Chapter 38: The Lights that Attract Moths
[Supernatural Creature: Slave of Desire]
[Status: Near death]
[Information Fragment 1: When human beings with a weak will encounter evil supernatural objects because a certain desire was too strong, he or she would eventually become a slave to the object and gradually be eroded or distorted by evil forces. Everything they did would be to provide for that supernatural object in order to satiate their own desires. They are collectively referred to as slaves of desire.]
[Information Fragment 2: His desire was lust. By providing for his supernatural object, he acquired an extraordinary genitalia and had a high level of attractiveness to the opposite sex.]
[Information Fragment 3: In order to provide for that supernatural object, he seduced and then murdered more than seven women and devoured the spirit force in them. He was the serial killer who made the women of Blue Deer City constantly fear for their lives: the Withered Flower.]
…
The information fragments that flowed past his eyes made Tang Qi who was still a child in this life somewhat speechless.
But he understood now why this painter had such poor fighting ability. Not to mention Tang Qi who had the Chaga Fighting Technique, any relatively strong man would probably be able to kill him.
Perhaps, this guy asked for the wrong attributes.
Tang Qi had a bit of an impression of the Withered Flower described in the interface.
Recently, a serial killer appeared in Blue Deer City, next to Moses City, who specifically killed beautiful women. There was always a withered flower left at the crime scene, so some bothersome media person named him "Withered Flower".
The title was poetic, but unfortunately the actual person was just a disgusting guy.
Recalling that piece of reporting a little, it was notable that the reward on this guy was not low.
Unfortunately, Tang Qi did not mean to receive the reward.
"Cough~cough cough"
Screech~screech.
The ground here was clearly a lot cleaner than that in the Bronx area, but right now it was still in a mess. In the blood and dirt, the painter was struggling. He attempted to use his palms to cover his opened throat, but his fractured arms were clearly unable to do this.
The decent clothes he was wearing had long been dirtied badly. When he saw that he would not survive this, he finally remembered something. He gave up his struggle and started crawling to the things fallen on the ground not far away.
The painter's aim seemed to be one piece from the pile of art pieces.
His twisted, blood-soaked palm reached over quivering, and it seemed that he could touch it in the next moment.
Then a silver-white knife flashed past.
With a stab, the sharp blade of the knife pierced through the whole palm and nailed it in place. An excruciating pain came to him, but with his throat opened, he wanted to scream but could only make out a panting sound like a bellows. Blood flowed out at an even faster pace.
Tang Qi didn't make any more movements but directly put away that pile of paintings, and without singling out that painting that seemed to be a supernatural object, he stuffed them all into the painter's bag.
After packing up, the painter had already stopped breathing and ended his life in pain.
Tang Qi turned around, watching a pink misty spirit slowly flow out from the body, and a strong sense of lust rushed out. Although his expression at the moment was extremely painful and his body was also twisted, it still gave out a strange aura that was both repulsive and imagination-provoking.
Without any scolding or any indignant denunciation, Tang Qi simply snorted and his palm, covered in flames, abruptly grabbed the head of this grievous soul. In screeching sounds, the grievous soul disappeared without a trace.
He felt that a string of golden light dots flowed into his mind space, and a smile finally appeared at the corner of Tang Qi's mouth.
Fuel added once more!
After saying so in his mind, Tang Qi paid no heed to the corpse on the ground, grabbed the bag, and turned to leave.
This painter was a fool twisted by his desires. Just now, when he was struggling, Tang Qi saw some women's underwear show in his trouser pockets. No doubt, this guy also took away some "souvenirs" after he committed his crimes aside from leaving behind the withered flowers.
"The first one to find the body would have pretty much won a small lottery," Tang Qi muttered as he stepped out of the alley.
But at this moment, in the mind space in Tang Qi's brain, the golden light spots surged, and a strong warning of danger again gave Tang Qi a slight pain like he was poked by needles.
Almost instinctively, before his heel touched the ground, Tang Qi followed the essential teachings of the Chaga Fighting Technique — his toes forcefully pushed against the ground, his heel turned, and instantly, he changed direction to leap back into the alley.
It was also this moment, in mid-air, that Tang Qi saw the figure of the "attacker".
It was a wolfhound-like shadow who had rushed over in a speed that far surpassed human. It sprang towards the wall, kicked against the wall, and directly bit towards Tang Qi's neck.
A bloody wind blew into his face. Tang Qi could even see the scarily white, abnormally interlocked teeth in the huge mouth of the wolfhound. In the cracks between teeth were some fresh meat, and even one or two strings of black hair.
Human flesh!
Tang Qi's heart tightened, and at the same time, killing intention filled his heart. He was about to kill and get rid of this evil dog in mid-air.
But right at this moment, sounds of howling came from outside the alley.
Following that, wolf-shaped shadows approached very rapidly under the light of the street lamps. Then, Tang Qi saw seven or eight huge wolfhounds similar to the one who attacked him, gritting their teeth, their mouths covered with hairs and blood, their deadly green eyes shining with an appalling light.
These horrible creatures rushed towards Tang Qi at once.
"I attacked a wolf's den?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the same moment that this thought appeared in Tang Qi's mind, an exaggerated-looking pistol was already held in his hand.
The first to "taste" it was, naturally, the head wolf who almost bit into Tang Qi's neck.
With a smoldered bang, there was a smell of gunpowder, while the head of the fiercest wolfhound instantly deformed like it was hit by a heavy hammer. The scalp that was hard enough to resist the close-up shot of a rifle couldn't actually resist the bullet enshrouded in golden light.
It burst into pieces like an overly ripe watermelon.
The rest of the wolfhounds suffered the same fate.
Tang Qi had no particular training in shooting, nor could he get perfect hits all the time.
Nevertheless, when Tang Qi pulled the trigger of Blood Python No.1, the supernatural pistol would adjust the aim automatically, and a majestic kind of suppression would put the monster in a state of shock, and even if it was only for a mere half-second, it was enough to turn them into ice-cold corpses.
"Phew~"
In the alley, Tang Qi held Blood Python No.1. His breathing was somewhat rapid. He looked at the corpses of giant wolves that looked similar to a breed called Saarloos wolfdog, but much larger and much more monster-like. His face was a little heavy, not because he had killed too many, but because, at this time, Tang Qi finally realized that he made a pretty significant mistake.
"Buzz".
Tang Qi looked at the back of his hand. There, the dark, cold aura given off from the Mark of Misfortune almost froze Tang Qi's hand.
An unimaginable sense of foreboding washed over him like a flood.
At this moment, he felt a malice similar to what he felt when he faced the painter and the giant wolf-monsters.
But it was more intense, more dangerous, and at the same time, the number was… beyond imagination.
"I turned on a light that attracted moths but didn't turn it off.
"Or should I say that I underestimated the power of misfortune?"
As he muttered, Tang Qi's thoughts focused hard on the mark on the back of his hand that was like a violently burning flame. With an evaporating sound, amidst the gray, black, and cold smoke rising, the light from the imprint rapidly dimmed. It was finally turned off.
But right now, Tang Qi looked at the blood-soaked entrance to the alley, and his face grew even graver.