Translator: CinderTL
Unexpectedly, the newcomer lacked the fearless aura of an ancient hero or the bravado to declare, "Tonight, I will take your life!" upon entering.
Instead, he jumped in with an undignified posture, hugging himself tightly while rubbing his arms and complaining, "Damn, it's freezing in here! I should've brought a jacket. By the way..." Wei Jinting looked up at Wu, who stood before him, licked his lips, and asked, "Can you lend me a jacket?"
"You have no idea how cold it was just standing here for a moment. I'm freezing," he rambled on, even though Wu hadn't said a word.
"Heh heh," Wei Jinting squinted, his shivering body now steady. He scrutinized Wu with the eyes of a wolf that had caught the scent of blood. "Seems I was right. This door has mutated. Otherwise... someone like you wouldn't have been born."
"Save me..." A faint, ethereal female voice echoed. The woman in front of the canvas became agitated upon seeing someone enter, her voice hoarse as she pleaded, "Please... please save me!"
Wei Jinting's gaze shifted past Wu to the woman in the living room. After a few seconds, his lips curled into a grin, revealing a row of pale teeth.
"So, you must be Miss Lin Chen," he greeted with a smile. "Hello, Miss Lin Chen. My name is Wei Jinting. Don't worry, I'll kill you all soon, so you won't have to suffer anymore."
Wu remained calm, his eyes fixed on the uninvited Wei Jinting. From the man, he detected a familiar scent.
Noticing the canvas in front of Lin Chen and the aura of despair emanating from it, Wei Jinting quickly grasped the situation.
"Impressive ability," Wei Jinting remarked, squinting as he examined Wu. "You can turn the people you kill into new urban legends. Rare talent."
"So, you're the disciple of this door. Though, it seems your fusion with it is deeper than I imagined," he said, slinging his backpack off and rummaging inside with a grin. "It's only polite to return the favor. I've prepared two little gifts for you."
He pulled out two human heads from the backpack and rolled them across the floor like bowling balls toward Wu.
One of the heads veered off course and hit the wall with a dull thud.
The heads grimaced in extreme pain, their faces twitching slightly. Despite being just heads, they were still alive.
"These little guys won't be enough to kill me," Wei Jinting said, hands on his hips, critiquing like a judge. "I'll spare you the embarrassment and just tear off their heads. But they kept screaming in pain, which annoyed me, so I sewed their mouths and eyes shut."
"I grew up poor with many brothers, so I learned some sewing skills," Wei Jinting said, his tone rising and falling. "Brother Wu, how do you like my handiwork?"
As if hearing Wei Jinting mention them, the two ghostly heads contorted in even greater agony. Their eyelids, mouths, and noses were stitched shut with thin hemp rope, the crude and densely packed stitches horrifying to behold.
It was clear they had endured inhuman torment.
"Too bad they had no sense of fun. I even sang nursery rhymes while sewing them!" Wei Jinting grumbled. "They just kept screaming, not cute at all. No wonder they're so ugly."
The two ghosts—one had crawled out of a computer, and the other was caught at a café earlier that afternoon.
"You have that same scent," Wu said, seemingly uninterested in the ghosts' plight. He looked at Wei Jinting and spoke indifferently, "Just like those two, you carry a door within you."
"We're all disciples, then," Wei Jinting chuckled. "But we're not like you," he added casually, glancing toward Lin Chen as if hinting at something.
After a moment, Wu suddenly smiled. "So, Liu Guo this afternoon was actually after you."
"Exactly, exactly. Night watchers are meant to hunt down freaks like us, aren't they?" Wei Jinting seemed to recall something, his expression turning vicious. "Good and evil have never coexisted. I can tolerate most things, but those damn bastards ruined my toys."
After saying this, he covered his mouth and chuckled. "Good thing I was prepared," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an object. He deftly slipped it over his head, aligning the holes.
Wu nodded, seemingly understanding why Liu Guo had schemed to kill Lu Huaxu last time—he must have mistaken Lu Huaxu for the man before him.
"Phew—" Wei Jinting exhaled deeply, sighing, "It feels good to put on my battle gear. My combat power increases by at least 50%." He stretched out his hand, fingers splayed, and drawled, "After all... I rely on my face to make a living!"
He had a stocking over his head, with holes cut out for his mouth, nose, and eyes.
It looked utterly ridiculous.
"So, you're here to seize the door," Wu said. "But I don't sense the other two. Did you come alone?"
"Am I not enough for you?" Wei Jinting feigned exaggeration. "You're really twisted, wanting all four of us at once."
Without further ado, a massive sketchbook appeared before Wu in the next second. The sketchbook was nearly as tall as a person, and under Wei Jinting's astonished gaze, Wu drew a blade from it.
The blade was unsheathed, its cold light rippling like water. The reflected light fragmented the small room into pieces.
The moment Wu gripped the blade, Wei Jinting's smile vanished visibly. He pursed his lips, pondered for a long moment, and then whispered, "What if I leave right now and pretend I was never here?"
Wu shook his head, his gaze on Wei Jinting as if appraising a beauty. "You haven't satisfied me yet," Wu said, holding the blade at his side, its tip aimed at Wei Jinting.
"The door within you is excellent," Wu tightened his grip on the hilt. "I'll dig it out."
A chilling aura spread through the room. The massive sketchbook stood behind Wu like a colossal tombstone, occasional streams of light flickering across its surface.
"Guess there's no negotiating," Wei Jinting huffed, starting to undo his belt. He then tugged at his pants, bent over, and shouted into them, "Hey, sweetie, what are you doing? Can't you see I'm being bullied? Hurry up, come out and fight!"
In the next moment, another cold presence filled the room, as if two giant beasts had opened their eyes in the darkness.
Wei Jinting's body began to emit clicking sounds, especially his face. Beneath the stocking, his skin and veins seemed to writhe.
When he opened his eyes again, his deep red pupils glowed with a bloody light.
(End of the Chapter)
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