Zhou Su retreated rapidly, widening the distance from the door while preparing to ignite the torch.He had already realized that the earlier knocking and calls to open the door were all tricks—there had been no landlord at all.At that moment, two venomous snakes suddenly dropped from the ceiling, coiling around the top of the torch and lunging toward his arm.“Where did these snakes come from?”Zhou Su was startled, but there was no time to think. He reflexively threw away the unlit torch in his hand.A new torch came out from the blood-red mark of three interlocked crescents, and Zhou Su swiftly ignited it with the lighter.Warm firelight bloomed. The surrounding darkness receded. A strange sense of safety rose in him—only for his pulse to tighten again the next instant.A cold, slick touch wrapped around his arm.The two snakes were already coiled around the base of the torch, flicking their tongues at him.“How could they move this fast?”Zhou Su’s expression tightened. Something was wrong.Instead of throwing the torch away, he flattened it horizontally and aimed the high-pressure spray bottle with his left hand, then pressed down hard.Under the effect of Stove-King Oil, the flame erupted violently, swallowing both the snakes and his arm.This illusory fire could not harm him—but the burst of fierce flame was more than enough to frighten the snakes away…“Assuming they’re real.” Zhou Su thought to himself.When the roaring flames died down, the snakes were gone without a trace.“So it was an illusion,” he murmured.Anyone thinking calmly would’ve noticed the flaw:The snakes appeared too conveniently, and their attack pattern was strange—they could have simply bitten him directly, yet chose to bind the torch first.But then again—How many people can remain calm at a moment like this?Zhou Su picked up the unlit torch from the ground and stored it back into the mark.The old door exploded a moment later—a red firefighting axe embedded itself through the wood, splinters flying.Zhou Su’s heart hammered, yet his mind grew ever clearer.There was no time to barricade the door. And running was even worse—malevolent spirits were everywhere.“If it’s controlling puppets to attack, that means it’s not actually good at killing directly.That might be my chance.”A flash of sharp resolve passed through his eyes.He did not back away—he charged toward the door.He understood perfectly: he needed to use the momentary delay when the axe was withdrawn and lifted again.“Now!”He twisted the doorknob, yanked the door open, and immediately stepped backward.The axe whistled down, slamming into the floor where his foot had just been.Had he been even a few centimeters ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) slower, his toes would have been severed.The wielder was Tiger Brother, tall and broad. Because the door had opened, his swing had no anchor point, and his stance faltered for an instant.That was all Zhou Su needed.He thrust the torch forward and sprayed the Stove-King Oil toward Tiger Brother’s head.The flame surged into a roaring pillar.Tiger Brother’s head was engulfed in fire—if it were real fire, he would have already been hideously burned.Tiger Brother showed no reaction—but the floating head behind him let out a piercing scream.The umbilical cord connecting to Tiger Brother’s skull snapped, contracting like a bundle of squid tentacles on a hot iron plate.Tiger Brother’s eyes regained clarity.Zhou Su’s heart leapt in satisfaction.His deduction was correct—exorcising firelight could break the spirit’s control.“Quick! Light your torch!” Zhou Su roared.Tiger Brother flinched—then remembered.Fear twisted across his face.He instinctively obeyed, taking out his torch and igniting it.Firelight wrapped him.The faint, drooping white umbilical cord atop his head burned again.This time, it did not regrow—so the regeneration was limited.“G-ghost!!” Tiger Brother screamed, and threw the torch away.Zhou Su’s own torch changed too—a hideous demon face replaced the flame.But compared to the snakes, its intimidation was nothing.Tiger Brother’s fear had shattered completely—He bolted toward the bathroom, shrieking as he was startled again and again by prop decorations along the way.“Useless.”Zhou Su sighed inwardly and immediately changed plans—he would not rely on help.He stored his own torch and picked up the torch Tiger Brother had thrown.Normally, you cannot take someone else’s torch—the rightful owner can simply pull it back into their own mark.But Tiger Brother, overwhelmed by hallucination, had discarded it completely.So Zhou Su got lucky.The floating head glared toward Tiger Brother’s escape route and shrieked with rage.To it, Tiger Brother was already a slaughtered animal—it refused to let him go.The white umbilical cords writhed—The hunched skinny guy, armed with a knife, chased Tiger Brother.The bald man with gold chain lifted the fallen axe.Zhou Su had wanted to pick up the axe earlier—no chance then. Now it was too late.The bald man was over 1.9m, covered in rolling fat, the firefighting axe raised high—an overwhelming, brutal figure.Zhou Su would rather fight a malevolent spirit than this type of brute.The man’s raw strength alone could crush him.He forced himself calm, torch and spray raised, preparing to repeat his tactic.Just as he was about to press the spray—The white umbilical cord tightened, lifting the bald man to the ceiling, positioning him as a living shield.Zhou Su’s expression hardened.To break control, he needed to burn the cord.But now, there was a human body blocking it.No hesitation—he ran.A deafening crash exploded behind him—The bald man descended like an executioner, the axe shattering the floor tiles.He was lifted again, dragged forward at speed, hunting.Zhou Su realized he would be overtaken soon.Then—he spotted a lump of darkness in the corner.He swerved toward it.A split-second before the axe struck, he dove aside.The darkness was one of his own props, built for a specialty haunted attraction:The Abyssal Maw—designed to “swallow” people unexpectedly.The bald man, axe swinging with his full body weight, crashed straight into it.The “Abyssal Maw” looked like a solid surface, but its interior was hollow—The painted “mouth” was two black fabric flaps that split open.The bald man tumbled inside instantly.Soft stuffing filled the interior—harmless, but extremely difficult to escape from.The umbilical cord tried to pull him out, but only succeeded in lifting the entire Abyssal Maw prop along with him.The once terrifying brute was now like a blade sealed in a scabbard, no threat at all.Zhou Su knew—This was the chance.The path to the floating head was now wide open.He leaped, lunging straight for it.The floating head shrieked, its blood-red pupil drenched in violent madness.With the scream, a swarm of ghosts rushed from the dark—twisted shapes, countless faces, all grotesque.Zhou Su didn’t slow for even a moment.Retreat meant death later.Forward meant possible survival.Either way—death was on the table.So he would gamble.And the floating head had already shown it could manufacture hallucinations.The ghost swarm shattered like smoke upon contact.He had bet correctly.He even saw fear in the spirit’s blood-red eye.Can malevolent spirits… flee?Yes.The floating head retracted both umbilical cords and attempted to drift away.Zhou Su would never allow it.The crimson book floated above him, radiating dense brilliance.“God’s Theft — activate.”He had held this ability back not only to accumulate contact value—but also to exploit its hatred-drawing effect.【God’s Theft activated. You have successfully stolen…】Zhou Su didn’t look.He only watched the floating head.It screamed, enraged—the hatred effect landed perfectly.Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t matter—But right now, it was trying to flee.It froze.Zhou Su hurled the torch like a javelin, using every muscle in his body.The distance was less than three meters.The torch struck true.The spirit’s filthy black hair ignited instantly, burning like dry straw.Zhou Su drew his own torch back out—It had been burning the entire time he fought.Firelight wrapped him like armor, and a lunging umbilical cord failed to break through.Zhou Su moved in close—spray bottle almost touching the spirit.There was no room for dodging.The Stove-King Oil sprayed out—the flames erupted, consuming everything.The ghost-head shrieked and fell from the air, losing its ability to float entirely.Even burning, it fought, severing clumps of hair to try to escape the fire.Zhou Su’s heart pounded hard.This thing was far more tenacious than the charred corpse.He no longer held back—he pressed the sprayer again and again, then finally ripped open the cap and poured everything.The flame burst upward, filling half the room.The ghost-head writhed on the ground, a rolling fireball of agony.

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