Just as they finished questioning him.
Dazzling golden text appeared on the Sky Screen above the Douluo Continent.
[Today's trial livestream has ended.] [The Sky Screen is entering sleep mode. It will resume at the same time tomorrow.]
As the announcement concluded, the enormous screen spanning the Douluo Continent instantly went dark.
Yet tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for the Douluo Continent.
In Spirit City, Bibi Dong sat in the empty Papal Hall, studying the documents in her hands.
They contained the patterns of the supernatural that Spirit Hall's think tank had analyzed.
But she knew that, in the face of genuine paranormal phenomena, these findings might be utterly worthless.
At Shrek Academy, Tang San's mind was filled with Yang Jian's blood-red eye and Ning Rongrong's deathly pale skin.
In Dachang City, the night was deep and quiet.
Hu Liena released her Bewitchment and let the man in the suit leave.
"We don't have any money from this world," Yu Tianheng said with a frown.
Hu Liena sneered and took several pieces of jewelry and earrings worth a fortune on the Douluo Continent out of her Storage Soul Tool.
She found an underground pawnshop that was still open and easily exchanged them for a thick stack of red banknotes.
"Money's no longer a problem. Let's find somewhere to rest first."
The four of them arrived at an upscale, star-rated hotel.
For safety, and to keep their guard up against one another, they used Bewitchment to book four adjoining single rooms.
Meng Yiran curled up on the soft, spacious bed. Its unusual softness felt wonderfully comfortable.
But whenever she closed her eyes, she saw her grandmother's severed head.
And remembered those chilling words Ning Rongrong had spoken in the Golden House.
She curled up on the soft, spacious bed, wrapping the covers tightly around herself as she trembled all over.
The second hand of the clock on the wall ticked steadily.
Midnight.
Knock, knock, knock.
A series of muffled knocks suddenly sounded outside the silent room.
Meng Yiran went rigid, as though a huge, icy hand had clenched around her heart.
Knocking!
In the Sky Screen's livestream, that terrifying old man had appeared with precisely this sound!
"Who... who is it?"
Meng Yiran's voice shook with barely concealed tears. She clutched the corner of the blanket, hardly daring to breathe.
There was silence outside for two seconds.
Then a familiar voice came through the door.
"Yiran, it's me, Ning Rongrong."
Hearing that voice, Meng Yiran's taut nerves relaxed a little.
It was Ning Rongrong, not some supernatural horror.
She threw back the covers, stepped barefoot onto the carpet, and cautiously approached the door to look through the peephole.
Under the dim hallway lights, Ning Rongrong stood silently outside in her dust-covered princess dress.
Meng Yiran took a deep breath and turned the lock.
The door opened.
An indescribable, sinister chill drifted in through the gap.
Looking at Ning Rongrong before her, Meng Yiran suddenly felt intensely uneasy, though she could not explain why.
Ning Rongrong's skin was far too white.
It was not the fair complexion a girl achieved through careful skincare, but a deathly pallor devoid of any circulating blood.
"Rongrong, what brings you here so late?"
Meng Yiran suppressed her unease and forced a smile.
Ning Rongrong did not answer immediately.
Her dull, lusterless eyes stared fixedly at Meng Yiran's face, then traveled down her neck, sweeping over the arms and calves exposed beneath her nightclothes.
Deep within Ning Rongrong, an uncontrollable urge was growing wildly: to peel off skin.
Ever since she had taken control of that dormant Ghost Skin, the sight of a living person's warm, supple skin had stirred an unbearable feeling within her.
"Yiran," Ning Rongrong said slowly, smiling faintly. "Your skin is so beautiful."
Meng Yiran froze.
Normally, those words might have sounded like a compliment. But here and now, paired with Ning Rongrong's corpse-like face, they were utterly chilling.
"Rongrong, stop joking..." Meng Yiran instinctively took a step back.
"I'm not joking." Ning Rongrong stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
The click of the lock sounded particularly piercing in the quiet room.
"Let me wear it for a while, will you?"
Ning Rongrong raised her deathly pale hand and reached toward Meng Yiran's face.
"You're insane!"
Meng Yiran finally realized something was wrong. Faced with mortal danger, her instincts as a Soul Elder erupted.
Yellow, yellow, purple!
Three Soul Rings suddenly lit up beneath her feet, and a sharp serpent-headed staff appeared in her hand.
"First Soul Skill, Snake Blade!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Meng Yiran's serpent-headed staff became a streak of cold light, thrusting straight at Ning Rongrong's outstretched arm.
She did not want to kill anyone, but she had to protect herself!
The sharp Snake Blade struck Ning Rongrong's arm with perfect accuracy.
Yet the spray of blood Meng Yiran had expected never came.
The Snake Blade pierced Ning Rongrong's clothes and sank into her deathly pale skin, as though stabbing into tough, worn-out leather.
No blood flowed.
She did not even feel the slightest resistance.
Ning Rongrong did not so much as frown, as though the arm did not belong to her at all.
She pushed forward against Meng Yiran's Snake Blade, and her pale hand clamped around Meng Yiran's neck.
"How is this possible?!" Meng Yiran's eyes widened in disbelief.
Her Soul Skill had absolutely no effect on Ning Rongrong!
Ning Rongrong looked at Meng Yiran's terrified face, a flicker of indifference passing through her eyes.
"Soul Power isn't even worth child's play in this world. So behave. It wouldn't be good if someone heard us."
As she finished speaking, Ning Rongrong's fingers abruptly tightened.
This was not a physical tearing force, but a paranormal attack from the Ghost Skin!
Meng Yiran felt an icy sensation around her neck, followed by an indescribable agony that instantly swept through her entire body.
She could feel her skin being forcibly separated from her flesh!
The pain made her want to scream, but Ning Rongrong kept those screams trapped in her throat, leaving her able to produce only muffled whimpers.
The Ghost Skin's paranormal power spread through Ning Rongrong's fingers.
It was like taking off a tight-fitting garment.
Starting at her neck, Meng Yiran's skin was peeled away intact, bit by bit.
Bright red muscle tissue was exposed to the air, and blood immediately gushed out, staining the hotel's white carpet red.
The entire process was extremely fast, yet brutally cruel.
By the time the last patch of skin came away from her ankle, Meng Yiran had lost all ability to resist the pain and collapsed like a heap of mud into a pool of blood.
But she did not die.
A Soul Elder's powerful vitality allowed her to keep breathing faintly even after losing all the skin on her body.
Ning Rongrong held the intact human skin in her hand.
At that moment, the frenzied urge to strip away skin within her was profoundly satisfied.
An indescribable sense of comfort spread through her entire body.
But deep terror followed immediately afterward.
She realized she was actually becoming addicted to the pleasure of stripping other people of their skin!
"Was... was this my doing?"
Ning Rongrong involuntarily retreated several steps, staring at Meng Yiran's mangled, bloody body on the floor.
At the same time, Ning Rongrong felt with increasing clarity that she seemed to be adapting to this utterly horrifying situation!
The paranormal power in her abdomen, previously dormant, grew increasingly restless, while her emotions became increasingly steady.
That paranormal disturbance seemed to be trying to gestate something, but the Ghost Skin kept it tightly isolated, preventing it from exerting any further influence.
Ning Rongrong exhaled a stale, utterly cold breath and casually tossed the human skin aside.
She walked over to the bed and pulled off the white duvet cover.
Then she stepped into the pool of blood and wrapped Meng Yiran, who was still twitching faintly, tightly inside it.
Blood quickly soaked through the duvet cover, dripping onto the carpet.
Ning Rongrong lifted the bloodstained bundle with one hand, pushed open the door, and walked into the shadows of the hallway.
"The Ghost Cabinet's deal can be completed now."
Before you continue