A death-black figure darker than the night rose behind Su Nian, its voluptuous body covered in hideous white stitches.
Su Nian spun and slashed, the Sin-Cleaving Butcher's Knife tracing a streak of red through the darkness.
The death-black figure slid along the ground, easily avoiding the blade.
Hao Ren seized the opening and flung a handful of Evil-Breaking Sea Salt straight at its face, but the death-black figure vanished like a phantom.
Countless white threads emerged from the shadows and shot toward Hao Ren like spikes.
The ink line raised a curtain of light, blocking every white thread. The Road-Cutting Coin trembled.
"Drive out of here! Catch up with the main group!" Hao Ren turned and shouted toward the fuel truck.
"Yes, Captain!"
The two men swiftly dismantled their tools. They had wanted to run long ago.
As Su Nian put some distance between them, an illusory five-pointed star appeared, moving as nimbly as a mouse cursor to settle between the entity's brows.
[Shadow-Seam Wraith (Lamp-Skin Wraith's sole bond. Companion entity)] [Entity] [Killing rule: Anyone who personally kills and burns the Lamp-Skin Wraith will be forcibly marked by it...]
Su Nian read through the complete killing process.
This entity and the Lamp-Skin Wraith were companions. The Lamp-Skin Wraith handled disguise, deception, and skinning people, while the Shadow-Seam Wraith hid the bodies, stitched the skins, and erased the evidence.
Once the Lamp-Skin Wraith died, the Shadow-Seam Wraith's strength would multiply several times over.
The best approach would have been to leave the Lamp-Skin Wraith alive for the moment and kill the Shadow-Seam Wraith first, but it was too late now.
The Shadow-Seam Wraith had hidden itself too well. His attention had been fixed on the Lamp-Skin Wraith, and he had never imagined there would be a second entity.
[Ding. Spend 298,000 Survival Points to upgrade the Shadow-Seam Wraith?]
Fuck, that's almost as much as the Basket-Carrying Granny.
Through the Blood Eye, he saw another white thread hook into his shadow, followed immediately by excruciating pain.
The agony the Lamp-Skin Wraith had suffered from being cut and burned was transmitted directly to him.
The instant the thread appeared, Su Nian swung his dagger and severed it. The pain lasted only a moment.
Although the Shadow-Seam Wraith was in a frenzied state, its killing rule still belonged to Class C.
It would not kill him instantly... but it was hard to escape.
It did not kill people directly. Instead, it used its threads to stitch their shadows together, bit by bit... their memories, identities, and sense of self... would slowly disappear.
Only when the stitching was complete would they die.
The pickup drove out of the Road-Cutting Coin's protective area. Thanks to the Ghost Bus License Plate, the entity did not attack it.
"Su Nian, did you get a clear look at its killing rule?" Hao Ren shouted to him.
The Road-Cutting Coin could not withstand many more attacks. He could not understand it. He had tested the place with the Severed-Finger Compass, and the strongest entity here should have been Class C. With this much power, it had to be Class B.
"It's a companion entity. Its killing rule only targets whoever killed the Lamp-Skin Wraith."
"The Lamp-Skin Wraith actually had a companion entity? I've never seen that before."
"You're all right for now, aren't you?"
Su Nian shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
Seeing this, Hao Ren relaxed considerably.
Entities inspired terror because their killing rules killed invisibly, and their victims died in a state of utter horror.
Without a killing rule, they were just beasts with a little more fighting power. If you could not beat them, you could simply run.
"Find a way to finish her off," Su Nian said.
"Me?" Hao Ren pointed at his own nose, looking incredulous.
"You think way too highly of me. Sure, she doesn't have a killing rule that applies to me, but her supernatural energy is still way beyond anything I can handle."
"The Road-Cutting Coin is about to shatter. Without the Ink-Line Reel sealing us off, the entities in the fog will smell the lingering scent of the living and come out. We need to leave now."
Hao Ren felt that Su Nian had a particular obsession with killing entities... as though there were some enormous reward in it that made him reluctant to leave.
Su Nian looked troubled. He wanted to send the Shadow-Seam Wraith down to join her husband... but he had to keep watching his own shadow to stop the white threads from stitching it... leaving him hamstrung.
Croak-a muffled sound like a massive cannon firing rang out. The gray fog behind the gas station churned... then the ground shook, as though something enormous had slammed into it.
"Holy shit!" Hao Ren grabbed his backpack and took off toward the Raptor.
"You really had to jinx it!"
"I didn't want this either! I've had rotten luck lately. I'll step over a fire basin when I get back... damn, how are you so fast?"
Hao Ren's eyes widened as Su Nian overtook him... "I'm not used to being behind other people!"
"Neither am I." Su Nian turned to glance at the gray fog.
Two green orbs of light were faintly visible in the mist, each as large as a car tire. He could not make out what was behind them, but it was definitely something huge.
"Darling... I love your skin so much." The chilling voice rang out again.
The Blood Eye flashed red. Su Nian stopped as another white thread hooked into his shadow. He immediately swung his knife, but still felt a stab of pain.
Su Nian used the White Bone Token. A hulking puppet, standing 1.9 meters tall, came crashing straight down onto the Shadow-Seam Wraith's head.
The Shadow-Seam Wraith dodged, and the concrete where she had stood cracked apart.
The skeleton was immensely strong, its swinging fists whipping up howling gusts, but it could not touch the Shadow-Seam Wraith.
What a shame! Su Nian watched the Shadow-Seam Wraith. They "loved" each other, yet neither could satisfy the other.
[Sin-Cleaving Power: 25 → 26 points]
Hao Ren overtook Su Nian on one side.
"You drive!" Su Nian said.
He had to stay on guard against the Shadow-Seam Wraith's killing rule and could not drive.
"Darling, I love you both... don't go."
The Shadow-Seam Wraith chased Hao Ren and Su Nian, and the skeleton chased the Shadow-Seam Wraith. Deep, muffled croaks kept sounding from the gray fog. Air surged, and the surrounding trees rustled furiously.
The earth trembled from time to time.
Su Nian turned and lunged, forcing the Shadow-Seam Wraith back with a slash before cutting across his own shadow.
The Shadow-Seam Wraith did not dare take a hit from his dagger.
Su Nian turned and climbed into the passenger seat.
A Red Candle was already burning inside the truck.
"Fuck, your truck picked the worst possible time to break down..." No matter how Hao Ren tried, he could not get the engine to start.
Panic surged through him again. Were they supposed to outrun an entity on foot?
Su Nian pressed his finger to the ignition button, and the Raptor roared to life.
"What the hell!" Hao Ren muttered. With his nerves stretched taut, he did not dwell on such trivial details.
The Raptor launched forward.
The next instant, Su Nian's expression changed drastically. There was no time to prepare any defenses.
A black spear smashed out of the fog on their right like a collapsing steel girder. The short remaining length of candle instantly vaporized into a wisp of smoke that dissipated into thin air.
The Door God instantly burned to ashes.
Boom!
The remaining force slammed into the door, caving it in instantly. Metal groaned as the tremendous impact shoved the truck sideways. The driver's side struck the gray fog with a bang, and the window shattered into a radiating spiderweb of cracks.
The rapidly spinning wheels screeched as they landed after being lifted off the ground, sending up a cloud of scorched, acrid white smoke.
The black spear responsible for it all instantly withdrew into the fog.
Hao Ren held the wheel steady and floored the accelerator. The Raptor shot forward like an arrow.
The skeleton dissipated at the gas station.
Every so often, an affectionate "darling" drifted out of the mist.
It irritated both men to no end.
That damned bitch.
Before you continue