Watching Chen Ling’s head transform into a gun barrel, Chu Muyun and the shadowy man were both stunned.
Bang—!
Chen Ling’s vocal cords mimicked the sound of a gunshot.
A blinding flash of fire erupted from the barrel, and the two figures in front of him snapped out of their daze, quickly dodging to the side!
They dashed across the snow-covered ground at an astonishing speed, covering dozens of meters before coming to a stop.
When they looked back, they realized no bullets had actually been fired from the barrel. Only sparks continued to burst from the muzzle, as if it were simulating the act of shooting.
"This..." the shadowy man asked in confusion, "Did Block 7 ever mention that [Thousand Faces]... could turn into a gun barrel?"
"No," Chu Muyun shook his head. "[Thousand Faces] is a disguise ability. It can only change appearances. But he... he seems to be able to transform into objects as well."
"That’s insane. Is this the power of that twisted divine path?"
Chu Muyun calmly watched the figure in red, who now imagined himself as a gun barrel, moving aimlessly through the snow. His expression was complicated.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
The gun barrel that was Chen Ling fired repeatedly into the void, like a soulless zombie.
Until its muzzle "saw" Qian Fan and the other two, frozen in terror under the eaves of the mansion. It suddenly stopped... as if thinking.
"Is he still retaining some rationality?" the shadowy man asked in surprise.
"More like instinct," Chu Muyun said indifferently. "The instinct for revenge."
At the same time, Qian Fan and the other two, now in the crosshairs, turned pale once more. They had just witnessed Chen Ling reconnect the divine path, tear through his own body, and then turn into a madman firing endlessly... The successive shocks to their perception had nearly shut down their brains.
"Damn it... why won’t you die? Why won’t you just die?!"
Qian Fan roared, raising his gun again and firing repeatedly at the red-clad monster!
The bullets tore into Chen Ling’s body, splattering blood everywhere. Even though his appearance had changed into that of a gun, the hardness of his flesh hadn’t increased much. It was as if he had only changed his skin...
In the next moment, another mask was torn from Chen Ling’s face.
The large, grotesque gun barrel disappeared, replaced by the appearance of a "dan role" in traditional opera, with apricot-like red makeup and hooked eyebrows. From the looks of it, it bore an eighty to ninety percent resemblance to the deceased Chen Yan.
The grand red opera robe stepped lightly through the snow, like the only splash of crimson in a pale world.
The "dan role" stared straight at Qian Fan and the other two, its lips parting slightly. Then, Chen Yan’s melodious and penetrating singing voice echoed through the mansion’s courtyard!
"The young nun, just sixteen, in the prime of her youth, had her hair shorn by her master.
Every day, she burns incense and offers water in the Buddha hall,
Seeing a few young men playing beneath the mountain gate..."
The operatic voice lingered, and the red-clad figure blurred, disappearing from sight in an instant...
Qian Fan only felt a flash before his eyes, and then his wrist was slashed by a dagger. He let out a scream, and the gun fell from his hand into the snow.
His other hand immediately reached into his robe, trying to pull out the sacrificial artifact again, but a cold glint flashed, and his other hand was severed cleanly from his arm...
"He looks at me, and I look at him..."
Beneath the apricot-like eye makeup, a pair of hollow pupils stared straight at Qian Fan, almost pressing against his face.
"Chen Ling... Chen Ling! I was wrong!!" Qian Fan’s face twisted in agony, but fear dominated his heart. "Spare me... I’ll give you all my money! I’ll never—"
Thud—
A sharp blade pierced through Qian Fan’s chin, cutting off his pleas.
"He and I, I and he, our hearts are entwined..."
Qian Fan’s body collapsed stiffly into the snow. The "dan role" slowly pulled out the dagger and turned its gaze to the two remaining law enforcers in the mansion.
The two men screamed, not daring to resist in the slightest, and turned to run toward the mansion’s gate.
At the same time, the "dan role’s" feet glided lightly across the ground, its wide sleeves fluttering like butterfly wings. The cold glint of the dagger traced an elegant arc through the snow, and two sprays of blood followed.
It slowly came to a stop.
As the last two bodies fell, the entire mansion was soaked in blood.
The figure in red stood amidst the sea of corpses, blood dripping from the blade, like a demon emerging from hell.
After an unknown amount of time, the mask of Chen Yan dissipated, and Chen Ling returned to his original appearance.
He stood alone in the bloodbath, the dagger slipping from his hand. As a cold breeze swept past, his body fell backward like a withered blade of grass.
"Finally, it’s over..."
Chu Muyun and the shadowy man walked over from a distance, looking at the unconscious Chen Ling and sighing deeply.
"A fusion of an 'Apocalypse'-level calamity, walking a twisted divine path... From now on, he’s destined to be an outlier," the shadowy man said slowly.
"Isn’t being an outlier the best?" Chu Muyun’s lips curled into a smile. "The Twilight Society collects outliers."
"Are you really sure about bringing him into the Twilight Society?"
"It’s not me..." Chu Muyun pulled an envelope from his coat pocket, holding it between his fingers.
On the envelope’s cover was a red [JOKER] card.
"It’s the Red King."
---
Boom—!!
A deafening roar came from the void, and the surroundings instantly shattered.
In the wilderness several kilometers away from the mansion, a boy who had been idly playing with a branch suddenly looked up in surprise.
In the center of the [8 of Clubs] drawn in the snow, a crack began to spread wildly. Han Meng’s hands reached out from the crack, gripping its edges and tearing it apart with force!
The [8 of Clubs] shattered with a loud crash, and Han Meng’s body completely emerged from the void. His black coat was covered in dust and bloodstains, and he looked utterly disheveled.
"He actually broke through?"
The boy covered his mouth in astonishment... or rather, the large hole in the white paper that represented his "mouth."
Han Meng’s chest heaved violently, as if the effort had drained him. He glared fiercely at the little boy sitting on the ground and raised his gun without hesitation!
"Don’t be so agitated. I admit I underestimated you earlier. I didn’t expect there to be such a genius in the Aurora Domain." The boy propped his chin on his hand, looking intrigued. "Your name is Han Meng, right? How about joining the Twilight Society?"
"No interest," Han Meng’s voice was icy. "A filthy organization of lunatics and executioners—since when do you dare show yourselves openly in human domains?"
"Tsk, it seems you have quite the prejudice against us."
"It’s the truth." An invisible domain expanded around Han Meng. "Article 139 of the Human Convention states that in any domain, upon discovery of Twilight Society members, they are to be immediately placed on the domain’s highest-priority kill list, even above the 'Fusionists' and 'Flame Usurpers'...You and the human domains are mortal enemies."
"Is that so?"
Han Meng sneered,
"Including... annihilating an entire human domain?"