Chapter 81: Carnivores and the Bloody Painter (2)

"My darling Spirit Consort, open your mouth. Ah~"
Man Tu gently guided the black mist in his hand toward the ghost in the cheongsam cradled in his arms, speaking with affectionate indulgence.
The ghost obediently parted her lips, swallowing the black mist along with the white radiance atop it. Instantly, the resentment swirling around her surged, while the red in her eyes faded again, and even the alluring fragrance she exuded grew richer.
A look of pleasure appeared in the ghost's eyes, and she emitted a sound reminiscent of a human woman's moan, something she had never uttered before. Man Tu was utterly entranced, embracing her as though he wished to meld himself into her very being.
At that moment, the Blue-Eyed Aberration suddenly stood upright, its claws slashing at the corpse of the female Awakened. Her limbs were severed in a flurry of razor-sharp movements. The creature carefully placed the remains on the only dining table in the restaurant.
Having completed its task, the Blue-Eyed Aberration dragged the bodies of the remaining Awakened, along with the torso and limbs of the female, out of the restaurant to enjoy its dinner.
Soon after its departure, the only sounds left in the restaurant were the seductive moans of the ghost and the crunching of food being devoured...
The next day, a corpulent man rode a shameless Blue-Eyed Hound toward the city center of Binhai. Awakened near Donggang had almost all been hunted down by Man Tu, and now he needed others to nourish himself and his darling Spirit Consort.
Thinking of the tender, delicate flesh he had tasted these past few days, Man Tu couldn't help but drool, then kicked the Blue-Eyed Aberration beneath him, urging it to move faster!
The creature whimpered, picking up speed.
Their destination happened to be the very area where Wu Zui and Xiao Ke'ai had been purging ghosts and monsters these days.
A battle was imminent!!!
Inside a dilapidated house, Wu Zui watched from the side as Xiao Ke'ai commanded Cat Commander in combat.
Their opponent was a newly-born aberration, looking like an oversized blood-red rat more than a meter tall, with two incisors half a meter long—a bite from those would be disastrous.
Tsk tsk... what a fate!
Although this aberration was new, in the dense resentment energy of Binhai, it was a three-star creature. Of course, after Xiao Ke'ai's magnetic tempering, Cat Commander's claws were no less formidable than those giant teeth.
Cat and rat fought fiercely, appearing evenly matched.
Yet Cat Commander, being a magnetic lifeform and not susceptible to mortal wounds, soon dispatched the giant rat through relentless, shameless tactics.
He dug out the rat's tiny ghost core and its two huge incisors, then presented them to Xiao Ke'ai like precious treasures.
As Xiao Ke'ai prepared to lift Cat Commander in triumph, Wu Zui suddenly grabbed her arm and spoke gravely, "Be careful, something's coming!"
Though no figures were visible and no magnetic energy could be sensed, three clusters of black mist, signifying evil, appeared vividly in Wu Zui's vision, approaching like beacons in the night.
One cluster, towering like a black pillar two or three meters high, was thicker than any evil Wu Zui had ever witnessed.
Within the dense pillar, faces twisted and howled, clearly visible even from afar.
"Master, is it an aberration?"
Xiao Ke'ai's expression grew serious.
As they spoke, Cat Commander tucked the ghost core into his fur, while the huge incisors were left temporarily on the ground.
Thanks to Xiao Ke'ai's magnetic honing, Cat Commander had acquired some remarkable abilities—anything stashed in his fur would never fall out, so neither worried about losing the core.
Pat-pat—pat-pat—
The sound of four-legged running echoed as a beast resembling both wolf and dog, bearing a massive fat man on its back, approached. The evil black smoke rose from the fat man's head.

"Yes! And it looks like there’s more than one!"
Wu Zui answered Xiao Ke'ai, as a red karmic flame suddenly ignited before him. A woman in a bright yellow cheongsam was forced back, her snowy skin scorched black by the flames.
Yet the ghost's unique fragrance intensified as she drew near Wu Zui, instantly pulling him into a hallucination. In misty haze, a graceful figure clad in sheer silk appeared, poised to dance.
Just then, a cooling sensation flickered through Wu Zui's mind—the blue outline shaped by his visualization technique glimmered, allowing him to break free from the illusion.
When he regained clarity, Xiao Ke'ai and Cat Commander were already locked in combat with the fat man and his wolf-dog. The cheongsam-clad woman stood nearby, gazing at Wu Zui with devoted eyes.
The fat man, though cumbersome, was only slightly slower than Cat Commander, and the two tangled fiercely.
Xiao Ke'ai wielded twin hammers, clashing head-on with the black Blue-Eyed Wolf-Dog. Hammer and claw collided, black smoke billowing from the wolf's paws, while Xiao Ke'ai's hands were splitting at the tiger's mouth.
"Woof~"
After another collision, the wolf-dog growled, stood upright like a human, and unleashed a storm of blows at Xiao Ke'ai.
Metal clashed incessantly. Xiao Ke'ai blocked with golden hammers, but the wolf's claws left countless cracks, forcing her to retreat.
Just as Wu Zui was about to intervene, a figure in bright yellow appeared before him. Her autumn-water phoenix eyes occupied his entire vision, imbued with a strange power.
He felt himself slipping again into that world of velvet softness and graceful dancers...
But his blue outline of visualization flickered once more, shattering the illusion of rosy skeletons into fragments.
The ghost suffered backlash, her fragrance diminished, and the red veins in her eyes flared bright again, her resentment energy becoming unstable.
"Spirit Consort, darling!"
The fat man cried out, his fist wrapped in black mist clashing with Cat Commander, driving him back. He rushed toward the ghost.
Simultaneously, Wu Zui retreated, running toward Xiao Ke'ai, his red karmic flame searing the attacking Blue-Eyed Wolf-Dog, burning deep like wildfire.
"Awoo!"
The wolf-dog yelped, retreating, and slashed off the flaming flesh with its claws.
A chunk of black meat dropped to the ground, soon reduced to ashes by the flames. The wolf-dog looked at Wu Zui with more terror than it ever showed Man Tu.
Even aberrations have it tough these days!
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"Are you alright?"
Wu Zui asked Xiao Ke'ai with concern.
"I can still fight!"
Xiao Ke'ai struck a stance as if she could go another three hundred rounds, though Wu Zui might have believed her if not for her bruised wrist and split hands.
Nearby, the ghost entered Man Tu's body—not possession, but a method the Purification Society acquired from secret places, using the resentment of living beings to restore ghostly wounds.
That black mist—living resentment—was a twisted energy that could absorb resentment and convert magnetic power.

In Wu Zui’s eyes, after fusion, the fat man's evil smoke shot skyward, now four or five meters tall.
The faces within the smoke nearly burst forth, trailing long black tails as they whirled above, unable to break free.
Boom—
As Wu Zui watched in awe, the fat man pressed his black-misted hand to the ground. Living resentment erupted, fracturing the floor and clouds of dust obscured both sides.
Wu Zui quickly summoned a shield of karmic flame to protect them from any incoming attacks.
Pat-pat—pat-pat—
The sound of four-legged running receded into the distance.
When the dust settled, both the fat man and the Blue-Eyed Wolf-Dog had vanished.
Only drifting dust remained in the air...
"Cough cough, Master, they ran away!"
Xiao Ke'ai waved her right hand in front of her nose, coughing with a cute wrinkle.
"Meow~"
Cat Commander, just arrived, echoed in agreement.
Wu Zui glanced at the recently repaired surveillance equipment and said, "Let's check the footage. The black mist on the fat man is like ghost fog. If he's from the Purification Society, we can't let him escape."
Xiao Ke'ai agreed, and they hurried to the nearby Xianglong One, quickly reviewing the videos on the computer inside. Moments later, Xiao Ke'ai exclaimed in delight, "Master! They're running west!"
"Good!"
Wu Zui replied, piloting Xianglong One in pursuit.
...
Meanwhile, Man Tu, fleeing atop the Blue-Eyed Aberration, never expected such formidable opponents so soon after entering the city.
"Slurp~ such delicious tender meat! Ah~ the fragrance of orchids! If not for that man, that meat would’ve been mine. Damn brat, he even wounded my Spirit Consort!"
Man Tu muttered darkly, his nostrils flaring as he recalled the orchid scent. He felt no pity for the wounded Blue-Eyed Wolf-Dog.
Though the wolf-dog was injured, its speed remained swift.
The west belonged to Chen Jack’s hunting grounds; Man Tu had never wanted to venture there. With Chen Jack’s four-star aberration, Hundred Towers, even with two three-star ghosts, Man Tu felt outclassed—let alone being despised by the vegetarian for his carnivorous ways.
(End of this chapter)