Monsters Die When Killed

His mouth was sealed with duct tape, and he could only move his neck and eyes. The middle-aged man had been fast asleep. A cross-shaped symbol, drawn with Holy Water, adorned his forehead, granting him a clarity he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

But now, the sound of Su Zhou’s voice startled him awake. The man glanced around, realized his predicament, and immediately began to struggle in astonishment, letting out muffled whimpers.

WHOOSH!

Just as he began to struggle, a Long Spear swept past, kicking up a Gale. Its spiraling tip came to a steady stop, pointed directly at the middle-aged man’s forehead.

A violet-blue Demon Fire burned at the tip of the spear. While it gave off a magnificent Spiritual Light like a nebula, it also made the man, who had been trying to cry out, clamp his mouth shut.

Forcing his head up, the middle-aged man saw a handsome youth whose body was wreathed in shadows. The youth was watching him with an expression that was either pitying or cold. The Suppression from the upper echelons of the Dragon and Snake Spiritual Rank made the man’s body begin to convulse before he went completely limp.

"So, you’re awake."

He greeted him softly, then raised his phone again. A smile returned to Su Zhou’s face as he spoke to his classmate on the other end of the line. "There’s a lot I can’t talk about, but I can tell you this: the murder case in the old district is about to be closed. The killer’s been found. It’ll probably be on the news in a day or two."

A smile may have been on his face, but Su Zhou’s eyes were utterly indifferent. Judging by his relaxed tone alone, one might mistake him for a normal young man, if not for the terrifying scene surrounding him.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with his classmate, Su Zhou hung up.

He twisted his wrist, using the ridge of the spearhead to hook the middle-aged man’s chin and force his head up, compelling him to meet his gaze.

Looking into the man’s terrified, uncomprehending, and bewildered eyes, Su Zhou felt no sadistic pleasure. In fact, his own eyes held a trace of profound sadness.

"Li Zhi. Marketing manager for Zhenghui Real Estate. You used to live at 402, Building 9, Liyu District. You had a wife and a daughter. Your daily life was harmonious, with no infidelity or other factors that might destabilize your family. Life was happy, and all was well."

"But in the last three months, your wife suddenly took your daughter, moved away, and cut off all contact with you. You also moved from Liyu District to this old building in the old district and took an extended leave from work... Do you know why?"

"Mmmph?!"

Hearing the man’s confused muffles, Su Zhou nodded and said calmly, "You must be wondering, ’Why would something like this happen to someone as ordinary as me? I didn’t do anything, yet my wife and daughter left me, and now someone like you has shown up at my door?’"

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"Mmmph! Mmmph!" The middle-aged man couldn’t speak, but he nodded desperately. He was completely bewildered. Compounded by the torment of the past few days, his fragile mind could no longer support coherent thought.

What could he do in the face of Su Zhou’s question but agree? He could only nod for all he was worth. Even if he was going to die, he wanted to die knowing why.

"Now. I’ll tell you the truth."

Su Zhou had no intention of toying with him. He said, point-blank, "You’re already dead."

As the middle-aged man’s eyes shot wide open, Su Zhou calmly revealed the whole truth. "Li Zhi, the human, died five years ago. Since then, your Soul has been devoured by a Monster from the doomsday Otherworld of Dusk, and your body has been possessed. The one listening to my voice right now is not the man ’Li Zhi.’ It is a ’protective shell’ that the Dusk True Demon created from the remnants of his Soul in order to lie dormant."

"With the recent Spiritual Energy Revival, it has also awakened. It has been making you go out every night to hunt the living, cut off their heads, and Gather their Blood Qi and Souls. This allows the Evil Demon to have more faces to choose from. In the future, it can abandon your face, which has lost its value, and use the faces of others to hide within the city, stirring up turmoil, doubt, and destruction."

Having said this, Su Zhou withdrew his Long Spear. He turned, raised a hand, and pulled up the blinds that had been drawn tightly over the window, letting the bright midday sun stream into the room.

When he was done, Su Zhou let out a long sigh.

"I could have killed you much earlier, but I have a rule for myself: I will never harm an innocent who knows nothing—or at least, an innocent I *believe* knows nothing."

"For the human part of your Soul to find peace, you must know the truth."

Turning his head once more, one side of Su Zhou’s face was illuminated by the sunlight, giving him an almost divine appearance. The other side remained in shadow, where only a violet-blue Dragon Pupil could be seen, emitting a cold Spiritual Light.

That expression—a mixture of grimness, pity, and something like a held-back sigh—was reflected directly in the man’s eyes.

"Mmph, mmph?! MMPH!!"

An expression of bewilderment crossed his face, as if he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. The middle-aged man named Li Zhi thrashed wildly, glaring with hatred at the young man and his false Compassion. He refused to believe this absurd...

...

’Wait...’

The moment the man began to doubt his own normalcy, a crisp shattering sound echoed from the depths of his mind and Soul.

Something was rising from the deepest part of his psyche, from the very center of the remnants. Memories, once obscured by some unknown power, now returned to the surface of Li Zhi’s mind, illuminated by the Spiritual Light Su Zhou had released.

The man suddenly recalled the scene from five years ago—the moment of his own death.