Chapter Seventy-Five: The Schismatics

In this situation, it was not suitable to summon the Butcher. With only a favorability of 10, their relationship was merely at the acquaintance stage—enough to recognize each other, but not enough to command or control. Coupled with the Butcher’s disregard for allegiances, a single encounter could easily result in the broad blade rising and Yang Shuo’s group of three being hacked into six mangled pieces.

Ellie was different. After spending some time together, Fan Li at least had the right to direct her, which allowed him to shift her focus and make her aware of who the real enemy was.

Naturally, Ellie’s appetite was abnormal; she had an insatiable craving for food. Based on past experiences with gaining and losing favor, Fan Li didn’t wait for her mood to drop—he immediately handed over ownership of the monster to her.

A mutated variant, superior to the common zombie, its body held far more enticing energy than a few ordinary humans.

As for the issue of visibility—

What? How could they fight in this pitch-black place without night vision?

Ellie and the Butcher—one with a maw full of teeth, the other’s head encased in a triangular crown—had never relied on ordinary sight. From the start, the darkness around them had posed no obstacle at all.

Fan Li gripped the crimson katana, eyes sweeping ceaselessly across their surroundings. Monster blood was a powerful tonic for the blade. When he had previously slain the Twin Feet, some blood had clung to the edge, and now the devouring scene repeated itself: the cloud-like bloodstains on the blade grew ever more vivid.

“All of you, gather together and crouch down,” he ordered.

At a moment like this, Fan Li didn’t have time to look after the others. Their only option was to cluster together defensively. Compared to standing and drawing more attention, huddling up was relatively safer.

A rustling sound came from the counter to the left.

Fan Li sensed something. Ellie, beneath him, reacted as well. Human and monster alike turned their heads sharply toward the source of the noise.

It was a head.

A head attached only by the neck, with the body below long since vanished.

The head floated in midair. Its skin color was indiscernible in the ashen gloom, but Fan Li could make out the dense swarms of spots on its skin—like crawling parasites, squirming and pulsating ever so slightly.

One could barely discern traces of its former humanity, but its facial muscles had shriveled, and most of the lips had rotted away, exposing sharp, barbed teeth.

From the sundered neck, threads of blood swayed and danced as if blown by an invisible wind, seemingly beckoning to the scattered remnants of its body.

Above to the right—

Other sounds echoed again. Fan Li first ordered Ellie to keep her eyes fixed on the head, then instantly looked up.

There, below the chest, hung the torso: two deformed legs and a belly split open down both sides, the organs within long since gone. Only ribs stood side by side, gleaming faintly, like a gaping mouth pointed at Fan Li.

Now the monster’s body parts were all assembled: legs, arms, a lone head, and a belly whose ribs served as weapons.

This monster redefined Fan Li’s understanding of the bizarre. Whether it was the Weeper who maintained its human form, or the Nightmare with six legs that could drag people into dreams, neither compared to the strangeness before him.

It had split its body into pieces, controlling them with undulating threads of blood. With neither hands nor feet, its sole means of attack were its teeth and the gaping chest, making it less dangerous than before.

Still, Fan Li knew better than to be careless. Monsters were called monsters precisely because they defied reason. Based on his past experience, he suspected that if this thing managed to sever a few human arms or legs, it might very well piece together an entirely new, twisted body.

He could not allow that to happen!

“Do you sense it? Kill it—this is your lunch today.” Fan Li patted Ellie’s head, his voice devoid of emotion.

The trio, huddled together, still didn’t know what was happening. But the prior commotion had made it clear: Fan Li had already encountered the lurking predator hidden in the dark.

Now, Fan Li’s uncanny mutterings made them tremble even more. They knew he could control monsters. That meant, besides the stalker and Fan Li himself, there was now a third party in the pitch-black corridor!

Would it be the little girl with the mouthful of teeth, or the giant wielding a broad blade, an executioner incarnate?

Events had spiraled far beyond their expectations. With no way to see, all they could do was wait.

A guttural snarl rasped from the floating head’s throat, its mouth yawning wide as it prepared to attack.

“Kill it!”

The best defense was a good offense.

At Fan Li’s shout, Ellie braced her legs and leapt, charging straight at the head. Her frail-looking fist shot out, striking the monster’s brow. The head split with a visible gash, jerked backward, and hung suspended in midair.

The torso, as if seeking help, drifted down, but Fan Li immediately closed in with the katana.

A cold gleam flashed as he slashed at the thigh beneath the torso. Resistance met his blade, but Fan Li was prepared. Gripping the sword with both hands, he poured all his strength into a single point—the legs at the knees were severed cleanly, tumbling aside.

Attacked, the torso’s spine writhed, then suddenly split apart, exposing bare bone. The ribs aimed at Fan Li. “Swish, swish, swish!” A volley of bones shot out like throwing knives, hurtling toward him.

The sudden transformation caught Fan Li off guard. There was no way to block it. He hastily crossed his arms in front of his face. Agonizing pain lanced through his forearms and abdomen. Thankfully, he had managed to guard in time, sparing his vulnerable face.

With a thunderous crash, Fan Li darted aside. When he looked up again, he saw that Ellie had already landed atop the torso, her delicate arms gripping the split ribs. Her jaws rotated, and as her hands pulled the bones apart, the speed of her gnashing teeth increased, her strength building with each turn.

With a sickening rip, the torso was torn clean in two. Dense threads of blood snaked from the wound, desperately reaching to rejoin—but Ellie was ready. She pressed her face in close and inhaled ravenously, the blood threads vanishing into her stomach in an instant.

A shrill, piercing scream echoed through the air.

The violence of their clash was like a raging sea—relentless and unending.

The hideous head plummeted from above, brains and foul blood oozing from its brow, its formidable vitality keeping it alive. Seizing a moment when Ellie let her guard down, it suddenly counterattacked.

Just as the rotting lips bit toward Ellie, Chen Feng, transformed into a shadowy blur, pounced.

“It’s most ungentlemanly to interrupt a lady’s meal!”

He swung his weapon at an angle, creating a sharper, deadlier edge. The bloodstained katana cleaved into the twisted face. In that instant, Fan Li twisted his wrist, focusing all his force. An unbearable stench erupted. The monster’s head split in two.

Point down, katana in hand, Fan Li rose expressionless, leaving behind only a shattered skull.

Ellie, meanwhile, had finished her feast, blood still clinging to her teeth. She tilted her head, appraising Fan Li, her aura subtly changed.

Before Fan Li’s eyes, two lines of bloody text slowly emerged.

[Slaughter Value +15]

[Favorability +10]