Chapter 155 The Hunter

"Dang Lang!"

Wen Yan was still standing in the hallway outside, while inside the suite, the sound of breaking glass could be heard.

Wen Yan, who was just about to knock out the last person standing, heard the noise and turned around abruptly, only to see a scene that made his eyes widen in horror. A terrifying "ghost" had somehow broken through the hotel's floor-to-ceiling window.

The dark red veins of blood oozing from its left hand helped it cling to the wall, while its right hand rested on the head hanging there. *Rip*

A sound of flesh being torn apart rang out, and the monster ripped the head off the wall, holding it in its hand like a basketball.

The monster's face was as if covered by burlap, with countless black mycelia emerging from the opening at its "mouth" and hanging down like whiskers. Its back and shoulders were covered with clumps of black and red tentacles that swayed behind it like wings.

Its bare upper body was covered with muscles as distinct as marble sculptures, with dark red blood vessels emerging from one muscle and connecting to another, looking like external blood vessels or some kind of external life support tube.

A real, terrifying monster, far more terrifying than any ghost movie Wen Yan had ever seen, landed lightly on the carpet and looked in his direction. "Let's talk," the monster said in a hoarse, unpleasant voice, uttering the words Wen Yan had spoken earlier.

Unexpected...strange...yet another strange occurrence!!!

Wen Yan's eyes were about to burst.

He gripped the black mycelium in his hand tightly, his face contorted in pain.

Damn it! This lousy place! Where the hell did all this weird stuff come from?!

Wen Yan had spent countless years in his dream world, and he hadn't felt this "unexpected" feeling in a long time. In the dream world, everything was predictable, and all possibilities were presented to Wen Yan... He felt extremely comfortable inside, so comfortable that he had even forgotten the horrors of the outside world.

In his dreams, he is omnipotent.

"Who are you?!" Wen Yan took a few steps forward and walked directly towards the monster.

Compared to Wang Xinran and the half-dead clump of mycelium in his hand, the monster in front of him seemed to be easier to communicate with.

"Why don't you hide your head?" The monster was just examining the head in its hand. After a moment of contemplation, it asked, "You can't move your head? That makes sense."

Wen Yan was horrified. It seemed that the other party had revealed part of the truth with just a casual guess... as if the other party had been studying him all along.

The other party's calm tone also fueled Wen Yan's anger.

His conversation was completely controlled by the other party... He hadn't felt this way in a long time. "After you left, the head in Wu Xiaoting's room didn't disappear, and the wooden clock was still on her head. Besides Wu Xiaoting's head, there was another head in that room."

The monster held Wen Yan's head in one hand, looked at the person before it, and asked, "Do you know whose that is?"

"How the hell would I know?" Wen Yan said through gritted teeth, almost crushing the black mycelium in his hand.

He dared not go any further... because his head was truly being held in the other's hand.

Moreover, after the monster tore his head off, his dream connections became increasingly unstable.

If he doesn't wake up from this deep dream, he risks never waking up again.

"Who exactly are you?" Wen Yan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

If the other party can communicate, then there's a chance...

But the monster shook its head.

"Flesh and blood have memory, Professor. You've left too much blood here."

"So what do you want to talk about?" Wen Yan walked to the left, towards the sofa, and said, "If you want to talk, I can." "Tell me about your research in the dream world." The monster spoke calmly, seemingly having no intention of walking towards Wen Yan.

"How can I guarantee that you'll return my head after you've finished speaking?" Wen Yan asked warily.

"Um?"

The monster seemed puzzled. It tilted its head slightly to look at Wen Yan and asked, "When did I say I would return your head?"

"Even if you don't tell me, I have plenty of ways to get your memories. I can figure out the things you don't tell me on my own... I might just be a little slower than you, Professor."

The monster had no intention of letting him go.

However, Wen Yan calmly gleaned some information from the monster.

The monster is studying the bizarre...

A monster, actually researching the bizarre?

"If you just want to study them, you can also study the two heads over Wu Xiaoting's side," Wen Yan said, his mind racing.

Yes, the monster knows about Wu Xiaoting, and even knows there are two heads over there, and that it would be easier to get the heads from there. But why?

Why did you contact me?

Moreover, it was a collaboration between Wang Xinran and the weak and grotesque mycelium in his hands.

He was almost certain that the strange mycelium he held was the same strange creature that Li Ya had used to commit the crime in the Li Ya case.

Whether it's replicating someone else's appearance or devouring flesh and blood to save the steps of dismembering and disposing of the body, it all makes sense.

The one manipulating the crowd is undoubtedly the awakened Wang Xinran.

Who exactly is connected to Wang Xinran and has the potential to come into contact with Li Ya and this clump of mycelium?

In his dream, Wen Yan was deep in thought. In the second layer of the dream, time flowed much slower than in reality, giving him more time to contemplate. The more he thought, the more he connected the dots, and a figure he least wanted to see... gradually surfaced in his mind. That gentle and refined figure appeared before Wen Yan's eyes; all his words flashed through his mind like fleeting shadows, accompanied by the seemingly ever-present gentle smile on the other's lips.

"Thank you, Professor Wen, I don't know how to thank you enough."

"Professor, people cannot dream about things outside of their own perception."

"Professor Wen, please hand the items over to the state. I will not mention what you did in front of the Ninth Detachment... Please do not go down the wrong path."

Every word the other party had said and every message they had sent flashed through Wen Yan's mind.

It was him? It was actually him?

How could it be him?!

Is that the "kind" young man whom he considered too indecisive, who only thought about his family and the Ninth Squad, and whom he had always looked down upon?

Wen Yan felt like his worldview was about to collapse.

"Shen Xing? You're Shen Xing?!"

As if to deny his own guess, Wen Yan strode forward and roared.

With Wen Yan's roar, the monster stopped in its tracks.

"Professor, I think you're right."

"The deviant behavior is indeed worthy of recognition."

The monster gripped Wen Yan's temples with both hands, as if squeezing a ball, and slowly applied pressure.

"Because it can solve some problems that cannot be solved by ordinary means..."

"You're so clever, I'm making it so I need to clean your blood out a bit more."

Feeling the immense pressure, Wen Yan collapsed to his knees in agony, roaring towards the monster:

"I'm the same as you! We both despise beasts! We're both capable of doing what the law can't!"

"Let's work together, Shen Xing!"

"Only those who can reform themselves deserve to be arrested and reformed. Animals only deserve to fight and die like animals! Our principles are the same!"

"Please don't... please let go!"

The monster, watching the once arrogant vigilante now pleading for mercy, calmly said, "Oh? So instigating others to kill is part of your so-called justice?"

"No, they were guilty from the start! I wasn't involved in their initial crimes at all!"

"Oh, so you already knew I was a murderer when we were at the hospital entrance that day?" the monster said calmly.

Wen Yan, who was kneeling on the ground, was speechless. He tried to get up several times, but he didn't know how to start the conversation.

He instigated Shen Xing, who was still a "normal person" at the time.

His various actions have long since deteriorated without his knowledge. This private traveler has probably already deviated from his original, already biased, "intention."

"I'm sorry, Professor."

The veins on its arms bulged.

"I have no interest in punishing evil and promoting good."

Snapped

Wen Yan's head shattered like a watermelon.

Yellowish-white brain matter splattered all over the ground.

"Aaaaaaah!!!"

Wen Yan, kneeling before him, fell to the ground with a scream as the wooden clock hanging in the house.

Immediately, there was silence.

The monster released its grip, and its head fell to the ground.

This is such a hassle... the cleanup work.

The burlap-like skin on Shen Xing's face, devoid of features, slowly faded away, and the blood vessels on his body gradually receded back into his body.

He glanced at his hands, which were stained with brain matter and blood, with some disgust, and seemed to regret not wearing gloves.

Fortunately, I got the watch head.

Unfortunately, Wen Yan was not in a stable mood and couldn't get any information out of him.

Shen Xing snapped his fingers, and the wisp of mycelium crawled towards him, burrowing back into the ball-jointed puppet at his feet. He'd need Wang Xinran and [02-Puppet] to help clean up the mess.