Yue Shi's eyebrows twitched.
A nesting doll?
Just how many layers of human skin was this monster wearing?
Seeing the other party's gaze toward him become increasingly naked and predatory, Yue Shi's eyes turned fierce. He wasted no more words and struck immediately.
Almost simultaneously, the young man who had crawled out of Xiao Ya's skin moved as well. With a greedy, determined smile on his face, he moved like a bolt of lightning, his five fingers pressed together as he struck out.
His hand carried a curse; as long as he could touch Yue Shi's face directly, he could completely strip the skin from Yue Shi's entire body.
However, though he was fast, Yue Shi was faster!
The moment the palm wind approached, Yue Shi dodged to the side. His right hand moved second but arrived first, clamping onto the other's wrist with the precision of a steel vise.
The young man felt an irresistible surge of brute force. His entire arm went numb instantly. Before he could react, Yue Shi pulled and yanked him forward while his other hand pressed down on the man's shoulder.
BANG—!!!
A dull, heavy explosion of sound!
The young man didn't even see how Yue Shi exerted his strength before he was swung up by a violent force and slammed ruthlessly onto the hard floor like a tattered sack.
The massive impact made the entire room seem to vibrate. The floor tiles shattered into a spiderweb of cracks centered on his point of impact!
"Ugh—!" the young man cried out in pain, feeling as though every part of his body was in agonizing distress.
Then, the greed and mockery in his eyes were replaced by incomparable shock.
This strength?!
This speed?!
Was this the power a normal transcendent should have?
"You're Rank 4...!" He struggled to lift his head, but his vision suddenly went dark.
Yue Shi didn't give him a single breath to recover. His talons, wrapped in the dark glow of a curse, stabbed ruthlessly toward the man's skull cap!
Before the fingertips even landed, the decaying aura that could erode all things made the man's scalp crawl with dread.
Shrouded in the shadow of death, the young man's pupils shrank as he let out a shriek that sounded barely human!
"Molt!"
RIP—!
The teeth-grinding sound of tearing echoed again. Just as Yue Shi's talons were about to pierce his skull, the man's entire body seemed to be pushed open from the inside by an invisible hand. The "middle school student" skin split down the middle, and a slightly disheveled figure lunged out, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
The "skin" pinned under Yue Shi's claws instantly withered and decayed as if ravaged by the passage of time, finally rotting into fragments with a soft pop—it had absorbed the full force of Yue Shi's curse and the damage intended for the "thing" inside!
Yue Shi's eyes narrowed slightly. He looked at the new "skin" that had appeared a short distance away—a youth in a tracksuit who looked like a high school student. The boy was gasping for breath, his heart still racing. The greed on that handsome face was gone, replaced only by lingering fear and deep wariness.
"Heh... interesting." Yue Shi's voice was cold as he closed the distance again.
The cramped bedroom became a temporary battlefield. The assistant investigator dragged the dazed Mrs. Li into the living room, staying far away from the danger.
Yue Shi's attacks were more violent and swifter than a thunderstorm. The decaying curse that eroded everything fell repeatedly with his talons, leaving spreading marks on the floor and walls.
Several pitch-black ravens emerged silently from the shadows, their sharp beaks and claws targeting vital points like the eyes and throat, providing intense interference.
Boss Pi was beaten so badly he had no room to counterattack. He could only survive time and again by relying on his mysterious Molt ability.
One moment he molted into a handsome salaryman, the next into an elegant elderly man, and then into a cute child... Every time he molted, all the damage and curses stacked on him were instantly removed; even fatal wounds would vanish along with the old skin.
With every change of skin, he would return to an optimal, vibrant state without any sign of weakness, but the heartache and shock in his eyes could not be hidden.
He tried to fight back, but none of his methods worked on Yue Shi. It was as if an invisible barrier separated them, preventing him from touching Yue Shi's true body or even causing a ripple.
Yue Shi didn't even bother to dodge, watching him perform his "golden cicada shedding its shell" trick over and over again with the gaze one might reserve for a corpse.
Crack!
His cervical spine was snapped.
"Molt!"
Rip!
He was clawed again; rot began to spread.
"Molt again!"
...
When the twenty-third layer of skin was torn apart by Yue Shi and he molted once more into a pale, beautiful boy in pajamas, Boss Pi finally broke down.
He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his eyes filled with unprecedented panic and helplessness.
Yue Shi pressed closer, his breathing not even slightly disturbed.
Boss Pi wanted to cry but had no tears. The reckless sense of playing with the world he had earlier was long gone; now, he only wanted to run! The further from Yue Shi, the better!
The losses this time were simply too damn high!
"Stop... stop fighting! Do you have any idea how low the ratio of handsome men and beautiful women is in the general population?! Do you know how much effort I spent collecting these skins?! Now you've ruined them all, ruined them!"
He screamed, his voice containing no concern for his own safety, only sorrow and grief, like a child who had lost a favorite toy.
Although Yue Shi seemed to have the upper hand, pummeling Boss Pi relentlessly, Boss Pi's true form had never been exposed. He had only lost some human skins.
Yue Shi hadn't damaged Boss Pi's foundation, and Boss Pi couldn't even touch Yue Shi.
But Yue Shi had his own rhythm. The fight had to continue. This filthy thing had dared to covet him; he had to find a way to strangle it immediately!
Looking at the aggressive Yue Shi, Boss Pi's eyes swept over his face with tearful regret. If he could obtain this skin, it would barely compensate for today's losses, but unfortunately...
In a flash, Boss Pi hesitated no longer. He lunged toward the room's window, smashing through the glass and jumping out to escape.
CRASH—!
Without the slightest hesitation, Yue Shi flickered and leaped toward the window after him. At the same time, he commanded the assistant investigator: "Take Mrs. Li and all the discarded human skins on the scene. Return to the Investigation Bureau immediately and report the situation to Ling Xun in full detail."
As his voice fell, his figure vanished among the high-rises outside the window.
A cold wind poured in through the broken window, blowing away the smell of dander and decay that permeated the room.
The assistant investigator slumped on the floor, his face pale and his body soaked in cold sweat. Looking at the mess on the floor and the pile of skin belonging to Xiao Ya on the bed, his stomach churned.
Yue Shi's cold voice seemed to still echo in his ears. Forcing down his fear and nausea, the assistant investigator took out an evidence bag and began to carefully collect Xiao Ya's skin from the bed with trembling hands.
He then placed the remaining skin fragments from the floor into another evidence bag. The touch of each piece of skin was cold and slimy, making his hair stand on end.
Rate on N.U.
