Chapter 27: Chen Wenxu's Growing Arrogance

"W-what did you say?" Zhou Yuting stepped back, startled by Chen Wenxu's words.

Chen Wenxu’s gaze swept over her with an aggressive intensity. "You don't need to know the details; after all, you’re just an ordinary person. I’ve never failed to get a woman I’ve set my sights on. Even if I can’t have your heart, I’ll gladly take your body."

At a signal from Chen, several thugs brandished clubs, preparing to move on her.

"Wait!" Zhou Yuting’s voice was sharp. "Chen Wenxu, my brother told me you were nothing but trouble—that you were involved in drug trafficking. It seems he was right. I must have been blind to ever fall for a beast like you, wearing a human face!" Though naturally gentle in temperament, her beautiful eyes were now filled with hatred.

Still clutching two bar hostesses in his arms, Chen Wenxu laughed dismissively. "And what if you know? Not only do I deal drugs, but I’m going to kidnap you and rape you right now. Do you honestly think there will be any consequences for me if I do? I admire your courage for coming to my territory alone. I’m actually quite curious: did your brother prepare any means to protect you? If he did, you’d better bring them out now, or you won’t have another chance."

He then commanded the thugs, "Tie her up and throw her in the private booth. I haven't had the pleasure of enjoying her body yet."

Zhou Yuting felt a profound sense of disappointment. How had she failed to realize during their summer romance that he was such a deviant monster? At the same time, a cold, nameless fear regarding his background began to creep into her heart.

The thugs surrounded her, leering with malicious intent. This wasn't their first time; they had done the same to a campus beauty from Baoqing University, whose long legs in black silk had been quite the prize. After Chen Wenxu was finished with these women, he would pass them on to his henchmen—he was, in their eyes, a "generous" boss. Despite living in a society governed by law, there were always corners where the light could not reach.

But just as they came within a meter of her, they all suddenly clutched their heads and let out agonizing wails. Their screams were blood-curdling; they collapsed, writhing on the floor as if enduring unimaginable torture, blood streaming from their seven orifices. They clawed at their own faces and scalps until they were raw with bloody gashes, their expressions twisted in horror, their eyes bulging and bloodshot.

Within moments, the wailing stopped, leaving behind only the lifeless, wide-eyed corpses of men who had died in agony.

Seeing this, Chen Wenxu wore an expression of grim confirmation. He knew it—Zhou Chen was the mastermind behind the insect-wielding attacks that turned people into mental patients! However, he wasn't entirely afraid; having survived a previous attack by a Soul-Eater insect, he felt prepared. He stood up, holding his breath and focusing his senses, scanning the room to prevent another sneak attack. He even had earplugs in, confident they wouldn't be able to burrow into his ears again.

In his limited understanding, Zhou Chen's methods were one-dimensional—manipulating insects to enter the brain through the ear. He didn't realize that the ear and brain were not directly linked; the insects targeted the ears because they were the closest point to a person’s soul, allowing for rapid consumption.

Zhou Yuting looked at the wretched corpses on the floor, her terror mounting. Though she had seen bodies at the hospital before, these were different—their countenances were nightmarish, their eyes seemingly ready to pop out of their sockets. Pale with fear, she turned and bolted toward the main exit. The staff and other thugs, witnessing the scene, were equally paralyzed with dread.

Chen Wenxu moved with terrifying speed, faster than any hundred-meter dash record, closing the distance to Zhou Yuting in a few breaths. He reached out to grab her, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, his expression shifted to one of alarm. "How are there so many?"

With the enhanced vision of a modern practitioner, he spotted over a dozen tiny insects hovering around Zhou Yuting. After a moment of hesitation, he reached for her anyway. He believed that as long as they couldn't enter his ears, they couldn't cause him real harm.

He was proven wrong.

The previous attack had been a single Level 1 Soul-Eater. Now, guarding Zhou Yuting, there were ten Level 0, five Level 1, and two Level 2 Soul-Eaters.

"Kill him!" Zhou Chen commanded from his home, remotely controlling the swarm through the Mother Soul-Eater. The Level 0 insects remained by Zhou Yuting’s side, while the Level 1 and 2 insects moved with a speed that easily evaded Chen Wenxu’s physical strikes.

But Zhou Chen had overestimated the danger. Chen Wenxu ignored the insects entirely, counting on his earplugs to protect him as he continued to lunge for Zhou Yuting. In his mind, capturing her was his only leverage against Zhou Chen. His lack of experience as a low-level modern practitioner had left him blind to truly mysterious, supernatural threats.

As the insects swarmed him, Chen Wenxu didn't even try to dodge. They descended upon his head, beginning their feast.

"Arghhhhh!"

Under the combined efforts of the seven higher-level insects, Chen Wenxu’s soul began to be devoured at a terrifying rate. In an instant, he realized his mistake and felt a wave of profound regret. He began slapping his own head frantically, trying to crush the creatures.

But these were not flies or mosquitoes. As soon as his hand moved, they darted away, letting the others continue the consumption, only to return the moment his hand moved elsewhere. The insects lacked long-range attacks and were physically fragile—an ordinary person could crush one—but they possessed a potent soul-awareness that allowed them to sense danger before it arrived.

Chen Wenxu beat his own head until he was dizzy, yet not a single insect was killed. Recalling the wretched fate of his thugs, he was consumed by an overwhelming, primal fear. Ignoring the agonizing pain in his skull, he fell to his knees and began kowtowing to Zhou Yuting.

"Yuting, I was wrong! I was so wrong! Please, tell your brother to stop! I’ll give you everything I have as an apology!"

"Yuting, I still love you! If you hate these shady dealings of mine, I’ll destroy them all for you!"

"Yuting, please, I beg you, stop him!"

Watching Chen Wenxu, whose speech had become slurred and incoherent, drooling uncontrollably and reeking of urine and excrement, Zhou Yuting felt a wave of intense disgust. She no longer had a shred of affection for him; only pure, cold hatred remained. The memory of him flaunting other women just moments ago made his current pleas sickening. She had a moral intolerance for such betrayal. She couldn't look at him as a human being anymore—he was a piece of trash who deserved his fate.

Not wanting to stay a second longer, she ran toward the exit. The thugs blocking the door, terrified, didn't dare stop her; they scrambled to get as far away as possible. They didn't even wait for her to open the door—they flung it wide and fled, only to be met immediately by plainclothes police officers who swarmed them with handcuffs.

"She’s innocent! Don't touch her!" Lei Kuan, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Division, shouted to his officers, terrified of doing anything that might offend Zhou Chen.

The police technical team had already hacked into the bar's surveillance, seen everything, and passed the intelligence to him. Before the mission, Lei Kuan had spoken with Zhou Chen and knew that Zhou Yuting was uninvolved. In fact, she was the key to drawing out the mastermind behind the mental illness cases, and she would soon be commended for her role.