Chapter 65: The Gifted vs. The Madman

Mo Yu frowned as she walked toward the last room, the entertainment hall that was neither too large nor too small. The walls were painted a calming pale blue. On the right, a wall-mounted LCD television worked silently, looping a video. The star of the video was the nurse she’d seen in the bedroom, her death gruesome, filmed during her abuse. Only a whip and the naked, humiliated woman appeared on screen.

Mo Yu couldn’t bear to watch further and instead examined the room. On the left stood a bookshelf filled with books on economics; at the bottom, two locked chests—clearly hiding secrets.

Ahead, facing Mo Yu, was a large floor-to-ceiling window. In front of it lay a tatami mat, crowded with plush toys: a nearly two-meter-tall teddy bear occupying half the mat, a delicate little white rabbit nestled beside it, a ferocious octopus on the far right, and a long-armed clown embracing them. Each toy was lifelike, cute, and beautiful. But this innocent beauty only made Mo Yu more uneasy. Don’t tell her that even the mentally ill have the softest, sweetest side—nonsense! What kind of pervert cuddles plush toys while watching videos of himself abusing women?

If that were true, Mo Yu would be even more anxious.

After checking that there was nowhere else to hide except the tatami, Mo Yu slowly and quietly approached the pile of plush toys. She held her pistol in her left hand and gripped the steel rod she’d picked up in her right, her knuckles turning white.

She swept the tip of the rod from right to left. The large plush toys, lacking any solid support, toppled over, but none seemed unusual. Mo Yu swallowed, turned stiffly toward the door—one step, two steps, three steps—then spun around suddenly. As expected, the toppled plush toys had returned to their original positions. Without hesitation, Mo Yu fired her gun at the smiling, long-armed clown.

The moment the bullet left the barrel, Mo Yu saw the clown’s smile widen, stretching all the way to its ears. Just before the bullet struck, the clown leapt like an agile gibbon onto the bookshelf and raced across the ceiling.

Mo Yu kicked the door shut, trapping herself and the clown in the room. Her back pressed into the triangle between the wooden door and the wall, gun trained on the swiftly moving clown. She was determined to see just how formidable this mutated lunatic really was.

The clown’s eyes had turned completely black, void of any whites. He stared motionless at Mo Yu, as if contemplating how to devour his prey. Mo Yu, for her part, kept her gaze locked on the clown, who stood upside-down on the ceiling. She seemed to give up on the pistol, realizing its speed posed no threat to this monster clinging to the ceiling.

She tucked the pistol behind her waist, gripped the steel rod with both hands, and assumed a defensive stance, ready to strike at any moment.

What must come will come; whether one stretches their neck or shrinks it, the blade will fall all the same. Better to attack than wait!

Mo Yu bent her left leg, braced her right against the corner, and leapt, swinging the steel rod toward the clown. Yet, before she could touch his clothes, a powerful force shoved her away. She crashed into the bulletproof window, producing a sound that made anyone wince in pain. Mo Yu climbed off the giant plush bear, spun, and swung her rod behind her. The clown’s figure darted so quickly that Mo Yu could only catch a blur.

She knew that if things continued this way, she’d eventually run out of strength and end up like the tragic nurse in the bedroom.

She couldn’t just sit back and await her doom—she needed a plan to save herself!

Just as Mo Yu was thinking of a way to defeat the clown, he silently approached her, standing behind her like a phantom. Yet he didn’t rush to devour Mo Yu, the sweet morsel delivered to his door; instead, he toyed with her as if she were a monkey. The clown’s arms, longer than his own body, stretched from behind Mo Yu to in front of her, inching closer. Just as his fingertips nearly touched Mo Yu’s cheek, her body vanished into thin air.

Losing the prey that had been in his grasp was a crushing blow for a deranged mutant, but Mo Yu knew this: in such moments, these lunatics would fall into spasms, losing all sense and direction—and that was her chance!

Mo Yu gripped the steel rod and drove it fiercely into the convulsing clown’s head! The clown, who had been twitching on the floor, gradually stopped moving. Red and blue brain matter seeped from the hole, staining the once-white carpet.

Mo Yu sat a short distance from the clown, gasping for breath. The friction between her hands and the steel rod had drawn blood from her palms, but it was worth it—she had survived!

Only after her brush with death did Mo Yu remember her “useless” spatial ability. Fortunately, she’d been cultivating her powers to escape danger, and in the end, it had saved her life.

With the major threat gone, Mo Yu could finally begin her mission. She braced herself against the wall and struggled to stand. The teleportation had drained most of her energy, making even walking difficult.

It took some time before Mo Yu could reach the bookshelf without assistance. She began searching carefully for anything resembling a map. The upper shelves were filled with economics books—perhaps the clown had been an economist or a company boss, someone who made good money. Mo Yu searched but found nothing amiss. Her attention shifted to the locked cabinets. These old cabinets were secured with brass locks, but opening them was no challenge for Mo Yu. She easily revealed their contents.

Inside were jars and bottles, seemingly collectibles, nothing out of the ordinary. Mo Yu examined each one. At first, the front jars were empty, but as she reached the middle, she found one with unexpected weight. She opened it carefully—what was inside? Brain cores! And not just any, but high-level ones! Mo Yu’s excitement grew as she packed all the brain cores into her backpack and continued searching. She discovered more high-level brain cores and some photographs hidden beneath the jars. The photos were normal—not scenes of abuse, but images of certain emblems. Mo Yu had never seen these symbols before, but she packed them away as well.

Mo Yu retraced her steps to the room’s exit, her spirits soaring—she hadn’t expected such a bounty. Yet she couldn’t relax; there were still many rooms to search, and who knew what other maniacs awaited? Moreover, across the hall, Qing Xuan’s room remained silent. Was something wrong?

Mo Yu gently turned the doorknob, and her eyes fell upon the wide-open door opposite. Gripping her steel rod, she entered. After only a few steps, she saw a grotesquely elongated figure lying on the floor. She approached cautiously and found its head smashed open. Mo Yu frowned, continued her search through the rooms, but saw no sign of Qing Xuan. Anxiety gripped her; she no longer cared about making noise and ran to the entrance. The corridor was quiet, but Mo Yu noticed all the doors that had once been closed were now open—except for the room at the very end.

Mo Yu walked straight to the last door and heard the clamor of fighting inside.

She flung the door open and saw Qing Xuan locked in combat with a man over two meters tall. Qing Xuan’s body was splattered with filthy blood, while the monster’s eyes glowed red with rage. Mo Yu’s entry went unnoticed by the battling pair, giving her a perfect opportunity. She signaled to Qing Xuan, but he didn’t notice; she shrugged helplessly, set the blood-stained steel rod on the floor, and drew her pistol. Now was the perfect moment—only a fool would charge in with a rod instead of shooting.

The fight was so fast that Mo Yu struggled to aim. Qing Xuan finally spotted her and instantly understood her intention. He stopped moving, allowing the monster to grab him. But before the monster could smile in victory, he collapsed to the floor.

Mo Yu struck a gunslinger pose, blowing the barrel, and exchanged a smile with Qing Xuan, who had escaped the monster’s grasp.

Author’s note: I’m starving, off to eat now~