"Goddamn bastard!" Luo Jie was ruthless too—faced with sudden disaster, running away wasn't even his first instinct.
He swore viciously, his eyes flashing with murderous intent, and raised his silver-ringed broadsword to slash straight at the child who was no longer human—Ping'an.
Luo Jie's reflexes were fast.
But Ping'an was even faster.
That small body flashed in an instant.
Liou Yuan saw only a blur sweep past the front of Luo Jie's body.
The next moment—
Thud! Luo Jie's hands, still gripping the blade, were severed clean at the wrists.
The broadsword he swung down, now powerless, crashed to the ground.
"So fast!" Liou Yuan had watched as Ms. Qiao was slain, and thought the Star Evil wasn't such a big deal.
But now, with the power Ping'an showed, he was left staring, eyes wide with shock.
It was obvious: the reason Ms. Qiao was so easily killed was because the starlight had weakened her power; she hadn't been able to fight at her full strength at all.
What Ping'an revealed now was the true, terrifying face of a star demon.
With a single blow, Ping'an stopped behind Luo Jie.
Liou Yuan's gaze fixed on Ping'an, realizing his appearance was no longer human.
Apart from still wearing children's clothes, his body had fully become a monster's.
His skin was oily green, fangs sharp, legs thick as toads', and both arms had turned mantis-like, sporting crescent, scythe-shaped forelimbs.
It was these limbs, still dripping Luo Jie's fresh blood, that had just sliced off Luo Jie's hands.
"You little bastard!" Luo Jie nearly blacked out from pain, but years battling Star Evils made him act on instinct.
He jerked backward in one leap, toppling toward the area lit by starlight.
Normally, under the rotation of the Auspicious Star, the ghosts and demons would never chase anyone who escaped beneath the starlight's shine.
But now was not a normal time.
The Star Evil within Ping'an didn't have the cunning Luo Jie had expected.
He stuck out that unnaturally long tongue and licked the blood on his forelimb.
As the taste of blood spread in his mouth—
His jet-black eyes instantly turned blood-red.
The blood triggered his ferocity; he actually followed Luo Jie and charged into the light, out of the shadows.
Mantis-blade arms poised to gut Luo Jie right then and there.
But Luo Jie's leap had bought him precious time.
"You fiend!" Mr. Ge thundered, rushing to intercept, blocking Luo Jie and thrusting his writing brush toward Ping'an.
Not clever, perhaps, but Ping'an had seen Ms. Qiao die to that brush with his own eyes.
He didn't dare face Mr. Ge's brush head-on.
Veering sharply around Mr. Ge, enduring the burning attack of the starlight, Ping'an tried to bolt from the compound.
Yet the moment his eerie form touched the doorframe—
Bang!
He was forcefully repelled by some unseen power, flung across the yard, landing hard on the ground.
Before Mr. Ge could give chase, Ping'an bounced up again, using his inhuman speed to leap at the courtyard wall, trying to climb over and escape that way.
But there, too, some force blocked his escape.
The child's twisted little body was once more violently flung back to the ground.
"You wretch—you think I hung around outside for nothing?" Mr. Ge's voice was icy as he shot a glance at the two constables, then edged slowly toward Ping'an.
The latter was already suffering terribly under the starlight's assault.
Just like Ms. Qiao, his body kept making wet, squelching noises as black smoke curled up from his skin.
In this state, the Star Evil could never bring out its full strength.
"I nearly bought it tonight!" Watching Ping'an being pressed inch by inch by Mr. Ge, Liou Yuan crouched atop the wall, his face grim, eyes flickering with the aftershock of fear.
That little Ping'an had suddenly wanted to talk tonight—definitely trying to lure him over.
If Liou Yuan hadn't known the truth, if he hadn't had the Fixed Star Compass, or hadn't been wary of Ms. Qiao, he might really have gotten closer—and he could guess the outcome.
He'd have died on the spot.
"I knew it—how could it be nothing, Ping'an being together with Ms. Qiao all the time?"
"Turns out, that little demon was himself possessed by a Star Evil—there were two of them in that courtyard all along."
"What rotten luck—this is a blood-soaked disaster."
Liou Yuan grumbled curses under his breath.
And not just Liou Yuan—even Mr. Ge, Luo Jie, and the two constables hadn't expected this.
Yanhe City was big, and Star Evils appearing in the city wasn't unheard of, but they usually kept their distance.
They had their own territorial instincts.
Two of them under one roof—in Luo Jie's whole career, he'd never seen it, which was why he let his guard down and lost his hands.
The more Liou Yuan thought about it, the more his terror grew—he'd never been so grateful for deciding to visit the Yanhe Government Office.
But just then, the situation in the yard shifted again.
The Star Evil inside Ping'an, suppressed by the starlight and threatened by Mr. Ge, had no thought of fighting the group head-on once out of the shadows.
Especially seeing Mr. Ge's writing brush—having witnessed Ms. Qiao's death to it, its mere presence became enormous pressure for him.
While Mr. Ge and the two constables closed in, those inhuman, venomously sly eyes darted rapidly all around the courtyard.
Then, suddenly, they locked on the wall Liou Yuan was crouched beside—on the side adjoining Liou Yuan's home.
In the instant Ping'an's gaze fixed on the wall—
Mr. Ge and Liou Yuan's faces changed in unison, both thinking, "Not good."
What shocked Mr. Ge was that wall was the only one he hadn't gotten around to fortifying.
At the time, the battle between Luo Jie and Ms. Qiao was already turning in their favor.
So he'd abandoned further preparations and joined the fight—and they'd won decisively.
How could he have known—there was another Star Evil lurking in the yard?
As for Liou Yuan's shock—
He'd read Ping'an's intention, clear from his gaze.
He knew it was about to go over his wall—and that meant he'd have to face this nightmare head-on.
Sure enough—
In the blink of an eye—
Ping'an, relying on monstrous speed, burst out from the surround, hurtling toward the wall next to Liou Yuan's house.
Just as Ping'an made his move, still suspended mid-leap—
Liou Yuan snatched his head back over the wall like a startled turtle.
He landed, spun, and ran from the wall with no hesitation, never once looking back.
Next, barely slowing, he pulled a fire-striker from his sleeve, blew on it, and lit a flame.
The faint red glow painted his features blood-red.
His eyes gleamed with resolve and savagery.
He'd been ready for the worst—even if it meant burning his house and everything with it.
"I don't want this damn house—I'll let you burn with it, you ghostly freak."
As he decided, Liou Yuan hurled the fire-striker toward the wall and ground that he'd already doused in lamp oil.
Whoosh! The fire-striker soared through the air, slashing a red arc in the night.
Almost simultaneously, Ping'an's stunted figure vaulted over the wall, both toad-thick legs about to touch down.
Ping'an's body and the fire-striker hit the ground at nearly the same instant.
The moment his feet touched Liou Yuan's courtyard—
The fire-striker landed.
Bang! The walls and floor, drenched in tung oil, erupted in flames at once.
Fire exploded upward, swallowing Ping'an's body whole.
The blaze licked right into Liou Yuan's home, climbing up the wall.
Already weakened to the limit by the starlight's corrosion, the Star Evil in Ping'an's body had no resistance left for an inferno like this.
Screech! Screech! Screech!—cries rang out, sharp as rats in agony, from within the flames.
Ping'an's body flailed and writhed wildly in the inferno.