Chapter 38

37. Possession

“The paper face is behind me?”

“Bai Xiue is behind me?”

Thoughts flashed one after another through Zhou Chang’s mind—he wanted to turn his head and see whether Bai Xiue or the paper face was right behind him.

But his body was frozen as if sealed beneath ice; no matter how his thought threads writhed within, he could not awaken this corpse of Zhou Chang!

“The paper face is behind this.”

Another thought flashed through Zhou Chang’s mind.

He watched helplessly as the dog-faced woman lunged toward him, her iron hook poised to pierce his throat—yet Zhou Chang suddenly grew calm.

Zhou Chang’s thoughts drifted along the thought threads scattered throughout the jian corpse’s body.

He shifted his intent, and every iron thought thread buried deep within the jian corpse’s flesh sharpened and hollowed out.

In an instant, all the iron thought threads resembled syringe needles!

“You want to play this game?”

“Then let’s play no more!”

Zhou Chang’s greatest advantage was never the number of thought threads he now possessed, nor the bone ring on his left thumb.

It was his ability to overturn the table right now!

Once this jian corpse completes embryonic transformation, it will become an extremely terrifying “Old Jian” among thought demons. Zhou Chang suspected that, even before he arrived in this world, an invisible hand had already been pushing the jian corpse’s embryonic transformation forward.

Zhou Chang died of a “curse illness,” killed by a ghost.

The ghost that killed him must be connected to that invisible hand in the shadows.

Their goal was to kill Zhou Chang’s soul, leaving only the jian corpse’s flesh to undergo embryonic transformation and become an Old Jian!

And Zhou Chang’s arrival in this world became the sole variable in their planned process.

His existence was like a nail protruding from a smooth tabletop.

Now, this nail had driven even deeper into the current situation.

If they tried to pull out this nail, they would inevitably disrupt the core, the branches, and the entire process—forcing it to halt because of him!

Hum!

The iron thought threads densely spread across the jian corpse’s body trembled violently!

Zhou Chang was about to release all his iron thought threads and drain the xiang energy from this jian corpse!

Even if the jian corpse’s xiang energy was abundant, if he drained it all dry, replenishing it would take dozens of days.

Who could guarantee no other variables would arise in dozens of days?

The more precise a plan, the more precisely it must control time.

Moreover, once he swallowed the jian corpse’s xiang energy, Zhou Chang himself would likely become a thought demon—then the Muhou ones would have to pray that the thought demon Zhou Chang would not trigger any “chemical reaction” with the jian corpse he possessed!

But judging from Zhou Chang’s identical birth chart and life circumstances as Zhou Chang’s, Zhou Chang becoming a thought demon would almost certainly trigger some strange chemical reaction with this jian corpse!

All these possibilities were merely potential outcomes.

But now, it came down to who had the courage to seize this possibility!

The paper face clearly had less courage…

As Zhou Chang released all his iron thought threads and prepared to drain the jian corpse’s stored xiang energy, he heard the paper face cry out beside his right ear—and instantly, his frozen body thawed!

Swish!

At that moment, the dog-faced woman’s iron hook stabbed toward him!

Just as before—Zhou Chang made no fancy moves; he raised his arm, spread his fingers, and seized the woman’s wrist, while his other hand raised the dagger high and drove it toward her face!

Hiss—

The dagger pierced one of the dog-faced woman’s eyes, then Zhou Chang yanked it out and stabbed again, blinding her other eye!

Multicolored xiang energy mixed with putrid blood poured from the two holes in her face!

She screamed with an open mouth: “Wu—Third sister! Third sister!”

She never expected this outcome!

The paper face, whom she called Third Sister, merely sighed.

Zhou Chang’s two stabs had pierced through both her eyes, the dagger tips emerging from beneath the long hair at the back of her skull—yet she still lived, showing no sign of dying!

Seeing this, Zhou Chang grabbed her thick hair with one hand and slowly dragged his dagger horizontally along her neck—

“Aaaaaaah!”

The dog-faced woman shrieked wildly!

Her entire head was severed by Zhou Chang!

The head still writhed in his hand, jagged dog teeth gnashing, trying to bite his arm.

The headless body sprinted past him, arms flailing!

Crimson xiang energy gushed from her neck, most of it dispersing into the air, while only thin strands of pure crimson energy flowed steadily into the first hole of Zhou Chang’s bone ring.

Inside that hole resided the thought of Aoduojī.

A satisfied whimper of Aoduojī echoed in Zhou Chang’s mind.

Some xiang energy within the dog-faced woman greatly benefited Aoduojī in the ring—it matched its diet perfectly.

What would happen if he continuously fed Aoduojī with this xiang energy?

As soon as Zhou Chang thought of this, he spun and charged toward the headless tall woman—

After losing her head, the dog-faced woman’s neck continuously spewed roaring xiang energy; her escape speed increased dramatically, like swirling mist!

In contrast, Zhou Chang now took two or three steps, then froze in place.

His heels would suddenly lift, then land again.

Moments later, seeing the headless woman vanish from sight, Zhou Chang turned helplessly—behind him, empty space; no trace of Bai Xiue or the paper face:

“You can’t stop me anyway—in your dog sister’s eyes—if she has any sense, she’ll think you’re deliberately cooperating with me, pretending to possess me and paralyze me, luring her to kill me.

Then let me take the chance and finish her off with a few stabs.

The outcome is already set—why struggle now?

You won’t win favor with your dog sister, but let’s make a deal—we still have a chance to work together sincerely…”

Behind Zhou Chang was clearly empty, yet after he spoke, the paper face’s reply came again beside his ear.

A cold voice seemed pressed against his ear—he whirled toward the sound, but found nothing: “Do you think I’m as stupid as that Bai woman, husband?

Cooperating with you? I’d be eaten down to the bone, not even a crumb left.

You’re a man with a pale face and a black heart—seemingly kind and gentle, but in truth, utterly self-centered and contemptuous of others. In just three or five days, you’ve already become a dangerous figure; who knows what kind of demon or calamity you’ll become later?”

As the paper face spoke, Zhou Chang kept turning his head, searching everywhere—but never saw the paper face.

Only the low growl from Aoduojī inside his ring, like a beast scenting prey, kept reminding him—the paper face was right behind him!

He looked down at his raised toes and suddenly understood—the paper face had possessed this jian corpse!

It could possess this jian corpse too!

But it didn’t control it as well as he did.

“You speak of me as if you know me intimately, like my lifelong wife,” Zhou Chang joked aloud to the paper face, while his left hand groped over his entire body.

To an outsider, this motion would seem lewd.

The paper face’s voice grew colder: “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Since I can’t move anyway, why not amuse myself a bit?” Zhou Chang shook his head, his hand brushing against a transverse bone at the back of his skull—immediately, Aoduojī’s excited roar echoed from within his ring—

Zhou Chang’s eyes lit up: “Ah!

Caught you!”