Shadow Dweller

At night, the teaching building was deep and silent, with only the hanging emergency exit signs still glowing green.

Lin Yue stood at the door of Classroom 404, torn with indecision.

Though she knew it might be a trap, she had still come.

After browsing the forum, Lin Yue discovered that Shadow Dweller was already the easiest Legend for newcomers to control, especially suitable for Transcendents like her whose first Legend had no combat power at all.

If she let this opportunity slip by, finding another similar Legend would be nothing but wishful thinking.

Lin Yue took out her phone to check the time. It was 11:41 p.m.

Only four minutes remained until Shadow Dweller appeared.

Because this Legend was so common, the official account actually had instructions on how to control it.

Even lv.1 accounts could browse them for free.

Imitation.

Shadow Dweller would burrow into the shadow of the first human it saw.

At that point, Lin Yue's shadow would gain its own consciousness. All she had to do was imitate the shadow's movements, with an error margin of no more than half a second.

Once she made a mistake, it would control the shadows and twist the controller's head off.

"I can do this." Lin Yue muttered, trying to convince herself.

She had several years of dance experience. As long as she calmed down and didn't make any mistakes...

"You seem nervous?"

A pleasant voice sounded beside Lin Yue's ear.

She abruptly turned her head. The black-haired girl was leaning against the wall, silently watching her.

"Chen Xi?" Lin Yue's heart leaped into her throat.

Why was she here?!

"Are you that Director?" Lin Yue secretly took a step back.

"No." Chen Xi shook her head. "I..."

The girl hesitated before saying, "You only need to know that I'm here to help you."

Chen Xi played with a lock of hair beside her ear and glanced into the pitch-black classroom.

Lin Yue stared at her warily and asked timidly, "Why should I trust you?"

Chen Xi glanced at her and sneered. "Actually, I don't need your trust."

"This is my one-sided help. You have no right to refuse."

"Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't need to make things this complicated."

"You!" Lin Yue found her utterly unreasonable, yet had no grounds to argue.

Chen Xi really could kill her in an instant.

The blonde girl simply closed her eyes, deciding that what she didn't see couldn't bother her.

Everything is going according to plan...

Seeing Lin Yue silently endure it, Chen Xi knew that more than half of her plan had succeeded.

The two remained in that strange atmosphere, neither saying a word.

The time had come.

Lin Yue pushed open the classroom door and slowly walked inside.

In the corner, beneath the moonlight, shadows gathered and gradually took shape.

Tall, short, fat, thin—the shadow shifted endlessly like hot oil in a wok, changing its form until it noticed Lin Yue standing at the door.

The shadow surged toward Lin Yue like a tide. When Lin Yue quickly ran out of the classroom, she discovered that her own shadow had already been transformed.

"It's started."

Instead, her heart calmed down. She glanced at Chen Xi, who was yawning, and chose to ignore her.

Lin Yue watched the shadow with a composed expression. It paced one moment and leaped the next. The blonde girl followed its dance steps, dancing gracefully beneath the pure moonlight.

A minute later, sweat had already beaded on the girl's forehead.

Something was wrong with this Shadow Dweller.

A normal control ritual only required simple movements. There was no need to perform such complicated dance steps.

On top of that, she had to complete every corresponding movement within half a second. It was an enormous drain on both her focus and stamina.

Fortunately, the control ritual only needed to last three minutes.

Time passed in a flash, and Chen Xi, who had been timing it from the side, gave a timely reminder.

"Twenty seconds left."

A thunderous muffled bang came from the stairwell behind them. Chen Xi's eyes lit up.

It's coming. The script that belongs to me.

She had originally worried that the Stitch Monster would refuse to come out, in which case she would have had to alter her plan on the spot.

But now, there was no need...

"Thirteen seconds."

Reeking of rot, a mountain-like Stitch Monster emerged from the stairwell. Several unrecognizable human faces were embedded in its bloated, greasy belly.

Lin Yue happened to spin around and saw the horrifying sight.

Fortunately, her willpower far surpassed that of ordinary people. She only stumbled once before continuing to follow Shadow Dweller's movements.

"Don't worry, I've got this." Chen Xi's words were like a highly effective sedative, inexplicably calming Lin Yue down.

"Thank you." She found a moment to reply before throwing herself fully into the dance.

After comforting Lin Yue, Chen Xi immediately raised her arms into a defensive stance.

With just one look, she judged the massive gap between their strength.

She couldn't beat it.

The opponent might even already be a Second Rank Legend, while she had yet to advance in Rank even once.

Without hesitation, Chen Xi transformed directly into a Succubus and activated Berserk mode. She felt as if all the blood in her body had begun to burn.

"Ten seconds." Lin Yue spun back around and clearly saw the two facing off.

The moment her words fell, the Stitched Monster launched its attack.

It targeted Chen Xi and threw a heavy, devastating punch.

Watching that fist draw closer and closer, Chen Xi inwardly cursed.

Too fast. I can't dodge it.

Who knew something that fat could be so agile?

Facing the wind, Chen Xi threw a punch in return.

The instant their fists collided, the sound of bones shattering rang out.

The black-haired girl's right arm became a bloody mess, several broken fingers splaying open like blooming flowers.

Bone-deep pain instantly spread through her entire body. Chen Xi let out a muffled groan, unable to remain standing as she collapsed beside the wall.

Before she could catch her breath, the Stitch Monster launched another attack.

That punch went straight through Chen Xi's chest.

Three seconds.

Watching the bloody scene, Lin Yue's breathing nearly stopped.

"I'm going to die..." Chen Xi looked toward Lin Yue, her face full of relief and release.

The next second, the Stitch Monster smashed her head with its clasped fists, bursting it like an overripe watermelon.

The dance was over, and the backlash from controlling Shadow Dweller began eroding Lin Yue's mind.

She could only watch helplessly as the Stitch Monster, its hands drenched in blood, walked toward her step by step.

Why did you help me...

She didn't understand.

The Stitch Monster effortlessly twisted Lin Yue's neck.

She activated her ability to regress time.

In the classroom, the lecturer had just announced the end of class when the friend sitting beside Lin Yue immediately began chatting.

"Xiaoyue, what are we eating tonight? Cafeteria, or are we going out for a proper meal?" Ye Min struggled to suppress the excitement in her heart.

It was Friday, and they had no more classes afterward.

Lin Yue fell silent for a while, clearly not yet recovered from what had just happened.

If she couldn't faintly sense the shadow beneath her feet moving at her will, she would have thought she was having a daydream.

She rubbed her forehead. "...I have something to do tonight. Xiaomin, you should head back first. We can go out for a nice meal another time."

The impact of seeing Chen Xi's head brutally smashed apart was simply too great.

Compared to that, her own death had been far easier.

"Alright, then I'll go first." Ye Min was somewhat disappointed, but she still packed up her things and left the classroom.

Lin Yue inconspicuously turned back to look toward Chen Xi's seat.

The other girl was intently packing her backpack, completely unaware of Lin Yue's gaze.

Lin Yue deliberately stood and left the classroom, keeping her eyes on the glass corridor from the corner of her vision.

Sure enough, Chen Xi, who had been sitting in her seat moments ago, had already caught up.