Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Chapter 448 - 432: Ugliness and Beauty

Deng Jiajia bit her lip hard, almost drawing blood from her lower lip.

Her delicate shoulders trembled slightly as she carried the heavy camera.

The large, blue eye of the camera was recording the speech of that human, which shocked even the monsters.

"Turns out it’s not monsters chasing humans... but monsters chasing monsters?!!"

This thought flashed through Deng Jiajia’s mind, sweat beading on her forehead and sliding down her cheeks.

However, her fingers tightened even more on the camera handle, her knuckles turning white with force, but the lens remained rock-steady, without a hint of shaking.

"What you said to the monster... seems to make a lot of sense, it should be heard by more humans!!!"

With this in her heart, Deng Jiajia’s fingers quickly moved back and forth over the camera buttons, attempting to switch to live broadcast mode.

However, the network signal light remained off, and the screen displayed the cold words "No Signal".

"Strange... there was a signal just now, why can’t it connect to the internet now?"

Deng Jiajia muttered softly, her voice tinged with a bit of anxiety and unease.

Her gaze quickly swept towards Ren Xuan and Tang An beside her, both carefully carrying their cameras with expressions as wonderful as if they had seen a ghost.

"Ren Xuan, Tang An, do you guys have signal?" Deng Jiajia lowered her voice, trying not to let it tremble.

Ren Xuan didn’t answer, just stared fixedly at his camera screen, as if completely captivated by the images inside.

Tang An fiddled with it a bit, but also couldn’t connect to the network, his teeth chattering:

"Signal... can’t get a signal, the signal in the sewers is too weak, never mind, let’s record it all first, it’s the same."

Deng Jiajia nodded helplessly, her eyes turning back to the camera.

Through the lens, those monsters were frantically clawing at their own faces, especially the one wearing two layers of clothes, its actions most violent.

Its claws deeply embedded into its cheeks, tearing off scales one by one, revealing the red flesh beneath.

As the scales peeled off, the bloody features gradually became clear—a high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, slightly pouting lips...

Indistinguishable from humans, perhaps even the "ideal bone structure" favored by the big screen?!!

They seemed molded from the same frame as humans, merely cloaked in different skins.

Meanwhile, Feng Yuhuai’s smile grew even more radiant, her red hair dancing wildly in the air, like flames burning, illuminating the surrounding darkness.

She said with a sweet and clear voice that monsters longed for:

"So... you are the ugly monsters, while I’m just a pretty innocent human!"

"Innocent human, my ass!!!"

Luo Ji felt a chill run down his spine and withdrew his wrist, staring at Feng Yuhuai’s beautiful face reflected in the mirror, a tumult rising in his heart.

"Feng Yuhuai is a monster wearing human skin, damn the [Shield of the Curtain], that monster’s [Beautiful and Terrifying] Life Chart should belong to you."

Luo Ji suddenly realized what the fleeting lines the mirror first reflected of Feng Yuhuai were all about.

Luo Ji’s face darkened like ink, he really didn’t want the monster’s Life Chart at all.

After all, using the [Life-Stealing Calamity Mirror] came with a price, and the price was that the face of the person who died with the Life Chart stolen would likely become imprinted on the mirror.

When the facial features on the mirror become fully clear, it might be time for him to pay the price.

"If the mirror finally shows a human face, maybe I can find a way to pay it back, but if... if it’s a monster’s face..."

At this thought, a chill beyond words surged in Luo Ji’s heart, the image too terrifyingly beautiful to imagine.

"Stealing the Life Chart of a genius, I might become a genius; but stealing a monster’s Life Chart, one day... I might also transform into a monster!"

Luo Ji was doing well as a human, he truly wasn’t prepared mentally to transition into a monster.

"Mirror, can we negotiate, the [Shield of the Curtain] Life Chart is too terrifying, I might not be able to bear it, can we unbind and return it?"

Luo Ji pleaded sorrowfully in his heart.

The surface of the Life-Stealing Calamity Mirror glimmered with an unyielding cold light.

Suddenly, Luo Ji swiftly turned his head, his gaze stabbing like a knife toward the nearby pipeline.

His ears twitched slightly, catching a faint sound from there—like the rustling of fabric, or restrained breathing.

He quickly flipped the mirror in his hand, reflecting inside.

What appeared in the mirror was not the eerie pipeline, but two faces streaked with tears and filled with hatred.

"It’s those two female college students, likely Feng Yuhuai’s classmates, they look like they want to devour Feng Yuhuai."

Luo Ji made a judgment in his heart, while his gaze swept down over the inscriptions on the mirror’s surface.

Above the girl to the left, nothing, but to the right, misty black smoke rising, four twisted characters floating within—[Shadow of the Bone].

The ink strokes seemed stained by ash, each stroke seeping tiny shadowy tendrils.

As Luo Ji looked at them, Zhang Liyou also lifted her head, her gaze meeting his in mid-air.

Zhang Liyou’s pupils shrank slightly, she not only saw Luo Ji, but also the cracked, evil-aura-exuding mirror in his hand.

Luo Ji paused for a moment, hurriedly shoving the mirror into his pocket, then, as if compelled by a mysterious force, stealthily stepped toward the adjacent pipeline.

......

Sewage squelched underfoot with a "gurgle" of splattering water.

Three perfectly regular footsteps suddenly sounded, the sound and frequency of each step, even the height of splashing water identical.

Step—step—step—

Zuo Bai’s figure appeared unexpectedly behind the three humanoid monsters, his spotless casual attire conspicuously bright in the pitch-dark sewer, like a white poppy blooming among corpses, or a sanctified specimen soaked in formalin water in a laboratory.

Unaware of when he had entered the scene, he strolled behind the monsters, leisurely as if in a courtyard.

"A fine speech, but unfortunately, you got one thing wrong, and that is..."

His arm lifted slightly forward, the movement graceful and composed, his well-manicured fingertips lightly brushing the monster’s scale-covered back like caressing a lover’s smooth skin.

In an instant, the monsters that were scratching their faces wildly stopped their frenzied actions, becoming docile and quiet, trembling, their three-meter-tall bodies bent as they cautiously brought their mutilated, bloody faces close to Zuo Bai’s palm.

Zuo Bai, expressionless, pressed his hand against the festering face, letting the pus-mixed blood trickle through his fingers, and continued in a soft voice:

"Ugly or beautiful, it’s neither humans nor monsters who decide, but science!"