64: Chapter 65 The Mystery in the Mirror

Chapter 65: Mirror Ghost

One million nether talismans detonated instantly, transforming into a pure and violent torrent of nether energy. Like a golden tsunami, it swept ruthlessly from Lin Chen toward the entire Faceless Wedding Dress Shop!

No technique, no flashiness—just the purest, most brutal outpouring of energy!

"Rumble—!!!"

The first to bear the brunt were the displayed white wedding dresses, symbols of beauty and purity. Under the impact of the nether talisman torrent, they were like snow meeting a scorching sun—instantly melting, carbonizing, and then turning into flying ash! Lace, pearls, satin... all the exquisite decorations were defenseless before such absolute energy.

Next were the faceless clerks. They couldn't even let out a scream before their bodies twisted and deformed in the golden light. Like wax statues thrown into a furnace, they rapidly melted and evaporated, leaving behind only wisps of blue smoke.

The shop's walls, display windows, the magnificent chandeliers... everything was disintegrating and annihilating at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The Faceless Bride, wearing Su Qingyu's face, let out a piercing shriek that could puncture eardrums! Her magnificent wedding dress billowed violently in the energy storm. She raised her hands, attempting to mobilize the power of this Ghost Domain to resist. A grayish-white barrier, composed of countless twisted faces, formed instantly in front of her.

However, before the absolute energy of a million detonated nether talismans, her power—which relied on rules—appeared so feeble!

"Crack!"

The grayish-white barrier held for less than a second before it was covered in cracks and shattered with a bang!

The nether talisman torrent slammed heavily into the Faceless Bride's true form!

"Ah—!!!"

She let out an incredibly shrill scream as her magnificent wedding dress tore inch by inch, revealing what was underneath... it wasn't a human body at all! Instead, it was a writhing, terrifying mass of countless twisted, pained, and wailing female faces densely stitched together!

Every single face was filled with extreme resentment and a longing for a "countenance." They struggled and roared, constituting the Faceless Bride's true, sanity-shattering essence!

"Your face... give it to me! Give me your face!!"

Countless mouths opened and closed simultaneously, emitting overlapping, chaotic shrieks. The mass of faces suddenly expanded like a giant tumor covered in human visages. Carrying a sky-blotting resentment, it lunged toward the nearest person, Su Qingyu! It actually wanted to make a final struggle to seize Su Qingyu's face!

Facing this terrifying scene beyond imagination, Su Qingyu's face turned pale, but she did not retreat this time. Instead, she gritted her teeth and raised the Evil-Breaking Short Sword in her hand, preparing to strike back!

"Ugly thing, stay away from her!"

Lin Chen's cold voice rang out.

He didn't even use any more nether talismans; he simply shifted his intent.

The phantom image of bai qi, who had been guarding him like a shadow, cast an indifferent glance from its blood-red eyes at the lunging true form of the Faceless Bride.

No words, no movements.

Just a single look!

An impact condensed to the extreme, composed purely of killing intent, acted like an invisible blade. It crossed space and slashed directly onto that tumor of human faces!

*Puchi—!*

It was as if a hot knife had sliced through grease.

The Faceless Bride's true form froze mid-lunge toward Su Qingyu. Countless screaming faces solidified at the same instant, and then, a fine line of blood emerged from the center of its massive body.

In the next second, this collective mass of countless resentful faces popped like a punctured balloon, exploding with a bang!

There was no flying flesh and blood, only countless black wisps of resentment gushing out like a fountain. Mingled with the final, silent shrieks of those faces—full of indignation and pain—they quickly dissipated and were annihilated under the purification of the nether talisman's golden light.

The Faceless Bride was dead.

With her death, the already tottering Faceless Wedding Dress Shop could no longer hold out and began to collapse completely!

Amidst the thunderous roar, walls toppled, the roof fell, and the entire shop turned into a pile of ruins.

The golden light of the nether talisman torrent gradually faded.

Lin Chen stood in the center of the ruins, his body untouched by dust. Su Qingyu held her short sword, breathing slightly hard, her heart racing as she watched the disaster subside. Zhang Hao poked his head out from behind a pile of wreckage, his mouth falling open once more as he looked at the leveled wedding dress shop.

It was... solved? A rule-based Ghost Domain that seemed so eerie and dangerous was just... forcibly smashed out of existence by the Master using money?

[Ding! Successfully cleared the unrest of the 'Faceless Wedding Dress Shop'!]

[Obtained Quest Reward: Soul Suppressing Pagoda (Incomplete) Blueprint *1]

[Detected recyclable resources: 'Faceless Bride's Resentment Core (Broken)', 'Purified Wedding Dress Resentment Remnants', 'Lost Alleyway Space Fragment'...]

[Proceed with bulk recycling? Estimated gain: 82,000 nether talismans.]

The system's notification sound rang out at the right time.

"Recycle," Lin Chen said without surprise. Spending money to fight and making money cleaning up the battlefield was quite reasonable.

With a flash of light, several items emitting special fluctuations disappeared from the ruins. Lin Chen's nether talisman balance increased by another 82,000. Although it didn't match what he'd put in, with the quest reward added, it wasn't a loss.

In his hand appeared a scroll glowing with an eerie light, neither paper nor skin—the [Soul Suppressing Pagoda (Incomplete) Blueprint]. This was an unexpected gain; the soul suppressing pagoda was a higher-level strategic building than the Underworld Fortress.

After calming the shock in her heart, Su Qingyu's gaze subconsciously swept through the ruins. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. She walked quickly to a pile of charred rubble and bent down to pick something up.

It was a small, slightly deformed crystal hairpin with dark red stains on its surface.

It was the keepsake her mother had left her, the one she had accidentally lost while fleeing during the early days of the apocalypse!

How could it appear here? And stained with what looked like blood?

Su Qingyu held the hairpin, her fingers trembling slightly, her heart filled with doubt and a trace of unease.

Lin Chen also saw the hairpin. As his gaze swept over it, the system automatically provided information.

[Item: Keepsake of Yearning Tainted by the Nether River Blood Covenant]

[Description: Originally an ordinary hairpin. Due to long-term immersion in a branch of the Nether River containing intense obsession, and being tainted by the 'Faceless Bride's' blood covenant power—which attempted to use it as a medium to locate and copy a target—it has undergone a mutation. The stains are residues of the Nether River Blood Covenant.]

[Status: Mutating. Can be recycled as a special material, or...?]

Nether River Blood Covenant? Locating and copying?

Lin Chen's eyes flickered as if he had caught onto something. The Faceless Bride's ability was likely not as simple as just copying faces; it might have been trying to use this blood-covenant-tainted keepsake to precisely locate and erode certain "targets" it had its eye on.

"This hairpin..." Su Qingyu looked at Lin Chen, her eyes full of questions.

"Keep it for now. We'll talk when we get back." Lin Chen didn't explain much. This wasn't the place for research.

He looked up at these Lost Alleyways, which seemed to have become even more unstable due to the destruction of the Faceless Wedding Dress Shop, and did not linger.

"Return."

After paying the nether talismans for the return trip, the soul ferry boat was once again shrouded in gray mist. Carrying everyone, it left this eerie district deep within the Netherworld and sailed toward the Netherworld Ferry Crossing.

This trip to the edge of the Netherworld had achieved its main goal perfectly. Along the way, they had even demolished an unruly shop, gaining a high-level architectural blueprint and a mystery.

Lin Chen stood at the bow, watching the Bone Docks of the Netherworld Ferry Crossing gradually become clear, his gaze deep.

The waters of the Netherworld seemed even deeper than he had imagined.

But that makes it more interesting, doesn't it?