"Sssss..."

The café waiter's smile twisted into something monstrous as he watched Lu Xin not only refuse to flee but actually taunt him in return.

With a grotesque ripping sound, the flesh of his face split open, revealing a pulsating black exoskeleton beneath. From this abomination, twisted, trunk-like tentacles erupted—some lined with gaping maws that snapped open to reveal rows of needle-sharp teeth, others rolling to expose enormous, glistening eyes.

Then, all at once, the mouths opened wide, spraying jets of viscous, glowing liquid.

Lu Xin shuddered violently. "Run...!"

But his sister only giggled excitedly, clutching her teddy bear. "No way—I think it's adorable!"

Before she could finish, the monster let out a deafening roar and lashed out with its massive tentacles, slashing toward them with deadly precision.

Lu Xin screamed in terror, "I—"

But even as his cry echoed, his sister yanked him forward, propelling them straight toward the creature.

...

...

"Psychic energy levels have reached critical mass—"*

Back in the observation room, a technician frantically typed, voice rising in alarm. "The Level 1 psychic entity has manifested!"

On their screens, the once-empty subway station now trembled as if caught in an earthquake. Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the café waiter’s position, deep fissures splitting the ground or swallowing entire sections of floor. The "customers"—those poor souls who’d been lured into the café—were torn apart without mercy.

It was as if an invisible force field was warping reality itself, annihilating everything in its path.

"A subway train enters in three minutes—thirty-plus passengers onboard!" another technician shouted, turning to the short-haired woman. "What do we do?"

She inhaled sharply, torn between options.

"Statistically, a Spider-type variant has no chance against a psychic entity without specialized weaponry..."

"But..."

...

...

On the monitors, the observed subject—Lu Xin—was charging straight toward the swirling vortex of psychic energy surrounding the café waiter. With a flicker of movement, he left a crater in his wake, the sheer force of his passage punching a hole through the floor behind him. Someone eight meters back exploded as if struck by an invisible hammer.

And yet, against all odds, he reached the waiter.

His hand closed around one of the creature’s arms.

"Shhhk—"

The screens went black.

Every camera in the subway station had just been obliterated by that same invisible force.

The short-haired woman exhaled sharply. "Now!"

Everyone sprang into action—including the little girl in the next room.

...

...

"Hehehe..."

Inside the station, Lu Xin’s heart pounded with dread—but his eyes burned with manic exhilaration.

Tentacles loomed around him, each one a nightmare of teeth and eyes. Any contact would mean instant, irreversible annihilation.

And yet... he was thrilled.

Dodging and weaving through the chaos, he closed the distance in a blur of impossible movements.

"Rrrip—!"

His fingers closed around a fold of the creature’s flesh, twisting hard. With a wet crack, one of its tentacles tore free.

The monster howled in agony, all its mouths screaming in unison.

But Lu Xin only grinned wider, circling it like a predator toying with its prey.

He was weaker—far weaker. He knew that if the creature ever got a proper grip on him, it would be over in an instant.

And yet, he wasn’t afraid.

He was having fun.

Like a cat batting at a mouse, he darted in and out, ripping off chunks of flesh with every pass.

The monster’s tentacles dwindled. Its screams grew shrill. But the more it thrashed, the more exhilarated Lu Xin became, his body flickering around it like a ghost, dismantling it piece by piece.

The creature’s movements slowed. Its limbs littered the ground, slick with blood and ichor.

Yet even as its remains dissolved into nothingness, the monster’s remaining eyes blazed with terror.

Then, with a final, convulsive shudder, its tentacles snapped straight—

"Pop!"

—and burst into gouts of blood.

The crimson mist exploded outward, swirling through the station like a living tide.

Lu Xin rolled aside just in time, narrowly avoiding a tendril of flesh that slithered past his face.

But the "customers"—those poor, brainwashed souls—were engulfed instantly.

They jolted awake as if from a trance, eyes wide with panic.

Some bolted for the exits. Others leapt onto the tracks, heedless of the oncoming train.

They didn’t care about the danger anymore. They just ran.

"Trying to escape?"

Lu Xin’s eyes gleamed with bloodlust as he pounced on the nearest target—a limping, obese woman.

Her left leg was bent at a grotesque angle, snapped by a tentacle earlier, but she still crawled forward, desperate to flee. When she spotted Lu Xin behind her, her mouth split open in a scream—wide enough to expose her molars, her teeth yellowed and jagged.

She no longer looked human. She looked like a beast.

"Swish!"

Lu Xin sidestepped her lunge, then snapped her neck with a brutal twist.

He leapt to his feet, sprinting after the others.

His movements were inhumanly fast, his expression a mask of manic glee. In moments, he’d slaughtered four or five more "customers."

But there were too many. Too many fleeing in all directions. By the time he caught a few more, the station was nearly empty.

"Creak—" faint sound caught his attention.

He spun toward the security booth—and saw the old guard, wide-eyed with terror, staring back at him.

The booth was the only undamaged structure in the entire station.

And the guard... was unharmed.

But he’d made a noise.

Lu Xin’s eyes darkened to an abyssal black. His face twisted into a rictus of rage.

In an instant, he was upon the old man, fingers outstretched like claws—

"Enough!"

Lu Xin screamed, whirling to grab his sister’s wrist just inches from the guard’s face.

She was this close to killing him.

She was insane—but Lu Xin could stop her.

When lives were on the line, he couldn’t afford hesitation. Even when he wanted to run and she wanted to fight, he couldn’t afford to argue. One wrong move, and they’d both die. The "customers" weren’t human anymore—they were monsters.

But this guard?

He was innocent.

"Fine, fine..."

His sister pouted but let herself be pulled back. When she saw the fury contorting Lu Xin’s face, her expression softened. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling. "Don’t be mad, Gege. I was just protecting you, okay? Those monsters were so scary..."

"If they’re scary, we run..."

Lu Xin’s jaw clenched, veins bulging—but before he could argue further, his sister’s face suddenly shifted.

"Oh no, they’re coming this way—let’s go!"

Lu Xin cursed under his breath and vaulted onto the wall, scrambling up toward the exit.

The station was silent now—save for the old guard, trembling in his booth.

"Rumble—!"

The subway train screeched into the station, shaking debris from the ceiling.

At the same moment, a white blur shot through the air—a doll-like girl appeared, floating several inches above the ground, an umbrella in hand.

Behind her, the roar of an engine heralded the short-haired woman on her motorcycle, skidding to a halt inside the station.

They scanned the wreckage.

No psychic entity. No residual energy. No sign of the observed subject.

Just corpses. Blood. And the café waiter’s remains—nailed to the ground, reduced to a pulp of flesh and bone.

The woman blinked in disbelief. "How...?" Spider-type variant, unarmed, unaided—how had he done this?

Her gaze fell on the security booth.

The old guard stared back at her, his eyes wide with terror.

In his shaking hands, he clutched an ancient digital camera from a bygone era.