Deviant: No Longer Human

Glancing down, Zhao Yang spotted Wang Xiao muttering to himself, deepening his frown. "What the hell are you saying!? Have you lost your mi—"

Crack!

"Huh—Ahhh!?"

Boooooom!

Before the words could escape his mouth, Zhao Yang felt his face crack, the muscles of his skin bursting apart.

Splurt!

Splurt!

Splurt!

"What... wh..." Zhao Yang, now unrecognizable with his facial skin gone, leaving only bones and his jaw moving with eyes still attached to the sockets, presented a horrifying sight.

Drip...

Drip...

The blood and remaining flesh clinging to the bone dripped to the ground, as wave of excruciating pain surged through Zhao Yang\'s body.

His vision blurred, his mind clouded with fear and confusion.

Wang Xiao couldn\'t help but stare in a mix of disgust and disappointment at Zhao Yang\'s badly mutilated face.

There had been a time when Wang Xiao had harbored a fierce desire to personally tear this man apart.

Yet— Now, seeing the wretched state of his once enemy, he found his thirst for vengeance draining away, replaced by a hollow sense of repulsiveness.

"Y...y..."

Whoosh!

Despite his disfigured face, Zhao Yang\'s movements were startlingly quick.

Clench!

With a sudden lunge, he extended his hand and seized Wang Xiao\'s neck in a grip that was both icy and iron-tight.

"!"

Wang Xiao\'s eyebrows shot up in surprise, his earlier resignation erupting into a renewed surge of adrenaline.

Anger rose up within him as he remembered how this very man had once plotted to throw him off a cliff when he was merely twelve years old.

"You sure are resilient..." Wang Xiao muttered under his breath, his voice laced with a mix of surprise and grudging respect.

How Zhao Yang was still clinging to life was beyond him!

"Y-Y...you...to..." Zhao Yang\'s attempt at speech was an eeire sight; his jaw moved jerkily, as if manipulated by unseen strings, and a disturbing attempt at laughter shook his battered frame.

Witnessing the dismal state of Zhao Yang, Wang Xiao shook his head in frustration.

Any hope of gaining useful information from this broken shell seemed futile.

Crunch!

"!"

Crunch!

"!!!"

Crunch!

The sound of tearing flesh filled the chilly air as Zhao Yang\'s limbs were violently ripped from his body, one after another, and hurled to the snow-covered ground.

Each limb landed with a thud, splattering the pristine white snow with dark, spreading stains of red.

Thud!

"Ag—!"

Finally, Zhao Yang\'s torso crashed to the earth, and incredibly, he was still breathing.

Wang Xiao watched in horrified fascination as the dismembered limbs, scattered like some ancient ritual, slowly began to form a circle around the gasping torso.

"What?"

Wang Xiao remained on edge, a mix of caution and stunned disbelief overtaking him.

It seemed impossible, yet Zhao Yang\'s life force refused to be extinguished.

The severed limbs, oozing blood, started inching their way back toward his body, as if drawn by some unseen magnetic force.

"!"

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

"!"

In an instant, the scene erupted into an otherworldly spectacle.

Boom!

Everything ignited into blue flames that leapt high into the night sky, casting an eerie, flickering light across the blood-stained snow.

Wang Xiao instinctively stepped back, his eyes wide as he processed the surreal scene before him.

The flames danced wildly, illuminating the reunion of Zhao Yang\'s limbs with his torso, a sight both ghastly and mesmerizing.

Screech...

In front of him, Zhao Yang\'s figure seemed to spontaneously combust, his body emitting a harrowing screech as his flesh sizzled ominously.

Within moments, he was enveloped by roaring blue flames that seemed to consume everything in their path.

The last thing Wang Xiao saw was the bones of Zhao Yang\'s jaw, clinging to charred remnants of flesh, moving as if trying to articulate a curse.

The movement was sinister, forming words in a language Wang Xiao couldn\'t decipher.

"What... did he say?" Wang Xiao muttered, a cold shiver tracing down his spine as he asked the silent night air.

This encounter was perplexing. Why hadn\'t this unusual hell spirit fought back?

What had really happened here?

Just then, a voice whispered in his mind, chillingly clear, [You will die.]

"Huh?" Wang Xiao jerked back, startled by the sudden intrusion into his thoughts. "...What?"

Yin Yue\'s voice came again, calmer this time, [It\'s nothing, those were just his parting words to you before he died.]

Wang Xiao let out a measured breath, trying to settle the unease that clung to him.

He sank back into his spot, his mind still wrestling to reconcile the strange scene witnessed by him.

"Why didn\'t it fight back?" he pondered aloud.

Yin Yue responded with a simple, [Don\'t know.]

Wang Xiao, "..."

Ka—boom!

The sky erupted once more, a fierce thunderclap slicing through the silence and causing Wang Xiao to furrow his brows in confusion as he gazed up at the chaotic weather patterns.

Just then, a voice broke the stillness behind him.

"He hasn\'t died yet."

The voice, clear and decisive, came from close by, instantly putting Wang Xiao on alert.

He took a moment to compose himself before turning around calmly, only to see Aurora standing just a few paces behind him.

Her attire, pristine white, almost merged with the misty background, rendering her nearly ethereal in appearance.

"..."

"Here..."

As Wang Xiao was still processing the situation, Aurora extended her arms, offering him an object carefully wrapped in cloth.

His heart tightened with recognition—he knew exactly what was hidden within the folds.

"Why do you guys keep handing me these, as if it\'s my fault or something? In this case, you literally asked for it..." he muttered somewhat bitterly, his voice low.

He accepted the bundle cautiously, unwrapping it to reveal a sleeping baby girl.

Gently, Wang Xiao touched the baby\'s face, his fingers tracing the soft cheeks with utmost care to avoid waking her.

The infant, oblivious to the complexities surrounding her, breathed softly, cocooned in the tranquility that Wang Xiao\'s touch seemed to offer amidst the storm brewing both in the sky and on the ground.