A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

"What's going on?!"

Shi Yan's expression changed drastically. His composure, which he had maintained, shattered instantly. He turned around abruptly, took a step to the window, and stared intently out the window.

However, a thick fog suddenly rose outside.

Shi Yan's face appeared unusually gloomy, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's.

There's something strange about this fog.

What is it?

Poison? Or some rare magical artifact or spell specifically designed to counter Gu worms?

When did such a person emerge from the Jinghai region?

749th inning?

Or... other rivals?

Countless thoughts flashed through Shi Yan's mind, and a strong sense of unease and crisis instantly gripped his heart.

"Moon!"

He suddenly shouted in a low voice, his tone tense like never before.

"We've been spotted! Get ready to leave!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yue was taken aback at first, and then a hint of surprise flashed in her captivating eyes.

But more than anything, it was an unconditional trust and reliance on Shi Yan.

She nodded without hesitation:

"Alright! Brother Yan, I'll go activate the secret passage's formation!"

However, the moment she finished speaking—

"Tap, tap, tap."

Three clear, steady, and even polite knocks came slowly from outside the heavy, carved wooden door.

In this deathly still night, where all the Gu worms had perished, the knocking on the door seemed particularly abrupt and unusual…

Creepy.

Shi Yan suddenly raised his hand and made a sharp shushing gesture to Lin Yue.

His eyes were sharp, and his muscles were tense, like a venomous snake poised to strike. He moved silently behind the heavy, carved wooden door.

He slowly and carefully brought his left eye close to the peephole on the door, trying to peek at the uninvited guest outside through the small convex lens.

Lin Yue subconsciously held her breath, her hands nervously clasped together in front of her chest.

His gaze toward Shi Yan's back was still filled with trust and infatuation.

Brother Yan is really amazing; he remained so calm and cautious even in such a critical moment...

"Pfft—!"

A muffled thud, extremely faint yet crystal clear, as a sharp object pierced through flesh, abruptly shattered the deathly silence!

"Well……!"

Shi Yan's body, which was pressed against the cat's eye, suddenly stiffened, and a short, muffled groan escaped his throat, as if his breath had been cut off.

In the reflection of Lin Yue's suddenly contracting pupils, she saw more than a dozen slippery, cold, and eerie tentacles with a blackish-red glow, which seemed to have a life of their own and pierced into the narrow hole of the peephole outside the door with lightning speed!

Precise, ruthless, and without any hindrance!

In through the left eye, out through the back of the head!

A small puff of warm, red and white liquid splashed onto the clean floor inside the doorway.

The complex expression on Shi Yan's face, a mixture of vigilance, suspicion, and ambition, froze completely before it could even turn into horror.

His tall, thin body swayed, and the dozen or so large tendons running through his skull twitched slightly before he fell straight backward with a "thud."

Even in death, a deep, absurd astonishment lingered in his single, gradually fading eye—

He seemed completely unable to understand why he would die in such a way behind his own door.

"what?"

Outside the door, a young man's voice came, sounding somewhat surprised, as if he had encountered some unexpected situation.

"I think I felt something move behind the peephole just now? Did I... poke something?"

Before he could finish speaking...

"boom--!!"

The heavy, solid wood carved door, along with its frame, seemed to have been violently struck from the outside by an invisible force, and burst open with a deafening roar! Wood chips flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

A tall, imposing figure in a black trench coat strolled in, stepping over the shards of the collapsed door.

Ji Zuodao flicked his wrist, and the dozen or so black veins that had just completed the "precision kill" nimbly retracted into his sleeve like venomous snakes returning to their nest.

Only at the end were there some suspicious damp marks.

The corpse of Shi Yan, which had been pierced by a large tendon and was not yet completely fallen to the ground, was also dragged and swayed before finally hitting the ground with a "thud".

"Well……"

Ji Zuodao looked down at the male corpse at his feet, whose death was quite shocking and who was dressed in Miao ethnic clothing.

He glanced at the broken door again, then scratched his head with a strange expression.

"This... this show of force seems a bit too much?"

"He was killed instantly by being poked by a horse?"

"Isn't this way of getting his lunchbox a little too dramatic? I haven't even read my lines yet."

Then, Ji seemed to notice that there was still someone standing in the living room. Her gaze fell on the woman in the crimson gauze dress who was frozen in place, as if her soul had been taken away and her face was completely drained of color.

Ji Zuodao raised an eyebrow.

"I said, girl."

"What era are we living in?"

"You two live in such a big, such a luxurious villa..."

"Are they... so stingy that they can't even afford a video doorbell?"

"This level of safety awareness is seriously lacking!"

Lin Yue didn't say anything.

She just stared blankly at the corpse on the ground, still twitching slightly, its eyes wide open in death.

Looking at the hideous blood hole on Shi Yan's forehead and the empty left eye socket.

Looking at the man who had promised her a future just minutes before, whom she had been infatuated with and who had believed in without a doubt, now lying slumped on the cold floor like a tattered sack, his life and ambition rapidly slipping away and cooling down.

Her mind went blank.

My ears were ringing, and Ji Zuodao's absurd and mocking question seemed to come through a thick layer of water, indistinct and unclear.

Brother Yan... is dead?

He just...died like that?

Yan Ge, whom she regarded as her everything, was easily... punctured like a bubble by a few "ropes" inserted through the peephole...

Did he stab him to death?

There was no earth-shattering battle.

There was no scene as expected, where Brother Yan displayed his divine power and controlled thousands of insects to repel the enemy.

There wasn't even a proper last word.

There was only a short, muffled groan and a dull thud as the person fell to the ground.

So simple, so... cheap.

"Thump."

Lin Yue's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.

The expensive crimson gauze dress was spread out, stained with the still-warm blood that had spread on the ground.

She didn't feel disgusted or scared.

I just feel... empty.

Something within her that had sustained all her beliefs, passions, and even the meaning of her existence collapsed with a crash as Shi Yan fell.

Ji Zuodao waited, but received no response, nor did he see the expected screams, resistance, or pleas for mercy.

The Holy Maiden of the Hehuan Sect before them seemed to have had all her energy and spirit drained away in an instant, turning into a beautiful, exquisite doll with empty eyes.

"Well, looks like he got too excited and went crazy."

"Hey, snap out of it."

Ji Zuodao snapped his fingers.

Lin Yue's body trembled slightly, and her unfocused gaze struggled to focus for a moment before meeting Ji Zuodao's face, which was inches away from hers.

This face is young, even handsome, and the corners of his mouth seem to habitually carry a faint, slightly shy curve.

But those eyes... were dark, deep, and calm.

Looking at her, there was no hatred, no desire, not even much inquiry; it was as if I were looking at an object.