Chapter 35 - 33: Free Yang Xiao

Chapter 35: Chapter 33: Free Yang Xiao

After Yang Xiao devoured the thug’s shadow, the thug went silent.

When the Ghost Shadow Gloves stole a person’s shadow, the victim was condemned to live forever in darkness, suffering from debilitating weakness.

If the victim’s shadow was devoured, however, the victim would fall into a deep sleep.

They would be like someone in a vegetative state, unable to move, possessing only the most basic metabolic functions.

But if exposed to sunlight, they would still disintegrate into ash.

A dark shadow began to materialize at Yang Xiao’s feet.

A closer look revealed that this wasn’t Yang Xiao’s shadow at all, but the thug’s!

Yang Xiao let out a long, satisfied breath.

’It feels so good to have a shadow.’

’Even more shadows would be better.’

Yang Xiao looked greedily at the remaining men.

All of their faces turned a deathly gray.

’What is happening...’

’Is this guy who looks like a ghost really human?’

Suddenly, Yang Xiao clutched his forehead in pain.

A flood of jumbled memories was madly forcing its way into his mind.

These were the thug’s memories.

Devouring the thug’s shadow meant gaining his memories and Skills.

’So many foreign memories flooding in... My head is going to explode!’

"Run!"

One of the thugs roared, snapping the others back to their senses.

All the thugs immediately turned and fled for their lives down the street.

They didn’t dare look back, cursing their parents for not giving them two more legs.

"Hehehehe... Don’t go. Wait for me."

Yang Xiao’s eyes bulged, shot through with blood.

He clutched his head with one hand, reaching the other out toward the fleeing thugs.

A bizarre power emanated from the Ghost Shadow Gloves.

Yang Xiao’s shadow began to transform.

Like an old tree sprouting new life, the shadow suddenly grew several slender branches that snaked across the ground, shooting toward the thugs like vipers.

In just a few seconds, the viper-like shadows caught the thugs, piercing into their own shadows.

The thugs froze on the spot as if their pressure points had been struck. Only their internal organs continued to function; they couldn’t do anything else.

"So many... heeheehee... so many shadows!"

Yang Xiao grinned widely, making a yanking motion with the hand wearing the Ghost Shadow Gloves.

Those ’shadow vipers’ transformed into pairs of pitch-black Ghost Hands that ripped the shadows from the thugs’ bodies.

The shadows struggled, howling silently in a final, desperate scream for their owners.

Once their shadows were extracted, the thugs all collapsed in a heap.

The thugs’ shadows were stuffed into Yang Xiao’s mouth by the Ghost Hands.

"Urgh... Ah... Hah..."

Yang Xiao tilted his head back to the sky, his eyes rolling back.

He let out a series of moans, somewhere between pleasure and pain.

Swallowing so many memories into his brain also meant devouring a host of powers and memories that were not his own.

The woman with the wavy hair covered her mouth, staring in horror at Yang Xiao’s feet.

There, several shadows stirred.

’One person... how can he possibly have so many shadows?’

Besides, the shadows clearly didn’t all belong to the same person.

After a moment, Yang Xiao recovered. His eyes, filled with a frenzied madness, slowly turned to the woman with the wavy hair. A cold smile crept across his lips, revealing a set of deathly-white teeth.

"I can’t eat anymore. But you have to die."

The woman shook her head repeatedly, backing away slowly until she was cornered.

"No, please, no! I have money! I can give you money!"

Yang Xiao extended a hand toward the woman.

He had already pieced together information about Bai Litang from the thugs’ memories.

This included important details, like which mistresses Bai Litang kept and where he liked to spend his time.

It was true; he couldn’t eat any more.

The shadows of these few thugs had already left him as delirious as if he were on drugs. Eating any more would likely cause a complete mental collapse.

He needed time to digest these changes.

But this woman had to die.

She had seen what she shouldn’t have seen and heard what she shouldn’t have heard.

The woman burst into tears out of fear.

"Please, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you ask."

Yang Xiao paused. A thoughtful expression crossed his face as he asked curiously:

"And what can you do?"

The woman thought she saw an opportunity and hurriedly replied:

"I can sleep with you."

Disappointment filled Yang Xiao’s eyes.

"So you’re useless."

The next second, with a flick of his hand, Yang Xiao ripped out the woman’s shadow.

She slumped sideways, her head cracking against a sharp rock. Blood began to flow.

Yang Xiao was suddenly overcome with a wave of weakness.

Using the Ghost Shadow Gloves repeatedly had taken a severe toll on his body.

He couldn’t help but cough, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Yang Xiao froze, touching a finger to the blood on his lips. His eyes filled with confusion.

’How can this be?’

’Is this the side effect of using the Ghost Shadow Gloves?’

Then, as if realizing something, Yang Xiao clutched his stomach and burst into crazed laughter.

"Haha, ahahaha..."

"No wonder the Master took my shadow! No wonder!"

"I’m under the Master’s protection! I can’t die, no matter how many times I use these gloves!"

Having used the Ghost Shadow Gloves, he now had some understanding of the power of shadows.

’As long as the Master has my shadow, I am immortal.’

’No matter how bad my body feels, it’s just a sensation.’

Amidst Yang Xiao’s crazed laughter was an almost imperceptible trace of being moved.

He had never been protected, not once in his entire life.

His mother didn’t love him. His father didn’t love him. No one loved him.

Little Yang Xiao was a child starved of love.

Even the slightest bit of affection, even if it was just being used, would make him see the world through rose-colored glasses.

Yang Xiao murmured:

"What an honor..."

He raised his head and looked at Sun Jie, who stood nearby, her face pale with terror.

Yang Xiao started walking toward Sun Jie.

Despair filled Sun Jie’s eyes as she slowly closed them.

’I was born into the wrong life. I’ll have to be more careful in the next one.’

’If I were a normal woman, or even a normal man, my life definitely wouldn’t have been this miserable.’

She waited with her eyes closed for a long moment, but the expected pain never came.

Sun Jie slowly opened her eyes to see Yang Xiao standing before her—pale-faced, blood trickling from his lips, looking like a ghost.

Yang Xiao held a swirling mass of black shadow in his hand. He grinned and said:

"Here, for you. Eat it, and you’ll get to truly experience what it’s like to be a woman."

"You’ll get a woman’s memories, her physical sensations, even her feelings for other women."

"Hehehe, and that’s not all. You’ll also ’remember’ what it’s like to sleep with men."

"Take me, for example! Haha, hahahaha..."

"My head is now a jumbled mess of memories of one-night stands with countless women."

The memories Yang Xiao spoke of came from the thugs.

Sun Jie stared, stunned for a long moment, studying Yang Xiao’s face.

There wasn’t a trace of malice in it, only friendliness and... an indescribable look of appreciation.

In the past, men had only ever looked at her in one of two ways.

With either disgust or lust.

Never before had such a pure gaze fallen on this filthy body of hers.

Sun Jie found it unbelievable.

"You... you don’t think I’m disgusting?"

Sun Jie was truly a pitiful sight.

Even in a moment like this, her first thought wasn’t about her own survival.