Chapter 3: Transformation

  Jiang You sat dumbfounded on the sofa, staring at the kitchen.

  As soon as he had entered the apartment, he had been affected by some force, blurring his memory. If it hadn't been for that bastard from the company angering him back to his senses...

  "It'll be ready soon."

  The thing in the kitchen spoke.

  Jiang You held his breath, slowly stood up, picked up the stone sword, and moved as quietly as possible towards the kitchen.

  He stared fixedly at the shadow in the kitchen doorway.

  Just as he was three steps away from the kitchen entrance.

  Suddenly!

  "Creak~"

  The old wooden floor, in disrepair, made a sound. The subtle noise was amplified infinitely in the quiet environment!

  The chopping sound in the kitchen instantly stopped. Jiang You knew this was bad. Without hesitation, he used his uninjured right hand to smear blood on the bde of the sword. An excruciating pain shot through him, making the veins in his temples bulge!

  Then, with a rge stride, he charged straight into the kitchen.

  The moment he stepped into the kitchen.

  "Snap!"

  The light went out, plunging the room into darkness!

  Jiang You didn't care about anything else. He entered and swung his arm wildly, the bde of the sword slicing through the air, making a "whoosh, whoosh" sound.

  Jiang You charged around blindly, sshing wildly in the kitchen, but he didn't hit anything.

  "Nothing?"

  In the iron-like darkness, to ensure his own safety, he continued to swing left and right until his arms were sore. Only then did he stop, panting heavily.

  "Flick!"

  An orange fme jumped out in the darkness, breaking the bckness and illuminating Jiang You's pale face.

  Luckily, he had a lighter in his pocket. Jiang You held the lighter and looked around. He saw a bloody thigh on the cutting board. Some of the flesh had already been cut off, exposing the white bone underneath. It made Jiang You's eyelids twitch. The air after the rain was incredibly humid. Despite it being te autumn, Jiang You was still sweating profusely. His clothes were sticking to his body, making him uncomfortable.

  The stench of blood from the cutting board and the smell of his own sweat made Jiang You increasingly agitated. The anger in his eyes, illuminated by the firelight, fred. "Damn it, it's chased me all the way home. Is there no end to this?"

  Suddenly, a drop of blood fell from above, nding on his forehead. He looked up and met a pair of red eyes, only a few centimeters from his face. A bck shadow was clinging to the kitchen ceiling, holding the chopped-up flesh in its hand, blood dripping continuously.

  "Pfft."

  The fme of the lighter was blown out by a gust of sinister wind. Jiang You's roar echoed in the darkness, "Get down!"

  He swung the stone sword upwards with all his might. "Cng!" A sound of metal colliding rang out, and a cluster of sparks sputtered in the darkness!

  Jiang You held the sword in his left hand. His hand was sweaty and slippery, and with the bandage wrapped around it, the sword slipped from his grasp after the impact and flew into an unknown corner of the darkness.

  But Jiang You was consumed by rage at this moment, fear overridden by fury. Only one thought remained in his mind: "Kill it!"

  He directly reached out his right hand and grabbed upwards. He caught the monster's ankle. The touch was incredibly cold, as if it had just come out of a freezer. The blood seeping from the bandages on his hand sizzled upon contact with the monster. The monster let out an eerie shriek and was pulled down by Jiang You.

  As it fell, it knocked Jiang You down. The two of them rolled and wrestled on the floor. Jiang You, relying on the blood on his hand, tried to grab the monster's neck. Just as his hand was halfway there, a blurry red light fshed before his eyes. A sense of life-or-death danger arose. He quickly retracted both hands and grabbed, stopping a boning knife just in front of his eyes!

  "Snap." The light in the room came back on.

  In the kitchen, Jiang You was pinned beneath a middle-aged man with an ashen face. He was desperately gripping the bde of the knife with both hands. Blood flowed from his hands, staining half of Jiang You's face red. He gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw muscles bulged, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

  Although Jiang You's body had been strengthened once, slightly increasing his strength, he still couldn't push the knife away. Instead, as time passed, the tip of the knife was slowly pressing down towards his eyeball.

  Blood flowed into Jiang You's eyes, staining his pupils red. He didn't dare blink. Just as his eyeball felt the bone-chilling sharpness of the bde, Jiang You forcefully tilted his head to the right, rexing the strength in his hands. The knife "thudded!" into the floor next to his head. Jiang You reached up with both hands and grabbed the monster's neck. A rge amount of blood flowed directly from his hand, burning on the monster like scalding oil.

  A rge amount of green smoke rose. Jiang You seized the opportunity, flipped over, and smmed the monster to the ground. Then, he straddled the monster and, with blood-red fists, pounded madly on the monster's head!

  Blood spttered. After only two or three punches, the monster's head had been smashed into a pulp. Soon, it dissipated into smoke, leaving a bck mark on the floor.

  Jiang You exhaled a long breath and, ignoring the blood on the floor, y down.

  "The world is finally quiet."

  [Sequence: LV9 Exorcist Mage (30%)]

  A warm current flowed through his body, slightly alleviating the pain.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  A pounding on the door came.

  "What are you doing upstairs! It's so noisy downstairs! Do you have any manners! You're renting, right? I'll have you kicked out!"

  An auntie wearing pajamas outside was shouting furiously.

  "Swish."

  The small window on the security door opened, revealing half of Jiang You's bloodless face.

  "Fuck off!"

  The auntie refused to back down and pointed at Jiang You's nose, about to scold him back. "You hick from the countryside..."

  Before she could finish speaking, she saw the bloodshot eyes staring at her coldly, like a hungry tiger about to pounce. She was so frightened that she retreated several steps. When she tried to speak again, the window had already closed.

  Jiang You, having dealt with the auntie, looked at the blood all over the floor. He sighed, endured the pain, opened the window to disperse the smell of blood, and began to clean the floor.

  By the time everything was cleaned up, it was te at night.

  He took off his blood-stained clothes and threw them in the trash. He turned on his phone and pyed music.

  Led Zeppelin, Immigrant Song.

  In the strong drumbeat, he walked into the bathroom and started to shower!

  The stirring music masked the groans coming from the bathroom.

  The cold water poured down from above, easing Jiang You's pain. He lowered his head and tremblingly unwrapped the bandages on his hand. The bandages had turned a dark red, and the fabric was stuck to the torn flesh, causing Jiang You's face to contort in pain.

  After removing the bandages, he rinsed his hands under the cold water. The energy gained from killing the monsters had strengthened his body again, and his healing ability had improved. After a while, the bleeding stopped.

  Jiang You, completely naked, looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. In just half a day, the person in the mirror seemed unfamiliar.

  The weak, timid office worker had disappeared, repced by a man with a pale face, fierce eyes, and even a slightly neurotic look!

  His body had developed muscle definition. His shoulders were broader than before, and his chest muscles were starting to take shape.

  The feeling of powerful physical strength gave him a natural sense of confidence.

  "Perhaps things aren't so bad."

  He recalled his previous life: endless overtime, grabbing a quick meal on the roadside after work, slumping onto his bed and pying on his phone until te at night, and then waking up the next day to repeat the cycle! He was numb all day, ordinary to the point of despair.

  But today, he felt that the strings of his destiny had been plucked. He had countless possibilities. This feeling was unprecedented and made Jiang You incredibly intoxicated.

  After several brushes with life and death, Jiang You felt that something that had been suppressed within him had been released. Jiang You smiled at himself in the mirror, then dried himself and went out.

  He tore up some clean old clothes and simply bandaged his hand. Then, he fell onto the bed, and a wave of sleepiness washed over him. He fell asleep instantly.

  The wind and rain outside grew more intense. The strong wind swayed the trees, making rustling sounds. In the residential area, a man wearing a bck raincoat emerged from the darkness of the rain. His hood was pulled down low, obscuring his face. He held a feng shui compass in his hand. The needle on the compass was shaking constantly, finally stopping.

  "What! It disappeared?"