Li Zhi, clutching the meat she had just carved, slowly approached Zhou Huan. Her dull eyes fixed on him as she murmured in a low, grim voice, "Master Zhou, this piece I cut off is delicious. I'll make you dumplings with it!" Immediately after, Li Zhi slowly turned away, tossing the piece of meat onto the center of the floor before picking up the cleaver in her hand and beginning to chop it.

Only after seeing Li Zhi’s back did Zhou Huan notice the blood running down her right calf. There was a large, open wound where the flesh had been gouged out, and a wide patch on her thigh looked as if she had just carved meat from it as well. It turned out that Li Zhi had carved off her own flesh; this was the raw material for her dumpling filling.

"Li Zhi, stop chopping. I'll take you to the hospital." Zhou Huan immediately called 120, explained the situation, and prepared to bandage Li Zhi’s wounds. He knew that using his usual methods to bring her back to her senses now would be dangerous; if she woke up and felt the pain, she might faint, and if she fainted, she might never wake up again.

But Li Zhi paid no attention to whatever Zhou Huan was doing behind her, stubbornly using the cleaver to slice the flesh she had just cut into pieces, eventually mincing it into a fine paste. Next, she casually picked up several dumpling wrappers from a dining table at the far end of the room. These wrappers were already foul and moldy, covered in black spots. With practiced dexterity, she tucked the minced filling into the wrappers and sealed them into dumplings.

Strangely, as soon as each dumpling was wrapped, it emitted wisps of steam. Holding the steaming dumplings in both hands, she turned around. "Master Zhou, don't bother with that. Have a dumpling first."

Zhou Huan was using his outer jacket to wrap Li Zhi’s wound, but as she turned, she inadvertently flung him aside. This surge of strength came from an unknown source; Zhou Huan felt completely unable to resist or even slow her down.

"Master Zhou, eat. After you eat this dumpling, we can leave together!" Li Zhi maintained her vacant, wooden smile, her words delivered in a low, shaky, and unnerving tone.

Zhou Huan instinctively raised his hand and slapped the dumpling from Li Zhi’s grasp. It rolled across the floor and struck the corner of the wall. Upon impact, the dumpling broke open, revealing the filling inside. Despite being made from flesh freshly cut moments ago, the filling inside the wrapper was clearly rotten meat.

At that instant, Li Zhi’s head slowly turned toward the broken dumpling in the corner. Her expression shifted abruptly from tension to blazing fury. "Zhou Huan, you knocked over my dumpling!" Her voice was loud, almost a shout. The cleaver in her hand was still dripping blood, and she raised it high above her head. "You broke my dumpling, I'll kill you!"

It happened in the blink of an eye. The cleaver in Li Zhi’s hand swept toward Zhou Huan. His reaction was faster; he recoiled, grabbing her wrist with one hand, trying to wrench the cleaver away. But try as he might, Zhou Huan could not budge that cold, rigid grip. She was just a woman!

"I'll kill you!" Zhou Huan strained against Li Zhi’s force as her blade neared his shoulder.

Suddenly, a person shot out from behind Zhou Huan. "Junior Sister, what are you doing? Stop!"

Instantly, Zhou Huan felt a hand flash past his ear, holding a yellow talisman, aimed directly at Li Zhi’s Yintang (the point between the eyebrows).

Sensing disaster, Zhou Huan roared, "Stop! Don't do that! She'll die!" But his warning came too late; the person’s strike was too sudden. Before his words faded, the talisman was affixed to Li Zhi’s forehead. She stood stock-still, her weapon seemingly frozen in mid-air, looking exactly like a genuine Jiangshi (hopping corpse).

"Master Zhou, you don’t even understand this? Do you realize that if you hadn't stopped her, our combined human strength wouldn't have been enough to restrain her power!" The speaker was Li Tianxiong, who clearly did not grasp Zhou Huan's intentions.

Zhou Huan shook his head, frustration and a sense of failure rising in him. "Li Tianxiong, you just killed your Junior Sister with your own hands!"

"Hmph, I killed her? Since I could affix this talisman, I can certainly bring her back!" Li Tianxiong was immensely arrogant, clearly very confident in his abilities.

Zhou Huan pushed Li Zhi’s hand away, turned, and stared at Li Tianxiong. "Your Junior Sister—you killed her. You deal with this mess now. I, Zhou Huan, am done with it." With that, Zhou Huan turned and walked downstairs.

Li Tianxiong watched Zhou Huan with disdain, hands firmly planted on his hips, looking down from the second floor as if scorning him. "Zhou Huan, you can’t handle it, can you? Hahaha!"

Zhou Huan didn't look back. He raised his right hand and waved dismissively toward Li Tianxiong—a gesture of farewell out of habit. "I'm leaving. When the 120 arrives, you’d better get her to the hospital quickly. She’s likely finished!" He also wanted to see what this arrogant Li Tianxiong was truly capable of, as every time he appeared, he spoke with such unwarranted conceit and rudeness!

Zhou Huan slowly retraced his steps. In the distance, emergency lights began to flash, accompanied by the wail of a siren. Several medical personnel were seated in the ambulance, and the driver was pushing the speed. But just then, Zhou Huan noticed a figure trailing behind the ambulance. This person wasn't walking; their feet were suspended in the air, and their attire was identical to Li Zhi’s. Could it be... was this the person Li Zhi was impersonating? This was the real Yu Qiu!

As the ambulance sped past Zhou Huan, he glanced back at Yu Qiu. Before he could get a good look, the ambulance suddenly flipped over, its headlight beam aimed directly at Zhou Huan’s head. Seeing the danger, Zhou Huan leaned backward, rolled away sideways, and the headlight violently smashed against his ear with a sharp crack, shattering the glass.

Zhou Huan’s immediate thought wasn't relief at having narrowly escaped death, but a frantic scramble to his feet. He looked behind where the ambulance had been, searching for Yu Qiu, but Yu Qiu was nowhere in sight. Zhou Huan instantly recalled Li Tianxiong, who was still upstairs dealing with the scene.

"No!" Zhou Huan realized instantly that if Yu Qiu could flip an ambulance, her goal must be to prevent Li Zhi from leaving. Zhou Huan sprinted, taking the stairs two at a time. He reached the doorway of the room and peered inside—it was empty. Li Zhi was gone.

A light sheen of sweat broke out on Zhou Huan’s forehead. At that moment, a strong, fresh scent of cucumber enveloped him. Disappointment and resignation clouded his eyes, and he let out a long sigh. "Ah, Li Tianxiong, Li Tianxiong. Let's see how arrogant you are now, when I can't find you!"

"Master Zhou, please visit often when you have time. I have plenty of filling now. I’ll rest tonight and host a dumpling banquet here tomorrow—you absolutely must come!" A hollow voice echoed from the air. It was unmistakably Yu Qiu’s voice.

"Miss Yu, please don't harm anyone. Come out!" Zhou Huan asked very politely, his tone earnest and heartfelt.

Suddenly, the area around Zhou Huan fell silent. He could hear the sound of his own breathing clearly as the scent of cucumber in the air gradually dispersed. When Zhou Huan looked back into the room, he noticed that all the moldy dumpling wrappers that had been on the table were gone. The room was unnervingly clean.

Zhou Huan now understood: Yu Qiu had taken both the half-dead Li Zhi and Li Tianxiong away. Where they had gone, Zhou Huan had no idea for the moment. He staggered back toward the path he came from, seeing the personnel from the ambulance crawling out and tending to their injuries. He let out a deep sigh of relief; at least no one had died, which would have meant more trouble.

"Are you all right?" Zhou Huan approached the medical staff. The people from the ambulance had their backs to him. When he asked, all of them turned to face him simultaneously.

Zhou Huan focused his gaze and noticed a disturbing commonality among them: their eyes were dead, and a long needle was jammed into the forehead of each person. What? They too had... Zhou Huan questioned himself rapidly. He understood immediately: these people were finished, all affected. They appeared to be dead.

As the vacant gazes of the group fixed on him, Zhou Huan backed away rapidly. But just then, the group collapsed almost in unison. Their eyes were staring blankly at the sky, tears seemed to well up in the corners of their eyes, and each mouth held a piece of uneaten dumpling.

Zhou Huan immediately called the police station. Xiao He's subordinates arrived, cleaned up the scene, and after hearing Zhou Huan's account of events, they finally left. Zhou Huan then headed toward the abandoned building. On the way, he pulled out his phone and called Dongzi. "Dongzi, get to the abandoned building immediately. I need your help with something."

No sooner had Zhou Huan hung up than Xiao He’s phone rang. "Darling, have you done anything to betray me lately?"

"How would I dare? Rest assured, I won't cause any issues regarding my conduct with women!" Zhou Huan replied with complete confidence.

On the line, Wang Xiaohe asked again, "By the way, I heard there was another supernatural incident. What exactly happened?"

Zhou Huan recounted the sequence of events to Xiao He. She then said, "I’m not home. If you need anything, call the guys at the precinct for help. Since there are fatalities again, nobody wants to let this drag on."

After communicating with Xiao He, Zhou Huan arrived at the pedestrian street just as Dongzi was arriving.

Dongzi rushed over breathlessly. "Brother, got a gig?"

"Yeah, it’s the same one you ran into that day, but this time it's for real!" Zhou Huan said very seriously.

Dongzi’s face instantly turned ashen upon hearing this. "What? This time it's real? Even the fake one was terrifying, so this real one..." Dongzi showed signs of hesitation.