There's a Traitor

His head was off, and he could still talk?

Chen Feng was horrified. He had no idea how to kill a creature that could survive without a head.

No point dwelling on it.

The Water Ghost charged straight for the head on the floor, ready to crush it.

But just then, rustle! Something unexpected happened.

At the landlady's command, the human skins hanging in the third-floor hall sprang to life and flew toward the Water Ghost as if they had minds of their own.

As the saying went, one chopstick snapped easily, but ten held together were hard to break.

The Water Ghost could have torn any one skin to shreds, but hundreds swarmed him at once, pinning him to the floor.

"This is bad!"

Chen Feng held the head, unable to do anything but cheer from the sidelines.

The Snake Demon could petrify anyone who saw it, but they needed eyes for that!

"Get up! Don't you want your revenge?"

At Chen Feng's call, the Water Ghost let out a low roar and struggled to rise. His injuries were too severe, though. Each time he got up, the skins forced him back down.

He might have had a chance at full strength.

Chen Feng set down the head and drew the heavy-duty telescopic baton he'd swiped from Old Li. He would have to do it himself.

Take out the leader first. If he smashed the landlady's head, the skins would probably stop moving too.

With that thought, Chen Feng swung his baton down.

Crack! Half the landlady's face burst apart.

"Did... did it work?"

Chen Feng stared at the chunks of flesh on the floor. Suddenly, his vision darkened and weakness washed over him. He turned and discovered that a human skin had somehow wrapped itself around his back.

Damn it. Die!

Chen Feng ripped the skin off and hurled it away. Red specks of light, like fireflies, drifted from it toward the landlady.

The instant they sank into her, countless bright-red buds of flesh sprouted from her shattered head. It regrew at an inhuman speed, while the ashen stone crust on her face peeled away to reveal ruddy skin.

Those lights are healing her?

Chen Feng understood at once. If the landlady was a mosquito, the skins were her mouthparts. The more strength they drained, the faster she recovered.

Before long, the landlady had reattached her head. She smiled. "Handsome, I think we've only met once, but you know me awfully well. You knew how to reach the third floor, and you even brought my deadbeat husband."

Chen Feng gave a bitter smile. He wanted to fight back, but after losing so much strength, he could barely stand. "Are dirty tricks all you've got? Come fight us fair and square!"

He was loudly condemning her underhanded tactics, but the moment she let her guard down, Chen Feng threw a hidden weapon at her.

"Handsome, you're so naughty. I like—"

The landlady caught it, only to discover it was a tear-gas grenade with the pin pulled.

Boom!

The blast knocked her unconscious. Without her control, the human skins immediately went still.

The Water Ghost seized the chance to break free and lunged to strangle her. It was their last chance, but just as his hands were about to close around her throat, the landlady blurred. She reappeared several meters away.

She can teleport too?

Chen Feng sucked in a cold breath.

She could use human skins to drain her enemies' strength and heal herself, enter dreams to kill from afar, and teleport to evade attacks. A monster this difficult to fight was enough to drive anyone to despair.

The attack had missed.

The landlady commanded the skins to pin the Water Ghost down again. As they kept draining him, he soon dissolved into a puddle of corpse oil.

[Water Ghost (temporarily subdued) has vanished]

[Wish quest failed!]

"Your turn."

The landlady advanced on Chen Feng step by step, her high heels clicking softly against the floorboards.

Chen Feng stared her down without a trace of fear. "Come on! Kill me."

You want my life? Fine, take it!

The landlady looked surprised. "You've got some backbone."

Chen Feng snorted. Trading one life for information about her was a good deal.

"Next time, give me a cultivation system. I'll cut this monster down with one strike from an Immortal Sword."

As the landlady drew closer, Chen Feng's eyelids grew unbearably heavy. At last, he crumpled to the floor. Just as before, his skin dried out, turned ashen, and became an empty human-skin husk.

[Save-Load Count: 4]

Chen Feng slowly opened his eyes.

The landlady, He Ting, said, "Handsome, you don't look well. You'd better find shelter before it rains."

Chen Feng nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah!"

"Then would you like to shelter at my place?"

"Yes! Of course!" Chen Feng grabbed the landlady's hand. "I'm homeless and can't afford food. Could you give me a job managing the internet café?"

Another victim had taken the bait.

The landlady was delighted, though she spoke with feigned hesitation. "You want to join us?"

"Please, let me join your team."

Chen Feng held her hand, his expression utterly sincere.

Following the landlady inside, Chen Feng ran straight into Old Li and Zhang Ruobing on their way out. Something occurred to him. "Officer, there's something I need to tell you."

Old Li asked, "What?"

Chen Feng said solemnly, "Whatever you do, don't go into the water today. You'll die."

Old Li found it ridiculous. "Why would I go into the water for no reason?"

A faint tsk sounded.

"He's nuts, Master. Let's go," Zhang Ruobing said.

I've done all I can.

After the last fight, Chen Feng had realized Old Li and Zhang Ruobing could do little to help in a battle between monsters. More importantly, the more allies he brought into the boss fight against the landlady, the more people the skins could drain. That would make her even harder to beat.

So this time, it'll just be me and the Water Ghost.

Chen Feng checked the system:

[Water Ghost (temporarily subdued)]

[Status: Healthy]

Good. The Water Ghost had recovered, and this time he was at full strength.

All Chen Feng needed to do was wait for the rain, then summon the Water Ghost ashore.

With his preparations complete, Chen Feng examined the new box.

Identifier XX-01-DKQD. Its inscription read: "Climb the road to heaven, sing as you stride, and shroud the heavens with a flick of your finger."

XX. An Immortal World system!

Had it really arrived?

Chen Feng was overjoyed, but the 01 in its identifier brought him back down to earth.

Shit!

It was a Quest System!

Put simply, it was like the Great Benefactor System and the Great Villain System: it issued quests for Chen Feng to earn Points.

But Chen Feng was about to fight the landlady to the death. He didn't need some damn Points. He needed a boost to his fighting strength right now.

What good were System Points if he couldn't spend them?

Besides, quests from the Immortal World sounded especially difficult. If it gave Chen Feng some enormous task like "Destroy the First Saint Demon Sect" or "Stop the Dark Turmoil," how was a mere mortal supposed to pull that off?

After thinking it over, Chen Feng chose LS-02-SHSG. This exchange system from history had been with him for ages, but he had never picked it because he hadn't had any Points.

Now he would open it and see what it was about.

He opened the box, and the system prompt appeared right on cue.

[Ding! Congratulations, user. You have successfully activated the Mythic Three Kingdoms System.]