A figure walked out from the corner.
It was a young girl wrapped only in a single layer of bath towel.
Her skin was fair, and her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, shimmering with a jewel-like luster under the lights. Beneath her straight bangs was a face so exquisite it felt excessive, and a small tear mole beneath the corner of her eye added a touch of uncanny beauty.
She halted her steps, sweeping a glance over the bizarre scene in the corridor—more than twenty ugly women in disarray, their faces pale, yet eerily wearing the exact same expression.
On the other side, a handsome young man leaned against the wall, propped up by a crutch. His skin was pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in a long time, and his entire being exuded a fragile, sickly sensation. Yet, his gaze was exceptionally sharp, dangerous as the tip of a knife.
"What are you doing here? Having a party?" the girl, having appeared so suddenly, asked with curiosity.
Everyone's gaze focused on the girl.
This girl's appearance was simply too bizarre.
The first oddity was that she was beautiful—beautiful beyond compare.
The second oddity was her attire; this was a hospital, so why was she draped only in a bath towel?
"You are... I know you... You are, Mizutani Reiko..." Mitsuo Yukiko scrutinized the girl for a moment, revealing an expression of bewildered uncertainty.
"That's not right. My name is Kawakami Tomie."
The girl interrupted her, walking closer step by step with bare feet, the hem of her bath towel swaying gently with her movements.
"Kawakami Tomie...?!"
Amamiya Rin's pupils constricted. His body instinctively retreated a step, only to bump directly against the wall.
Even though more than twenty years had passed, he still had a profound impression of that name.
The most famous character from the Junji Ito manga series—the undying witch, Kawakami Tomie.
She possessed unmatched beauty and a bizarre charm. This charm would trigger an intense possessiveness in men; any man who saw Tomie would inevitably fall in love with her. Furthermore, this love would turn into madness, causing them to lose their reason and eventually kill and dismember her.
However, Tomie herself possessed regenerative abilities like a planarian. Even a single drop of blood could grow into a new Tomie. Even if she were sealed in concrete, she could decompose her body into cells to escape and reform.
Moreover, Tomie possessed powerful assimilation abilities. If her blood was injected into a baby girl, that girl would grow up to become a new Tomie.
If a man ate a piece of Tomie's flesh, that flesh would control the man's body and absorb his nutrients. It could even manipulate that man to bite another, injecting cells through his teeth to turn another person's life into her own nourishment.
Under the pen of Junji Ito, Tomie's abilities were constantly upgrading, making her one of the most unsolvable anomalies.
Amamiya Rin immediately averted his gaze, looking straight at the corridor wall without deviating, as if the scroll of 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' were displayed upon it, strictly avoiding direct eye contact with Kawakami Tomie.
Kawakami Tomie looked at Amamiya Rin with great interest. Seeing that Rin wouldn't look at her, she raised an eyebrow, and the corner of her mouth hooked into a smile.
"Mizutani Reiko, Kawakami Tomie... Was that the fake name you used back then? What are you doing here?"
Mitsuo Yukiko glared indignantly at Kawakami Tomie, her words filled with disgust and rejection.
Twenty-five gazes landed on Kawakami Tomie's face simultaneously. Their pitch-black pupils gradually vanished, and the whites of their eyes covered their irises, forming a silent, oppressive force.
"Hehehe, you're still so fierce. I came specifically to see you," Tomie said airily, turning her head back with a look of deliberate teasing.
"I have nothing to say to you! If this is about Kitayama, I've already broken up with him."
Mitsuo Yukiko's emotions were extremely agitated. The others within the [Khala Network] instantly understood the grudge between Mitsuo Yukiko and Kawakami Tomie.
Mitsuo Yukiko's ex-boyfriend had cheated on her, and the affair partner was Kawakami Tomie. Tomie had even used a fake name to come to her door and provoke her.
Amamiya Rin's brain couldn't empathize with Mitsuo Yukiko's emotions, but the other twenty-four women, after feeling Mitsuo Yukiko's rage, immediately burned with anger. The looks they cast at Tomie revealed naked malice and resentment.
"Yes, it's about Kitayama. It was you, right? He wanted to kill me; you were the one who instructed him to do it, right?"
Tomie seemed unable to feel the women's anger, or perhaps she simply didn't care. She tilted her head, crossed her arms over her chest, and her smile turned cold, containing a rich malice.
"I originally thought you were just an unwanted ugly freak, a pathetic wretch. But looking at you now, you've turned into a tacky instigator of murder. You're truly ugly, from your face to your soul."
Tomie's voice was acerbic and mean; every word felt like it had been dipped in poison. Listening to her mockery, the faces of Mitsuo Yukiko and the others became increasingly grim.
Before her voice had even faded, Mitsuo Yukiko and the others could endure it no longer.
Twenty-five mouths opened simultaneously. Countless transparent nerve tentacles sprayed out from their oral cavities, their tips flashing with a needle-like cold light. Like a dense rain of arrows, they stabbed thickly toward Tomie!
The mockery on Tomie's face instantly turned into astonishment. She seemed to want to retreat, but she was simply too late.
Splurt—!
The sound of dense piercing rang out.
Those sharp nerve bundles accurately stabbed into Tomie's exposed skin.
Arms, neck, cheeks, and even her chest and lower abdomen wrapped in the bath towel—over a thousand nerve bundles penetrated Tomie's skin, piercing into her flesh and ravaging her human nerves.
Within just a few seconds, the light in Tomie's eyes completely dissipated. Her body, which had been so vibrant just moments ago, went limp and collapsed to the ground. The bath towel unraveled, revealing pale skin covered in tiny red dots underneath.
The corridor fell into a dead silence.
Those nerve threads slowly withdrew from Tomie's corpse, retracting into the mouths of the twenty-five people. The ghastly white in their eyes gradually faded, returning to normal pupils.
Mitsuo Yukiko looked down from above at Tomie's corpse. She lifted her right foot and stomped forcefully on Tomie's head several times, leaving gray footprints on that beautiful face.
"Hahahahaha! Bitch! Didn't you think you were beautiful? Didn't you think all men would revolve around you? So what if you're pretty? Didn't you still die here like a dead dog?"
Looking at this naked corpse that she could trample at will, the corners of Mitsuo Yukiko's mouth turned up frantically, revealing a smile of pure gratification.
Having vented all the anger and hatred in her heart, stepping on a corpse that could not react, Mitsuo Yukiko suddenly found it dull. She retracted her foot and turned to walk toward her own [Hospital Ward]. The other twenty-four people also turned and returned to their rooms.
The corridor became empty, leaving only Amamiya Rin supporting himself against the wall. Witnessing the scene that had just occurred, a chill shot up his spine.
(So strong...)
The ability of the [Khala] was stronger than Amamiya Rin had imagined. He only knew that the [Khala]'s assimilation ability was comparable to Tomie's, but he had long forgotten the [Khala]'s attack power.
If he hadn't also been within the [Khala Network], given his physical condition, trying to stop them from killing someone would have been incredibly difficult.
____
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