As Su Nian finished speaking, an indescribably mysterious sensation swept through his body, and random patches of his skin turned cold.
First the back of his neck, then his shoulders, chest, abdomen, thighs... His forehead began to burn, and the space between his brows began to itch.
To anyone watching, a thin, pale red, spindle-shaped vertical mark appeared between Su Nian's brows, like a shallow red cut that had just opened but had yet to bleed.
The vertical mark glowed red and opened to either side like an eyelid.
A vertical blood-red eye with a slit pupil bloomed with crimson light.
"Ding!"
[Talent: True Lord Who Reveals the Sacred Source (Sequence 9)] "Blood Eye (Sequence 9): Your eyes emit scarlet light, allowing you to directly observe incorporeal spirits, supernatural entities, lingering traces of curses, and illusory disguises, and see through low-level falsehoods."
"Let's go. If the Basket-Carrying Granny catches up and the two ghosts' killing rules overlap, we're dead." Since Su Nian had his back to him, Gong Qing hadn't seen the Blood Eye between his brows.
Hao Ren had been watching the Hanged Ghost's position the whole time and hadn't spared Su Nian a glance either.
"You pedal. I can see the Hanged Ghost." Su Nian took the metal box from Hao Ren's palm.
Only then did Hao Ren notice the blood-red eye between Su Nian's brows, but he didn't ask about it.
But!
"Gong Qing, you pedal." Hao Ren plopped down on one side of the tricycle.
He couldn't exactly admit he didn't know how to ride it! He had ridden one of these old tricycles with only one driven wheel once as a child, and it had been incredibly hard to steer.
Especially with a heavy load. On the way to a banquet as a kid, he had driven his entire family into a ditch and had never ridden one again.
Gong Qing said nothing and climbed straight onto the tricycle.
Clutching the Evil-Breaking Sea Salt, Su Nian didn't even wait for the Hanged Ghost to activate his rule. Whenever he approached, Su Nian hurled a handful of salt at him, hitting every time.
As Hao Ren kept watch over their surroundings, he reminded him.
"Go easy on that. It's not kitchen salt. It's expensive."
He sounded calm, but inwardly, the waste was killing him.
"Got it!"
Su Nian's expression remained unchanged. He covered the box with his hand and pretended to grab more salt, but that last handful had actually emptied it.
If he hadn't been afraid the ghosts could understand human speech, he would have cursed out loud-Why didn't you say so sooner!
Fortunately, the Hanged Ghost had grown wary and didn't dare approach.
The Hanged Ghost hid in the distance, in no hurry to activate his killing rule... This human seemed able to see him. Every handful of salt struck him squarely in the face.
Just then, a deafening explosion rang out to their right.
Bang!
A gray mushroom cloud rose into the air.
Then came a sound like a child crying inside a trash can late at night, shrill and sobbing, with a tremor as though its chest were being squeezed.
"Fuck! The Night-Gazing Ghost!" Gong Qing lost his composure. Why was their luck so terrible today?
Su Nian said, "!!! Can the surprises please stop coming?"
"Pedal faster!" Hao Ren slapped Gong Qing hard on the back.
"Hiss..."
Gong Qing's back went rigid... He sucked in a sharp breath, tears springing to his eyes from the pain, and pedaled furiously in his flip-flops.
"Saving you today has cost us big time. Once we get out, if you've got any conscience, give your captain a few cartons of cigarettes." Hao Ren looked at Su Nian.
Su Nian blinked all three eyes together. By rights, he ought to pay a little protection money.
But with Hao Ren putting it that way... wouldn't paying prove he had a conscience?
He had already decided to discard his conscience. This was so difficult.
"Captain, help!"
A burly bald man on a road bike sped toward the three of them.
His hoarse cry for help reached them first.
Behind him was a dense crowd, and a tailless black cat a size larger than an ordinary house cat pounced toward him.
It moved through the sky as though running along the ground, a long black trail streaming behind its body.
Countless "infants" cried in the air, making every hair on their bodies stand on end.
"Motherfucker!"
Hao Ren swore outright and pulled a handgun from his pocket. "Come any closer and I'll blow your fucking head off."
There's always some bastard trying to get me killed.
Startled, the bald man swerved, flew off his bike, and crashed into the ground... Ignoring the pain, he scrambled up, limping.
"Captain, I'm begging you, save me! I'll give you all my supplies."
The bald man was frantic.
[Cat Ghost. Night-Gazing Ghost] [Supernatural entity] [Killing rule: At night, anyone who meets its pupils will immediately be marked and locked onto.] [Anyone who has abused a cat will be marked automatically, without needing to meet its eyes.]
"Meow!"
A vicious yowl rang out, and the black cat lunged straight at the bald man to bite him.
"Ah... ah... hhk..."
Screaming in terror, the bald man instinctively raised his arm.
But nothing happened.
The black cat dissolved into black mist.
Before he could wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, purring sounded beside his ear, followed by footsteps on roof tiles...
Terror, confusion, and agitation tangled together. This damned apocalypse wouldn't give him any chance to live.
The thought that death would end it all flickered through his mind.
Then he seemed to see a rope drop before his eyes... The bloodstained rope abruptly looped around his neck.
With a creak, it tightened.
The bald man's eyes bulged, "hhk, hhk" sounds rattling in his throat as both hands clawed desperately at the ligature around his neck.
But he couldn't catch hold of anything... Though the sensation of a rope binding him was unmistakably real, he fixed his gaze on the retreating tricycle.
His eyes were bloodshot.
Why? They were so close. All they had to do was lend a hand... Yet they wouldn't save me.
A furry black paw pierced his back and tore out a warm, bloody heart.
The black cat nibbled at the heart with graceful little bites.
The Hanged Ghost tore into the man's body with great mouthfuls. Blood sprayed everywhere, the gruesome sight enough to turn anyone's stomach, and another fresh layer of blood stained his bandages.
The Hanged Ghost stared outward with hollow eyes, an eerie, sinister smile spreading across his swollen face.
The Hanged Ghost had switched targets. If they didn't run now, when would they?
"Who knows? That bastard might turn into a ghost one day and come after my life!" Hao Ren looked disgusted by their rotten luck.
"People can turn into ghosts after they die?" Su Nian asked.
"They can, but there are conditions. First, they need an unclaimed place of death. The more people who died there, the better. If their resentment is strong enough, they'll slowly develop into a ghost. He clearly doesn't meet those conditions."
"Spare a smoke?" Hao Ren crooked his fingers.
Su Nian opened his backpack and pulled out a carton of Double Happiness.
Hao Ren glanced at the conspicuous Zhonghua cigarettes. He said nothing, but he had already mentally labeled Su Nian a cheapskate.
He took the Double Happiness, opened the packaging, and deftly tapped out a cigarette. Holding it between his lips, he raised the handgun from earlier.
With a crisp click, a flame shot from the gun.
"Here, Brother Gong. Have a pack." Su Nian offered him one too.
"I don't smoke. Smoking is bad for your health." Despite saying that, Gong Qing tucked the cigarettes into his pocket.
"Uh... I like drinking. Just give me a bottle of liquor."
Su Nian said, "..."
Isn't drinking bad for your health too?
The tricycle reached the road, only a few dozen meters from where the convoy had stopped.
Quite a few survivors were harvesting vegetables from the fields nearby.
Just then, two notification chimes sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Escaped pursuit by the Night-Gazing Ghost. Gained 500 survival points.] [Ding! Escaped pursuit by the Hanged Ghost. Gained 750 survival points.] [Survival points: 1,350]
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