I Use Illusions To Control The Whole World Chapter 30
The missing footstep
Su Mu frowned slightly. “A house that can fit everyone? Doesn’t a crowd attract the shadow?”
“That’s true. A group increases the chances of drawing the shadow’s attention, but even someone alone isn’t completely safe. The shadow can’t be killed. There are only two ways to stop it. First is using candles—stay in the light, and the shadow can’t attack. The second…” Ye Fanyu suddenly lowered his voice and whispered, “Sacrificing someone else. The shadow has a trait—once it marks someone, it will follow them constantly and cause their candle to burn faster. That’s the shadow consuming the light. At that point, only by letting it take someone else can it be shaken off.”
Su Mu immediately understood why Ye Fanyu kept these ordinary people around—they were human shields. If he were alone and got marked by the shadow, it would only be a matter of time before his candle burned out and he died.
He also understood why Ye Fanyu was sharing this information now—because Su Mu’s side also had many ordinary people. And more importantly, Ye Fanyu had assumed he was a Transcendent and wanted to form an alliance against the Nightmare Creatures.
Ordinary people were just expendables here.
“I see. Then let’s act according to your plan,” Su Mu nodded in agreement.
In just a few exchanges, they had decided the course of action. No one asked for the opinions of the others. Ordinary people had no say in front of Transcendents.
The group quickly set off, stepping out into the darkness. The blackness surged like a tide, swallowing their forms, leaving only the faint candlelight from the paper lanterns to illuminate their surroundings.
They walked slowly and carefully. In the darkness, there were only clustered footsteps and a few tense breaths.
Ye Fanyu and Yang Dongqing, walking beside him, noticed and immediately halted too.
“Mr. Su, what’s wrong?” Ye Fanyu asked in a low voice.
“Something’s off,” Su Mu replied calmly. With Mental Power far beyond ordinary people, he had sensed a disturbance.
Ye Fanyu’s heart tensed. “What’s off?”
“The footsteps.”
“The footsteps?”
“Yes. One person’s footsteps are missing.” A faint smile crept onto Su Mu’s pale face. In the darkness, it looked eerie.
“What!?” Everyone was shocked.
He turned and narrowed his eyes, carefully counting the people. The black-suited men still stood like statues.
“Zhao Chaoyao, how many did you bring this time?”
Zhao Chaoyao’s expression tightened as he quickly responded, “Chief, I brought thirteen people in total.”
As soon as he said this, everyone realized something and turned their eyes to the black-suited men at the back. Ye Fanyu even began counting out loud, “One, two, three… ten, eleven… twelve!? There are only twelve people!”
“The shadow! It’s the shadow!” Ye Fanyu’s face changed drastically. “Damn it, spread out! The more people cluster together, the more likely the shadow will target us!”
Li Qiang and the others who had followed Ye Fanyu reacted instinctively, immediately scattering and keeping a distance of more than two meters from each other, all wearing fearful expressions.
In contrast to their panic, Su Mu’s group remained completely still. Only Yang Dongqing gritted his teeth and pulled away from the group.
“Mr. Su, spread out quickly! After the shadow kills someone, it becomes dormant for a short while. We must not gather together right now. It’ll retreat soon! But if we regroup too early, it might reappear. Keep holding your lantern, and never leave the candlelight!” Ye Fanyu urged anxiously.
But with only so many lanterns, there weren’t enough to go around. On Ye Fanyu’s side, each person had one, but on Su Mu’s side, only Yang Dongqing, Zhao Chaoyao, and Su Mu himself had one.
“Mr. Ye, the shadow only takes one person at a time?” Su Mu asked calmly. The amber lenses of his glasses hid his expression.
“Yes, one person at a time! Mr. Su, the shadow is hiding somewhere in the darkness right now. Please, get your people to spread out!” Though Ye Fanyu didn’t like Su Mu, he didn’t want him to die at a time like this.
Su Mu smiled. “No need. I’ve got plenty of people.”
Then he gave an order to one of the black-suited men at the rear of the group, “Step out of the candlelight and stand in the dark.”
“Yes, Chief.” The man obeyed without hesitation, stepping out of the lantern’s glow and into the bottomless darkness.
He stood there quietly, his figure becoming blurry in the shadows, only a vague silhouette remaining.
Ye Fanyu and the others felt a chill. None of them expected Su Mu to be so ruthless—he’d just sent his subordinate to die. Even more terrifying was that the subordinate followed the order without question.
Wang Li, who had planned to switch allegiances from Ye Fanyu to Su Mu, gave up the thought immediately after seeing this. Her heart chilled—Su Mu was even more cold-blooded than Ye Fanyu. He looked polite and gentle, but inside he was utterly heartless.
Under Su Mu’s gaze, the figure in the darkness was suddenly surrounded by writhing shadows. They were darker than the night itself, twisting and rising until they took human form.
The shape was tall and emaciated, over two meters in height, like a giant stripped to bare bones. Its limbs were grotesquely long, and its arms nearly dragged on the ground.
As the shadow fully formed, two scarlet eyes opened where its head should be—cold and indifferent, devoid of any human emotion.
Everyone except Su Mu stepped back instinctively, holding their breath in fear.
Su Mu watched the shadow with great interest, curious about what it would do next.
Soon, the shadow moved. A black hand slowly extended from its body. It was long and withered, like a twisted branch, with five thin, sharp nails at the fingertips.
That terrifying black hand reached for the man standing in the darkness. For some reason, Su Mu saw in it a strange sense of elegance—like a gentleman at a grand ball extending his hand to a lady, inviting her to dance a waltz.
“Attack,” Su Mu ordered.
Without hesitation, the subordinate drew a pistol from his waist and fired rapidly at the shadowy figure.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Muzzle flashes lit up the dark. The bullets struck the shadow, rippling it like water, but the figure quickly returned to stillness, completely unharmed.
Su Mu’s eyes flickered. At some point, he had removed his amber glasses. His deep eyes glowed faintly in the dark as invisible Mental Power surged out, flooding toward the shadow.
He wanted to test whether he could hypnotize it. But the result disappointed him.
His Mental Power entered the shadow like it was sinking into a swamp—no ripple, no response.
