Chapter Sixty-One: Let Me Go
“There is still one last question,” Qi Chen said, his gaze sharp. “What exactly is hidden behind that door on the second floor that won’t open?”
“Perhaps it’s the key to solving this bizarre incident,” the gentle man replied, his eyes equally intense.
They had already deduced parts of the mechanism triggered by the supernatural abilities. Now, aside from the inn’s entrance which still refused to open, only the door at the deepest end of the second-floor corridor remained uninvestigated.
“I’ll try to see if I can just blast the door open,” Qi Chen said, walking up to the tightly shut door. Beside him floated the Overlord, eyes wide with fury. With a roar, he swung his fist—big as a sandbag—directly at the inn door!
Bang!
A thunderous crash shook the entire inn, as if it trembled on its foundations. Where the Overlord struck, a shallow dent appeared, but the door was not breached.
To be honest, the hardness was extraordinary.
The Overlord’s strength was rated at A!
“The power on this door must be related to the inn’s core supernatural ability,” the gentle man observed, squinting. “Just like the bizarre ropes released by the confession guillotine earlier—it couldn’t be cut.”
Qi Chen nodded, and the Overlord raised his fists again, letting out a series of impassioned roars!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door shuddered wildly, a succession of fist marks blossomed across its surface. The commotion left the remaining special operations members stunned.
They couldn’t see the Overlord, but they could clearly witness the rapid emergence of dents on the door.
“Definitely can’t force it open…” Qi Chen said, disappointed. He’d hoped that with greater force, he could open the door and let the special ops team escape first.
“We’ll have to go upstairs. You stay here and protect the special ops team. Who knows, if they went up, would they trigger another supernatural ability? And it’s not clear whether there’s only one humanoid entity in this inn,” the gentle man said.
But Qi Chen smiled at him.
“Let me go.”
The gentle man raised an eyebrow, hearing Qi Chen continue, “The environment inside the inn doesn’t seem suitable for your enthusiastic fighting style, does it? You spent quite some effort dealing with that humanoid entity.”
“If there’s something even stronger behind the second-floor door, could your Enthusiasm handle it?”
The gentle man fell silent—the Enthusiasm’s ability was useful, but its flaw was that it didn’t offer much advantage in brawling with supernatural entities, given its strength rating was only C.
“So, let me go.”
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Once more ascending the stairs, Qi Chen found the corridor still strewn with the corpses of the faceless ones.
The air’s metallic tang had faded somewhat, but the carpet’s color had deepened, and the already grime-stained walls were now splattered with many dried, graffiti-like stains.
Qi Chen stepped forward lightly, but in the silent surroundings, his footsteps seemed unusually loud.
His goal was clear: the door at the end of the corridor that couldn’t be opened.
“The supernatural aura is intensifying…” He frowned unconsciously, his eyes fixed on the tightly shut door—he could sense a presence of immense spiritual intensity lurking behind it.
What… could it be?
A question lingered in his mind. According to the special ops team’s report, that room was the last one they searched—it was only at the end of their search that they discovered it couldn’t be opened.
Judging by the timeline, it was likely before the supernatural ability was triggered.
So now, was it possible the door could be opened directly?
“Perhaps opening it now is what actually triggers the true supernatural event,” Qi Chen speculated, shaking his head vigorously.
He hoped things wouldn’t develop in that direction.
Without incident, Qi Chen arrived outside the door that refused to open. From the gap beneath it, a cold, intense aura surged forth, far stronger than the spherical entity he’d faced during the blood-red high heel incident.
That entity’s spiritual intensity had only been rated E+ by the Department of Supernatural Affairs.
“Why does it smell like rot?” Qi Chen sniffed hard, realizing a faint stench of long-decayed meat emanated from behind the door, making his stomach turn.
Yet, after standing before the door for some time, nothing happened.
Click!
The Overlord’s hand pressed down on the handle, turning the lock, and a flood of suppressed chill exploded forth from the opening!
Qi Chen shivered, but, linked in mind with the Overlord, sensed another force behind the door also trying to open it!
He stepped back, and the door swung fully open.
“Ugh…” Qi Chen pinched his nose tightly, unable to bear the stench pouring out from inside.
Soon, he saw the source: a man so decayed as to be unrecognizable, naked, his rotten flesh forming a multitude of faces—male and female alike.
Among them were several faces Qi Chen recognized—all were the fallen special ops members!
“Hiss!” The rotten man opened his mouth, emitting a snake-like hiss, and a forked tongue flicked from his mouth, swaying in the air. Hollow eye sockets stared straight at Qi Chen, and all the faces on his body displayed expressions of ravenous greed.
Bang!
The Overlord’s punch sent the decayed entity hurtling back into the room, but the creature immediately let out a screeching, piercing hiss!
It charged again!
Qi Chen hurriedly retreated down the corridor, while the Overlord swung his fists, sending the decayed entity flying and slamming it into the wall.
But once embedded in the wall, the entity began to tremble violently. The faces formed from rotten flesh dropped off with wet slaps, revealing the bones beneath.
Yet these were no human bones—the spine elongated, the ribs splayed outward like centipede claws, waving menacingly in the air.
A normal person witnessing this would likely lose their sanity.
Qi Chen felt he was barely holding on himself—the impact was overwhelming.
Suddenly, the entity transformed into a skeletal centipede, writhing as it pried itself from the wall, its remaining human head flicking its tongue like a serpent, and launched another attack!
“Overlord!”
Qi Chen roared, and the gray-white Overlord bellowed in response, charging forward!
Infused with immense power, the iron fist struck directly at the entity’s spine, but the chilling entity hissed, and the claws formed from its splayed ribs wrapped around the Overlord!
Both attacks landed simultaneously!
A dozen bone spikes pierced the Overlord at different points—Qi Chen felt a stabbing pain in his forehead—but the Overlord’s fist decisively shattered the entity’s spine!
Pain fueled rage, and a blazing fury instantly ignited within Qi Chen.
“Die!”
A beastly roar erupted—the massive gray-white apparition ignored the bone spikes burrowing deeper, tackled the entity to the ground, and mounted it.
Then, blows rained down from both sides, the mask-like face contorted to the extreme with wrath!
“Roar!!”
Now, it was time for disassembly.
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