Chapter 64: The Head-Turning Phantom

The singing stopped at the mouth of the alley.

The anomalous entity, covered in countless human faces, quietly turned its head to look deep into the dark alley, seeming to catch a glimpse of Lu Yuan's retreating back.

Yet, the song on its lips never truly ceased.

A moment later, the singing entity slowly shifted its massive body and began walking toward the end of the street, its brisk and melodious tune echoing throughout the thoroughfare.

The direction the song headed toward was precisely where Mingzhi Primary School was located.

Of this, Lu Yuan remained entirely oblivious.

Stepping into the alley, Lu Yuan could feel the surrounding environment plunging into profound darkness; even the crimson light emitted by the blood moon overhead failed to pierce the narrow passage.

Pure, unadulterated blackness surrounded Lu Yuan.

The buildings were black.

The ground of the alley was black.

Lu Yuan did not panic. In fact, a deep sense of security welled up inside him. The television set had endowed him with the ability to see in the dark, and the deeper the darkness, the higher his concentration became.

"Faster!"

Lu Yuan began to run.

He hadn't planned on running at first, but having experienced numerous events along the way, the facts told him that moving stealthily was ultimately of little use.

It was still far too easy for those anomalous entities to find him.

That being the case, Lu Yuan might as well be direct. To save time, he chose not to overthink things.

"Ten minutes!"

Lu Yuan's flickering eyes shone particularly brightly in the pitch-black alley. The sound of his footsteps as he ran was loud enough to drown out both his breathing and his heartbeat.

At his current running speed, it would take him only ten minutes to reach the gates of Mingzhi Primary School.

The closer he got to his destination, the more impatient Lu Yuan felt.

This was only human nature.

Even Lu Yuan could not avoid this surge of emotion.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out from behind.

"Lu Yuan."

Lu Yuan, still in the middle of a sprint, froze.

That voice was so familiar.

It sounded just like Wen Ke.

Over the past few days, Lu Yuan had interacted with Wen Ke countless times and knew her voice intimately. He could recognize it instantly without even needing to look back.

Yet, hesitating for merely a second, Lu Yuan bolted forward with all his might, accelerating even faster than before.

He did not even turn his head.

Are you kidding me?!

How could Wen Ke possibly be here?!

This was definitely a trick conjured by an anomaly, attempting to lure him into looking back. Although Lu Yuan had never encountered anything quite like this before, every horror movie ever made played out precisely this way.

Better safe than sorry.

Evidence soon proved that Lu Yuan's decision was correct.

Wen Ke's voice rang out from behind once more, tinged with confusion and puzzlement: "Lu Yuan, it's me, Wen Ke! Why are you running away?"

Listening closely, the voice had already become slightly distorted.

"If I turn around even once, I'm your grandson!" Lu Yuan sneered inwardly. Such cheap tricks might scare the timid, but Lu Yuan's psychological threshold was exceptionally high; this wouldn't frighten him at all.

Gradually, the entity behind him grew impatient.

Its voice grew increasingly hurried, sounding less and less like Wen Ke.

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

The anomaly behind him seemed rather mediocre.

Lu Yuan was a living human being, and carrying a heavy backpack meant his stamina was inevitably draining, causing his running speed to naturally decline. Yet the voice of the entity behind him remained neither far nor close, maintaining a constant distance the entire time.

"I think I'm starting to figure out how this works."

Lu Yuan's eyes brightened.

Identity.

Rules.

These two elements were exceptionally crucial.

The importance of identity had already been established, and Lu Yuan was well aware of it. As for the rules, that was a key point he had just deduced.

Leaving aside the truly terrifying anomalies,

take these lower-level entities, for instance. Their designs all possessed glaring flaws; this was the influence exerted by the rules.

Take Zhuo Yan, for example. Her flaw was her impure hatred.

Although Zhuo Yan was an anomaly, the hatred within her was not pure. She still retained a shred of kindness deep in her heart, which was why Lu Yuan had been able to sit down and converse calmly with her.

Kindness was a good thing.

But when possessed by an anomaly, it became a fatal weakness.

Take An Shi as another example.

An Shi's flaw was even more obvious—his head.

And then there was the Look-Back Entity trailing Lu Yuan right now. Its flaw was that it had to force its target to turn around before it could launch an attack.

Strictly speaking, these flaws were manifestations of rules.

The more terrifying an anomaly was, the fewer flaws it possessed. An increase in hatred not only made them more formidable, but it also allowed these supreme terrors to refine their own rules.

"Identity, rules."

"As long as I master these two things, I should be able to escape safely from the pursuit of the vast majority of anomalies, and perhaps even pull off an unscathed counter-kill."

A flash crossed Lu Yuan's eyes.

As for identity, he had already researched it thoroughly. As for the rules, they were somewhat abstract, lacking tangible reference points, and required further observation.

Two minutes later, Lu Yuan spotted the exit of the alley.

To his surprise, a faint light flickered at the exit, resembling the glow of a streetlamp.

Lu Yuan's subconscious told him that places with light were safe. As long as he approached the light source, he could drive the anomaly away.

At this thought, excitement stirred in his heart.

The entity behind him grew anxious—truly anxious this time. If Lu Yuan refused to turn around, there was genuinely nothing it could do to him. A few seconds later, it switched voices: "Lu Yuan."

Lu Yuan, who had been running, came to a halt.

A look of elation crossed the entity's face.

It worked!

Now all it needed was for Lu Yuan to turn his head.

"Lu Yuan, it's me, it's Tang Wen."

"Don't you remember me?"

"Where is this place? It's so scary. Can you take me away from here?"

Indeed, the entity had stopped imitating Wen Ke's voice and had begun mimicking Tang Wen's instead.

Lu Yuan stood in place, unresponsive.

The entity started chattering again, rattling off a long stream of sentences, every single one urging Lu Yuan to look back.

Before long, Lu Yuan shifted his body, appearing as though he truly intended to turn around.

Seeing this, the entity grew ecstatic.

Yes!

Turn around!

Hurry up and turn around!!!

It had been waiting precisely for the moment Lu Yuan turned his head.

It could hear the echoes within the depths of Lu Yuan's mind—voices of the people he interacted with most frequently or remembered the deepest.

Lu Yuan turned around.

The entity was overjoyed.

It felt the hatred within its body break free from all restraints, instantly surging toward Lu Yuan. It pressed itself directly in front of Lu Yuan's face, executing a face-hugging kill.

"Got you!"

The Look-Back Entity smiled sinisterly.

However, the scene it had imagined—of Lu Yuan screaming in absolute terror—did not happen. Their faces were practically touching, yet Lu Yuan's expression remained entirely calm.

The Look-Back Entity's smile stiffened slightly.

Why wasn't this living human afraid?

That shouldn't be right!

Splat!

A fruit knife pierced straight through the body of the Look-Back Entity.

"Devour the hatred."

As Lu Yuan's words fell, a harsh gnawing and chewing sound erupted from the fruit knife, and the hatred radiating from the Look-Back Entity rapidly dissipated.

"I kept refusing to turn around because I didn't want to waste time, not because I was afraid of you."

"And... you don't deserve to use Tang Wen's voice."