With everything ready, just as Qin Feng was about to carry out this sacred mission, something flashed through his mind like lightning.
It was [Item Affinity]!
This passive ability activated at that moment, and his thoughts instantly became incredibly clear and expansive.
Simply using something of pure yang nature seemed insufficiently "devious."
...Mm... not safe enough, and even less... lethal.
His gaze swept rapidly across the cramped bathroom before finally settling on the sink.
There sat a cheap bottle of Fengyoujing, less than half used. The moment he opened the cap, a pungent, mind-clearing smell with incredible penetrating power spread through the air.
A brilliant—one could even say vicious—idea took shape in his mind.
Urban legends feared pure yang energy and loathed irritating smells.
So what if... he combined the two?
The corners of Qin Feng's mouth rose uncontrollably, forming a wickedly amused smile worthy of an "evil cultivator."
Without further hesitation, he unscrewed the cap and added the extra ingredient!
He poured the entire bottle of Fengyoujing inside, then gently shook the bottle to thoroughly mix the two.
The next second, an indescribable compound scent blending mint, camphor, and the essence of life erupted like a chemical weapon!
The smell seemed to turn into countless invisible ice needles, crazily stabbing into his nostrils and shooting straight to the top of his skull. Even Qin Feng saw stars from the fumes and nearly toppled over.
"Damn... that really hits hard!"
"Perfect." Enduring the discomfort, he screwed the cap back on with satisfaction and carefully hid this enhanced bottle of "special concoction" behind his back.
When he pushed open the bathroom door, the oppressive atmosphere in the living room had grown even heavier.
Liu Yan stood by the bedroom door, staring at him without moving. The impatience on her pale face was no longer concealed, and the malice in her eyes was nearly tangible, like a cold venomous snake.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Sister Liu." Qin Feng immediately put on his harmless, socially anxious expression and walked over with his head lowered.
"Hurry up. Stop dawdling." Liu Yan's voice sharpened as she urged him to move the bed.
Qin Feng walked to the bedside, bent down, and grabbed the bedframe with both hands, pretending to exert himself.
Just as every muscle in his body tensed and the veins in his arms bulged, his "foot slipped," and he staggered forward.
Clatter!
His phone flew from his pocket, bounced once on the floor, and—its screen flickering—slid with uncanny precision, as though drawn by a magnet, into the deepest darkness beneath the bed.
"Oh no, my phone!" Qin Feng straightened with an annoyed look, his frustration carrying just the right amount of panic.
He turned to Liu Yan and said awkwardly, "Sister Liu, my phone fell under the bed. I need to crawl down there and get it."
In that instant, every trace of impatience and agitation vanished from Liu Yan's face.
In its place appeared an extremely eerie, triumphant smile.
Her lips split into an inhuman curve, and her eyes locked tightly onto Qin Feng. It was the anticipation and greed of a hunter watching prey finally step into its trap.
She did not even speak. She merely nodded stiffly, with exaggerated force.
Just what I wanted.
Qin Feng sneered inwardly, though his face still wore an anxious expression.
He lay down and pushed half his body beneath the bed, reaching for the phone with one hand and creating the illusion of searching for it.
"Where is it... Why can't I reach it..." he muttered, drawing Liu Yan's attention.
Meanwhile, in her blind spot, the hand hidden behind his back silently unscrewed the cap of the "specially prepared divine water."
Through the perception of the [Spirit Touch Realm], a sticky, writhing mass of darkness crouched in the deepest corner beneath the bed like a hunting spider.
Countless resentful, venomous eyes seemed to open and close within that darkness, radiating bone-chilling malice.
It was waiting—waiting for Qin Feng to meet its gaze, waiting for Qin Feng to reveal that flicker of fear that would trigger its rule.
Now!
A ruthless glint flashed through Qin Feng's eyes. The muscles in his arm abruptly tensed, his wrist shot out like a serpent, and the tilted bottle poured out the "divine water" that contained all his malice in a stream of emerald liquid, striking its target without error!
Sizzle—!!!
A shriek so piercing it barely sounded human, as though a soul were being burned by strong acid, erupted from beneath the bed!
The mass of shadow violently boiled and evaporated, producing a sizzling sound like strong acid corroding flesh. Thick black smoke mixed with a burnt smell and the pungent scent of Fengyoujing billowed out, nauseatingly foul as it instantly filled the entire room!
"Ah—!" Liu Yan, standing beside the bed, screamed at the same time, as though struck by an invisible bolt of electricity. Her entire body convulsed violently.
Her eyes rolled back, and she fell straight backward.
The connection between her and the urban legend had been brutally weakened by that doctored "divine water"!
However, the Thing Under the Bed had not been completely destroyed.
The pure yang energy had severely injured it, but the indiscriminately penetrating irritation of the Fengyoujing was more like tossing a match into a powder keg, completely igniting its savagery!
It was enraged!
A twisted, inhuman shadow shot out from beneath the bed, ignoring Qin Feng and lunging straight at Liu Yan, who lay unconscious on the floor!
It wanted to complete the final "replacement"!
To completely take over this body it had become so familiar with!
"Trying to run?" Qin Feng's cold voice rang through the room. He flipped to his feet as the scissors tattoo on his right arm sent a branding-iron pain through him.
With a thought, the [Scissors of Truth] appeared in his hand!
He did not attack the illusory shadow. Instead, he fixed his eyes on Liu Yan's shadow cast across the floor, which had turned pitch-black and distorted as the shadow merged into it!
The instant the black shadow was about to completely overlap with Liu Yan's shadow, Qin Feng's gaze sharpened. He crouched like a leopard, and the enormous scissors in his hand became a flash of cold light. Without the slightest hesitation, he viciously "nailed" them down at a tricky angle!
Squelch!
There was no sound of scissors piercing flesh. Instead, it felt more like cutting a taut, invisible thread connecting two worlds!
The tip of the giant scissors precisely pinned down the heart of Liu Yan's shadow, forcibly peeling it away from the black shadow that was frantically merging into it!
"Gah—!" The black shadow let out a wail filled with despair and unwillingness.
Under the conceptual power of the [Scissors of Truth] to "sever falsehood," its illusory body could no longer hold itself together. Like snow under the blazing sun, it melted away inch by inch before finally turning into a few wisps of green smoke and vanishing completely.
[Sin Cleansing Successful!] [Target: The Thing Under the Bed (E-rank)] [Sin Points: 15] [Cleansing Rating: S (Perfect resolution, core rule shattered, innovative item application)] [Double reward triggered, calculating...] [Final Cleansing Points obtained: 30.] [Total Cleansing Points: 50] [Extracting target's core concept... Extraction failed]
Qin Feng had just breathed a sigh of relief, before he could even regret the failed extraction, when he heard an explosive boom.
Boom—!!
With a deafening blast, the apartment's thick security door was struck head-on as though by a battering ram, and the entire doorframe exploded inward!
The security door and part of the wall crashed to the ground together.
Several armed personnel dressed in jet-black combat uniforms and wearing tactical goggles stormed inside in a standard tactical formation.
The guns in their hands were strangely designed and glimmered with a faint blue radiance. They were clearly no ordinary weapons.
Leading them was that tall woman whose combat uniform could not conceal her astonishing curves.
Shen Bingyue.
Her gaze, sharp as a blade, instantly locked onto Qin Feng—the only person still standing in the room, with an exaggerated pair of giant scissors still in his hand. When she saw the unconscious Liu Yan on the floor, the look in her beautiful eyes abruptly turned glacially cold.
She raised the specially made pistol in her hand, glowing with faint blue spiritual energy, and aimed it precisely at Qin Feng's forehead.
"Don't move!"
"Special Cases Department business!"
Before you continue