After seeing Lin Wanru lying downstairs, Shen Xing let out a startled "Huh!" the next second. He noticed that the Mental Antibody attribute beneath the corner of his eye had changed at some point.
Previously, the Mental Antibody attribute had read "Antibody Level 3," and its progress bar had been the color for Level 3.
Now, however, it had fallen below Level 1, displaying "Antibody Level 1." The color in the progress bar had faded to white, though it had not yet filled completely. It was just a little short of rising back to Level 2.
Thinking back, it seemed that after encountering Lin Wanru, he had unknowingly expended some of his Mental Antibody. Otherwise, he couldn't have survived until now.
Mental Antibody seemed to protect against mental attacks or mental damage caused by encountering ghosts.
But this also proved that the earlier increase in his antibody level hadn't been permanent. It could be depleted, then replenished.
There was no time to think about it for now. If his Physical Strength hadn't increased, mysteriously boosting the strength in his hands as well, how could he have thrown Lin Wanru away just now?
Thank goodness!
Shen Xing glanced down the alley again. Lin Wanru's body was still lying on the ground.
At this hour, there was no one around the alley.
But he couldn't rule out the possibility that the residents upstairs had been woken by the commotion. Someone might soon get up to investigate.
He had to report it to the security officer at once!
Coming to his senses, Shen Xing remembered that the security officer named Xiong Wei had left him a phone number. He hurried out of the bathroom and went into the bedroom to get his business card.
As he did, he recalled the shock he'd felt when he saw Lin Wanru and her bloodshot left eyeball.
"The so-called Blood Pupil must be connected to Lin Wanru's bloodshot eyeball..."
A thought came to him.
All at once, the line of silvery-white text in his mind changed.
[Blood Pupil, current understanding of its properties: 5%.]
Shen Xing froze. He stopped in his tracks and focused inward on the text in his mind. Without moving again, he thought for a moment, then came up with another certain thought: "Lin Wanru was able to rise from the dead. Perhaps it has something to do with the Blood Pupil..."
[Blood Pupil, current understanding of its properties: 15%.]
Seeing this, Shen Xing perked up.
After a brief moment of thought, he formed another idea: "Lin Wanru's eyes changed after she died. After one of them became a Blood Pupil, it caused her to rise from the dead, and her body returned to the neighborhood she knew."
After that thought came to him, he waited for a moment, but the level of understanding in his mind didn't change. It seemed he'd guessed wrong.
Shen Xing frowned and thought carefully before continuing: "The Blood Pupil wasn't created by a mutation, but Lin Wanru could control it."
He waited again, but there was still no response.
It seemed he'd guessed wrong again!
Time was tight. He couldn't delay much longer. If a neighbor found the body downstairs and he still hadn't called the security officers, they might suspect he was deliberately hiding something.
Shen Xing went into the bedroom, switched on the light, and picked up security officer Xiong Wei's business card. Just as he was about to call, another thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Could it be that the Blood Pupil... controlled Lin Wanru..."
The thought had barely appeared, not even fully formed, when the silvery-white text in his mind abruptly changed.
[Blood Pupil, current understanding of its properties: 50%.]
"Holy crap! The understanding level just shot up!" Shen Xing was startled.
"So it was the Blood Pupil that controlled Lin Wanru?!" he murmured to himself.
He looked at Hong Bin's half-length Wooden Carving.
Just then, an idea he'd never had before surfaced in his mind. It was so outrageous that even Shen Xing shuddered at the thought.
Still, he picked up his phone and called Xiong Wei first. He'd thought the other man might still be asleep and wouldn't answer, but the call was picked up after just one ring.
After he briefly explained what had happened, the person on the other end was clearly shocked.
"What? Lin Wanru's body is at your place?!" From Xiong Wei's tone, he seemed to be frantic over the matter. "We discovered her body was missing an hour ago. Don't go anywhere. I'll bring people over right away."
After hanging up, Shen Xing had no time to think it over. Before the security officers arrived, he had to act on the sudden idea that had just occurred to him.
He grabbed a 0.8-centimeter Arc Blade from the workbench and clutched it in his hand before rushing out of the living room.
He quickly slipped on a pair of flat shoes, opened the living room door, and jogged downstairs.
The earlier "Hong Bin" had been absorbed into the Wooden Carving after it touched him, allowing Shen Xing to gaze at the carving and strengthen his mental resistance. So he guessed that something as strange as the Blood Pupil might work the same way.
The idea had come to him very suddenly. Even now, Shen Xing found it hard to believe.
He'd chosen an Arc Blade rather than a Flat Chisel for a reason. The Arc Blade's edge was curved, making it suitable for "digging" something out, while the Flat Chisel's face was flat and would surely be awkward for scraping and cutting.
As he went downstairs, he could hear the faint sound of voices from inside the building. Some neighbors had surely been woken by the earlier commotion. They might have discovered Lin Wanru lying downstairs and could even have already reported it to the security officers.
At the same time.
In the alley behind the apartment building.
The alley rarely saw foot traffic. Nearby residents often tossed in garbage bags for convenience, leaving filthy water running across the ground and a sharp, fishy stench hanging in the air.
People came to clean it every week, but the state of the alley never seemed to change.
At that moment, a yellow-brown Mange Dog sniffed the ground as it approached the spot where Lin Wanru had fallen.
It seemed to smell blood, but beneath that scent lurked a faint, barely perceptible sense of danger.
As an old dog, it had an almost instinctive sensitivity to danger. The Mange Dog stood there, craning its neck to peer at the body in the distance, caught in a struggle.
But after a moment, a strange attraction overcame its fear of the body.
It went right up to Lin Wanru's corpse. Its nose twitched faster as it sniffed all around the body.
Just as Shen Xing ran into the alley with the Arc Blade in his hand, the Mange Dog suddenly let out a piteous howl. It fled from the body in a panic, brushing past Shen Xing's feet in its frantic escape. Grime from its body smeared across the legs of his pajama pants.
Shen Xing was startled too. Once he realized it was a Mange Dog, it quickly vanished from sight.
Time was tight. He had no time to worry about some stray dog. He turned and hurried toward Lin Wanru's body.
Lin Wanru lay beside a toppled green trash bin, with a pool of black, filthy water beneath her. The stench was overwhelming.
Shen Xing didn't care. Holding the Arc Blade, he crouched and examined Lin Wanru's face closely. Her eyes were already shut.
He paused briefly, suppressing his instinctive revulsion and nausea. Holding the Arc Blade in one hand, he pressed down on Lin Wanru's closed eyelid with the other and pulled up the lid of her left eye. Then he froze.
There was nothing beneath the eyelid. Only a pitch-black, empty socket.
The bloodshot eyeball was gone!
Before you continue