The Entry-plundering Demon Hunter

Xinghai City at night.

Filled with bloodshed and slaughter.

Criminals and beasts prowled every corner.

Like parasites hiding in the darkness.

Death, too, descended with the night, shrouding the decrepit, old city.

Even so.

Some people still rushed about, trying to make a living.

Lin Yi took a taxi home.

After paying the fare, Lin Yi got out of the car.

It was already past ten at night.

The streets were empty, without a single pedestrian in sight.

He felt as if pairs of eyes were watching from the darkness, coveting his body.

A faint scent of blood hung in the air.

It seemed this had long become a trademark of the Old District.

Lin Yi greeted the old guard at the gate and went straight into the apartment building.

The dim, motion-activated light flickered erratically.

The hallway was cluttered with all sorts of junk and scrap, and it reeked of a foul odor.

Just as Lin Yi reached the second floor.

A distinct SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK echoed out.

Several small rats scattered, fleeing for their lives, as if Lin Yi’s appearance had interrupted their nightly activities.

He made his way to his front door.

Just before coming upstairs, he had glanced up at the apartment.

He’d seen that the lights in his home were already out.

Lin Yi was long used to it.

No matter how late he returned, no one would be concerned.

And no one would ever bother to leave a light on or the door unlocked for him.

In this house, he had no presence whatsoever. No one paid him any mind...

CLICK...

Lin Yi unlocked the door, and light from the hallway spilled inside.

It brought a sliver of brightness to the pitch-black living room.

Lin Yi changed his shoes and went to the bathroom first.

After washing his face, he returned to his bedroom.

He had a private stash of food—things like bread and instant noodles that he bought on his own.

For times when he missed a meal, or stayed up too late doing homework.

He could pull them out to tide himself over.

He hadn’t eaten dinner tonight. He’d planned on finding a noodle shop after leaving the Martial Arts Hall.

But in the end, Tang Qinru had whisked him away.

By the time he was free again, all the nearby restaurants and noodle shops were closed.

He couldn’t even find an open supermarket; everything was dark.

With no other choice, Lin Yi could only pull out his private stash and eat just enough to fill his stomach.

He thought about how he would be leaving tomorrow.

He’d thought he would feel at least a little sad.

After all, he had lived here for some time.

But in reality... he felt nothing.

After he finished eating, he gathered all of his belongings.

Everything fit into a single suitcase.

’So, after all these years, this is all I have to call my own?’

Lin Yi looked at the personal items in the suitcase.

A few changes of clothes, all of them several years old.

Some school supplies, and a few other personal effects.

All of it together didn’t even fill the one suitcase.

It was clear that over the years, neither his body’s previous owner nor he, the transmigrator who followed,

had acquired anything new—not even a single new piece of clothing.

"I’m finally leaving..."

"Fuck you, Lin Dazhi! Go on and have a great life with Liu Hongmei and Lin Yu!"

"Let Lin Yu take you to live the good life in the New District!"

"I’m done playing your games!"

After Lin Yi had his say,

He snapped the suitcase shut.

At that moment, he felt an unprecedented sense of lightness.

He had left the home that shackled him.

The future would be wide open.

With his personal belongings all packed,

Lin Yi went to the bed, sat down cross-legged, and faced the night sky outside the window.

He slowly entered the Star River.

A vast, endless sea of stars stretched out before him.

Within the deep blue sea of stars, hazy moonlight flickered in and out of view.

Two stars appeared before Lin Yi. One was already completely illuminated.

It radiated a soft, steady starlight.

The other was on the verge of becoming the second to be lit.

Suddenly, an ethereal Daoist chant drifted towards him.

Tonight, the Daoist chant seemed much clearer than before.

He could even make out that it was the voice of an old man.

However, the voice was too ethereal, and he still couldn’t make out what was being said.

But Lin Yi believed that once his own realm reached a certain level,

he would probably be able to understand the content of that Daoist chant.

Lin Yi slowly closed his eyes.

Soon, streams of runes drifted over from the surroundings.

They swirled around him endlessly, with his body at the center.

After a few minutes, the runes seeped into Lin Yi’s body one by one, disappearing from sight. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

...

「Early morning.」

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

Lin Yu was woken up by a full bladder.

Bleary-eyed, he stumbled out of his room and headed straight for the bathroom.

As he passed Lin Yi’s room, he glanced back instinctively.

He took a few more steps, then hurriedly backtracked.

He was much more awake now.

His eyes widened. A moment later, he ran to Lin Dazhi and Liu Hongmei’s room and started pounding frantically on the door.

"Dad! Mom! We’ve been robbed! A burglar broke in!"

After a while, Lin Dazhi opened the bedroom door, rubbing his eyes.

"Xiaoyu? What’s all this shouting for so early in the morning? What’s this about a burglar?" Lin Dazhi asked, yawning.

Liu Hongmei also came out of the room.

Lin Yu pointed across the hall to Lin Yi’s room, his hand trembling so much he couldn’t speak for a moment.

Just as Lin Dazhi was getting impatient,

Lin Yu finally managed to say, "Lin Yi... a burglar got into Lin Yi’s room! All his stuff... it’s all been... been stolen..."

"What?"

Lin Dazhi’s sleepiness vanished in an instant.

He ran straight for Lin Yi’s room.

Once inside, he saw that, sure enough, many things were missing from the room.

The pen holder and books on the desk were all gone.

The surface was wiped clean. Nothing was left.

The bedsheet, duvet cover, and pillowcase... all stripped from the bed.

It was as if a bomb went off in Lin Dazhi’s head.

"How desperate was this burglar? Taking the sheets and duvet cover?"

Just as Lin Dazhi was utterly confused,

Liu Hongmei said, "It wasn’t a burglar. Your ’good’ son has run away from home!"

"What? Lin Yi ran away from home?"

Lin Dazhi quickly turned around, and Liu Hongmei handed him a slip of paper.

On it were a few words Lin Yi had left for Lin Dazhi.

[Old Lin, I’m leaving. You three have a good life...]

It was just a short note, something Lin Yi had spent a long time thinking about before writing.

He really had nothing to say.

No long-winded tirade, no emotional farewell.

He could barely even be bothered to write those few words.

But after mulling it over, he decided he should at least tell Lin Dazhi.

Just leaving without a word,

seemed a bit wrong.

After Lin Dazhi finished reading, his expression was incredibly grim.

"Hmph. So his wings have hardened, has he? Thinks he can run away from home now?

I knew something was off with him these past couple of days. So he was planning this all along, was he?"

"Fine, let him go. We’ll see how long he lasts out there. When he comes crawling back because he can’t take it anymore, he’ll find the door is shut for good..."