Chapter 200: Passing By?

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling's heart trembled slightly!

When he heard the footsteps, he felt something was wrong. This residential building only had four floors, and most of the rooms on the fourth floor were unoccupied. At this hour, who would be going to the fourth floor?

Combined with the special situation today, Chen Ling's vigilance was already extremely high, so he had changed his face at the corner without any hesitation just in case. He hadn't expected to actually run into something eerie.

In the middle of the night, who would walk around carrying such a large paper person? Saying he was bringing a paper person home was even more bizarre...

And for some reason, the moment Chen Ling's gaze landed on the paper person's red pupils, he felt his hair stand on end. Intuition told him that the person in front of him was definitely not simple!

Noticing someone coming downstairs, the hunched figure slowly raised his head. His drooping eyes scanned Chen Ling, and finding it was just a strange middle-aged man, he lowered his head listlessly and climbed the stairs on his own.

In the deathly silent and cramped hallway, the two figures passed each other.

When passing by the paper person, Chen Ling even felt a faint chill, piercing his bones with pain.

Fortunately, the figure carrying the paper person didn't seem interested in him. He walked straight to the fourth floor, turned a corner, and headed toward the end of the hallway...

Seeing this, Chen Ling knew something was wrong. After reaching the first floor, he chose to leave without hesitation, not wanting to stay for even a moment. After walking a little further away, he turned his head slightly to look behind him.

On the residential building not far away, a figure walked out of the room at the end of the fourth floor. Because of the distance, Chen Ling couldn't see his expression clearly.

But the one who walked out was exactly Wen Shilin's room, which Chen Ling had just locked!

Damn it...

Chen Ling's heart sank instantly. The person carrying the paper person was definitely not an ordinary person; it was highly likely he was a possessor of a Divine Path. And looking at the other party's trajectory, it was clearly aimed at Wen Shilin... If Wen Shilin had gone home to rest today, he would likely be a corpse by now.

Chen Ling tried to make his pace look unhurried and normal. Just then, a thought suddenly flashed through Chen Ling's mind...

Wait!

What about the paper person on that person's back?

Chen Ling clearly remembered that the person was carrying the paper person when he was climbing the stairs just now, but when he pushed the door and walked out of the room just now, the paper person seemed to have disappeared?

The moment this thought arose, Chen Ling felt his shoulder sink slightly, as if something was hanging on his back...

A chill rushed from the soles of his feet to Chen Ling's brain. He pulled out his short knife without hesitation and stabbed backward behind him!

*Clang—!!*

The blade of the short knife held firmly against the sharp teeth of the paper person about to bite down, making a sound of metal clashing. At the same time, a pair of hollow red pupils stared at Chen Ling, and two vivid blushes, like apples, were almost pressed against the back of Chen Ling's head.

This scene made Chen Ling's pupils shrink. He didn't know when this paper person had followed behind him, nor did he know how the paper person could suddenly come to life, but there was no doubt that he had finally been targeted.

The seemingly thickness-less paper person's sharp teeth gradually applied force, and the metal blade actually began to bend and deform visibly to the naked eye. With an irresistible giant force coming from his hand, Chen Ling subconsciously released the handle!

The next moment, the short knife exploded in the paper person's mouth, and the sharp fragments were chewed hard like candy. A few seconds later, it was completely reduced to scrap iron.

【Audience Expectation +3】

What the hell is this thing?!

Chen Ling had never seen such a bizarre sight. He retreated at high speed, trying to put some distance between himself and the paper figure, but the creature followed him as lightly as if it had no weight at all...

"You almost slipped past us..." The paper figure's mouth split open, and a strange, shrill voice emerged from it.

The paper figure raised its thin, light fist and swung it weakly toward Chen Ling. Seeing there was no way to dodge, Chen Ling planted his back foot firmly into the ground, channeled all his strength into his right hand, and met the blow with a punch of his own!

Bang—!

The paper fist and the flesh-and-blood fist collided with a boom. Chen Ling felt his knuckles crush through the paper fist without the slightest resistance, as if there were nothing there at all. Before he could even process this, his own right fist suddenly went out of control, abruptly changing direction and slamming heavily into his own chest!

Chen Ling spat out a mouthful of blood, and several ribs snapped on the spot. In that instant, it felt as if his fist no longer belonged to him.

Chen Ling barely managed to steady himself. He didn't dare to strike again, instead frowning as he watched the eerie paper figure, his brain racing!

"The power of that punch... it doesn't look like that of an ordinary person." The paper figure stared hollowly at Chen Ling and spoke slowly. "But according to our intelligence, Wen Shilin and Lin Yan are both ordinary people... So, who are you?"

Hearing this, Chen Ling’s suspicions were confirmed: this person was definitely targeting him and Wen Shilin.

"That’s a question I should be asking you," Chen Ling said coldly.

The paper figure seemed to have given up on questioning and drifted toward Chen Ling again... The hunchbacked man hadn't paid much attention when he first went upstairs, but upon reaching the fourth floor and finding only one or two households, he immediately realized that Chen Ling, who was heading downstairs at this hour, was suspicious. Since Wen Shilin’s home was empty, he naturally suspected that Chen Ling was the one with the problem.

Regardless of who Chen Ling was or what he had done to Wen Shilin, as long as he captured him and brought him back for soul-shattering interrogation, everything would become clear.

Having witnessed the bizarre nature of the paper figure, Chen Ling naturally wouldn't engage it head-on again. He darted away, pushing his speed to the limit despite his injuries... but even so, he couldn't outrun a paper figure that could even catch up to a [Blood-Dripping Tuo].

Seeing this, Chen Ling’s mind raced. He abandoned the idea of running into the open and instead dove into the neighboring residential building!

Compared to the building where Wen Shilin lived, this residential block had even fewer tenants, with most of the units being abandoned.

Chen Ling nimbly vaulted through a broken window on the second floor, tore at his chin with his fingertips once more, and instantly vanished from the spot.

Half a second later, the paper figure drifted through the window in pursuit. Its hollow red eyes scanned the room, and seeing no one there, it walked silently into the other rooms to search them one by one.

But after searching a circle and finding no one, the paper figure seemed somewhat surprised. It stood blankly in the center of the room, its neck rotating three hundred and sixty degrees to survey the surroundings...

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from above its head:

"For the justice of human civilization..."

"I sentence you to death."