Probably Can't Win

The brightly lit hotel was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Why did the power go out?"

"What was that just now?"

"Damn it, I can't see anything..."

"Help me! Call the police! Help!"

Cries of alarm erupted from all around, mingled with Liu Dalong's desperate pleas for help.

Everyone hurriedly turned on their phone flashlights and shone them toward the ceiling, only to see the bizarre, multi-legged creature already dragging Liu Dalong a dozen meters away.

The monster's form looked like a patchwork of several different creatures, covered in strange, intricate patterns.

It whipped its head around, revealing a pale, human-like face that grinned wide.

Li Fan was instantly on high alert.

The Unity Society!

If this continued, Liu Dalong was surely doomed.

"Quick, go save Da Liu!" Zhang Hongbing shouted from the floor. "We had just come out of the restroom and were chatting when Da Liu was suddenly yanked up. We tried to pull him back, but that thing injured us too!"

"Call the bureau immediately! Call the police! Li Fan, Hu Zhengqi, Sun Da, you're with me! Everyone else, protect the injured!"

Wu Qian shouted, grabbing a bronze vase as he gave chase after Liu Dalong.

Li Fan had already bolted forward before Wu Qian could even finish assigning roles.

Regardless of anything else, Liu Dalong was a decent man; he couldn't just let him die.

There was no need to guess what that strange thing was.

An anomaly.

At this moment, the entire Xidelong Hotel was shrouded in darkness, with people stumbling about in a panic.

Although many had turned on their phone lights, the beams were dim and flickering, failing to illuminate anything clearly.

The four of them gave chase, but the abundance of tables and chairs in their path hindered their speed.

The creature on the ceiling, however, only grew faster. Seeing it about to slip away, the men pushed themselves to their absolute limits.

The Xidelong Hotel was massive. The creature on the ceiling dragged Liu Dalong in circles through the dark lobby before darting into a long corridor, twisting and turning through the maze-like layout.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

The lungs of Wu Qian and the other two sounded like wheezing bellows, gasping for air.

Accustomed to office work and lacking regular exercise, they were nearly spent after sprinting several hundred meters at such a frantic pace.

Li Fan, however, noticed that his stamina seemed much better than before; despite the long run, he wasn't even winded.

Liu Dalong, held captive by the monster, had stopped screaming and was now silent.

He had completely lost consciousness.

"Bang!" The monster on the ceiling smashed through a door and surged inside.

The group followed closely behind, immediately met with a wave of humid, damp air.

Then, shouts erupted from the surrounding area:

"Who's there?"

"Who came in?"

"Waiter, why isn't the power back on yet? My skin is getting pruney."

This was the men's bathhouse.

Li Fan and the others couldn't worry about the surroundings; they kept their phone lights trained on the ceiling while carefully avoiding slipping on the wet floor.

As they passed the scrubbing area, they noticed the bath attendant was still diligently scrubbing a customer in the dark.

After rushing out of the humid bathhouse, Wu Qian and the others finally couldn't run any further.

Wu Qian leaned against the wall, staggering forward while gasping for breath. "Fan, if you still have energy... keep chasing. We have to... rest for a moment... be careful... if only we'd brought... brought guns..."

"If you can't run, we'll all rest... we'll have to wait for... wait for backup..." Sun Da also leaned against the wall, panting like a tractor.

Hu Zhengqi vomited on the floor.

Clearly, they were all finished.

Li Fan glanced at the monster still retreating along the ceiling and nodded. "Director Wu, you all rest. I'll keep chasing. I'll call if anything happens."

With that, he turned and continued the pursuit.

"Fan, be careful! If you're in danger, call the police!"

Wu Qian slammed his fist against the wall in frustration.

It's good to be young; I really need to start working out more. I hope Liu Dalong is alright...

At the same time, he immediately dialed the bureau's number, continuing to request backup.

Li Fan gave chase, the surroundings remaining shrouded in darkness.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, he reached out and grabbed at the void, snagging the chain of the Tiger Pillar God. With a violent tug, the cyan spiritual form of the Tiger Pillar God was ripped from the Prison of Suppression and instantly merged into his body.

Tiger Pillar God, possess!

An endless stream of power surged from within!

Li Fan took a deep breath and leaped, his feet slamming hard against the wall. He vaulted into the air, his spiritual limbs gripping the ceiling firmly. Like the monster, he began to crawl rapidly across the ceiling, hanging upside down.

This way, there were no obstacles in his path.

Ever since capturing the Tiger Pillar God, this was the first time he had used its power so recklessly.

Besides, the power was out and everything was pitch black; Liu Dalong had passed out, and with no one around to see, he could finally cut loose.

Li Fan felt his control over his body reach an unprecedented height. Every muscle and bone could be manipulated with exquisite precision, and his mental energy was so abundant it felt like an extension of his physical form.

That overwhelming power even gave him an urge to tear into his enemy.

He understood this was an instinct inherited from the Tiger Pillar God.

This anomalous spiritual entity from the Gutuo Kingdom likely originated from the ancient Dian Kingdom people's awe and worship of mountain beasts, eventually evolving into a composite of predatory creatures.

Moreover, in the consciousness of the ancient Dian people, the Tiger Pillar God possessed other "divine powers" as well.

Hanging upside down from the ceiling, Li Fan felt every muscle come alive, his eyes glowing as he locked onto the monster ahead.

His speed was far superior to the creature's, and in the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance to less than ten meters.

The monster hadn't expected Li Fan to be so fast. The face hidden within the tentacles poked out to look at him.

It finally stopped sneering, a look of slight surprise crossing its features.

It then turned and crawled up to the second floor along the underside of the staircase.

Li Fan followed immediately. With a single bound, he reached the monster's rear, reached out, and grabbed one of its tentacles. The claws formed by his spiritual energy severed the limb on the spot.

The monster let out a roar of pain, yet it refused to let go of Liu Dalong, smashing through the second-floor window and lunging outside.

Li Fan's legs coiled and snapped, the massive explosive force launching him like a cannonball. He caught up to the monster and Liu Dalong while they were still in mid-air.

In the split second he spun through the air, Li Fan moved all four "claws," snatching the unconscious Liu Dalong from the monster's grasp while simultaneously kicking the creature in the face, using the momentum to roll aside.

Li Fan tumbled across the ground and came to a steady stop, having used his feet to cushion Liu Dalong's descent so he wouldn't hit the ground hard.

He placed the footprint-covered Liu Dalong gently on the ground and reached out to check his breathing.

Still alive.

But he was out cold and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

The nearby blocks had all lost power, and with the overcast sky, the plaza outside was pitch black.

Yet, Li Fan's eyes could pierce the darkness, seeing the monster ahead with perfect clarity.

The monster had already circled him several times.

Kicking Liu Dalong to the side, Li Fan pulled out his lighter and flicked it open.

The surroundings instantly shifted, revealing the dilapidated, cracked ground, overgrown weeds, dried blood, and layers of dust.

The monster before him revealed a strange, tattered face, beneath which writhed a mass of black water snakes—the so-called tentacles.

Further down were long, slender, barbed Spider-Legged Monster limbs.

At some point, the area had been rigged with long, sticky spider-web traps.

The Spider-Legged Monster let out a roar and charged at Li Fan, its expression hideous.

This Spider-Legged Monster looks pretty tough, and it's even uglier than the Tiger Pillar God; I probably can't beat it.

I'll just stall it for now and lure it away!

Li Fan thought for a moment, then opened his mouth to let out a tiger's roar. Dropping to all fours, he charged head-on to meet it.