The motorcycle's roar quickly faded into the distance.
The neighborhood fell deathly silent again.
There was no telling how long it would be before someone came to deal with the tens of thousands of bodies here.
Those who had died would ultimately become nothing more than a long list of casualties on television. Apart from their families and friends, no one would remember them.
Night had fallen completely.
Tomorrow, the sun would rise as usual.
Yet someone had not left this silent night behind.
Over a kilometer from the Hotel stood another skyscraper.
A little girl of five or six sat on the rooftop railing.
A large pair of red headphones hung around her neck, with eyeball-like patterns covering both earpieces.
Ever since the battle began, she had rested her chin in her hand, watching everything happening inside the Hotel without blinking.
Only when Xiao Mengyu was about to lose did she reach out and press her hand down through the air.
Boom-
That single press punched straight through the Hotel building from a distance.
Xiao Mengyu fell toward the ground.
Shen Ye caught her.
The ensuing battle continued.
Everything ended.
Shen Ye rode away on the Ghostfire Motorcycle.
The little girl chewed her gum and blew a large bubble.
Pop.
The bubble burst.
A voice quietly emerged from the empty air beside her.
"Aren't you going to see him?"
"It's not the right time," the little girl said.
"He just saved you, you know. Even gave you a special ride on his motorcycle," the voice teased.
The little girl couldn't help laughing. She sighed and said wistfully,
"Big Brother Shen Ye has grown up too."
"...Compared to when he was little, he's gotten even sillier."
Despite her words, her sparkling eyes, the slight upward curve of her lips, and her little feet swinging back and forth had already betrayed her mood.
The two eyeballs on the red headphones flew up and floated in midair, speaking again.
"Your sister caused all this, yet she wouldn't lift a finger. Instead, you rushed over to help and nearly exposed me."
"Stop complaining. It's a good thing she didn't kill everyone. Besides, didn't I nearly expose myself too?" the little girl said.
"If you expose your identity in broad daylight, I'd like to see how you handle the aftermath," the two eyeballs said indignantly.
"Enough. I'll take you out for beef noodles in a bit," the little girl soothed.
"Wow, I want an extra egg and a bowl of good wine-" The two eyeballs glowed with Red Glow. "Wait, do you need a favor from me? Out with it!"
The little girl stood up.
Her figure gradually changed, rapidly "growing up" into a teenage girl in the bloom of youth.
The night wind blew.
It tousled her hair.
Had there been a moon and a river there, she would have looked no different from Song Qingyun in the video as she gazed into the distance by the railing.
Beep beep!
Her phone rang.
The message showed "Song Qingyun" as its sender.
The girl tapped it lightly, and that lovely female voice immediately sounded from the phone.
"Yinchen, where have you gone? There's another reception tonight, and I can't handle it alone. Hurry back."
The girl's gaze turned cold.
She looked toward the Hotel building, which resembled a haunted domain, once more.
"Erase every trace of me. Don't let anyone know I was here, and don't let my sister and her crowd find me."
"All right. What about what happened here?" the eyeballs asked.
"Erase all traces of Big Brother Shen Ye's battle. Don't let anyone notice."
The eyeballs asked again, "But there's still one person who knows, that girl with the sword-"
The girl interrupted, "She won't bring up Big Brother Shen Ye with anyone on her own. Trust me."
"All right, I'll get to work now-are we going to the reception afterward, or getting noodles?" the eyeballs asked.
"Noodles." The girl made a downward chopping motion, signaling that she had made her decision.
The eyeballs cheered, then asked uneasily,
"You really aren't going to the reception?"
The girl pouted. "My sister is in her element at occasions like that. I'm no match for her-after all, everyone knows I'm a useless good-for-nothing."
The two eyeballs swiveled back and forth, letting out shrill laughter.
"You're useless? Hahaha! That's hilarious!"
But the girl sighed.
"I'm lucky just to be alive... Maybe I'll die tomorrow, won't I?"
This time, the two eyeballs stopped laughing.
Two hours later.
On the other side of the city.
At a budget hotel.
The man had washed the blood off his body and changed into clean clothes.
He sat at the table, poured himself a glass of liquor, and drained it.
The liquor was so strong that he coughed violently.
Only with its kick did he feel that he had recovered a little.
He looked down.
The flesh on his body was no longer flesh, but something etched with densely packed runes. It felt like rubber, but softer.
His body kept writhing.
It was hungry.
A bloody hue rose in the man's eyes. His brow furrowed tightly, as though he were enduring some indescribable torture.
-This was the body of a Flesh Puppet from another world.
If he failed to feed it in time, it would torment his soul, subjecting him to unimaginable agony.
But it was all worth it.
After all, through this Flesh Puppet body, he had come back to life.
This was a miracle.
Only a god could do such a thing!
The man took a deep breath and began reciting a string of obscure, inhuman incantations.
Only when patches of scarlet light surrounded him did he kneel, reciting with unparalleled devotion,
"O indescribably great being."
"According to our agreement, I have paid the corresponding price. You clearly could have descended just now, so why did you leave in the end?"
After speaking, he prostrated himself on the floor, not daring to move.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
A strange, fragmented shadow quietly appeared in the empty air before him.
"Fool."
Looking down at him, the shadow mercilessly swung a long black whip and lashed him viciously.
The man trembled all over, as though enduring pain beyond human limits, yet he remained prostrate, not daring to move.
The shadow whipped him repeatedly. Only after the Flesh Puppet on his back had been beaten to pieces, letting out mournful cries and exposing the remaining flesh and white bones inside, did the whip slowly stop.
A moment passed.
The shadow spoke.
"Someone whose true capabilities are unclear is hiding in the shadows."
The man looked up in shock.
-I didn't sense them at all!
"Your power is as feeble as a firefly's glow, nowhere near enough for me to unleash an attack. Had I descended, that hidden individual would certainly have killed you."
"Do you understand?"
"I understand," the man said respectfully.
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," the man said in a steady voice.
The door opened.
A bright, lovely girl entered the room and gently closed the door.
The man froze and blurted out,
"She... I clearly already..."
"This creation of yours was indeed quite good. I sewed her head back on just now," the black shadow said.
It drifted back lightly, settled onto Zhao Yibing, and vanished.
Zhao Yibing blinked. Her vacant expression gradually became animated, and she spoke in a clear female voice.
"At first, I thought your world was weak and dull, not worth mentioning."
"Who would have thought that the King of the Myriad-Fallen Evil Ghosts Cursed Sculpture I bestowed upon you would suffer a backlash and have all its power taken away?"
"Then you, too, were defeated."
"Only then did I realize-"
"Your world is full of interest. Even other 'beings' have descended here, concealing themselves in the shadows as they act."
"My servant."
"Take me through your world."
"Let me see what secrets your world holds."
"And while I'm at it, I'll ask him-"
"How he broke the King of the Myriad-Fallen Evil Ghosts Cursed Sculpture."
"That was power I had collected over countless years."
"I will take it all back!"
Ecstasy appeared on the man's face.
He shuffled on his knees to Zhao Yibing's feet, kissing her toes as he recited,
"O great and eternal deity, I prostrate myself at your feet, listening to your teachings with utmost devotion, forever serving at your side."
Zhao Yibing looked thoughtful, but a sudden clacking of teeth beside her ears brought her back to her senses.
-It was the sound of the Flesh Puppet.
It was whimpering, pleading, suppressing its instincts.
Zhao Yibing understood and finally spoke.
"I crossed far too great a distance to descend here, then resurrected you... I need some souls to replenish what I expended."
"And you have only just returned to life. If the Flesh Puppet grows too hungry, it will wear your soul away."
She continued in a commanding tone.
"Go hunt."
"Kill a thousand people and bring their souls back to me. Their flesh is yours."
"As you command!" the man answered. With his head lowered and back bowed, he silently rose from the floor, then backed toward the door, opened it, and withdrew.
A thousand people.
Wonderful.
Only a god cared so much about me.
And only the Flesh Puppet it bestowed could eat so much.
Under the god's guidance, my life had long since become magnificent, even more romantic than in my dreams.
The man felt that everything was so wonderful.
Voices came from the surrounding rooms.
They made his appetite burn all the more fiercely.
But no.
The god had said to hunt.
How could I simply pick them at random and make it all seem so lacking in refinement?
...I wanted the finest souls, the highest-quality meat.
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the man felt that even the Flesh Puppet had submitted to him.
-It could read his thoughts.
Now, it was no longer tormenting him. Instead, it had begun cooperating with him fully.
This was good.
The man wiped the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth with a white handkerchief, then straightened his appearance in the mirror at the end of the corridor before stepping into the elevator with effortless elegance.
There was already a girl in the elevator.
"Hello," the man greeted her with a smile.
The girl glanced at him, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
-This gentleman was so handsome, so full of mature charm.
"Hello," the girl said with a smile.
"Going to the concert?" the man asked, looking at the ticket in her hand.
"Yes, I'm meeting a few friends. Do you like this band too?" the girl asked.
The man nodded. "Their performances are wonderful. I love the feeling of being there live."
"You like that atmosphere? Looks like we're kindred spirits." The girl covered her mouth as she laughed.
"Yes, there are so many people, and it's so lively. It gives me a feeling of exhilaration and freedom," the man said.
"Haha, I feel that way too. Maybe that's the appeal of concerts."
"Exactly."