Then it hit me.
Voices.
Not faint anymore. Not broken. Clear. Loud. Like they were right behind me, breathing down my neck.
"Why… why did you kill me…?" Liu Fang's voice trembled, soft and hurt.
"You stabbed me in the back…" his voice cracked, weak, almost crying.
"You didn't even let me fight back…"
Zhao Min's voice followed, sharper and angrier.
"You think this makes you strong? You think this changes what you are?"
I heard He Jian's voice next — rough, broken, fading in and out like someone choking on their last breath inside my head.
"We were human… Shen Yan… we were the same…"
The words crawled through my head, heavy, slow — like he was still trying to drag me down with him even after death. That's how it felt inside my head.
"Stop…" I yelled, clutching my head with my both hands.
But they didn't stop. Their voices changed — filled with that same disdain and contempt they always had when they laughed at me.
"Trash."
"Pathetic."
"Good for nothing."
Each word hit like a hammer inside my head. I could see their mouths moving again—those same smirks, those same eyes looking down on me like I was dirt that crawled too high.
"You think you're strong now?" one sneered in my head.
"You're still the same Shen Yan. Still trash."
My knees hit the ground. My hands dug into the dirt. It felt like I was right back there again—at the ceremony, the laughter, the heat on my face—only this time their voices were inside me, and I couldn't walk away.
My breath turned rough. My vision shook.
And for a moment, the thought hit me—was I any different from them now?
They betrayed Chen Wu. I killed them.
They used him as bait. I used their bodies for power.
What was the difference?
Was it justice? Or just another excuse to feed the thing growing inside me?
"I…" My voice cracked. I didn't even know what I was trying to say.
And then I saw Chen Wu's face. It didn't move, didn't fade — just stayed in front of me, too clear, like my brain didn't want to let it go.
He wasn't mocking me. He wasn't angry. Just looking at me, the way he did before he died.
His voice came softer through all the noise.
"Don't become them…"
It hit me deep, sharper than any dagger.
For a second, my throat tightened. My hands shook again.
But then more voices crashed in, louder, crueler — taking his words and twisting them until they turned against me.
"Don't become them? You already have."
"You're one of us now."
"You're the monster."
My heartbeat slowed. I couldn't tell if I was angry or scared.
Maybe both. Maybe neither.
I clenched my fists. My nails dug into my palms until I felt blood from my nails.
"Shut up," I muttered. "You're dead. All of you."
The whispers sank lower, turning into a faint hum, crawling in the corners of my head like something alive.
I breathed out, slow. My eyes burned, my skull felt heavy, and for a second I thought I'd just drop — not from pain, but from everything crawling inside my head.
This was the price. I knew it, felt it digging into me. Still, I said yes. Because part of me wanted to see how far I'd fall.
I could still feel it — the echo. The voices fading, but not gone.
They were still there, humming in my ears, whispering under my breath.
Like someone standing too close, muttering things I couldn't quite catch. My breathing turned rough. My chest hurt with every inhale.
Sweat rolled down my forehead, dripping off my chin. My head felt like it weighed a ton; I couldn't even lift it up. It was spinning too — when I opened my eyes, the ground beneath me was turning in circles.
I tried to breathe steady, but it came out rough, uneven… like my lungs forgot how to work.
I pressed my hand against my face, trying to calm down.
"Damn it…" I muttered, wiping the sweat with my sleeve. "At this rate… I'll really lose it."
My fingers curled into a fist. My head still buzzed.
"I need to find an otherworldly creature," I said under my breath. "I need to devour one… before the Taint eats me first."
A faint ding echoed in my ears.
[ Taint Level: 37 — Instability Detected ]
[ Note: Consuming otherworldly essence reduce corruption ]
The System screen flickered for a moment before fading.
I stared at the empty air and exhaled slowly.
"Guess I don't get to rest," I whispered.
My heartbeat slowed down after a while. The noise in my head didn't disappear — it just went quiet enough to fake peace.
I wiped the sweat off my chin and took a deep breath. "Alright…" I exhaled. "No rest, then."
"Foxfire Step."
The moment I said it, heat rushed through me — real, burning, crawling under my skin, running wild through my veins like fire trying to escape.
My heartbeat got faster. Each thump pushed that heat higher, spreading through my arms, my legs, my chest — until it felt like my whole body was wrapped in fire.
But it didn't hurt.
It felt warm, almost alive — like the flames weren't burning me at all, just moving with me, part of me.
I bent my knees, one arm forward, the other back.
The moment my foot pushed off the ground, the world tilted.
Wind smashed against my face, sharp and wild, as the ground vanished beneath me.
Flames trailed behind my steps—thin lines of burning light that burst into sparks every time I landed.
Each step felt like flying, my body thrusting forward on instinct, faster, faster and still faster.
The wind tore through my hair, my breath burned in my chest, but I couldn't stop smiling.
Each step was lighter, faster. It didn't feel like I was running — more like flying low, each foot tapping the ground just long enough to leave a flash of fire behind.
"I can feel it," I whispered, the words slipping out without meaning much — maybe I just wanted to hear my own voice in all that wind.
As I jumped higher, I caught a faint movement ahead — something shifting between the trees.
I landed hard, knees bending, and ran toward it. The ground blurred again under my feet until I slowed near a large tree.
The tree was tall — tall enough to give me a clear view.
"Perfect," I muttered.
My fingers dug into the bark as I kicked off the trunk and climbed fast, the rough wood scraping my palms until I found a thick branch to stand on.
I crouched there, one hand shading my eyes, narrowing my gaze through the leaves.
And there it was.
[ Name: Bonecrawler ]
[ Rank: F-2 ]
[ Type: Beast ]
[ Trait: Blood Scent — Detects prey through trace of blood within 500 m ]
[ Ability: Bone Slash, Leaping Bite ]
[ Weakness: Eyes, Lower Abdomen (Soft Tissue) ]
My lips curved. "Perfect."