Ever since the dark figure appeared, Mingtai's expression had changed—it was the first time it had shown a smile.
Its lips curled upward as it gazed at the colossal creature blanketing the sky, like a child awaiting praise from a parent.
"That thing—its name is 'the Past'?"
Chen Ge kept his eyes on Mingtai at all times. The situation had spiraled entirely beyond his control. Every scheme and clever trick felt utterly powerless against the malevolent god's decade-long machinations.
The sky-spanning shadow crushed down upon every building behind the door. The earth cracked, the entire ground level collapsed downward, and the other monsters lurking in the black mist scattered in every direction, their shrieks of agony unceasing.
The enormous figure hidden within the black mist slowly descended, and Chen Ge finally saw it in its entirety.
The monster called "the Past" was horrific in appearance—like a gigantic cicada on the verge of crawling out of its shell.
Its body was composed of countless fragments of flesh and blood, containing all manner of human bodies and innumerable discarded memories.
Its exaggeratedly massive upper body clung firmly atop the two main buildings of Jinhua Community, and trailing behind it was a shell even larger than the entirety of Jinhua Community itself.
The monster seemed to be trying to crawl out of its former shell, but could the Past ever be so easily shed?
Black blood oozed from every part of its body. Wounds lined its surface like mouths ripping open, and everything that came near was swallowed whole.
With each creature it consumed, its body grew a fraction larger.
It wanted to burst through the shell behind it, but that shell had already grown into its flesh, fused with it as one. No matter what it did, it could never shake off those heavy remnants.
Trapped in the past, unable to walk free—every person, every memory that comprised its body was perpetually tormenting itself, until it had become like this cicada that could never shed its shell.
The shell of the past had grown into its flesh. On the surface it still maintained the semblance of a human, but the slightest touch would send black blood streaming out.
The impossibly enormous monster blotted out every building. It had no facial features in the conventional sense, but embedded in the center of its head was a child.
The child's body was bitten by countless human faces, gripped by countless arms. He was sunk deep into the monster's head, and he bore a face identical to Xiang Nuan's.
"Xiang Nuan!"
A heart-rending scream tore out from Building A of Jinhua Community. Wen Qing's voice shattered the stillness of the night. Everyone present heard her anguished cry, yet not a single person reacted.
That voice—like a heart being ripped apart—was utterly alien to this cruel world behind the door. She did not belong here.
The boy following behind Chen Ge heard Wen Qing's voice, and the smile vanished from his face. A flicker of emotion he had never before displayed crossed his eyes, but it quickly returned to normal.
While everyone was cautiously on guard, the boy suddenly thrust out both hands and charged at Chen Ge without warning.
The corners of his eyes cracked open. Black blood poured from his seven orifices. His body faded rapidly, his speed dozens of times faster than before. In an instant he broke free of the employees' restraint—he seemed determined to seize Chen Ge even at the cost of his own existence!
The boy's hand made contact with the threads of blood the employees had left behind. This time his fingers pierced through layer upon layer of blood threads with ease. That hideous face hurtled directly toward Xiao Bu and the Red High Heels.
It seemed he had sacrificed everything just for the chance to touch Chen Ge!
His body was shredded by the blood threads, his features torn apart, black blood dripping down—yet one of his hands broke through the employees' defenses and reached right in front of Chen Ge's face.
Wounds bloomed one after another on the black-blood-stained fingers. Twisted curses writhed like worms, trying to burrow into Chen Ge's eyes.
"Me of the Past—look closely! He is your future body!"
The boy screamed toward the monster in the sky. Xiang Nuan, embedded in the monster's head, heard the boy's voice, and his vacant gaze seemed to find a focal point.
In those pitch-black eyes, threads of cursed darkness twisted like worms. Xiang Nuan stared toward where Chen Ge stood. At the same time, the entire upper half of the monster began to writhe, as though the gargantuan creature had also locked its gaze on Chen Ge.
Having burned everything away, the boy's black-blood-dripping finger finally touched Chen Ge.
In the instant that viscous blood brushed Chen Ge's eyelashes, an aura of supreme terror swept through the entirety of Jinhua Community like a savage tempest!
The boy's body was shredded in an instant. Every monster within thirty meters—from the creatures in the black mist to Chen Ge's employees—was forced flat to the ground.
The tranquil shadow began to boil. The gray earth bled. The black mist surrounding Chen Ge was driven back, as though a god had opened its eyes!
Not only the monster in the sky—even Chen Ge himself had not anticipated this. It all happened too quickly.
"Zhang Ya?"
He turned his head and looked at his own shadow. In that bottomless darkness, it seemed someone was gazing at him with tenderness.
This gaze, unlike anything he had ever known—whether it was because Zhang Ya had become a malevolent god, or because of the memories within the door world at Yu Jian's place.
While Chen Ge stared into his own shadow, the Faceless Hospital in the distance let out a piercing scream. The scene there was entirely different from Chen Ge's.
The clothes wrapped tightly around the Faceless Doctor's body. Those human faces began tearing into the Faceless Doctor's flesh in great bites, until the Faceless Doctor lost all vitality. His blood dyed every inch of his body, and that coat covered in human faces became his new skin.
Scars began to surface one by one on his previously featureless face. The aura emanating from the Faceless Doctor was now completely different from before.
The monster enveloping the community had been drawn away by Zhang Ya and Chen Ge. Seizing this opportunity, the Faceless Doctor materialized and struck without hesitation at Mingtai's heart.
The heart specimen studded with nails seemed to be an item of tremendous importance. The malevolent god inhabiting the Faceless Doctor was willing to expose itself in order to reclaim it as quickly as possible.
The Faceless Doctor struck with everything he had. Every face on his body radiated the aura of a Red-rank spirit, and layered together, they directly scattered the black mist.
The rag doll's broken torso was on the verge of reclaiming the heart. It naturally would not let the Faceless Doctor have his way, but with its broken body alone it was utterly incapable of stopping him—the gap in their power was an entire tier!
Just as the heart studded with nails was about to be snatched away, a smile suddenly appeared on the rag doll's face. It tore off its own left arm, which seemed to serve as some kind of signal.
The moment it severed its own left arm, the entire world behind the door began to collapse in earnest. Buildings tilted, the ground shook, and at the center point between Jiuhong Community and Jinhua Community, a body stuffed with garbage, cotton wadding, photographs, and toys clawed its way up from the ground.
This appeared to be the torso the rag doll had been missing!