Hungry House

The instant he saw that doorway, the ritual keeper felt as if struck by lightning. All color drained from his face at once, leaving him paler than even the hollow face peering from behind the curtain, his pupils trembling uncontrollably. "Hung... hung..." Faint whimpers escaped his throat, but soon he could make no sound at all. Eyes wide, mouth gaping, struggling in vain, his body refused to move. The moment that face laid eyes upon him, his body seemed seized by an invisible force. He could not even cry out for help to his comrade standing inches away. All he could do was shiver; the only thing surfacing in his mind was terror. His gaze was drawn into that fathomless darkness. Unable to pull away. "So hungry, so hungry... Come on in, come on in, come on in..." The pale face smiled as blood-tears snaked down its cheeks, beckoning with a hand. "Hehehehe, come eat, eat, eat, eat... Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat..." Clearly they were separated by such distance, yet when that figure reached out, his hand felt grasped, gently tugged. Leading him, step by step, into the darkness behind the curtain. In the darkness, the sound of thick liquid dripping onto the floor echoed. Surrounded by pale faces smiling and weeping blood, his body was cradled gingerly by two cartoonishly colossal hands, as though he were a precious treasure. *Crunch.* Amid that crisp snap, blood rained down. Luscious and sweet. . The first, then the second, the third... Not until the fourth celebrant vanished without a sound—amid violent tremors tearing through the entire ritual and esoteric rite—did the Priest sense something amiss. He whipped around, scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, four people were missing. Only a heap of cumbersome clothing remained piled on the ground. "What's going on?" the Priest roared in fury. "Where did the four of them go?" "I don't know." The subordinate beside him shook his head blankly, only to see the Priest staring at him as if looking at a ghost—creeping soundlessly up the subordinate's neck was a black handprint. The subordinate was still unconsciously raising a hand to scratch an itch. "What is it? Why are you staring... star... ing..." In his confusion, he saw a doorway manifest like a hallucination behind the Priest. Four familiar pale faces were smiling from behind the curtain, looking out at him. Plunging him into icy dread. A doorway, a curtain, pale attendants... —The Hungry House!!! "Priest, save... s-save me..." In the split second before being completely captured, the subordinate strained with all his might to turn his head toward the Priest. But with an ashen face, the Priest lashed his arm out without hesitation. Instantly, the subordinate detonated into a burst of gore, sparking immediate chaos. The ritual keepers of the Evil Transmutation Cult fell back in terror, no longer caring about maintaining the rite, utterly bewildered. But then, everyone saw it: within that splatter of pulped gore, black handprints began to surface one after another, feeling around in all directions as if invisible things were crawling outward. Hundreds, thousands... Like a deluge, an erupting geyser! Amid shrill screams, the crowd scattered in every direction, scrambling to get away. Had the cult's dogma not been so ruthless, they would have bolted through the doors right then and there! Disaster, Hazard, Peril, Extinction, Demise. This was one of the six aberrations that, after roaming Quancheng for decades and devouring immense amounts of Vile Folly's taint following the city's ascent, had just rocketed overnight to the [Peril] tier... —The Hungry House!!! "Why is it here?" Drenched in cold sweat, the Priest roared, "Isn't it supposed to be in the northern district? Who? Who brought its vessel in here?!" No one answered. In the chaos, no one cared about rank or hierarchy anymore. If not for the numerous sacrificial offerings to the higher abominations on the altar suppressing its power, allowing the Priest to seize the chance to pen it in, the Hungry House would have swallowed the entire altar whole by now! Damn those dogs at Wulou Temple—why couldn't they watch their own shit! No, it had to be those bastards from the Tianxin Society who only cared about watching the world burn... Yet passing the buck was meaningless now. As countless black handprints spread, ravenous panting and laughter actually drifted from thin air. Laughter rang out, weeping echoed. The illusory doorway gradually began to crack. In the churning darkness behind the curtain, a hunched, naked, colossal figure sat crouched on the floor, clutching its face. But the lips that even those giant hands could not hide split open, chewing, as viscous crimson slowly dripped down. Behind the gaps between its fingers, a hollow pupil suddenly shifted. And looked straight at the Priest! *** And at that very moment, the barrier enveloping the Quancheng Bank silently split open a fissure. In the shadowy back alley, a lustrous, iridescent film of light manifested from empty air, parting down the middle to both sides under the vicious bites of two massive metal hounds. Like a curtain being drawn aside, it pulled outward in two directions. Yet even with such a massive breach torn open, not a single alarm was triggered. The entire barrier and esoteric rite continued running as usual, a truly eye-opening spectacle. As expected of the household-wrecking treasure Master Kong once used to... well, "synthesize diverse styles." It was truly something else! No wonder those two dogs looked a bit like huskies... When Ji Jue slid down from the tall building along a quicksilver rappel cord and arrived to rendezvous, this was the scene that greeted him. While marveling on the surface, a dull ache twinged in his heart. Day who-knew-what without Bro Ball. Miss it. If Bro Ball were here, would he be in such a pitiful state? A mobile workshop came with its own defenses and internal space, fully equipped with a Blessing Cage and spiritus reservoir, stocked with every material imaginable, plus a furnace tuned and crafted by Professor Ye herself. Wherever he went, he could fight and refine as he pleased. It was as wonderful as a dream. Just thinking about it made him want to shed little pearly tears. When would he ever have such a badass mobile workshop of his own? In the brief, dead silence, no one spoke. "Everyone clear on the plan?" Tong Shan asked one last time. Reaching out, he pulled from his storage ring the banner Ji Jue had re-welded and barely pieced back together. The fractured spiritus circuits had been forcibly reconnected, barely restoring its function; at best, it was usable. Much like his current condition. On his newly regrown right hand, several fingers were still stiff and difficult to move, requiring him to manipulate them with telekinesis, but fortunately, it wouldn't get in the way. Everyone nodded in silence. "I'll repeat it one last time," Tong Shan continued over the comms channel. "Aside from immediately wrecking the ritual, I will monitor the overall situation and provide support. "Once inside, everyone will immediately cooperate with the Repairman to seize central control and prevent any alarms or calls for backup. Little Sis will handle protection. Big Bro and Iron Man will handle the sweep, along with the Repairman's ride. "Everyone inside is to be eliminated. Leave no survivors. "Ah Gua and Water Pipe will stay outside to maintain communications and provide support. If necessary, I will give the order to retreat, and none of you are to hesitate. Understood?" In silence, everyone nodded in unison. At that, Tong Shan seemed to smile. Nothing more needed to be said. The thud of bulky equipment hitting the ground sounded. Ji Xue dropped her backpack and unfastened the outer gear Ji Jue had specially made, revealing the sleek protective suit underneath that hugged her shapely curves. Taking a deep breath, she twisted her waist and swung her arms to warm up, then placed a hand on Ji Jue's shoulder. Feeling his tense muscles, her eyes narrowed beneath her respirator. "Don't be scared. If you lack experience, just leave everything to me in a bit." "Leaving it to you is fine, but could you not phrase it in such a misleading way?" Ji Jue sighed. "Say, does our squad have rules against sexual harassment?" "Sorry, nope." A chorus of low chuckles broke out. In Ji Xue's eyes, through the slow buildup, a blazing glow gradually surfaced, dazzlingly bright, as her spiritus fluctuations grew increasingly fierce and high-pitched. Like a leviathan slowly awakening, blue veins crept up her cheeks, turning her normally delicate features savage. "That's about... ready," she squeezed out between gritted teeth. "Ten times. I can only hold it for six seconds." "That's enough." Tong Shan nodded and patted her shoulder one last time. Upon the banner in his hand, countless phenomena rotated and shifted, ultimately settling into the form of a vortex! That instant, as the tip of the banner's staff pointed forward, an invisible maelstrom enveloped the entire bank. Amid intense tremors, countless panes of glass shattered in an instant, yet not a single sound could be heard. An instantaneous shift, from the crushing weight of the deep sea to the pure vacuum of nothingness. The terrifying explosions formed by the massive compression and expansion of air rampaged under the guidance of telekinesis, crashing and tearing through everything. Even the sound of explosions was thoroughly stifled. Plumes of crimson blood-mist erupted from every corner of the bank. Fragile human bodies were ravaged into torn sacks beneath such savage fluctuations. Merciless. And almost simultaneously, with the exception of Xu Guan and Lou Feng, everyone vanished from their spots in an instant. Ji Jue nearly failed to react. Even with Transcendent Vision active in his ring the entire time... "Go!" At the exact moment the world seemed to abruptly freeze, Ji Xue grabbed his hand and bolted forward through time slowed down by a factor of ten, pursuing the others as they charged into the darkness of the bank! Leading the charge was Ji Liu, wreathed in bloody fire and laughing soundlessly. Activating his blessing [Sweeping Clouds] right off the bat, he dragged two ridiculously oversized weapons and plunged into the foremost crowd of cultists before they could even scream, whipping up a tempest of crimson. Yet even as her elder brother, when his peripheral vision caught his sister keeping close behind, a trace of envy and longing couldn't help but surface in his eyes. The path of the Swarm was indeed terrifying, possessing staggering destructive power, but it was a choice born of necessity. The clan they hailed from was the Ji clan of Shangui Hall in Midtown, which Ji Jue had once heard Lou Feng mention. To take root in the Federation's capital, Midtown, where the mighty gathered like clouds, the Ji clan's heritage, finesse, and capability were readily apparent. What they inherited was a composite matrix exceedingly rare among all matrix classifications—one that required superb affinity with multiple Sovereign Virtues simultaneously: Composite Matrix · Daylight. It pointed toward Tianyuan, the most adept at control among all Sovereign Virtues, and the Eternal Gate, the most mysterious and rare! If a practitioner could achieve awakening during an exceptionally complex and grueling Higher Calling, there was only one ability they could possibly master—controlling time! Not merely their own time, but the time within a designated area, and even the time of others... Through the intervention of the Tianyuan path, clan powerhouses could even accelerate the time of hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously by dozens or hundreds of fold! Unlike Transcendent Vision, which merely enhanced soul perception, this was genuine time acceleration capable of ignoring air resistance, inertia, acceleration, and every side effect! However, such a realm was far too distant for a Metamorphosis practitioner like Ji Xue. Presently, merely accelerating five people by tenfold brought her to the verge of her limit...