Eye Pupils (1)

After seeing Lin Wanru lying downstairs, Shen Xing let out an "eh" a second later, noticing that the Mental Antibody attribute beneath his eyes had changed at some point.

Previously, the Mental Antibody attribute column had displayed "Antibody Level 3," with the progress bar reflecting the color associated with Level 3.

Now, the antibody level had dropped to Level 1, displaying "Antibody Level 1," and the color in the progress bar had faded back to a white state that wasn't yet fully filled—it was just a hair's breadth away from returning to Level 2.

Looking at it this way, it seemed that after encountering Lin Wanru, he had unconsciously consumed his Mental Antibody; otherwise, he couldn't possibly still be alive.

The function of the Mental Antibody appeared to be to resist mental attacks or mental damage encountered after meeting ghosts.

But this also proved that the previous increase in antibodies wasn't permanent; it was consumed and then replenished over time.

There was no time to ponder this for now. If it weren't for the fact that his hand strength had also increased mysteriously along with his Physical Strength, how could he have thrown Lin Wanru away just now?

Thank goodness!

Shen Xing glanced at the alley downstairs again; Lin Wanru's corpse was still lying on the ground.

At this hour, there was absolutely no one around the alley.

However, he couldn't rule out the possibility that residents upstairs had been awakened by the noise, and someone might come down to check soon.

He had to report this to the officer immediately!

Coming to his senses, Shen Xing remembered that the officer named Xiong Wei had left him a phone number. He quickly turned, walked out of the bathroom, and entered the bedroom to retrieve the man's business card.

In the process, he recalled the shock he felt when he saw that bloodshot left eyeball after encountering Lin Wanru.

The so-called 'Blood Pupil' must be related to that bloodshot eyeball of Lin Wanru's...

A thought emerged.

Suddenly, the line of silver-white text in his mind shifted.

[Blood Pupil, current understanding of characteristics: 5%.]

Shen Xing was startled and stopped in his tracks, introspecting the changes in the text within his mind. He didn't move, instead thinking for a moment before another certain thought surfaced: "Lin Wanru being able to reanimate, perhaps it's related to this Blood Pupil..."

[Blood Pupil, current understanding of characteristics: 15%.]

Seeing this, Shen Xing was immediately energized.

He pondered briefly, then another thought rose in his mind: "Lin Wanru's eyes mutated after her death. After turning into a Blood Pupil, it caused Lin Wanru to reanimate, which is why the corpse returned to the residential area she was familiar with."

After this thought emerged, he waited for a moment, but the understanding of the characteristics in his mind didn't change. It seemed he had guessed wrong.

Shen Xing frowned. After thinking carefully, he continued to guess: "The Blood Pupil wasn't created by mutation, but it can be controlled by Lin Wanru."

He waited for another moment, but there was still no reaction.

It seemed he had guessed wrong again!

Time was tight; he couldn't delay too long. Otherwise, if the neighbors discovered the corpse downstairs and he hadn't called the police, the officers might suspect him of intentionally hiding something.

Shen Xing walked into the bedroom, turned on the light, and picked up Officer Xiong Wei's business card. Just as he was about to dial, a thought suddenly rose in his mind.

"Could it be that the Blood Pupil... is controlling Lin Wanru..."

The moment this thought surfaced, before it had even fully formed, the silver-white text in his mind changed abruptly.

[Blood Pupil, current understanding of characteristics: 50%.]

"Holy crap! The understanding level jumped that much all at once!" Shen Xing was shocked.

"It turns out the Blood Pupil is controlling Lin Wanru?!" he muttered to himself.

He looked at the half-body Wooden Carving of Hong Bin.

At this very moment, an unprecedented idea sprouted in his heart. The bizarreness of this thought made even Shen Xing himself shudder.

However, he still picked up his phone to call Xiong Wei first. He had thought the other party might still be sleeping and wouldn't necessarily answer, but to his surprise, the call was picked up after only one ring.

After briefly explaining what had happened, the person on the other end was clearly quite shocked.

"What? Lin Wanru's corpse is at your place?!" Judging by Xiong Wei's tone, he seemed to be already overwhelmed by this matter. "We discovered her corpse had gone missing an hour ago. Don't leave; I'm bringing people over right now."

Hanging up the phone, Shen Xing didn't have time to overthink. Before the officers arrived, he had to put that sudden idea into action.

He grabbed a 0.8cm Arc Blade used for carving from his workbench, clutched it in his hand, and rushed out of the living room.

He quickly put on a pair of flat shoes, opened the living room door, and jogged downstairs.

The previous "Hong Bin" could be stored inside the Wooden Carving by being touched by the half-body Wooden Carving, allowing Shen Xing to enhance his mental resistance by staring at the carving. Therefore, he guessed that since this "Blood Pupil" was so strange, perhaps it could be handled in the same way.

This idea had appeared very suddenly; even now, Shen Xing found it somewhat inconceivable himself.

He had actually considered bringing an Arc Blade instead of a Flat Chisel. The edge of the Arc Blade was curved, which was convenient for a "digging" motion, whereas the Flat Chisel had a flat surface that would certainly be inconvenient for cutting.

As he went downstairs, he could hear faint voices coming from within the building. Surely some neighbors had been awakened by the commotion; perhaps they had discovered Lin Wanru lying downstairs and might have already reported it to the officers.

At the same time.

In the alley behind the residential building.

This alley rarely saw pedestrians, as nearby residents would conveniently toss bags full of trash there, causing sewage to flow across the ground at all times and emitting a pungent, fishy stench from time to time.

Although people came to clean it every week, the status quo never seemed to change.

At this moment, a yellowish Mange Dog sniffed the ground as it approached the spot where Lin Wanru had fallen.

It seemed to catch the scent of blood, yet hidden within that stench was a faint, lingering sense of danger.

As an old dog, its sensitivity to danger was almost innate; it stood there, craning its neck to peer at the corpse not far away, caught in a struggle.

But after only a moment, a bizarre attraction overcame the Mange Dog's fear of the body.

It moved completely up to Lin Wanru's corpse, its nose twitching with increasing frequency as it sniffed all over the body.

Just as Shen Xing ran into the alleyway with the Arc Blade in his hand, the Mange Dog suddenly let out a mournful howl, fleeing the scene in a panic and brushing past Shen Xing's legs in its frantic scramble, leaving a smear of filth on his pajama pants.

Shen Xing was startled, but once he saw it was just a Mange Dog, the creature had already vanished from sight.

Time was tight; he had no energy to spare for a stray dog and turned to walk quickly toward Lin Wanru's body.

Lin Wanru lay beside an overturned green trash bin, a pool of black, foul-smelling sludge beneath her.

Shen Xing couldn't care less about that; clutching the Arc Blade, he crouched down and looked closely at Lin Wanru's face, noting that her eyes were already closed.

After a brief pause, suppressing his instinctive revulsion and nausea, Shen Xing held the Arc Blade in one hand and pressed down on Lin Wanru's closed eyelid with the other, prying it open—only to freeze.

Beneath the lid, there was nothing at all; it was just a dark, empty void.

The bloodshot eyeball had vanished!