Chapter 11: Destroying the Human-Head aberrant entities

Pang Xiaolei did not leave.

As a criminal police officer, he had his own professional ethics and beliefs he held fast to.

There was something wrong with Chen Jiankang and his son in every possible way. Naturally, Pang Xiaolei was not going to take those doubts with him and go down the mountain without doing anything.

Besides, he still wanted to see whether he could find a breakthrough from Village Chief Chen regarding Wang Ping’an’s whereabouts.

So after returning to the village, Pang Xiaolei followed procedure and began making inquiries around the village.

Lishui Village had more than three hundred residents. The young people had all gone into the city to work or study, leaving only some elderly people behind, along with a few left-behind children under the age of three.

After dinner, the villagers liked to gather in their courtyards, by their gates, or at the small shop at the village entrance to chat, so Pang Xiaolei’s visits went very smoothly.

Before long, he learned where Chen Jiankang’s family lived, and that at noon yesterday, the son the old Chen family was so proud of—the one who had gotten into a key university—had brought his boy-girl twins back to the village.

There were several suspicious points.

Chen Yi had suddenly come home.

Last night, it seemed a thief had come into the village, and Village Chief Chen’s dog had been the first to bark.

Also, during the day today, the village chief’s wife had carried things up the mountain several times. She had even taken Big White Goose up with her, and at this hour of the night, no light had come on in the house yet. In other words, she still had not returned.

The village was only so large. Everyone had known one another as fellow villagers for years. The slightest thing out of place could be noticed.

Pang Xiaolei pieced together the clues and wondered whether Chen Yi had caused trouble outside and fled back to his hometown. Just as he was considering whether he should investigate Chen Yi, he suddenly realized that the sky had turned completely dark at some point.

Standing beneath the light of the small shop at the village entrance, he kept feeling that the places not covered by light were so dark they made his heart tighten for no reason.

But when he looked at the calm, indifferent expressions of the villagers around him, he could not be sure whether villages in the mountains were simply like this.

After thinking it over, he decided to stake out the area near the Chen family’s house.

The entire old Chen family was still on the mountain this late at night, using unfinished farm work as an excuse. The fact that they still had not come back at this hour was very concerning.

Pang Xiaolei found a shadowed corner beyond the reach of the light and watched the Chen family’s gate from a distance. He took out a piece of blueberry-flavored gum, put it in his mouth, and slowly chewed.

Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.

Before nine o’clock, the village quieted down.

People in the mountains slept early, and once night fell, the mountain wind grew strong. It was not suitable for chatting outside. Old ladies came out to call their husbands home, and old men who had been playing chess picked up their stools and strolled back at an unhurried pace.

The space in front of the small shop emptied out. The owner shut the doors and windows and sat at the desk doing accounts. Only the energy-saving light hanging from the awning swayed endlessly in the wind.

Pang Xiaolei hunched his neck against the cold, but his gaze on the Chen family grew sharper.

They still had not come home at this hour. This family was getting stranger and stranger.

The mountain wind was cold and lonely as it moved through the streets and alleys, carrying the chill from the damp ground as it brushed over Pang Xiaolei. Vaguely, he smelled an awful stench, like a mixture of a toilet, spoiled meat, and a faint scorched odor, making him frown.

The light flashed abruptly.

Then it went dark.

A household had turned off the light in their courtyard, making Pang Xiaolei’s vision dim for an instant before he quickly adjusted.

He frowned and shifted his stance. He did not know whether it was his imagination, but just now, something seemed to have leaped over the Chen family’s courtyard wall.

A thief?

Or had he seen wrong?

Pang Xiaolei rubbed his eyes. For some reason, his eyes felt especially useless today. Now and then, the things he looked at had thick double images, constantly crossing and swaying before his eyes until he felt dizzy and nauseated.

At the same time, the foul stench grew stronger and stronger.

He had been to all kinds of crime scenes, but this was practically the most nauseating smell he had ever encountered in his life.

Even the chewing gum in his mouth seemed to have turned foul.

Just then, a sudden crash came from ahead, followed by the sound of something breaking.

The Chen family’s courtyard gate was violently smashed open. Half of the door flew far out and only stopped after hitting the wall opposite.

Then, someone walked out through the gate at an unhurried pace.

He wore a familiar set of clothes. His figure was straight, his steps powerful, and in his hand he held an overly long wooden sword as he appeared before Pang Xiaolei’s eyes.

Then he rushed forward, swung the wooden sword, and began chopping at the empty air.

The wooden sword stirred the air, the wind whistling around it.

The man slashed horizontally and stabbed diagonally, his movements smooth and fierce.

Pang Xiaolei frowned and straightened.

When had the Chen family’s son come back?

Also…

Waving a sword around in the middle of the night? Had he lost his mind?

What was he doing?

And also…

It stank. It stank so badly. Pang Xiaolei was about to throw up.

“Ugh—!”

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Pang Xiaolei stumbled out while supporting himself against the wall. He suspected someone was defecating behind him, but even that would not be this disgusting. Forcing down his discomfort, he still did not forget to stop the Chen family’s son from going crazy.

It was the middle of the night, and he was swinging such a large wooden sword around wildly. What if he hurt someone? Mental illness still needed treatment.

First, he would restrain him, then—

“Don’t come over!”

Chen Yi, who was in the middle of fighting, suddenly let out a thunderous shout. His sharp gaze, as forceful as lightning, pierced through that airtight flurry of attacks and landed on Pang Xiaolei’s face.

It forcibly froze Pang Xiaolei’s footstep just as he was about to move forward.

Of course, as a trained professional, Pang Xiaolei naturally would not stop just because Chen Yi shouted once.

It was because thicker double images had appeared before his eyes, so intense that they had reached the level of hallucination.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Seven balloons floated in the air at uneven heights, surrounding the Chen family’s son from all sides. Faces were drawn on the balloons, pale and distorted, like Van Gogh paintings aimed straight at the soul. On a night like this, they were sinister and terrifying.

Then Pang Xiaolei felt as if he had been wrapped in something thick and sticky. He could no longer move.

The stench had already risen to an extreme, but compared with the bizarre, supernatural scene before him, it suddenly no longer mattered.

He suspected he was dreaming.

The dense darkness warped as if it had become solid. Even the ground beneath his feet turned soft and rotten. His feet sank into it, and he could even feel a damp, clinging sensation seeping into his shoes and over the tops of his feet.

Because they were swollen like balloons, the faces of those seven human-head balloons had become difficult to recognize. They floated lightly in midair, bobbing up and down. Each pale face was indescribable in appearance, reminding Pang Xiaolei of the kinds of scenes even forensic doctors hated.

Most importantly, he clearly realized that the heads on these balloons were alive. They could even change expressions. Their pale eyes had no pupils, yet somehow showed a kind of long-starved dullness and the frenzied desire of something that had just seen food.

Just as Pang Xiaolei was questioning himself, Chen Yi swung the great sword in his hand and finally struck the face of one human-head balloon aberration.

The blade touched the aberration before he even used much force. The aberration’s expression twisted, and it let out a shriek.

Pop!

It burst right in front of Chen Yi.

Had he dealt with one?

Chen Yi had not expected that inside that enormous human-head balloon, there would actually be seven smaller balloons. After he split it apart with one strike, seven more aberrations appeared as if it had given birth.

Those seven aberrations were not very strong. Chen Yi could sense that his cultivation suppressed them completely. They could not even injure him.

What made them annoying was that they had become even more agile. Like balloons that could be blown away by the slightest bit of wind, they had already slipped aside before Chen Yi’s great sword could chop down on them.

And then there was that detestable mental contamination.

The rotting world.

The foul smell.

And the voices endlessly clamoring beside his ear, overlapping again and again.

“Hungry, hungry, hungry…”

“Eat, eat, eat…”

Each cry was louder than the last, making him unbearably irritated.

He had not expected that officer to awaken at this moment.

Chen Yi had arrived a long time ago, and he had also long since noticed that this officer was still lingering in the village. At first, he had not wanted to intervene or show himself. After the human-head aberrant entities really appeared ahead of schedule, he had even less mental space to worry about him.

If the man thought he was a lunatic for slashing at empty air, so be it.

Just then, the human-head aberrant entities that had been attacking Chen Yi suddenly stopped.

Two of them turned to look in Pang Xiaolei’s direction, ravenous expressions appearing on their swollen faces.

“Hungry, hungry, hungry…”

“Eat, eat, eat…”

What kind of terrifying sound was that?

The first time Pang Xiaolei heard that horrifying voice, like hundreds upon thousands of men, women, elderly people, and children all mixed together, he felt as if something had slammed hard into his brain.

His vision went black.

He should have fainted.

But as a frontline criminal police officer, his physical fitness, along with his instinct for danger, made him bite the tip of his tongue and force himself to endure.

With a retching sound, he vomited onto the ground.

He lifted his head and saw an unbelievably terrifying human-head balloon flying toward him.

This human-head balloon was male. Although the features were twisted, Pang Xiaolei found them vaguely familiar. He stared at it as if frightened senseless, yet his brain was running like a rapidly flickering film reel, checking and confirming.

Who was it? Who was it? Who was it?

A familiar face.

There had originally been seven. Now there were six.

There were men, women, and a child.

He was about to remember. Almost…

But the shadow lunging at him was even faster. That terrifying face, that mouth opening impossibly wide, and the overwhelming stench made Pang Xiaolei have no doubt that he would be swallowed in one bite.

He could only break off his thoughts, clench his fist, and prepare to strike.

Just then, there was a pop.

The human-head aberrant entity in front of him burst again. A foul, messy spray splattered out, hitting Pang Xiaolei across the head and face at close range.

The smell was unbearable.

“Ugh…”

As expected of a professional.

Pang Xiaolei forcefully endured it again. At the same time, his gaze quickly searched the ground and found the thing that had destroyed the aberration.

It was a wooden dagger. It had pierced through the human-head aberrant entity’s head and fallen to the ground. It was about the length of an adult man’s palm, quite crude, and looked exactly the same as the great sword in the Chen family’s son’s hand, rough and hasty like a toy.

But this time, Pang Xiaolei no longer dared to underestimate it.

He made use of his combat training, crouched down, picked up the dagger, and held it in front of himself, adopting an extremely professional defensive stance.

At that moment, the second aberrant entity arrived as well.

This time, Chen Yi did not spare any more attention for him.

He had thrown the peachwood dagger over both to deal with the emergency and to give Pang Xiaolei a weapon.

Fortunately, before going out, because he was afraid he might not be able to handle this human-head aberrant entity, he had tied a dagger to each of his calves, thighs, and arms.

It could be said that aside from the weapons he had left for his parents and Da Huang to defend themselves, he had equipped himself with all the firepower he could currently use. Unexpectedly, it really came in handy.

The great sword focused on heavy attacks. Although swinging it produced a fierce wind and an excellent sense of security, his sword technique was only at the proficient level, and he was indeed at a disadvantage when it came to agility.

A dagger was just right.

Chen Yi held the dagger in one hand and used it like a sword. Because his proficiency was in Sword Manipulation, using a dagger still felt a little awkward. After a few swings, his Goldfinger as a cheater appeared and he gradually adapted.

With a flick of his wrist, he stabbed upward from a slant below into the chin of a male human-head aberrant entity and destroyed another one.

Now there were only four living human-head aberrant entities left before him.

Another one was biting at Pang Xiaolei. He was defending with difficulty, but for the time being, there should be no problem.

Chen Yi withdrew his gaze. The dagger in his hand became smoother and smoother to use. With his strength absolutely overwhelming them, he spun the blade in a flourish and struck again, destroying a human-head aberrant entity with the face of a child.

“Aaaah!”

Unexpectedly, a female human-head aberrant entity suddenly went berserk. With sharp, decayed teeth exposed, she lunged madly at Chen Yi to bite him.

From the other party’s frenzied movements, Chen Yi sensed the tiniest sliver of threat.

A tiny sliver…

Serious face!

He had to be careful!

He could not capsize in a ditch!

He was the sect master of The Lurker Sect. In the future, he was going to get an official position!

Chen Yi dealt with it seriously. He swung the dagger and pierced straight through the female aberrant entity.

It burst too.

“Aaaah! I know now!”

Pang Xiaolei’s scream rang out. “The seven people burned to death at Yingchi Hotel! What is this? Why did they turn into this?”

After the female aberrant entity was destroyed by Chen Yi, only three male human-head aberrant entities remained, and they were also the three strongest among the seven.

The aberrations, which should have had no rationality and only appetite, finally showed an intention to retreat.

Even the layered voices crying “hungry, hungry, hungry” vanished.

With his mind clear again, Pang Xiaolei found the correct answer.

Chen Yi glanced at him deeply. “Officer Pang, don’t let them get away. Otherwise, more people will be harmed.”

“Huh? Ah! Oh!” Pang Xiaolei, who had barely adapted to the aberration battlefield, changed from passive defense to active offense.

However, when he saw that Chen Yi blocked them so easily and was not afraid of the aberrations getting close, sometimes even taking their bites without dodging and still not being injured, Pang Xiaolei assumed these aberrations did not have much attack power. Seeing one of them about to flee, he raised his own arm to block it.

The male ghost: a fragrant chicken leg delivered right to the door!

It bit down.

Pang Xiaolei’s clothes did not tear, and there was no bleeding, but an unbearable pain shot through him.

“Aah!”

He screamed. The dagger fell to the ground, and he collapsed to his knees, his raised arm trembling.

On Chen Yi’s side, he was easily dealing with the two aberrations surrounding him.

No difficulty.

These aberrations seemed to have only just entered cultivation. He was already at the first tier of Qi Refining. More importantly, he also had cultivation techniques backing him. His spiritual energy had been absorbed by the system, too, making him much stronger than the aberrations.

Pang Xiaolei’s scream rang out.

Chen Yi raised his blade and brought it down. In two strikes, he chopped down the two male human-head aberrant entities.

“Aaaah…”

A sharp, overlapping cry of indistinguishable gender rang miserably beside his ear. The instant the heads burst, something unspeakably disgusting appeared as well.

Chen Yi took a step back and was now able to dodge it with relative calm.

“I’ll chase it. Be careful.”

After giving that instruction, Chen Yi handed the dagger to Pang Xiaolei’s uninjured hand. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

As the human-head aberrant entities were destroyed and the last one fled, the horrifying scene that had dragged Pang Xiaolei into the aberrant domain also dissipated.

Even the sticky yellowish substance that had sprayed all over his head and face disappeared.

Pang Xiaolei looked at the familiar street. The light in the small shop was still on, and he could faintly hear the sound of a television and a child’s quiet voice.

He had returned from hell.

He was still in the human world.

He shifted to a corner of the wall and leaned against it, breathing several times. Then he gritted his teeth and rolled his sleeve up high. The moment he saw the injury on his wrist, his vision went dark.

It looked badly burned. The skin had blackened, and the damage extended through the entire elbow area. When touched, the injured surface flaked away, pressed close to the bone, while the flesh had vanished.

It was clearly so severe, yet there was not the slightest trace of blood. Pang Xiaolei gritted his teeth and judged that his hand had already been carbonized.

Those seven aberrations: four men, one woman, one child, and one more whose appearance Pang Xiaolei had not seen because the Chen family’s son had destroyed it at the very beginning. But in his mind, the final piece of the puzzle had already filled itself in automatically.

Add to that the fact that his hand had become carbonized after just one bite, perfectly matching the cause-of-death characteristics. These were precisely the seven victims from Yingchi Hotel.

He had not expected that, after being responsible for the renewed investigation and evidence collection for this case, after staying in Wolong County for almost a week without any progress at all, he would see the seven victims in a small mountain village deep in the hills.

And in this form, no less.

Why…

Pang Xiaolei’s mind turned frantically. His highly concentrated attention made him hear the sound of footsteps in the distance at once.

He turned his head and saw a man walking over from the village entrance. His figure was tall and elegant, his bearing outstanding. As he stepped through the night, his silhouette carried an indescribable mysterious valor and graceful charm, like an ancient warrior.

Pang Xiaolei’s gaze landed on the great sword the man held behind his back in a reverse grip, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He braced himself against the wall, trying to stand, but his hand hurt too much. The pain made his entire body tremble.

In the end, he slumped back onto the ground.

He looked up.

“Did you catch up?”

Chen Yi shook his head. His expression was not anxious. “I know where it will go.”

“Yingchi Hotel.”

Chen Yi raised his brows.

In a few words, Pang Xiaolei explained the case he was currently in charge of investigating. Chen Yi looked at him with a complicated expression.

No wonder he had been contaminated so quickly.

If you often walk by the river, how can your shoes stay dry? During the past week, Pang Xiaolei had constantly gone in and out of the human-head aberrant entity’s old haunt. He must have suffered some contamination. Without stimulation, the contamination might have slowly dissipated, and he could have continued living like an ordinary person.

Conversely, that explained why, in less than a minute, he had been contaminated and dragged into the aberrant domain.

Chen Yi’s gaze landed on Pang Xiaolei’s injured arm.

Pang Xiaolei looked over as well, his expression dim. He was disabled now. He would have to step back from the front line, and his work was basically gone too. Although he had long been prepared to die in the line of duty when he chose this profession, the arrival of this moment still made his heart ache.

Clearly, he could have kept working for another twenty or thirty years…

“Your hand…” Chen Yi looked thoughtful.

“Help me call an ambulance.” Pang Xiaolei’s mouth was dry. Thinking of a future amputation, his voice turned hoarse. “Thank you.”

“That works too, but I may have a way.” Under Pang Xiaolei’s doubtful gaze, Chen Yi said, “If you trust me, I’ll give it a try.”

“All right!”

Chen Yi looked at him deeply, then crouched down and carried him on his back, heading toward the west side of the village.

Deep in the night, there was only one set of footsteps between the two of them. Chen Yi walked along the narrow ridge between the fields, gradually disappearing into the darkness.

Faintly, there was again a trace of that stench. Chen Yi glanced in the direction the smell came from, then continued forward without any change in expression.

Finally, they arrived before the orange grove and stopped.

“I’m going in. Don’t be afraid.”

Chen Yi’s voice was clear and gentle, very soft when soothing someone.

He held Pang Xiaolei tightly. Under Pang Xiaolei’s gradually horrified gaze, he charged straight into the orange tree ahead.

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