Chapter 557: Shadows Over the Plaza

Click, click, click…

When Sister scurried over like a cute little spider, Lu Xin looked at her tenderly and reached out his hand from a distance. Exhilarated, Sister leapt high, stretching both hands toward him.

Smack!

As their palms met, a familiar icy chill surged through them.

Lu Xin’s body suddenly became agile and almost ethereal as he jumped from the building.

In midair, his form sprawled like that of a gigantic spider, plummeting swiftly from the Seventh Floor.

On impact, his body instinctively contracted into the most natural posture for a fall.

The height was too great—his bones shattered with crushing cracks, and his body twisted and splintered.

Yet such injuries seemed no setback. Propelled by momentum, he rolled forward; his body contracted rapidly, broken bones realigned, and his palms surged ahead.

In the plaza, many people had just emerged from the cover of the hide-and-seek.

These individuals were all potential targets for Ye Xue to vanish into at will.

But when Lu Xin reached out and grabbed one of them, that person’s body immediately lost control…

Limbs jerked violently as his hands flung outward, latching onto someone nearby, who in turn grabbed another. One by one, they linked together, resembling a rapidly forming mass.

Like surging electrical currents, their entwined strength formed a massive net that charged directly at Ye Xue.

……

“You think you can’t catch me?”

Amid the dense crowd, Lu Xin’s gaze fell on Ye Xue with a disdainful, challenging glint.

Seeing countless hands reaching for her like swaying waterweeds, Ye Xue’s face flushed from shock to fury. She glared at Lu Xin with a mix of resentment and disbelief before momentarily blanking out as the hands closed in.

No matter what, Number Seven dared not confront Lu Xin directly amid such controlled chaos.

She even hesitated to invade the minds of those already subdued by Lu Xin’s Second-stage Spider Ability. Instead, she abruptly left Ye Xue’s side as a bizarre mental entity, dashing to the Seventh Floor to pounce on Red Serpent and the others…

Since Lu Xin had descended downstairs, there was naturally no one left upstairs to protect them.

Originally, Han Bing was her first choice, but she had just suffered a small setback at his hands.

So this time, she opted for Red Serpent.

Snap…

But at that very moment, a crisp scissor sound suddenly rang out before her.

The sound was startlingly close, as if someone were trimming their eyelashes with enormous scissors.

Number Seven’s expression changed in an instant, and she sprang back from the Seventh Floor.

That scissor sound carried a terrifying threat—she felt incredibly fortunate to emerge unscathed, or perhaps the sound had actually spared her?

Forced back into the plaza, she hadn’t even regained her footing when she saw countless ‘waves of people’ surging toward her. At least four or five hands reached out, while further off, Lu Xin stood in the crowd like a spider at the center of its web, his gaze coldly mocking her.

“Do you really think I can’t protect the others?”

……

Furious yet hesitant, Number Seven made a split-second decision before the hands could close in.

Whoosh!

A burst of delicate mental power radiated as she lunged forward.

To her surprise, the force was aimed straight at the scarecrow ensnared by Lu Xin’s mental energy.

“You can parasitize onto a Mental Monster?”

At the same moment, Lu Xin’s face grew grave.

Though Ghost-type skills belong to the parasitization group, he never imagined they could infest another Mental Monster.

Yet from his perception, he could roughly sense Number Seven’s trajectory.

In that split second, with no time for another move, Lu Xin released a deep sigh and straightened his back.

That subtle action made him seem several inches taller—more so because behind him, a towering scarecrow, already trembling with mental energy after Number Seven’s appearance, loomed larger than ever.

Number Seven’s mental entity surged forward, latching onto it.

“Hehehehe…”

Suddenly, a hollow, echoing laugh rang out.

Beneath Lu Xin’s feet, black shadows spread like a curtain of night, enveloping the scarecrow.

The scarecrow trembled in terror as countless strands of straw, like serpents, stretched out in every direction in a desperate bid for escape.

Rapidly advancing, Number Seven was startled and bounced back from the edge of the darkness.

Her heart pounded as she darted across the plaza faster than lightning, reaching the fringe where Lu Xin’s human web had not yet spread. There, a solitary man glowered at her, his expression a mix of confusion, disbelief, and envy.

“You bad woman.”

Furious, Sister cursed, and as her two little hands pressed forward, she manipulated the nearby crowd to frantically reach toward Number Seven.

However, Number Seven’s landing spot was far from the crowd—right in a safe zone where the human web couldn’t stretch.

“Even so, you still…”

Number Seven retreated a few steps, distancing herself further from the human web.

The human web had limits—bodies could only be torn apart to a certain extent.

Just as she believed she had reached safety and was about to speak, a sudden ‘Woof’ burst from beside her. A strange surge of mental power lunged at her, forcing her to retreat before she could fully react.

In Lu Xin’s sight, a Skinless Dog darted out from the shadows and bit Number Seven’s arm.

Enraged and alarmed, Number Seven kicked, sending the dog yelping and flung far away.

The dog rolled on the ground, its tail wagging excitedly as it bore an almost gleeful expression.

Wounded, Number Seven rapidly dashed to the center of the plaza, scrambling onto a massive Bronze Statue—putting as much distance as possible between herself and the crowd. Only then did she cautiously scan for any unusual mental energy.

One arm hung limply by her side, drenched in blood.

Furious and pained, she glared at Lu Xin’s direction with seething loathing.

Not far off, amid the crowd, Lu Xin looked at her calmly and murmured, “You want me to spare it in front of me?”

At that, Number Seven suddenly remembered something and turned her head to look.

……

……

Splash…

From within the shroud of black shadows, a massive hand emerged and grabbed the scarecrow.

This enormous hand, brimming with boundless strength, simply lifted the scarecrow.

Scattered straw quickly reconsolidated, forced into the shape of a complete scarecrow.

It was then hoisted by that huge hand, suspended from the Execution Platform, swaying in the breeze.

Within the dark shadows, a figure in a raincoat, hands clasped behind his back, stood silently admiring the spectacle.

“Is that all?”

After a moment, Lu Xin, having heard no further commotion, turned slightly and glanced at the Execution Platform.

“Not enough?”

The Father on the Execution Platform sensed Lu Xin’s discontent and muttered under his breath.

Then he abruptly turned around, his body dissolving into the boundless darkness.

In that moment, the darkness seemed to take on substance, spreading like ominous clouds.

Within less than a second, it surged to engulf the entire plaza, wrapping the scarecrow and the city in its grip.

“Giggle, giggle…”

From within the infinite darkness came the sounds of gnawing teeth, the scraping of sharp knives against skin, the brutal hacking of flesh and bone, and the relentless slicing of straw by scythes—echoing in every mind.

……

……

“Hiss—ah…”

As the scarecrow’s head was chopped off, a blood-curdling scream erupted.

In that instant, everyone deep in slumber abruptly opened their eyes.

The surge of mental power released by countless awakened souls was so overwhelming that even the Mizang’s power couldn’t conceal them. Their force collapsed in an instant, as if a vast, blank curtain had been drawn over the city.

People from all over the city revealed themselves simultaneously, materializing in reality.

Yet, in that fleeting moment, before anyone could react, darkness shrouded them.

Or rather, it wasn’t merely darkness—it was an all-encompassing, paralyzing terror.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they beheld a vision of an Execution Platform with a scarecrow dangling nearby. But upon closer inspection, they realized it wasn’t the scarecrow at all—it was themselves.

They found themselves on the Execution Platform, accompanied by a man in a raincoat with a cold expression.

Most of his body was cloaked in darkness, revealing only a silhouette as he advanced toward them.

Because the scarecrow had grasped the mental power contaminated by Black Grass.

Thus, nearly everyone affected by Black Grass experienced the same horrifying vision.

They saw gleaming blades slicing through the air, decapitating heads that spun endlessly.

A soul-wrenching roar of terror reverberated throughout the city.

Many believed it was merely a nightmare from which they couldn’t awaken, their bodies convulsing helplessly.

Yet the final scene of that nightmare was so ghastly it would never fade like a passing dream.

The human heart leads into the abyss.

Thus, the image of the decapitated scarecrow spread rapidly.

It raced faster than any contagion, quickly diffusing from Heichao City Central Plaza to every direction. Every mental entity tainted by Black Grass—and every mental force tied to this city—was struck by the impact. They screamed in terror, trembled, and finally cowered before reality…