Sexual Deviant Serial Killer

Late at night, the bright lamp hanging over the now-chaotic wooden table swayed faintly.

Tang Qi held tools in both hands, bent over the desk as he carried out meticulous work.

Whether it was because he had become a supernatural being or because of the Chaga Combat Technique's enhancement, the recovery speed of Tang Qi's arm was astonishing.

Although it was still not as nimble as his other hand, it no longer hindered basic gripping motions.

Beside him lay two books. One was the "Firearms Repair Guide: Bullet Chapter," and the other was the "Compendium of Exorcism Items."

The former had been a free gift with the toolbox, while the latter was the previous owner's personal collection—a common-knowledge book popular a century ago, now regarded as a book of superstition.

To Tang Qi, both were useful now.

After unsealing Blood Python No. 1, Tang Qi had seen two Information Fragments.

One told Tang Qi of Blood Python No. 1's origins.

The other told him that this supernatural pistol currently possessed only the two basic attributes of explosive force and armor-piercing, but its power could be enhanced by modifying different Supernatural Bullets.

Tang Qi had spent most of the night busy with precisely this.

He had bought a pile of Weird and Wonderful exorcism items, combined them in various ways, and stuffed them into those gleaming brass bullets.

There was little danger involved, but the process was tedious, demanding both physical effort and concentration.

For instance, the combination Tang Qi was testing at this very moment.

Using tweezers, Tang Qi slowly picked up a red flower seed only slightly larger than a grain of rice. He carefully placed it into a small bowl beside him and rolled it around a few times. Once the seed was coated in silver filings, he picked it out and cautiously placed it into a bullet casing that had been soaked in holy water.

Then came the second seed, the third, the fourth... After filling it with six seeds, Tang Qi stopped.

He reassembled the casing, and a click sounded.

Another complete bullet now lay on the table.

Buzz.

As his gaze swept over it, the anticipation in Tang Qi's eyes immediately vanished.

He had added many things. Holy water and silver aside, Rouge Flower Seed was not only a widely used spice around the world, but also one of the most famous exorcism materials of the ancient Maya Empire.

Unfortunately, this combination still ended in failure.

"This was the last combination. It seems my method is wrong."

"Do I have no choice but to use that?"

Tang Qi tossed down his tools and looked at the project before him, which had consumed over an hour and yielded nothing.

Finally, his gaze settled on his own wrist.

After hesitating for only a second, Tang Qi rose at once, fetched a clean knife, found the right spot, and slashed his wrist. A red line immediately appeared across his fair skin, and fresh crimson blood began to flow.

Not a single drop was wasted; all of it dripped into the small bowl on the table.

When there was enough blood in the bowl, Tang Qi promptly stopped the bleeding.

After hastily wrapping the wound, Tang Qi picked up the tweezers again. He gripped a clean bullet, without adding any combination of materials, and dropped it directly into the bowl full of blood.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but before even a second had passed, the instant the bullet was submerged in blood, a faint golden glow flashed.

Tang Qi moved with incredible speed. As an afterimage swept past, the bullet had already been picked out.

The blood coating the bullet should have gathered and dripped away in midair. Yet under Tang Qi's gaze, the blood seemed to slowly melt into the bullet itself, not a single thread falling.

In just one breath, the bullet had returned to its gleaming brass color.

But upon closer inspection, one could see a faint sun-like emblem at the tip of the bullet.

The Special Interface finally appeared before Tang Qi's eyes.

Curio: Furnace Bullet.

Attributes: Evil-breaking, Burning.

Information Fragment: A bullet soaked in Supernatural Blood has gained a trace of Furnace Power. It has transformed from an ordinary object into something supernatural and possesses the attributes of evil-breaking and burning.

"This... worked?"

Tang Qi stared blankly at the Supernatural Bullet before him. An hour of complicated work had yielded nothing.

Yet one slash to the wrist had immediately produced a Supernatural Bullet?

As if sensing something, Tang Qi looked toward the small bowl of blood again.

Sure enough, another Special Interface appeared.

Curio: Supernatural Blood.

Information Fragment: This is a bowl of supernatural blood containing Furnace Power. It can be used in many ways.

"So the key to modifying bullets is that supernatural materials must be used for ordinary bullets to transform?"

Clink~ clink clink.

As soon as that thought surfaced, Tang Qi directly tossed seven or eight bullets into the small bowl in succession, then picked them out one by one.

Nine bullets were lined up across the table, every one of them transformed into a Furnace Bullet.

But when Tang Qi tried to toss in the tenth bullet, he discovered that the small bowl was already empty.

A bowl of blood in exchange for nine Supernatural Bullets.

Tang Qi did not think the price was too high. He was merely speechless.

If he could not find another method, Tang Qi felt he might remain anemic for a long time in the future.

"Still, it's not entirely bad. At least I understand one rule: only supernatural materials can create Supernatural Mystical Items."

"There are no shortcuts."

Knock, knock, knock.

Just as Tang Qi was summarizing his findings, a hurried knock suddenly reached his ears.

Hm?

At this hour, someone was looking for him?

Tang Qi immediately rose in alarm, swiftly pocketed the nine Furnace Bullets, then pulled over a large piece of burlap and covered the items on the table.

Only then did he approach the door. Looking through the peephole, he saw a beautiful and somewhat familiar face he had seen during the day.

"Chief Inspector Stana, what brings you here so late?"

Tang Qi opened the door with one hand while rubbing his eyes with the other, pretending to be exhausted yet forcing himself to stay awake as he asked in confusion.

Fortunately, he had been working in his pajamas all along, so his performance was flawless.

But Stana had no attention to spare for any of that. Compared with the daytime, she was completely different now.

Her body was spattered with blood of unknown origin, as if she had just fought some terrifying opponent and experienced something unimaginable. Shock and disbelief still lingered on her face, and her mind had clearly suffered a severe blow.

If not for the unforgettable sharpness that still remained in her eyes, Tang Qi would have suspected that this dashing Police Chief had been replaced.

After Tang Qi invited her inside, Stana neither sat down nor drank the rich coffee he brought her.

She took a deep breath, then stared straight at Tang Qi and said word by word, "Kid, did you know from the beginning that it was a monster? I want you to tell me everything."

Tang Qi froze at her words. Before he could ask what had happened—

Stana spoke first, her tone rapid and urgent. "Your earlier warning was right. That monster—the murderer—I don't know what it was. In any case, we followed the clues you gave us and examined those four seashells. They did indeed come from the Aegean Sea, but there is no channel in Messer City to obtain them."

"Unless some aristocrats or wealthy people had specifically ordered someone to transport them from the Aegean Sea, but we checked that too. No one had done so."

"So we quickly found the only possible source. The Europa Alliance and the Federation had conducted a student exchange, and one group of students from the Anglo States had come to Messer City. They were staying at the International Dormitory near St. Thorn High School."

"The suspect was also a high school student. After we caught him, he admitted that he was a Sexual Deviant Serial Killer who enjoyed skinning young girls alive."

"Everything was fine at first, but just as we were about to take him back to the station, a terrible accident occurred."

"That man suddenly turned into a monster. Scales grew over his body, his lower half turned into a tail, and his head looked like it had been soaked in water for a long time—swollen and rotten, greasy and hideous. Most unimaginable of all, it wore four human skins over its body, belonging to the four murdered girls."

"My subordinates were so frightened that they opened fire. After they shattered the first human skin on its body, the monster let out a furious howl. Several officers standing too close were killed. Their heads suddenly exploded, and before we could react, the monster escaped."

"I'm going to kill that monster. I will kill it."

"Now, tell me everything you know. All of it. Every last thing! Tell! Me!"

As she uttered those final words, Stana abruptly regained the mature, sharp presence she had displayed during the day.

If Tang Qi had not faintly sensed danger—if he had not had the premonition that this regal Police Chief would beat him up on the spot if he failed to give her a satisfactory answer—he might have had the leisure to admire her properly.

"Chief Inspector Stana, you..."

"Not good!"

Tang Qi had barely gotten half a sentence out when an overwhelming premonition of danger surged through him. The exposed skin all over his body prickled as though pierced by needles.

The sudden change made Tang Qi's expression shift drastically. Like a leopard, he lunged forward, grabbed Chief Inspector Stana, and rolled across the floor with her, slipping beneath the wooden table beside them.

The instant he left his original position, accompanied by a terrifying howl, something like a tornado smashed through one wall of Tang Qi's house. With a boom, it blasted a huge crater exactly where Tang Qi had been standing.

Had he been half a breath slower, Tang Qi might have been nothing more than a pile of mangled flesh.