Chapter 35

Chapter 35

It was the first time Sang Huaiyu had encountered such a situation. At first, he thought he might have misread it. Yet no matter how far he reached out with his awareness across half the city, there was only silence—his consciousness remained unresponsive.

He paused for a moment and slightly narrowed his eyes.

Was the problem with the Mimosa itself, or... had someone interfered with His mark?

His fingers lightly tapped together. Unfortunately, to confirm this, he would need to inspect the Mimosa directly. If he forcibly used his abilities to investigate, he would likely trigger the Ability User Association's alarm system throughout all of B City. That wouldn’t help maintain his continued disguise as human.

Still… Sang Huaiyu raised an eyebrow, growing even more curious about what had happened in his absence.

...

Shi Yu had no idea that when the Little Monster expelled the Mimosa, it had also inadvertently erased the divine mark on it.

After waking up groggy from sleep, all he felt was an aching back and sore limbs. It had been less than a month since discovering the Little Monster, and although his belly hadn't noticeably grown larger, Shi Yu was already experiencing the discomforts of pregnancy.

Not only did he constantly feel fatigued and sleepy, but his back ached so badly he couldn't sit up straight, wanting only to lie down.

But he couldn't sleep any longer!

From last night until now, it had already been nearly twelve hours—any more sleep would be too much.

Shi Yu took a deep breath and slowly sat up.

After studying the "Little Monster Rules" last night, his belly had become noticeably quiet. Now, sensing he was awake, the Little Monster lay curled up and still inside, as if afraid to disturb its mother.

Shi Yu rubbed his lower back, unsure whether to call it good behavior or not.

But… it was still a Little Monster, after all.

His heart hardened again—he needed to discipline it properly this time.

He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a steak to cook. But the moment he pulled it out, his stomach lurched violently—the nausea came rushing back.

The Little Monster didn’t dare move, worried for its mother. It worried she might be malnourished. But since she had told it to stay quiet, it didn’t dare act recklessly.

Shi Yu rushed to the bathroom and was sick for what felt like ages, though nothing came up. His stomach was on fire with discomfort.

Leaning against the sink, he waited until the nausea passed before exhaling in relief and rinsing his mouth.

Again!

Hadn't it even lasted a full month?

While the Little Monster merely suspected its mother needed nutrients, Shi Yu was certain—his body needed to feed again.

Last time, he had consumed the energy from two Horrors—one B-rank and one A-rank—but it had sustained him for just over twenty days.

He lifted his hand and slowly walked into the study, picking up a notebook to make a note.

After recording the interval, he highlighted this detail.

If B-rank and A-rank lasted twenty days, what about S-rank?

Would the effects last longer?

Lost in thought, he couldn’t help but consider targeting… an S-rank next?

If Shi Yu had been a little worried before about where to find the Horrors—worried it might set off a chain reaction—then after interrogating Feng Yunzhen, who’d disguised himself as an old man, he finally had a plan.

Ahem. What about “Gu Ember”?

With so many members, each rumored to have multiple Horrors, surely he could just grab one and get what he needed, right?

This was way easier than randomly searching around.

Besides, he'd already crossed paths with that group. Even if "Gu Ember" didn’t know it yet, Shi Yu had made up his mind to take them down.

Yeah, perfect. Decision made!

Shi Yu glanced out the window at the sky, and a name came to mind.

That night during the interrogation, Feng Yunzhen had spilled the name of another member of “Gu Ember”—Yao Chang, who lived in the outskirts of B City.

Since the entire city was crawling with patrols now, the group had missed their chance to escape and scattered, going to ground in different corners of the city.

Feng Yunzhen had targeted Sun Heng, while Yao Chang, because of his special Horror Item, was hiding near a warehouse on the outskirts.

The two had a slightly better relationship than most other members of “Gu Ember.” After fleeing separately, they’d even texted each other once to confirm locations.

And wasn't that exactly… right before he went knocking to question Feng Yunzhen?

Shi Yu pulled out Feng Yunzhen’s phone. It had stayed turned off the whole time. Both were on the run, and after sending one message, there hadn’t been any further contact.

They probably hadn’t caught on yet.

Shi Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then on impulse ordered a black raincoat and umbrella online.

...

The weather in B City had been constantly dreary, with frequent rain since spring began.

Yao Chang had transformed into a crow and was hiding in a tree. But suddenly, heavy rain poured down, soaking him and making him scowl.

Normally, he would’ve gone looking for some warm house to hide in, but now, thanks to the Ability User Association, he had to be careful. Unless absolutely necessary, he avoided people.

He was different from the others—he was the most mutated.

The Horse-Faced Man and Feng Yunzhen could still mostly keep a human shape, though messed-up looking. They were still close enough to pass as people.

But Yao Chang wasn’t like that. His mutation ran too deep. From the very beginning, he’d practically fused completely with his Horror Item. Now, it was hard to say whether he was human or Horror.

When he took human form, his face bristled with sharp black spikes, and his mouth had twisted into a bird-like beak.

One look and you'd know something was wrong.

So Yao Chang was pretty much forced to hide. Before, he’d hidden underground with the Horse-Faced Man and the others, but now that the basement had been discovered, he had to stay low near an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town.

Wedged inside the hollow of a tree, he felt a spike of hatred rise as he glared at the workers below hauling boxes.

Why weren’t they leaving?!

What were they waiting for?

These were people he’d normally ignore, but now he found himself silently cursing them, praying they’d hurry up and leave so he could make his move into the warehouse.

“What’s that noise?”

The foreman moving the cargo touched his safety helmet, puzzled.

"There was no sound."

"Probably just the rain playing tricks on your ears," a younger worker replied. "Lü, let’s hurry—rain makes the roads slippery. We should finish and get out of here fast."

Otherwise, if the rain got worse, they might get stuck on the mountain.

Foreman Lü nodded, pushing aside his doubts, though that earlier rustling still bugged him. It had sounded like a huge bird right above them a second ago.

Ah, whatever. It wasn’t strange for birds to be around in the woods near the suburbs. After all, it wasn’t downtown—wildlife was common here.

Let’s get out of here—this place gives me the creeps.

They carried everything into the warehouse, checked the count, then popped open their umbrellas and locked the door. Lü waved the others down the mountain while calling the warehouse owner.

In the pounding rain, the mountain soon fell silent again. Yao Chang waited a few minutes, making sure no one remained before swooping down.

As he moved, his full form emerged—a twisted human face, glaringly hideous among tangled Horrors’ feathers.

He landed below the warehouse, about to enter, when his phone rang. Yao Chang glanced at the screen—Feng Yunzhen.

Had that old man finally settled in?

His gut twisted with suspicion. Feng always used texts—when did he ever call?

Still, the phone kept ringing. Seeing the familiar name flash made his blood run cold.

His eyes darted around, searching. The workers were gone—no one seemed to be left on the mountain.

Cold rain soaked his tangled black feathers. He clenched his jaw, refusing to answer.

Just as he lifted his hand to hang up, his body seized—something yanked his finger back mid-air.

Reacting instantly, he flapped his wings to fly, but his hybrid crow wings—usually reliable—went limp.

Though motionless, invisible forces pinned him from every direction.

The phone buzzed again.

Every ring cranked up the terror.

"Quit hiding, coward!"

"Cut the dramatic crap!"

"Careful, or I’ll tear you apart!"

Shi Yu blinked. What the—?

Since when was *he* being theatrical?

Wasn’t this a standard ambush? Did killers like them really expect a polite RSVP before murder?

What a joke.

Didn’t they always stalk from the dark, waiting to pounce?

Shi Yu didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty.

Besides, he had just had a sudden idea—to use his phone to distract the other party, then seize the opportunity to restrain him with Spirit Threads. He just hadn’t expected that combining rain, the outskirts, and the woods—the classic horror setup—would amplify everything so well, adding a nice cat-and-mouse vibe in the process.

Shi Yu touched his throat, listening to the guy’s furious swearing, and wasn’t about to reveal himself now.

Standing in the blind spot outside Yao Chang’s line of sight, he looked down at his abdomen.

“Can I siphon off Horror energy from this position?”

His voice softened, his words nearly drowned out by the rain.

The Little Monster cocked its head, puzzled by the strange man shouting in the distance, then nodded.

Reassured, Shi Yu raised an eyebrow, closed his eyes, and gave the Spirit Threads in his mind a little pull.

A scream rang out—but the next second, instead of fear, Yao Chang’s eyes flashed with venom as a brown scorpion shot out from his sleeve.

The scorpion paused for a moment in the woods, quickly pinpointed a direction, and zipped toward Shi Yu faster than the eye could follow.

“You’re dead.”

“You’ll soon learn the price of messing with me.” Yao Chang’s face twisted with ferocity. Though restrained, he wasn’t fazed.

Though the Horror crow he had fused with was only an A-rank Horror Item, he still had an S-rank Horror like the Tailhook Scorpion up his sleeve. By playing weak in fights, he had gotten the drop on plenty of foes.

This time would be no exception.

Murderous glee lit his eyes as he already imagined the fate of the person who had tried to catch him—only to be torn apart by the Tailhook Scorpion in an instant.

Yet a minute passed… and no screams came.

Rain pattered against the leaves, rustling softly. Yao Chang wondered if he had missed the sound in his distraction.

He tried sensing the Tailhook Scorpion, but his pride-and-joy scorpion still hadn’t responded.

The surroundings sank into a creepy, tomb-like quiet.

Shi Yu and the Little Monster “chowed down” on the Horror energy of the scorpion, patted their stomachs, and withdrew their hands.

Hmm.

Gu Ember members really came loaded. An Ability User who seemed like just an A-rank actually had an S-rank Horror Item—rolling in it.

Shi Yu nodded, thoroughly satisfied with his meal.

But since he was already here, just one scorpion felt like a letdown.

After waiting a while, he saw Yao Chang’s face go pale with panic as he started making calls again.

Between physical paralysis, invisible danger, and the mind games, the layers of pressure soon took their toll. Before long, Yao Chang, his thoughts racing, bit the bullet and went for another play despite the pain.

Though he had no idea what had just happened—why the mysterious person controlling him with that eerie power hadn’t acted—his survival instinct kicked in hard.

After dropping the S-rank Tailhook Scorpion, Yao Chang immediately released his last hidden Horror Item—

An A-rank "Dancing Radio."

Yet the moment the radio appeared, it was gone in a flash—dead silent!

The woods felt like there was an invisible presence slowly devouring something, a silent terror lingering all around. If Yao Chang weren’t a Fused One himself, he might have thought he’d run into a ghost.

No, wait—that wasn’t it.

Had he actually run into some terrifying Horror?

Do normal human Ability Users act like this?

The previously suppressed absurdity surged within him. Never had Yao Chang wanted so desperately to turn back.

The unseen terror peaked in the silence. Yao Chang was now absolutely certain—what surrounded him wasn’t human.

It had to be an SSS-Class Horror, or even higher!

Just as Shi Yu finished absorbing the radio with a satisfying crunch, before he could even think about dealing with the malicious Gu Ember operative across from him, the man he had been dangling on Spirit Threads suddenly rolled his eyes and collapsed, unconscious.

Shi Yu: …???

Was this guy faking?

He froze, confused by why this person—who kept sending Horrors after him and failed every time—had ended up passing out instead.

After a moment of stunned silence, he saw red.

You kidding me? He hadn’t even done anything yet, and this guy had the nerve to faint—did he think Shi Yu was easy prey?!

Using his Spirit Threads, Shi Yu reeled Yao Chang in for a closer look. Just as he was about to wake him up, he realized—nothing. The guy was genuinely out cold, scared stiff—his fused Horror was even backlashing.

Shi Yu: ???

Was he really that scary?

He hesitated, then asked the Little Monster in his gut with a doubtful expression.

The Little Monster, still digesting its meal with "Mom": …?

Scary?

Mom isn’t scary at all.

Cocking its head, the Little Monster was totally lost about Mom’s worry.

Mom went "wala"—the absolute best!

Shi Yu didn’t follow, but he didn’t dwell on it.

Whatever. If he’s unconscious, then fine. There were advantages—he didn’t need to figure out what to do next. Just truss him up and dump him at the Ability User Association.

After all, this guy had been Thread-locked the whole time and had no idea what Shi Yu looked like. What happened after that was their problem.

Snapping back to reality, Shi Yu shot a disgusted look at the unconscious Yao Chang.

Hitching up his raincoat and snapping his gloves tight, he repeated the process and dumped the guy right at the Ability User Association’s front steps.

Honestly, every time he had to do this kind of grunt work, Shi Yu couldn’t help but curse not having wheels. If he had a car, would he really have to walk this far while controlling Spirit Threads?

His legs were killing him.

He took a deep breath, muttering under his breath for what felt like ages before finally resolving to save up for a car.

Before his birthday, he *had* to own his very own car!

The Little Monster didn’t understand humans’ obsession with cars. Along the way, it listened to its mother’s endless chatter without the slightest impatience. Even though it couldn’t understand, it still mentally nodded in approval.

Shi Yu took another deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and used his Spirit Threads to propel himself forward, finally arriving at the Ability User Association’s entrance before three in the morning.

Considering his previous actions, this time he blurred the surveillance footage and chose a different spot. Clapping his hands as if completing a task, he retracted his Spirit Threads and tossed Yao Chang—out cold—like a limp sack onto the grassy patch by the entrance.

With a sharp *thud*, the body hit the ground and disappeared into the night. The drowsy staff inside the duty room didn’t hear a thing. It wasn’t until Fu Nanyao drove over later that night that the figure lying at the entrance was discovered.

The tightly bound man was covered in crow feathers—clearly not human.

Fu Nanyao frowned, stopped the car, and checked for breathing. After confirming the man was still alive, he called the senior officers.

“The third member of *Gu Ember*, the Phantom Crow Yao Chang, has been apprehended.”

After entering the meeting room, Fu Nanyao brought the unconscious man in with him.

Yao Chang had no idea what had happened. Forced awake, he stared around in dazed confusion.

A few minutes later, the Ability User Association confirmed Yao Chang exhibited the same symptoms as Feng Yunzhen—his memory was blank, and he was terrified into a stupor.

“Are members of *Gu Ember* really this weak?” Han Chuyi couldn’t help but question.

Three in a row—not two—scared out of their minds? It sounded like a bad joke.

Yet no matter what instruments they used, the results remained the same. Shen Yan glanced at the records beside him.

“Yao Chang said a few more words than Feng Yunzhen.”

“—There’s something wrong.”

“He encountered a Horror Item?”

But what kind of Horror Item could terrify an *A-rank* Ability User like this?

Moreover, Yao Chang’s appearance was almost identical to Feng Yunzhen’s—both had suddenly materialized near the Ability User Association, with no trace on the surveillance footage.

After inspecting Yao Chang again, Han Chuyi frowned. “According to Wang Chenghe’s earlier testimony, Yao Chang, the Phantom Crow of *Gu Ember*, carries three Horrors.”

“Aside from the Horror Crow fused with his body, there’s also an *S-rank* Horror and one unclassified. But just now, when I checked, the other two Horrors were missing from Yao Chang.”

In other words… the other two were gone.

“Did they perish during capture?”

Han Chuyi tried to simulate the scenario. But seeing Yao Chang in this state—completely subdued without resistance—the term “battle” hardly applied.

Shen Yan shook his head. This time, even he couldn’t deduce anything. These individuals were cloaked in unanswered questions, though the only silver lining was that, at least, the criminals had been caught.

Fu Nanyao had already expected this interrogation would yield nothing. After confirming Yao Chang had been scared senseless, he simply sent him to the holding cell where Wang Chenghe and Feng Yunzhen were being detained.

With a sharp *snap*, the door flew open. Wang Chenghe, who had been driven up the wall by Feng Yunzhen’s incessant shrieking of “There’s a sound!” and had even started hearing things himself, had just begun to catch his breath when he saw the door swing open.

The chief of the Ability User Association loomed in the doorway.

He lifted his head in a daze, not waiting for their next round of questioning, when he saw a familiar figure reappear before him as the door was pushed open.

Is that... the Sinister Crow?

Its non-human features were too obvious to miss—even half-crazed Wang Chenghe recognized it.

Why is *he* here?

Before Wang Chenghe could think further, the door slammed shut again, as if trying to avoid contamination.

Then Feng Yunzhen started his usual rambling.

"Shh, don’t talk."

"Something’s in my ears! Help me, ahhhh, what is it?!"

"Save me, save me!"

Wang Chenghe covered his ears, his eyes glazed over as he stared blankly to the side.

"Ignore him—he lost it after hearing something."

"You'll get used to it."

Before he could finish speaking, Yao Chang—who had seemed perfectly normal—suddenly widened his eyes at the sound and joined in with his own raspy, unhinged shrieks.

"Ghost!"

"Where's the ghost?!"

"Let me go, please! I was wrong, help me!"

The overlapping cries for help cycled endlessly. Wang Chenghe, who had just barely regained some clarity, was instantly overwhelmed again. Amid the cacophony, he blacked out in torment.

Watching from outside the door, Wang Shan:...

"Now that’s some mutual torment."

"They had it coming."

Though he didn't know what hallucinations they were seeing, watching these vile fused freaks suffer was downright satisfying.

"Couldn't agree more."

Zhao Wen nodded in approval, secretly hoping karma would strike like this more often.

...

After a long night of work, Shi Yu returned to his room completely wiped out. He’d barely eaten enough, only to burn it all off working.

He frowned slightly, pressing a hand to his abdomen.

At least he had some reserves left.

The Little Monster dozed soundly inside him. Shi Yu’s eye twitched—he couldn’t take the grime of his muddy raincoat anymore. He stripped it off, tossed it into the trash, then headed straight to the shower, wondering to himself: *The Ability User Association must’ve found Yao Chang by now, right?*

Once was nerves, twice was nothing—this time, Shi Yu wasn’t even tense. He even managed to crash hard after cleaning up.

It wasn’t until the next afternoon that he was jolted awake by his phone ringing.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw his phone vibrating beside his hand.

Who’s calling?

Shi Yu shook off sleep and blearily turned his head—only to realize it was someone from the streaming company’s management?

And not just anyone, but his direct supervisor for the food category?

Shi Yu paused briefly before instinctively hitting the answer button. As he picked up the call, he heard a worried voice on the other end.

"Hey, Shi Yu, you’ve been falling short on streaming hours lately—is everything okay?"

Shi Yu’s eyes darted guiltily toward the streaming hours displayed on his tablet.

"Been swamped lately, but no worries—I’ve finished everything today. I won’t let it affect my streams."

Maogu Platform: "Glad to hear it."

"Just wanted to remind you—you’ll need to make up the hours this month, or you won’t get perfect attendance payout."

"Got it, got it. I know. I’ll definitely make up for it today."

Shi Yu talked with his supervisor for a while, his voice growing quieter as the conversation went on.

Fortunately, the supervisor didn’t press further and hung up after a few more words of concern.

Shi Yu let out a relieved sigh and rubbed his face. *Jesus, what a morning wake-up call.*

Grumbling under his breath, he dragged himself up, resigned to heading to the bathroom to freshen up and start streaming to make up for the missed hours.

But as soon as he trudged into the bathroom in his slippers, his eyes widened and he went dead quiet.

Wait… what is this?

Still half-asleep and wondering if his vision was blurry, Shi Yu lowered his head and stared suspiciously at his abdomen.

*Pfft. Maybe I should get glasses? Why’s everything look off?*

What was going on? Why did his belly suddenly look bigger?

He reached down and measured the soft curve beneath his cotton pajamas.

At first, he thought he was just groggy—but now he was wide awake.

Before sleeping, his abdomen had only been slightly rounded. Now, after waking up, it had actually gotten way bigger!

If before it had looked like the early stages of a two-month pregnancy, now it resembled a four-month pregnancy…

Shi Yu felt his world spin as he wondered if he’d somehow time-traveled in his sleep. But his phone’s calendar clearly showed the same date—still the 23rd.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself and grabbed a ruler from the drawer to measure.

—A whole fist-size bigger than before.

But that wasn’t the main issue. The real problem was that before, his belly had been subtle enough to hide under regular clothes.

Now… He looked down with mixed emotions. Even in his usual pajamas, the rounded curve was obvious. And the Little Monster inside was still fast asleep, not moving at all.

Staring at his abdomen, Shi Yu sighed in exasperation. *How the fuck do I explain this to anyone?*