Chapter 86: Shedding Again, Another Trick Up the Sleeve

Chapter 86: Shedding Again, Another Trick Up the Sleeve

Squelch!

Teeth pierced flesh, and blood sprayed out.

The Pig Player was stunned.

What?

Who was the prey here?

The other guy was practically drained dry, yet he still managed to bite back? Feeling the blood gushing from his neck, the Pig Player was instantly consumed by a surge of blind rage.

"Can’t tell who’s the boss now?"

"In your half-dead state, you still think you can eat me?"

But soon after, he realized his stats were plummeting rapidly—faster than his own [Gluttony] could drain.

"What’s going on? Does the [Goat] zodiac also have [Gluttony] privileges?"

Realizing something was wrong, the Pig Player hastily opened his mouth and bit down on the other in return.

In the pitch-black room, only the sounds of gnawing and snarling filled the air. The two figures, seemingly locked in an intimate embrace, were in fact tearing into each other with vicious bites.

The scene resembled two apex predators, driven by extreme hunger, turning on one another—each desperate to devour the other.

……

Outside the room.

The Monkey Player sat on a chair, listening to the Pig Player’s frenzied roars from inside.

His expression twisted in discomfort. "Has this pig been starved for thirty years? Why’s he screaming like a madman?"

This was their prearranged trap—the Monkey Player’s role was to force Ji Yan out of Room 444, stripping him of the "lodging protection rules," while the Pig Player would then move in to feast and claim the kill.

As for the rewards? They’d split them after Ji Yan was taken out.

As time passed, the Monkey Player checked his pocket watch. Hearing the commotion inside die down, he stood up.

"Seems like it’s over."

He stepped forward and pushed the door open.

A wave of thick, metallic blood instantly assaulted his senses.

Waving a hand in front of his nose, the Monkey Player saw a figure slowly emerge from within. "Damn, did you have to go that hard?"

The figure didn’t respond, instead tossing a desiccated corpse onto the floor.

The Monkey Player eyed it, pinching his nose. "Tch. What a shame. This guy actually had decent skills and brains."

"Just bad luck, getting matched against the [Goat] zodiac in this instance…"

Mid-sentence, he suddenly froze.

Staring closely at the shriveled, wrinkled face of the drained corpse, the Monkey Player’s eyes widened in shock. "Wait… this is the pig—"

Before he could finish, a hand shot out and clamped around his throat.

The figure inside the room stepped fully into the corridor’s light—Ji Yan, face smeared with blood, grinned at the choking, red-faced Monkey Player.

"Surprise?!"

"Holy shit, how are you still alive?!"

Ji Yan didn’t waste words. He raised the hammer in his hand and brought it down with brutal force onto the Monkey Player’s skull.

Crunch.

The skull deformed, bone splintering as blood and brain matter sprayed from the cracks.

Releasing his grip, Ji Yan let the Monkey Player collapse into the spreading pool of blood.

Wiping the gore from his face, Ji Yan let out a satisfied burp.

"So full…"

Perhaps because of his previous "birth cannibalism" experience, this time, eating the Pig Player didn’t disgust him as much.

He just felt incredibly satiated, his body brimming with boundless energy.

Half of the Blood-Stained Paper Figure peeled away from the back of his scalp, landing softly on his arm.

Though it was just a paper figure, the Blood-Stained Paper Figure clearly appeared weakened. It gestured with its half-body toward Ji Yan. Ji Yan raised an eyebrow. "You're saying the other half of the paper figure is nearby?" The Blood-Stained Paper Figure nodded before retreating back into his scalp, clocking out at lightning speed.

Ji Yan stowed the hammer and glanced down at the Monkey Player on the ground, his expression twisting oddly. The Monkey Player, whose head he had smashed earlier, now had its scalp split open. As blood gushed out, the original corpse withered, and a "brand-new" Monkey Player emerged from within.

Another use of the Talent [Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell]. Clearly, its cooldown had reset. But for Ji Yan, it was just another swing of the hammer.

The Monkey Player revived once more, his newborn body slick with mucus. The moment he turned his head, he saw Ji Yan approaching, hammer dripping with blood, wearing his trademark gentle smile. The sight was nothing short of horrifying!

Pale-faced, the Monkey Player snapped the Buddhist prayer beads on his wrist and screamed into the air, "Guangshen! Save me!"

Ji Yan frowned and swung his hammer down—but in that split second, a pair of pitch-black hands burst from the floor, seizing the Monkey Player like quicksand and dragging him through the reinforced concrete to the floor below.

Immediately after, the floor melted as a patient covered in asphalt-like mucus crawled out. The eerie figure glared at Ji Yan. "I don’t care who you are. The Monkey Doctor saved my life. If you keep harassing him, your head will end up on the wall!"

As it spoke, it latched onto Ji Yan’s leg like sticky tar.

With the Monkey Player gone, Ji Yan’s mood soured completely. He stared coldly at the Asphalt Supernatural Entity clinging to him. "Calling for backup? Finding a protector?"

"Who can’t do that?"

He pulled out the last half-bottle of [Grease Perfume] and smashed it on the floor. Thick, brown-yellow liquid oozed out, filling the air with a strange, slightly nauseating stench.

"It doesn’t matter who you call."

"If they come, it’ll just mean one more head on the wall!"

The Asphalt Supernatural Entity slowly engulfed Ji Yan’s body, its voice dripping with scorn. Ji Yan said nothing, merely gazing calmly at the ceiling.

One minute later, the walls began to melt, seeping with grease—Liu Yan had arrived.

Three minutes later, the Asphalt Supernatural Entity had been torn apart by Liu Yan, leaving only half its body intact.

"Goat Doctor, should I take it back to my ward? I have a special set of methods for torture."

"I’ll fill its body with my grease. Once inside, it’ll ferment and expand rapidly. You’d definitely find the sight interesting… hehe."

Liu Yan’s mountainous body shifted slowly as she committed brutal acts, her words sickening and terrifying, yet her eyes brimmed with the shy infatuation of a maiden. Like a lovestruck girl carefully trying to please her crush…

As for the Asphalt Supernatural Entity, its earlier roars had turned into desperate pleas and wails.

Ji Yan looked at its mutilated remains and smiled. "How close were you to the Monkey Doctor?"

"Not close—no, wait… I don’t even know him!"

"Goat Doctor, spare me! I was just being stupid, offending you by mistake! Please… have mercy!"

The Asphalt Supernatural Entity begged pitifully, its body trembling as it met Liu Yan's predatory gaze.

"You don't recognize him?" Ji Yan frowned, dissatisfied with the answer.

Seeing this, Liu Yan tore off half of the entity's ear.

The Asphalt Supernatural Entity hastily corrected itself, "Goat Doctor, I understand now! I’ll take you to him right away—I know where he is!"

Only then did Ji Yan nod in satisfaction, signaling Liu Yan with his eyes.

Liu Yan gripped the entity tightly, enunciating each word with menace, "If the location is wrong, you’ll suffer horribly."

"And if you dare run, it’ll be even worse."

The Asphalt Supernatural Entity lay sprawled on the ground, not daring the slightest disobedience. Propping itself up with its hands and dragging its lower half, it began leading the way for Ji Yan.

......

Meanwhile.

The Monkey Player hadn’t fled back to his own accommodation room to seek protection under the nighttime "Accommodation Safety Rules."

Instead, he had gone to an Organ Storage Room.

Inside, various organs soaked in preserving fluids emitted a revolting stench, all of them pulsating with eerie vitality.

The Monkey Player entered, removing his white coat, his eyes filled with malice.

"That damn goat actually turned the tables and devoured the pig—what kind of monster is he?"

"Good thing we still have a backup plan. If you dare chase me here, don’t even think about leaving this room alive!"

As he spoke, he turned his head toward a piece of equipment, where another figure in a white coat slowly emerged from behind...