Chapter 213: Too Big, Too Big (Guaranteed Second Chapter)

What…

【RUN!!】

Fang Yue was still stunned when the parchment's urgent text appeared once again.

【RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN!!】

【THEY'RE COMING!!】

They?

Fang Yue's face turned grim; though he didn't know what was happening, he roared anyway.

"Everyone, sprint with me—toward Mo Cun!"

What?!

The others had been standing guard, but hearing this, they all froze in confusion.

The Hunter had just calmed the 【Blood Beast Hound】 and was about to ask Fang Yue what was going on.

Then he saw Fang Yue, after shouting those two phrases, let out a "Yah!", suddenly whipping the horse wildly, accelerating to insane speed like a racehorse's final burst—making the horse sprint furiously!

His pupils shrank; the Hunter immediately sensed something was wrong.

He had never seen Fang Yue so panicked before.

He gritted his teeth, roared, and sprinted forward alongside the Divine Doctor.

At the same time, the Hunter remained tense, scanning the surroundings.

But nothing.

Nothing at all.

Around the village path stretched endless rice fields—Mo Cun's rice fields.

Yet inside the fields, there was no movement whatsoever, save for the chaotic noise of their own sudden sprint—no other creatures, no anomalies appeared.

"What… exactly is going on?"

The Hunter glanced at the 【Blood-Headed Hound】 running beside him, but the 【Blood-Headed Hound】 let out two low whimpers, its expression equally innocent and bewildered.

He turned to the Divine Doctor—he too looked tense and helpless.

"Did Yeye say she found anything?"

"No? Ye Ge only said to run, then bolted off."

As he spoke, the Hunter pointed ahead—and froze.

He saw Fang Yue running fast… no! He was running too fast!

He actually thought the horse was too slow—he dismounted and sprinted on foot!

For short bursts, Fang Yue's speed far outpaced the horse.

But for endurance, the horse could cover much greater distances.

Fortunately, Mo Cun was just ahead.

"So Ye Ge plans to… run all the way into Mo Cun on two legs?"

The Hunter was baffled—this behavior was too bizarre.

He couldn't make sense of it at all.

"Divine Doctor, could Ye Ge be possessed?"

As the Hunter turned to ask, his expression suddenly changed.

He saw the Divine Doctor, likely overwhelmed by the violent motion and frantic riding, his frail body giving out—he closed his eyes and collapsed from the horse's back.

Luckily, the Hunter caught it in time—he reached out, grabbed him, lifted him, and placed him atop his own horse.

"Divine Doctor? Divine Doctor! Divine Doctor, are you alright?!"

The Hunter shouted in panic, but the Divine Doctor gave no response—he feared the man was dead, checked him, then sighed in relief: the Divine Doctor had merely fainted.

He looked up again—the entire group was in chaos, stretched out over a wide distance.

The masons and other villagers lagged far behind; the team members were scattered in the middle and front.

At the very front, Fang Yue sprinted ahead without ever looking back.

The whole scene looked like the end of the world—everyone fleeing in the final moments.

Yet… the surroundings were perfectly calm, the sky a clear blue, the setting sun glowing warmly and beautifully.

How could such a peaceful scene…

Boom!!

Blood exploded.

A torrent of blood splashed onto the Hunter's face, clothes, and entire body.

He froze.

Stunned, he stared at his longtime companion—suddenly reduced to a pulp, limbs flying everywhere.

Hum—

The surrounding sounds faded, leaving only the ringing in his ears.

His breathing grew heavy, rising and falling.

The Hunter's wide eyes locked onto the pool of blood and flesh on the ground.

That was… the 【Blood Beast Hound】's corpse.

"No!!!"

Time's flow resumed.

The Hunter opened his mouth and screamed wildly, spun the horse's head around, left the Divine Doctor on the saddle, and rushed to the corpse, falling to his knees.

"No… no, no no no no! No!!!"

This roguishly handsome old man, his eyes red, kept shedding tears.

Memories of the past surged into his heart, scene after scene.

For many years, he had been nothing more than one of the ordinary Hunters of Gu Yue Cun — his hunting skills were decent, but nothing outstanding.

But by a twist of fate, he obtained a pup of the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】, and raised it to adulthood.

That was the turning point of his life.

Relying on his ghost-hunting 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】, he gained an unrivaled status in the village, and took root there, becoming the village's mainstay.

Life only began to get better from that point on.

Everything, absolutely everything, was inseparable from the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】.

But… just as the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】 was about to retire and live out its old age, it died right in front of the Blood Hunter.

His "closest friend" of so many years, dead before his eyes — the Blood Hunter broke down, wailing and sobbing his heart out.

He didn't know how he'd been helped onto a horse; he only sensed people around him shouting, lifting him up, forcibly dragging him onto the horse, and being carried along by the horse as it drifted forward with the crowd.

Everything, it seemed, had lost all meaning.

……

A few minutes earlier.

Boom!!

A tremendous explosion erupted behind them.

Fang Yue turned to look, and his pupils instantly contracted.

That was — the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】!

How did it die?! Who did it?!

What was the method of attack?

He couldn't see it, didn't know, couldn't understand at all!

Danger, danger, danger!!

Fang Yue felt a terrifying pressure, as if a Black Cloud were pressing down from above, blotting out the sky, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Parchment!!"

【Here!!】

"What on earth is going on?! Why did you suddenly make me start running, why did you say as long as I ran that would be enough, and the others don't need to be worried about, they'll be fine? Then why did the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】 die? Will An Shenyi and the others get into trouble too?"

Fang Yue couldn't care about anything else; he roared out these questions.

But on the entire village road, he was already the only one charging toward the front — the escort team members closest to him from behind were separated by a long distance, and with the chaos of the situation, there was no worry at all about others hearing his voice.

The roars, cries for help, and chaos from behind alone were already enough to drown out Fang Yue's voice.

The barrage of questions didn't stump the Parchment; it immediately gave answers.

【I am Fang Yue, I am fleeing!】

【I trusted Lord Parchment's words, but Lord Parchment didn't foresee that the Ghost Curse would briefly obscure Causality.】

【So they acted ahead of time, so I must also arrive at Mo Cun a few minutes early!】

【Otherwise I will die!】

【I obeyed Lord Parchment's words and started running!】

【I ran very fast, but it wasn't enough, so I abandoned my horse and sprinted wildly!】

【The Ghost Curse's target is me; it won't harm the others.】

【Lord Parchment said so, but Lord Parchment didn't expect the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】 to cry out and get entangled in Causality.】

【So it died.】

【Now, only I remain as the sole point of Causality.】

【Flee into Mo Cun!】

【As long as I reach that place…】

Damn!!

Sure enough, it's still that Unknown Ghost Curse's problem!

But… didn't the system say the Ghost Curse status had already been removed? Why am I still being threatened?

Could it be that even the system can't be trusted these days?

Unlike figures such as An Shenyi, they had ways to detect Ghost Curses.

But Fang Yue relied entirely on the system's status panel to judge his own situation.

So he had never once suspected the system could make a mistake.

No, it might not necessarily be a mistake — perhaps the nature of that Ghost Curse was just that special.

In the final analysis, it was still the Analysis Pupil being useless, unable to discern what that Ghost Curse's origins were.

Fang Yue sprinted wildly, panting hard, almost using every ounce of strength he had.

He didn't know where the enemy was, nor where the danger lay.

He was simply obeying the Parchment's words, sprinting with all his might.

The problem was, it wasn't nighttime.

In broad daylight, his stats were only 80 points, without the recovery boost of Night Breathing.

So after this wild sprint, Fang Yue was already feeling exhaustion.

But it still wasn't enough!

Mo Cun hadn't been reached yet!

In fact, had the 【Blood-Headed Giant Hound】 not suddenly exploded, Fang Yue, who still hadn't seen the enemy, would probably have started suspecting the Parchment had a problem by now.

But right now, he just wanted to sprint for his life!

The person at the very front of the escort convoy, looking at Fang Yue now, could only see a tiny black dot.

The distance between the two had been pulled apart by exactly this much.

Compared to Fang Yue's solo movement, the bloated convoy was simply not suited for rapid marching.

【Almost there! Almost there! Almost there! Go, go, big brother who runs really fast!】

Shut your mouth!!

If you keep babbling I won't feed you Black Ember anymore!

【That wasn't me……】

【Black Ember? What are you feeding, strange big brother?】

Wh……at……

Mid-sprint, Fang Yue's face suddenly changed drastically, and he stopped dead.

How could another kind of text suddenly appear in my mind?

Boom!!

His head, as if about to explode, suddenly bulged out a large chunk toward his left cheek!

His entire face instantly became a square shape.

And the extra half-head was rapidly writhing, reshaping, gradually molding into a human head.

What the hell is this?!

Fang Yue instinctively drew his blade, but the next moment, he found himself frozen in place!

He, could not move!

No……he could still move, but only to the extent of wiggling his fingers.

This feeling was extremely bizarre.

It was as if his brain had issued a command, only for it to be canceled out by another order!

This was a clash of two wills, resulting in suppression over control of the body!

His pupils contracting, Fang Yue roared wildly in his heart.

"Parchment!!"

【I'm trying!!】

【Hee hee hee! Offend my Wuyu Clan……huh?!】

The small head splitting off from the left side of his head, as if receiving some influence, suddenly stopped reshaping.

But it had already carved out a girl's face.

That was……Ma Ling'er's face!!

"You're Ma Ling'er?!"

"Ma Ling'er? Who's that?"

This time, the text no longer appeared from within his mind; instead, the woman's face on the left opened and closed its mouth, speaking the words.

Watching such a bizarre scene, Fang Yue's heart lurched, his spine went cold, every hair on his body stood on end, his whole frame trembling.

This is haunted!!

"Parchment!!"

【Feed me black stones!!】

"Hee hee, keep struggling hard, big brother, you can do it!"

Ma Ling'er revealed a pure, flawless smile.

At this moment, Fang Yue felt a strange and bizarrely terrifying sensation.

He felt his brain's marrow, skull, and everything inside his brain were all transferring toward Ma Ling'er's small head.

While his own real head was shrinking!

Everything was slipping away!

Without a doubt, when this was complete, Fang Yue would undoubtedly die!

This was not a bizarre physical attack of punches and kicks.

This curse-like attack wouldn't even cost him HP!

But the instant everything was complete, the victim would absolutely die on the spot!

Between life and death, Fang Yue, with strength from who knows where, loosened his fingers little by little, dropped the Leng Yue blade, then abruptly produced the parchment in his left hand, while his right hand, veins bulging and willpower pushed to the limit, finally fished out two black stones, and little by little forced them onto the parchment.

"Hee hee! The thing you're raising is so weird, I've never seen it before. But it doesn't matter, soon it'll be mine."

Ma Ling'er's small head gradually grew larger, while Fang Yue's head gradually withered and shrank.

The speed of this transformation grew faster and faster; Fang Yue's control over his body was slipping away bit by bit, and his head had already been sucked down to only half its original size!

"Parchment!! Eat it, ahhhhhhh!!"

Fang Yue roared wildly as he frantically stuffed the black stones onto the parchment.

【Mmm mmm mmm! N-no, don't be so rough, m-mouth, the mouth can't fit it all, mmm mmm mmm! T-too big, too big! Too much!!】

So saying, the parchment still desperately forced itself to swallow the two black stones.

Boom!!

The next moment.

Fang Yue felt his heart, like a pendulum, suddenly pound violently once.

Ma Ling'er seemed to sense something; after absorbing most of Fang Yue's head, her originally stiff face became vivid and lifelike, showing an expression of shock and disbelief.

"Impossible?! Who exactly are you……"

【GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY!!】

BOOM!!

Ma Ling'er's voice cut off abruptly.

A violent force suddenly erupted from within Fang Yue, bursting outward.

BOOM!!!

A ring of translucent, invisible ripples spread outward in a circular pattern, wildly expanding.

The ground beneath Fang Yue cracked violently and sank downward.

The surrounding rice fields, as if struck by a hurricane, swayed and collapsed wildly, falling inward from all directions toward Fang Yue, flattening row after row.

"Ha… ha… ha…"

Fang Yue gasped for breath.

He had finally regained control of his body.

He turned his head toward the nearby skull.

Fang Yue's face was grim.

His vision was impaired.

His head had shriveled to the size of a fist; when he looked up, he could see only the lips of Ma Ling'er's skull.

The only good news was that Ma Ling'er's facial features were gradually fading, merging into her skin, forming a face without features.

Though still horrifying, at least it would no longer drain Fang Yue's brain marrow as before.

It seems the parchment succeeded!

This bastard really did hide something—just expensive: it took two Black Stones to resolve it…

Fang Yue was just about to exhale when text suddenly exploded in his mind.

【RUN!!】

【IT'S NOT OVER!!】

【HEAD TO MO CUN!!】

(End of Chapter)