Chapter 200: Passing Each Other By?

Seeing this, Chen Ling's heart trembled slightly!

He had felt something was off when he heard the footsteps. This residential building had only four floors, and most of the apartments on the fourth floor were unoccupied. At this hour, who would be going up to the fourth floor?

Given the unusual circumstances of the day, Chen Ling was already on high alert. Without hesitation, he transformed his face at the corner just in case. Unexpectedly, he truly encountered something sinister.

Who would be walking around in the middle of the night carrying such a large paper figure? And bringing a paper figure home would be even more unsettling...

For some reason, the moment Chen Ling's gaze fell upon the paper figure's red eyes, a chill ran down his spine. His intuition told him that the person before him was definitely not ordinary!

Sensing someone descending, the hunched figure slowly raised its head. Its drooping eyes glanced at Chen Ling, then, seeing an unfamiliar middle-aged man, it listlessly lowered its head again and continued to ascend the stairs.

In the dead silent and narrow stairwell, the two figures passed each other.

As he passed the paper figure, Chen Ling even felt a faint chill, a bone-piercing coldness.

Fortunately, the figure carrying the paper figure seemed uninterested in him. It went straight to the fourth floor, turned a corner, and walked towards the end of the corridor...

Chen Ling, realizing something was wrong, didn't hesitate to leave once he reached the ground floor, unwilling to stay a moment longer. Only after he had walked some distance did he subtly turn his head to look behind him.

In the residential building not far away, a figure emerged from the room at the end of the fourth floor. Due to the distance, Chen Ling couldn't discern his expression.

But the room he exited was none other than Wen Shilin's, which Chen Ling had just locked from the outside!

Damn it...

Chen Ling's heart sank instantly. The person carrying the paper figure was definitely not ordinary; they were likely a possessor of some divine path. And judging by their movements, they were clearly targeting Wen Shilin... If Wen Shilin had come home to rest today, he would probably be a corpse by now.

Chen Ling tried to keep his pace steady and unremarkable. Just then, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind...

Wait!

Where was the paper figure that person was carrying?

Chen Ling distinctly remembered the person carrying the paper figure while ascending the stairs, but when they pushed open the door and came out of the room just now, the paper figure seemed to be gone?

The moment this thought arose, Chen Ling felt a slight weight on his shoulder, as if something had latched onto his back...

A wave of coldness shot from his feet straight to Chen Ling's brain. Without hesitation, he pulled out his short blade and thrust it backward, behind him!

Clang—!!

The short blade firmly met the paper figure's sharp teeth, which were poised to bite, emitting a metallic clang. At the same time, a pair of hollow red eyes fixed on Chen Ling, two vibrant blushes, like apples, almost pressed against the back of his head.

This sight made Chen Ling's pupils contract. He didn't know when the paper figure had gotten behind him, nor how it had suddenly come to life, but there was no doubt he was now its target.

The seemingly thin paper figure's fangs pressed harder, and the metal blade visibly began to bend and deform. As an irresistible force surged through his hand, Chen Ling instinctively let go of the hilt!

The next moment, the short blade shattered in the paper figure's mouth. Its sharp fragments were chewed vigorously like candy, becoming worthless scrap metal in a few seconds.

What the hell is this thing?!

Chen Ling had never witnessed such a bizarre sight. He rapidly moved backward to create distance from the paper figure, but it floated weightlessly, keeping pace with him...

"You almost slipped past me..." The paper figure's mouth split open, and a bizarre, shrill voice emerged.

The paper figure raised its flimsy fist and swung it weakly towards Chen Ling. Seeing no escape, Chen Ling forcefully pushed off the ground with his back foot, instantly channeling all his strength into his right hand, and met the blow with a punch of his own!

Bang—!

The paper fist and the flesh fist collided with a crash. Chen Ling felt his fist effortlessly crush the paper fist, as if there were no resistance at all. Before he could even react, his recently thrown right fist suddenly lost control, abruptly changed direction, and slammed heavily into his own chest!

Chen Ling violently spat out a mouthful of blood, several ribs instantly fractured. In that brief moment, it felt as though his own fist was no longer under his control.

Chen Ling managed to steady himself, no longer daring to act rashly. He frowned, watching the eerie paper figure before him, his mind racing!

"The power of that punch wasn't like an ordinary person's," the paper figure said slowly, its hollow eyes fixed on Chen Ling. "But according to my information, Wen Shilin and Lin Yan are both ordinary... So, who are you?"

Hearing this, Chen Ling's suspicion was confirmed: this entity was targeting both him and Wen Shilin.

"That's a question I should be asking you," Chen Ling said coldly.

The paper figure seemed to have given up on questioning and floated towards Chen Ling again. Earlier, while ascending the stairs, it hadn't paid much attention. But once the hunched figure reached the fourth floor and realized there were only one or two occupied apartments on that level, it immediately knew that Chen Ling, descending at that hour, was suspicious. And since Wen Shilin's apartment was empty, it naturally connected Chen Ling to the problem.

However, regardless of who Chen Ling was or what he had done to Wen Shilin, everything would become clear once he was captured and taken back for a soul search and evidence collection.

Having witnessed the paper figure's strangeness, Chen Ling naturally wouldn't engage it in direct combat again. He swiftly darted away, his speed pushed to its limit despite his injuries... Yet, even then, he couldn't outrun the paper figure, which could even catch up to a Dripping Blood Ghoul.

Seeing this, Chen Ling's mind raced. He abandoned the idea of escaping to an open area and instead dashed into the adjacent residential building!

Compared to the building where Wen Shilin lived, this residential building had even fewer residents; most of its apartments were abandoned and empty.

Chen Ling agilely slipped through a broken second-floor window. His fingertip tore at his chin again, and his body instantly vanished from the spot.

Half a second later, the paper figure floated lightly through the window, tracing his path. Its hollow red eyes scanned the room. Seeing no one, it silently entered other rooms, searching them one by one.

However, after searching around and finding no one, the paper figure seemed somewhat surprised. It stood blankly in the center of the room, its neck beginning to rotate 360 degrees, surveying its surroundings...

Just then, a voice suddenly resounded from above its head:

"For the justice of human civilization..."

"I sentence you to death."