# 163
Chapter 163 – The Headless Man
“What’s wrong?” Cao Yuan asked in confusion when Lin Qiye suddenly stopped.
Lin Qiye didn’t answer. He simply pushed the door open. Beyond it lay a long, narrow corridor, and in the middle of that corridor lay a corpse cleaved in half.
It was a woman. Her upper and lower body had been completely separated. Scarlet blood soaked the floor around her, and in that pool of red one could just make out the uniform of a new recruit.
“She’s one of ours,” Li Shaoguang said hoarsely. “I knew her—pretty girl. One of my buddies said he was going to ask her out. Never thought…”
It was the second body they’d found today.
Lin Qiye stepped up to the blood and swept the corpse inch by inch with his mental perception.
“Only one wound—at the waist. The cut is perfectly smooth; a single strike from some sharp blade. The muscles in her arms are stiff—she was tense, on guard. She was facing something… no, confronting something.
But whatever she confronted—no, whatever Mystical she faced—was far stronger. One slash, and her lower half was gone. She never had a chance to fight back.”
Li Shaoguang’s face was ugly. “Weren’t we told that thing specializes in trapping people? How could it be this strong?”
Cao Yuan pondered. “Could it be a space-type Forbidden Ruin that simply split her body?”
“No. A spatial cut wouldn’t leave a wound like this. Only a physical blade could… Don’t tell me this Mystical is also a master swordsman?”
Lin Qiye’s brows drew together. He stared down the dim corridor and spoke slowly.
“Or… there’s a second Mystical here.”
The other two felt their hearts lurch.
“A second one?” Li Shaoguang exclaimed. “If it can kill a Pool-realm so cleanly, it’s at least River-realm. Add the space-controller, and Building Three holds two River-realm Mysticals?!”
Lin Qiye nodded. “Possible, but we can’t be sure yet.”
Silence fell.
Out in the open, two River-realm Mysticals wouldn’t scare two hundred recruits. But trapped inside this sealed building, the math changed.
Counting the fifty-plus female recruits originally housed here and the males who’d just entered, they numbered barely eighty. Face-to-face they might stand a chance, but the enemy held every advantage: unknown position, unknown abilities, space itself twisted to keep them scattered.
Heaven, earth, and human favor—none were on their side. Their odds were slim.
Suddenly Cao Yuan lifted his head. After a moment he frowned. “You hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Like… something heavy being dragged.”
They held their breath. Sure enough, a faint scraping came from afar, followed by the creak and thud of doors opening and closing—
Scrr… scrr… scrr…!
Closer, closer; the door-sounds clearer each second.
A moment later Lin Qiye’s perception caught something. His face darkened; his hands settled on the hilts at his waist.
“It’s here,” he said quietly. “The one that killed her.”
Li Shaoguang’s expression flickered. “Fight or run?”
“We test its ability. If we get an opening, we kill it. The longer we wait, the worse it gets.”
He spoke the truth. Everyone was scattered across twisted space; if another recruit met this River-realm thing alone, death was certain. Delay meant fewer survivors.
Right now they had Lin Qiye, Cao Yuan, and Li Shaoguang—above-average at the very least. Together, they could challenge a River-realm.
Li Shaoguang nodded, pulled the machete from his back, eyes blazing.
Though they’d known each other only days, he already followed Lin Qiye without question.
Cao Yuan simply hugged his sheathed blade closer, ready to draw.
Creeeak—!
The scraping stopped. The door at the far end of their corridor swung open. A two-metre figure lumbered through, one hand dragging something behind, the other shutting the door.
In the deep-blue gloom from the windows, Li Shaoguang and Cao Yuan saw it clearly.
A hulking man. A ragged hole gaped where his head should be; skin ash-grey in the dim light. One arm dangled, the other hauled an enormous executioner’s blade—three metres of black steel that gouged deep furrows in the marble as it scraped along.
Headless. Blade. The slow, inexorable advance down the corridor brought a crushing pressure.
“What the hell…” Li Shaoguang muttered, throat tight. “He’s so slow we could just—”
His voice echoed—and the headless man stamped.
No longer sluggish, he shot forward faster than eyes could track, a shark scenting blood!
Marble exploded beneath his feet. In an instant he was on Li Shaoguang.
Pupils shrank.
A blinding slash—
By the time Li Shaoguang reacted, the thing was already behind him.
Blood fountained from his waist.
Darkness swallowed him.
Cao Yuan’s pupils contracted at the sight. His hand flashed to his sword—but Lin Qiye seized his wrist and pressed a finger to his own lips.