Death (2)

“If you want to live, run,” He Wenxi said flatly.

Ignoring the dagger at her neck, she turned and ran in the opposite direction. Just because she didn't feel fear didn't mean she wanted to die.

The man froze for a second before turning to flee as well.

Behind them, seeing its prey flee, the bizarre creature suddenly pushed off the ground with its tentacles, abandoning its slow crawl.

The concrete beneath its tentacles shattered as it launched itself high into the air, crossing dozens of meters in an instant to loom directly over their heads.

Hearing a rushing wind above him, the fleeing man instinctively looked up.

He saw a meter-wide maw of raw flesh, lined with rings of sharp, densely packed teeth several inches long.

“No...” the man screamed.

The flying mass of bizarre flesh enveloped him, and the teeth inside began to grind like a machine.

The man's body was instantly shredded. A bit of blood splattered, but most of his flesh and blood were quickly absorbed.

“De... licious...” The bizarre thing paused for only a second before continuing after He Wenxi.

At the edge of the darkness, He Wenxi stopped.

She reached out to touch the darkness and felt something solid. This wasn't just darkness; it was a physical wall.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Heavy footsteps echoed behind her. The bizarre monster was drawing closer.

He Wenxi turned around. As she stared at the monster less than ten meters away, a change finally flickered across her face.

It wasn't fear, but helplessness. She sighed. “Am I going to die? I've finally grown up, yet I haven't even experienced a happy life.”

She pulled out her phone. There was no signal, and she had no one in her life to leave a final message to anyway.

Tossing her phone aside, she quietly watched the approaching monster.

“Delicious...” the monster rasped as it drew near.

Its tentacles wrapped around He Wenxi's arms while the others hoisted its two-meter-tall mass of flesh into the air. The maw beneath it opened wide, descending upon her.

Staring at the oncoming flesh, He Wenxi remained perfectly calm. Am I going to die? I wonder... what does death feel like?

The long fangs sank into her body. Intense pain flared, but He Wenxi's expression didn't change.

She simply watched herself get killed, her consciousness fading into darkness.

Hidden from both He Wenxi and the monster's sight, a thick shroud of death energy had always enveloped her. It was this very energy that had stripped away her fear of death.

The death energy pierced through space, leading to a dark realm that did not exist in the real world—a place filled with an endless expanse of black water.

The black water surged violently, as if something beneath the surface was brewing, waiting to be born.

In this void devoid of any living things or physical entities, an invisible, unseen eye suddenly manifested.

The eye quietly stared at the churning black water, making no movement.

Amidst the churning water, a formless, intangible wave of energy emerged—or rather, a consciousness.

The consciousness pierced through the dark space and vanished.

It didn't notice the invisible eye watching its every move.

Interesting. Truly fascinating. This is even more bizarre than those evil gods. The eye narrowed slightly, filled with amusement.

Death itself had actually birthed a consciousness!

Back in the real world, on the street sealed off by darkness.

The bizarre monster was still chewing its food, thoroughly satisfied.

Ever since its birth, this place had been like an all-you-can-eat buffet. With nothing to stop it, its intelligence was growing, and it would likely evolve before long.

“Food... moving...” The monster suddenly froze mid-digestion.

An intensely uncomfortable sensation washed over it, causing its tentacles to flail and whip against the ground.

Suddenly, a bulge swelled on the left side of its flesh, as if something inside was pushing outward.

“So... painful...” its raspy voice whimpered.

In the next instant, bulges erupted all over its body, its outer flesh splitting open.

Unable to withstand the pressure, the bizarre monster exploded, splattering foul, blackish-red blood across a radius of over ten meters.

The darkness shrouding the street dissolved.

The sparse sounds of nearby traffic returned.

Where the monster had stood, He Wenxi stood completely naked once more, her eyes entirely devoid of emotion.

“Am I Death? Or am I He Wenxi?” A look of confusion appeared on her face.

The real He Wenxi was dead. The one inheriting her identity now was Death.

It had no gender and no memories of its own; everything it possessed was inherited from He Wenxi.

Death—or rather, He Wenxi—stood quietly in place. Her memories were something it had never encountered before.

It absorbed and examined them with curiosity.

Eventually, a passerby spotted her standing in a massive pool of blood. Terrified, the pedestrian fled and immediately called the inspectors.

The world was changing. In the past, seeing a beautiful, naked woman standing on the street might have prompted him to offer help. But the scene was too bizarre, especially given the recent string of deaths.

Ten minutes later, Death's eyes flickered. It had finished processing all of He Wenxi's memories from her twenty-odd years of life.

What a strange feeling. If just memories are this wonderful, then will the "happiness" she always pursued bring me an even better feeling? Death's expression remained serene.

Its physical body darkened, the black shifting to form the white tracksuit she had worn earlier.

Just as Death prepared to leave...

The wail of sirens rapidly approached from the distance, and two black law enforcement vehicles screeched to a halt at the intersection.

Behind them were three black vans belonging to the tactical inspectors.

The doors swung open, and the inspectors quickly got out. Their expressions changed the moment they saw Death standing expressionlessly in the middle of the blood pool.

Leading them was a young man in his late twenties with a buzz cut.

He stared at the woman, who looked deeply unnatural, and his face fell. “So they really exist. Hey, did headquarters give us any protocol on how to handle these things?”

“Captain Hai, headquarters said if we can beat it, we fight. If we can't, we run and report it,” an inspector beside him answered quickly.

“Alright. Go confirm her identity first and see if she's a normal human!” Hai Dazhu ordered immediately.

The inspector nodded, grabbed a megaphone from the vehicle, while the other inspectors used the cars as cover, aiming their guns at Death with grim expressions.

“You up ahead! Are you a human or a monster? If you're human, state your name and ID number!” the inspector yelled through the megaphone.

Death turned its head to look at them.

With just a single glance, every single one of the twenty-plus inspectors collapsed dead, save for Hai Dazhu.

Hai Dazhu froze. He looked at his team members in disbelief. Their pupils were dilated, their chests perfectly still. They were as dead as could be.

What kind of monster is this?! Even as an experienced veteran inspector, Hai Dazhu couldn't help but feel absolute terror.

He had watched plenty of videos of supernatural battles in Yangcheng. Those supernatural beings at least clashed physically or threw energy attacks.

How did this woman kill everyone with just a single glance without doing anything else?!

He began to back away, but the woman opposite him moved, walking toward him with an expressionless face.

As Death passed by her phone, the device flew into her hand of its own accord.

As time passed, it was adapting to He Wenxi's memories, even aligning its gait with hers.

Seeing this, Hai Dazhu turned to run.

But the moment he turned, the woman appeared right in front of him, a mere ten centimeters away.

Staring into those completely emotionless eyes, an intense dread gripped him. He felt like he was about to wet his pants.

“Do you... know what... happiness is?” Death stared at Hai Dazhu for a moment before asking the question it wanted to know most from its inherited memories.

Hai Dazhu was taken aback, unable to comprehend what kind of madness this woman was spouting.

But under the gaze of those lifeless eyes, he could only steel himself and reply, “If you're asking me... I think living a peaceful, stable life and being with your family is happiness.”

“A peaceful, stable life?” Death stared at him, repeating the words.

After a dozen minutes, she turned and walked away. “Is that happiness? But the world doesn't seem very stable. What must I do to experience happiness? Ah, right. If I erase all the unstable factors, will I be able to feel happiness?”

It muttered to itself. It was Death, but its manifestation didn't mean it had to cause more demise.

That would be meaningless. When the time came, all things would die on their own anyway. Everything would eventually welcome death.

Watching the terrifying woman leave, Hai Dazhu was drenched in sweat. He tried to take a step.

But in the next second, his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Just as he was about to pull out his phone to contact headquarters...

An amused voice sounded from above him. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seems you've gone and done something incredible, kid. Do you have any idea how many humans and supernatural beings are going to die because of what you just said?”

Startled, Hai Dazhu quickly spun around to look at the law enforcement vehicle behind him.

A young man wearing a suit and a bowler hat was sitting on the roof of the car, though he hadn't been there a moment ago.

He rested his chin on his right hand, his eyes slightly narrowed, a faint smile playing on his lips. He looked perfectly relaxed as he watched the direction Death had gone.

Zhao Jin had watched everything unfold without interfering. It was all the arrangement of destiny.

Of course, that was on the condition that this entity didn't interfere with his acquisition of Destiny Force. Otherwise, if something unfortunate were to happen, that too would simply be destiny's arrangement for it.