Chapter 121: There Are Actors, Too

Thick, oppressive black clouds weighed down upon the earth, bearing a cold, deathly silence saturated with the scent of blood that assaulted the senses. In the native village, strewn with corpses, a youth with fair, well-defined skin stood tall and imposing. At his feet lay three beautiful young women, bloodied and physically incapacitated.

The scene seemed frozen, a tableau of tragic beauty. Brenda, Catherine, and Jessica were not weak; in a Level 2 parallel world, they would have been considered mid-level bosses. But Yan Luo wielded the Ten-Directional Staff technique with a heavy weapon, multiplying his destructive power tenfold. His Olympic Sacred Fire acted as a perfect restraint against evil spirits. As for his "Word Bullets"—the fusion of eight bullets, the "Eight-Fold Sakura"—they were no longer mere projectiles; they were artillery shells.

An ordinary Level 2 modulator typically possesses only one basic genetic trait, such as intermediate strength or intermediate physique, alongside a low-level energy system like internal power, mana, or qi. Yan Luo, however, possessed an "Intermediate Lifeform" trait, which was equivalent to the fusion of three intermediate genetic traits. His methods—Word Bullets, the Olympic Sacred Fire, and a staff technique honed through "cheating"—were far beyond the reach of any standard Level 2.

Jessica lay on the ground, blood streaming from her mouth, nostrils, eyes, and every other orifice. This was the spiritual backlash from her barrier being shattered—a barrier she had frantically fueled to block his "Sin-Piercing Armor-Piercing Bullet." The mental trauma had manifested physically.

The three women had exhausted themselves in a fierce battle, leaving Yan Luo to emerge at the end to "clean up the field." Now, completely stripped of their fighting capacity, they looked at Yan Luo with eyes full of shock and terror.

Unfortunately, inside the Heartless Doll, the "Fear" setting was at its maximum of 50 points, but "Despair" was at 47. They still held a glimmer of hope.

"Jerry... please, spare me. I'm your fiancée, Jerry..." Catherine pleaded through tears, desperately trying to gather her evil spirit energy to regenerate her missing chest.

"Don't you know the saying: 'Slaying one's wife to attain the Dao'?"

Catherine: "..."

You have sensed a strong emotion: Despair +1.

"Brother, I'm your sister, your beloved sister! Have you forgotten our shared past and happy times? I truly love you, with all my heart! Spare me, I’ll never do it again, boo-hoo, wuu-wuu..." Blood and tears mingled on Jessica's face.

"Stop crying, you're making a mess of your face." Yan Luo knelt and gently wiped the blood and tears from his sister's face.

"Brother, you forgive me?" A surge of joy rose in Jessica's heart.

"Don't you know the saying: 'Slaying one's sister to attain the Dao'?"

Jessica: "..."

You have sensed a strong emotion: Despair +1.

"Despicable Jerry, just kill me! Even if I become a ghost, I will curse you! I will curse you forever!" the red-haired Brenda shrieked in a frenzy.

Still no despair? One point short...

Yan Luo fell silent for a few seconds before suddenly saying to Brenda, "I won't kill you."

"Really?"

Knowing that Jerry was even killing his own fiancée and sister, Brenda had assumed her end was certain. She had been screaming in rage and fear, but hearing that she might be spared—even as a revenant, she had no desire for annihilation—hope flickered in her heart. Besides... did Jerry still love her? Her nose stung; she wanted to cry.

"Of course—it's a lie."

"I was just fooling you."

"Just wanted to let you have a bit of happiness before you die. So, tell me, did you enjoy that moment?"

Brenda: "..."

You have sensed a strong emotion: Despair +1.

50 points of Fear, 50 points of Despair—finally full.

Yan Luo could now synthesize a Level 2 Persona using 200 points of emotion. If the fusion failed, the fragments could serve as material for a Level 2 Heroic Soul Persona. However, the Heartless Doll already held the "Wine-Sword Immortal Li Bai," occupying 100 points of capacity.

"Synthesize with five parts Fear and five parts Despair!"

In Yan Luo’s consciousness, the grey light of fear and the black light of despair converged. The phantom of a mask grew increasingly distinct until a bizarre black-and-grey mask emerged.

Persona: Servant · Dark Progeny.

This was the fourth successful Persona fusion for Yan Luo, following the Demon Beast Nightmare, the Ghost Soldier Ox-Head, and the Divine Beast Bull of Heaven.

"Dark Progeny?"

Yan Luo could understand the previous personas, which corresponded to anthropomorphic creatures, but this one was strange. The program’s description in his mind stated it was a dark fledgling, born from a dark matrix, destined to sow fear and despair.

Skills: Stealth, Tentacle Touch, Trample.

"Doesn't look very impressive..."

"When I synthesize a Level 2 mask later, it should be much stronger than these Level 1s. The capacity of the Heartless Doll is still too small. I wonder when my Destiny Talent will reach LV3 to increase the limit..." Yan Luo pondered.

A sudden, violent gust of wind cut his thoughts short.

Gale-force winds, grey-black and bone-chilling, carried the faint, haunting sounds of wailing, screaming, and weeping. The village, already a silent graveyard, now felt like a portal to the netherworld. Grey fog swirled, and the thick clouds above began to rotate into a massive vortex.

"What's happening?" The three women were gripped by fresh terror.

Yan Luo remained expressionless.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

Blood began to erupt from the ground in the village square. The burning campfires were extinguished one by one as the blood sprayed onto the towering wooden totem. Suddenly, the blood-stained skull embedded in the totem flew off.

"Click, clack..."

The skull's jaw snapped repeatedly, as if emitting a silent, mocking laugh. Above every corpse in the village, ethereal shadows began to manifest. They were the souls of the Voodoo tribe’s dead.

Normally, the souls of the recently deceased would not dissipate so quickly. Now, drawn by a mysterious force, these invisible spirits took form—becoming ghosts—and were pulled toward the floating skull.

Countless ghostly shadows coalesced around the skull, forming a strange, transparent humanoid figure about five meters tall. It reminded Yan Luo of a game he had once played, *Metal Slug*, where one of the bosses, the Death Dragon, featured a skull encased within a phantom spirit body.

"A hidden boss?"

Yan Luo had thought he was the one who had waited until the very end, but clearly, someone else had been lurking deeper and was far more formidable. They were stealing his spotlight.