Deep Within the Living

Chapter 36: Makeup and Transformation

The exploration of the second-floor bathroom had concluded,

but its suffocating darkness and eerie ambiance left a mark on their minds, like fear etched onto the brain with a steel pen.

Although Luo Di managed to suppress the emotion with his obsession for serial killers, the class leader wasn’t faring as well. The mental strain of fear pushed her to instinctively reach out for something she could lean on,

and naturally, her hand found what felt like a warm, solid presence—a comforting sense of security amidst the unsettling environment.

The touch brought warmth but also a peculiar texture:

rough, uneven, and partially stiff.

This was not the hand of a high school student but rather that of a middle-aged laborer. Yet, the oddity strangely added to her feeling of safety, momentarily suppressing her terror.

Her eyes slowly traveled upward, following the hand’s owner until they settled on Luo Di. He didn’t glance at her, his focus fixed silently on the secondary bedroom ahead.

Perhaps in Luo Di’s mind, physical contact in this dark, perilous environment was necessary to ensure their mutual safety.

Hand in hand, they cautiously approached the secondary bedroom, intent on ruling out any lurking threats.Creak~

As they pushed the door open, the overwhelming stench of decay rushed out to greet them.

The light from their lamp spilled into the room, revealing a space that seemed untouched for years. Dust and cobwebs coated everything, and heaps of clutter filled the room.

This puzzled Luo Di.

In a Resettlement Neighborhood, housing was allocated based on family size, so an unused bedroom like this shouldn’t exist.

Despite the eerie state of the room, they found no immediate danger.

That left only the master bedroom at the far end.

Hoo...

Taking a deep breath, Luo Di tightened his grip on his blade. Together with the class leader, he approached the slightly ajar door of the master bedroom.

The wooden door was painted crimson, but the scent it emitted wasn’t paint—it was blood.

Pushing it open revealed a space that defied logic.

The master bedroom had been stretched to a size twice that of the living room, comparable to a luxury apartment’s grand suite.

Yet such a large room was illuminated by only a single candle, placed at the far corner atop a redwood-embroidered vanity table.

The bride they had seen earlier was seated there.

Her red veil was gone, exposing a head with only a few tufts of hair remaining, the back of her skull resembling the pocked surface of the moon.

Her appearance matched that of the impersonator who had broken into the house earlier. But now, her limbs were normal in length, making her look more human-like.

Her hands were moving busily in front of her, as if applying makeup.

The mirror on the vanity, however, had been completely shattered, leaving her face hidden from view.

On the large bed beside her sat the "groom"—yet another paper effigy like those in the living room.

Though there were no windows, a chilling wind blew through the room, causing the lone candle’s flame to flicker faintly.

And then, the woman’s voice echoed through the master bedroom:

"You young ones, at your age, humans rarely escape my grasp. Yet, you managed to evade my ambush perfectly.

"It’s clear—this girl is truly special.

"Her face, her hair, her body—everything about her is the most perfect I’ve ever seen. The moment she knocked on my door, I knew she was the one.

"This is wonderful~! Once I have her face and hair, I can finally marry my groom!"

Her voice twisted into a grotesque laugh as she continued,

"As for you, boy, the two girls I killed earlier were such poor souls. Originally, I planned to use one of their faces and the other’s hair to complete my bridal look. But now they’re both useless.

"You’ll stay here to keep them company. I’m sure they’ll be delighted—they were already smiling when you met them in the bathroom, weren’t they? Hahaha~"

As her laughter grew louder, the candlelight flickered wildly.

Her head began to turn slowly, gradually revealing her face.

She wasn’t putting on makeup at all.

In her hands were a pair of scissors and a utility knife, which she had used to peel her entire face off.

Blood oozed from the exposed muscles and tissue beneath, her skinless visage lit by the trembling candlelight. She was ready to wear her "new face."

The candlelight illuminated the grotesque scene.

Her nose had split down the centerline, the crack extending to her mouth. Both corners of her lips had torn apart, forming a horrifying set of fractures along the X, Y, and Z axes of her face.

Her face was now a "Flesh-and-Blood Corner", the very core of this pseudo-corner space.

As her mutilated face fully emerged, Luo Di braced himself for a fight.

But then,

Hoo~

The woman blew out the candle.

The room plunged into complete darkness.

Luo Di immediately realized something was wrong. The class leader was holding an electric lamp—why hadn’t it illuminated the room after the candle went out?

The only light now came from a few scattered red candles in the hallway, their faint glow barely piercing the gloom.

Luo Di turned his head toward his companion, toward the class leader, whose hand he was still holding.

But,

In the dim light, the figure beside him wasn’t the class leader.

It was a paper effigy.

The warmth and texture of the hand he had felt earlier had now become the coarse, fibrous touch of paper.

Spiders began crawling out of the effigy, one of them biting into Luo Di’s hand.

Ignoring the pain, Luo Di flung the effigy away and charged into the pitch-black master bedroom.

But it was empty.

The bride, the groom, and even the paper effigy groom were all gone.

"Damn it!"

Realizing the danger, he turned and sprinted out of the master bedroom, heading toward the living room downstairs.

But before he could descend,

The bathroom once again echoed with sound—not dripping water, but footsteps.

The bloated effigy he had thrown earlier emerged, its body now grotesquely grafted with the heads of the two girls. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveIＦire.net

Their faces wore the same ghastly smiles as before, their long black hair writhing and stretching toward Luo Di, trying to ensnare him.

Through the gaps in the swirling hair, Luo Di’s own face came into view, filled with rage.

His bloodshot eyes mirrored those of a slasher villain at the climax of a film—burning with fury.

Drip.

A drop of blood hit the floor.

It wasn’t the hair that had hurt him.

Luo Di had sliced his own thumb along the blade, offering his blood to the "zombie pituitary" within the weapon.

The blood was absorbed instantly by the zombie skin and nerves wrapped around the blade, feeding it to the pituitary core.

This act triggered a change within the blade.

It felt like a sacrifice—a gift of blood in exchange for power.

Creak-creak~

One by one, dark, sinister nerves emerged from the blade's hilt, writhing like living tendrils as they latched onto Luo Di’s hand. A bizarre fusion took place, binding blade and wielder together.

In the end, both his hand and wrist were entirely covered in zombie skin, forming a grotesque zombified structure.

Even his fingernails had grown longer, blackened, hardened, and sharpened into deadly claws.

Both hands transformed in this manner. The spider bite on the back of his hand had completely healed, with the venom eradicated by the corpse poison now coursing through him.

Luo Di had spent the past six months honing his skills with this Cornerized Tool, training every night in secret.

Roughly two months after acquiring the blade, he had first heard the whispers from within its core:

≮Give me blood≯

Now, half a year later, Luo Di had become adept at wielding the weapon and channeling its ominous power.

Swish!

The encroaching black hair was severed entirely as Luo Di's enhanced reflexes and strength came into play.

His muscular legs surged with explosive force, propelling him straight toward the two-headed paper effigy ahead.

As he charged, his dual hands worked in unison:

Slash and Claw.

With one decisive swing, he cleaved through the head of the right-hand girl.

With a vicious swipe, his clawed hand tore apart the face of the left-hand girl.

Two mutilated heads fell to the floor, and the paper effigy’s body collapsed alongside them.

For a fleeting moment, the stiff smiles on the girls’ faces softened, their expressions seeming to find peace, a sense of release.

Moments later, their remains were devoured by the swarm of spiders, disappearing entirely.