The Cursed Xu Zhaoting
At Jinyuan Apartments, Mo Fan stood on the balcony with his phone pressed to his ear.
"Teacher Tang Yue — you finally called." A faint smile touched his face.
"I'm in Hangzhou right now and I can't get away. Are you alright? I've received word that the Black Church is operating throughout the Magic City area, and they're all coming after you." Tang Yue's voice was urgent.
"I'm fine. Just ran into a bunch of Black-Beast Demons — I took care of them." Mo Fan said.
"You're being far too reckless. If something happened to you... The Black Church's methods are absolutely ruthless. If you ever fall into their hands, there's a very real chance they'll turn you into one of those monsters. You have to be careful — extremely careful!" Tang Yue's tone was dead serious.
"What kind of monsters?" Mo Fan asked, puzzled.
"Black-Beast Demons."
"Black-Beast Demons? Aren't those just Demon-Beasts?" Mo Fan grew even more confused.
It had always struck him as strange, actually. It seemed like every single member of the Black Church could command Black-Beast Demons, and yet only those who practiced the Summoning Element were supposed to be able to control Demon-Beasts. Surely not every last member of the Black Church used the Summoning Element?
"They aren't Demon-Beasts. They're people — living people!" Tang Yue said.
"What?!" Mo Fan went still.
*Living people? Those Black-Beast Demons are living people???*
"They are all living people whose souls have been cursed. It is the most terrifying secret art the Black Church possesses." Tang Yue said.
"Xu Zhaoting was taken." Mo Fan's voice dropped low and steady.
Silence fell on Tang Yue's end of the line.
Xu Zhaoting was one of her students too — of course she knew who he was.
But there was nothing Tang Yue could do right now. The Tribunal could not mobilize in force — the moment they did, the Black Church operatives they had worked so hard to lure into their net would scatter and vanish.
And besides, Xu Zhaoting had already been taken. There was almost no chance he was still alive.
"Teacher Tang Yue, I need to go check on Zhang Lulu. If Xu Zhaoting has been turned into a Black-Beast Demon, that means they already know where Zhang Lulu lives..." Mo Fan said.
"Zhang Lulu? Who is she?"
"Xu Zhaoting's girlfriend. His whole family died in the Bo City disaster — he was the only one left... She's been by his side ever since. I think she's the most important person in the world to him. I can't let anything happen to her." Something flashed through Mo Fan's mind, and he ended the call mid-thought.
He bolted down the stairs. Regulations against summoning Summoned Beasts within the city limits could wait — Mo Fan called forth his Gloom Wolf Beast on the spot and sent it sprinting toward Zhang Lulu's residence.
The roads were wide and open at this hour. The Gloom Wolf Beast tore straight down the lane; traffic laws meant nothing to a creature like this.
The moonlight was cold and hard. At the rooftop's edge, the wind cut even more savagely, slicing across exposed skin like a blade.
Zhang Lulu stared in disbelief at the face in front of her — rotted past recognition — and even less willing to believe what she saw in those eyes, burning with a fierce and righteous torment.
*That's Xu Zhaoting? That's... Xu Zhaoting???*
Her pupils dilated until they seemed ready to burst. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and the grief tearing through her heart had almost made her forget the long claw half-buried in her body.
In that moment, she understood why this cursed Black-Beast Demon had killed the other Black-Beast Demons that had tried to chase her down. She understood why it had never moved to harm her. She understood that all along, it had been protecting her...
Even so — blood was flooding out of her, life was draining away, a claw was piercing through her heart — and yet she found she was no longer afraid.
*Better this than being killed by those filthy things.*
"Ha — hahaha! I told you that you couldn't control yourself. As your master, I'm being generous enough to give the two of you a little time for a final farewell. But you'd better be quick about it — once she bleeds out, she won't hear a word you say... Oh, but then, all you can do is grunt and howl. I doubt you can express much anyway." The man wearing the half-mask seemed to be savoring every second.
His long coat swept behind him, and his unhinged, delighted laughter faded as he vanished from the rooftop.
**Drip... Drip... Drip...**
Sheets of blood struck the ground below. The cursed beast stood rigid, its expression far beyond anything that could simply be called anguish.
**"ROARRR!!"**
Its eyes went wide as if ready to explode. It let out a maddened howl — then opened its jaws and bit down hard on its own wrist.
**Crunch—**
It tore the wrist clean off, savaging it as if it were the most loathed enemy in existence.
**"ROARRRR!! ROARRRR!!!"**
Its face convulsed violently. Ragged, desperate howling echoed across the rooftop without end.
Dark liquid streamed from its eye sockets, trailing down its trembling face.
It tore into its own body like something deranged — ripping flesh from bone, gnawing off the very claws that had dealt the wound.
In that moment, its hatred for what this body had done surpassed everything else in the world.
A figure stepped out of the darkness like something crossing in from another world.
He walked across the rooftop, treading through pools of black blood and scattered limbs, his dark eyes fixed on the only person whose blood still ran red.
She was half-propped against the rim of the rooftop water tank. A severed wrist jutted from her chest — its claw driven deep into the wound...
Her face was pale as paper, but held almost no trace of suffering. It was proof enough that she had not died in fear or despair.
Beside her, a creature covered in wounds crouched in silence, its gaze never leaving the girl who had already found her peace.
It was weeping. And though the way a thing that was neither human nor demon wept looked nothing like a person crying, Mo Fan knew.
He drew a slow breath and walked toward them.
"I'm sorry. I came too late." He looked at the cursed Black-Beast Demon.
*That's Xu Zhaoting.* He was certain of it. No Black-Beast Demon would crouch beside a dead girl with grief like that written across its face.
When Mo Fan saw that Xu Zhaoting's right wrist was gone, something ached through his chest like a spring welling up from deep underground.
Xu Zhaoting slowly raised that ravaged, despairing face. In this moment, the last shreds of humanity still clinging to him recognized Mo Fan...
He suddenly raked his claws across his own abdomen and slowly pulled something free from inside.
Mo Fan reached out, uncertain, and took what was offered.
He wiped away the filth coating it — and went still.
It was a piece of leather, covered in deep scratches. In the moonlight, those scratches were unmistakably a name.
"It's the Blue-Robed Deacon's name! Xu Zhaoting found the Blue-Robed Deacon's real name." Tang Yue's voice barely concealed her excitement over the phone.
"What good is a name?" Mo Fan asked.
"The vast majority of Black Church members maintain a legitimate identity in society. This name is what that particular Blue-Robed Deacon uses as cover. We've actually suspected for some time that the true mastermind behind the attempts on your life is likely a student at Pearl Academy — we just didn't know who. This Deacon is our primary target in this operation, and his name is an extremely important lead: Blue-Robed Deacons have direct contact with Cardinal Saron himself. This could be our path to Saron!" Tang Yue said.
"Understood. Go inform your superiors right away." Mo Fan paused. "Also — is there any way to turn Xu Zhaoting back?" He was still holding the phone, but his gaze had drifted to where Xu Zhaoting crouched beside Zhang Lulu, unmoving.