Chapter 173: 170. Night Demon

170. Night Demon

The Void Demon had been here, and no one survived. Yu Lianyun finally discovered Song Lu's dead "corpse" in the bedroom where Song Lu lived. Like the others, the skin had been stripped away, leaving the interior completely hollow.

Yu Lianyun paused for a moment, then attempted to examine all the corpses in the villa. Although she had worked as a Mysterious Investigator for many years, she had not lost her forensic skills. Furthermore, because she had seen and examined many bizarre corpses and often exchanged insights with the specialized Abnormal coroners within the Xuanmi Group, her skills were significantly better than they had been in the past.

After a thorough investigation, Yu Lianyun made a discovery.

Song Lu's corpse was slightly different from the others. The other corpses all had traces of massive hemorrhaging, but Song Lu did not. Moreover, Song Lu's internal organs had been hollowed out very completely and cleanly. This far exceeded the realm of human capability; it was as if the parts inside Song Lu's dermis had been completely wrapped in a high-precision plastic bag beforehand, and then a huge opening was made behind Song Lu to take out the plastic bag containing the body fluids, bones, and organs in one piece.

And even more eerie was that the incisions on these corpses were cut from the inside, not the outside.

A swaying sound of wind chimes rang out quietly in the darkness. Yu Lianyun and the other Mysterious Investigators who had come to arrest or expel the threat were startled by this sudden, eerie, and bewitching sound. Just as they were searching for the source of the sound, they saw a large black shadow sweep past the window, obscuring the bright moonlight.

"What is that thing!?" a Mysterious Investigator couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice.

The group failed to see the full appearance of the black shadow, only knowing that it was likely a thin, long humanoid creature with a pair of huge bat wings, four pairs of sharp claws, and a long, hooked tail. The tip of the tail reflected a chilling light under the moonlight.

Immediately, the Mysterious Investigators investigating inside the villa heard several screams from outside. Before long, the group saw another black shadow sweep across the sky, and at the same time, they saw a human whose neck was wrapped by a black tail being dragged into the sky like a limp balloon. The monster carried their companion and flew toward the moon, heading to an unknown destination.

Yu Lianyun recalled a terrifying legend circulating in the Foreign Region: in the dark of night, a black winged monster would snatch away humans who had not yet fallen asleep. It would wrap its tail around a human's neck, and the barbs on the tail could pierce the hardest armor made by humans, tear through skin, and suck out human spinal marrow. Its joyful sound surpassed the celestial music of wind chimes, but it would bring frantic terror to its prey. Finally, it would throw the prey—whose marrow had been sucked dry but who were not yet dead—into a place of terror beyond human imagination, quietly waiting for death.

"Could this thing be a Night Demon?" Yu Lianyun gritted her teeth. She looked back at Song Lu, who had been reduced to a mere skin, and she did not believe that the night monster appearing at this very moment had nothing to do with the corpses here or the Alien God, the Void Demon.

These Night Demons circling the villa in the sky, eyeing the sleepless people inside the house, were presumably the kin and servants of the Void Demon.

Yu Lianyun and the others walking in here was equivalent to stepping into a trap.

But how could those people have known about their operation?

Yu Lianyun vigilantly scanned the people around her. The first thing she could think of was that there was a traitor in their team who had leaked the operation information to the enemy in advance.

However, Yu Lianyun quickly dismissed this thought because this was a temporary operation; ten minutes before arriving here, no one knew what their operation was.

Yu Lianyun had personally experienced this kind of eerie situation before, just two years ago in Cuizhu City.

That was it; this was another trap, and a complex, interlocking scheme at that, relying on a method of "inflicting a thousand casualties on the enemy while suffering eight hundred yourself" to retaliate, even going to any lengths to perish together with the Mysterious Investigators.

Rather than saying they wanted to target the Xuanmi Group, it was more accurate to say they wanted to target her.

Since entering the profession, Yu Lianyun, who had expelled a large number of Abnormalities and Alien Gods, had not only shone brightly in the world of Investigators, but she was also notorious in the eyes of those Abnormal organizations.

The members of those Abnormal organizations did not know what power existed behind Yu Lianyun, but they knew that if they continued to let her act, she would find them sooner or later.

Yu Lianyun suddenly saw the light. Of course, she would not be naive enough to think that if she sacrificed herself, those Night Demons and those hiding in the dark would let the others go. Those murderous lunatics would not reason with anyone at all.

But how should this current situation be resolved?

As long as an Alien God did not appear, Yu Lianyun was confident she could escape alone, but she could not stand by and watch her teammates die; she had to save them one by one, preferably so they could all survive together.

Just as she was pondering, a strange Night Demon broke through the window like a folded long umbrella being thrown. It crawled like a crouching frilled lizard, and on its blurry face were two asymmetrical eyes of different sizes, emitting a goose-yellow light, while its mouth emitted a trembling sound of wind chimes.

Looking at that crouching, hideous, winged black beast, everyone present turned pale. Listening to the wind chime sound so close to their ears, it was as if the gloomy and dark side deep within everyone's heart was infinitely magnified. All kinds of negative emotions surged into their minds inexplicably, like the itch and numbness of a snake's tongue brushing across their bodies, causing everyone to become frantic and panicked.

The veins on Yu Lianyun's temples throbbed, and her face flushed red. Compared to the others who had already fallen into painful madness, she had a certain resistance to this because she had seen a more insane world, and she had not completely lost her sanity. She glared at the Night Demon that had actively broken into the mansion and fired her gun, but she heard the sound of ricocheting bullets. Even the specially made bullets could not penetrate the armor on the surface of the Night Demon's body in the slightest.

Yu Lianyun's actions undoubtedly angered the Night Demon that had broken in. It violently surged up and pounced toward Yu Lianyun, its tail sweeping and flailing, knocking away everyone else who had flown over to pounce on it.

Yu Lianyun gritted her teeth and stood her ground. She knew deep down that if she wanted to kill the demon before her tonight and face the danger, she could not dodge, because only by forcing herself to the brink of death would the "Blessing" wrapped around her body protect her.

The giant mouth approached, about to strike. Yu Lianyun stood stiffly in place, eyes wide, seeing the ever-changing teeth and long tongue hidden beneath that giant mouth. They would thrust forward together to tear her poor self into pieces, without a shred of "mercy" for a live swallow.

Suddenly, a line of ink shot out from her shadow under the moonlight, sweeping forward. In less than a moment, the Night Demon's body passed through Yu Lianyun and slammed into the wall at the end of the room, dragging a trail of ink-like blood across the floor. Complex and dense organs fell all over the ground, along with a brain the size of a bowl that scattered as well.

Yu Lianyun stood between the two halves of the Night Demon's corpse, looking back blankly at the wriggling, fresh brain, and said in a strained voice: "A... a human brain? Could these Night Demons be what they turned into?"