Chapter 41: Beneath the Skin

Watching Chen Ling’s head turn into a gun barrel, Chu Muyun and the shadowed man were both dumbfounded.

"Bang—!"

Chen Ling’s vocal cords simulated the sound of a gunshot.

A blinding flash of fire erupted from the muzzle. The two figures standing directly in front recovered from their shock and quickly dodged!

They dashed dozens of meters across the snow at an astonishing speed before stopping.

They looked back, only to find that no bullets had been fired from the barrel; only sparks continued to erupt from the muzzle, as if simulating the posture of firing a gun.

"This..." the shadowed man asked blankly. "Did Club 7 ever say that [Thousand Faces]... could turn into a gun barrel?"

"No." Chu Muyun shook his head. "[Thousand Faces] is a disguise ability that can only change appearance, but he... he seems to be able to change into objects as well."

"That’s too overpowered. Is this the power of that twisted Divine Path..."

"But powerful strength usually means a greater price."

Chu Muyun looked calmly at the red-clad figure in the snow, who was hallucinating that he was a gun barrel, his expression complex.

"Bang—bang—bang!"

Chen Ling, transformed into a gun barrel, fired continuously at the void, like a soulless walking corpse.

Until his muzzle "saw" Qian Fan and his two men, who were scared silly under the house, and he suddenly stopped... He seemed to be thinking.

"Does he still have his sanity?" the shadowed man asked in surprise.

"I should say, instinct." Chu Muyun said lightly. "The instinct for revenge."

Meanwhile, Qian Fan and his two men, targeted by the muzzle, turned deathly pale again. They had just witnessed Chen Ling reconnecting his Divine Path, tearing his body apart, and then turning into a madman firing away... The successive cognitive shocks had almost stopped their brains from functioning.

"Damn it... why won't you die? Why won't you just die?!"

Qian Fan roared, raised his gun again, and pulled the trigger repeatedly at the red-clad monster!

Bullets slammed into Chen Ling’s body, splattering streaks of blood. Even though his appearance had turned into a firearm, the hardness of his physical body hadn't increased much; it was as if he had just changed his skin...

The next moment, a layer of skin was torn off Chen Ling’s face again.

The original large, bizarre gun barrel disappeared, replaced by the appearance of a "Dan" role (female lead) with red makeup and hook-like eyebrows. Judging by the features, it was 80-90% similar to the deceased Chen Yan!

The bright red opera robe stepped slowly across the snow, like the only vermilion in a pale world.

The "Dan" role stared straight at Qian Fan and his men, lips parting slightly. Immediately after, Chen Yan’s melodious and highly penetrating singing voice echoed over the courtyard!

"The little nun is twenty-eight, in the prime of youth, her hair shaved by her master.

Every day, burning incense and changing water in the Buddha hall,

seeing a few young men playing under the mountain gate..."

The opera singing continued, the red robes dragging out afterimages, instantly disappearing from where he stood...

Qian Fan felt a blur before his eyes, and his wrist was slashed by a dagger. He screamed, and his gun fell into the snow.

His other hand immediately tried to reach into his coat to pull out the Sacrificial Artifact again, but a cold light flashed, and his other hand also floated lightly off his arm...

"He looks at me, I look at him..."

Beneath the red apricot eye makeup, a pair of hollow pupils stared straight at Qian Fan, almost pressing against his face.

"Chen Ling... Chen Ling! I know I was wrong!!" Qian Fan’s features were twisted in agony, but fear occupied his heart even more. "Let me go... I’ll give you all my money! I’ll never..."

*Pfft—*

A sharp edge pierced Qian Fan’s chin, and his pleading stopped abruptly.

"He and I, I and him, both of us full of longing..."

Qian Fan’s body fell straight into the snow. The "Dan" role slowly pulled out the dagger and looked at the remaining two enforcers in the courtyard.

The two screamed, unable to muster any thought of resistance, and turned to run toward the courtyard gate.

Meanwhile, the "Dan" role’s feet flashed lightly across the ground, his wide sleeves fluttering like butterfly wings, and the cold light of the dagger drew an elegant arc in the snow, followed by two splashes of blood.

He stopped slowly.

With the last two bodies falling, the entire courtyard was soaked in blood.

The red-clad figure stood amidst the corpses, blood dripping from the blade, like a demon walking out of hell.

After an unknown amount of time, the face of Chen Yan dissipated, and Chen Ling returned to his original appearance.

He stood alone in the sea of blood, the dagger sliding gently to the ground. As a cold wind blew, he collapsed backward like withered grass.

"Finally finished the commotion..."

Chu Muyun and the other man walked over from a distance, looking at the unconscious Chen Ling with a long sigh.

"An Assimilator of an 'Extinction'-level disaster, stepping onto a twisted Divine Path... From now on, he is destined to be an outlier." The shadowed man said slowly.

"An outlier, isn't that for the best?" Chu Muyun’s lips curled up. "The Twilight Society recruits outliers."

"Are you really sure you want to recruit him into the Twilight Society?"

"It’s not me..." Chu Muyun took an envelope from his coat pocket and held it between his fingers.

On the cover of the envelope was a red [JOKER] card.

"It’s the Red King."

……

Boom—!!

A deafening roar came from the void, and the snow in the sky shattered in an instant.

In the wilderness a few kilometers away from the courtyard, the boy who had been idly holding a tree branch suddenly looked up in surprise, looking in front of him.

In the center of the [Club 8] in the snow, a hideous crack spread frantically. Han Meng’s hands reached out from the crack, grabbed the edge, and pulled hard!

The [Club 8] exploded on impact. Han Meng’s body completely passed through the void, his black trench coat covered in dust and blood clots, looking utterly disheveled.

"He actually broke out?"

The boy covered his mouth in surprise... or rather, the large hole in the white paper that represented his "mouth."

Han Meng’s chest heaved violently, as if the previous action had exhausted him. He stared fixedly at the little boy sitting on the ground and raised his gun without hesitation!

"Don't be so excited. I admit I underestimated you just now. I didn't expect there to be a real genius in the Aurora Domain." The boy rested his chin on his hand with interest. "Your name is Han Meng, right? Do you want to join our Twilight Society?"

"Not interested." Han Meng’s voice was bone-chillingly cold. "Since when does a dirty organization made up of lunatics and executioners dare to appear openly in the human domain?"

"Tsk, it seems you have a deep prejudice against us."

"That’s a fact." An invisible domain expanded around Han Meng. "Article 139 of the Human Covenant: in any domain, if a member of the Twilight Society is discovered, they are immediately placed on the highest-level kill list, with a priority even higher than the 'Assimilation Faction' and 'Fire Tamperers'..."

"You and the human domain are mortal enemies."

"Don't say that. We haven't done anything heinous." The boy said displeased.

"Is that so?"

Han Meng sneered.

"Including... the extinction of an entire human domain?"