Identity

Because the passageway was narrow, they could only walk forward in a single file. Brian led the way, followed by Sam, Anna, and Amy, then Meng Zu, with Jamie, Lisa, and Ella bringing up the rear.

Meng Zu had not walked at the front because he was worried about Jamie and the other two. By keeping Sam's group of four separated from them, he could respond immediately if anything happened.

Brian moved forward nervously with his left hand clamped over his mouth. Following Meng Zu's instructions, everyone kept their mouths tightly covered. Although Meng Zu illuminated the way from behind with his flashlight, the unfamiliar, cramped, dim surroundings kept Sam and the others on edge.

"Brian, Sam, relax a little. I'm right behind you. If something happens, remember what I told you—just hit it. Those Tiger Knuckles of mine are good stuff. I used them to beat the hell out of the four guys who kidnapped you before."

If ordinary people got too tense, they could easily be startled by something sudden. If they screamed and gave Mary Shaw a medium to act through, things would become a huge problem.

Mary Shaw's strength was unknown, but she was definitely far beyond an ordinary vengeful spirit. If things got too dangerous, he could only save whoever he could. Of course, the worst outcome was that he might not be able to save anyone and would have to run for it himself.

Meng Zu's words immediately put Brian and Sam somewhat at ease. The four people who had kidnapped them had been vampires. Since this thing could injure vampires, it had to be extraordinary, giving them a bit more confidence.

"Are these puppets?" When they entered the room where the puppets were displayed, Brian jumped in fright at the sight of them. Once he saw what they were, though, he let out a breath.

"Why are there so many puppets here?" Sam asked curiously.

"Don't worry about them. Keep moving." Meng Zu did not sense that cold, sinister aura. These puppets were still ordinary puppets, so he urged them onward.

After Brian and the others finally made it out of the theater with their nerves stretched taut, Meng Zu turned back to look at it when they reached the car. Strange. Mary Shaw actually didn't try to stop us.

But there was no time to dwell on that now. It was already 5:20. It would be best to leave Ravensfair before nightfall.

Meng Zu asked Sam and the others, "Which one of you can drive?"

Anna spoke up. "I can. I already have my license."

"Anna, you drive. Amy, sit in the front passenger seat." Meng Zu gave the two of them their instructions, then smiled at Jamie, Lisa, and Ella. "Jamie, Lisa, Ella, the six of us will have to squeeze into the back."

Ella smiled. "That's fine. As long as we can get back, none of this matters."

Brian sat beside the left window, with Sam sitting on his lap. Meng Zu sat beside Brian, then Jamie beside him, with his wife Lisa on his lap. Ella sat at the far right.

Fortunately, the vehicle Meng Zu had rented was an SUV with plenty of space inside. Otherwise, it really would not have fit so many people.

Meng Zu pointed Anna toward the road leading to Sault Ste. Marie. "We're going to Sault Ste. Marie. There are flights there, and Jamie's group lives there too."

The car sped down the highway with its headlights on as the sky grew darker and darker. Meng Zu studied the map carefully. We should be almost out of Ravensfair by now. Mary Shaw still hasn't appeared. Did she give up?

Sam took off the Tiger Knuckles on his right hand and asked curiously, "Mr. Meng Zu, is there something special about these Tiger Knuckles?"

The others were curious as well.

"Put them back on. Don't take them off. These Tiger Knuckles were blessed by an old priest. They can protect ordinary people from being harmed by dark creatures. Of course, their greater use is injuring dark creatures." Meng Zu explained, while watching Jamie and Lisa from the corner of his eye. Neither of them showed any change in expression.

Sam's eyes lit up. "When I get back, I'll go to a church and ask them to bless some things for me too."

"Don't even think about it. Not just any priest can perform a blessing. It isn't as simple as you imagine. You'll understand once you get to a church."

It was completely dark now. Meng Zu checked the time—it was already 6:10. Suddenly, he sensed activity from the system and opened it, seeing a notification.

'Abnormal energy attack on host's mind detected. System has automatically erased it.'

So this was why Sheriff Donnie had said that once someone left Ravensfair, their memories of Mary Shaw would disappear. Mary Shaw altered people's memories through mental power, somewhat like Professor X. If not for the system, he might have lost his memories of Mary Shaw too.

She could alter people's memories without a sound. If the system had not alerted him, he would never have noticed. This made Meng Zu realize how terrifying Mary Shaw was. Still, it also confirmed that they had indeed left Ravensfair.

Sheriff Donnie had said that Mary Shaw could only kill people in Ravensfair. No one who left Ravensfair had ever been killed by her outside of it. Meng Zu finally let out a sigh of relief, and the tension he had been carrying eased.

The car continued down the road, playing soft music inside. Driving in silence was boring, and now that they had left Ravensfair, Meng Zu did not object.

Sam, Brian, Amy, and Jamie chatted in the car. Ella was very talkative, and she was beautiful and elegant, making Brian and Sam especially happy to talk with her.

Only Anna and Meng Zu did not join in. Anna was not an experienced driver and needed to focus. Until the mission was complete, Meng Zu would not truly let down his guard. Anything could happen.

Suddenly, Meng Zu's expression changed. He shouted, "Anna, turn the wheel right!"

Anna was startled by his shout. Though she did not know why, she hurriedly turned the wheel to the right, and the car immediately swerved aside.

At that moment, a black van with no lights on brushed past the rear of their car. Because Anna had turned too sharply, she lost control of the vehicle's direction, and it hurtled toward several trees ahead.

Anna slammed her foot down on the brakes. The car finally stopped just before hitting the trees, leaving two deep tracks in the dirt behind it.

"What happened?" Sam asked, dizzy from being thrown around.

"Everyone, get out of the car first!" Meng Zu did not explain.

Once outside, Meng Zu looked at the black van stopped in the distance. Walking over to Anna, he instructed Brian and Sam, "Keep your Tiger Knuckles on. Stay with Anna and Amy, and protect them."

Though it was nighttime and dark, Meng Zu's physique, four times stronger than an ordinary person's, along with Basic Dynamic Vision, allowed him to see distant objects clearly under the faint moonlight. That black van had been driving straight at their car head-on.

If the two vehicles had collided, at the speed that black van had been going, even with Meng Zu's physique four times stronger than normal, he would have been severely injured if not killed.

Watching the black van start up again without turning on any lights, then turn around and head toward them, Meng Zu's face turned cold.

Meng Zu slowly walked forward, calculating the distance between them. Then he took grenades from his storage space, pulled the pins, and hurled them hard in the black van's path.

One, two, three, four—Meng Zu threw four grenades in an instant.

Watching the van rapidly approach, Meng Zu silently counted the time. Boom! A tremendous explosion erupted with a flash of fire in the darkness. The black van was blasted off the ground, then rolled onto its side and crashed down.

Looking at the burning black van, Sam cried out in terror, "Oh my God, what's going on?!" Then four people covered in flames crawled out of the van.

"Quick, save them!"

Brian and Sam hurriedly took off their coats and charged forward, but Meng Zu grabbed them and flung them back. "Don't move recklessly. Those four aren't human. Protect Anna and Amy."

The four burning figures crawled on all fours, rushing toward Meng Zu at incredible speed in strange postures. Meng Zu finally saw them clearly. Their eyes were gone, leaving only two holes leaking black fluid. Their mouths were split to their ears, exposing mouths full of sharp teeth, while sharp claws had grown from their hands and feet.

Meng Zu gripped his silver dagger in his right hand and charged forward. With a light leap, he dodged the monster pouncing at him, stepped on its back for leverage, and kicked off hard to vault over another monster. The dagger in his hand sliced through its head without resistance.

The moment Meng Zu landed, he rolled aside to dodge another monster's claws. Bracing himself on the ground with his left hand, he sprang back up and sent the creature flying with a kick from his right leg.

Another monster took the chance to approach Meng Zu from behind, its claws reaching for the back of his head. Meng Zu suddenly dodged to the side and swung his arm, driving the dagger straight into its head.

Meng Zu pulled out the dagger and charged at the nearest monster. A streak of silver flashed through the darkness, and the monster that passed him collapsed to the ground without moving again.

Only the last one remained. It seemed incapable of fear. Even after its three companions had been dealt with by Meng Zu, it still lunged at him viciously.

The result went without saying. Once Meng Zu drove his dagger into its head, it stopped moving.

"I didn't expect Mary Shaw to be able to leave Ravensfair." Meng Zu had sensed Mary Shaw's familiar aura from those four monsters.

But Meng Zu was confused. These four monsters were not made of puppets. When his dagger cut through them, it felt like cutting flesh and blood. What was going on?

When Meng Zu returned, Ella looked at the four monster corpses and asked fearfully, "What are those things?"

"Some kind of monster. We need to leave this place quickly." Meng Zu walked past Ella toward the car.

Suddenly, three black whips attacked Meng Zu from behind. He instantly turned and dodged, slicing through the whips with his dagger. Leaping backward, he stared at Ella coldly. "I suspected there was something wrong with you three a long time ago."

"Ah!" Sam and the other three screamed and hurried away from Jamie and Lisa.

At that moment, Jamie and Lisa's appearances became horrifying and distorted, just like the Mary Shaw Meng Zu had seen reflected in the mirror in the theater room. Their eyes were white, and black wounds split across their faces.

Jamie and Lisa had suddenly transformed and attacked Anna and Amy. But the instant they grabbed the two women, a white glow enveloped them and blasted Jamie and Lisa away.

Earlier, after getting out of the car, when Meng Zu had walked over to Anna and spoken to Brian, he had held one hand behind his back toward Anna, clutching two tiny silver crosses. He handed them to Anna. Anna was smart and immediately understood what he meant. She quietly accepted the crosses, then went to Amy while Meng Zu charged the four monsters and secretly gave one to her.

These two crosses were standard products from the church. They had been blessed and could temporarily protect their bearers from attacks by dark creatures. Churches usually sold such items to people in need. Their prices varied—wealthy people paid more, while poor people paid less.

Meng Zu noticed that Ella was different from Jamie and Lisa. Her appearance had not changed at all, but the three black whips extending from the empty air beside her made it obvious that she was the real boss.

"Hm." Meng Zu's pupils contracted slightly. Ella's three black whips were made of tongues—tongues! Could Ella be Mary Shaw?

"You're Mary Shaw?" Meng Zu asked in surprise.

"Hehe, what a perfect body. You are the person most suited to becoming a Perfect Puppet." Ella—no, Mary Shaw—smiled greedily at Meng Zu.

So Perfect Puppets were made from people. This woman had planned such things while alive. She must have known black magic. No wonder she had become such a terrifying vengeful spirit after death. Meng Zu sneered. "Do you think you've got me cornered?"

"I already know your strength. Tonight, you belong to me." Five more black whips made of tongues extended from the void beside Mary Shaw. The eight black whips instantly lengthened and attacked Meng Zu from all directions.

Bang!

A pistol appeared in Meng Zu's hand. A large hole opened in Mary Shaw's forehead, with a glowing bullet embedded inside. The eight black whips instantly went limp and fell to the ground.

Looking at Mary Shaw as she fell, Meng Zu said disdainfully, "Granny, times have changed."

Bang! Bang!

Meng Zu fired twice more, blowing apart Jamie and Lisa's heads and finishing them off.

Just as Meng Zu was about to walk toward Sam and the others, he suddenly sensed danger behind him. He hurriedly dodged aside, and a massive machete slammed viciously into the ground.

A huge man at least two meters tall appeared where Meng Zu had been standing, wearing a hockey mask over his face.

"Jason?"

(I wrote some yesterday but didn't finish it. This chapter is four thousand words. It's already under contract, so please support it and vote, (￣３￣)a)