Chapter 142

"Stop guessing, so many people heard it." Qin Menglan said.

If Atuo's guess were correct, the villagers who initially heard the sound should have knelt down, but they're still fine.

"Debts have debtors?" Atuo guessed, "I had my wisdom teeth pulled recently, I remember that dentist for a lifetime."

A look of unbearable recollection of past events.

"You're a demon god walking among us." Qin Menglan said, utterly embarrassing—how can a demon god fear tooth extraction?

"I haven't gone through six missions yet." Atuo said.

"Strengthening only improves physical condition, it doesn't increase pain tolerance." Qin Menglan said, becoming "thick-skinned and flesh-heavy" is one thing, pain sensation doesn't diminish.

After over an hour of audio playback, Qin Menglan was about to turn it off when Tang Luo suddenly said: "Wait a moment."

"What's wrong?" Qin Menglan asked.

"Keep playing, increase the volume a bit." Tang Luo said, "Maybe we can lure out Zhang Caiyi."

"Huh?" The remaining three were stunned, then immediately understood Tang Luo's idea.

Assuming Zhang Caiyi, like his wife and child, turned into a ghostly entity wandering nearby.

Then the sounds he enjoyed in life might indeed have a chance to attract him.

"Why not play this sound while we walk around?" Atuo suggested, compared to waiting here passively, taking the initiative to find "Zhang Caiyi" has a higher chance.

"Cleanup, cleanup work." Qin Menglan reminded.

We can't just consider how to resolve the incident; we must also pay attention to the impact.

For now, things aren't actually urgent, plus there's the dog searching outside, no need to go out.

"Let everyone else disperse." Tang Luo said, "We few are enough. Oh, right, let them come over first—I'll perform an illumination."

Not entirely sure what "state" the missing Zhang Caiyi is in, let the other ordinary members of Walk Near Science leave first; if Zhang Caiyi comes knocking, we won't need to divert attention protecting them.

Of course, they won't go too far, there's a chance they might encounter "Zhang Caiyi," so necessary illumination still needs to be done.

Time kept shifting.

The sounds "It hurts so much," "It hurts so much" came through the open room door, echoing in the night sky.

Faintly audible from outside.

The four gazed at the dense night outside; Qin Menglan and the others occasionally stood up and walked around.

Tang Luo casually flipped through various useful and useless materials, just passing time.

The Heavenly Hound hadn't returned, nor had Zhang Caiyi shown up.

"Will the dog be okay?" Qin Menglan paused her pacing to ask.

"No." Tang Luo said, "I gave her illumination."

"Pa-da."

A gust of cold wind blew, shutting the originally open door.

"It hurts so much……" "It hurts so much……"

The originally playing audio suddenly underwent strange changes, feeling more real, as if a person were whispering near the ear.

Moreover, it carried a hint of moan-like sensation, as if enticing something.

"Here it comes!" Qin Menglan and the two others instantly assumed combat stances.

"Ha, ha, ha……"

A kind of panting sound gradually became clear, rapidly approaching, finally stopping at the position of the closed door.

After a moment, with a "creak," the rather old door gradually opened.

Revealing a "standing" head at the doorway.

This head was far larger than Qin Menglan and the others imagined—about the height of a person—and resembled Zhang Caiyi from the materials.

But he wasn't wearing glasses.

Eyes bulging wide, black pupils surrounded by dense red bloodshot veins.

A cold chill burst forth!

A point of cold light stabbed straight toward Zhang Caiyi; Qin Menglan acted first.

Facing the chilling spear tip, Zhang Caiyi opened his massive mouth, allowing the spearhead to pierce into his mouth, then bit down hard.

Clamping it tightly in his mouth.

Qin Menglan tried to pull back, but the ice spear's pattern didn't budge.

Moreover, the biting force was immense; cracks gradually appeared on the ice spear, likely to be bitten through soon.

However, at this moment, the ice spear also began to flash with icy blue light.

But Qin Menglan pushed forward forcefully, then released, directly activating "Demonsbane Strike," immense power erupting from the ice spear, breaking through Zhang Caiyi's tooth "barrier."

The ice spear was like a sharpened chopstick, piercing into Zhang Caiyi's head through the mouth, penetrating the back of the brain, vanishing without trace.

"It hurts so much!"

This "it hurts so much" came from Zhang Caiyi's mouth, overpowering the sound from the speaker.

Low, heavy, overlapping, like muffled thunder.

As this sound echoed, the bloodshot veins in Zhang Caiyi's originally blood-filled sclera suddenly increased; besides the pupils, both eyes instantly turned entirely crimson.

A crimson tongue, like a giant python, shot out from his mouth, lashing toward Qin Menglan.

Qin Menglan reacted extremely fast, sidestepping left to avoid the tongue's attack.

The tongue landed on the lectern behind Qin Menglan where notebooks were placed, then coiled back.

The spot touched by the tongue vanished like licked cream, retracted by Zhang Caiyi into his mouth.

Neatly aligned teeth bit down; iron sheets, wood—like tofu—were crushed and disappeared into the black-hole-like mouth.

"Be careful, pain seems to make it stronger." Tang Luo reminded.

"Why is this one so big?" Atuo asked, turning sideways and assuming a bow-drawing stance.

Flames began to emerge from the palm of his extended right hand.

"Go!"

Atuo shouted, and an arrow composed entirely of flame shot into Zhang Caili's eye, exploding in a shower of sparks.

Once again came that sound impossible to distinguish as pain or pleasure — "It hurts so much" — Zhang Caili's massive head shook twice, and his tongue struck out again, aimed straight at Atuo.

Atuo's speed and reflexes naturally couldn't compare to Qin Menglan's.

But he had seen that move just now and was already prepared; he threw himself forward and managed to dodge the crimson tongue's "lick."

However, just as the tongue was about to retract, it bizarrely split in two, one part lashing toward Atuo.

Such a change was clearly unexpected by Atuo; he had no time to dodge and was struck by the tongue.

Atuo rolled, slamming hard into the wall and leaving spiderweb cracks; who knew how many bones in his body were broken.

The bifurcated tongue pressed the attack relentlessly, striking at Atuo from two directions.

Its length, proportionally speaking, also far exceeded that of a normal person.

"Rise!"

Seeing the tongue about to deliver a fatal blow to Atuo, the cameraman uncle on the other side shouted, pressing both hands to the ground.

An earthen wall, over three meters wide, abruptly appeared before Atuo, just blocking the tongue's assault.

The tongue slammed into the earth wall, shattering it, its force simultaneously exhausted.

The flying debris turned into earth-colored sand and dust in midair, then vanished without a trace.

"Cough, cough." Atuo curled on the ground, coughing weakly; golden light rose over his body, and his injuries rapidly healed.

"I said pain makes this thing stronger," Tang Luo said. "Be careful."

Atuo's flame arrows weren't without effect; Zhang Caili's left eye and the surrounding area showed clear charred burn marks.

But it still fell within the realm of injury — unable to kill this Luotoushi, Feitouman.

Instead, it made him several degrees stronger than before.

"Even so, the rate of strengthening is too fast, isn't it?" Atuo stood up again, his injuries completely healed.

"Meaning this thing gets stronger and stronger before it's killed?" Qin Menglan asked.

Zhang Caili had already retracted his tongue; his massive head swayed slightly, not attacking again, as if he too had realized Qin Menglan and the others were troublesome.

"There's definitely a limit," Tang Luo said. "It wouldn't strengthen infinitely."

"Speaking of which, how did a thing this big hide without being seen?" Atuo said.

A head as tall as a person — has it been hiding in the surrounding woods this whole time?

"Ghost Veil Eye, most likely," Tang Luo guessed.

As they spoke, Zhang Caili also locked onto a target again and launched an attack.

He didn't spit out his tongue this time, but used his whole body — really his head as a weapon — lowering it and charging straight at his opponent like a wild bull.

One could see the hair on the crown was sparser than elsewhere, slightly balding.

"Hah!"

Atuo let out a short, forceful laugh; Qin Menglan's Canghui Bow was drawn but not released.

Because Zhang Caili's chosen target was Tang Luo — the Tang Luo who had been sitting on the sofa since the start and hadn't stood up.

Isn't this courting death?

The balding forehead loomed before him in an instant; Tang Luo didn't stand, simply kicking his right foot upward, striking precisely against Zhang Caili's "head."

The massive head instantly made a ninety-degree sharp turn, smashed through the ceiling, then broke through two more floors, shattering the roof and flying into the sky.

Fortunately the night was dark; otherwise everyone would have witnessed a giant head ascending into the heavens.

"Dead?" Atuo looked up through the hole, scanning the sky, seeing no trace of the head.

"No." Tang Luo said.

A wave of cold, yin qi suddenly filled the entire room.

The head that had vanished reappeared once more.

But its appearance had changed significantly — first, size: from the original one-person height, it shrank to half a person tall.

The forehead and crown caved in a large section.

Near the mouth, several rows of teeth grew, constantly gnashing, producing clicking sounds.

The entire head was no longer solid, presenting an illusory, semi-transparent state.

"This is more or less the limit," Tang Luo said — the weakest and also the strongest state.

"Meow."

At the same time, a cat's meow rang out from outside the door, and Xiaotian Quan charged into the room.

Following close behind came another gust of cold, yin wind.

"Kill, die, kill, die..." Carrying a hint of shrill madness, the indistinct voice essence qi hou approached the room.

Tang Luo turned his head toward the doorway, seemingly curious what was coming.

Right then, Zhang Caili moved, charging at Tang Luo again, his speed even faster than before.

A hand completely covered in fresh blood, still dripping, clamped onto the doorframe; a face with tongue dragging outside emerged, scanning the room with twisted killing intent: "Kill, everyone, all must die—"

Tang Luo looked at the doorway, casually swiping; Zhang Caili's head, which had rushed before him and slightly blocked his view, instantly turned into a mass of black mist.

"..."

The unfinished words cut off abruptly.

"Excuse the intrusion."

The revealed head instantly shrank back, and that crimson hand likewise withdrew, leaving only half a bloody palm print behind.