The Oddities had originally been a three-meter-tall goat-headed demon-like monster.

Even after having all four of his limbs severed and lying wretchedly on the ground, his enormous body still exuded an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Confronting him felt like standing in front of a heavily loaded semi-truck, creating the illusion that his colossal form could crush us at any moment.

When he transformed back into an ordinary human, that oppressive feeling shifted from something tangible to something abstract and distant.

It didn’t disappear—it simply receded, like an invisible hand unloading every piece of cargo from the truck, dismantling it into scattered parts, and carrying most of those parts away.

All that remained was a bewildered driver clutching a burning fuel tank.

We couldn’t even remove the fuel tank for him—because he was the fuel tank himself.

Among us, Zhu Shi was still the fastest.

The moment the signs of his self-destruction appeared, a fan-like arc of silver sword light decisively sliced off his head.

There was something peculiar about that strike.

If that phantom-like hand had still been extracting something from his body, this slash might severed that hand entirely.

Almost simultaneously, I couldn’t quite tell if Zhu Shi had punched or kicked the Oddities, because she moved so fast that all I could catch was a faint afterimage colliding with his torso, sending him flying.

In an instant, the headless body was launched like a baseball, soaring over twenty meters away before exploding mid-air in a thunderous blast.

The head, still spinning as it fell, trembled slightly, as if it was about to explode as well.

But Zhu Shi had already sheathed her sword and caught the falling head in a clasped motion with her palms.

As she firmly clamped the head between her hands, the trembling stopped, as though her sheer strength had forcibly suppressed it.

“It seems the reports were accurate…”

Patrol Lu observed the series of events and spoke calmly, as though everything made perfect sense.

“The self-destruction of these creatures isn’t because they’re pre-programmed to explode. It’s because when the source of their power departs, the remaining energy inside their bodies goes berserk and detonates uncontrollably.”

Seeing that Patrol Lu didn’t offer any comment on Zhu Shi’s incredible reflexes, I decided to step in:

“Zhu Shi, your movements were unbelievably fast!”

“Really? Hehe…”

Zhu Shi seemed genuinely flustered, smiling shyly.

She was still holding the severed head in her hands.

The sight was indescribably bizarre, but honestly, I liked it.

A beautiful woman dressed in martial attire, clutching an enemy’s severed head while flashing a shy smile—that kind of contradiction was exactly my type of aesthetic charm.

“It’s a pity we didn’t have time to ask more questions, and we still don’t know what triggers a monster’s self-destruction. Why didn’t he self-destruct earlier when we were forcing answers out of him, but chose to self-destruct only after his resistance failed?”

Patrol Lu looked pensive.

His gaze shifted to the severed head in Zhu Shi’s hands, his expression growing stranger as he asked,

“By the way, Zhu Shi, why did you keep his head? Didn’t I tell you before you set out that no matter how intact the head you bring back, I can’t extract any useful information from it?”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Zhu Shi shoved the head into Patrol Lu’s arms.

“I’ve sealed the remaining power within the head, so it won’t explode for the time being. Take a look.”

Though puzzled, Patrol Lu followed Zhu Shi’s instruction and lowered his head to examine it.

Who knows what angle or insight he gleaned from his brief observation, but after just two or three seconds, he froze, eyes wide with shock.

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“The brain tissue’s information hasn’t been destroyed?”

“When his source of power began to leave his body, I severed the connection between him and it. This way, the source of power couldn’t destroy the spiritual information within his body upon separation,”

Zhu Shi explained calmly, as though she had just casually mentioned something trivial.

Patrol Lu was visibly stunned.

“You… can actually do that? None of the other Wuchang who’ve fought Oddities have ever managed such a feat.”

I was just as surprised.

Severing the connection between a being and its source of power?

It sounded like something out of a fantasy tale about sword immortals—not just cutting through tangible objects, but also invisible connections between entities.

So Zhu Shi really possesses such an incredible ability?

Her previous wide-eyed amazement at my flame abilities sometimes gave the illusion that she was ordinary.

But clearly, she was anything but ordinary.

“Instead of focusing on me, you should pay attention to the head. Can you extract any information from it?” Zhu Shi urged.

“Alright, alright, I’m on it.”

Patrol Lu, far from annoyed, actually seemed excited as he turned his full focus back to the severed head.

“The brain tissue is almost entirely undamaged, still remarkably fresh, and retains enough biological activity. Hmm… It even seems like part of the spiritual essence was intercepted and preserved by your strike. Good, with this, I can do much more.”

“Do more?”

I realized he wasn’t just planning to extract information.

“Yes, something like this—”

He casually tossed the head forward and pointed at it with his right hand, his finger steady in the air.

The head froze mid-air, as though locked in place by his finger.

With his left hand, he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a yellow talisman inscribed with vermilion ink, which he promptly slapped onto the head’s forehead.

He then stepped back two paces, traced a few arcane symbols in the air with his finger, and finally lowered his hand.

The head began to tremble, its features twitching violently before its eyes slowly opened, staring at us in bewilderment.

Witnessing this, Zhu Shi gave Patrol Lu a long, searching look.

“I… I should be dead…” the head said, its voice dazed but quickly turning to delight.

“Wait… I’m not dead?!”

Its gaze darted to us, shifting from fear to anger.

“What else do you want from me? Let me go!”

Patrol Lu actually revived the severed head?

After my initial shock, I thought for a moment before calmly speaking to it:

“Can’t you see the reality? You’re already dead.”

“Dead? Impossible! I’m clearly alive!”

The head retorted loudly before freezing, realization dawning on it.

“Wait… why can’t I control shadows anymore? Did you seal my powers?!”

Patrol Lu observed the head’s reaction and sighed to himself, “It seems my technique is still not refined enough…”

“What did you do to him?” I asked curiously.

“Well, here’s the thing. When his head was severed, his consciousness died, but the brain tissue remained active, and fragments of his soul lingered. So I used his brain as a medium, combined with a necromantic spell, to temporarily awaken him,” Patrol Lu explained nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just said something absurd.

“But now it seems like there’s some mental instability. I’m not sure if it’s due to the trauma of death or my imperfect spellwork, but he’s clearly struggling to grasp reality.”

“That… already counts as revival, doesn’t it?” I said.

“Not exactly. He’ll die again in a while,” Patrol Lu shook his head.

“So if you have questions, ask them quickly.”

The questions I was most curious about had already been partially answered. As for further inquiries…

“How did you become a Oddities?”

Zhu Shi asked the head, her tone sharp.

“You don’t seem like one of Xianshui City’s freelance demon hunters, are you?”

“I’m curious about that too,” Patrol Lu chimed in, his brows furrowed.

“I’m a Patrol of Xianshui City. Every cultivator in this city, whether they belong to Mount Luo Sect or act independently, is known to me. But your face? Completely unfamiliar.”

“Cultivator?” I repeated the unfamiliar term.

Zhu Shi shot Patrol Lu an annoyed glance.

“Oh, sorry, slip of the tongue. I meant demon hunter…”

Patrol Lu corrected himself seamlessly, then continued interrogating the head.

“If I’m not mistaken, you were once an ordinary person, weren’t you? Where did you gain the power of a high-tier hunter?”

The head seemed reluctant to answer at first, but under Patrol Lu’s necromantic influence, it appeared incapable of resisting the questioning.

Eventually, it spoke, just like before:

“It was the Creator of Oddities… The Creator of Oddities turned me from an ordinary person into a Oddities.”

“Creator of Oddities…” Patrol Lu’s brows knitted tightly together.

I set aside my confusion about the term ‘cultivator’ and asked, “You mentioned this ‘Creator of Oddities’ in the labyrinth dimension as well.

How did they turn you into a Oddities?”

“I don’t know the exact mechanics… I only know they implanted something called a ‘Seed of the Heart’ into my body. After that, I gained the ability to transform into a Oddities” the head explained, as if compelled to share more details.

“The Seed of the Heart gave us power, but it also cursed us with an insatiable hunger for human souls. And once we die or fall into despair, the Seed leaves our body.”

“No wonder you didn’t self-destruct when we first captured you. You were still fighting to survive… But when your resistance failed, you gave up hope, and that triggered the self-destruction,” I realized aloud.

Patrol Lu suddenly cut in, his voice sharp, “What does the Creator of Oddities look like?”

“He… wore a white suit,” the head said, its severed face twisting with effort as it tried to recall.

“He looked like a man in his forties, tall and thin. He might have undergone etiquette training—sometimes he spoke with a pretentious air. As for his face… I don’t know. He wore a silver mask…”

“Did you say… a silver mask?”

Patrol Lu’s expression suddenly contorted, his fists clenched so tightly that they creaked under the pressure.

“Lu Chan, what’s wrong?” Zhu Shi asked, clearly surprised.

But Patrol Lu didn’t respond.

Instead, he pulled out a blank photograph from his pocket, strode forward, and grabbed the head firmly.

“Focus! Recall his appearance clearly!”

The head’s hollow eyes widened as if forced to obey, straining to recall the Creator of Oddities image.

Patrol Lu stared intently at the blank photograph in his hand.

Zhu Shi and I leaned in closer, watching as an image began to materialize on the once-empty surface.

Gradually, a figure in a white suit, wearing a silver mask, emerged on the photo.

The moment Patrol Lu saw the face, his eyes burned with fury.

His knuckles turned white as he crumpled the photograph in his hand and let out a low, hate-filled growl:

“Humanitarian Division!”