Fengchuan Xiangzi looked at the thing, so bewildered that she almost lost her voice.
"He… help!!"
Although she was still very embarrassed to say it, Xiangzi still shouted it out at this critical moment.
However, the neighbors, who usually liked to argue, scold children, play online games, and shout loudly into their microphones at this hour, were like dead today, with no response at all.
Xiangzi called for help to the entire cheap apartment, but the only one who responded was herself.
What was that?
It had no physical existence, yet it cast a shadow when light shone on it. Was the shadow the entity itself? No, perhaps the entity's true form was simply invisible, and light just couldn't penetrate it. A lightless environment would probably be its advantageous territory.
She screamed, but there was no one to answer her from all around; the entire house seemed like an abandoned ant's nest, empty and silent.
Ignoring everything else, Fengchuan Xiangzi dragged Xiang Zi's father's body, wanting to go outside.
But even though her strength was actually quite astonishing, definitely at a higher level among girls her age, dragging an adult in this situation seemed like wishful thinking.
However, fortunately, in the previous situation, the continuous slaps and her daughter's screams finally awakened some remaining consciousness in the old man, who had been stripped of the Toyokawa surname.
"Xiangzi, Xiangzi, what's wrong? It's okay, Daddy will protect you."
Although he didn't know what was happening, the slumped man still struggled free from his daughter's tugging and groggily got up.
But at this moment, from Xiangzi's perspective, the shadow of that thing, that long, slender thing, rotated.
Combining the shadow with the direction of the light, Fengchuan Xiangzi was certain.
It was looking at her.
However, there was nothing in front of her eyes; nothing at all existed.
But precisely because nothing existed, this feeling of being watched was particularly unbearable.
It's moving, that thing is moving!
The shadow on the wall clearly reflected its movements, which were not swift, but rather somewhat slow.
But that slowness didn't seem to be pity given to the weak.
Instead, it consistently gave the prey a glimmer of hope that it could escape, like a cat repeatedly catching and releasing a mouse.
"Quick! Hurry!"
In such a tense situation, Fengchuan Xiangzi naturally couldn't comprehend the completely inexplicable situation before her.
She also couldn't know the other party's intentions; she only knew that the claw hadn't fallen yet, and she still had a chance.
Seeing Xiang Zi's father finally trembling and getting up, she grabbed his wrist, pulled him, opened the sliding door, and ran towards the room's door. This was probably the time in her life she was most grateful that the door was so close to the bedroom.
"Thud!"
Xiang Zi's father lost his footing, stepped on the pile of beer cans, and fell again.
This time, Xiangzi couldn't pull him along anymore, and she too slipped and fell onto the scattered bottles and cans.
"Hiss!"
Pain shot from her waist.
Her stomach, which had become thin due to worry and several days of malnutrition, had been bruised by the cans.
The beer can was flattened, and Xiangzi turned around.
In the bedroom, the shadow appeared on another wall due to the entity's movement, and because the desk lamp was at too low an angle, the shadow of the thing appeared somewhat faint.
And the shadow of that thing began to gradually extend and lengthen from the wall, until finally, the shadow appeared from the wall onto the floor, covering the father and daughter at this moment.
But as if still unwilling, the shadow stretched longer and longer, until its head exceeded the door frame.
Fengchuan Xiangzi could clearly perceive that the lengthening of the shadow was not due to a change in its master's size, but for a very simple reason: it was approaching her.
"Whoosh!"
Although she could already hear her own pounding pulse in her ears, she still didn't give up.
Her strong will made her resist; she picked up a sake bottle mixed among the beer bottles and threw it at the spot where the unknown thing was standing.
"Bang!"
There was a sound of impact; the glass bottle seemed to have been hit in mid-air and fell to the ground, but clearly, such a weak throw did not cause any harm to the thing.
This completely supernatural scene also made Xiang Zi's father, who had just recovered from the fall, turn pale with fright.
"Xiangzi! Go! Go! Don't stay here! It's… it's my fault!"
Perhaps for this drunken, useless middle-aged man, this situation was like a dream, but precisely because of this, he could speak his true feelings and make the choice he truly believed in.
Too bad.
"Ah ah ah!"
As if electrocuted, Xiang Zi's father suddenly began to scream.
But Xiangzi knew it wasn't like that; the shadow of that thing had already overlapped with her father's.
There was no time to hesitate now. Xiangzi really wanted to help her father, who was in pain, but reason told her that if both wanted to be saved, this wouldn't work; her going to help would only lead to one more person in trouble.
She rushed to the door with all her might; this time, she didn't trip over the bottles and cans again.
She twisted the doorknob with all her might.
"Click!"
The lock twisted to its deepest point, then she pushed.
It didn't budge.
She felt as if there was a wall outside, even though she had turned the handle, no matter how hard she tried, she could only push it open a tiny bit, as if a huge force was fighting against her.
At this moment, her heart had basically turned cold.
So she pressed against the door, pushing constantly, not daring to turn back to look at the shadow.
Until she felt the door lighten.
"How the hell is there a refrigerator here?"
A voice came through.
The voice sounded familiar, it seemed to be… the neighbor next door?
With a loud crash, Fengchuan Xiangzi was shocked to discover that her door had been propped shut by a refrigerator leaning against it and the wall on the other side of the corridor. No wonder she couldn't open it no matter what.
At the same time, three figures appeared in the corridor.
Bird-beak masks with ventilation holes deliberately left open instead of being stuffed with herbal sponges.
Jet-black cloaks like formal dresses, and the three instrument cases that Fengchuan Xiangzi recognized the most.
"Wait, there's someone inside!"
Perhaps these three kind neighbors had heard her screams and come to help?
These were, of course, Keli and his companions, who had followed the scent.
It seemed they were on their way to a performance, but she couldn't put them in danger. She needed to get them to find more support with her…
Just as Fengchuan Xiangzi was thinking this, she saw the leader nod his bird head at her and pull a small scythe and a fancy gun from his instrument case.
"Eh?"
Since he had a dedicated firearm, this person was naturally Keli.
As for the small scythe, that was because Keli's meat cleaver had been damaged when he jumped from the 16th floor. The new knife he ordered hadn't arrived yet. In addition, after several practical battles, Kazuma felt that he wasn't very good with this weapon, so he replaced it with a chainsaw he had bought before and a broadsword that wasn't too long. Keli was using it for the time being.
Because of the increase in strength, Kazuma had also quietly contacted a YouTuber who made videos of cold weapon production and ordered a half-page long-handled knife that resembled a guandao to try it out.
Then, Fengchuan Xiangzi watched in a daze as the three men in black rushed into her house in a whirlwind.