"What are you talking about? There's no smell," Jiang Qian sniffed hard but detected nothing.

Even Lin Qiye took a whiff. His senses of smell and hearing were far sharper than most, and if there were any odor, he should have noticed it immediately. But this time, he smelled nothing.

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"No, I'm sure. It's an incredibly strong and disgusting stench," Lin Xuan replied, lying through his teeth.

"Take another sniff. It feels like that awful smell is coming from the alley you’re heading into."

"Huh?" Wang Shao jogged toward the alley, sniffed hard, and still smelled nothing.

"There's nothing there."

The others moved closer to check as well, their faces filled with confusion.

"Lin Xuan, are you messing with me?"

Just as Wang Shao's patience was about to run out, Jiang Qian, who had the sharpest nose, suddenly gagged violently.

"Ugh! Don’t say that. Now that you mention it—ugh! It really stinks!"

"What? I still don’t smell anything. Wang Shao, do you?"

"I... Ugh! Damn it, now I smell it too. It’s disgusting! I can’t take it anymore!"

Lin Xuan, who had insisted on the smell all along, finally caught a whiff of it as well.

It was a vile stench, like a mix of excrement, rotting meat, and decayed fruit blended and left to ferment for forty-nine days. Just one sniff made Lin Xuan feel sick to his stomach.

Even with the superior constitution of a hybrid, he found it unbearable. His stomach churned violently.

"The smell seems to be coming from that alley." Lin Qiye pointed to the pitch-black depths of the alley.

No one dared to approach; instead, they began to back away. The stench was overwhelming.

Plop, plop.

A strange sound reached their ears. It was wet and sticky, like something rotting being slapped against a wall, mixed with the sound of liquid dripping.

Finally, a terrifying figure emerged before their eyes.

It vaguely resembled a person, but it crawled on all fours. Its massive, misshapen body was grotesque to behold. Most horrifying of all, its face was a ghastly, twisted white mask.

A crimson tongue, at least half a meter long, flicked in and out of its mouth with disturbing agility.

"AHHHH!!!"

Jiang Qian let out an ear-piercing scream the moment she saw the creature.

The others turned pale with fear, their faces frozen in shock. They could hardly believe what they were seeing.

But two people remained calm—Lin Qiye and Lin Xuan.

Lin Qiye, because he couldn’t actually see anything; Lin Xuan, because he had been expecting it. Although the creature’s true appearance still startled him, he quickly steadied himself.

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"Run!" Lin Xuan shouted.

His voice pierced their ears, jolting them awake. One by one, they turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, Lin Xuan included.

But he deliberately lagged behind, even slower than Lin Qiye.

The faceless demon, drawn by Lin Xuan’s shout, let out a guttural roar and charged at them on all fours, closing the distance to just ten meters in mere moments.

Lin Xuan kept his hands in his pockets, each clutching a jagged piece of brick.

The faceless demon lunged at him, its foul, gaping maw snapping toward his neck. Feeling the rush of wind behind him, Lin Xuan rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the attack.

When he looked up again, his golden slit pupils glowed in the darkness, radiating a cold intensity.

Activating his vertical pupils didn’t consume much energy, but it significantly enhanced his perception. Without even using Time Zero, Lin Xuan could still see the world as if it had slowed down.

Every sharp protrusion on the creature’s body, its jagged teeth, the feral gleam in its eyes, and the tension in its coiled tongue were vividly clear.

By now, Lin Qiye had run ten meters ahead, unable to see Lin Xuan’s transformed eyes.

The faceless demon locked eyes with Lin Xuan and froze. For a brief moment, it no longer saw a fragile human but an enormous black dragon towering over endless white bones. The dragon’s massive wings were adorned with hanging skeletons, and its golden eyes radiated unmatched majesty.

Taking advantage of the demon’s momentary hesitation, Lin Xuan leapt forward, launching the first attack!

The faceless demon shook its head, snapping out of the trance. Its crimson tongue lashed out, slicing through the air with a sharp whip. The force was enough to split a person in two.

At the same time, another faceless demon emerged from the shadows, pouncing on the last runner—Lin Qiye.

Lin Qiye: 凸(艹皿艹)

Lin Xuan couldn’t afford to worry about the other demon. As soon as the tongue lashed out, he activated his Word Spirit.

"Time Zero."

The words, spoken in a halting draconic tone, caused the world around him to slow to a crawl. The crimson tongue, now sluggish, slithered toward him like a drunken snake. Droplets of saliva and the blood dripping from the demon’s mouth seemed suspended in midair.

Lin Xuan sidestepped the tongue and leapt onto the demon’s back, locking his legs around its neck.

The creature bucked wildly, trying to shake him off, but to Lin Xuan, its movements were sluggish and easy to counter.

With a shard of brick in each hand, Lin Xuan aimed for the creature’s eyes and struck down hard.

Squish. Crunch.

In the accelerated state, every sound was distorted and muffled. The shards punctured the demon’s eyes, causing it to writhe in pain.

Lin Xuan didn’t stop there. He repeatedly smashed the bricks against the back of its skull, his hybrid strength on full display. Within moments, he had turned the demon’s head into a mangled mess of gore.

Blood and gray matter mixed with its noxious stench splattered everywhere. The sensory assault was overwhelming.

The effects of Time Zero dissipated, lasting no more than two seconds—a brief but critical window.

To Lin Xuan, the sequence of events felt long and drawn out, but to the faceless demon, it was as if the human had teleported. One moment it was attacking, the next its head was being smashed in.

Meanwhile, Lin Qiye heard a strange, rapid sequence of sounds, like a sped-up recording. Though curious, he had no time to investigate as he faced the second demon.

Standing amidst the blood and gore, Lin Xuan closed his eyes, focusing on the sensations within his body.

It was a mystical experience. He wasn’t absorbing the demon’s flesh but something else—something intangible, like a soul or a concept.

A faint warmth coursed through his body, cleansing him from head to toe. On the Gravestone, his bloodline purity increased by roughly 1%.

"One faceless demon adds about 1%... huh," Lin Xuan murmured.

Opening his eyes, his golden slit pupils gleamed. He looked at the second demon, tightening his grip on the blood-soaked bricks.

With a powerful kick, he propelled himself forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

"Die!" he roared.