No, on second thought, if The Purified People were really up to something, wouldn't this subway line in Xinhai, unfinished after years of digging, be the most convenient place for them?
He carried the bag in one hand and the instructions from Raven in the other, following Jin Mu. "Where are we going?"
Jin Mu walked ahead, saying without turning his head, "To find my partner, Shen Yue, and your superior."
"Ai Qing?" Huai Shi was astonished.
Jin Mu said, "Before I was pulled down, I saw him grab that Inspector. They should have landed together."
"Oh."
Huai Shi nodded. Using the dim light, he quickly looked down and continued to flip through the manual in his hands, nodding from time to time and clicking his tongue in amazement.
Finally, Jin Mu turned his head, frowning. "What are you looking at?"
"A manual." Huai Shi closed the manual, of which he had read less than half, and tucked it into his clothes. "I've been looking at it for ages, and I think I get some of it. Next time, I need her to prepare a dummy-proof version for me. There's just too much technical jargon."
He put down his travel bag and took a deep breath.
"Wait for me a second, I'll try—"
With that, he assumed a horse stance, clenched his fists, and with a grunt, mustered all his strength. His face turned red with effort, but no matter how one looked at it, he just seemed constipated, leaving Jin Mu puzzled.
A long, awkward silence ensued.
"Sorry, not in the best shape," Huai Shi coughed awkwardly. "Let's continue."
Jin Mu looked at him indifferently for a long moment, then averted his gaze and turned to walk forward. But just as he took a step, his arm, as if boneless, lashed out with the Iron Whip behind him.
It parried the Axe that had chopped down at him from behind.
He slowly turned his head, staring at the slightly surprised youth, his expression dark.
"Are you insane?"
"You have to believe me, this is a misunderstanding." Huai Shi looked at the Axe in his hand and took an awkward step back. "I was actually planning to kill you painlessly, but since you found out, there's nothing I can do."
He grinned, twisting his neck to stretch the stiff muscles from his long confinement. Accompanied by a series of soft crackling sounds, wisps of gray flame slowly emerged from beneath the clothes on his chest, igniting his skin inch by inch.
Soon, his entire body, except for the pale Source of fire in his hands, was enveloped in a gray, gloomy flame. Within that dancing fire, everything seemed to blur, distinguishing between reality and phantom became impossible, as if it were all faintly Melting into the darkness.
And right there on his chest, the whirlpool-like fissure slowly rotated, like a furnace in the deepest part of Hell.
Glowing brightly. Stigmata·Yin Ghost activated.
"Although I'm grateful you told me so much, this is where it ends..." Within the embrace of flames, the youth, now resembling an Evil Ghost, revealed a smile. "So, do you want me to stab you to death and then examine the body, or will you obediently take off that fake face and let me see your true one?"
"To think... I was discovered...?"
In that instant, a hint of stiffness touched Jin Mu's grim expression. His lips slowly curled up, revealing an almost exaggeratedly unnatural smile that stretched nearly to his ears.
Then, a thick black liquid began to ooze from his wide-open mouth, emitting a foul stench. The liquid seethed and roiled, making a viscous sound.
"Where... did I... go wrong...?"
"To tell you the truth, when the Stigmata Activation began, I thought there was something wrong with my eyes." Huai Shi shouldered the Axe and pointed to his own eyes, which had turned from black to iron-gray. Their reflection showed the figure before him utterly disintegrated, displaying traces of decay. Dark purple-black liquids coursed within its corpse-like shell, revealing its true nature.
This was what Huai Shi saw the instant the Stigmata Activation occurred.
Luckily, the manual was sufficiently detailed.
Even so, Huai Shi found it hard to believe that Border Variants existed who could even disguise their Source Fluctuations. Now, it seemed they could even acquire parts of memories, which was truly shocking.
"A pity. It's too smelly," Huai Shi murmured softly. "If you had led me somewhere else, I might not have doubted you."
He sniffed the air as the foul stench grew stronger, a nauseating mix of rot and blood.
"Anyway, this... is far enough..."
The thing disguised as Jin Mu twisted its neck nearly one hundred eighty degrees, looking back in the direction they had originally been heading. In the darkness, pairs of blood-red eyes slowly lit up. Soon, one deformed creature after another crawled out from the shadows.
Some of them looked human but had deformed skeletons and were completely hairless. Others resembled wild dogs and cats, but their bodies were astonishingly large, like lions. There was also a swarm of rat-like creatures.
At the howl of the thing disguised as Jin Mu, the dozen or so misshapen, corrupted creatures slowly advanced. Some crawled directly on the tunnel ceiling, dripping foul saliva that landed near Huai Shi's feet.
"One last question."
Huai Shi awkwardly looked at the encircling monsters, raising a finger. "Do you Border Variants have a habit of seeing a psychologist?"
No one responded. Amidst the screeching of the corrupted Jin Mu, the grotesque creatures closed in, an overwhelming stench filling the air.
Apparently not, he thought.
What a shame.
But for Huai Shi, it seemed just right.
He could try out this Stigmata Talent, a Five-star Ability highly recommended by Raven in the manual. Its name seemed to be...
In that instant, as Huai Shi spread his arms, the Fire of Apocalypse covering him suddenly erupted outwards in all directions, transforming into a diffuse, yet conspicuous, rust-colored mist!
Within the mist's embrace, boundless terror instantly flared, invading the consciousness of every thinking being. It blended the pain, Sorrow, and horror extracted from countless deaths into a singular onslaught, erupting violently from the deepest recesses of their minds.
Shrieks of terror erupted. In that instant, from within the rust-colored mist, a pair of fiery eyes slowly rose, the corners of their owner's mouth curling into a smile.
This was the core talent of the Stigmata Yin Soul, with a three-meter radius...
"—Fear Aura!"