Their family knew the outside was full of terrifying monsters but showed no undue tension.
The sudden appearance of Wen Wen, whose identity was unknown, was met not with suspicion but with a warm welcome.
And now, they were setting Wen Wen aside, preparing a feast, and inviting him to dine with them.
"Not normal, absolutely not normal. But I detect no signs of corruption from these individuals… If they are indeed problematic, then my senses must have been disturbed upon entering this place."
Wen Wen did not act hastily, choosing instead to continue his observations.
Although this family might be plotting some wicked scheme, Wen Wen was also using the time to regain his strength.
Generally, Wen Wen rarely undertook tasks without certainty. He excelled at identifying an opponent's weaknesses before engaging in battle.
This often meant he suffered initial setbacks but could eliminate his opponent in the second encounter.
The same applied here; Wen Wen wanted to ascertain the family's true nature before revealing his hand.
After sitting on the sofa for a while, Wen Wen's eyes suddenly widened. A faint warmth emanated from the badge on his chest, signaling an approaching danger.
"But I don't sense anything!"
Wen Wen quickly stood up, alert to his surroundings, yet everything around him appeared normal, with no apparent anomalies.
Suddenly, through his peripheral vision, he noticed the genuine leather sofa behind him. Something seemed to move beneath the sofa's fine leather!
He approached, the Disaster Containment Facility gloves manifesting, and gently pressed the sofa.
However, based on the feel, there was nothing particularly unusual behind the sofa.
Wen Wen trusted his intuition; he was certain he had seen something. This meant his sensory perception was indeed being interfered with.
Moreover, the greatest problem in this villa might not be the family of four, but whatever was hiding in the sofa just now.
As he pondered this, the slender girl with a scattering of freckles approached, placing a fruit platter laden with various fruits before Wen Wen, offering a radiant smile.
"It's practically the end of the world outside, and you still have the mood to cut fruit for me?" Wen Wen asked, narrowing his eyes.
The girl looked at Wen Wen with confusion, "Isn't this proper etiquette for hosting a guest?"
Then, she left Wen Wen speechless, departing gracefully.
After the girl left, Wen Wen stared intently at her slender figure, first at her back, then gradually downwards…
Don't get the wrong idea; Wen Wen was primarily observing the girl's feet!
He noticed another detail: as the girl walked, her feet never left the ground. It was more like dragging than walking.
According to folklore, a possessed person would stand behind the host, placing their feet beneath the host's to control their movements, which is why those possessed typically walked on tiptoe.
Although there was no ghost behind the girl, her uncoordinated movement still made Wen Wen suspicious.
"Let me verify my hypothesis."
Wen Wen quickly darted behind the girl, silently drew his dagger, and flung it towards the ground. The wooden floor was instantly pierced.
In terms of sharpness, this dagger, forged with thousand-year-old craftsmanship, could rival the Steel Wings, making it sharp enough to pierce the floor with a mere flick.
At that precise moment, the heads of the family of four all turned unnaturally towards Wen Wen. Their skin took on a faint greenish hue, and they stared at him with lifeless eyes.
An ordinary person would have fainted from fear upon witnessing this scene.
Wen Wen crouched down and chuckled nervously, "Slippery hands, slippery hands."
He then directly pulled out the dagger. The moment he withdrew it, he saw something writhing beneath the floorboards!
In an instant, those things ceased their movement. When Wen Wen looked again, the area beneath the floorboards was no different from that of an ordinary house.
The expressions of the family of four also returned to normal, and they resumed their cooking, as if the previous scene had been a hallucination.
Though, in this environment, their cooking was still rather unsettling.
Standing up, Wen Wen pondered in silence.
"I've got a general understanding of the situation. This family of four is merely like puppets. The real danger lies in this villa, or rather, in what's inside the villa."
"Their feet constantly touching the ground is because the villa controls them through contact."
Since he had seen enough, Wen Wen decided not to wait for the family to finish preparing dinner. Time was of the essence; he didn't have much time to indulge this family's games.
He walked into the kitchen and stood beside a finished dessert, fiddling with the plate.
"You must be eager, dinner will be ready soon. I've put all my skills to use today," said the mother, Zhou Mu, gently.
"Actually, there's no need for such trouble. Let's get straight to the point. What is your objective?"
"To celebrate…" Father Zhou said to Wen Wen with the same expression.
Wen Wen sighed. It seemed the family intended to continue their charade. He picked up a pair of chopsticks and walked over to Father Zhou.
Then, he directly pierced Father Zhou's hand with the chopsticks!
"It is indeed worth celebrating. Because of my arrival, you can be freed from endless suffering and end your puppet-like existence. This is truly a good thing for you."
"Mr. Wu, what do you mean by this? We kindly invited you for a meal, and you…"
Father Zhou stood up, pointing at Wen Wen and yelling angrily, as if Wen Wen were the one disrupting things and they were the innocent party.
Wen Wen shook his head. If this family were actors, they'd be extras at best. The first thing Father Zhou did after having his hand pierced was to blame him, without feeling any pain…
"You know what I'm doing, so I won't elaborate. However, I've been curious about what exactly you intended to feed me."
Wen Wen picked up the dessert, placed it in his palm, and clenched his fist. Ssdn.com
Black chains subtly extended, draining the energy from the food before retracting.
When he opened his hand again, all that remained was a lump of rotten flesh. Aside from bloodstains, the only identifiable items were a severed finger and a piece of skin with black hair.
"As expected…"
Disgusted, Wen Wen flung the remains onto the girl's face, taking out a tissue to wipe his hands.
If Wen Wen had foolishly participated in the dinner and eaten the food, he might have been influenced by it and become like this family – a harmonious guest.
However, any superpowered individual with a normal intellect would not casually consume food from a corrupted area under such circumstances.
The warmth vanished from the faces of the family of four, and green viscous fluid began to ooze from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, hinting at something terrifying brewing within their bodies.
Under these circumstances, further pretense was no longer useful.
"That's right, it should be like this. Why should a few monsters pretend to be human?"
Wen Wen smiled. Before they could erupt, he leaped over the table, grabbed Zhou Nuo's shoulder, and tossed him into the air.
The moment his feet left the ground, a fleshy tendril of green protruded, attempting to continue controlling Zhou Nuo.
But Wen Wen severed it directly with a dagger!
As Zhou Nuo fell to the ground, his appearance rapidly transformed.
His body was stiff and contorted, his face etched with a terrified and despairing expression, and there were marks on his back indicating a connection to something.
This was likely how he looked at the moment of his death, and the previous Zhou Nuo had merely been an illusion created by some malevolent force.
"Tsk, dare to act like a bratty kid with me? You'll be the first one I deal with,"
Wen Wen said with a cold smile, arms crossed.