Eradication

As Chen Chuan walked down toward the basement floor, the signs of blurring on his body deepened noticeably. The further forward he went, the more severe the condition became. Not only that, but the sensation of unseen eyes watching him grew omnipresent as well. Right at that moment, the strand of hair from the flying head wound around his wrist and the civet stone plaque hanging on his body both began to vibrate faintly. From the look of it, he was indeed facing an urban legend. Dropped items from urban legends naturally resonated with other urban legends. Yet the fact that the civet stone plaque displayed such agitation suggested it might be sensing some kind of threat. The temperature ahead dropped slightly. After reaching the bottom of the stairs, he found a metal door, though it was locked fast. Stepping forward, he pressed a hand against it. The seams of the doorframe let out a harsh groan as masonry and bolts fractured and popped loose. Under the surging application of his jin, the entire door twisted and deformed before crashing backward with a thunderous boom. Once the dust behind the door thinned, he stepped inside and was met with the sight of a "tree." To be precise, it was a field-interference organism, yet it seemed magnified several times over. It occupied nearly half of the hotel's entire basement level. Its boughs and branches sprawled outward, completely blanketing the subterranean space, and even pierced through the floorboards like intangible phantoms to reach toward the levels above. If that were all, it would hardly be terrifying. What chilled the blood was that bare human arms hung from the branches like drooping vines. Toward the lower section of the trunk, human feet were neatly arranged and stacked in tiers, fanning outward in concentric rings along the base of the roots. Chen Chuan swept his gaze across them. Some of the hands were slender while others were thick and muscular, clearly taken from various men and women. Mingled together, they appeared haphazardly stitched along the creeping boughs. Near the root nodes of the trunk, countless tangles of unmistakable human hair were coiled around the wood, while the ground below was strewn with layer upon layer of ragged clothing. Chen Chuan finally knew where the missing guests had gone. This thing was undoubtedly an urban legend, but it had clearly undergone a metamorphosis. If certain urban legends were not dealt with promptly and were fed a steady supply of vitality, they could gradually break away from their original forms and grow increasingly powerful. The prickling gaze he had felt earlier was from these branches extending into countless corners of the hotel, attempting to influence his mind. Had a normal person ventured here, they would have been gradually lured in or snared. It had produced such a drastic change in merely three years. There was no telling what it might have become had it been allowed to grow further. At that moment, perhaps realizing he was immune to its influence, the creature let out a high-pitched, human-like shriek. The dim lights that had remained lit throughout the basement began to flicker wildly. After observing it for a moment, Chen Chuan drove the Xuejun Saber into the adjoining wall. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he drew it out with a crisp ring, shifted it to a single-handed hold, twirled the blade once, and steadily walked forward. The clusters of boughs above suddenly whipped down toward him. Chen Chuan swept his blade upward in a slash. Previously, the Xuejun Saber had possessed limited lethality against the flying head because they could barely make physical contact. But as the blade slashed out now, the crimson line along its spine brightened a shade. With a sharp hiss, it severed the branches. The detached human hands clattered noisily to the floor, accompanied by spurts of thick red juice resembling fresh blood. After carving through several batches of boughs trying to bar his path, a wave of satisfaction rose within his chest. In the past, he had been forced to rely on sheer endurance, physical contact, or various bizarre methods to eliminate urban legends. A direct, brutal approach like this was by far the most convenient. He advanced while clearing obstacles, moving without the slightest hesitation. In mere breaths, he crossed thirty to forty meters. Upon arriving ten paces from the trunk, he planted his foot and leaped forward, closing the distance to the massive bole almost in an instant. At that moment, the monstrous tree unleashed an even shriller screech. Thick roots bristling with hanging human legs and matted hair tore up from the ground, attempting to block his approach. Yet such an action only exposed those targets as its vital vulnerabilities. With a low shout, Chen Chuan surged forward. A brilliant arc of blade light blossomed before him, tearing through the writhing entanglements that closed in from all sides. Severed limbs rained down in a clattering deluge. Leaping clear of the layers of obstruction, he reached the trunk itself. Suspended in midair, he gripped the hilt with both hands and unleashed a downward diagonal cleave! A crescent flash of blade light flickered past, gouging a long, slanting fissure into the wood. The monstrous tree uttered a piercing shriek as odorless, scarlet sap erupted from the wound. Chen Chuan landed, his forward momentum unbroken. Twisting his waist, he brought the saber around in a horizontal sweep, sending another streak of blade light slicing across the trunk. From the massive, cross-shaped gash, crimson liquid gushed out in a torrential flood. At the same time, the entire tree convulsed, letting out a retching sound. With a wet crash, countless internal organs and mangled torsos burst forth from within the trunk, spilling across the floor of the entire basement. Chen Chuan stared intently at the creature. Although the two strikes appeared to have dealt severe damage, he noticed the gashes were knitting together with startling speed. These attacks had evidently failed to reach its true core. A thought flashed through his mind, and he made his decision. Leveling his saber, he leaned forward and charged, plunging straight through the gaping breach in a fraction of an instant. Once inside, he looked up and saw clusters of internal tissues hanging all around, pulsating gently as if breathing. Wrapped in the very center was a mass resembling a human cranium. This core had originally been sustained by those mangled organs and fluids that had just drained out through the breach. Without a doubt, this was the part the monstrous tree was desperately trying to protect. Drawing a short breath, he took several strides forward, spun abruptly on his heel, and swept an upward diagonal slash straight toward it! At that very moment, following his entry, the severed breach on the outside began snapping shut. Severed limbs and hands jammed into the gap, secreting a red gelatinous fluid to rapidly mend the fissure. Yet halfway through the process, the motion suddenly froze. A moment later, the trunk, boughs, and attached limbs all began to rapidly wither and shrivel. Finally, as if unable to support their own weight, they snapped and crashed to the floor section by section, shattering upon impact and dissolving into scattering black ash. Curiously, the entire collapse unfolded without a sound, as if they were merely intangible figments with no place in physical reality. Within a dozen seconds, the entire trunk of the monstrous tree had disintegrated into collapsed cinders, piling into a thick layer of grey slag upon the ground. Chen Chuan took off his hat, patted the ash from his clothes, put it back on, and swept his gaze around to confirm that the thing was thoroughly eradicated. Beneath the soot, however, there seemed to be something solid. He nudged it with the tip of the Xuejun Saber, and an object roughly the size of a fist rolled out. Chen Chuan bent down, picked it up, and blew away the ash clinging to its surface. It was shaped like a human heart, appearing both like carved wood and polished jade. This was likely the dropped item left behind by the monstrous tree. Putting it away, he walked out of the basement. The hotel had previously felt devoid of all vitality, but with the urban legend eliminated, insects and ants seemed to emerge all at once. At the same time, his boundary credential came back online. He immediately contacted the city patrol team to have them come handle the aftermath. The cleanup was secondary; the primary purpose was to inform the authorities through them that this place was back to normal and that there was no longer any need for special containment measures. Returning above ground, he pushed through the hotel's entrance, took a breath of fresh air, and walked toward the parking lot. Before he had gone more than a few paces, he spotted several gang thugs gathered around his car. An off-road vehicle was parked in front of it, and they were in the middle of fastening tow cables to his chassis. Chen Chuan checked them with his boundary credential. Every one of them was a gang member with extensive records of interrogation and detention, and the leader among them was even an active fugitive. Calmly reaching into his pocket, Chen Chuan applied a pinch of force, instantly crumbling a pebble into a dozen tiny fragments. He nudged one of the grits onto his knuckle. "Boss, someone came out of the building," one of the gang members yelled upon spotting Chen Chuan. The gang leader blinked in surprise. He had not expected anyone who went inside to come back out. Squinting, he looked Chen Chuan over, realizing in a single glance that this newcomer was likely not someone to be trifled with. Consequently, he decided to show some deference. He patted an underling on the shoulder. "Go over and give him a heads-up. Higher-ups gave orders—no one goes in, and no one comes out. Tell him we were just looking after his car for him. Have him pay a little holding fee, and we'll call it square. We won't stop him from leaving." "Got it, Boss." The underling flicked away his cigarette butt and sauntered forward with a few others. Drawing near, he called out, "Hey, pal..." Before he could finish, a dull thud sounded, and he pitched forward onto the pavement. The other gang members reacted swiftly. Realizing something was wrong, they split to both flanks and reached for their concealed weapons. But before they could even assess the situation, they collapsed one after another, tumbling haphazardly across the street. Chen Chuan simply walked toward the car at a steady pace. Sensing danger, the gang leader immediately backed away from the vehicle and bolted. Realizing his boundary credential had reconnected, he hastily barked an alert: "Lockdown, initiate lockdown! We've got a tough customer! Grab your gear!" Without even looking at him, Chen Chuan walked straight toward the car and flicked the tiny stone pinched between his fingers. The gang leader had already sprinted twenty-odd meters, but his legs suddenly buckled. Stumbling forward, he crashed flat onto his face and lay motionless. Arriving beside his car, Chen Chuan gave the door handle a turn, and the door clicked open. He paused and looked back. The dirty-faced little boy was watching him from afar. Chen Chuan offered him a slight nod, stepped inside, pulled the door shut, and started the engine, steering the car toward the blocked intersection.