Skin-Peeling Puppet (Please Bookmark and Vote)

The room was pitch-black, with only the bright moonlight outside shining in, barely illuminating it.

Suppressing the pain, Chen Yan crouched with his knife in hand, holding his breath and not daring to make any rash move.

Fortunately, the Great Return Pill's medicinal power had not yet fully faded. Chen Yan could feel a numb, tingling sensation in his chest—the pill was healing his broken ribs.

Suddenly!

"Roar!"

A shadow with glowing red eyes lunged at him. Its sharp nails glinted with a grim, icy light beneath the moon.

In that flash of lightning, Chen Yan rolled like a donkey, narrowly dodging the shadow's pounce.

Knowing the room was too cramped to fight in, Chen Yan fled into the small courtyard.

The shadow followed close behind, its claws tearing through the air. Chen Yan could even hear the mournful whoosh, whoosh of the wind being split.

His heart tightening, Chen Yan twisted around and raised his knife horizontally to block.

"Clang—"

A crisp clash of metal rang out, sparks flying in all directions.

Chen Yan staggered back three steps to bleed off the force, his gaze at the Middle-Aged Man filled with gravity.

Under the moonlight, the Middle-Aged Man wore a savage expression. His eyes were blood-red, and his gaping maw revealed fangs smeared with bits of flesh. He no longer looked human, but rather like a beast—a mindless wild beast that knew only madness!

What was this? A zombie? A jiangshi?

Chen Yan furrowed his brow, guessing at the Middle-Aged Man's true nature.

"Roar!!"

The Middle-Aged Man roared and pounced again.

Even more bizarrely, the skin all over his body—and even his eyeballs—began to glow red.

What is this?

Chen Yan was startled. Not daring to meet the attack head-on, he retreated and dodged to the side.

But the Middle-Aged Man suddenly sprang upward in midair. As he howled madly, a vicious headbutt came crashing straight at him!

The burst of force was too sudden and too fast. Chen Yan did not even have time to react. In that moment of peril, he only managed to step back half a pace before the brutal headbutt slammed into his chest.

"Bang!"

Chen Yan felt searing pain in his chest. Several ribs had been broken by the blow, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

After taking that hit, Chen Yan's heart hardened.

With a flick of his wrist, he reversed his grip on the knife and slashed viciously across in front of him, straight for the Middle-Aged Man's chest!

"Pfft!"

The blade sank into flesh, slicing through his chest without the slightest resistance.

Yet—

The expected spray of blood did not come. Chen Yan felt as though his woodcutter's knife had struck empty air. He could not even feel flesh or blood?

Looking closely, he saw that the Middle-Aged Man's chest had been cleaved open, a long, narrow gash running from bottom to top.

Yet there was no flesh or organs inside the gash. There was only a pitch-black hollow.

It seemed that the Middle-Aged Man before him was nothing more than an empty human skin!

Human skin?!

Chen Yan's pupils contracted sharply, his eyes filled with shock.

He had never imagined that this beast-like Middle-Aged Man would be nothing but a sheet of human skin.

How was he supposed to fight this?!

He couldn't kill it. Was he supposed to use tongue-tip blood and middle-finger blood to ward off evil, like in movies from his previous life?

Meanwhile, the Middle-Aged Man showed no reaction whatsoever to Chen Yan's slash. Red light flickered in his eyes as he went mad, his limbs stamping hard against the ground as he lunged forward again at incredible speed.

The next instant, he slammed into Chen Yan.

"Bang!"

Chen Yan was sent flying at once, crashing heavily onto the ground. Even the bluestone paving caved in from the impact.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Climbing up from the ground, blood seeped from the corner of Chen Yan's mouth. Every inch of his body hurt, and it felt as though his internal organs had all been knocked out of place.

As he coughed violently, his mind raced through possible countermeasures.

But the Middle-Aged Man gave him no chance to catch his breath. With a savage roar, he came crawling on hands and feet, pouncing again. Cold flashes gleamed from his sharp fingertips as they clawed viciously toward Chen Yan's throat.

Just then—

Suddenly!

"Meowraow!!!"

A piercing cat's cry exploded through the night.

Then, a streak of black light arrived after the attack yet struck first, pouncing straight at the back of the Middle-Aged Man's head!

It was the Black Cat Chen Yan had rescued!

"Sizzle—"

A hiss like water meeting blazing fire rang out. Thick black smoke abruptly rose from the back of the Middle-Aged Man's head. He let out a pained roar and immediately abandoned Chen Yan, turning to pounce on the Black Cat behind him!

How could Chen Yan possibly let such a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity slip away?

Hardening his heart and gritting his teeth, Chen Yan bit open his middle finger and quickly smeared its blood across the blade. Under the moonlight, the blood glimmered with an eerie sheen.

Then Chen Yan fixed his eyes on the back of the Middle-Aged Man's neck. His eyes reddened as he roared:

"Die!!!"

The next instant, a frigid blade-light swept past his neck like a streak of silk!

Sizzle!!!

Black smoke erupted and boiled forth as a head the size of a dipper shot into the sky.

Like snow beneath the blazing sun, the Middle-Aged Man's headless body immediately melted into a heap of human skin, collapsing limply to the ground.

Only after confirming again and again that the human skin could no longer move did Chen Yan finally let out a long breath.

"It's finally dead..."

Clang!

The woodcutter's knife fell to the ground. Chen Yan flopped backward without a shred of dignity, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air. Every breath tugged at the stabbing pain in his chest.

Sweat drenched his entire body, making Chen Yan look as though he had just been fished out of water. Steam rose from his head in wisps of white vapor.

"Meow~"

At that moment, the Black Cat gave a soft cry and came to Chen Yan's side, licking his injured middle finger.

Having caught his breath, Chen Yan propped himself halfway up and reached out to scratch the Black Cat's head, unable to stop himself from praising it.

"Little fellow, you deserve the greatest credit!"

As he spoke, a lingering fear flashed through Chen Yan's eyes.

If the Black Cat had not saved its master at the crucial moment, it was still uncertain whether he would have lived or died in this battle.

Thinking of how he had ultimately killed the human skin with middle-finger blood, Chen Yan could not help but feel puzzled.

Could Black Cats and middle-finger blood truly ward off evil?

Nearby, the Black Cat crouched on all fours, stretching out its head and squinting its eyes as it blissfully enjoyed Chen Yan's scratching.

Unable to think of an answer after pondering for a long while, Chen Yan saw the Black Cat's blissful expression and could not help but laugh.

"Since fate has brought us together, this will be your home from now on."

He had not originally intended to adopt the Black Cat. But such a spiritual Black Cat that protected its master and could ward off evil—Chen Yan would find it hard not to keep it.

"I can't keep calling you Black Cat, can I? Hmm... they say cats bring wealth and dogs bring fortune. From today onward, I'll call you Facai."

"What do you think, Facai?"

Chen Yan smiled as he spoke, scratching Facai beneath the neck.

"Meow~"

Facai raised its neck and meowed as though in pleasure.

"Mm, I'll take that as your agreement."

Chen Yan nodded on its behalf, then turned his gaze toward the human skin nearby, his eyes thoughtful.

By now, Chen Yan had guessed that this human skin was the culprit behind Shanxi Town's several recent cases of entire families being slaughtered.

An ordinary person facing this human skin would have only one road to death, even if he were a burly brute built like a tower.

Had luck not been on his side, Chen Yan himself would nearly have become bloody food in the human skin's mouth.

What Chen Yan was considering was this: now that the human skin was dead, could he take it to the yamen and claim the reward? But for the moment, he had no good way to explain how he had dealt with it. He could not possibly reveal that his blood had been replaced overnight, could he?

Others might be easy enough to fool, but Constable Zhao Gang, who knew him inside and out, would definitely spot the suspicious details.

Looks like I can't exchange it for the reward after all...

Chen Yan thought regretfully. Then his consciousness sank, entering the void space.

Since this human skin was the culprit, killing it counted as eliminating evil for the people. There was no reason he should not receive merit, right?

In the center of the space, the snow-white, jade-like Heavenly Book of Merit opened.

On its title page, two new lines of tiny Cloud Seal Script slowly appeared.

In the spring of the Thirteenth Year of Chengping, killed one Skin-Peeling Puppet, eliminating evil for the people. Blessings find their rightful home; gained one hundred merit;

Upon reaching one hundred merit, may obtain Minor Fortune of Great Luck.