Chapter 365 - 366: Showing Off Gone Wrong

Chapter 365: Chapter 366: Showing Off Gone Wrong

Nax wasn’t exactly an atheist; he maintained a certain reverence for the mysterious. However, he didn’t subscribe to any religion. He felt they failed to represent the gods they worshiped, and that those gods had been overly deified and were rife with contradictions.

To outsiders, Nax seemed to suffer from some sort of mental illness. He had a tendency to overthink things and was easily startled, but his powers of observation were astonishing.

As the saying goes, there’s a fine line between genius and madness. In his current state, Nax had already made a name for himself in the private detective industry.

A month and a half ago, a wealthy couple hired him to investigate their daughter’s boyfriend from school.

It wasn’t a difficult case, and Nax handled it with ease. But in the process, he suddenly noticed something was off.

His keen observation skills made him highly sensitive to changes in his surroundings.

The subject of his investigation would often get intimate with the wealthy man’s daughter in a corner of the school after classes, so Nax frequently stayed until after dark.

The client had only asked him to investigate, not to intervene, so he felt it was none of his business that they were having sex.

The first day he arrived at the school gate, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But after a while, he began to notice that after nightfall, the lights in the surrounding houses were turning on less and less.

Now, all the old houses surrounding the school were shrouded in darkness.

These ancient houses were all inhabited by the elderly. While seniors in the United States tend to be quite modern and not the type to shut themselves in, they certainly had less contact with the outside world than young people. Furthermore, most were retired, and their children didn’t visit often.

’If they suddenly disappeared, it would probably be a while before anyone noticed, wouldn’t it?’

The thought simply popped into Nax’s head, and his intense curiosity compelled him to take a closer look and see what was going on.

His very first look revealed something terrifying.

The elderly residents were all there, moving stiffly in the dark, yet they refused to turn on any lights.

In the dim moonlight and starlight, they all appeared terribly gaunt. One or two might have been a coincidence, but when he saw that everyone in the unlit houses looked the same, Nax’s instincts told him something was terribly wrong.

Then he saw it—a horrifying monster.

Its body was like a maggot covered in centipede-like legs, but its head was disturbingly human. It would climb onto the elderly and feed on... something.

It was only through immense willpower that Nax stopped himself from screaming in terror.

But he soon discovered that while the monster looked terrifying, it wasn’t as powerful as its frightful appearance suggested.

First, it hadn’t noticed him. Second, it wasn’t particularly fast. It only seemed to prey on the elderly and didn’t even dare to appear in well-lit areas.

The elderly residents acted normally during the day, though their health was clearly deteriorating. But at night, especially when the monster arrived, they moved like zombies.

The strangest part was how the monster vanished. After it finished feeding, it would disappear abruptly every time. No matter how closely he watched, it would simply vanish without a trace.

For nearly two weeks, Nax observed it carefully. He noticed that the monster was becoming more and more human. In addition to its head, it had now developed shoulders and hands.

A gut feeling told him he had to act. He couldn’t let this monster complete its transformation into a human.

As for calling the police? Not an option. Nax’s "madness" was flaring up, and it was a bad one this time.

It was a powerful sense of mission. He researched all sorts of lore, armed himself with various exorcism tools, and even stashed a few small canisters of gasoline nearby. In short, he was going to destroy this Evil Demon with his own two hands!

But at the same time, another symptom of his "madness" emerged.

He believed heroes should be cool and need an audience. He was going to purify the Evil Demon, and even if no one could witness the process, they should at least get to admire his dashing appearance.

While his detective work usually required discretion, right now he was dressed to the nines, ready to strike a pose.

...

"It’s 8:00 PM. There’s hardly anyone on the streets. Following the pattern, it’ll most likely show up at the Morgan House first today. Conservatively, it won’t emerge before ten, which gives me two hours to finalize my setup!"

He glanced at his watch and muttered to himself.

The monster seemed to go for "freshness," never returning to the place it had just fed. By his calculations, it was Old Morgan’s turn tonight.

He picked up his bag, slapped a black cowboy hat on his head, and with a dramatic flourish, strode into the dark alley.

Nax knew a rather pretty girl was watching him from the school gate. This whole series of poses was entirely for her benefit.

’Tsk, tsk... He’s quite the show-off, isn’t he!’

Qin Xiaoxia thought with great interest as he watched the scene unfold.

But Lilika totally fell for it. From his movements to his outfit, Nax had indeed looked very cool.

The girl was both captivated and intensely curious about what he was up to.

Contrary to what Nax might have thought, Lilika was no ordinary girl, and her curiosity was just as extraordinary.

And so, a minute or so later, she asked herself a question.

’What am I doing following him?’

Yes, Lilika had quietly followed Nax. And since he was a detective, how could he possibly have missed the girl’s clumsy attempt at tailing him?

But the guy actually pretended not to notice.

Well, the pursuer and the pursued shared a similar mindset: the thrill of it all!

It was truly a bizarre turn of events. Qin Xiaoxia was at a loss for words, and Su Su looked utterly baffled.

...

The alley was dark, and ahead lay the equally unlit residential district.

For Americans, who value their personal space, this compact architectural style was rather uncommon. It was more reminiscent of the old towns in some European countries, or an Italian style—a popular trend borrowed from the last century.

A few minutes and two or three turns later...

Lilika lost focus for a moment, and the handsome figure ahead of her vanished. She quickened her pace, hurrying out of the alley.

"Who are you? Why are you following me?"

A steady, magnetic male voice spoke from behind her, fitting every one of Lilika’s fantasies.

’His voice is just as amazing as I imagined!’

Like so many innocent bystanders brainwashed by movies, Lilika instinctively felt a sense of closeness to him simply because he was incredibly handsome. She couldn’t believe he was a bad person.

She turned around and got a clear look at the man’s face up close. The strands of blond hair peeking out from under the brim of his hat highlighted his chiseled features.

’He’s even more handsome up close!’

"I... I..."

She was so flustered she started to stutter.

SKITTER SKITTER SKITTER...

A faint sound, like the skittering of mice, made Nax freeze for a second.

"I was just... Mmph!"

Lilika had just started to speak when Nax lunged forward and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh."

The girl saw the man’s expression was incredibly tense as he scanned his surroundings—front, back, left, right, and even above—before finally looking directly at Lilika.

"You shouldn’t have followed me! It’s extremely dangerous here!"

...

"Pfft—"

Su Su, who had already reached a nearby rooftop, couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

’That guy obviously noticed Lilika ages ago, and now he’s saying something like that.’

She glanced at her Mentor, but seeing his neutral expression, she swallowed the sarcastic comment on the tip of her tongue.

"Those old people... they’re beyond saving."

Qin Xiaoxia let out a soft sigh. While his attention was on the young man and woman below, he had also extended his senses to the surrounding residents.

...

"I’m going to let go now. Don’t make a sound, or we’ll both be in grave danger! Understand?"

The handsome man leaned in close, whispering the warning to Lilika.

Her breath hitched, and her chest rose and fell rapidly. ’This pose, half-leaning in his arms... it’s perfect!’

She nodded meekly, showing that she understood.

Only then did Nax slowly release his hand. He was relieved to see the girl didn’t scream.

He pulled her over to the wall, where they could hide. He peeked around cautiously, scanning the nearby houses, before turning back to her with a serious expression.

"I’m here on a special job. It’s too dangerous for you. You need to leave now, while you still can. I don’t know if I can protect you otherwise!"

But the girl just stared at him. ’Is she in shock?’

"What kind of work? Can I help?"

Lilika’s reaction was a little unexpected.

"No, and you wouldn’t believe me anyway. A lack of proper reverence can be extremely dangerous!"

In movies and TV shows, the characters who refuse to believe in the supernatural almost always end up dead. Nax felt there was a certain logic to that.

You know, the type who sees an obvious zombie, runs up to it yelling, "Sir? Are you okay, sir?" and then promptly gets bitten.

Seeing the girl gripping his arm tightly, with no intention of leaving, Nax started to get anxious. He felt he might have overdone his ’cool guy’ act.

"Let me put it this way. Do you believe in supernatural forces? Do you believe in things like Magic and Evil Demons?"

"If you don’t believe, you should—"

"I do!"

Huh!?

Nax’s train of thought completely derailed.

’This isn’t how the script is supposed to go.’

"Please don’t joke around, Miss. I don’t have time to—"

"I’m not joking! I really do believe!"

Lilika answered with the utmost seriousness. In truth, she herself possessed a certain mysterious power.

SKITTER SKITTER SKITTER...

The sound returned, and Nax gave up trying to argue.

He simply took Lilika with him, leading her a little further until they reached the side of Old Morgan’s house. He quietly peeked over the windowsill.

His pupils contracted. Just as he’d thought, the monster was inside, coiled around Old Morgan.

He yanked Lilika over, clamped his hand over her mouth again, and forced her to look.

"You won’t want to stay after you’ve seen this!"

The girl could feel the immense pressure of the hand over her mouth; he was clearly terrified she would scream.

She cautiously peeked into the window, her wide, bright eyes taking in the scene inside.

The nauseating, horrifying monster was coiled around an old man, sucking something from him. She could even faintly hear a weak, hoarse "Guh... guh... guh..." sound coming from deep within the old man’s throat.

Sensing her ragged breathing, Nax pulled her back.

"Still don’t want to leave?"

But Lilika’s expression was one of pure terror. With her mouth still covered, she couldn’t speak, so she pointed frantically at the window.

Nax assumed she was just terrified and was about to say something, but Lilika, with surprising, tomboyish strength, grabbed a handful of his hair—hat and all—and yanked his face toward the window.

A pale human face appeared in the window. Below its chest was a disgusting, worm-like torso with countless slender, insectile legs.

CRACK... CRACK...

Cracks spiderwebbed across the window pane, spreading rapidly.

With a loud BANG, the glass shattered completely. Even the window frame tore loose. The final barrier between them and the monster was gone.

In that instant, Nax’s heart rate skyrocketed. He shoved Lilika aside and whipped a test tube of Holy Water he’d gotten from a church out of his trench coat pocket.

"Die, you monster!"

As she was pushed away, Lilika watched the handsome figure hurl the test tube. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

POP!

The test tube hit the creature’s soft, fleshy torso and bounced off.

"Shit!!!"

’It didn’t break!! What a colossal mistake!!’

CRACK!

The test tube hit the wall on the other side of the alley and shattered, the Holy Water splashing uselessly against the brick.

His other tools were in his bag; there was no time to grab them.

"RUN!!!"

Nax roared, snatched his bag, and bolted. As he ran, he fumbled inside it for things like salt and Garlic, while Lilika reacted instantly, sprinting in the opposite direction.

PS: First Chapter for Sunday.