Chapter 729: Xue Zhuo Awakens

A faint scent of blood lingered in the air. Walking through the Slaughterhouse, every step produced a scalp-tingling sound.

Leaving my footprints in the blood coating the floor was unavoidable.

Rental House No. 371 was likely another of Zhu Li's works, though this room involved too much he didn't dare let outsiders "appreciate."

Since Bai Ya'er hadn't eaten the meat in the Red Building and had yet to transform into a "pig," Zhu Li hadn't revealed all his secrets to her. That explained why I hadn't found a single photo of Rental House No. 371 on her phone.

If the residents of the Red Building wanted to lure in new tenants, they absolutely needed someone to travel back and forth to the Jinghai Urban District. Bai Ya'er filled exactly that role.

She wasn't a killer, but as an accomplice, she was even more detestable than one.

'Thinking about it, Zhu Li is only using her. Once she outlives her usefulness, she'll probably end up as another one of that madman's artworks,' I thought. Recalling Bai Ya'er's sickly gaze and her twisted devotion to Zhu Li, I shook my head. Even if she were strapped to a chopping block with a blade slicing into her flesh, that woman probably wouldn't feel a shred of remorse.

The windows were tightly shut with thick curtains drawn. The atmosphere in the room was oppressive, stifling enough to leave a person breathless.

"It's been cleaned spotlessly. Every inch has been smeared evenly with fresh blood, leaving no clues behind." I stopped beside the coffee table, staring at its dark brown surface. A faint human silhouette remained on it, and I could roughly make out that someone had been pinned down right here, head pointing down and drained of blood.

"The Red Building's outer walls are coated in red paint to ward off evil, but the real evil has long since taken root in people's hearts. The red inside is far more glaring than the red outside." With nothing more to gain, I quietly backed out of the room and shut the door. "This is Unit Three. I have two options right now: either go look for the little boy on the sixth floor, or head straight for Zhu Li."

An obsession existed within the building. That scorched, humanoid monster covered in bite marks was likely guarding the sixth floor, making it far too dangerous to head up there right now. Hunting down Zhu Li carried massive risks as well. If he was just an ordinary madman, I was confident I could subdue him by not holding back. But if he turned out to be the Butcher hiding in the Red Building, and he had laid out this entire trap in advance, I'd be in real trouble.

"Come to think of it, Bai Ya'er showing up on the road right then was far too much of a coincidence. It's highly likely they arranged it all," I muttered. Bai Ya'er was an excellent tool—exquisitely pretty, entirely obedient, and most importantly, so twisted inside that she would never betray Zhu Li.

Without realizing it, I had walked quite far down the corridor. I looked at the pitch-black emergency stairwell, unable to make up my mind.

My Judging Eye swept past, and suddenly, something moved in the distant darkness.

"Who's there?"

A short shadow stood at the top of the steps, holding a round, ball-like object.

"It's the kid who ran out of the Ancient Building!" I gasped. I had no idea if our paths had crossed by coincidence or if he had been trailing me this entire time.

'Better play it safe. He might be an obsession too,' I thought, standing frozen in place. Just as I was about to step forward, I paused, my mind spinning rapidly.

With my Judging Eye, I could see perfectly in the dark. The peeling paint on the walls, the stairs, and even that scorched monster covered in bite marks—I could see them all in crystal clarity. But this child alone appeared as a patch of shadow to my eyes!

It was as if he didn't belong to this world, drifting instead through the overlapping boundary between two separate realms.

This feeling was incredibly strange. It reminded me of the surreal experience of gazing at the Ancient Building from Bai Ya'er's home, where my sight seemed to pierce through time and everything slowed down.

The same scene appeared once again, only this time, the only one locking eyes with me was this child.

He was less than a meter tall and looked very timid. Clutching that ball-like object, he seemed ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"Can you see me?" I calmed down and waved at him. The moment I raised my hand, the child darted backward to hide around the corner of the stairs. It took two or three seconds before he peeked his head out again.

I was certain he was looking at me, which puzzled me. If he was like that monster covered in bite marks, he should have held malice toward the living. But I only felt curiosity coming from this child.

"Don't be afraid. Can you tell me where your home is?" I tried communicating with him. The short shadow seemed to understand my words. Hugging the round object in his arms, he stepped out of the stairwell, descended the steps, and cautiously approached me.

Afraid of scaring him, I stood perfectly still, watching him get closer and closer.

'He really is just a mass of shadow. This guy is nothing but a blurry human silhouette; I can't even tell his gender,' I thought. As the distance between us narrowed, I grew even more certain of my theory. This little guy's origins were far from simple, and I might be able to get some clues out of him.

It was a nice thought, but halfway toward me, the child acted as if he had suddenly been frightened. Without any warning, he whipped around and bolted up the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Before I could make sense of it, an urgent, aged voice suddenly rang out from the spirit platform within my sea of consciousness.

"Run!"

The unprompted warning made my heart tighten, and I quickly realized I was in immense danger.

The only one capable of transmitting his voice to me in the spirit platform was the Blood Fox, and he usually only spoke up when my life was in fatal peril.

I subconsciously glanced back. On the other side of the corridor, that tall, thin monster covered in bite marks was crawling on the floor, sniffing out a scent as it slowly closed in on me.

"It's the blood!" After leaving the Slaughterhouse, the soles of my shoes had picked up some drying bloodstains.

In just that moment of distraction, the tall, thin monster crawling on the floor raised its head. Its charred face had blurry features, and its two pitch-black eye sockets stared straight at me like black holes.

"Run!"

I didn't need the Blood Fox to rush me to know the situation was critical. I broke into a full sprint, chasing in the direction the child had just fled.

My footsteps shattered the building's silence as a desperate chase played out once more. Even the Blood Fox had been alarmed; it seemed this thing was indeed extremely dangerous, and until I figured out what it was, I couldn't fight it head-on.

'That child is also afraid of the obsession, which obviously means he's different from it. But what exactly is he? I saw him in the ruins of the Ancient Building, so how did he show up here in the Red Building?' I had many questions. If I wanted answers, the simplest method was to find that child and ask him directly.

As I sprinted madly, I threw a glance over my shoulder. The obsession was a lingering spirit, tailing right behind me. Its legs dragged the rest of its body forward while its upper half remained perfectly still. Only its two legs were sprinting wildly! The sight was utterly horrifying.

I didn't have any talismans or similar items on me, so I could only rely on the complex layout inside the Red Building to try and shake it off.

However, this monster seemed to have wised up. With the previous encounter as a lesson, even if I summoned ghost creatures this time, it would completely ignore them and charge straight at me.

Could this guy be preparing to possess my body, merge with me, and turn me into someone like Zhang Shuxue?

Covered in bite marks and scorched black—getting possessed by a monster like that would be a fate worse than death.

Just looking at it for a second longer gave me goosebumps all over.

The obsession chased me relentlessly. I used my Judging Eye to stay locked onto the child ahead of me. The short shadow was clutching the ball-like object in a panic, darting around in terror.

Soon, the sound of heads banging against doors echoed through the Red Building once more. Even more eerily than before, I clearly heard locks turning in the hallway. That meant the "pigs" living in the Red Building were coming out, and they would be joining this chase too, making my situation far worse!

'If push comes to shove, I'll have to flee the Pig Cage Apartments for now. But even if I make it outside, where can I go? For miles in every direction, it's all the Old Site of Pig Cage Apartments. Running out there might just lead me straight into something even more terrifying.'

I was frantic, but at this very moment, there was a "person" even more frantic than I was—the short shadow running ahead of me. This little guy was probably just curious about me at first, but who knew I would relentlessly chase him and drag the monster behind me right to his doorstep?

He would occasionally look back at me. He had already pushed his speed to the absolute limit, yet he still couldn't outpace the obsession and me.

'There's something wrong with this little guy. He's fleeing for his life, so why is he still refusing to let go of that ball-shaped object? Is that thing more important than his own life?' The round ball in his hands was about the size of a human head; clutching something like that while running definitely slowed him down.

In the blink of an eye, I had already run from the seventh floor to the ninth. The higher we went, the eerier the atmosphere became. I didn't know how long it had been since these rooms were inhabited. Many of the doors were rusted shut, and running past them, I could smell a heavy, rancid stench!

If it were any other time, I would definitely go inside and investigate thoroughly. But clearly, I couldn't do that now. The obsession was in hot pursuit, and the short shadow ahead was darting and weaving; a moment of distraction, and I might lose track of him.

"Where the hell are you? Why can I sense a terrifying power hidden all around us?" The newly awakened Blood Fox in my spirit platform still hadn't figured out the situation.

"I'm in deep trouble this time! Weren't you a fox immortal? Hurry up and think of something! If you pull another disappearing act on me, you can get ready to collect my corpse!" The Blood Fox and I were Bound in Glory and Loss. Our interests were perfectly aligned, and with the overwhelming pressure of this livestream bearing down on me, I didn't hold back my words.

"I have lost all my magical power and am incomplete. Every time I fall asleep to recover my strength, I'm woken up by you, and now you have the nerve to complain?" The Blood Fox's voice carried a hint of exasperation. After speaking, his tone grew even more weathered. "What disaster have you provoked this time? What is that thing chasing us? Neither human nor ghost... I've never seen anything like it."

"That thing is called an obsession. Supposedly, it escaped from the Animal Realm."

"The Animal Realm? Have you... entered the Underworld?"

"I don't know if this is the Underworld or not. All I know is that ghost arts and Daoist arts are useless against an obsession. Hurry up and think of a way to get rid of this thing!" The short shadow was only a few meters ahead of me, and I could catch it at any second, but the obsession behind me was also closing the distance fast!

"If it truly is an obsession, then there is no need for you to panic." The Blood Fox suddenly sounded much calmer.

"You have a way to deal with it?"

"An obsession forms because one cannot let go. In truth, my remnant soul has only managed to hold on until now by relying on a surge of obsession." Within the spirit platform, the Blood Fox's voice abruptly shifted. "If I do not bathe the Five Great Upper Sects in blood and wipe out the gods and buddhas filling the sky, I shall never enter reincarnation for all eternity. That... is my obsession..."