Chapter 176 - 176 Thirty-three

Words : 1226 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

176: Thirty-three. Not smart people and smart people 176: Thirty-three. Not smart people and smart people Whitely slowly curled up, weakly lifting her arms to embrace herself. Her face twitched as she murmured in pain, “Ugh... it hurts... my whole body hurts...” Lu Li knelt down, keeping practically level with Whitely, “You’ve been rotting for many days, your nerves should no longer have any sensation. The so-called pain is just an illusion, let it go.” This truth was incredibly cruel, but it worked. Whitely no longer murmured in pain; her curled body stretched out again, her arms lowering. “May I ask some questions?” Lu Li looked at her eyes, no longer clear. “What do you... want to know?” Her eyes slowly turned, settling on Lu Li. Her hand suddenly lifted, reaching toward Lu Li’s face. An invisible wall stopped her, forcibly returning it to its original position. Anna floated nearby, her face puffed up like a bun. “I can guess what happened to you. What I want to know is the cause.” Ignoring their minor movements, Lu Li spoke earnestly. “What did you experience?” Whitely remained silent, as time ticked by. Just when Sauron, who was observing everything from a corner, thought she had died, Whitely slowly began to speak. “There was a madman...” ... Whitely’s narrative was disordered and fragmented, like the speech of a madman jumbled and reassembled. This was understandable; you couldn’t expect someone whose consciousness and body were on the brink of collapse to speak logically. Sauron was a lawyer, skilled at extracting key information from speech. However, this time Sauron completely failed to comprehend Whitely’s words. Perhaps only Lu Li understood what she was saying, what she was trying to convey. Just as Lu Li had guessed, Whitely was another victim used as an experimental subject by Richard, just like Claire. Richard’s attack happened five days ago, aligning with her degree of decomposition. The cool rainy season had extended Whitely’s “shelf life” by a few days. If it had been in the clear heat of day, perhaps her body would have decayed and maggoted in just three days. In her narrative, Richard had abducted her on her way home from work, performing surgery on her in some dark, damp chamber, implanting crimson tendrils in her body. Here she referred to them as “a cold, wriggling, worm-like disgusting thing,” which Lu Li believed to be the crimson tendrils. Whitely thought she had encountered the Steam Monster, her fate to end her days on the cold surgical rack. Unexpectedly, she was let go by the madman—not quite let go, as she was still confined in the chamber, but the madman simply left, merely closing the door without even locking it. Whitely broke free and escaped the restraints. Out of fear, she did not contact the police and decided to rest at home, then went back to work the next day. She should have realized the gradual decay of her body, but unfortunately, Richard’s experiment this time included something extra, which made Whitely’s mind become dull, slow, and finally turned into the state Lu Li observed. Surprisingly, Whitely hadn’t mastered the ability to take over someone’s body. She might possess it, but she didn’t know how to use it. The other victims involved in the tendrils might be the same, which greatly relieved Lu Li. This meant there weren’t as many victims as he had imagined. “What is the Steam Monster?” Lu Li turned his head and asked. Sauron thought he was asking him, opened his mouth to speak, but a clear answer came through the air. “Characters in horror novels and comic books are derived from legends. Some conservative folk and religious people believe that so-called science and metal crafts are destroying the world and have angered the Divinity, leading to the creation of these stories.” Compared to noble etiquette classes and the dull drawing and art, Anna preferred these interesting stories. “The Steam Monster is a mad scientist who captures innocent people and integrates them with industrial products.” “We’ll discuss this later,” Mr. Luli interrupted Anna’s narration because Whitely was almost gone. Whitely’s chest heaved, she did not need to breathe because she had been dead for many days. A beast-like siphoning noise emanated from her chest cavity; she suddenly, as if electrified, firmly grasped Mr. Luli’s wrist, gasping coarsely, her swollen head lifted, her cloudy eyes suddenly focused, fixedly staring at Mr. Luli, “Find... him...” “I will,” Mr. Luli replied. With Mr. Luli’s response, Whitely’s body lost its last bit of strength. Her cloudy eyes gradually dimmed, the grip on Mr. Luli’s hand weakened, releasing his watch, and fell downward. Her head lowered, the last trace of life’s fire disappeared from her body. Everyone present, along with the ghosts, simultaneously sighed and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Anna, set up a containment field,” Mr Luli said as he stood up and stepped back. “What is a containment field...?” Mr. Luli, with his hand on his waist, gazed at the hanging head before him, “I will soon blow Whitely’s head apart to prevent her brain, blood, and hair from splattering when her head explodes, you need to use your abilities to prevent those from spreading.” “Okay, now that you’ve said that, I understand. But really... that’s disgusting...” Anna regretted asking Mr. Luli, which now made her feel nauseated. She decided not to ask why Mr. Luli wanted to blow apart Whitely’s head and immediately used her remaining power to set up the so-called “containment field” around Whitely’s body. Mr. Luli pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger. In the deafening gunfire, the windows trembled slightly, screams resounded outside the meeting room, and Whitely’s head exploded. However, the bloody scene one might have imagined did not occur. Like Hol previously, her shattered body gradually turned into nothingness. This was somewhat strange. Infected by the same thing, Claire’s body was preserved after her death, but Hol and Whitely dissipated into the air after they died, as if they had never existed. At least, they no longer had to worry about how to dispose of the body. “We originally thought Whitely was just sick...” Sauron exhaled a murky breath, unsure of what expression to use when facing Mr. Luli, “Um... Mr. Luli, right? Do you have time? Maybe we could talk...” “I have no time.” “...Then, how should I contact you?” “My card is at the front desk, you can ask for it later.” “Ah, okay.” The contrast in Sauron’s attitude before and after was somewhat amusing. Thinking that Mr. Luli was in a bad mood, he decisively shut up and escorted Mr. Luli out of the Lute Bank building. “Most people still don’t believe there are ghosts in this world,” Anna revealed her soul in the carriage, muttering softly, “Even though the Night Calamity is right in front of us... It’s truly foolish.” Mr. Luli had a different opinion. “The more knowledgeable people are, the more they are prone to skepticism, and that is the force that drives us forward. Instead of vague rumors, these people prefer to believe their own eyes and judgment.” “The truly foolish are those who easily believe anything.”

Chapter 176 - 176 Thirty-three

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