Chapter 42: God-loving Spiritual Instrument
The man who stepped forward had a gaunt face—the supposed father of the girl in white.
Xia Feng inhaled sharply, eyeing the dazed girl. "She's not your daughter?"
"Daughter? No, no. I'm her stepfather."
The man smirked. "You two seem to be passing through. How about you stay out of my way and let my experiment proceed undisturbed?"
Experiment? Xia Feng's grip tightened on his sheathed sword. If he didn't decapitate this bastard, he didn't deserve the name Mu!
But as he tensed to strike, Mu Qingtong interjected coolly, "I've hit a bottleneck in my own research. We'll stand guard—observe your methods, if you don't mind."
Xia Feng's hand froze mid-draw. He coughed, adjusting his hood. "Right! We're studying how familial conflict breeds disaster. Perhaps we could… exchange notes."
The stepfather blinked. Instead of interfering or fleeing, these two wanted to watch?
After a pause, he shrugged. "Fine. Just don't interfere."
"Worry not—we're not good people. Wait, no, we're not bad either." Xia Feng nodded solemnly.
The man waved a hand before the girl and her mother.
The middle-aged woman jolted awake from the illusion—only to see her daughter advancing with void-black eyes, tendrils of shadow curling from their corners.
"Xiao Qiu…?" She recoiled, recognizing the signs of Malaise. Before she could process her daughter's resurrection, the girl seized her throat and slammed her against the rooftop ledge.
"Die. All of you," the girl rasped, mouth twitching grotesquely.
The woman flailed, spotting her husband nearby. "Old Yu! Help! Our daughter—she's cursed!"
"Cursed? Nonsense." The stepfather ambled over, patting her arm mockingly. "Relax, Lu Meili. Let her vent. After all your care, how could she possibly fall ill?"
Lu Meili gaped. The man she'd lived with for years—who was this stranger?
"Yu! Have you lost your mind?!"
Ignoring her, he leaned into the girl's ear, slipping a blade into her grip. "Xiao Qiu, your mother called you heartless. Why not prove it?"
He guided her hand downward. The knife's tip inched toward Lu Meili's forehead.
"Yes… yesss…" His whisper slithered into the girl's ear. "Show her…"
Lu Meili's mind flashed to her daughter's past warnings: "Stepfather wants to turn me into a monster!" She'd dismissed it as lies.
Regret crushed her. She never should've remarried. If only she'd just kept running her bun shop—
Clatter!
Twin trails of blood streaked the girl's cheeks. The knife clattered to the tiles.
"Useless." The stepfather sighed, retrieving the blade—and plunged it cleanly between Lu Meili's eyes.
Her relief froze mid-expression.
Xia Feng stiffened. He'd meant to save the girl, but—why hadn't Mu Qingtong moved?!
Before he could act, she spoke again, derailing him. "So… your experiment failed?"
The man turned, shrugging. "Seems so. My stepdaughter's willpower is… unusual. Most would've turned Doomed by now."
"What a pity," Mu Qingtong murmured.
The man nodded. "Truly, it's—urk—"
A knife-tip erupted through his throat. Blood geysered as he clutched his neck, collapsing. His dying sight: the white-clad girl, eyes now obsidian-black with golden cross-pupils, staring down.
"What I meant was… you can die now."
THUD.
Xia Feng's jaw dropped. He whirled to Mu Qingtong. "Fuck. That's your Spiritual Instrument's ability?!" This was S-rank bullshit! Of course the old fox had a weapon.
"Spiritual Instrument?" The Heart Mask tilted. "I don't follow. Do we… know each other?"
Xia Feng: "..."
Fine. Keep acting.
The girl's eyes reverted. She crumpled unconscious.
Xia Feng checked her pulse. "She's alive—just fainted."
"This one isn't dead either."
"Huh?"
Mu Qingtong knelt beside the stepfather, extracting his soul with a device. After a moment, she shook her head. "No soul. A clone with specialized abilities. The real one lives."
"Figures." Xia Feng wasn't surprised. His focus snapped back to her weapon. "So—hypnosis? Mind control? Insanely high-tier. Trigger condition? Eye contact? Wait, you're masked…"
"The crowd's still illusion-trapped. It hasn't lifted," Mu Qingtong noted, scanning the area.
"Aha! It's voice-activated!" Xia Feng smacked his fist into his palm.
Mu Qingtong turned. "Focus. Can you locate the illusion-caster? Likely the man's ally."
"Or… no trigger at all?!" Xia Feng mused.
"..."
Mu Qingtong: "Were you listening?"
Xia Feng: "Eh? Brilliant point! Exactly what I was thinking!"
(End of Chapter)