Grotesqueries of the Old Domain

Chapter 37: New Ability

Zhang Wenda silently observed everything inside the monster before him, his expression heavy.

Why was there a child inside it? Could it really be our future? In this world, was everyone’s ultimate destiny to become a monster?

He wasn’t sure what that decayed child signified, but seeing that scene inexplicably pressed down on his heart.

Beside him, Song Jianguo gripped his arm, bruised and turning blue from the strangling, his expression complicated as he said, “Is this truly an old man?”

Zhang Wenda hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what it really is. Perhaps it isn’t an old man. Maybe it’s simply a monster that came into being alongside this library.”

He turned off his flashlight and, to distract himself, began examining the red scar on his arm.

“So that thing is called the Red Core? Why is it named that? Who named it?”

Since a book had been published about it, the system of usage must have been well developed—so this couldn’t be an innate special ability of his own.

Honestly, reading at a glance just now was way too fast; he hurriedly remembered a use and activated it to save the situation, without absorbing anything else.

As if sensing Zhang Wenda’s desire, a gust of wind lifted more ash, which drifted before him and formed into various books.

“Intermediate Uses of the Red Core.”

“Advanced Uses of the Red Core.”

“Beginner Uses of the Yellow Core.”

“Touch of the Blue Core…”

“No… no! I absolutely cannot look anymore!” Faced with those enticing books, Zhang Wenda clenched his eyes shut.

He didn’t know if reading them all would turn him into a grown-up like the rabbit, or worse, into an “old man” like this monster.

After struggling in society for so long, he firmly believed in one thing: anything freely offered without reason—whether money, favors, or books—definitely had problems.

Just as Zhang Wenda shut his eyes and tried to escape the temptation of the books, Song Jianguo’s cry suddenly came from beside him.

The next moment, he felt a mighty force push him away, and he plunged into the water.

In panic Zhang Wenda opened his eyes, and saw with a roar that the “old man” had stood up again! He wasn’t dead!

“Fuck! This thing’s belly was ripped open and it’s still alive?!” Zhang Wenda’s face darkened as he once again took out his flashlight.

With a “zii” sound, a red lightsaber sprang forth, and with the borrowed flashlight, Zhang Wenda’s Red Core was almost depleted.

Holding the sword with one hand, he gritted his teeth as he stared at the monstrous, gutted creature, blade pointed at its towering form. “Come!”

This time they were so close that Zhang Wenda could even see the thick, decaying liquid oozing endlessly from its abdomen, dripping onto the turbid water.

As all this happened, the stench began to spread around them.

At this moment, the creature no longer resembled an old man—it was more like a giant zombie, just risen from a grave.

Seeing Zhang Wenda’s move, the monster let out a garbled roar. It threw away its broken staff and extended its deformed, twisty eight-fingered hand, whipping up a ripping wind as it seized toward Zhang Wenda.

But with a weapon in hand, Zhang Wenda was fearless. With the final remnants of the Red Core exhausted, his body slid out like an arrow. In that instant, the flashlight in his hand became a red beam, precisely slashing diagonally at the monster’s grabbing wrist.

There was no ringing of metal; only a teeth‑aching ripping sound, as if a scorching hot iron shaved into rotting wood and decayed hide.

Where the red beam passed, the monster’s thick wrist was brutally sheared in half. At the charred stump, no blood spurted—only wisps of black smoke and the pungent smell of burning rose.

The wound looked grievous, yet it had no effect on the monster. With its remaining left hand moving faster, it violently dragged at the water’s surface, knocking Zhang Wenda off balance.

The next moment, just as Zhang Wenda stiffened to steady himself, he felt darkness over his head, and cold, bloody water surged into his mouth and nose. He rolled across toward the left, skimming the water’s surface.

“Cough, cough!” Zhang Wenda struggled, surfacing from the water in a wretched state. His weapon could indeed slice through the creature’s flesh, but it was like attacking a corpse—his efforts had no effect.

Facing this undefeatable thing, Zhang Wenda could only think to try to decapitate it. If that failed, he would cut off all its limbs to completely immobilize it.

But with the Red Core exhausted, that plan seemed almost impossible.

Sensing the suffocating stench rising again, Zhang Wenda lifted his head from the water—and saw three pitch‑dark holes above him.

At this critical moment, “Miao—!” A piercing, shrill cat‑cry rang out instantly.

That was Song Jianguo’s cat.

They ignored the flowing filth and pungent stench, crawling into the monster’s open belly, frantically tearing and scratching like rats.

Yet the monster paid no mind and once again raised its hand to smash down toward Zhang Wenda.

At the sound of Song Jianguo’s sharp whistle, the black cat in the water beside them leapt up instantly, stacking with others in front of Zhang Wenda, ultimately forming a furry black shield.

Clearly they were just cats, but once they gathered together, they became as solid as an actual shield, unexpectedly blocking that monster’s full-force strike.

With another whistle from Song Jianguo, a different group of black cats leapt high from the nearby bookshelf, transforming midair into a black spear that stabbed into the monster’s left eye.

All of this left Zhang Wenda stunned. He turned to look at Song Jianguo beside him. “You had this move too?”

Song Jianguo snorted smugly. “Just learned it, same as you.” As she spoke, she casually tossed aside the parchment she’d finished reading.

Seeing this, Zhang Wenda panicked. “I told you, the stuff here is suspicious—don’t read it randomly.”

“Why can you look but I can’t? Got it, got it.”

Song Jianguo replied impatiently, pointing at the monster entangled with the black cats in the distance. “What do we do with this thing? It doesn’t seem alive at all.”

“Look, it’s still moving like that—I really don’t think it’s human.”

Zhang Wenda stared complexly at the distant monster, gripping the red flashlight now flickering in his hand. “Let’s go! Whatever that thing is, let’s take it down together!”