragments.
Whoosh…
In the end, the giant python—clumsy like a colossal earthworm—was broken into several pieces as Lu Xin barreled directly toward it, then lashed out with a forceful, sweeping grasp.
At that moment, his distorted force field surged forward with his movement, transforming into an invisible telekinetic force.
It wound layer upon layer, choking the Nightmare Serpent’s throat tightly.
“Come on, let me see what you really are…”
Lu Xin’s voice carried a fierce determination—the raw, desperate resolve of someone pushed to the edge.
His eyes, brimming with black particles, widened in intensity.
They locked onto the searing lights on the Administration Building’s wall that symbolized the Nightmare Serpent’s eyes.
Smash!
Under Lu Xin’s unwavering stare, those two lights shattered in an instant, their fragments scattering all over.
……
……
Crash, crash, crash…
The Nightmare Serpent was completely subdued by Lu Xin; its enormous body, having lost any chance to resist once its throat was choked, thrashed helplessly across the plaza, its sprawling arms twitching in chaotic spasms.
It looked just like a dying centipede.
No matter how massive its body or potent its mental power, its fate had been sealed.
But just as the Nightmare Serpent was about to surrender all resistance, another voice quietly emerged.
“You’ve been duped…”
“…”
Lu Xin’s pupils constricted as he sharply lifted his gaze.
On the wall of the Heichao City Administration Building, the searing lights representing the Nightmare Serpent’s eyes had vanished.
With the sudden blackout, the scene inside the window emerged clearly.
Looking through those windows, one could see a figure standing inside.
To be precise, it was a scarecrow.
It stretched its arms wide and stood by the window, clad in a brand-new black suit and topped with a black top hat.
Its eyes, crafted from glass marbles, sparkled with clarity while lips delineated in black split at the corners of its face.
It must have been there for quite some time, camouflaging itself within the guise of the Nightmare Serpent’s eyes.
The moment Lu Xin destroyed those ‘eyes’ with his intense gaze, it stepped into view.
There wasn’t even a moment for reaction before Lu Xin found himself face-to-face with the scarecrow.
In an instant, the scarecrow’s smiling visage was imprinted in Lu Xin’s eyes.
At that moment, Lu Xin felt as if a tidal wave surged toward him, his vision flooded with endless illusions.
Time and space stretched infinitely as everything began to spin, twist, and distort—with the scarecrow’s grinning face anchoring the chaos while everything else faded into nothingness.
Including his own body.
In that moment, he could no longer feel his own flesh.
Within the hallucination, he seemed to see his body floating mid-air ahead.
It hung there, motionless—neither falling nor budging.
His consciousness felt as flimsy as a rag caught in the wind, drifting helplessly with no power to change anything.
……
……
“Scarecrow…”
“Is this the scarecrow Black Jack mentioned?”
“Is this the creature that crawled out of the abyss?”
When Lu Xin saw the scarecrow, a flood of thoughts rushed through his mind.
Memories of Black Jack’s intelligence and the data gathered by his Investigation Team with Han Bing swirled within him.
The Heichao City Administration once botched an operation that unleashed this abyssal monster.
From its very first appearance, it transformed the restricted beings from Ghostfire Marsh into its puppets.
And through those puppets, it seized control of the Administration Hall in Heichao City.
Its most terrifying trait was that in controlling the Nightmare Serpent, it didn’t merely commandeer its body.
It even stole and enhanced the Nightmare Serpent’s powers.
Just as Lu Xin had been locked in battle with the Nightmare Serpent, the scarecrow had been lurking in its shadow.
Until that pivotal moment, when it delivered a fatal blow.
……
……
“Crash, crash, crash…”
As Lu Xin pieced together the chain of events and saw his suspended body amidst the hallucinatory chaos ahead, he noticed the smiling scarecrow beginning to change. Straw strands extended from it like animated snakes, slowly coiling around Lu Xin’s body, wrapping him bit by bit.
It was enveloping Lu Xin, transforming him into a new scarecrow.
Only then did Lu Xin suddenly understand the nature of its ability.
“Parasitic Series.”
No wonder it had always been driven by an insatiable impulse.
Though terrified, it had chosen to confront Lu Xin head-on.
Because if it succeeded in parasitizing him, he would become the new…
……
……
“Need some help?”
Not far off on the plaza, his father’s worried and fearful expression could be seen.
His sister, covering her face in tears, cried, “Brother, you’re doomed…”
“Fool.”
Amid their anxious faces, his mother’s expression showed both worry and anger.
His sister and father immediately turned to look at her.
“I didn’t mean you,”
His mother furrowed her brows tightly, anger laced with deep concern: “I meant that fool!”
“He actually tried to strip away his own humanity…”
“…”
As his father and sister listened, whether fully understanding or not, they gradually sensed something ominous, their expressions turning fearful.
“So…”
“…”
His mother stared ahead deeply and whispered:
“No matter the time, that child had always suppressed his divine nature deep within…”
“We waited for this moment for countless years…”
“But now, that fool has chosen to strip away his humanity…”
“Tell me, when his humanity is stripped away, what remains?”
“…”
With a sudden whoosh, his sister and father anxiously looked forward.
……
……
Straw began to extend one by one, detaching from the wooden easel to coil around Lu Xin’s feet and legs, then crawling upward, wrapping him like bandages in a slow, devouring embrace.
It slowed just before reaching his neck.
For these straw strands had sensed that Lu Xin’s eyes were lowered, quietly watching them.
Those eyes, filled with pulsating black particles, observed everything with a hint of a smile.
“That’s not right…”
If straw could think, it would now:
It suddenly felt an overwhelming surprise: “There should be no soul left in this body…”
……
……
“Now you can’t escape…”
Lu Xin suddenly began to speak, a mocking smirk gradually curving his lips.
The black particles abruptly ceased their trembling, turning eerily silent.
His eyes achieved an unprecedented purity of black, utterly devoid of any impurities.