Chapter 35: The House That Hunts (Part VIII)

Zhu Ning pressed her palm against the wall, feeling the "pulse" beneath her skin with every breath.

Thump, thump, thump—

It sounded like a heartbeat emanating from the depths of a cavern.

The structure was traditional: steel bars encased in concrete. The rebar formed a grid, resembling the skeletal structure and meridians of a human body. In an instant, Zhu Ning connected with the entire house. Every door, every wall, every tiny screw—she was performing a diagnosis through hanging threads, caressing the skeletal framework of the walls.

To Huang Yaru, Zhu Ning’s actions appeared bizarre; she leaned against the wall as if in prayer.

Suddenly, the fingers Zhu Ning had pressed against the wall curled slightly. Immediately after, the entire house began to tremble.

The steel bars twisted inch by inch, bursting through the plaster. It was as if Zhu Ning were stripping the house of its skin and extracting its bones.

Huang Yaru watched in disbelief. *Is she tearing down the house? Can she dismantle a house with her bare hands?*

In a mere instant, the interior of the house began to shatter piece by piece.

The incandescent light on the ceiling swung wildly until, with a loud bang, the fixture Huang Yaru had carefully selected smashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.

Wallpaper peeled away in sheets, like discarded newspapers. Plaster and broken bricks crashed down, landing squarely on the sofa and television Huang Yaru had meticulously chosen. The TV was crushed, the sofa split open, and as a falling refrigerator struck the Snail-person, it let out a shrill scream.

Huang Yaru watched helplessly as the entire house collapsed. She was stunned; the home she had spent her life savings to buy and lived in for fifteen years was dying.

BOOM!

The largest section of the ceiling came crashing down.

Huang Yaru reacted quickly. She stopped staring mindlessly at her furniture, instead donning the deceased Hunter’s helmet and protective suit to shield her head.

She covered her ears, but it felt as if the house were speaking to her. As the structure crumbled, she heard its cries.

"It hurts, it hurts so much, it hurts."

"Mommy, Mommy—"

"Shut up!" Huang Yaru clamped her hands over her ears, refusing to listen.

*I am not your mother!*

*Monster! You are a monster!*

The house shook with a massive tremor, and the deafening roar, accompanied by the house’s weeping, drilled into Huang Yaru’s ears. She crouched beside Zhu Ning, eyes shut, ignoring the wailing.

Zhu Ning, meanwhile, was focused intently on tearing the house apart. She heard none of the cries, only the sound of steel buckling.

A hive was easier to manipulate because it was entirely metal-covered, whereas this house was more cumbersome. Yet, under her absolute control, the steel groaned and twisted, molded into a scrap heap.

Inside her helmet, she felt a dampness beneath her nose, but she had no time to wipe it away.

A system notification echoed in her ears: [Warning: Do not overuse Mental Value.]

*To hell with that.* If she didn't overuse it, Zhu Ning would die right here. Between dying inside a house and suffering damage to her Mental Value, she preferred the latter.

[Mental Value is decreasing]

[Mental Value is decreasing]

[Decreased by 30%]

[Decreased by 40%]

[Decreased by 50%]

Bang. Zhu Ning pulled her hands back, stopping just as the gauge hit 50%.

She gasped for air. Blood was streaming inside her helmet, but she couldn't even reach up to wipe it. The blood made her look disheveled, but her state was even worse.

In an instant, she lost her hearing and her sight. Despite the enhancements from the genetic serum, which should have granted her senses far beyond those of an ordinary person, she was now completely sensory-deprived.

The world turned black, as if everything were drifting away from her.

If losing control of one's body was the first layer of terror, then losing all five senses was the second.

Zhu Ning tried to steady her stumbling body by reaching for the wall, but she realized with a start that she had already crushed that wall into oblivion. In the darkness, she could find no direction, nor could she hear a sound.

*Slap.*

Someone caught her. The person was incredibly thin, reduced to nothing but skin and bones from years of torment. To her, Zhu Ning’s body felt heavy, but she held on, preventing Zhu Ning from falling.

"Hey!" She heard a faint voice. "What's wrong?"

*Whoosh—*

It felt as if water flowed from her left ear to her right, then back again. Once the sensation passed, her hearing returned.

"Hey? Hey!" Huang Yaru was calling out.

Zhu Ning blinked, her vision slowly recovering. The outlines of ruined walls surfaced before her. The entire house was in shambles; they were standing in a pile of debris.

Near Zhu Ning’s feet was a pool of slime—the remains of the dead Snail-person.

The air was thick with pollution spores. Blood-red spores shrouded the space like summer fireflies, denser and more concentrated than before.

*Ding—*

[Congratulations on completing the random mission: The House That Hunts. Purification level: 100%. Sleeping in the house completion: 100%. Finding the missing Huang Yaru: 100%. Successful escape: 100%.]

[Calculating rewards...]

[Congratulations on obtaining basic rewards: Mental Value restored to 100, Luck increased to 20.]

[Congratulations on obtaining 3000 Purification Points. Total accumulated: 3154.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the house reward: Three-Dimensional Defensive Space.]

[Reward Description: C-grade contaminated item. Can form a 2x2x2 three-dimensional defensive space. You are the sole master of this space; all individuals and objects must obtain your permission to enter. Duration: 30 minutes. Note: Use of this item consumes 20 Health Points.]

[Congratulations on upgrading the primary talent: Metal Manipulation. Can manipulate metal objects within two meters. Note: Overuse of this talent will damage the brain.]

[Congratulations on obtaining random mission reward: Blank Card.]

[Reward Description: Can store any item within the card. Capacity: One item.]

[This mission line has advanced the side quest "Finding the Truth of Death." Key clues found. Progress: 30%.]

[Primary Talent "Danger Perception" triggered. A 30-second early warning has been issued. Please ensure your safety.]

*?!*

Zhu Ning was listening to the rewards when this sudden alert popped up. Danger perception again.

Zhu Ning shoved Huang Yaru hard. Before Huang could react, she was pushed to the ground.

*Bang!*

A bullet whistled past. Huang Yaru was wearing the Hunter’s protective suit, which was bulletproof, and she quickly scrambled behind the debris.

Zhu Ning looked up. She had just used Metal Manipulation and her brain was still reeling, but at this critical juncture, that talent was her best defense.

The bullet stopped abruptly one meter in front of Zhu Ning. She had raised a defensive wall using her metal manipulation.

"Potential Ability User detected ahead." Her enhanced hearing picked up voices. "Repeat: Potential metal-type Ability User detected."

Zhu Ning’s vision wavered. Her helmet was filled with blood, and all her actions were instinctive.

*So there was an ambush.* The house was an experimental subject; someone had arrived after Zhu Ning entered.

Zhu Ning knew too much, and they had been waiting here to kill her.

By clearing the polluted area, Zhu Ning had exposed herself to the assassins. The challenge that followed was an assassination attempt.

Twenty minutes earlier, four heavily armed assassins had been lying in wait in the hallway. They were like jackals hunting in the dark, their eyes fixed on the green door.

They had just received word that someone in a Cleaner’s uniform had entered Experimental Subject No. 777, suspected to be sent by Prometheus to purify the contaminated zone.

Their superiors had issued two orders: if she was swallowed by the green door, it would be a clean job, and they could withdraw just like the Hunters who had entered before.

If she purified the contaminated zone, they were to kill the intruder immediately. They were a professional team of assassins, specializing in murder.

After twenty minutes of waiting, the green door began to change, and a massive sound erupted from within.

*Crackle, crunch—*

It sounded as if someone were dismantling and chewing up the house. About three minutes later, the house suddenly fell silent.

*Bang.* The broken green door swung open, revealing the ruins within, with countless pollution spores dancing in the air.

The worst-case scenario had occurred: Experimental Subject No. 777 had been purified.

This was the first time the assassins had seen the person behind the door. A woman in a jet-black Cleaner uniform and helmet stood behind the wreckage.

She seemed exhausted, with Huang Yaru supporting her. *Did she do all this by herself?*

There was no time to think. Their cameras were active, and orders came through their earpieces.

"Kill her."

"Kill her now."

Anyone who had just finished purifying a contaminated zone would experience a momentary lapse in focus. It was the moment of least vigilance and the best time for a strike.

*Bang—*

The assassins’ instincts were faster. They fired.

The orders from above were to kill on sight, leaving no survivors. They held nothing back; the bullets were aimed straight at her brow.

But the bullets didn't hit Zhu Ning. They stopped one meter in front of her.

An invisible barrier had risen in front of Zhu Ning. Within that one-meter radius, the bullets were like toys in the palm of her hand.

*An Ability User?*

*Wasn't she wearing a Cleaner’s uniform? How could she be an Ability User?*

The assassins immediately realized something was wrong. They had miscalculated. If they had known the target was an Ability User, they should have sent their own Ability Users.

"Target suspected to be a metal-type Ability User," one communicated to the others.

"Switch to air-pressure bullets."

Killing someone usually only took three minutes, especially an Ability User. If they hadn't succeeded in three minutes, it meant the mission would likely fail. Already, more than a minute had passed.

Zhu Ning instinctively pushed Huang Yaru away. With her mind still sluggish, she struggled to process the situation.

The contaminated zone hadn't been fully neutralized. After she crushed the house, it had become a strange, hollow void, filled with blood-red pollution spores. The ambushers were outside this space.

The spores were still drifting. This was a densely populated residential area. Once contaminated, the entire complex would become a danger zone, and everyone would become a carrier.

Zhu Ning had to be grateful that she was still lucid. She had to take out the enemies first. Zhu Ning prioritized her tasks in a split second.

The attackers were professional. They had a sniper stationed in the opposite building.

A bullet had just aimed for her forehead from the rooftop across the street. With her enhanced vision, Zhu Ning could make out a faint metallic glint behind the rooftop parapet.

Zhu Ning had been a sniper; she could quickly identify an enemy's general position.

She knew a basic rule: to take out a team, you first take out their eyes—the sniper.

Zhu Ning’s Metal Manipulation only had a range of two meters. She couldn't kill the person across the street with that talent. She tapped her system panel.