First Encounter

Getting back to Wang Yizhi, after entering her cousin's house, she couldn't help but feel uneasy because of everything Zhang Chen had told her. However, she didn't share this unease with her cousin, keeping it to herself. She sat alone in her bedroom, reading a book, and recalled the feeling of cold stillness when she had placed her hand on Zhang Chen's chest on the road earlier.

"Wang Yizhi, are you afraid of him?" Wang Yizhi thought to herself, doodling circles on a notebook with a pen. Then, she scribbled furiously over the notebook.

Next, Wang Yizhi flipped her right pinky finger back and forth, examining it closely, but couldn't find any trace of abnormality.

"If I really only have nine days left to live, what should I do? Should I go to the city to buy clothes, or go to the beach to see the sea, or go play with my classmates on Tie Feng Mountain? What am I thinking about? Didn't Zhang Chen say everything would be alright?" Wang Yizhi didn't seem to have fully accepted this as reality yet, finding it hard to come to terms with everything, especially given how little time she had. Anyone else would have felt the same.

"Sigh, what's wrong with me? I don't even feel like reading anymore. Maybe I should call him; he should still be on his way." As she said this, Wang Yizhi took out her phone and dialed Zhang Chen's number.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chen was squatting by the bed, thinking about the matters concerning his sister.

"Beep beep beep~~~~" Since the window wasn't closed today, the familiar Ruojia ringtone reached Wang Yizhi's ears from outside the window.

"Is he outside?" Wang Yizhi immediately stood up and walked towards the window.

At the same time, startled by the ringtone, Zhang Chen stood up and moved further away from the window, preparing to answer Wang Yizhi's call.

"What's wrong, Yizhi? Did something happen at home?" Zhang Chen hadn't received a call or text from Wang Yizhi in a long time. After all, Wang Yizhi was recognized as the top student in her class; studying was the most important thing for her, and what she should be doing.

Zhang Chen was also a bit nervous upon receiving the call, afraid that something had genuinely happened to Wang Yizhi. However, he hadn't sensed any sound or dangerous aura outside just now.

"Nothing's wrong, you idiot. I was just checking if you got home," Wang Yizhi's gentle voice came through.

"Whoa, I didn't expect the top student Wang to have moments when she doesn't want to study," Zhang Chen said with a sigh of relief and a smile.

"Don't call me that, it sounds awful. Zhang Chen, turn your head around," Wang Yizhi said.

"I'm riding my bike, it's dangerous to turn my head," Zhang Chen said, feigning composure as he turned his head.

As soon as he turned his head, Zhang Chen froze. The curtains in Wang Yizhi's bedroom, which had been closed, were now open, and standing by the window was none other than Wang Yizhi herself.

"Zhang Chen, you said you wouldn't lie to me. Why didn't you come home?" Wang Yizhi's voice suddenly became serious, with a hint of anger.

"I... because..." Zhang Chen couldn't react in time, and the words he was about to say got stuck in his throat.

"You were here all last night, weren't you? And when you called me before bed, you were here opposite me? Don't lie to me anymore," Wang Yizhi said.

"I was just worried. I know there's something wrong with this house, but I didn't know where to take you if I brought you out, so I..." Zhang Chen blurted out everything he had been holding back.

"You... sob sob sob" The usually stern Wang Yizhi suddenly burst into tears.

Seeing this, Zhang Chen rushed to the outside of the window and stared at the four nailed corners of the protective railing. With a "bang," Zhang Chen directly tore off the large protective railing, jumped in, and hugged Wang Yizhi.

"Okay, okay," Zhang Chen, encountering this situation for the first time, didn't know what else to do but hold Wang Yizhi tightly. Looking at Wang Yizhi, who was still sobbing in his arms, Zhang Chen felt a pang of distress.

However, just as Wang Yizhi, held in Zhang Chen's arms, slowly stopped sobbing, an extremely unsettling aura swept over Zhang Chen's entire body. It was completely different from the feeling he had when he visited Xie Wen's house yesterday – it wasn't torment, nor hatred, nor a bloodlust. It was a feeling, and to describe it with an object, it was like a knife. At that moment, Zhang Chen felt as if a knife was being held to his neck.

Suddenly, with a "crack," the door, which Wang Yizhi had locked, was opened. Zhang Chen immediately held Wang Yizhi tightly, protecting her. A gust of wind blew, and long gashes appeared on Zhang Chen's left cheek, waist, and left leg, causing him to bleed profusely.

Zhang Chen gently pushed the still-shocked Wang Yizhi out the window and said, "Yizhi, hurry and run out. Wait for me at the entrance of Anxin Bridge. I'll be right there." As soon as he finished speaking, another gash appeared on Zhang Chen's left arm, and bright red blood flowed from the wound.

"Ah!" Wang Yizhi, whom Zhang Chen had pushed out, cried out upon seeing this.

"Hurry and go! I'll be fine. Wait for me at the entrance of Anxin Bridge. Here are the bicycle keys." Zhang Chen immediately shouted, then took the keys from his pocket and threw them.

Wang Yizhi was jolted back from her shock by Zhang Chen's shout. After catching the keys, she nodded, biting her lower lip, her eyes filled with worry and reluctance as she looked at Zhang Chen. However, seeing the reassuring look in his eyes, she knew she would only be a burden to Zhang Chen if she stayed. Gritting her teeth, she left.

Watching Wang Yizhi leave, Zhang Chen felt a wave of relief. He feared nothing, not even King Yama himself standing before him. However, he was terrified of implicating Wang Yizhi; her getting hurt was touching Zhang Chen's absolute limit, something he would never allow to happen.

Zhang Chen turned around. The wounds on his body were merely superficial. Recalling the situation at the time, Zhang Chen couldn't help but feel uneasy, and goosebumps broke out all over him. When the door opened, Zhang Chen saw a human-shaped anomaly covered entirely in red fingernails. Its belly, face, mouth, its entire body was covered in nails. Anyone with trypophobia would have fainted on the spot.

After entering, the nail-covered person merged into the room's wall. Long, red fingernails began to sprout from various parts of the room, reaching towards Zhang Chen. If not for his telekinesis, the three wounds he sustained would have been far more severe.

Zhang Chen turned around. This was no longer Wang Yizhi's room. Except for the spot where Zhang Chen stood, dense, long fingernails of varying lengths – some only 1 centimeter, others nearly a meter long – had sprouted not only from the walls but also from the wardrobe, bed, chandelier, and dressing table. However, these nails were now like inanimate objects, not moving towards Zhang Chen as they had before.

"Creak~~~~~~" A sound resembling bone growth echoed from behind Zhang Chen. Turning around, he saw that the window was also covered in nails, sealing him in tightly.

"Why doesn't this guy just kill me? Instead, he's trapping me here? Is it because he can't kill, or for some other reason?" Zhang Chen grabbed a relatively long nail that had grown from the floor and pulled it with force. With a "splat," the nail, as if it had grown from the floor, was pulled out, its root still attached to flesh and blood, and the spot where it was removed was bleeding.

"These nails are so hard. If they were all shot at me at once, wouldn't I be doomed? In this situation, where can I find its true form?" Just as Zhang Chen finished thinking, several sharp spikes shot towards him.

"It's over, I can't dodge." Zhang Chen managed to dodge the first three nails, but the subsequent ones were too numerous. First, four nails pierced his right palm, then his left hand, and then both feet, pinning him tightly to the nail-covered window behind him.

Zhang Chen remained calm. The nails that had shot at him earlier were not aimed at his vital points. If he had used his telekinesis then, he didn't know how many more would have shot at him later. Once he reached his limit, he would truly be trapped like a turtle in a jar. He also had the ability of his mouth, which he wasn't planning to use until he saw the opponent's true form.

"Ah, it hurts so much! Damn it, I probably look like Jesus right now, maybe even worse." Zhang Chen looked at the pierced areas, which were continuously bleeding. "The only move I can think of right now is to pretend to be unable to resist, hoping to lure out its true form."

"It took the bait." Zhang Chen saw the nails in front of him begin to decompose one by one, falling to the ground in small pieces, and slowly wriggling towards the spot where the nail-covered person had disappeared. Soon, they reassembled into the exact same nail-covered person as before.

This time, Zhang Chen could see clearly. The only part of the person not covered in nails was their eyes. These eyes were now staring intently at Zhang Chen. After a moment, they showed an expression of extreme excitement, and the person walked towards Zhang Chen step by step, the nails on the soles of their feet scraping against the floor with a "creak, creak" sound that made Zhang Chen deeply uncomfortable.

Finally, the thing reached Zhang Chen and opened its mouth, seemingly wanting to say something. However, Zhang Chen saw that its tongue and mouth were covered in nails, yet it was continuously secreting saliva. He even forgot the pain from his wounds.

"Holy crap, such a disgusting thing. Anyone else would be disgusted to death just seeing it. And I find it so delicious, more fragrant than ten servings of offal noodles with extra seasoning!" Zhang Chen thought.

At this moment, the nail-covered person spat out a small, red worm that looked like a fingernail from its mouth. The worm seemed very excited upon spotting Zhang Chen, appearing eager to come into contact with him. However, the nail-covered person pinched the worm and slowly attempted to place it into Zhang Chen's ear.

Zhang Chen moved. With his telekinesis fully activated, the dozens of nails pinning his hands and feet were instantly broken (it would have been bad if he had caused severe bleeding by forcefully pulling them out).

The nail-covered person in front of him seemed unfazed, as if everything was within its calculations. As Zhang Chen, who had just landed, looked up, he saw dozens more nails shoot out from the nail-covered person.

Zhang Chen didn't panic; instead, he smiled slightly. "Ah!" a roar erupted from Zhang Chen's mouth, and his mouth opened wide, so wide it could have swallowed a person. All the nails flying towards him flew into Zhang Chen's mouth without making a sound, as if falling into an abyss.

The nail-covered person opposite him clearly hadn't expected this. Just as it was about to retreat, Zhang Chen bit down, swallowing the nail-covered person's head and upper body in one go.

"It's still not dead?" Zhang Chen was shocked because he saw the remaining half of the body merge into the ground, and the nail-covered window behind him remained intact.

However, this guy seemed to have gotten angry. Fingernails grew from where it had disappeared moments ago, extending along Zhang Chen's path (similar to the Zerg creep in StarCraft).

"Run!" Zhang Chen knew this guy wouldn't hold back this time, and the same trick couldn't be used twice on the same person, not even ghosts. Zhang Chen first used Telekinesis, but the fingernails filling the window only bent slightly; they couldn't be moved at all.

"Damn it!" Zhang Chen cursed, then lunged directly at the fingernails, opening his mouth wide to bite a large hole before landing outside the house.

Zhang Chen turned around and watched the remaining fingernails on the window slowly gather together. It was the fingernail man, who was now looking at him. He then gave a very strange smile before turning and leaving, seemingly no longer intending to pursue Zhang Chen.

"Why didn't this guy kill me?" Zhang Chen wondered. Suddenly, Zhang Chen's expression changed drastically. "Could it be..."

Ignoring the fingernails impaling him and the flowing blood, Zhang Chen ran towards Anxin Bridge with all his might.