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Translator's note: Nice face-slapping here. I wonder if Ma can plagiarize Fang Xiu's resetting power. And it'll make the story a lot more interesting if he can.
BOOM!
A shocking scene unfolded.
The Head Balls seemed to be under some invisible, heavy pressure and were squashed and burst one by one, like fireworks.
Soon, they turned into pools of flesh.
Ma Xingbang's strike killed thousands of Head Balls in seconds.
Yang Ming and Bai Qi's pupils shrank. No one could tell what Ma Xingbang had done, but the effect was surprisingly strong.
Thinking that Ma Xingbang was from the headquarters, they respected him even more.
"Let's go," Ma Xingbang said calmly.
He didn't look back, intentionally leaving only his silhouette to the others.
As he stepped on the flesh and climbed the stairs, something unexpected happened.
The blood and flesh on every step bubbled up. Then, countless flesh lumps emerged from the flesh, turning into new Head Balls.
"What?!" Ma Xingbang was shocked and quickly ran down the stairs.
Flesh lumps surged under his feet. Blood and flesh splattered, staining his pants. He was graceful when he was going up, but now he was in a panic coming down.
At this moment, however, no one was paying attention to Ma Xingbang. They were all horrified by the flesh on the stairs.
Countless Head Balls grew from the flesh, quickly covering the entire staircase. They were packed tightly together.
They seemed endless, almost filling the entire stairway.
Clearly, Ma Xingbang's actions had made the situation worse, multiplying the number of Head Balls by several times, possibly over ten thousand.
The narrow corridor and stairway were almost completely occupied by the Head Balls, making the scene extremely horrifying.
Ma Xingbang's face was twisted, partly because his attempt to show off had backfired immediately, and partly because he hadn't expected the mental hospital to be this terrifying. They had just entered and hadn't even passed the first challenge, yet they were facing a setback right away.
He thought to himself, 'Damn it, as long as I'm alive, there's still hope. I'll plagiarize some abilities to counter the Head Balls and come back.'
Then Ma Xingbang shouted, "Quick, find a door! These Specter things are too wicked, we can't fight them. The more we fight, the more they multiply, first—"
However, his voice was interrupted by a calm one.
"Such a waste of time."
The speaker was Fang Xiu.
Ma Xingbang was furious and yelled, "Fang Xiu, what did you say? If you want to die, stay here. No one's stopping you."
"Yeah, Xiu, if we can't do it, let's retreat. We'll bring Shen Lingxue next time. I don't believe they can still multiply after being burned to ashes," Yang Ming also suggested.
Ma Xingbang gave a cold laugh. "Fang Xiu, it looks like you're confident. Then stay here and deal with them. But don't you dare follow us when I use the golden key to leave—"
Before he could finish, he was stunned by what happened next.
Fang Xiu's black hair instantly turned into a waterfall of silver, floating as if defying gravity.
The silver strands split into thousands, piercing through the Head Balls like needles.
The hair skewered the Head Balls like candied haws, each strand carrying a dozen heads.
As the heads were pierced, a tiny hole appeared at the center of their foreheads, their insides instantly shredded by the silver strands.
Then, with a swift motion, the strands pulled back, flinging the Head Balls behind them into the corridor.
To everyone's amazement, the Head Balls fell silent after being skewered and flung away. They were no longer multiplying or bouncing around, seemingly dead.
With just one move, Fang Xiu had cleared out thousands of head Balls—using only his hair.
Ma Xingbang couldn't believe it. "How is this possible? Why don't they multiply when you kill them?"
Fang Xiu didn't respond. He just calmly walked up the stairs, leaving them behind. "Let's go."
He didn't explain anything and casually continued upstairs.
"Awesome!" Yang Ming shouted excitedly, following him up.
Bai Qi, although silent, couldn't hide his shock and followed as well.
Ma Xingbang, left with a dark expression, was furious at being ignored. He tried to suppress his anger and slowly followed them up.
But just as he took a step, Fang Xiu stopped and said lightly, "By the way, Mr. Ma, what were you saying just now?"
Ma Xingbang's face went pale. He didn't respond.
"Mr. Ma, you were talking about using your key to leave, right? Now that I'm continuing the exploration, you wouldn't shamelessly follow us, would you?"
Ma Xingbang was about to explode with anger. His own words were thrown back at him, and his face felt slapped, yet he had no choice but to follow.
The item he was searching for was in the mental hospital, and he couldn't afford to give up after forming such a strong team.
In the end, Ma Xingbang 'shamelessly' followed them.
As the group walked up the stairs, Yang Ming was fidgeting, scratching his head and body as if he had lice.
He then took out a cigarette and offered it to Fang Xiu. "Xiu, want a smoke?"
Fang Xiu glanced at him calmly and said, "Just shoot."
Yang Ming chuckled, "My foreseeing buddy, I can't hide anything from you, huh? I'm just curious, why do those Head Balls die outright without splitting when you kill them?"
Bai Qi and Ma Xingbang, although pretending not to care, were all ears.
Bai Qi was the quiet type, not one to ask questions even if he was curious. And Ma Xingbang, having shamelessly followed them, would only invite more humiliation by asking.
Yang Ming was voicing their shared curiosity.
Fang Xiu didn't beat around the bush and calmly said, "The reason is simple—it's the blood."
"Blood?" Yang Ming was confused.
"Xiu, can you be more specific? What about the blood?"
"You all noticed the blood on the stairs, right?"
"Yes, but what's special about the blood there?"