Including Tang Jiu from the very beginning, Zuo Lin'an had captured fifty-six people.
Back at Wang Hu's settlement, they had already killed sixty people each. This meant they were still thirty short.
However, they had also brought three people with them on their way here, and they had run into a student after arriving, making four more.
In other words, they only needed to capture fifty-six people in this settlement.
Both of them remembered their instructor's warning: once the specter body was fully formed, it would immediately begin to fuse with its host, regardless of the circumstances.
Therefore, once they reached ninety kills, they would lose all ability to target anyone else.
They would also be extremely vulnerable during the fusion process.
Because of this, capturing extra people was not only useless but also risked causing unexpected complications.
However, the current situation was far from ideal. This settlement had only had eighty-odd people to begin with, and after their relentless harvesting, fewer than thirty remained.
Zhao Cheng's side was bound to notice something was wrong.
Meanwhile, at the center of the settlement.
Zhao Cheng woke up to find his world turning upside down!
He stared at his subordinates in utter shock.
“What the hell is going on? What do you mean everyone is gone?!”
“Was it Wang Hu?”
“Did he bring his men last night and quietly kidnap everyone?”
He scanned the remaining crowd and realized that those who were still here mostly lived close together, in the residences nearest to his own.
Was that why Wang Hu hadn't targeted them?
“Boss, it has to be Wang Hu! There are no other settlements around here besides his!”
“For him to capture so many people in a single night without making a sound, the guys we sent over there must have betrayed us! They must have given Wang Hu a detailed layout of our settlement!”
“Boss, this is too dangerous. We need to run, and fast!”
“If we don't leave now, they'll attack us tonight... no, they might even come after us in a bit!”
“With their numbers easily over a hundred now, we stand absolutely no chance!”
“Yeah, Boss, let's get out of here! If we don't leave now, it might be too late!”
Zhao Cheng hearing his subordinates repeatedly urge him to flee, and thinking of the massive numbers Wang Hu now commanded, felt as if a blade were already pressed against his throat.
Though he was confident in his own fighting abilities, he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take on a hundred people by himself.
“Go, go, go! Pack up everything of value right now. We're leaving!”
Receiving the order, everyone scrambled to pack their belongings in a frantic rush.
In all the chaos, not a single person spared a thought for the two newcomers who had arrived just yesterday.
Half an hour later.
The group of over twenty people, carrying their most valuable possessions, fled frantically in one direction.
Looking at their panicked haste, they seemed terrified that Wang Hu would lead an army to wipe them out at any moment.
Meanwhile, Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou remained inside their house, keeping a vigilant watch on the outside world.
To be safe, they had relocated to an even more secluded spot, fearing that Zhao Cheng might suspect them and send people to investigate.
But after hours of high alert, with no one showing up even by noon, they finally let their guard down slightly.
They had absolutely no idea that Zhao Cheng had been so frightened that he had packed up and fled first thing in the morning!
For the rest of the day, the two of them essentially split their time between staying on guard and carrying out executions.
Xu Youyou's rules had no time limit. He could have easily killed his ninety targets first and proceeded with the final fusion ahead of schedule.
But he refused to do so.
This was because Instructor An Wen had told them before that once the fusion succeeded, they would immediately materialize outside Sin Hunter City.
Xu Youyou did not feel safe leaving Zuo Lin'an here alone.
Zhao Cheng's men could find this place at any moment.
With two of them, they could handle it, but if Zuo Lin'an were left on his own...
Fortunately, as afternoon arrived and they neared the final moment, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Zuo Lin'an glanced at the electronic clock.
It was 1:50 PM.
Ten minutes remained until 2:00 PM.
This would be the moment he executed his ninetieth prey.
By now, he could already feel the specter body floating behind him, transmitting a wave of intense urgency.
It was impatient to be fully formed. It was just one step away!
Zuo Lin'an took a deep breath, put away the clock, stood up slowly, and headed toward the basement.
Seeing this, Xu Youyou stood up and followed.
There were currently two prey left in the basement.
One belonged to Zuo Lin'an.
The other belonged to Xu Youyou.
They intended to take this final step at the exact same time.
They opened the basement door.
Outside, the daylight was bright, but inside was pitch black.
A stench so thick it felt almost tangible rushed to meet them—a bizarre, nauseating mix of blood and rotting corpses.
Yet, they had already grown accustomed to it.
One after the other, they walked slowly into the basement.
With tacit understanding, each of them chose a target and dragged them to opposite corners.
Without looking at Xu Youyou, Zuo Lin'an pulled out his knife.
With a few minutes left until 2:00 PM, he took a moment to observe his final prey.
The man was breathing heavily.
His face was covered in a thick mixture of dust and blood, making his expression completely unreadable.
Only his eyes stood out.
Even in the darkness, they seemed to be trembling.
Zuo Lin'an could see the terror, fear, numbness... and resignation within them.
It was 2:00 PM!
Zuo Lin'an slowly raised his knife.
And began the execution!
They completed their final executions almost simultaneously.
Zuo Lin'an felt a familiar wave of icy aura surge from within his heart, flowing into the specter body behind him.
At that exact instant.
He suddenly lost all connection to his specter body.
Just as he was about to look back, a pale face suddenly materialized right in front of him.
It was so close that their noses almost touched.
Startled, Zuo Lin'an took a step back.
But he quickly realized that this was his specter body.
A fully formed specter.
The specter's eyes were blood-red, with sharp, crimson slit pupils!
Its skin was deathly pale.
And in its hand, it held a boning knife.
Zuo Lin'an knew the boning knife wasn't real; it was a part of the specter body, condensed from specter energy.
“Fuse...”
The first word that escaped the specter's mouth was "fuse." A faint grin curled on its lips as it repeated the word over and over.
“Fuse... fuse...”
With every repetition, its grin grew increasingly distorted and hideous.
“Fuse!!”
Finally, the specter body let out a wild shriek and lunged at him. Zuo Lin'an had no room to resist—or rather, he wasn't allowed to.
This was the final step to becoming a Human-Specter Symbiont.
Fusion.
Rejecting this step meant rejecting success.
Zuo Lin'an did not fight back, letting his specter body pin him to the floor.
He had thought he could accept this calmly.
But the moment the freezing, bone-chilling tip of the blade touched the skin at the back of his head...
He finally felt... terror.
Half an hour later.
An Wen found Xu Youyou wandering around the woods outside Sin Hunter City.
“Get in!”
Xu Youyou ran over as fast as he could.
“Instructor, did you see Brother An?”
An Wen didn't say a word, silently driving the car.
Xu Youyou froze, a bad feeling rising in his chest. “Instructor?”
Only then did An Wen let out a deep sigh.
“No. He didn't make it out.”
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