Chapter 255: The Last Moment

‘The other half of the Spider’s heart is inside the Doctor’s chest?’ Han Fei already predicted that the other half of the heart would be inside the House of the Butcher. What he did not expect was for the Doctor to get it earlier than he did and even managed to steal part of the manager’s power. ‘The Spider sliced away the rotten half of his heart and left Kindness for himself but something must have happened during that process.’

The original House of the Butcher was one of the few normal-looking buildings at Cattle Alley. But now the House of the Butcher was like the punctured heart inside the Doctor’s chest, the walls crumbled and the floors sank. A stink lingered in the air. The colors of black and red corrupted the building from both sides. They gathered to form a storm cloud of despair over everyone inside the building. The Doctor lying inside the surgical room held his palm over his chest while his other hand gripped a surgical knife. “Why? I am you and I am better than you so why can’t I take your heart?” The Doctor’s expression was ghastly, he was running out of time.

The Spider who was remade from flesh and blood was crashing into the front door while inside the building, Xu Qin had made him her new target. Being targeted by 2 malignant forces, the pressure on the Doctor was huge. He had been preparing a long time for this day. He used the sin from the entire Cattle Alley to nurture the rotten half of the heart and stole the other half away from the writer just so he could control the entire Cattle Alley. The plan was good but it fell apart at the most crucial moment.

First, the murdered writer had returned in another form and the most surprising thing was the meat packing plant got destroyed. Someone managed to swim to the bottom of the blood pool to decimate the half heart there. The various accidents compelled the Doctor to push his plan forward. And now he also had to deal with an out-of-control Xu Qin. The curse at Cattle Alley was fatal for normal ghosts but for Xu Qin, it only made her stronger and more excited. The preparation that the Doctor had done was all pointless. The pig-faced monsters could only stop Xu Qin, they couldn’t kill her. They were after all creatures of curse themselves. The outsiders he bought to his side were even less reliable, some of them were already preparing to leave. Staying inside the building would definitely lead to death but escaping from it might contain a chance at survival, the choice was quite clear.

“Doctor? What should we do now? Didn’t you say you can cure everyone this way? You’ll make us all better?” There was another woman inside the surgical room. She looked normal but had a welcoming presence about her. Her words had that comforting quality to it.

“Who said I can definitely cure all of you? Then who is going to cure me?” The Doctor’s beastial face twisted. The strange pattern surfaced among the ugly face. It looked like the half wing of a butterfly. “Greed is the original sin. I can’t let go of it now, especially since I have had a taste of it.” The Doctor aimed his scalpel right at the half heart! Spider’s blood splashed onto the Doctor’s chest and then they swiftly turned black. “Since I can’t possess the whole you, then I will personally destroy you and sew your body onto my heart!” The ghastlier the Doctor’s expression, the clearer the butterfly pattern.

The heart beating inside the chest was stabbed multiple times. The entire building shook as if in pain as well. The monsters outside the building went into a berserk, the walls collapsed. The woman inside the surgical room wanted to stop the Doctor but when she saw the Doctor’s struggling face, she chose to stand by his side silently. The half heart that represented Kindness gradually slowed down. At that moment, endless black blood veins erupted from the Doctor’s body and forced their way into Spider’s heart.

Hidden among the numerous black threads were other substances. Of everyone present, only Han Fei managed to pick up on them. The pattern on the Doctor’s face was fading, the strange pattern was flowing towards Spider’s half heart through the blood veins. With the cover from the black blood veins, the pattern silently migrated onto the Spider’s half heart.

‘The Butterfly has made its move? The persona bought over by the Butterfly was the Doctor? But why is there only half a butterfly wing on his face? Is there another persona who was seduced?’ Han Fei subconsciously let the Dreamer down. If the Dreamer was the other persona, then Han Fei would be finding death hugging him. To be honest, Han Fei was not in a good state either. The curse at Cattle Alley had started to work on him. Hunger tied around his brain like invisible wires. The hunger pain made it difficult for him to think and maintain his rationality. He had no idea how long he could keep on like this. He needed to either kill the Doctor or escape from this building before he was consumed by the curse.

The monsters gathered around the Doctor pounced at Xu Qin. The place was turning into a red hell. The pig-faced monsters were chewed up by curses, and they used their lives to slow Xu Qin’s advances. On the other hand, the outsiders who sided with the Doctor ran out from the House of the Butcher and got into a fight with the Spider. They didn’t really wish to help the Doctor, they were merely trying to find an opportunity to escape. The biggest massacre was happening at the House of the Butcher. All the butchers were also preys, deaths happened every second.

Han Fei watched everything from the sideline. Cattle Alley was not on the same level as the Ziggurat where the Butterfly resided, but even so, the amount of monsters and spirits at Cattle Alley was already at an astronomical number. Han Fei could not imagine how scary things would be at Ziggurat. On top of that, there was a crucial point. All the buildings he had visited so far, none of the managers were hostile against him, be it the previous building manager, Jin Sheng or Spider, they never targeted Han Fei on purpose. But if Han Fei entered the Ziggurat, then Butterfly would do everything within their power to kill Han Fei.

‘I’m already cursed by someone at Ziggurat, I’ll have to go there eventually.’ His fingers tightened around Rest in Peace. Han Fei’s eyes glowed with greater determination. He bit on the tip of his tongue and used the pain to jolt himself awake. Cattle Alley was just a stepping stone to the Ziggurat, his journey mustn’t end here. ‘The Doctor is currently hindered by 2 other forces, this is the perfect opportunity for me to strike.’ Gauging the distance between himself and the surgical room, Han Fei took out Cattle Mask from his inventory. This face featured a strange beastial face, it looked normal but it was made from the skin of an unknown creature. After Han Fei put it on, his presence was eclipsed and the curse of Cattle Alley on him weakened. He did not feel the intense hunger anymore, instead it was replaced by an animalistic urge. To tear, to grind, to feast, the desire in his heart and his stamina grew.

Han Fei summoned Weep and Drake, the 3 of them approached the surgical room from 3 sides. Weep without the mask approached from the most direct route, his piercing cries echoed everywhere. The moment Weep showed himself, the Teacher beside the Doctor turned to the boy in alarm. Her kind face started to change. As Weep approached, her skin cracked to expose the interlining black scars underneath. For some, they hid their scars well. The scars went deep but they weren’t visible from the surface. The Teacher’s body started to distort. Her mutation was like her distorted love for the Doctor. She respected the Doctor, trusted the Doctor. She believed the Doctor was the only normal personas among them and salvation was only possible by following the Doctor. To ensure that Weep did not disturb the Doctor, the Teacher led Weep away. Now the Doctor was the only one left inside the surgical room.

While the Doctor was busy plunging the scalpel into the Doctor’s heart to weaken it, Drake who wore the number 6 mask appeared without warning. Without any hesitation, Drake tried to reach for the Doctor’s chest. He followed Han Fei’s order to the tee. “Since you’re wearing the mask, why are you stopping me? Only I can save you, you bunch of worms who have been tricked by him!”

The Doctor was still lying in bed. As Drake approached, the bed collapsed around him as 8 appendages reached out from his back. Each appendage was bounded together by flesh and blood. The Doctor would never be the main persona, so he tried to become as close to the Spider as possible through other methods. The 8 spider legs covered in human faces stabbed at Drake. The Doctor’s horrible cackle echoed inside the surgical room. He had pulled back his false mask to reveal his true self.

The Doctor’s responsibility wasn’t to cure anyone, his presence was merely there to tell all the subpersonas that you were all patients, you were all abnormal. Only when everyone was sick that there was meaning to the Doctor’s existence. Therefore, when the main persona started to change due to his adoption of the child, the Doctor was the first to reject it. The shelves in the surgical room were swept away by the spider legs, things littered everywhere. Drake tried his best to stay alive. His wounds were still recovering and he was too weak compared to the Doctor. The Doctor should be a large Lingering Spirit. If the Doctor hadn’t needed to distract him to ruin Spider’s heart, Drake wouldn’t have a chance at survival.

“Why run? Why stop me? Don’t you want to feel normal again?” With each of his claims, black blood leaked out from the Doctor’s body. The blood weaved out a black net inside the surgical room. His voice could affect people’s mind and the invisible voice was like a net entrapping his prey. “You no longer need to be a sub existence to anyone anymore, we too can live like him. Is that too much to ask?!”

The 8 spider legs stabbed rapidly at Drake, the spider net weaved from the black blood limited Drake’s moment. He was like a poor bug, he tried his best to struggle but his predator only found that laughable. Blood leaked out from the Doctor’s body, his skin was breaking inch by inch. The symptoms recorded on his medical report appeared. The Doctor himself had consumed those unique ‘meat’ but he had managed to suppress the negative influence. However, now that he needed to fight with his full might, the symptoms that he had been suppressing started to surface. The skin of his limbs cracked like bad quality china, his belly expanded. His stomach skin was almost transparent and Han Fei could look clearly into it.

The 8 legs waved madly. The Doctor was looking like an actual humanoid spider, he had become the thing he wanted to be but he didn’t get the happiness he hoped for. The Doctor had to assimilate the Spider’s heart, to control the spread of disease and to force back Drake. This was why he did not notice the approach of another character inside the surgical room. Han Fei walked out from the Doctor’s blind spot. He held the bladeless blade. When the Doctor spotted him, Han Fei shot out like an arrow!

A normal person, holding a bladeless knife charged at a demon.

Several arms gripped the hilt, the thin blade materialized like a falling star. It cut through the Doctor’s chest!

The enlarged stomach was sliced open easily. The Doctor didn’t expect someone to get so close to him, much less that person having such a sharp butcher’s knife. Han Fei planned to decapitate the Doctor but he saw the red blood threads around the Doctor. He wouldn’t have the chance to get too close, the enlarged stomach was the only opening he saw. The blade cut through the Doctor’s chest. After delivering the attack, Han Fei did not hesitate, he grabbed Drake and pulled him towards the door.

Rest in Peace was a Grade F Butcher’s Knife. The blade would leave behind wounds that were hard to heal. Because no matter how strong the hatred, they couldn’t shake the brilliance of humanity. His stomach and chest were split open and the wound refused to close, however this was not the worst for the Doctor. One of the meat pieces that crawled out from his stomach suddenly gripped at the half heart inside the Doctor’s chest!

The web of black blood was torn apart. The blood and flesh curled around Spider’s half heart to form a shield. Like a living creature, it rolled towards the real Spider. The few sentient tenants inside the House of the Butcher all had their eyes locked on that piece of moving meat and then they all jumped at it!