Then she crossed her arms, turned around, and walked back into the darkness with graceful abandon.

Listening to her footsteps fade away.

Only then did Lynn exhale and finally relax.

"Young man." The Scavenger beside him smiled and said, "Go back. But be careful—do not provoke any grudging spirits. If you do, they will cling to you forever."

Lynn snapped back to himself and immediately thanked her: "In any case, thank you, Grandma. If not for you earlier, I would have been in real danger."

The Scavenger chuckled, hobbling her cart as she smiled:

"If it weren't for you last night, Wandering Souls Alley might not have survived."

"But Grandma will only help you this once. What happens to you after this is none of Grandma's business."

Creak—creak—

Lynn watched the old woman pull her cart and disappear into the black mist.

His expression turned grave.

He hurried back to the potion shop.

He glanced at the time and raised an eyebrow. "I can only wait to see if Teacher comes back tonight. If he doesn't return today, then things will be troublesome!"

...

Soon.

The Soul Lamp outside the door flickered and gradually dimmed.

Night was approaching.

Still no sign that his teacher would return.

Lynn paced nonstop.

He knew.

It was highly likely his teacher would not return today.

Only two choices lay before him.

Either go accept a visitor, or stay and hold out until morning.

But clearly, with his current strength, holding out until morning would be extremely difficult.

He frowned.

Without further hesitation, he immediately spent 500 Skeleton Coins and quickly logged into the Sight to gather information.

The moment he opened the Regional Channel, he immediately saw that familiar nickname.

[Regional Channel]

[Burned Ghost]: "Queen, did you finish off that human brat?"

[Evil Spirit Queen]: "That brat got lucky. A scavenger of uncertain strength happened to pass by. Her relationship with that old woman seems unusual. I didn't make a move."

[Skeleton Demon]: "You don't mean the old woman in human skin, do you?! Be careful—she's said to be one of Wandering Souls Alley's earliest residents. Many say she might be a remnant of an Origin-Level Monster. Her power is terrifying!"

[Evil Spirit Queen]: "Interesting. But if it comes to a real fight, I'm not afraid of her!"

[Evil Spirit Queen]: "Tonight I invited that brat to be my guest. If he comes, there will be a show waiting for him. If he doesn't, hehe—I'll just find some other fun."

[Burned Ghost]: "Queen, invincible!"

All the comments below were nonstop flattery.

Clearly.

She hadn't lived here long, but she had already established strong authority in Wandering Souls Alley.

As expected in a world ruled by strength!

[Skeleton Demon]: "Queen, could he be in the Sight right now, watching us chat?"

[Evil Spirit Queen]: "Impossible. That guy is weak—he doesn't even have the ability to enter the Sight. Even if he did, I'm already itching to get at him! Tomorrow you can wait for my battle report!"

[Evil Spirit Queen]: @Human dog doctor, are you there? Are you there?

[Evil Spirit Queen]: @You bastard who trained my daughter, are you there? If you have the guts, come out!

Slap—

Lynn slammed the Regional Channel closed, eyes wide.

They were openly planning to target him!

No way!

Lynn logged off immediately, face stern.

He squinted, taking his revolver, his heart, and the Boning Knife with him—his best self-defense tools so far.

Then he opened his panel.

[Skills]

[Infectious Aura]: Slightly increases the success rate of persuasion.

[Curse Diagnosis]: Can detect whether the target is afflicted by a curse during diagnosis.

Lynn: "…"

An all-attribute-into-body stat spread and a handful of life skills—a seven-out-of-ten trash combatant…

"I can't go head-on. I need to be cunning."

Lynn's expression hardened.

He watched the Soul Lamp dimming.

Without hesitation, he shut the shop door, picked up the lamp that was growing faint, and for the first time left the potion shop.

The Soul Lamp's light pushed back the black mist.

Silence and emptiness filled the dark.

Soon.

Lynn stood before the gate of No. 45, Wandering Souls Alley.

Looking up, an old, dilapidated house came into view. A thick stench of blood and mildew slammed into him.

This was the Pig-Headed Demon's shop from before.

Only now, yesterday, he had been eaten.

Creak—

Lynn lifted the lamp and slowly pushed the old wooden door open.

"Ma'am! I'm here to visit!"

Lynn shouted.

Inside was pitch-black, the air heavy with rotten, moldy stench.

Lynn walked in carefully.

In the dark.

He faintly heard rustling, wriggling sounds again and again.

It sounded like something hung upside down, chains clinking faintly.

Then, the next moment.

Whoosh—

Candles on the wall began to ignite one after another, instantly illuminating the entire room.

Lynn immediately saw.

One by one, hanging from the chains, suspended upside down, were human bodies skinned and dried!

He could even clearly make out the frozen, contorted expressions on their faces.

Clearly.

Before the Pig-Headed Demon died, this place had been a bloody, brutal slaughterhouse.

Lynn reached out and poked the face of the corpse hanging before him.

"Not as handsome as me." The source of this content ɪs Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

He shook his head, pushed the hanging body aside, and walked forward.

The next moment.

Lynn saw a square table in the center of the room, draped with a blood-red tablecloth. Two candlesticks flickered with weak flames.

A pair of high-heeled shoes sat on the table.

The atmosphere was indescribably eerie and incongruous.

"Ma'am? Are you here?" Lynn shouted.

But no one answered.

Lynn blinked, shrugged, and, eyeing the chair set as if prepared for him, plopped down.

...

At the same time.

Somewhere on the second floor, countless sticky tentacles slithered and crawled along the walls.

The Blood-Robed Evil Spirit narrowed her eyes, staring at the mirror that faintly glowed and displayed the first-floor scene. Cold laughter filled her eyes.

"Everyone, the doctor is here. Since you all want to watch a public execution, tonight you can feast your eyes."

In the Sight.

The mirror's live feed was appearing in the Regional Channel.

There were already a full 541 viewers!

[Blood Doll]: "I don't think this is good. After all, he's Bloodsaw's apprentice. If they kill him now, when Bloodsaw returns it will be terrifying!"

[Burned Ghost]: "Queen afraid of that?! Bloodsaw is a perverted killer. His apprentice is a little perverted killer. A human getting so brazen in our Wandering Souls Alley deserves to pay!"

[Skeleton Demon]: "@Evil Spirit Queen, how do you plan to kill him?"

Before the mirror.

The Blood-Robed Evil Spirit sneered and flicked her long hair, mocking: "I won't kill him so easily. If it's a human, the best execution is to break their spirit first."

"Don't you want to see his terrified face? I think that will be very entertaining!"

She turned her head and looked at the adorable baby sleeping soundly in the corner. Her eyes instantly reddened.

If she hadn't already known it was that human who caused this mess,

she might have been fooled by him!

Poor daughter.

She could have become a powerful, twisted hunter, but now she's just an adorable, utterly useless baby.

All because of that human!

She abruptly turned, staring hard at the mirror, and said:

"Everyone, this is a scene I carefully arranged. Wait and see how he dies!"

Instantly.

She tugged on one of the tentacles hanging from above.

Creak—

As if something had been triggered.

...