"Fuck! The 180 shot!"
When the lens moved up to his mom's head, Ethan almost dropped it and died on the spot.
Because his mom's head had actually rotated a full 180 degrees, just like an owl's, twisting her face directly around to her back. She was staring eerily at the lens in Ethan's hand.
And the moment she realized Ethan was looking at her, she actually tugged up the left corner of her mouth slightly and smiled.
"Fuck!"
Without another word, Ethan dropped the lens and crouched as he ran several steps to the edge of the rooftop.
At the same time, his mom threw down the mop and charged toward Ethan with a "Thump! Thump! Thump!" Fortunately, the monster's head and body were facing opposite directions at this point, so when she tried to run forward, her body instead dragged her head around back, making her move back.
The monster's uncoordinated movements gave Ethan an opportunity.
Taking advantage of the brief moment when the monster was stuck, Ethan had already reached the edge of the rooftop and was preparing to climb down along the route he had used to get up earlier.
But just as Ethan was about to climb over, he turned his head and glanced back.
"Holy shit!"
In just a few seconds, the monster had already gotten her movements coordinated.
But instead of twisting her head back around and moving forward, she simply threw herself facedown onto the ground, with her back toward the ground and her chest toward the sky, forming a bridge-like pose. Then, using all four limbs like spider legs, she rapidly moved toward Ethan.
And she was incredibly fast.
Crack! Crack!
All the bones in his mom's body were cracking, seemingly because the strain was too much, or perhaps because she had twisted her body too violently, even so, the monster's speed didn't slow down at all.
In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of Ethan.
"Heh!"
The creepy mom suddenly pounced at Ethan, apparently wanting to knock him straight off the building.
'Holy shit! Holy shit!'
Ethan was badly startled.
Whether it was his body reacting on its own or he had been frightened into overreacting, his body once again burst out with a powerful and strange ability.
Ethan planted one hand on the edge of the rooftop railing and flipped sideways, actually getting himself out of the creepy mom's attack range.
At that moment, the creepy mom also brushed past Ethan.
Except she was jumping toward the direction of the building's edge, while Ethan was flipping back onto the rooftop.
In that instant, Ethan seemed to see that strange smile on his mom's face again.
Bang!
The next moment, as soon as Ethan steadied himself, he heard a loud crash from below.
It sounded like something very heavy had fallen to the ground below, causing a vibration, or rather, an impact.
Whew!
Ethan let out a huge sigh of relief and looked down from the rooftop.
Down below, in the alley, a woman lay with her chest facing the sky and her face toward the ground. Her four limbs had been twisted out of shape by the fall, and beside her head, a pool of blood was slowly spreading out.
"Is she finally dead?"
Ethan was drenched in cold sweat.
He had almost thought he was going to die, but his miraculous body always managed to save his life at the critical moment.
It was too incredible.
Ethan looked at his hand, thinking about trying that move again.
But when he tried to perform the sideways flip again, he fell straight onto the ground without the slightest surprise, as if he had never learned that skill in the first place.
'But just now…'
'How exactly did I manage to perform that move?:
[34:58:19]
As Ethan moved, the countdown on his arm was revealed once again.
"There isn't much time left."
Who knew how many clues there were in total.
'Forget it. I better go downstairs and get the golden key from mom first.'
Ethan remembered that his mom had the golden key for Clue 2. He had to get her key first before he could open the water tank. If nothing went wrong, he should be able to get Clue 3, or perhaps Clue 4.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Ethan didn't dare waste any time and quickly rushed downstairs.
However, the moment he ran into the small alley downstairs, he strangely discovered… the body was gone.
"It was clearly right here. How could it be?"
Ethan was completely stunned.
He looked around the entire alley. The scenery around the alley hadn't changed at all. There was a blue garbage bag, along with a white non-eco-friendly plastic takeaway container.
There was also a wicker basket piled high with all sort of items.
Originally, the monster's body should have fallen right in the middle of this pile of trash.
But now the monster's body was gone. Not only that, even the bloodstains and the marks left by the impact had disappeared, as if none of it had ever happened.
The monster had never fallen from the building, and Ethan had never killed a monster.
'Could it be…'
'That thing is impossible to kill?'
"Brother?"
Just then, the voice of Ethan's younger sister, Riyana, sounded beside his ear.
Ethan turned his head and saw his younger sister walking toward him, carrying a schoolbag and bouncing along. She said, "Brother, what are you standing here spacing out for? Hurry home for dinner. If we're late again, you'll get yelled at!"