Chapter 40: Severing the Head

In the darkness, there was dead silence.

Chen Chong met the other’s eerie, faintly glowing eyes. He felt no trace of human emotion in them, only an indescribable cruelty and hunger, like a ferocious beast starved for a long time. It was as if Chen Chong was not a living person in his eyes, but a succulent piece of meat, sending chills down one’s spine.

However, without any fear, Chen Chong stared straight back into those ghastly green eyes and enunciated word by word:

“What… are… you… looking… at?”

Hearing Chen Chong’s question, the man’s eyes, like flickering will-o’-the-wisps, remained motionless, fixed intently on Chen Chong. His Adam’s apple bobbed as if he was swallowing saliva, and a hoarse sound came from his throat:

“Meat… meat…”

Then, he shakily stood up from the bed. At the same time, veins bulged grotesquely on his face. Combined with his greenish complexion and eerie green eyes, he looked exactly like a malicious ghost crawling out of hell in the darkness. During this process, while staring fixedly at Chen Chong, he murmured unconsciously:

“Meat… hungry… hungry…”

Chen Chong instantly lost all patience and snarled fiercely: “Playing tricks and pretending to be a ghost, hungry my ass!”

Bang!

Chen Chong leapt off the bed board like lightning, and without hesitation, heavily punched the scrawny man square in the chest, lifting him off his feet and slamming him hard against the wall behind him. A loud “thud” echoed, and the bed board beneath was directly crushed!

After taking the Ultra Divine Water, Chen Chong’s strength had now reached the limit of an ordinary person, at least several hundred jin of force, comparable to a heavyweight boxing champion. An ordinary person taking such a punch would certainly lose combat ability, unable to even crawl up.

However, the moment after the scrawny man collapsed the bed board, Chen Chong’s brows suddenly furrowed.

Because the scrawny man who took his punch head-on was like a monster that knew no pain, slowly crawling up from the broken planks in less than two seconds!

It was as if Chen Chong’s heavy punch, enough to cause bone fractures, had no effect whatsoever. His body hunched, his open mouth drooling, his unconscious, ghastly green eyes eerily fixed on Chen Chong, an unsettling sound drifted from his throat:

“Meat, meat… hungry…”

Then, the scrawny man opened his mouth, revealing a row of ghastly white teeth, and lunged at Chen Chong to bite like a zombie!

Lost consciousness, acting on instinct, and knows no pain?

However, facing this scene that would drive an ordinary person mad with fright, a silent, savage grin appeared on Chen Chong’s face. He stepped forward, twisted his waist, met the scrawny man’s lunge head-on, and kicked out!

Thud!

The scrawny man’s skinny frame was fiercely kicked flying again, slamming into the wall with the window, shaking a large amount of dust loose before collapsing onto the ground.

“Meat, meat, meat…”

Like a corpse or monster that felt no pain, the scrawny man pushed himself up on his arms, trying to stand again.

Stomp!

And this time, before he could even get back up, Chen Chong’s figure appeared beside him like a specter. One foot carrying immense force stomped onto his back with a boom. Under the heavy pressure, the scrawny man feebly sprawled on the ground, blood suddenly spraying from his mouth!

“Playing Resident Evil with me?”

In the darkness, Chen Chong’s eyes burned with an indescribable ferocity. He pulled out the tactical knife he carried, snarling fiercely:

“Courting death yourself, don’t blame me!”

Then Chen Chong abruptly bent down, his large hand grabbing and clenching the scrawny man’s hair, while his other hand, holding the gleaming blade, fiercely slashed down towards the scrawny man’s lifted neck!

…

One minute earlier.

The two overseer lackeys on night watch duty at the second-floor stairway were bored out of their minds, occasionally glancing at the deepest part of the corridor and chatting in low voices.

“You think that kid will be scared pissless tonight?”

The other lackey chuckled: “Not necessarily. That lunatic Skinny Ghost doesn’t seem to act up every day. Might not get a good show today.”

“What a drag. So if Skinny Ghost doesn’t act up tonight, we have to keep an eye on things every night?”

Skinny Ghost’s original name wasn’t that; he was a blacksmith at the ironworks with decent skills, considered a rare talent in the Territory. He was plain-looking, always taciturn, hardworking, speaking no more than ten sentences all day, and never clashed with anyone.

Yet despite this, he was an existence everyone in the dormitory building loathed and feared. Not a single laborer was willing to share a room with him, even under the threat of whipping!

The reason no one wanted to room with Skinny Ghost was because a laborer who once shared his room had his throat bitten off alive by Skinny Ghost in his sleep late one night, and was devoured alive! When the strong scent of blood was noticed in the morning, they found Skinny Ghost sleeping soundly with a face covered in blood, and a mangled corpse with scattered internal organs and bite marks all over its body in the room, its face mostly chewed off!

What terrified everyone even more was that when Skinny Ghost woke up, he did not admit to being a cannibal. Even under severe torture, he never confessed. The laborers later discovered that Skinny Ghost had an extremely rare form of cannibalistic compulsion, acting up only occasionally in the dead of night, like sleepwalking. In this state, Skinny Ghost felt no pain, had no consciousness, and completely transformed into a beast-like, terrifying cannibal. Anyone near him would be treated as food!

And thus, the name Skinny Ghost spread.

After this incident, because the deceased was just an ordinary laborer, and Skinny Ghost’s skills were hard to come by, Yin Hu ultimately only had him severely whipped and starved for a few days before releasing him again. His room was moved to the deepest part of the second floor, isolated from the other laborers. Among the four rooms on that side of the second-floor corridor, only Skinny Ghost lived there. The other laborers would rather squeeze into a shared room than stay on that side.

And now, Skinny Ghost had finally gotten a roommate again: the newcomer, the completely clueless Chen Chong.

Thinking about the cannibalistic Skinny Ghost in his dreams, one lackey shivered: “Can’t help it, the captain told us to keep an eye on things. Plus, that kid hooked up with the Blood General. We just have to suffer a bit, or we’ll be in deep trouble.”

“Hey, I think since that kid’s an Awakener, even if he’s asleep, he wouldn’t be bitten to death by Skinny Ghost that easily, right?”

“Not necessarily. When Skinny Ghost acts up, he’s a freak that feels no pain. What if it’s like that last poor bastard, his throat gets bitten through directly by Skinny Ghost? Even the King of Hell couldn’t save him then, Awakener or not.”

“True. But that kid’s damn lucky. If only I were an Awakener too.”

“Forget it, who wouldn’t want to be one…”

Thud!

A muffled, loud crash accompanied by the sound of breaking wood suddenly came from deep within the corridor, interrupting their conversation. The two overseer lackeys’ expressions changed drastically:

“Why such a loud noise?”

“Damn, could it be that kid got killed!?”

Their expressions grave, a sense of unease rising in their hearts, they immediately drew their iron clubs and flashlights from their waists and quickly ran towards Skinny Ghost and Chen Chong’s room.

Another loud crash of heavy objects impacting sounded during this time, but by the time they reached the door, all sound had eerily vanished, returning to silence. The two exchanged glances, swallowed hard, then boldly kicked the door open with force!

An extremely thick, pungent smell of blood immediately hit them in the face.

Then, under the flashlight’s beam, the two normally fearless lackeys saw the scene inside the room clearly, and their scalps instantly tingled with explosion!

In the dim room, the thick, nauseating scent of blood drifted about. A large pool of scarlet blood rapidly spread, flowing to their feet.

And Chen Chong’s figure stood straight beside a headless corpse drenched in dark red. He was still holding a round object in his hand, from whose severed end liquid continuously dripped.

It was precisely Skinny Ghost’s head, eyes wide open, face frozen in a hideous expression!

At that moment, Chen Chong turned his face towards them. Holding Skinny Ghost’s head, he looked at the two overseer lackeys. Facing the flashlight’s glow, he revealed a row of ghastly white teeth and smiled: “You two, what’s the matter?”

The two lackeys felt their hands and feet turn ice-cold, instantly suffocating.