Chapter 142: Living Entities of the Spirit

Wu You wondered if the world was simply too small, for him to bump into such a spectacle just by heading out for a casual meal on a whim.

However, he was thoroughly delighted by the scene, treating it just like a live theatrical performance.

Wu You ate as he watched, relishing every moment with great amusement.

As for the prospect of exposing the existence of a demon, he was not worried in the least.

Facing an obvious madman, and a severe psychiatric case with intense tendencies toward self-harm, who would ever believe him?

Mental hospitals were filled with people suffering from all sorts of delusions; some could even articulate their fantasies with impeccable logic and detailed reasoning, to the point that in another setting, you wouldn't even be able to tell they were mentally ill.

He remembered a former colleague once mentioning something a taxi driver had told him during a trip to the capital a few years back. Whether it was true or false, it was utterly hilarious.

One day, a man in a trench coat got into a taxi and immediately demanded to be driven to Zhongnanhai.

The driver told him that outsiders weren't allowed in there.

With a solemn expression, the man pulled half of a red booklet from his pocket and assured the driver that it was fine, claiming he had a special pass.

Seeing how serious the passenger was, and mindful of the regulation against refusing fares, the driver took him there.

As they approached the outer perimeter near the first checkpoint, guards could be seen standing at post just beyond.

The driver wanted to stop, but the man urged him to drive straight through, insisting it was completely fine and reiterating that he had a pass and wouldn't joke about such a place.

The driver, having never encountered anything like this before, somehow ended up driving right past.

Naturally, as they neared the checkpoint, the vehicle was instantly intercepted, with several submachine guns aimed straight at their heads.

The driver was scared out of his wits, while the man was quickly identified as a psychiatric patient suffering from grandiose delusions.

Following that incident, the capital's taxi companies issued a special regulation: any fare requesting a trip to Zhongnanhai must be categorically refused.

Right now, outside the door of Private Room 302.

The man in the gray trench coat was bracing himself against the doorframe with both hands, trying to trap the eight students inside while shouting frantically.

"I've had my eyes on you since last week! Hurry, hurry, you'll help me, won't you? You'll help me, right?!"

The man's face grew increasingly flushed, his expression turning terrifyingly distorted.

"Shenyu, what do we do?"

"If he keeps shouting like this, are we going to end up dissected and studied by scientists?"

The students inside whispered anxiously among themselves.

"Don't panic, no one is going to believe him. When the police arrive, we'll just be innocent diners caught up in a madman's delusions. Understand?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The others had also thought of this, though their nerves were still frayed. Hearing their core leader say this brought them a significant sense of relief.

*Crack...*

Xiaoyou had been gripping the edge of the table so tightly out of tension that his right hand actually snapped a piece right off.

He looked down at the fragment in his hand with utter astonishment; a piece of hard wood at least four centimeters thick was definitely not fragile.

The others turned to look at him upon hearing the sound, and Xiaoyou hurriedly tossed the wooden chunk onto the floor.

Wu You chewed thoughtfully on a large piece of West Lake fish, figuring that he might have still somewhat underestimated their physical strength.

For every single point increase in physical fortitude, the explosive aggregate strength generated throughout the entire body probably scaled by about 1.5.

"Aahhhhh~~~!"

The trench coat-clad man at the doorway suddenly let out a shrill scream.

"Power! That is true power!"

This outburst terrified the onlookers in the hallway, causing them to back away even further.

Already, some diners were hastily paying their bills and leaving, though plenty of onlookers remained to watch the spectacle.

The man in the trench coat waved his hands, trying to get closer to the eight students inside, but to the slight surprise of the onlookers, this lunatic seemed somewhat afraid of the people inside the private room.

At the very least, it was superficially obvious that he desperately wanted to get inside.

"Make way, everyone make way, we're police officers, please don't crowd around..."

Xing Gang arrived at the scene with seven or eight patrol officers. This case was certainly a rare one—a psychiatric patient blocking a restaurant and throwing a tantrum—though it wasn't the first time he had encountered something similar.

The restaurant staff heard the police officers' voices like sweet music from heaven, especially the chubby Manager Zhao, who was wiping sweat from his brow for what felt like the hundredth time, especially since the madman had just pulled a weapon from his coat.

A sharp, gleaming Western-style kitchen knife.

Xing Gang, having just walked up, happened to witness this exact moment.

The restaurant staff immediately stepped forward to explain the situation: the lunatic had seemed normal enough when he first walked in, but lost his mind the moment he went upstairs.

Xing Gang couldn't help but curse inwardly, first motioning for the crowd to disperse.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that the trench coat man had his back turned, he gave a hand signal.

Three police officers stepped forward simultaneously.

Two grabbed his arms while the third wrapped his arms around the man's waist, subduing him and dragging him out into the third-floor lobby.

*Clatter...*

The knife slipped from his hand and clattered onto the floor.

"Let me go, let me go, I want to see the demon... Argh!"

The man in the trench coat sank his teeth viciously into Xing Gang's left arm.

"Damn it!"

"Help me pry his head back!"

Two more officers rushed forward to grab the trench coat man's head.

"This fucking lunatic is ridiculously strong, I can't pry him loose!"

"Put your back into it, push harder!"

The two officers pulled at the man's head from above and below, one of them locking his hands around the madman's jaws.

Xing Gang tensed his left arm to the absolute limit, but from the spot where the teeth had sunk in, bright red blood mixed with saliva began to stream down.

"Damn it, you son of a bitch! Knock him out!"

The trench coat man bit down relentlessly, emitting muffled, guttural growls of *mm... mm...*

Wu You casually laid down a chicken leg bone he had been gnawing on.

Across the entire third-floor lobby, he was now the only one eating his meal with complete, undisturbed nonchalance, yet everyone seemed to have instinctively overlooked his table.

*Invoke supernatural divine power. Select capacity medium: Primal Demon Sarrasor.*

He glanced briefly at the crowd over there, pulled a tissue from the table, and wiped his greasy hands.

Right beside the ear of the trench coat man, a demonic whisper suddenly echoed.

"You want power? I am standing right outside the window~"

The man in the trench coat, currently "battling" five police officers, gave a violent shudder and relaxed his jaws, which had been clamped down with the tenacity of a snapping turtle.

He suddenly seemed to calm down.

The police officers all breathed sighs of relief.

Two of them pinned the man by his arms, left and right.

Xing Gang shook his left hand, stepped away, rolled up his sleeve, and stared at the bleeding wound on his forearm.

"Damn it, he bit so deep, I hope I don't get rabies. I've got to go to the hospital again, dammit!"

He turned his head and barked an order: "Keep a close eye on him!"

But in a moment of distraction, the trench coat man suddenly erupted with immense, explosive strength.

He violently broke free from the two officers who had been guarding him closely, and bolted like a madman toward the lobby window.

At the top of his lungs, he screamed, "Don't leave, don't leave, I'm coming, I'm coming!!"

"What the hell! Stop him!!"

That was all Xing Gang had time to shout.

*Crash...*

The wooden windowsill splintered and shattered under the impact.

And the man in the trench coat plunged downward toward the street below.

*Spirit Deprivation!*

Wu You held out his right hand, palm flat, watching a hazy, translucent entity hovering above his skin—something ordinarily invisible to mortal eyes.

He was not Sarrasor; he had no desire to absorb this kind of "living" spiritual energy.

A chorus of startled gasps drifted up from the pedestrians on the street below.
Several officers hurried down the stairs as well.

This was only the third floor; unless someone had exceptionally atrocious luck, a fall from this height shouldn't be fatal.

When Xing Gang came downstairs, the officers stationed below were already checking on the trench coat man.

"Captain Xing!"

"How is he?"
"Looks like he just passed out. No visible bleeding for now, but we need to send him to the hospital to get checked."

They had originally just come to apprehend a psychiatric patient, so an ambulance hadn't been called yet.

Xing Gang nodded, exposed his wounded left arm, and instructed the colleagues beside him.

"Xiao Li and Xiao Lu, come with me to take him to the hospital. Everyone else stay behind and handle the site report."

Wu You looked curiously at the cluster of spiritual energy resting in his palm. It was gradually dissipating and growing "weaker." Should he simply disperse it into nothingness?

Suddenly, however, a thought struck him.

*Select capture.*

*System notification: Capture successful. Acquired unknown material, categorized as: Fragmented Living Spirit.*

Damn! This actually worked!