Uncle Zhang

The three of them lifted the blue cloth and walked out of the arcade.

Wu Dahai reached up and pulled down the roller shutter. "Don't blame me, Huang. I'm just an employee in the organization. The big shots make all the rules."

Qingling was standing silently by the roadside outside.

"Qingling? Which character is that last syllable?" Gaoyang asked cautiously.

"Ling, as in spirit." She looked back at him. "Did you win?"

"We did." Gaoyang gave a wry smile. "But that was just the warm-up. There's a second test."

Qingling looked unsurprised. "I figured."

"So I was the only one naive enough to think we just had to win the game?" Officer Huang sounded a little hurt.

"Actually, it doesn't matter how good you are at games. I was mainly testing your patience and observing your character along the way. Our organization doesn't judge people solely by strength." Wu Dahai rubbed his nose proudly.

"Since our character passed muster, are you testing our strength next?" Gaoyang asked.

"Of course. Our organization doesn't take losers. Anyone whose Talent's sequence number isn't in the top hundred is out."

Gaoyang felt a pang of unease. Isn't that me? Looks like I'll have to bluff my way through. If that didn't work, he could let Qingling and Officer Huang join first. He could always keep slowly earning Fortune points by idling, then unlock a new Talent once he had enough.

"Can I take this?" An old, raspy voice came from nearby.

Gaoyang glanced over. It was a stooped old man in tattered clothes, carrying a filthy trash basket on his back and a pair of rusty fire tongs in his hand.

The old man stood beside Officer Huang's patrol car, pointing his tongs at an empty Coke bottle on the hood. "If you don't want this, could you give it to me?" he asked again.

"Oh, sure. No problem." Officer Huang walked over warmly, poured out the last of the Coke, crushed the bottle with his bare hands, and tossed it into the basket on the old man's back.

"Heh, young fellows sure are strong." The old man's face was covered in wrinkles, but his smile was contented.

"Of course. I graduated from the police academy. I work out every day." Officer Huang took a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. "Want one, sir?"

"Sure." The old man's cloudy eyes lit up a little.

With practiced ease, Officer Huang pulled out a cigarette, placed it between the old man's lips, and took out a lighter to light it for him.

"Mmm... not bad." The old man took a drag, clearly enjoying it, then turned and ambled away without a word of thanks.

The four of them watched him leave.

"Still collecting trash at his age. He's had it rough." Officer Huang sounded sympathetic.

"You wouldn't think that if you'd met Uncle Zhang when he was young." Wu Dahai sneered. "I grew up around here. Back then, every kid on this street was scared of him."

"Really?"

"Uncle Zhang was a butcher, and a vicious one. He always resented his wife for not giving him a son and beat her every day. Put her in the hospital several times. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and killed herself by drinking pesticide. His daughter had just finished her college entrance exams that day. His wife had held on until the exams were over because she didn't want to affect her daughter's performance."

The other three fell silent.

"After his daughter went to college, she cut ties with him and never came home again. With his wife dead, Uncle Zhang lost interest in life. Eventually, he stopped slaughtering pigs and spent every day drinking until he ruined himself. Then he got into gambling and lost his house, too. Ever since, he's lived on welfare and collected trash to get by."

Wu Dahai's earlier flippancy vanished, and his gaze grew more solemn. "After everything Uncle Zhang's done in his life, I think he looks the least human now, but he's finally the closest to being one."

Then Wu Dahai gave a derisive laugh. "Of course, he's actually a Beast."

"Keep your voice down," Officer Huang reminded him. "He hasn't gone far. He'll hear you."

"It's fine. He's a Lost One. Even if he hears us, he'll automatically ignore it."

"He fell," Qingling cut in.

Wu Dahai looked back. At some point, Uncle Zhang had collapsed up ahead.

"Uncle Zhang?" Wu Dahai hurried toward him. "Are you all right?"

The night breeze blew into Gaoyang's face. Watching Uncle Zhang lying motionless nearby, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. He couldn't say what. It seemed to be an instinctive warning brought on by his improved Perception.

"Wait! Don't go near him!" Gaoyang shouted to stop Wu Dahai.

Wu Dahai stopped less than three meters from the old man. "What's wrong?"

The next second, everyone except Wu Dahai saw it-Uncle Zhang stood up!

He didn't slowly get to his feet like a normal person. Instead, his rigid body defied gravity, snapping upright as though lifted by an invisible force.

Qingling drew her long saber, and Officer Huang swiftly pulled out his pistol.

Gaoyang didn't stand idle, either. He immediately backed away. He knew perfectly well that he was useless right now. The best contribution he could make was not getting in their way.

Seeing the three of them take defensive action, Wu Dahai immediately realized something was wrong. He spun around. Uncle Zhang's head lolled to one side, his limbs rigid and taut, like a chopstick with its tip snapped. His mouth twitched rapidly, foaming as he kept repeating in a slurred voice, "Human, human, humanhumanhumanhuman..."

Then the skin all over Uncle Zhang's body began to melt rapidly, as though seared by invisible flames. It evaporated in clouds of bloody mist, exposing blood-drenched muscle tissue. At the same time, his body shook violently, and blotches of blood burst out of him.

Uncle Zhang's pained groans turned into frenzied howls. "Human! Human! Human!" His chest swelled rapidly, his ribs bursting through flesh and spreading to either side like the gaping, bloody maw of a Man-Eating Flower. A disgusting tumor grew inside his chest cavity, covered in human facial features.

If that thing had to be described, it was as though someone had wrapped countless eyes, mouths, ears, and noses in thick plastic, stuffed them all into an oven, and baked them haphazardly until they melted together.

The tumor slowly bloomed like a flower bud.

Uncle Zhang's upper body turned into branches, leaves, and vines surrounding the "bud," while his lower body sank deep into the ground, corroding and melting.

In just half a minute, Uncle Zhang had transformed from a man into a grotesque, blood-drenched "Man-Eating Flower."

"What kind of Beast is this?" Qingling's brow furrowed tightly.

"No idea," Officer Huang said gravely.

"Kill it or run?" Qingling asked.

"Run. He doesn't look like he can chase us, and he's already lost his intelligence..." Before Officer Huang finished speaking, "Uncle Zhang's" large intestine had turned into several bloody, fleshy "vines." One of them shot toward Wu Dahai.

Startled, Wu Dahai turned to run.

With a smack, the vine wrapped around his ankle and yanked hard, sending Wu Dahai crashing to the ground.

"Don't touch me! Get away! Get away..." Wu Dahai thrashed wildly on the ground, his hands trying to grab anything he could, but it was no use.

He was about to be dragged to "Uncle Zhang's" feet and become his food.

Bang!

A bullet shot out, severing the vine around Wu Dahai's ankle.

The vine sprayed a cloud of bloody mist and immediately recoiled. The severed section also loosened its grip on Wu Dahai's ankle. Like an agile snake, it slithered rapidly across the ground and plunged into "Uncle Zhang's" body, merging with him once more.

The severed vine soon grew back.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

This time, three vines shot toward Wu Dahai at once.