Chapter 24: Property

Zheng Fan certainly wouldn't have gone back so soon after coming out. Lin Yilin knew this as well and offered no objection; seeing the scene with her own eyes was enough for her.

When Zheng Fan occupied a physical body, he didn't behave with the abstract, carefree nature he exhibited in a hallucinatory state; he believed in acting according to the state he was in. Or rather, the tactile sensation of returning to reality was enough to please him.

Locating the address of Cabis’s residence, Zheng Fan took the key from Lin Yilin’s small handbag and prepared to enter, but twisting the key didn't yield the feeling of unlocking a latch.

"The door isn't locked."

He pushed the door open and walked inside.

A thick, pungent stench of alcohol hit him. Zheng Fan waved his hand to disperse some of the odor; he couldn't be bothered to close the door—letting some fresh air into the house wouldn't hurt.

The apartment had a three-bedroom, one-living-room layout, with the kitchen connected to the living area; there was nothing particularly unusual about it. There were several patches of vomit on the floor, emitting a foul smell, and the place was in disarray, as if someone had ransacked it crudely.

Regrettably, there was no one inside; he couldn't settle everything in one go as Lin Yilin had anticipated.

"Cabis’s husband must have come home, but he didn't stay long. Perhaps he realized that his wife and child were gone. I wonder what he’s thinking now," Zheng Fan said.

Lin Yilin’s shadow replied, "Those affected by hallucinations develop paranoid thinking. They are led by their primary desires, and their perspective narrows; he might not be capable of thinking that far ahead."

"Really?" Zheng Fan entered what appeared to be the child’s room. There were remnants of blood and bits of flesh on the floor.

Lin Yilin paused, then suddenly spoke, "Someone was in this room—just a little while before we arrived!"

"Cabis’s husband must have put the suitcase in this room. Was he trying to leave the 'money' for his child?" Zheng Fan quickly went to the window and looked out. Being on a higher floor provided a broad view, and he scanned the surroundings.

Lin Yilin continued, "But someone else came and took the suitcase away. That case is not just a manifestation of the hallucination; it might hold other significance."

"Even though we didn't run into them directly, it seems we still gained something." As soon as Zheng Fan finished speaking, his gaze locked onto a person walking out of the residential complex.

His main focus was the suitcase in the man's hand. Although the surface had been wiped, the bloodstains in the crevices had not been cleaned away.

"That's him," Lin Yilin said quickly.

*Whoosh!*

Zheng Fan immediately took control of Lin Yilin’s body, leaped out the window, and flicked his wrist to release black worms that bit into the exterior wall of the building, moving between the structures like Spider-Man.

A man with a dull, vacant expression was walking down the street carrying the suitcase when he suddenly heard a sound of air being torn behind him.

The moment he turned around, he saw the "girl falling from the sky" that every otaku dreams of.

Then, she greeted his face with a dashing rider kick.

His reaction, however, was inconsistent with his previous dull demeanor; he raised the suitcase with both hands to block the blow, taking the full force of "Lin Yilin’s" kick.

*Bang!*

With a dull thud, the man was sent flying backward and crashed to the ground. The suitcase caved in, splitting open and leaking congealed blood.

"Ah!" the man let out an angry shriek. "Look at what you’ve done!?"

"Huh?"

"It’s money! This is all money!" The man clutched the leaking flesh, rambling incoherently.

"Do you want to see what you're saying?" "Lin Yilin" walked up, speechless.

"Money can buy everything. Money is power. This is all money! Linde is truly insane. He didn't take this money with him, he left it at home..."

The man muttered. Seeing "Lin Yilin" approach, his expression turned vicious. He pried the suitcase open and thrust his hand directly into the flesh inside.

"Lin Yilin’s" approaching footsteps stopped abruptly, and her body recoiled rapidly.

*Whoosh!*

A blade made of blood mixed with jagged white bone slashed through the space where "Lin Yilin" had been, then retracted with fluid flexibility.

Taking a closer look, the flesh in the suitcase had transformed into a grotesque blood-bone blade in the man’s hand.

"The money was all spent on this! It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!" The man shouted, charging forward with the blade.

The man’s own movements were mediocre—neither clumsy nor particularly skilled—but the blade in his hand was different. He only swung it symbolically, yet the blade seemed to possess a will of its own, extending and slicing with such speed that it was hard for the naked eye of an ordinary person to track at close range.

"Lin Yilin" dodged and weaved through the slashes with agile movements, eventually opening up some distance: "A bit interesting."

"Ah!"

The man continued to charge, his eyes bloodshot, but "Lin Yilin" had already raised her hand, forming a sword-finger gesture and slashing lightly.

*Rip!*

A red thread sliced through the void, cutting a bloody gash across the man’s chest, causing blood to spurt out.

"But only 'a bit'," "Lin Yilin" chuckled softly.

The man swayed as blood poured from his wound, using the blood-blade as a crutch to keep from falling.

Zheng Fan glanced at his hand: "The feel is off. Is this body weakened when using someone else's abilities? Otherwise, he should have been split in two by now."

"...Are you using Jiang Si’s serial killer ability?" Lin Yilin’s shadow asked quietly.

"Yeah, this feels more natural..."

"Use mine," Lin Yilin interrupted firmly.

"Fine, fine."

Black worms crawled out from the shadow, slithering around for a moment. As "Lin Yilin" raised her hand, they all sprang up like ambush vipers startled in the grass, pouncing toward the man.

The blood-blade tried to strike back but was shattered by a black worm, which then bound the man tightly.

"My money! My money! Let me go! You thief! Robber!"

Even though he was at the point of being crushed to death at any moment, his eyes still seemed to care more about his "money."

Nearby, the black worms diligently picked up the fragments of the blood-blade from the floor, threw them back into the tattered suitcase, and dragged it over to "Lin Yilin," handing it to her.

It was true that the black worms could do things the red thread couldn't. Zheng Fan gave them a small apology, took the suitcase, and without any disgust, reached in to touch the fragments of the blood-blade to examine them.

The bound man struggled even more violently, but he was completely unable to break free from the black worms' restraint.

"How did he do this? A hallucinatory ability?" Zheng Fan asked.

"It should be. The mechanism is... property?" Lin Yilin pondered, already forming a theory.

"Property?"

"He believes these things are his money, so he used this money to 'purchase' a weapon. Thus, this flesh became a powerful and violent weapon—a fantasy object of sorts."

"What kind of 'Ork logic' is this?" Zheng Fan retorted.

"I don't know what 'Ork logic' means in the mouth of Mr. Hallucination, but it should be different. In any case, this ability is still a mechanism centered on hallucinations... In fact, this type of property-based hallucination is not rare in the Metropolis. I encountered it a few times when I was working cases with my foster father," Lin Yilin said.

"The initial impact of this type of hallucination is negligible. To reach this point, it implies that someone, or some group, has constructed an impression system where flesh is used as currency."

Only then could one go "shopping" with this flesh.