Chapter 63: A Declaration of War to Xi'an

When Zhou Mo rushed into the art gallery, all the dormant moths instantly woke up. The moths Zhou Mo had seen earlier inside the gallery were merely the tip of the iceberg; almost every painting here now had a moth the size of a human head clinging to it.

These moths had manifested into reality, sinking their proboscises deep into the paintings to devour something hidden within!

As Zhou Mo entered, he seemed to shatter the silence of the place. Startled, the moths began frantically beating their wings, swarming toward Zhou Mo in a pitch-black, overwhelming wave!

Seeing so many oversized moths, Zhou Mo could not help but break out in goosebumps.

This is going to be a problem...

The combat techniques he had learned from his subconscious sea were all meant for dealing with humans, and absolutely nothing had prepared him for how to handle giant moths!

Seeing a moth already flying right at him, Zhou Mo swung his crowbar like a baseball bat and batted it away directly. But out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a second moth approaching his side, its sharp proboscis aiming straight for his shoulder.

Bang!

Right at that moment, a gunshot rang out from behind Zhou Mo, and a bullet precisely struck the moth that was about to attack him.

However, Zhou Mo noticed that after taking the bullet, the moth merely paused for a split second before immediately recovering its mobility.

The bullet had pierced right through the moth's body and embedded itself deep into the wall.

"So this is what Chen Xiu meant when she said firearms aren't very effective..."

After all, these moths were merely subconscious monsters—manifested malice born from human thoughts. This tiny bit of piercing damage did miserably little against creatures that didn't even possess internal organs; it was barely half as effective as the swing Zhou Mo had just delivered with his crowbar.

Yet, that single gunshot helped Zhou Mo calm down almost instantly, finally giving his "dog brain" a chance to shine.

Just a moment ago, his dog brain had been practically freaking out: Subconscious monsters aren't fought like this, let me handle it!

Sensing the dog brain's intent, Zhou Mo could also feel it demanding control over his body.

Seeing three more giant moths lunging toward him, Zhou Mo dropped and rolled to put some distance between them, wasting no time in granting the dog brain the necessary permissions.

However, Zhou Mo discovered that the dog brain didn't fully take over body control; rather, it seemed to simply heighten his physical reflexes and maneuverability.

Watching another moth pounce on him, this time Zhou Mo didn't dodge or evade. He raised the crowbar and thrust the sharp backend forward with vicious force!

The moth was instantly pierced through. Gripping the crowbar, Zhou Mo swung it hard backward, hurling the impaled moth directly toward another one that was preparing to ambush him from behind.

Without missing a beat, he raised his leg and kicked the final moth out of the air. The moment that moth hit the floor, the crowbar in his hand came down right after it.

His movements flowed as smoothly as moving clouds and flowing water. Zhang Huai'an, who had prepared to step in with his gun to help Zhou Mo out of a tight spot, stood there utterly dumbfounded. At first, he had thought Zhou Mo's movements were stiff, resembling an ordinary person who had just laid eyes on a subconscious monster for the first time. But in a flash, it was as if Zhou Mo had adjusted his mindset, his movements becoming increasingly concise and efficient.

Though his motions occasionally stuttered as if his brain couldn't quite keep up with his physical reactions, this was already beyond astonishing!

Having dealt with all three moths, Zhou Mo strode forward toward the elevators like a god of war, the moths practically defenseless in the face of his crowbar.

Especially as Zhang Huai'an noticed that Zhou Mo was moving faster and faster, having adapted to the moths' attack rhythm within this extremely brief timeframe. The wings on the backs of those moths had become their fatal flaw.

A single horizontal sweep shattered their wings, followed by a swift kick that tore the wingless moths to pieces.

Zhang Huai'an immediately learned by example and followed suit. He simply used his handgun to target the wings of a cluster of moths, precise ballistics shattering the wings of seven or eight of them at once. As the moths crashed to the ground, he hurried over and stomped down heavily, crushing them to powder.

However, Zhang Huai'an was injured after all. After repeating this motion a few times, the pain had him grimacing and baring his teeth. Fortunately, he managed to keep pace with Zhou Mo's speed and squeezed into the elevator just before the doors closed.

Zhang Huai'an noticed that Zhou Mo was panting while staring at his own hands in disbelief: "My brain can actually be this powerful?"

Without overthinking it while enduring the pain, Zhang Huai'an muttered in complaint, "It's not that your brain is powerful, it's that your talent is absurd."

"Don't get too happy just yet, though. Killing these moths is completely useless; these things are likely just avatars or clones of some sort. We'll probably have to take out the main body."

Zhou Mo touched the back of his head, suppressing the excitement of his dog brain, and chuckled, "That's simple..."

Within a few moments, the elevator reached the top floor. The instant the doors slid open, Zhang Huai'an saw that the hallway was covered everywhere in silken threads and cocoons, with a thick layer of phosphorescent powder piled up on the floor.

"Holy crap! How did it turn into this?"

Zhang Huai'an cried out in shock, but the next second, he caught sight of a human-shaped moth standing over two meters tall, gripping the gallery director's thigh as if preparing to fly away!

"Help! Save me!"

The gallery director, Yu Chun, had his face stained with blood as he clawed desperately at the doorframe, screaming in desperate joy upon seeing the two men.

The massive wings of this humanoid moth bore a pair of eyes—eyes that were uncanny and evil. Merely glancing at them caused even Zhang Huai'an, who had already raised his gun, to lapse into a momentary trance. He felt as though he had plunged into boundless terror, his legs and hands trembling uncontrollably.

"Don't just stand there, shoot!"

Zhou Mo shouted at the top of his lungs, breaking into a sprint toward the humanoid moth.

Startled out of his hallucination, Zhang Huai'an looked at Zhou Mo's charging back and fought through the nameless dread in his heart to pull the trigger.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Five bullets grazed past Zhou Mo's side, striking precisely onto the right wing of the humanoid moth.

The humanoid moth let out a miserable screech as its wing was completely shattered by the gunfire, its body losing control and plummeting from the air.

Yet, by this time, Zhou Mo had already arrived right in front of the humanoid moth. Swinging the crowbar in a wide arc from bottom to top, he delivered a brutal strike right between the humanoid moth's legs!

The curved side of the crowbar sank deeply into the humanoid moth's body. The moth tried to extend its spiked claws to stab at Zhou Mo's chest, but Zhou Mo had already released the crowbar, rolling over to land behind the moth and delivering a fierce side-backward kick straight to its vulnerable rear.

The moth clamped its legs shut and opened its mouth as if trying to scream, but Zhou Mo stabilized his stance and hooked the fallen crowbar back up with the toe of his shoe.

aided by the dog brain, Zhou Mo didn't even need to worry about physical balance; his mind was entirely filled with flashy maneuvers.

Simply put, Zhou Mo was responsible for thinking up the next move, while the dog brain was responsible for executing it. The man and the brain cooperated with extreme fluidity.

The moth-man was already collapsed on the ground in agony, its legs tightly clamped together. Zhou Mo gracefully turned around, grabbed the airborne crowbar, strolled leisurely to the side of the moth-man, and forcefully drove the crowbar down!

On the other side, Zhang Huai'an had just finished reloading his magazine. Watching Zhou Mo effortlessly dust off his hands, he felt as though his cerebellum was about to atrophy. How come Zhou Mo handled humanoid subconscious monsters so much more smoothly than any other type?

"This..."

"Is it already solved?"

Zhou Mo looked at the moth-man, which was beginning to crumble and shatter into pieces, and shrugged. "Of course not. Didn't you notice that hallway back there hasn't changed at all?"

Zhang Huai'an glanced back at the spine-chilling hallway, only to discover that the locked room at the far end had somehow been opened. It was blanketed in insect silk and cocoons, and the accumulation of phosphorescent powder was thickest right there.

Yu Chun was still shivering on the ground, his sanity seemingly on the verge of total collapse. Zhou Mo tapped his slightly strained shoulder with the crowbar and asked, "Director Yu, care to explain what on earth just happened?"

Yu Chun's rationality had been completely pulverized. Trembling with terror, he cried out to Zhou Mo, throwing caution to the wind.

"I only awakened the subconscious monster because they told me to! I just wanted to destroy that room!"

"But... but they..."

Zhou Mo patted Yu Chun's shoulder soothingly. "Don't get the wrong idea, they just wanted to silence you. You're just lucky you ran into us."

Yu Chun: "..."

Zhang Huai'an's lips moved as he looked at Zhou Mo with a blank expression. "What do we do now?"

Zhou Mo smiled meaningfully. "Naturally, we notify the City Guard. Professional matters should be left to the professionals. Besides, I imagine Director Chen must care deeply about this case."

"You help notify Director Chen, and I'll call your captain."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that the case has already been solved."

Is this a phone call?

No.

This was a declaration of war.