The moment the tomb chamber fell silent, Mu Yingying slapped her forehead.
“Shit, how could I forget that!”
She suddenly realized, turned around, and was about to rush toward the corridor.
“Peace, Wang Ziming! He promised us before that once he became mayor, he’d gather all the anomalies in town together so we could farm Ghost Crystals! You let his wife go, and he got knocked out with one slap.”
“No one’s in charge of this anymore! No, I have to go catch that woman and make her wake up Wang Ziming so he can finish the job!”
“Don’t bother chasing.”
Peace’s voice fell.
Mu Yingying had one foot already in the air, but she froze mid-step.
“I have another way.”
Peace raised her hand and pointed at the ground.
She was pointing at the mayor’s two halves of a corpse.
Mu Yingying paused.
“…The way you’re talking about, that’s the pile of mayor’s corpse on the ground?”
“Mm.”
“And this pile of rotten meat is supposed to lure every anomaly in the whole town here?”
“It used to be a very strong anomaly in Spark Town,” Peace said.
“Its flesh contains all its power and essence. Any Fake Human or anomaly in this town, as long as they get a single bite, their strength will skyrocket. That kind of temptation, they simply can’t resist.”
The moment she finished speaking.
From the end of the corridor, a sound came.
At first, it was a rustle.
Very light.
Then, footsteps.
More than one pair.
Soon, they multiplied, grew denser, overlapped, impossible to tell how many there were.
Then, voices rushed over—
It was the sound of arguing.
They were fighting outside the well.
They had already smelled it.
The mayor’s aura had vanished.
At the same time, the thick smell of blood in the tomb chamber floated up through the well.
That scent held a fatal attraction for them.
They were fighting to get down.
Whoever went down first would get the first bite.
They had no reason.
The smell of blood overwhelmed everything.
They shoved each other, panting, cursing, and roaring, surging from every street and alley, all cramming into that single well.
Peace had already walked to the corner of the corridor.
She stood with her back against the stone wall.
Su Shuang’er retreated to the back of the tomb chamber with White Night’s small scooter. Mu Yingying followed two steps behind Peace, her blade already drawn.
The first Fake Human anomaly fell from the well.
It was pushed down by its fellow creatures behind it.
It slammed into the bottom of the well, its feet not even steady yet, its eyes already locked onto the two halves of corpse inside the tomb chamber—
It didn’t even look at Peace.
It didn’t get a chance.
A flash of Dark Light.
The anomaly’s head slid diagonally off its neck.
Its body pitched forward and collapsed into the tomb chamber.
The scream didn’t even have time to escape.
The second one fell.
It stepped over its companion’s corpse, its eyes only on those two halves of flesh.
It even quickened its pace.
Another flash of Dark Light.
The second one fell.
Third.
Fourth.
They didn’t stop.
They saw the ones in front of them fall, knew there was danger, but they couldn’t stop.
The smell of blood had burned away the last shred of reason left in their minds.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t stop; it was that they couldn’t stop.
The anomalies behind were pushing.
The entire well shaft was packed full below.
Anyone who stopped would be knocked over, trampled, torn in half by the ones behind them.
They had to go down.
They had to move toward that smell.
White Night watched all of this from the depths of the tomb chamber, her Soul Body slightly cold.
She remembered something Peace had told her before.
There was a phenomenon among ants, called a death spiral.
If a group of ants lost their scent trail, they would follow the trace of the ant in front of them, spinning and spinning until they formed a circle, unable to escape, until they all died of exhaustion.
They didn’t know they were spinning.
They were just following the one in front.
That was how Spark Town was now.
The entire town’s Fake Human anomalies, drawn by that single thread of blood scent, were all surging toward the same well.
They saw the bodies of their companions piling up higher and higher in front of them.
They still didn’t stop.
They couldn’t stop.
They were fighting outside the well.
Fighting fiercely.
The strong tore the weak apart and trampled them underfoot, making room to squeeze themselves down.
The stronger ones then pulled the strong down and shoved them under their own feet—
The ones that went down the well first were actually the fiercest anomalies in the town.
They died the fastest.
Peace’s rate of raising her hand never changed.
Neither fast nor slow.
One creature per second, one creature per second.
Like she was doing a task so simple it was almost mundane.
She even turned her head to glance at Su Shuang’er, making sure White Night wasn’t frightened.
After confirming, she turned back and continued her pinpoint kills.
She didn’t know how many she had killed.
By the end, the pile of corpses in the tomb chamber was knee-high.
Peace frowned.
“We’re going out.”
She left the corner and climbed up along the iron grate.
She climbed easily, not at all like someone scaling a well over thirty meters deep.
Halfway up, she reached out and picked off an anomaly that was struggling to squeeze down the well.
The thing slid down the well wall.
When she was two-thirds of the way up, Peace raised her hand and picked off another.
At the well’s mouth.
She climbed over the rim.
Outside the Mass Grave, a dense, dark mass had gathered.
They were slaughtering each other.
She didn’t speak.
Peace stood at the top of the well, raised her hand.
Slashes of Dark Light swept outward, one patch after another.
One patch after another fell.
Almost all the Fake Human anomalies in the entire town, on that night, died near the well at the Mass Grave.
A few slightly smarter ones, a few that ran faster, scattered beyond the town before dawn.
But the ones that stayed in town, the large group led by the scent of blood—
Not a single one was left.
When dawn began to break, Mu Yingying crouched outside the well, wearing gloves, digging Ghost Crystals out of the corpses one by one.
Su Shuang’er was helping her.
White Night was in the bike basket, holding the box, counting them one by one.
When she reached a little over 120, she stopped and looked back at Su Shuang’er.
“Auntie Frost.”
“Mm, what is it, Little White Night?”
“…There’s really so many. I’ve never seen this many Ghost Crystals before.”
“Mm, yeah.”
Su Shuang’er reached out and gently rested her hand on the edge of the basket. “It’s already very good to have saved up this many.”
They finished counting.
147.
Adding the ones from before, that made 175 total.
Mu Yingying pulled off her gloves and asked, “Is this many Ghost Crystals enough to upgrade your little scooter?”
White Night compared it in the System and shook her head. “…Not yet. The second upgrade needs a full 500 Ghost Crystals.”
“Fk, that’s way too much!” Mu Yingying sat down on the ground.
“We’ve only just scraped together a fraction of that.”
“It’s actually a lot already.” Su Shuang’er’s voice was soft.
“To collect 147 in one night, this speed is already very fast. If we go through two or three more towns, we’ll definitely be able to save up 500.”
“You’re right about that.” Mu Yingying slapped her thigh. “Let’s not think about this for now. I’m going back to sleep. I’m dead tired.”
The group walked back toward the small Western-style building.
The sky was already bright.
All of Spark Town was empty.
No one carrying shoulder poles, no one shelling beans, no one sitting on doorsteps, no one greeting anyone else.
The wind blew down the main street, making the sign for “Lao Zhang Noodle House” sway.
This time, no steam seeped from the cracks in the windows.
No smell of cooking.
Nothing at all was left.
Only the clean, empty streets and the utterly silent houses.
When they got back to the small Western-style building, the sun had already risen a bit further.
The four of them climbed to the second floor and collapsed into sleep.
The two big beds Mu Yingying had pushed together were still in the same position, White Night sandwiched in the middle.
She didn’t actually need to sleep, but she was tired.
A sense of exhaustion permeated the depths of her soul, longer-lasting than physical fatigue.
She curled her Soul Body into a ball and nestled it into Su Shuang’er’s arm.
Su Shuang’er had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, sleeping very deeply.
Peace was on the other side of the bed, breathing evenly, eyes tightly shut, also sleeping unusually soundly.
She normally hardly ever needed to rest, but she had killed too many things tonight, and her soul level had suffered some backlash.
She really needed to catch up on sleep.
Mu Yingying had the worst sleeping posture.
Half her arm was pressing down on the blanket next to White Night, her mouth hanging open, as if she was about to snore but couldn’t quite manage it.
Pressed against this bed of warm body heat, White Night closed her eyes.
She didn’t know how long she drifted—maybe half an hour, maybe longer.
Suddenly, she felt a touch on her cheek.
Very light, like a feather brushing by, or like someone gently touching her with a fingertip.
The touch was cool, like the dew on a blade of grass early in the morning.
White Night’s drowsiness instantly shattered. Her eyes flew open.
A face was right in front of her.
It was Su Shuang’er’s face.
The features were exactly the same as Su Shuang’er’s, but it was translucent, like looking through a thin layer of mist.
White Night instinctively glanced to the side. The real Su Shuang’er was lying right next to her, eyes closed, breathing steady, her body lying there perfectly fine.
Then this face in front of her…
White Night’s heart skipped a beat.
It was that one.
The existence that had hugged her last night, the one Peace couldn’t even catch, the one that had been hiding inside Su Shuang’er’s body all along.
She had come out again. She was standing right in front of White Night, staring at her blankly.
They were extremely close, their noses almost touching. Her gaze was straight, unwavering, neither dodging nor turning away.
White Night instinctively held her breath. Her first thought was to call for someone, but then she reconsidered and swallowed the words.
She didn’t seem to mean White Night any harm.
She just looked at her like that, her gaze indescribably complex.
It was like she wanted to look but was afraid to, like she had been staring for a thousand years and still couldn’t get enough.
Or like she had a thousand words to say, but didn’t know where to begin.
White Night froze under that gaze for a few seconds, then carefully lowered her voice and asked, “What exactly do you want to do? Why do you keep living inside Auntie Frost’s body?”
The translucent face blinked, as if she hadn’t expected White Night to ask that, or as if those two words had touched something deep inside her.
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
“Don’t be afraid. I really have no intention of hurting you at all.” She paused, her tone carrying obvious apology.
“Everything I did to you before, it was all my fault. I finally figured out something very important recently. All of it was just a huge misunderstanding.”
“That’s why I treated you like that before. I’m really sorry. It was my fault. Can you forgive me just this once?”
Her voice was very soft, carrying a cautious tentative quality.
She had completely lost that chaotic, fierce look from last time, and had instead become so gentle it was almost disarming.
Her eyes were watery, staring straight at White Night.
White Night felt her heart soften.
She couldn’t really digest the word “forgive.” She didn’t know what exactly this being had done, nor what the misunderstanding was.
But she didn’t dare refuse.
After all, this existence shared a body with Su Shuang’er. If things got tense, it might hurt Auntie Frost.
Hesitating for a moment, White Night gently nodded.
The translucent face instantly lit up, as if a huge weight had been lifted. Her voice softened completely.
“Thank you so much. Thank you for being willing to forgive me.”
White Night bit her lip and carefully asked again, “Then… can I ask you one more question? Why are you inside Auntie Frost’s body?”
The being was taken aback.
“It’s not that I chose to live here.” She said softly. “I am her.”
“We were always, from beginning to end, the same person.”
White Night was completely confused.
The same person? But why did they have completely different personalities, completely different reactions, even looks that were worlds apart? If they were really the same person, how could they have split into two completely different souls? And last time, she had clearly wanted to hurt White Night, but now she was so gentle…
White Night steadied herself and continued in a low voice, “Then that huge misunderstanding you mentioned before, what was it really? And why are you so different now compared to before?”
The being opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something.
But right then, her face began to fade.
White Night: “Wait… wait—!”
The words didn’t even leave her mouth.
Her outline was dissipating inch by inch, slowly melting away like morning mist.
The being herself seemed to notice it too. She hurriedly leaned a little closer to White Night, urgency filling her eyes, full of unfinished words.
But it was too late.
She dissolved into a very faint white light and was sucked back into Su Shuang’er’s body.
Su Shuang’er’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, but she didn’t wake up.
She turned over and pulled White Night a little closer into her arms, falling back into a deep sleep.
White Night kept her eyes open, staring at the ceiling above her, her heart still racing.
Everything that had just happened was clearly etched in her mind. It was definitely not a dream.
So the time she could appear was limited. She had been cut off mid-sentence, forcibly pulled back.
Next time she came out, White Night hoped she would be able to say everything.
White Night quietly pressed her Soul Body a little closer to Su Shuang’er’s arm.
Su Shuang’er’s body temperature was still warm, her breathing even. She was completely different from the translucent being from just now.
But she said they were the same person.
Those words tumbled over and over in White Night’s heart, replaying until the sky was bright.