Ruan Xing originally thought that Teacher Tuo would at least try to fight him. He even already planned the sequence of spells: trap first, then shoot an arrow.

But to his surprise, Teacher Tuo didn't insist.

He looked a bit helpless. "Alright. If all of you are unwilling, then I'll just consider this as my good deed for the day. It's fine. Boys have short hair anyway. I'm not losing much."

Fu Gui rolled up a wing: [This pollutant actually knows how to read the room. Should we just smash the shop anyway?]

It sounded more like a petty thug than a selfless spirit ready to help the deceased move on.

Ruan Xing glanced at it. "No need. Let's leave for now."

Ruan Xing said he wanted to wash his hands. He took a look around the hair-washing area and then left the salon with Ming Rui through the front door.

Along the way, the boy remained unusually quiet.

Ruan Xing brought him to the neighborhood entrance. In front of them, where the street should have been, was nothing but a void: the boundary of the polluted zone.

Ruan Xing got straight to the point: "That person with 'familiar scent' that Teacher Tuo mentioned… do you know them?"

The boy suddenly looked up. "I…"

Ruan Xing knew these two siblings had mysterious backgrounds. They weren't from the base. But he owed them a favor, so even seeing this reaction, he didn't act immediately.

Ming Rui's face showed pain. He was clearly struggling with something inside.

Ruan Xing glanced at the confused Luo Yiyi but didn't press further. Instead, he asked, "Want to visit Teacher Tuo again tonight?"

Ming Rui's eyes turned red. "Yes!"

Luo Yiyi: Huh? Aren't we supposed to be looking for the pollution source? Are we seriously going for another haircut?

—

Inside polluted zones, there was no real concept of day or night. Even time flowed differently than in the real world. What looked like nighttime to them might have only been a few minutes in the outside world.

Still, the residents of the neighborhood seemed to follow their own strange biological clock. Many had already gone home early while Teacher Tuo was still cutting hair.

After all, there was only one of him, and none of the residents seemed to mind the delay.

During the day, the salon looked a little dim. But at night, while many stores kept their neon lights spinning 24/7, Teacher Tuo switched off his lights. The whole place looked quiet and power-saving.

Ruan Xing boldly approached the salon. Behind him, Ming Rui and Luo Yiyi followed like guilty thieves.

Ruan Xing glanced back at them. "What are you scared of?"

Ming Rui was not exactly scared. He just felt awkward. He would never knock on someone's door in the middle of the night like this.

But Ruan Xing had no such issues. He had grown up with hardship. Things like this didn't bother him at all.

With magic, lockpicking became extremely simple. Fu Gui's eyes lit up, begging to learn.

Ruan Xing: [If you ever get the chance to become human again, we'll talk. I don't know any bird magic.]

Fu Gui was deeply disappointed.

Click! The U-lock at the door popped open, revealing the pitch-black interior of the salon.

Snap! Ruan Xing turned on the lights.

Ming Rui and Luo Yiyi shrank into themselves even more.

Fu Gui: "What are you scared of?! You're with the boss now, drink and feast with confidence!"

Ming Rui couldn't understand the bird. He just felt like these two were insanely brave, practically glowing like high-powered searchlights in a pitch-black sky.

Ruan Xing stepped inside the salon. The floor was spotless. Everything was gone. Even the thick layer of hair had been cleaned up by Teacher Tuo.

His steps now landed on a solid, clean surface.

Ruan Xing headed to the back where the hair-washing area was. There was a reclining chair with a round ceramic basin above it. Behind the chair was a small door. He noticed it earlier when he went to wash his hands. Unlike them, other "customers" probably left through this door into the neighborhood, or elsewhere.

He tried to open the door. Nothing happened. He kicked it a few times. Still no reaction. There was no keyhole, so he couldn't use his lockpicking spell.

It was like the place was rejecting him.

Ruan Xing drew his gun and shot the door.

The door rippled, and a trace of the bullet's path extended backward as if it had absorbed all the kinetic energy. Then the bullet popped out and clinked to the ground.

It was eerily similar to the monster Ming Rui had encountered before, the one that could swallow bullets. He quickly explained the situation. Flames flickered from Ruan Xing's fingertips. His expression wasn't exactly friendly.

Ming Rui swallowed hard. Just what kind of person had he run into?

The door quickly opened. What lay beyond was a long, dim tunnel, the kind that you'll only see in secret rooms on TV.

Ming Rui pulled out a flashlight and handed it to the long-haired youth, who accepted it after a glance.

Click. The flashlight lit up the path ahead. Not far in was a turn. The walls were made of cement, and the gaps were filled with grime.

With his teammate still on his back, Ming Rui followed behind. The weight was heavy and growing harder to carry.

He had no idea where the tunnel led. The ceiling was tall, and water dripped from above, echoing as it fell.

A drop landed on his nose. He wiped it. It was black, definitely not clean water.

Maybe it was from carrying someone for too long, but the weight on his back kept increasing. It felt like he was carrying not just one person, but two or even three. His legs grew heavy, like they were filled with lead.

Drip. More liquid slid down into his collar. It was cold and itchy, but he didn't move. If he did, he wouldn't be able to support the weight on his back.

The liquid kept dripping into his collar. The itch spread. It felt cold, slimy, like something was about to grow out of him.

Still, Ming Rui said nothing. He endured silently.

Then that cold, slick sensation crept up his cheek. It felt like something was touching his face, probing, coated in sticky fluid.

Goosebumps spread across his scalp. Then—ugh! Something pierced his skin and tried to crawl in from underneath.

"Duck!"

The youth suddenly turned around. A flash of bright, hot flame lit up the space, followed by the smell of burning hair.

Ming Rui suddenly realized that his neck and legs were all covered in countless strands of hair. The hair had crept in through the cracks in the cement. While the youth walked up front, the hair didn't dare to get close. But since he was behind, they had coiled around him.

Even the person on his back was already wrapped in hair, like a moving clump of black wigs. No wonder he felt heavier and heavier.

The youth's fire came just in time. The hair recoiled like a wave, revealing the form of his teammate. Ming Rui noticed hair coming out of the boy's ears, nostrils, and mouth.

Just the thought of getting hair in your food made most people gag. But this... his whole mouth was stuffed with hair. Just imagining the sensation made Ming Rui nauseous.

Luo Yiyi turned green at the sight, nearly crouching down to vomit. Good thing she was dressed properly.

"Nothing major. You two walk in front next time," said Ruan Xing.

Ming Rui gave his teammate a pill, and the group continued forward. The shadows slithered in the cracks, but nothing else attacked.

All roads lead somewhere. Before long, they reached a door. Just a regular residential-style door, complete with a rusty metal gate.

Ruan Xing gave it a gentle tug. It opened.

Creak

The sound of the hinges echoed loudly in the darkness. The wooden door behind it was not locked either. It opened with a light push.

Ming Rui peeked out from behind him. The beam from the flashlight illuminated the space inside, and goosebumps immediately covered his skin.

Right in front of them was a human head.

A floating, long-haired woman's head. Her eyes were wide open, staring directly at them. The light from below cast shadows across her face, making it look grotesque and eerie.

It felt like she could float over at any second.

"This…" Luo Yiyi had just begun to speak when Ruan Xing flipped on the lights. Ming Rui exchanged glances with her and stepped inside.

What they saw were rows and rows of heads, male and female, all with long, jet-black, shiny hair. The hair extended upward and intertwined in mid-air like a web. At every joint in the web, there was a head.

These were all the people who had been lining up outside the salon earlier.

They didn't return to the neighborhood. They'd all ended up here.

And now, every head was looking at them, whether on the floor or floating. All eyes were locked on Ming Rui.

Chilling. That was the only word for it. All those eyeballs staring at you, like they were evaluating the next victim.

But the youth walked in casually. The crow on his shoulder looked just as intrigued.

"Brother Ruan, should we maybe… leave first?"

Ruan Xing gave him a funny look. "What did you call me?"

"Brother Ruan?" Ming Rui asked nervously. "Is that okay?"

It was fine, but Ruan Xing just felt that it was weird.

Fu Gui: [Soft bro? Why not Hard bro instead?] (TN: 阮 in 阮星 (Ruǎn Xīng) means soft.)

Ruan Xing raised an eyebrow: [No snacks for you tonight.]

Fu Gui panicked: [Daddy Ruan, forgive me! I was just talking nonsense!]

Ruan Xing finally discovered the best way to handle Fu Gui. Forget punishment, snack withdrawal was more effective.

Despite how terrifying the room looked, the pollution reading wasn't that high, except for one box in the corner, which had a noticeably elevated value.

Below the heads was a pile of tools: wood-handled drills, pliers, even a crowbar. There were also tweezers, scissors, and other fine instruments, and several bare mannequin heads without hair implants yet.

Ruan Xing studied the heads and said, "They're fake."

Ming Rui followed his gaze. Sure enough, some had dull, lifeless eyes. But they were still eerily realistic.

"This might be where they make the mannequin heads." Ruan Xing recalled the display at the salon. Many of these here were still half-finished. Some dome-shaped heads had blue pen marks on them, but no hair yet.

Suddenly, one of the mannequin heads in the corner moved.

A black-haired head turned its gaze toward Luo Yiyi, its lips curling into a smile.

Luo Yiyi jumped back and knocked over a nearby table.

Crash! The legs weren't secured properly, so it collapsed and revealed a small box underneath.

Luo Yiyi asked, "What's this?"

She bent down to open the box, but the head in front of her moved too. She screamed.

Ming Rui pointed his gun at the head, but nothing happened.

"It is not the head that's moving," Ruan Xing said, narrowing his eyes at the strands of hair writhing across the ceiling, layered like worms. These were probably the same ones that attacked them in the hallway.

Sure enough, Ming Rui looked carefully and discovered the truth. These hairs had been implanted into the mannequin heads, but it was more like they had found a nest. Human heads made great nesting grounds. So, they dug in, rooting themselves deep into the "skull."

As the hair writhed, the whole room seemed to come alive. Waves of black rose and churned into a sea of hair. The scent of shampoo thickened, sweet and intoxicating.

Flames sparked at Ruan Xing's fingertips. "Get behind me."

Luo Yiyi and Ming Rui rushed to his side. Just as the fire was about to drop—

"Wait!" someone shouted.

Ruan Xing looked up. Teacher Tuo stood at the door, his face serious. "Don't move!"

Ruan Xing smiled and let the flame fall anyway.

Boom

Like pouring fire into a vat of oil, the fire exploded, lighting up half of Ruan Xing's face in a dazzlingly dangerous brilliance.