Ghost Footprints! A Face on the Back of Her Head

Ghost Footprints! A Face on the Back of Her Head

[Congratulations, you have successfully obtained the Slaughter ability. Use the butcher knife to chop meat and transmit the sound, allowing you to slaughter any humans who hear it.]

[Due to the special ability of the Time Ghost Eye, it can take effect anywhere your gaze reaches.]

[The Ghost Butcher Knife has already been devoured by you. You can use the Ghost Butcher Knife's Anomaly Ability without taking it out.] In other words, Chen Yu could now activate the Ghost Domain even without holding the butcher knife!

Once he held the knife, the Ghost Domain would become even fiercer, stacking twice over!

Streams of strange knowledge poured into Chen Yu's mind.

Chen Yu felt a sharp pain in his head. Then, the butcher knife transformed into a streak of black light and burrowed into his body.

[What a splendid game.]

[The Ghost Butcher Knife has fused into your body.]

[You can use the Ghost Butcher Knife's Anomaly Ability at any time and summon the butcher knife whenever you wish.]

[The origins of the Ghost Butcher Knife are extremely mysterious.]

[Perhaps you can try exploring the story of the Ghost Butcher Knife.]

The story of the Ghost Butcher Knife?

What exactly was behind it?

He had just witnessed with his own eyes how the Ghost Butcher Knife had appeared.

That enormous, terrifying thing was still vivid in his mind.

Since it was a Nine and a half stars anomaly, its ability should be incredibly strong, right?

The next moment, Chen Yu's thoughts stirred, and he used the Ghost Butcher Knife's Anomaly Ability!

In an instant!

The scene before him changed at once, turning black and white. The world became the negative of an old camera, while the sky was black beyond measure.

Drip...

Drip...

Ding...

Creak...

The faucet in the restroom wept alone. The dripping echoed beside Chen Yu's ears as though it were falling directly into them. The sound was deafening; he could even distinctly feel the splashes of water.

In the classroom, the whispers of several students and the noise of chairs scraping across the floor also entered Chen Yu's ears with perfect clarity.

Doors opening, leaves rustling in the wind, footsteps—he heard every single sound clearly!

Several bats flew through the sky. Their movements looked as though they had been slowed down thousands of times. Chen Yu stared at them for a long time, yet their wings only twitched ever so slightly.

He turned his head and looked toward the school building.

As long as there was somewhere in the building he wanted to see through, he could see through it instantly.

He could clearly see a male and female student doing something indecent in a dark classroom upstairs. He could see a student in the restroom struggling with constipation, his face flushed red. He could even see through every illusion!

After unfolding the Slaughter Ghost Domain.

He could smell any scent from anywhere he wished.

Yet everything was a black-and-white negative, and everything moved so slowly.

Chen Yu took a step.

He merely lifted one foot lightly.

And in an instant, he went from one end of the corridor to the other.

With a slight raise of his hand, it took less than one-thousandth of a second for his hand to rise. Chen Yu could not even see the motion of lifting it.

Was this the Slaughter Ghost Domain?

Everything had been slowed down by thousands of times!

Everything was within his sight!

So this is why that anomaly could kill me so inexplicably...

Chen Yu was utterly shocked.

Only after using this Anomaly Ability himself did he realize just how powerful that anomaly was.

Within this Anomaly Ability, Chen Yu's movements had accelerated by nearly tens of millions of times.

Meanwhile, everyone else's movements had slowed by tens of millions of times.

With one increasing and the other decreasing, wouldn't that create a speed gap of over a hundred million times?

With a speed gap of over a hundred million times, wouldn't it be effortless for an anomaly to kill him?

Now that he could use the Slaughter Ghost Domain, wouldn't killing others be just as effortless for him?!

At first, he had assumed the butcher knife's Anomaly Ability was probably killing people from afar.

Only now did he understand that it was not killing from afar at all, but an absurdly heaven-defying speed!

"Then how did the Ghost Butcher Knife chop me into eight pieces back then?!"

Chen Yu grew puzzled again.

Before him stood a chopping block stained with flesh and blood. It was covered in knife marks and looked utterly worn-down.

He focused his gaze, looked through the wall, and targeted a desk inside the classroom.

In the blink of an eye, the desk vanished. When it reappeared, it was on top of the chopping block.

It had appeared on the chopping block before him just because he looked at it once?

Chen Yu's thoughts stirred, and he instantly summoned the Ghost Butcher Knife.

As soon as the Ghost Butcher Knife appeared, the Slaughter Ghost Domain became even stronger.

Chen Yu's perception of his surroundings grew sharper!

He lightly swung the Ghost Butcher Knife.

The blade did not even touch the chair, yet it slashed out a blade aura through the air that landed on it.

Crack!

The chair was cut cleanly in two. The cross-section was extremely smooth and even!

However, after the strike, blood also flowed from Chen Yu's hand.

The Ghost Butcher Knife had no handle. The entire butcher knife was a blade, and every attack harmed its wielder.

"First time I've ever seen a knife without a handle."

Chen Yu put away the butcher knife and tried attacking the chair without using it, to see whether he could still damage it.

His deep eyes fixed on the chair.

Crack!

Sure enough, the chair he stared at instantly shattered into four pieces!

He then tried attacking the metal on the chair.

Crack!

The metal on the chair was severed as well!

"Damn... it's this powerful? No wonder it's a Nine and a half stars butcher knife!"

Chen Yu was shocked to the core.

When he used the knife, he had barely exerted any strength, yet he could cut through the chair.

How powerful would it be if he used all his strength?

Chen Yu withdrew the Ghost Domain, and everything returned to normal once more.

He glanced at the Butcher's corpse and immediately devoured it without hesitation.

The sounds of flesh tearing and bones crunching rang out endlessly.

After Chen Yu digested the Butcher's corpse, it turned into wisps of energy that first circulated around his body before finally flowing into his eyes.

[Level four Time Ghost Pupil (40%)]

"Chen Yu!"

A voice suddenly sounded behind Chen Yu, startling him. When he turned around, he saw that it was Han Ningning.

At that moment, Chen Yu's mouth was covered in blood.

There were even bits of flesh at the corners of his mouth.

When Han Ningning saw what he looked like, her pretty face changed in fright. She asked in stunned disbelief, "Y-you... what are you doing?!"

Chen Yu hurriedly took out a tissue and wiped his mouth, smiling as he said, "N-nothing. I just bit my lip and bled a little."

Fortunately, he had already finished eating the corpse. Han Ningning had nearly caught him.

Han Ningning looked at the large pool of blood on the ground.

Could biting his lip really cause that much bleeding?

Chen Yu gave a dry cough. "I took out a bottle of red ink just now, slipped and broke it, then hit my lips."

"Is that so..."

Han Ningning did not believe him at all, but she did not press the matter further. Looking around, she asked Chen Yu, "Chen Yu, why did the sound suddenly disappear?"

Chen Yu did not know how to explain it either. He could not exactly say that he had defeated the Ghost Butcher Knife using the Time Ghost Eye, could he?

He made something up. "Uh... I don't know. Maybe it left?"

"It left?"

Han Ningning's face was still full of fear and wariness. She seemed half-convinced, half-doubtful.

"Ningning! Are you okay?!"

Li Kun hurried over. As Han Ningning's number one simp, seeing how frightened she was naturally made him want to show off in front of her.

Unfortunately, Han Ningning did not even bother with him. She directly asked Chen Yu, "Did you also receive some kind of message?"

"A message?"

Chen Yu's expression changed slightly, but he quickly recovered and calmly said, "What message? No, I didn't."

It was not that he was deliberately trying to hide anything.

It was just that the internal test for the descent of the [Anomaly Era] had begun. No one could tell whether the person standing before them... was truly human or an anomaly.

Even Ghost Controllers could have their thoughts influenced by anomalies. Most people had become crazed and extreme.

Not exposing himself lightly and staying hidden in the shadows to overlook everything was the safest path.

"But... then why did you come this way? Isn't this dangerous?"

Han Ningning's tone carried a hint of concern.

The reason she acted this way was because she had received a message and wanted to ask more questions.

But to Li Kun, the meaning was completely different. Han Ningning was clearly worried about Chen Yu!

He immediately glared at Chen Yu in anger!

Chen Yu was just an ordinary student. Li Kun himself was a genuine rich and handsome young man, so why was Han Ningning worried about Chen Yu?!

How was he inferior to Chen Yu?

Chen Yu said, "I got curious after hearing the sound and wanted to check it out. I also happened to need to use the restroom."

Unable to get anything out of him, Han Ningning could only leave in confusion.

Meanwhile, Chen Yu put on an act and rushed into the men's restroom.

After she left, Han Ningning's phone suddenly vibrated.

With trembling hands, she took out her phone and looked at it.

Several lines of bloody text appeared on the screen.

[You are a lucky one.]

[Although you were targeted by an anomaly, you got incredibly lucky and escaped death.]

[The anomaly targeting you was subdued by something even more terrifying than itself.]

Han Ningning was utterly confused.

The anomaly had been subdued?

As though it had sensed her confusion, another message appeared on Han Ningning's phone.

[Do not be confused. You survived because you were lucky.]

[If that bug-level existence had not taken away the Ghost Butcher Knife, you would already be a corpse.]

After seeing those words, Han Ningning's beautiful face was filled with shock.

That being had taken away the Ghost Butcher Knife?

"Could it have been Chen Yu?"

She was baffled.

[Who would dare investigate a bug-level existence like that?]

[Perhaps you are not worthy of knowing, nor are you worthy of asking that question.]

[Even I am not qualified to understand.]

And right at that moment.

A chill wind suddenly swept past behind her.

Then, the scalp beneath the hair at the back of her head slowly began to twist.

A chilling smiling face appeared on her scalp. A series of piercing laughs, like blades scraping across glass, came from the Ghostly Smiling Face's mouth.

This anomaly was the first anomaly Han Ningning had encountered.

Ever since those words had appeared on her phone, this anomaly had clung to her.

For some reason, however, this anomaly did not take Han Ningning's life. Instead, it remained inside her body.

Han Ningning could not control it, and it could not completely control Han Ningning either. Only occasionally would Han Ningning be manipulated by the Ghostly Smiling Face and lose control of her body.

"Ningning, it looks like there's something behind your head."

Li Kun stood directly behind Han Ningning. Seeing the strange, hazy changes at the back of her head, he curiously leaned closer and focused his eyes on it.

The distance had been too great earlier, and there had been no lighting. He could only barely make out, by the moonlight, that something was wrong with the back of Han Ningning's head.

Now that he leaned in for a closer look.

The hair at the back of Han Ningning's head was blown upward by a cold wind.

The next moment!

A ghastly pale Ghostly Smiling Face squinted at Li Kun. A chilling smile hung on that horrifying face.

For some reason, when Li Kun saw that eerie smiling face,

his face was filled with terror, pale as a sheet, yet the corners of his mouth began twitching uncontrollably. He actually started slowly smiling along with the Ghostly Smiling Face!

Seeing this, Han Ningning hurriedly turned her head away and cried anxiously, "Don't look!"

This anomaly had been clinging to Han Ningning for some time.

She knew that if this anomaly wanted to kill someone, it would make them smile along with it.

Once they smiled to a certain extent, they would die!

After the Ghostly Smiling Face turned away, Li Kun finally recovered. The corners of his mouth, which had been curling upward, immediately dropped. His face filled with terror as he said, "Y-you... what's that on the back of your head? A human face!"

"I..."

Han Ningning did not know how to explain. Her fists clenched tightly, but she could not say a word.

"Hehehehe..."

A hoarse, mournful wail came from the back of Han Ningning's head.

"Ah! A ghost!"

Hearing that sound, Li Kun trembled all over and was so scared that he wet himself. How could he still care about picking up girls? He turned and ran.

[The anomaly clinging to you helped scare away a fly.]

[Why don't you thank It? Give your body to It?]

[It will grant you great power.]

Another prompt appeared. Han Ningning's hand holding her phone shook violently before she hurriedly put it away.

In a dark corner not far down the corridor,

a shadow was concealed within.

Seeing this scene, a flash of astonishment crossed his eyes, and his heart shook with shock!

Just now, he had clearly sensed that the anomaly was on Han Ningning!

Moreover, this anomaly was at least five-star!

Anomalies above five-star were extremely rare even to the Investigation Bureau!

Not only that, this anomaly had enormous room for growth and tremendous potential.

Thinking of this, he could no longer hold himself back and walked straight out of the darkness.

Han Ningning had been about to head to the classroom when the Man in Black blocked her path again. She was slightly startled, but after seeing him clearly, she said in surprise, "Uncle Luo?!"

This Man in Black was none other than Luo Mu, who had previously visited their class.

Luo Mu had found nothing during his search of the school and had originally intended to leave.

But as he was leaving through the school gate, he received a prompt on his phone.

Curious by nature, he turned back, intending to find that anomaly. Yet by a twist of fate, he witnessed this scene.

"Your phone should have received anomaly-related information, right?"

Luo Mu's gaze beneath his black robe was bright and piercing.

"I... I..."

Han Ningning's face was deathly pale, and she was nearly in tears. "Uncle, don't arrest me. I-I haven't done anything bad."

"Who said I was going to arrest you?"

Luo Mu's tone relaxed somewhat.

"You're not arresting me?"

Han Ningning froze for a moment.

In her eyes, mysterious Luo Mu had suddenly come to the school and asked whether the students' phones had shown anything unusual. He definitely had bad intentions.

After all, those of them haunted by anomalies were surely special.

They would definitely be taken away.

"You and I are the same kind of people."

Luo Mu smiled faintly, then used his Anomaly Ability.

The next moment!

Tap!

Tap!

Pitch-black footprints, as dark as an abyss, appeared on Luo Mu's body.

The footprints were as though someone had walked across him, spreading step by step over Luo Mu's entire body!

Before the shocked and bewildered Han Ningning could speak, Luo Mu explained first, "This is the anomaly I have controlled. It is called Ghost Footprints."

Han Ningning had thought she was an exception, but she had not expected Luo Mu to be the same!

As if she had found a lifeline, she said anxiously, "Uncle Luo, save me! The anomaly on me wants to kill me!"

"I know."

Luo Mu nodded. "Before you successfully control an anomaly, anomalies will take lives. The fact that you're this terrified means you still haven't controlled the anomaly on you."

After saying that, a thought crossed his mind.

The pitch-black footprints spread from Luo Mu's body onto the ground.

Tap, tap, tap!

Orderly black footprints appeared along the corridor, one step at a time.

"Although I can't help you control the anomaly, I can temporarily suppress It for you."

Luo Mu pointed at the footprints on the ground. "Step on those footprints and follow them, one step at a time."

Han Ningning hurriedly nodded. At a time like this, even if she did not trust Luo Mu, she had no choice but to do so.

Then, following Luo Mu's instructions, she stepped directly onto the Ghost Footprints.

The instant she stepped on them,

a strange sensation spread through her entire body.

The scenes before her seemed to have changed.

Before her, it was as if an old woman with a hunched back had appeared. With her back to Han Ningning, she guided her step by step through a pitch-black, grim abyss of despair, toward a path to survival.

(End of Chapter)