Chapter 189: The Shadow's Ability

I... I'm still a little scared.

Liu Ting's voice trembled with sobbing, clutching her boyfriend Zhang Wei's arm tightly, her body shaking violently.

Zhang Wei held her, his complexion equally pallid, yet he forced a comforting tone: "Don't be afraid, big brother Jiang Yuan is here; if we follow him, we'll definitely be fine."

I might actually be smaller than all of you... Jiang Yuan thought to himself.

He didn't look back, only murmuring a single sentence.

"If you don't want to die, stay close."

He pushed open the Storage Room door, and a wave of cold, damp air slammed into his face.

The scene in the First Floor lobby was even more Weird than before.

Under the flickering lights, the wandering "Patient" seemed to have increased in number.

A tall, thin man knelt on the ground, his fingers frantically drawing something on the floor while muttering under his breath.

Not far away, a woman held a Weird posture, her head twisted toward the ceiling at an impossible angle, motionless.

The air was saturated with the scent of blood and Formalin, so thick it seemed almost solid; each breath felt like swallowing icy water tainted with rust.

Seven people, like seven specters pressed against the wall, in the shadows of pillars and the Storage Room, inched forward little by little.

Jiang Yuan led at the front, his senses amplified to the limit.

His eyes caught every shift of light and shadow, his ears filtered all the ambient noise.

He had to locate the monster Jack Smith, whose abdomen bulged and whose mouth sprouted infant arms, before being discovered.

That was their only "cure".

The team's atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

Except for Jiang Yuan, everyone else felt their hearts rise to their throats.

Fear and hunger, like two poisonous snakes, frantically gnawed at their will.

Just as they were about to bypass the triage desk and prepare to venture deeper into the darker Corridor.

Mutation erupted suddenly!

Creak!

A footstep sounded from the wall behind their side.

Everyone's bodies stiffened, and they whipped around.

It was the woman who had been staring at the ceiling earlier!

She slowly turned her body.

A Weird, satisfied smile spread across her face, her mouth forming an exaggerated arc.

Her eyes, lacking pupils, were a terrifying stark white, staring straight and sharply at Liu Ting at the rear of the team.

"B... been discovered!"

Xiao Ma's voice changed pitch.

Almost the instant his words fell, the woman moved!

She used all four limbs, like a deformed spider, climbing the wall at a speed that defied common sense, clinging to the ceiling, and charging wildly toward the crowd!

"Run!"

Jiang Yuan shouted loudly, without a second thought, turning and sprinting toward the predetermined Corridor!

The six people behind, as if waking from a dream, let out terrified shrieks, rolling and crawling to keep up.

The instinct to survive overpowered everything!

Heavy panting, chaotic footsteps, and that woman's "Heh heh" cackle from behind intertwined into a fugitive symphony.

No one dared to look back.

All they knew was to run, sprinting with every ounce of strength!

Yet how could ordinary people outrun the Weird monster?

"Ah!"

A mournful, harrowing scream came from the rear of the team.

It was Liu Ting!

In extreme panic, her footing gave way, and she fell heavily to the ground.

"Tingting!"

Zhang Wei, running ahead of her, eyes bulging, instinctively halted, turning to try to pull her.

But it was too late.

That spider-like silhouette had already lunged right in front!

The monster mounted Liu Ting, opening its mouth that wore a Weird smile.

The next second.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, it lowered its head and viciously bit Liu Ting's neck!

"No!"

Zhang Wei let out a beast-like, desperate howl.

Jiang Yuan abruptly halted, turning his head to look.

Blood spurted out, staining the ground crimson.

Liu Ting's body convulsed violently a few times, then fell still.

And the monster lifted its head, mouth full of blood, its smile growing ever brighter.

It chewed the flesh in its mouth, a satisfied gurgle emanating from its throat, then turned its stark white eyes toward the nearest Zhang Wei.

"Aaaaaa!"

Zhang Wei let out a howl, tears streaming from his blood‑red eyes; he picked up a broken iron pipe from the ground and, like a madman, charged at the monster.

"I'll go all out against you!"

However, a mortal's courage before the Weird is so fragile it cannot stand a single blow.

The monster simply waved its hand casually.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound of bone cracking rang out.

Zhang Wei's body, like a torn sack, flew backward, slammed heavily against the wall, slid to the floor, and his chest caved in at a bizarre angle, silencing him.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Two living lives were gone just like that.

The remaining five had blank minds and cold limbs.

And after dealing with Zhang Wei, the monster did not pause for a moment; it planted its limbs on the ground again and, unhurriedly, crawled toward Jiang Yuan and the others.

It was toying with them.

It was enjoying the thrill of the hunt.

"I can't run... I can't run..."

Xiao Ma leaned against the wall, gulping breath after breath, his face written with collapse.

Chen Shao and Ahu also wore ashen faces, their stamina exhausted to the limit.

Li Na leaned against Jiang Yuan, biting her lip hard, her eyes filled only with despair.

It's over.

Completely over.

"You all go first."

Jiang Yuan's voice was hoarse yet unusually calm.

He pushed Li Na aside, alone, took a few steps forward, and blocked everyone.

"Jiang Yuan! What are you doing?!"

Chen Shao shouted hoarsely.

Jiang Yuan gave no reply; he simply stared fixedly at the monster drawing ever nearer.

"Run! Hide in a room! Quickly!"

Jiang Yuan reached into the Card Bag at his waist, drew out several Metal Playing Cards, and pinched them between his fingers.

The edges of the cards glimmered with a cold sharpness.

"Let's go!"

He turned back, faced the four stunned people behind him, and roared with all his might!

Chen Shao and the others trembled from the roar, and the will to survive seized the high ground again.

They glanced at Jiang Yuan's not particularly broad but now mountain‑like reliable silhouette, clenched their teeth, and rushed toward the deep corridor.

The monster ignored the four fleeing.

All its attention was focused on Jiang Yuan.

"Hehe..."

The monster halted less than three meters from Jiang Yuan, and slowly rose from the ground.

Its body emitted a nauseating sound of skeletal dislocation.

Jiang Yuan's heartbeat raced to the limit; his hand gripping the playing cards turned white at the knuckles from the strain.

He knew that the playing cards were almost ineffective against the patients here.

...... In the end, still have to die here?

Just as the monster lifted its claw, about to pounce.

An indescribable, bone‑piercing cold burst violently from the shadow beneath Jiang Yuan's feet!

Jiang Yuan's whole body convulsed!

He lowered his head.

He saw the elongated shadow under his feet, stretched by the light, wildly writhing and boiling in a way that defied physics!

It came alive!

The black shadow, like living liquid, suddenly stretched from the ground, sprouting several jet‑black Shadow Tendrils!

"Swoosh!"

The tendrils, like arrows released from a bow, made no sound as they cut the air, yet bore an unrivaled force, lashing toward the monster like lightning!

The smile on the monster's face froze for the first time.

It seemed to sense a terror from a higher tier, let out a sharp screech, and turned to flee.

But those Shadow Tendrils were faster!

They instantly coiled around the monster's limbs and neck, binding it tightly in midair!

The monster thrashed wildly, yet could not move the shackles of shadow in the slightest.

Jiang Yuan stared blankly at the surreal scene, his mind completely crashed.

"What... is this?"

"Did I... do this?"

Immediately, something even more terrifying occurred.

Those Shadow Tendrils began to pull forcefully backward!

They intended to drag the monster, alive, into the shadow beneath Jiang Yuan's feet!

The monster let out a scream brimming with fear, and its earlier smugness and cruelty were gone.

But everything was in vain.

Its body was gradually pulled toward the black area on the ground.

Like a person about to drown, being dragged into a bottomless deep pool.

Half of the monster's body was swallowed; its scream became muffled and dull.

In the end, its head also completely sank into the Shadow, and all sounds abruptly ceased.

In the Corridor, a death‑like silence returned.

Jiang Yuan lowered his head and looked at his own Shadow.

It lay quietly on the floor, plain and unremarkable, no different from before.

As if everything that had just happened were merely a bizarre illusion.

Yet the strong scent of blood and the dark crimson that Zhang Wei had left on the wall both reminded him that this was not a dream.

"Ugh......"

A wave of intense vertigo and nausea surged into Jiang Yuan's mind!

He braced against the wall, feeling the world spin.

In his mind, countless chaotic memory fragments filled with brutality and pain appeared.

Those belonged... to the monster just now!

At the same time, a cold, absolutely possessive will awakened deep in his consciousness, beginning to frantically gnaw and devour those foreign memory fragments.

The two wills launched a silent war in his mind!

Jiang Yuan clutched his head in pain and let out a suppressed low growl.

This feeling tormented him more than any physical injury.

He felt his soul on the verge of being torn apart!

But gradually, the monster's frantic will began to retreat step by step.

In the face of that cold, powerful will of the Shadow, it was utterly powerless.

In the end, all the chaos and brutality were completely suppressed, absorbed, and assimilated.

The vertigo slowly faded.

Jiang Yuan leaned against the wall, panting heavily, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

He felt... as if he had changed a little.

A strange connection formed between him and the Shadow beneath his feet.

He could sense that within the Shadow there was now a compliant "thing" he could command at any time.

A thought rose uncontrollably from the depths of his heart.

It emerged.

Jiang Yuan instinctively reached out, aiming at the empty space before him.

The next second.

The Shadow under his feet churned again like boiling ink.

A dense black mist rose from the Shadow, and in mid‑air quickly coalesced into a familiar humanoid shape.

It was the Female Patient who had just been swallowed!

She stood there quietly, surrounded by a faint black aura; her pallid eyes held no emotion, only a hollow, dead silence.

She lowered her head, like the most loyal servant, awaiting her master's command.

At the end of the Corridor, Chen Shao, Li Na, Xiao Ma and Ahu stuck their heads out.

They saw the scene.

They saw Jiang Yuan and the monster that stepped out of his Shadow, bowing to him.

The expressions on the four faces froze instantly.

Fear, shock, bewilderment, disbelief......

In the end, all emotions turned into the same gaze.

It was a gaze that, while looking at a fellow being, was completely beyond comprehension—a gaze at a… brand‑new species.