Chapter 90: Alive, Dead
Heita sprinted along the road, able to hear the roars echoing behind him.
Heita had no idea what had happened, unable to comprehend why Sato Zaki, who had always been so ordinary, had transformed into such a state.
With a contorted expression, eyes bloodshot, as if a wrathful incarnation of a chilling and malevolent spirit.
As he kept running, he gradually felt a profound exhaustion, unaware that he had already covered the distance of three streets, contemplating that he should be safe by now.
Just as he was about to stop to catch his breath, he suddenly heard the sound of steel colliding.
A figure collided with the wire mesh, standing just a few steps away, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes, their entire body drenched in vivid scarlet blood.
Clang!
The wire mesh was forcefully torn apart, the thin layer of metal sheet proving utterly ineffective, in the blink of an eye, the dark figure darted forward.
Heita became frightful, raising his hands in front of him for protection.
He thought he was going to die, but the sensation of pain didn't come as expected.
A graceful figure halted in front of him, lifting and lowering their right foot as if delivering a powerful kick.
The ferocious demon, who came charging with an attack, was sent flying backward, colliding heavily with the vending machine. The steel twisted and the shattered glass windows of the machine, causing the soda cans to clatter down.
[Revenant]
[Enveloped in boundless resentment]
[Raging with hatred]
[Unyielding grievances]
[Defiance against destiny, capturing souls]
[Carrying immense resentment and obsession, it is a dangerously inhuman specter of utmost malevolence.]
[Friendship friendly tip: When unable to save, it is time to eliminate.]
The entry before Bai Wei's eyes appeared and then disappeared.
The vicious demon was ferocious beyond measure, relentless and unfeeling, driven solely by instinct, almost entirely devoid of reason.
Bai Wei swiftly kicks aside the obstructing Heita, taking three steps back. Once again, he raises his leg, driving his knee into the chest of his opponent. With a forceful motion, he presses down, causing the corpse-like creature's chest to crash into the ground with a resounding crack. In an instant, the creature's spine snaps.
However, despite his spine being clearly fractured, he continues to bare his teeth and brandish his claws. Twisting his torso in an unnatural manner, rotating a hundred and eighty degrees from the site of the broken lumbar vertebrae, his posterior touching the ground, his upper body swivels half a circle, and his claws lunge towards Bai Wei's neck. Fortunately, Bai Wei's cervical vertebrae are in good condition. He immediately tilts his head back, narrowly avoiding a critical strike. If the carotid artery were to rupture, even divine intervention could not save him.
"He's quite resilient," Bai Wei muttered, walking over to the dazed Heita, who had just regained consciousness.
"Bring some blood," he demanded without the slightest hesitation.
"Ah?"
Bai Wei landed a punch on the boy's nasal bridge, causing blood to gush out. With his fingers smeared in blood, Bai Wei wrote upon the fallen beverage can on the ground.
The malevolent spirit lunged at Bai Wei once again, prompting him to hurl the beverage can into the air. With a swift kick, the can exploded mid-flight, giving rise to a basketball-sized fireball formed by a sacred flame technique.
An aroma of burnt scent filled the air.
"Though blades and swords may slay humans, when it comes to demons and monsters, magic proves more efficacious," Bai Wei pondered.
The malevolent spirit was struck by the sacred flame technique, emanating an aura of darkness throughout its entire body, seemingly affected by the impact.
Heita attempted to call out, "Mr. Sato?"
It was precisely this sound that startled the malevolent spirit, causing a significant reduction in the blood-red color in its eyes. In the next moment, as it looked at its own hands, various memories resurfaced. It opened its mouth, and tears of blood streamed from its eyes. "No, no, this can't be true, this can't be true!"
Unable to accept this posture, this appearance, he let out a piercing scream , then turned his head in despair and fled.
Heita gazed at the receding figure and rubbed his nose vigorously, murmuring to himself, "How could this have happened?"
Bai Wei looked in the direction where he fled and took out the missing person notice. At this moment, the blue question mark on it had transformed into a yellow exclamation mark.
Because it straightened out from being curved, that's why Bai Wei followed.
The conflict is rapidly intensifying to a white-hot state.
Bai Wei had a premonition that complete clarity was just a short distance away.
"Do I need to call the police?" Heita looked at the youth and asked cautiously, "It seems like someone has died." He took a deep breath, trying to dispel the timidity in his voice, "And it was to save me… that he died."
"Choose your freedom,"
Bai Wei withdrew the missing person notice.
"Do you want to kill him?" Heita pressed for an answer.
"Yes."
The young boy hesitantly asked, "Is killing necessary?"
"He wants to kill you, and you're still asking such a question?" Bai Wei countered.
"Sato is a good person. He is a good person…" Heita muttered with his head down, silently repeating, "It shouldn't be like this."
…
"This shouldn't be like this!"
"I can't believe I've become such a ghastly appearance!"
"How did I end up like this? I am clearly a human being, unmistakably a human being!"
Sato Zaki sprinted, fleeing frantically without choosing a path, running wildly on the dark wilderness. He ran for an unknown duration until he finally came to a stop, gasping for breath. Standing by the water's edge, he washed away the stains of blood from his body.
As he raised his head, he caught a glimpse of light and was about to instinctively avoid it, but then he noticed that it was the familiar ramen stall.
Sato stumbled his way there, trying to speak, wanting to confide in someone about his current distress, yet unsure how to begin.
He lifted the curtain and walked over nervously, calling out, "Mr. Liu."
"Hmm?" The ramen proprietor was busy and asked, "What brings you here again? Haven't you had enough to eat?"
"No, it's not." Sato's mouth still had a lingering taste of blood, and he forced a smile, saying, "Well, something happened."
"What happened? An accident?"
"Yes, accidents, all of them. Perhaps it's just a mere nightmare that will soon pass." Sato vigorously rubbed his numb face and sat under the warm glow of the lights. He felt like a living being again, with a spark of vitality.
"I think you should have a good sleep and forget about unhappy things," said Mr. Liu.
"Yes, yes." Sato nodded. "I'm probably really exhausted, and I should take a good rest." He lowered his hands and asked the boss, "Mr. Liu, when you look at me now, I still appear to be a living person, right?"
The owner of the ramen stall lifted his head and looked at him with a puzzled expression, "What are you talking about?"
Sato rubbed the back of his head and forced a smile, "That's true, why did I say anything further? Of course…"
"You are definitely not a living person anymore."
The words of Mr. Liu came lightly drifting, and the expression on Sato Zaki's face instantly stiffened. He immediately stood up.
"Mr. Liu, what, what are you talking about…"
"I mean, you're not a living person, you're a walking corpse, an undead." replied the owner of the ramen stall in a calm tone.
"Do not talk nonsense!" Sato exclaimed, his expression filled with excitement. "I am a human! A living person!"
"If you were a living person, you wouldn't have to rely on drinking blood and eating human flesh to sustain yourself," Mr. Liu stated, fully aware of his condition. "Just look at yourself, you've devoured two people tonight, and you're brimming with energy and vitality, aren't you?"
Sato looked at his own hands and screamed, "No, no, it's not like this!"
"Alright, alright, stop screaming. No matter how many times I tell you, you always react like this, completely oblivious." Mr. Liu shook his head, holding a kitchen sword in his hand, swiftly cutting something. He tossed the prepared dough into the pot, where steam billowed out from the open hot pot. There seemed to be some sounds coming from the iron pot, like a mournful wail, muffled within the bubbling boiling water, difficult to discern.
Sato seemed to see the silhouette of someone struggling within the iron pot, amid the rolling bubbles, strangely resembling faces.
This face, he even found it somewhat familiar, just like the two Che brothers from before…
"What… What are you cooking?"
"Soul Soup." Mr. Liu scooped up a spoonful with a ladle, took a sip, and squinted, savoring it. "Care for a taste?"
Sato hurriedly took a few steps back, accidentally tipping over a chair.
"You truly don't understand the art of indulgence, this is indeed a marvelous thing," sighed Mr. Liu. "Drinking this soup is a truly delightful experience, not only does it strengthen the soul and enhance spiritual cultivation, but it also extends one's longevity."
The more he appeared nonchalant, the more a chilling sensation crept through Sato's heart.
"What on earth is this! What kind of monster are you!" Sato exclaimed in utter despair.
"Monster? I am but a human, albeit with a partial understanding of unorthodox mystical arts," Mr. Liu shook his head and said, "It is you who is the real monstrosity."
"You're talking nonsense!" Sato refused to admit, "I am human, I am human!!"
"You can be," Mr. Liu tasted the soup, smacked his lips, and continued, "but you can also choose not to be…"
He set down the ladle, wiped his hands, and calmly said, "In the depths of the ocean, there is a fish that uses a part of its own body as bait to lure other fish. Once they take the bait, it swiftly darts out of the water and devours its prey in a single gulp."
"You are that kind of fish, both responsible for luring the prey as bait and for devouring the prey as a fish. Both roles are embodied within you."
"Sato Zaki, you wouldn't happen to think that, until this day, such an occurrence has only happened once, would you?"
