Chapter 197: Pick One?

Lin Yifan snapped his head back, only to see Su Xiao xi's face ashen as paper, her body trembling slightly.

Her gaze locked onto the corpse, her eyes filled with disbelief and deep fear.

"This... impossible..." Su Xiao xi murmured, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

Lin Yifan warily scanned his surroundings, confirming no danger before slowly walking toward the corpse.

The corpse's posture was bizarre: the upper half faced up while the lower half faced down, the body twisted at the waist into a 90‑degree angle.

Human bones simply cannot twist like that, so the corpse's waist must have been fractured—and likely shattered long ago.

Even stranger, the corpse's skin was intact, merely unusually pale.

Especially the face—its expression was lifelike, showing no stiffness of death, almost identical to that of a living person.

The expression was somewhat odd, the eyes betraying all‑around fear, yet the corners of the mouth curled into a pleased smile.

Such contradictory expressions on the same face made anyone who saw it feel a chill down the spine.

More importantly, although the corpse before him appeared completely intact, Lin Yifan could tell at a glance that it was merely an empty shell.

Beneath the pale, unbroken skin lay a mass of maggots—oddly, they all seemed already dead.

However, according to the understanding of the supernatural opposition to Maggot Human Bone, these maggots are actually a mutation of the Red Moon's power; aside from burning them with fire, it is hard to eradicate them by other means.

Even if some could be killed by brute force, the corpse would be devoured by other maggots, which would then spawn even more.

That is precisely why this corpse seems even stranger!

"Didn't you say he died on the first day?" Lin Yifan asked in a low voice, reaching for the blood‑stained slip of paper.

"I... I watched him being devoured by maggots..." Su Xiao xi, her face full of confusion, rare for her to show a childlike demeanor, spoke in panic:

"This can't be my brother, absolutely cannot be my brother..."

Lin Yifan unfolded the slip of paper, on which a few crooked characters were written:

"Xiao xi, run! They will imitate..."

The writing breaks off here, the final strokes dragged out long, as if the writer had suddenly encountered something terrible.

Lin Yifan's heart sank. He turned quickly, only to find that Su Xiao xi, who had just been standing behind him, had vanished.

"Su Xiao xi?" he called out warily, gripping his weapon tightly.

No response.

Lin Yifan rushed out of the Shelter; the rain outside had stopped at some point, but the air was thick with a rotting stench.

This stench was not unfamiliar to him at all!

Earlier, when he was dragged into the Illusion Realm, the air there reeked of the same decay, making him feel nauseated just from a whiff.

It was not a physical nausea, but a nausea deep in the soul!

Hard to put into words—basically, smelling it made his whole body feel ill!

And this odor also signified the power of the Red Moon!

Now that this smell appears here, it can only mean one thing: the Red Moon's power has resurfaced!

Lin Yifan's vigilance instantly spiked to the extreme!

He glanced around and spotted a slender figure slowly heading deeper into the woods not far away.

"Stop!" Lin Yifan shouted sternly, giving chase.

The figure halted, slowly turning. Under the moonlight, Su Xiao xi's face bore an eerie smile, her lips almost splitting to her ears.

Yet the fear and panic in her eyes were completely undisguised!

Especially when she saw Lin Yifan's gaze, it instantly turned into a plea for help.

Seeing Su Xiao xi's eyes, Lin Yifan knew she still retained her own reason; it was just that, for some unknown reason, her body was being controlled.

And at that moment, Su Xiao xi suddenly spoke!

"Yifan brother," her voice suddenly turned hoarse and twisted, "why are you chasing me? You already refused my invitation, so why are you still pursuing me?"

Lin Yifan felt a sudden chill run up his spine.

It was the Red Moon!

The Red Moon was controlling Su Xiao xi—but what did it want?

"Who are you?" he asked coldly, silently mobilizing his inner power, ready to strike at any moment.

"Su Xiao xi," she tilted her head, her neck emitting an unnatural "crack‑crack" sound, and laughed eerily: "I'm Xiao xi—don't you recognize me?"

Just then, Lin Yifan heard a faint sobbing from behind him.

He snapped his head around and instantly saw another "Su Xiao xi" curled beneath a large tree, her face streaked with tears, lips trembling as she could not speak.

"Save... save me..." she managed to squeeze out a few words.

Meanwhile, her body was being steadily covered by a mass of maggots, which had already reached her waist.

According to Su Xiao xi's earlier description of what happened to her brother, once these maggots completely cover her, she will surely die.

But now the problem is, there are two Su Xiao xis before him— which one is real and which is fake?

At the same time, the other "Su Xiao xi" showed a look of terror and shouted at Lin Yifan:

"Yifan brother, save me! Please, hurry and save me!"

He glanced over and saw that her body, too, was beginning to sprout maggots.

The two of them were like contestants, constantly begging him for help!

Seeing this, Lin Yifan's previously agitated emotions instantly cooled.

He now realized—this wasn't about saving anyone at all.

It was clearly forcing him to pick one.

If he chose wrong, the real Su Xiao xi would likely never return.

And once he chose wrong, he would be choosing the Red Moon's will, which would mean he was betraying the Survival Realm.

Lin Yifan cannot bear such consequences!

Red Moon's will had obviously anticipated this, so she played such a trick.

But just a moment later, Lin Yifan burst out laughing.

Because this choice might be extremely difficult for others, but for him, there's basically no need to choose!

Because from beginning to end, he always knew which one was the real Su Xiao xi.

He turned without hesitation and rushed to Su Xiao xi, who was sitting paralyzed under the tree, maggots about to cover her chest, and he took out a bottle of water and poured it directly on her.

"Believe me, close your eyes!" Lin Yifan shouted loudly.

Su Xiao xi stared for a moment, gritted her teeth, and then without hesitation closed her eyes.

The next second, the water poured on her instantly turned into ice crystals.

The ice crystals froze all the maggots, like an ice armor, encasing Su Xiao xi inside.

Lin Yifan flicked his finger on the ice armor, and it instantly shattered, scattering the frozen maggots onto the ground.

Ah, at this moment, the fake Su Xiao xi suddenly let out a piercing scream, her body twisting and deforming like melting wax.

Countless maggots surged from under her skin, forming a disgusting tentacle that suddenly lunged at Lin Yifan's ankle.

Lin Yifan reacted extremely quickly, a silver light flashed, and the dagger precisely cut off that maggot tentacle.

The severed part fell to the ground and instantly turned into a puddle of foul-smelling pus.