Puzzle Madness

Chapter 179 Autumn is the Hunting Season (Fifteen)
Sour Soup Bak Kut Teh slowed down, looking at the stunned Huang Youtian with a puzzled expression:

"Huang Youtian, what are you saying? What do you understand?"

Thud. Huang Youtian released his grip with a contorted expression, and Da Tou Hong's foot landed on the ground.

He suddenly pulled something out of his pocket and ran towards the sour soup bak kut teh in three quick steps—
Then he used what he had in his hand to stab her neck: it was a small folding knife, hanging on a keychain, the blade gleaming in the dark.

Sizzle, sizzle.

He stabbed twice in quick succession, the movements resembling convulsions. The first stab went straight into the neck, penetrating all the way to the hilt. The second stab, due to the instinctive dodge of the sour soup bak kut teh, cut across the jaw and then severed the earlobe.

However, this does not affect the damage caused.

No one expected that Huang Youtian was carrying a weapon—although strictly speaking, it was more like a decorative ornament, only the blade had been sharpened without permission.

The man with sour soup and bak kut teh staggered against the wall, clutching his neck; then he collapsed, sitting heavily on the ground. His collar gradually turned deep red—his eyes rolled in terror, as if in disbelief.

She seemed to want to scream, but could only squeeze out strange "gurgling" sounds from her throat; her hands clawed at the concrete, but she couldn't take herself anywhere.

The surgical tray that was brought earlier provided absolutely no protection; there wasn't even time to react when it was lifted.

The boy with the eyepiece stood frozen in place, and even Ai Xi was stunned, her mouth slightly agape.

Huang Youtian's teeth were grinding together so loudly that the enamel seemed to be ground into powder and scattered all over the floor. It's hard to imagine that human teeth could make such a strange sound.

His eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets, and the veins on his thin neck were throbbing.

He waved his blood-stained folding knife wildly, scattering drops of blood everywhere; it seemed like a threat, or perhaps self-defense.

"Damn it. I get it—fuck, I said I get it! You guys are all in cahoots! Right? Right?!"

"It's you! Only Big Head Hong and I were tricked into your trap! Do you sell... sell those processed corpses, sell human body artifacts?! Or... or sell torture videos?! Ah! Are these the sets you made?!"

"Don't even think about it—don't even think about torturing me. If you're going to kill me, kill me now—"

His eyes were unfocused, as if he were looking at everything around him, yet also seemed to be staring intently at one spot.

"I won't let you torture me to death like this! I want, I want to avenge Big Head Hong! He begged me to avenge him!"

"I am not an ungrateful person. I am not an ungrateful person."

Amid Huang Youtian's roar, Suantang Bak Kut Teh clutched his neck, his legs twitching and kicking against the iron gate with a thud like drumbeats. His dyed hair was now tinged with the red of his own blood.

Blood seeped from between his fingers, trickling into the collar of his T-shirt and instantly changing its color.

Eyeglasses Boy's face was flushed, a redness spreading up his neck, and he was breathing rapidly and heavily; his chest was heaving like a bellows, clearly indicating that he was extremely excited as well.
"Huang Youtian! You, you've gone mad."

He said, pointing at Huang Youtian with his finger, drool unconsciously dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Ai Xi frowned, turned back, and stepped over to the side of the woman eating sour soup with bak kut teh. She knelt down to examine her wound.
The woman, her face streaked with tears and blood, tried to grab Ai Xi's clothes, but she avoided her.
"Damn it, I shouldn't have come here. I have class on Monday, a major course. Check-in help... check-in."

The murmurs grew softer and softer until they were barely audible.

Ai Xi shook her head and sighed. She looked at the sour soup bak kut teh, seemingly wanting to say something, but remained silent. Huang Youtian's folding knife had only made a small wound, but blood gushed out like a fountain. When the spray finally subsided, not a trace of life remained.

The sour soup bak kut teh let out a long "ho," then stopped moving; its two eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

This "psychological exploration" enthusiast, who came to Mong Cai from Singapore, witnessed the monster but did not die at its hands.

"Sigh. Me."

It's unclear what Ai Xi didn't finish saying: she simply closed her eyes and shook her head.
-
"Come here—four-eyed frog, come here: You, you try killing me! Ha, ha ha!"

Huang Youtian didn't even glance at the fallen sour soup bak kut teh, but instead brandished his folding knife and pressed down on the boy with glasses step by step.

He was like a rabid dog, constantly barking and spewing bubbly saliva; his face was a blur of laughter and tears, spinning in a mixture of rage and fear.
Hiss-whoosh. Hiss-whoosh.

It was at this moment that the monster silently appeared in the darkness behind Huang Youtian. There were no footsteps, no temperature changes, and no movement of light or shadow.

It appeared so abruptly, almost out of nothingness:

The stench and the animalistic breathing were ever-present; the smell of excrement mixed with blood filled the entire room, and the breathing was deafening.

Ai Xi and the boy with the eyepiece both stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes to the monster as if they were drawn to it.

This must be the first time many people have seen a monster in its entirety at such close range.

The monster was also watching them: although its head and face were hidden in the black mist and could not be clearly seen, only its neck, as thick as a telephone pole, was visible.

The enormous, door-like cleaver was propped up on the ground, half of its blade embedded in the earth, supporting the monster's body like a crutch.

His hands were extremely thick, stretching his shirt very tightly; his forearms were even larger than his upper arms, like Popeye's.

Its two feet were blurry, as if they were also shrouded in mist; they were not clearly visible, and only their shape could be vaguely discerned—very slender, and it was unclear how they could support such a huge body.

This makes the monster's posture more like that of a gorilla or ape; in some ways, the forelimbs provide even more support than the hind legs.

It also had a bulging, round belly that made its shirt stick out like a lump, like a patient suffering from ascites; yet its posture showed no sign of pain.

Even with its enormous and deformed body, resembling several people pieced together, its shirt still fit perfectly, almost as if it had been custom-made by a tailor.

No one could figure out how it managed to get here using its enormous body, navigating the previously narrow ramps and stairs.
But that doesn't matter. Everything will change when it appears here.

Huang Youtian turned around following the gaze of the man in the eyepiece and met the hot breath exhaled by the monster from the darkness.

He glanced at the monster, then at the folding knife in his hand, barely the length of his index finger and no better than nail clippers; he chuckled softly, and two lines of tears slid down his cheeks.

"No way! No way! Don't even think about killing me."

Huang Youtian, spitting as he spoke, raised his folding knife, but instead aimed it at his own neck and stabbed it viciously. His other hand unconsciously scratched his scalp, pulling out strands of his blond hair.

This cut was far less precise than the one on the sour soup bak kut teh. I don't know if it was because the folding knife had become dull from the two stabs, or if it was because I couldn't exert as much force when cutting myself.

(End of this chapter)