Chapter 245 The Man-Faced Bat King

How could Chen Mu let it escape? He accelerated his movements, his blade aiming straight for its back, but the Blood Bat was exceptionally cunning. Just as it was about to collide with the door, it suddenly dropped, slid along the floor, and squeezed out from under the gap in the door once again.

It squeezed through the door gap faster than when it entered, its body twisting and deforming as if it had no bones. Half of its body had already made it outside.

"Evil beast, where do you think you're going!"

A thunderous shout erupted from outside. Wan Chongshan, who had been waiting for a long time, had bloodshot eyes. Carrying a heart full of grief and indignation, he swung his hook-sickle spear down viciously at the Blood Bat squeezing through the door gap.

"Squelch!"

The crescent blade of the hook-sickle spear precisely cleaved into the back of the Blood Bat's neck, instantly severing it in two. The Blood Bat let out an extremely shrill screech, its body convulsed violently a few times, and finally, it stopped moving.

Filthy blood gurgled out along the door gap, spreading across the bluestone floor.

The room returned to silence, with only the slightly heavy breathing of the few people remaining.

Chen Mu sheathed his blade, his gaze sweeping over the six Blood Bat corpses on the ground, his brows furrowing slightly.

It was too smooth.

From the moment the bats snuck in to when they were all killed, no more than twenty or thirty breaths of time had passed. Although these Blood Bats were fierce and their movements swift, their strength was simply pathetic.

Was this… the monster that had caused panic in Kaoshan Village and abducted four young girls in a row?

It seemed… a bit weak.

"Chen Mu! Xiao Ning is hurt!"

Shen Suning's exclamation instantly interrupted Chen Mu's thoughts. Turning his head to look, he saw Ling Xiaoning sitting on the edge of the bed, his face pale as paper, his left arm's wound still oozing blood. He shook his head vigorously, trying to dispel the growing dizziness, but his eyelids began to fight each other uncontrollably.

"Chen… Chen Mu, I… I'm so dizzy… The blood… it won't stop…"

His voice was weak, laced with some panic.

Shen Suning had already torn open the sleeve of his left arm, revealing the wound. The wound was not large, just two tiny tooth marks, but the surrounding skin and flesh exhibited an abnormal grayish-white color. Blood continuously gushed from the wound, showing no signs of clotting whatsoever.

Brows slightly furrowed, Shen Suning placed her fingers on Ling Xiaoning's pulse, examined the blood flowing from the wound, and leaned in to sniff it.

"This isn't an ordinary bat monster; it's a mutated vampire bat. Their saliva contains a special toxin that prevents blood from clotting, causing unstoppable bleeding."

"It also has a paralyzing effect, similar to anesthetic powder, which causes the prey to fall into a slumber unconsciously, making it convenient for them to slowly suck blood."

Upon hearing this, Ling Xiaoning's face instantly turned pale.

"Poison… Sister Suning… I'm not going to die, am I? I… I haven't even taken a wife yet…"

Shen Suning took a small porcelain bottle from her bosom, poured out some pale yellow medicinal powder, and sprinkled it evenly onto the wound. With practiced movements, she bandaged Ling Xiaoning's wound with a clean cloth strip, her tone as gentle as possible.

"Don't be afraid, Xiao Ning. This poison isn't very potent; it mainly makes you drowsy, weak, and causes unstoppable bleeding. I have already applied hemostatic powder. You just need to rest well for one night, and you will be fine by tomorrow."

Hearing this, Ling Xiaoning finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his spirit was clearly flagging, and his eyelids began to fight each other again.

Chen Mu supported Ling Xiaoning, laying him flat on the bed, but his gaze fell once again on the Blood Bat corpses on the floor.

Something was wrong.

If these Blood Bats were truly the perpetrators, how could they have taken away four living people from locked rooms without alerting anyone? Even if they had paralytic toxins to make people fall asleep, the doors and windows were intact. No matter how small they were, it was impossible for them to squeeze out through a door gap while carrying a person.

If they weren't trying to abduct people but were consuming flesh and blood on the spot, they should have left behind traces and remains. He didn't believe that a few bats like these would have the appetite to swallow a living person whole.

And what role did Li Tiezui, who watched the four young girls grow up and performed their horoscope compatibility matching, play in all of this? Was he just providing information, or…

Just as Chen Mu was frowning and pondering, three sounds of something piercing the air suddenly rang out from outside.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Those were the sounds of arrows leaving their strings, rapid and fierce, carrying Feng Qing's unique, cold Killing Intent.

Chen Mu's pupils suddenly constricted.

Feng Qing was on the roof; without his order, he would never easily loose arrows, unless…

"Something's happening! Watch Xiao Ning, don't let any monsters take advantage of the situation!"

Chen Mu let out a low shout, his figure already like an arrow off the string, crashing through the door and shooting out.

Shen Suning had wanted to follow, but upon hearing the order, her footsteps had only taken half a step before she forcibly pulled them back.

After a moment of thought, she raised her left hand, and her soft whip coiled around the door leaf, gently pulling the two wooden doors closed before dropping the latch.

Inside the room, only she and Ling Xiaoning remained, along with the scattered corpses of the Blood Bats on the floor.

Shen Suning took a deep breath, gripped the whip handle tightly, and stood sideways in front of the bed, scanning every crack in the doors and windows, while her ears captured the sounds of the fierce battle that had suddenly erupted outside.

The moment Chen Mu crashed out of the room, his field of vision suddenly opened up.

In the courtyard, Wan Chongshan was looking up and roaring, his face twisted to the point of being ferocious. His right hand remained in a throwing posture, and that hook-sickle spear had turned into a cold light, heading straight for the roof of the main house.

Before the spear arrived, the wind reached first. Chen Mu followed the trajectory of the spear and looked up.

Above the roof, Feng Qing's low-crouched figure had already surged up, his iron bow held horizontally. Three arrows broke through the air in a triangular formation, but the black shadow suddenly veered at the very instant the arrows reached it, narrowly avoiding them.

The black shadow was about the size of an adult, with a wingspan of a full ten feet, its back hunched, and the edges of its wings glowing with a faint, dark red light.

Feng Qing had already nocked his fourth arrow, but it was too late.

That thing's diving speed was eerily fast. Feng Qing could only abandon his bow and draw the short blade at his waist, but he had already lost the initiative.

Just at this moment, Wan Chongshan's hook-sickle spear arrived, the spear tip thrusting straight at the black shadow's back. Without even turning its head, the thing flicked its wingtip, deflecting the spear shaft. However, this flick also caused its own diving trajectory to deviate by three inches.

Taking this opportunity, Feng Qing rolled to the side, his short blade slashing diagonally, grazing the thing's abdomen and bringing up a series of dark blood droplets. However, he himself was forced back several steps by the recoil, and stepping into thin air, half his body slid off the eaves.

Seeing this scene, Chen Mu exerted force under his feet, pushing his Divine Void Step to its limit. His entire person turned into a blur as he rushed toward the courtyard wall, stepping on it three times to gain leverage and leap into the air.

At the same time, the Wind God Wings method roared into operation within his body. Although there were no physical wings behind his shoulders, he utilized the surrounding wind to form two invisible forces of lift, performing a swallow-turn and soaring straight toward the roof ridge.

The soul-slaying blade left its scabbard, its edge reflecting the moonlight as it carved an arc, aiming straight for the black shadow's neck.

The thing finally turned around.

Under the moonlight, Chen Mu finally saw its face clearly.

It was a human face.

The brow bone was prominent, the cheekbones were flat, the bridge of the nose was sunken, and the lips were extremely thin. The corners of its mouth stretched almost to its ear roots, and its skin was a sickly grayish-white, looking exactly like a corpse that had been left for too long.

Its eyes were extremely small, the pupils pitch black with no whites, and at this moment, it was staring fixedly at Chen Mu. It opened its mouth without making a sound, revealing only a mouthful of sharp fangs.