Chapter 474 - 415: Chaisi: Son (2)

Chapter 474: Chapter 415: Chaisi: Son (2)

The resident lifted the head, weighed it in its hands a few times, and began to bring it toward the black mist on its neck.

...Wait.

’What does that mean?’

’Losing one head is no big deal, you can just stick a new one on?’

Chaisi didn’t understand. Was it being delusional, trying to pass off a shoddy substitute, or did it really possess some method beyond human comprehension? But whatever the resident wanted to do, he couldn’t let it succeed.

He gripped the T-bar tightly and lunged at the resident, his muscles tensing into iron. He was confident that with a single strike, he could send that head flying, smashing it to pieces so the resident couldn’t use it.

By the time Chaisi realized he’d been tricked, it was too late.

He had been staring intently at the resident’s hands and the head. Perhaps he’d been careless.

But after fighting it for so long, Chaisi truly never imagined the resident had another trick he hadn’t seen.

Just as he closed in on the resident, arm raised high, before the blow could land—from between the pair of thighs thrust high into its chest, a long, fleshy shadow suddenly shot out, striking Chaisi right in the ribs.

He couldn’t even make a sound.

A brilliant golden agony exploded like a firework, then vanished into darkness in an instant.

Chaisi could only vaguely feel himself falling, endlessly plummeting, as if death were a bottomless descent.

Not until the back of his head slammed hard onto the ground, forcing a pained grunt from him, did his shattered consciousness, like snowflakes and raindrops, begin to flutter back into his mind.

’...If the resident could laugh, it would probably be giggling right now.’

With a flick of its hand, it tossed the head aside. The head hit the ground and rolled far away.

Chaisi felt as if he was groaning softly, but he wasn’t sure. He struggled, using his elbows to prop himself up, and slowly, inch by inch, raised his head.

His vision was as if it had been pushed underwater—blurry, dim, and unsteady.

From between the resident’s two legs, a third arm was now dangling—it was definitely an arm, pale and plump, clenched into a fist.

When Chaisi got a clear look at the third arm, the resident noticed his gaze and suddenly became coy and bashful.

It twisted its body, twining its two legs together to hide the third arm as if forbidding Chaisi from looking any further. By the time it turned back, the third arm had already retracted into its chest.

The resident casually walked toward Chaisi, even picking up the T-bar along the way.

Forget fighting back or escaping; Chaisi couldn’t even crawl at this point.

He simply collapsed back onto the ground. Just like Fu Tailan a dozen or so minutes ago, he too lay on the road, gazing up at the curtain of rain and the night sky.

’Dying doesn’t matter. Everyone slips up eventually. It’s just that this resident’s particular brand of treachery is a little too disgusting.’

He gave a silent laugh.

’Whatever. My whole life has been spent in filth and darkness. I’m no respectable person, so I don’t deserve a respectable death.’

’To die at the hands of a resident is frustrating, but it’s better than dying at the hands of a person, isn’t it?’

His phone vibrated faintly. A message had come in.

’Right... The Household Hunters always say that residents are very curious creatures...’

"Wait, I have a message," he said in a hoarse voice, his gaze still fixed on the sky overgrown with pale grass. ’I’m about to die. My last sight better not be this resident.’

"I want to see who it’s from and what it says."

The resident made no sound—of course it didn’t—and after waiting a few seconds, Chaisi noticed it hadn’t advanced on him either.

’So it really is curious?’

Since the resident wasn’t moving, he reached for his phone. The moment he moved, he realized the ribs on his left side felt completely shattered. Just extending his arm sent waves of blackness through his vision from the pain.

Chaisi gasped for breath, managing to lift the phone before his eyes only with great difficulty. Under the pouring rain, successfully unlocking the screen nearly killed him.

It was a message from Han Liuyue.

"Brother Chaisi, by the time you see this scheduled message, I will have already opened the Path and entered the Nest with the brain. Everything has gone smoothly so far. From now on, even if things don’t go smoothly, I’ll force them to. You must be careful. Come home soon."

’Is that so... She’s finally in the Nest.’

’Too bad. A step too late. It looks like I won’t be coming home.’

Chaisi closed his eyes, his arm falling limply. His consciousness and strength felt as if they’d been soaked by the rain, slowly melting away, about to flow into the earth of Blackmoor City like Original Liquid.

’No... that’s not right.’

’Even if the resident was curious about the message, it’s been standing still for far too long.’

He opened his eyes.

Chaisi gathered his strength again, enduring the waves of agony that would have made an ordinary person faint, and slowly sat up from the ground. The resident was standing in front of him.

Its feet were motionless, not attacking Chaisi, but its body was slowly leaning backward, like a dancer gradually doing a backbend.

Except, for every inch this "dancer" leaned back, a little more of it vanished into the Black Abyss Belt.

...Chaisi understood.

Han Liuyue had succeeded. His guess was right.

’After entering the Nest with the brain, she must be using it to drag the resident back into the Nest, bit by bit... right?’

Perhaps it was the severity of his injuries, or perhaps it was the shock of his near-death survival, but for a moment Chaisi even forgot to stand up. He just sat there, staring blankly as the resident retreated into the black mist.

When it vanished completely and the driver’s corpse hit the ground with a THUD, it was as if that dull sound had jolted him awake from a trance.

’...It’s over?’

’It seems to be over.’

’In this life, I have no Path, and it looks like I’ll never get one, yet I’ve actually managed to drive three residents from the human world back to their Nest...’

’Isn’t that a little funny?’

Too bad he was almost out of breath. He couldn’t laugh.

Chaisi had no idea how he managed to get up and walk, step by step, to the SUV. He even suspected that he’d actually died once while getting into the car.

He took out the car key and started the engine.

There were still two corpses in the car, but he had no strength to deal with them.

Just the series of actions—closing the door, pressing the gas pedal—felt like an endless torture. Thankfully, the end of this torment was home.

Chaisi dialed Uncle Kai’s number.

"...Your Aunt Hai and I are in the parking garage underneath Temptation."

His voice was soaked in worry and exhaustion, weighing heavily on Chaisi’s eardrums. "The convoy you arranged is here, ready to go. Blackmoor City is no longer a place to linger... As soon as you get back, we’ll leave immediately."

The Kai Family had invested heavily in building a safe house in the Upper State District. Calling it a "safe house" was a bit of an understatement; a place that even artillery shells would struggle to chip a corner off should probably be called an underground fortress.

Uncle Kai said hoarsely, "We’ll leave together, as a family."

As Chaisi stopped the car and stumbled out of the SUV, he could almost still hear Uncle Kai’s words echoing in his ears.

He clutched his ribs tightly with one hand, his steps heavy. In his hazy consciousness, only one thing remained: walk toward that distant row of glaring white headlights.

Like a moth drawn to a flame.

Nearly half the underground parking garage was illuminated by the lights of the Kai Family’s convoy, so bright it filled one with a disorienting sense of hope.

A few Household Hunters saw him from a distance and had already gotten out of their cars to approach him. But for some reason, they all stopped halfway and just stared at him from afar.

’...What’s wrong?’

Chaisi was in too much pain to speak, so he couldn’t call them over to help him. He could only continue to hobble forward, step by step.

On a car in the very center, a door opened.

Uncle Kai stood up from behind the car door, his eyes meeting Chaisi’s. They were too far apart; Chaisi couldn’t make out his expression or hear his voice.

’...We’ll leave together, as a family.’

Uncle Kai came around the car door and suddenly strode toward Chaisi.

Aunt Hai pushed open the door on the other side and stood there stunned, also staring straight at Chaisi.

"...Uncle Kai?" Chaisi said in a low, reassuring voice. "Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s just some superficial wounds..."

He trailed off.

Uncle Kai’s lips trembled, his pupils dilated, round and black. When he spoke, his voice was like a dead leaf blown by the wind onto a dry riverbed—something utterly lifeless, yet faintly trembling.

"...Son."

Chaisi stopped in his tracks.

He stared intently at Uncle Kai, studying his expression.

After a few seconds, Chaisi slowly turned around.

...Not far behind him, on the parking garage ramp that sloped upward as if to touch the ceiling, was another figure.