The monster seized Zou Kui's ankle.
Its fingers were ice, drilling straight through flesh into bone. Zou Kui gasped, dragged onto his back—
And then it loomed over him.
That gaping maw stretched wider, darkness pooling inside like a pit. Zou Kui writhed, kicking wildly, but its grip didn't budge.
His fingers scrabbled blindly—
And closed around something smooth.
A medicine bottle.
He hurled it.
CRACK.
Powder exploded across the creature's face.
It shrieked, recoiling—
And then…
Something changed.
The powder glowed, faint but unmistakable. The creature froze for half a heartbeat—
Just long enough.
Zou Kui twisted, grabbing for the knife—
This time, he didn't pull.
He flicked the latch.
Click.
The knife came free in his hands.
The creature's claws slashed downward—
SHING.
Steel flashed. The blade sang as it left its sheath, its worn edge catching dim light—
And the creature screeched, jerking back as if burned.
Its grip on Zou Kui's ankle snapped open.
Zou Kui scrambled up, blade thrust forward, blood dripping from his torn shirt.
The thing circled him, milky eyes locked on the knife. Its jaw twitched, torn between fury and terror.
A stalemate.
Then—it lunged.
Not straight at Zou Kui.
At the window.
Its body contorted unnaturally, skittering along the walls in zigzag bursts too fast to track. Zou Kui barely swung in time—
HISS.
The blade grazed its arm, drawing a plume of acrid black smoke.
The thing shrieked—and then slammed into Zou Kui like a freight train.
CRACK.
The window frame shattered.
They fell.
Air rushed past Zou Kui's ears, panic sharpening his senses—
He twisted, driving the blade upward—
THUNK.
Steel punched straight through its ribs.
Black mist erupted from the wound, steaming like dry ice. The creature writhed—
Its claws dug into Zou Kui's shoulders—
And then—
Gone.
WHUMP.
Zou Kui hit concrete. Agony exploded through his spine, ribs cracking white-hot. His vision swam black at the edges.
But when he forced his eyes open—
The creature was vanishing.
Dissolving into wisps of shadow as the knife drank them in, its etched patterns flaring once—
Then dulling to silence.
Lying there, bleeding, broken—
Zou Kui laughed.
A wet, painful sound.
He'd won.
By sheer madness, sheer luck, and a blade steeped in rules.
Then—
Headlights.
Engines roared closer. Doors slammed. Footsteps sprinted toward him—
But darkness swallowed him whole before he could speak.