As soon as Yin Ren got into the green leather carriage, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep because he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to resist talking if he was awake.
The carriage was empty, so Yin Ren moved to an empty seat nearby. He curled up his legs and used his backpack as a pillow. Turning his face away from the back of the chair, he fell asleep.
He used a bunch of hair that had turned into red rope and skillfully created several bone talismans with seals inscribed on them. Yellow Millet maintained its size of a marble and was tied to one of the white bones on the red rope, transforming it into a standard keychain.
It hung on Dog Thing and looked quite harmonious with the hamster key pendant. The colorful ball swayed back and forth with the movement of the train, and Ge Tingting couldn’t help but glance at them several times.
In terms of the situation in Gengsheng Town, Yin Ren probably had no chance to go shopping, so where in hell did he get this from?
It was kind of cute.
As she was thinking about it, she saw the little thing that looked like a rainbow candy ball turn around, and a black dot that looked like a pupil was staring straight at her.
Ge Tingting: “……”
This train was so bumpy that it was causing her to see things, right?
She obediently took the bowl of braised beef noodles and slurped it while freeing up one hand to casually browse her social media feed. Due to the language barrier, she didn’t have many friends, and all her acquaintances were small managers who paid her wages.
Amidst the pile of flowery and fancy words and pictures that evoked feelings of spring and autumn, Shian’s artistic style stood out prominently.
[Huang Jin (junior): Why is it always so difficult for people to live?]
Ge Tingting continued to slurp her noodles and nodded as she swiped down.
[Luo Xiaohe (sister): Welcome home! When everyone comes back, I’ll treat them to a buffet and give them a warm welcome—!!! 🤗]
The accompanying picture was the header image of a famous buffet. Xiaohe Jie seemed to be in a very good mood.
As soon as she wanted to like it, she found Yin Ren’s like below.
Ge Tingting: “?”
My friend, aren’t you sleeping?
However, regarding the affairs of her seniors, it wasn’t something for someone like her to worry about. Ge Tingting stabbed her plastic fork into the braised egg and took a small bite. The savory egg white casually slid down.
[Minister Fu (leader): Hehe.]
The accompanying picture was of a Buddha statue with cracks on top of its head. Ge Tingting was unsure of what he wanted to express. There was obviously no Buddha statue in Gengsheng Town, and the picture was quite blurry, like it was a random picture found online.
Ge Tingting hesitated for a while, but in the end, she didn’t dare to like it.
After the mission was over, Fu Xingchuan specially added her and Huang Jin’s WeChat. Ge Tingting panicked at that time—when she was a dishwasher outside, the manager didn’t add her, but she wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask directly why.
If every newcomer was added, how many people would be on Minister Fu’s list?
She fell into a whole new world of confusion.
On the other side of Ge Tingting, Zhong Chengshuo had opened his unfinished book and was reading quietly. His left hand seemed to be stuck to the sampling box, and he was unwilling to move even an inch away from it, as if he were trying to hatch something.
Ge Tingting looked around and found nothing worth mentioning. She cleaned up her braised beef noodle soup bowl and laid it down on the plastic table that still had some residual heat and started dozing off.
For a while, except for Zhong Chengshuo, only three people in the Emergency Management Department were awake in the carriage.
The three looked in three directions, respectively. Among them, Li Nian’s gaze was glued to Zhong Chengshuo’s forehead; the latter looked indifferent.
Rumbling, the green leather carriage passed through the mountains, and the scenery on both sides was as lackluster as usual. It headed towards Haigu, which was full of high-rises, leaving the fog and decay far behind.
Everything was proceeding well. Zhong Chengshuo continued to read in silence.
As he guessed, Shian didn’t disclose the inside story of their execution mission. From Ge Tingting’s point of view, this was just an investigation mission that went awry. Whether it was “Qi Xin’s” abnormal condition or everything related to the “figure in red”, they were all hidden in the dark.
Afterwards, the real report of this mission would be sealed and marked with a higher level of confidentiality.
Fu Xingchuan didn’t ask him to hand in the samples he obtained, and he found more clues about the Divine Descent and Yin Ren’s past that were beginning to emerge. Zhong Chengshuo was extremely satisfied with this mission.
He had to get home as soon as possible and write down this incident—especially regarding that Old Mayor—in detail.
Thinking of the imitation that was the “Old Mayor”, Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t help turning his attention to the genuine product.
The top of Yin Ren’s head was facing him. Probably noticing Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze, an eye grew at the top of his head, rolled its eyes at him, and then quickly disappeared.
Zhong Chengshuo: “……”
Well, Yin Ren’s situation is a little weird, so he should keep that in mind.
……
Yin Ren’s strange state continued until the two returned to Ping’an Manor.
There would always be a rest period after a mission. This time, Fu Xingchuan exempted them from the medical examination process on the grounds that he had already “checked in person”. When the two arrived at their residence, it was just around noon.
Yin Ren walked behind Zhong Chengshuo. Pulling his face in a rare manner, he slammed the door shut and moved with a murderous aura.
Zhong Chengshuo quickly reacted. He jumped to the other end of the room, protecting the sampling box with both hands. Comrade Xiao Zhong hadn’t spoken yet when the entrance was full of evil qi. The curtains behind him closed automatically, without wind.
Originally, the room was bright and sunny, but it instantly became ten times darker.
“Oh, you’re back from that hellhole…” Hu Tao smelled a breath, and a head emerged from the room next door. She glanced at Yin Ren, whose face was so heavy that it was about to melt into dripping water, and instantly brake. She turned her head forcibly 180 degrees and whizzed back into her room.
“Zhong Chengshuo, let’s talk.” Yin Ren squeezed out each word with great emphasis between his teeth.
Zhong Chengshuo looked at him for a while and made a pause gesture, then ran back into the bedroom. When he emerged again, he had already changed into loose pajamas and was frantically wiping the ashes from his hand with a cleansing towel. The sampling box was missing. Yin Ren suspected that guy had locked his baby egg in a hidden safe.
Yin Ren watched as the man went through a series of operations. After two minutes, a pajama-clad Zhong Chengshuo was sitting in front of him with his hands on his knees.
“Go ahead.” Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses.
Yin Ren’s side was full of energy that was slowly declining but wasn’t exhausted. Seeing this man’s usual innocent face, his nameless fire successfully flared up again.
He took a deep breath and put on a serious tone that could frighten mortals thousands of years ago.
“I’m very angry. Do you know why?”
Zhong Chengshuo’s face had a look full of confusion.
Yin Ren stepped forward mercilessly with a force in his hand, causing the first two buttons of Zhong Chengshuo’s pajamas to snap off and fly away. The front lapel of his pajamas was torn wide open, revealing bruises and abrasions underneath.
Yin Ren stretched out his finger and pressed on one of the wounds. The spell was spinning frantically at his fingertips, but the brilliance couldn’t touch Zhong Chengshuo.
“Don’t you understand yet?” Lord Ghost King gritted his teeth.
Zhong Chengshuo: “I have already disinfected them.”
“You know I can’t follow immediately, so you left the team to deal with the initiation.” In the dim living room, Yin Ren’s eyes glowed bright red like coal. “There are living people and zombies waiting over there… Okay, you, King Yama, are very capable and aren’t afraid of those small characters, but what about Qi Xin?”
Yin Ren said sharply.
“If I got there a little late, she might’ve killed you.”
Zhong Chengshuo looked at Yin Ren quietly but didn’t answer.
“She has an entity, Zhong Chengshuo, and I can’t even see through her strength. With that power, she can tear you into pieces with her bare hands! If she hurts you seriously, I can’t even heal you!”
Yin Ren pressed hard with his palm onto Zhong Chengshuo’s chest.
“Even if we don’t have this relationship, even if we are just friends, I will be scared to death if you do this. Don’t you understand?”
“……”
Zhong Chengshuo slowly touched Yin Ren’s wrist and held it tightly.
“I have the confidence to escape.” His tone was firm and steady.
“Then, if you’re really confident, do I have to say, ‘Wow, you’re so amazing’?”
Yin Ren grabbed the back of a chair with one hand and held Zhong Chengshuo with the other. His black hair was swaying windlessly, its ends shaking irritably. Zhong Chengshuo was firmly imprisoned in a cage of limbs and hair and could only look up.
“Now that you can escape, but when I lost control in the Archive, you said that even death might have been calculated. Why do you think so highly of me?”
Zhong Chengshuo maintained the posture of raising his head. “When facing you, I never considered running away.”
Yin Ren’s movement froze for a few seconds.
“Oh, really?” Yin Ren’s fierce red eyes were firmly locked on Zhong Chengshuo. “Should I thank you?”
Yin Ren: “……” Ah, such a person really made him want to explode. He had been sober for hundreds of years and had never seen a person like this.
The tips of Lord Ghost King’s hair swam like a snake on the ground, slapping the floor.
“So it seems to you,” he said almost angrily, “that there’s no problem with you going off on your own to deal with the initiation and not even waiting for an opportunity to discuss it with me first?”
“It’s not 100% no problem,” Zhong Chengshuo explained quickly, “but even if you were by my side, it’s still not 100% no problem.”
Yin Ren suddenly fell silent.
All his worries and anger were emptied, and his heart really stopped at this moment.
Indeed, even if he was by Zhong Chengshuo’s side… If at that time Qi Xin hadn’t stopped for an unknown reason, they might not have survived.
Zhong Chengshuo really knew how to grasp the key points.
All the hair no longer swam around. Yin Ren just looked into Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes and pursed his lips.
Strange eyes. Even when they were happy, there was no brilliance in them, like two withered deep wells leading straight into the bottomless abyss.
This person was also like an abyss.
The love and worry he invested would not stir any ripples. They would fall endlessly, and maybe they would collide with a little echo. But he didn’t know when a response would come back or how long he would have to wait.
Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t making excuses. This person couldn’t understand his worries from the bottom of his heart.
The probability was low, and the behavior was reasonable. For Zhong Chengshuo, it seemed that as long as he presented a “solution process” any matter could be completely turned over.
However, what made Yin Ren angry was that he was attracted by the ethereal voice in the abyss. The unknown, the distant… and even the pain and annoyance they brought.
That was right. Zhong Chengshuo didn’t understand his concerns, let alone worry about himself because there was “no danger”.
His anger eventually fell into the abyss of darkness, and he couldn’t make any waves.
Yin Ren released the back of the chair expressionlessly. He didn’t say another word, but walked to the sofa and sat on his knees in the corner of the sofa that was against the wall. Zhong Chengshuo blinked and watched as the man’s body quickly deformed and countless wings popped out, filling a quarter of the space in the living room, burying Yin Ren deeply inside.
“I want to be alone.” Yin Ren’s voice was muffled.
Zhong Chengshuo: “……”
Is this autism?
“What’s wrong?” Zhong Chengshuo took the opportunity to touch a wing.
Yin Ren didn’t answer. The wing mass shrank, and the feathers on the surface instantly became hard.
Yellow Millet noticed its master’s resentment and dragged Dog Thing around, trying to give this person a little deterrent as a powerful evil.
It was a pity that for a top science post, this soft dumpling was really no deterrent. Zhong Chengshuo squeezed it with two fingers and threw it directly into the bedroom.
“Puff, puff, puff!” Yellow Millet let out a weak cry as it banged on the door.
Zhong Chengshuo ignored it and didn’t go about his business as Yin Ren thought he would. He just sat in a chair with his hands crossed and his eyes on the floor in a standard contemplative pose.
Inside the dark living room, a man was staring at the floor, while in a corner, an evil behemoth had stuffed itself from floor to ceiling, creating a particularly gloomy atmosphere.
For a long time, Zhong Chengshuo pushed away his chair and sat on the uncovered part of the sofa. He leaned back on the hard feathers and slowly took off his glasses.
“Cats will hiss when they are angry, and dogs will wag their tails when they are happy. Spiders are born to know how to make webs. Most animals know to avoid the ‘eye’ organ, and many species have even evolved imitation patterns for intimidation. It’s interesting, isn’t it? They have such a powerful ‘instinct’ and don’t need education. They know what to do from the beginning.”
“People… People cry when they are sad and laugh when they are happy. People also have things engraved in their ‘instinct’, and I really want to understand it.”
Yin Ren: “……”
Zhong Chengshuo’s voice came through the wings, causing a slight tremor that made him a little itchy.
“But the instinct with ‘no education’ is very difficult to learn…”
As Zhong Chengshuo spoke, the feathers became softer.
He didn’t look back but instead looked at the sunlight that was blocked by the heavy curtains.
“There is only one of you in this world. I am worried that a mistake in expression will cause you and me to end here.”
“I don’t know what I feel, and I don’t know how to express it to you, so I have maintained the original approach—the approach of when you like me.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s fingertips gently slid over Yin Ren’s wings. His tone was as quiet as before, but a little strangely helpless.
“Sorry. Don’t ignore me.”
A group of wings struggled out from the large group of wings and squatted solemnly at Zhong Chengshuo’s feet.
“It’s not your fault. There’s no need to apologize.” A vague murmur came from the wings. “Forget it. Who told me to be an elder?”
It gently rubbed Zhong Chengshuo’s ankle.
“What are we eating tonight?” Yin Ren’s voice came from the mass of wings.
Zhong Chengshuo pinched the wing mass, as if he had made some determination.
“Go out to eat,” he said.
“It’s time. I want to take you to a place where we can solve this ‘contradiction’, one step at a time.”
……
On the edge of Haigu, a mansion in the mountains.
Fu Xingchuan stood nervously at the gate. He temporarily borrowed a powder puff from a female colleague to cover up the dark circles under his eyes.
Unfortunately, all the members in Unit 9 were on vacation and missed the earth-shattering news—the #1 Ghost General Minister Fu actually took annual leave!
“You’re still alive?”
The one who opened the door was a woman whose brows and eyes were similar to Fu Xingchuan’s. She looked older than him, but her complexion was much healthier. She looked at Fu Xingchuan up and down for a while, raised one brow, and clicked her tongue.
“Oh, sister,” Fu Xingchuan said weakly. “Help me go and tell our parents. I just want to see my ancestors.”
The woman withdrew her joking expression. “Ancestors?”
“Yes.”
Fu Xingchuan also sunk his face in the same way.
“As the director of Hwajisi 900 years ago, he should know something.”
Kinky Thoughts:
It’s already difficult enough to deal with a gong with low EQ, but one that has 0 EQ?
When Fu Xingchuan returned to the team with the two scourges, it was almost dawn.
Except for Zhong Chengshuo, the faces of the remaining two weren’t very good. How great. The three of them had six eyes, but they couldn’t find a single bright pupil.
Yin Ren’s entire body was numb.
Modern people were too scheming, Lord Ghost King thought sadly.
This started a few hours ago—
The crisis was lifted and the spiritual contract was formed, so Yin Ren let out a sigh of relief. The job was saved, the identity of the “Evil Spirit” hadn’t been revealed for the time being, and the future was full of hope.
There were still many mysteries about Gengsheng Town, but no matter how he looked at it, it would come to an end. The situation surrounding that imitation and the clues given by Qi Xin could slowly be studied in the future.
Even if Fu Xingchuan deduced his identity as “Zhong Yi”, he could only swallow his frustration and anger without being able to do anything about it.
If they had to talk about it, Haujisi was involved with “Zhong Yi” for a long time. The most widely circulated “symbol” in the metaphysical world was an evil creature that was so lazy that an orthodox cultivator like Minister Fu would never speak of it. And with the record of sealing six Evil Spirits, Fu Xingchuan wouldn’t be so stupid as to make things difficult for him.
The more Yin Ren thought about it, the happier he became. He felt a bit grateful to Qi Xin. Fortunately, she showed her terrifying strength, which allowed him to also use his true abilities to deal with the situation. If he had revealed his true abilities in a small case, Fu Xingchuan wouldn’t have been so hesitant to take action.
Now that Fu Xingchuan knew the two of them were unusual, Shian would no longer follow them intensively. An easy life without any hidden trouble was about to begin.
So why didn’t he start by having a quarrel with Zhong Chengshuo!
However, before Lord Ghost King could brew his emotions, he was targeted by Minister Fu, who suddenly woke up.
“Yin Ren, go and clean up all the evil things in town.” Fu Xingchuan rubbed the stubble on his chin with inexplicable gloating in his voice. “The townspeople are back to normal and they are likely to be frightened by the wandering evil spirits. You can add Yellow Millet to help you, right?”
Yin Ren was stunned.
As expected of the #1 Ghost General. Just after signing a spiritual contract with an unknown evil creature, he put it to use.
“We just had a busy day!” Yin Ren said bitterly. “It’s early in the morning.”
Wasn’t he working hard enough? He didn’t want to work overtime.
Fu Xingchuan: “I only promised to help you hide your secret, but I didn’t promise to cover up this Yellow Millet. If it wants to enjoy the same treatment, it must show some merit. Of course, if you want to hand it over, I also have no problem with that.”
Yellow Millet’s pupils shook tremendously. It began to rub crazily against Yin Ren’s palm, as if it were rubbing two sticks together to start a fire. “Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff!”
Yin Ren: “……”
“This mission was well done. According to Shian’s rules, you will get high compensation. The amount will be determined by me.” Fu Xingchuan played the tactics of carrot and stick to perfection. He sat down crossed-legged, folded his arms, and gave off a posture of “Laozi needs time to think”.
Yin Ren: “…Okay, I’ll go.”
Anyway, there weren’t many opportunities for them and Fu Xingchuan to act together, so they won’t be squeezed all the time.
Simply put, wasn’t this just letting Yellow Millet eat its fill in Gengsheng Town? If it ate all the messy things left by Sunken Society, this would also help him save on feed.
Even if Zhong Chengshuo was left alone, this low-profile “King Yama” who had been operating for many years, should still be able to handle the situation with Shian.
Thinking of this, Yin Ren tried to exchange a look with Zhong Chengshuo.
This time, his spiritual harmony died before it even got the chance to start.
Just when he and Boss Fu were busy discussing work-related matters, Comrade Xiao Zhong, seeing that he had nothing to do, took a piece of dust cloth and laid down and slept on the spot.
He didn’t even change into his pajamas but kept his nightcap as a sense of ceremony. Zhong Chengshuo was holding the sampling box tightly in his arms, with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
Wow. He really circumvented the possibility of being scolded by Fu Xingchuan.
Yin Ren’s facial features distorted, half relieved that this person could rest for a while, and half with an unknown anger that was rising even higher. He ran to Zhong Chengshuo angrily, threw a windproof spell that circled around him, and then flew away even more angrily.
Fu Xingchuan, who witnessed the whole process: “……”
Good. He decided to be in a coma for a while longer.
……
Time returned to the present.
“What about your injuries?” Seeing Fu Xingchuan intact, Li Nian got straight to the point.
“Met some strange people and encountered some strange things. I’ll write the report later.” Fu Xingchuan grunted twice. “There are some issues with that ‘Qi Xin’, so we have to check it out.”
Li Nian looked at him for a few seconds. A cold light flashed in his hand, and a fountain pen-like thing was directly inserted into Fu Xingchuan’s shoulder. The latter screamed. “Gentler! Gentler!”
“The rapid DNA identification results are consistent. The blood components are basically the same. The tested person is ‘Fu Xingchuan’, with an accuracy rate of 99.99999%… In the analysis of evil qi waveforms, there is no curse, no controlling spells, and there is a presence of a spiritual contract.”
A series of mechanical sounds came from the “fountain pen”.
Yin Ren couldn’t help but glance at the thing a few more times. He smelled the faint scent of medicine in it. If it didn’t hit Fu Xingchuan, then there might have been a backup plan.
Unfortunately, this Minister Fu was as good as a fake.
Li Nian neatly put away the testing equipment. “I contacted support. We can take a collective rest for a while.”
Fu Xingchuan: “Wow, that’s great.”
“You’re hiding something from me?” Li Nian added lightly.
“…You’re saying it as if I did something wrong. I’m just too tired. Weird things happen every year, but this year there are more than usual. Let’s talk about it in detail when we get back.” Fu Xingchuan’s face remained unchanged.
In the thick night, the fog in the mountain town had completely dissipated.
The dark building ruins stood in the center of the mountain town, leaving a dark shadow. The lights of every house were extinguished, leaving not much light left in the town. Those strange and bizarre evil creatures disappeared without a trace, leaving the town in a state of ruin and desolation, just like a sad and lonely scene after the passage of tourists.
The circular loop stopped operating, and the town fell into deep silence like a ghost who was finally laid to rest.
Helping Ren Jiying amplify her voice exhausted all of Ge Tingting’s and Huang Jin’s strength. At this moment, the two of them were leaning on two sheltered corners, each sleeping with faces full of dirt and exhaustion. Ren Jiying was covered by Professor Li’s suit jacket. She closed her eyes and frowned slightly, but there was a hint of relaxation in her expression.
Only Xiang Jiang sat silently in the same place. His eyes were blocked by his bangs, so it was impossible to tell whether he was asleep or not.
When the dust settled, Xiang Hai was nowhere to be seen.
“Report, a large number of evil things in the mountain town have disappeared.” A female voice came from everyone’s headset. Luo Xiaohe and Hao Wenzhe were still sticking to their posts.
“Normal. I signed a spiritual contract with that Yellow Millet. It won’t harm me if I don’t harm it.” Fu Xingchuan replied carelessly, casting a glance at Li Nian out of the corner of his eye. “That thing was under the control of Sunken Society. After the control was lifted, it ate all the evil creatures lurking in the town. It promised not to harm humans, and I, as the representative of Shian, agreed not to pursue it any further.”
“But that’s…”
“Class A-A evil things are not something I can control even if I want to. It’s not good for everyone if it becomes a big mess. This is my judgment.” Fu Xingchuan spoke earnestly, and this time his gaze swept towards Yin Ren, whether intentionally or not.
“I understand.” Hao Wenzhe took over. “Fu Xingchuan, prepare the main points of your report as soon as possible. I want to issue a mission report based on data observation.”
The next day, when the green leather train started, a black cursor was jumping endlessly on the snow-white document.
[Comprehensive Report on Special Investigation Unit 9’s Execution Mission (No. SA8729948766)]
[During contact with Snake Swallowing, our personnel found a Sunken Society’s ant’s nest underground. After preliminary confirmation, this ant’s nest started in the Gong Dynasty and is still active. The task-themed Snake Swallowing has been completely transformed to transport and guard the entrance…]
[The research subject in this ant’s nest is changes in the human body after a small amount of long-term exposure to Evil Force. The samples have been collected, and the analysis results will be supplemented in the attachment…]
[The basic subject is suspected to be “Zhong Yi”, and the new mayor of Gengsheng Town was made into an “imitation” of the subject. It’s understood that this imitation has the power to use the emotion of “sorrow” to control people and evil beings. The specific impact on the townspeople will be supplemented…]
The cursor jumped rapidly, quickly writing down the situation in the ant’s nest. When writing the next paragraph, it moved much slower than before, as if hesitant.
[In the ant’s nest, our personnel were chased by evil things bred by Sunken Society, while the townspeople were controlled to attack our ground personnel. It is suspected they were being mind controlled or were mentally corrupted.]
[During the pursuit, Zhong Chengshuo accidentally fell behind due to his clothes being torn. Later, during the battle, our personnel were stunned by the collision between Snake Swallowing and Yellow Millet. Yin Ren was the first to wake up and went to find Zhong Chengshuo, taking the initiative to leave the team. The two met near the circular loop and witnessed the following scene.]
[The “imitation” full of Evil Force was swallowed up by “Qi Xin” who had assisted the team.]
[The relevant time points and regional evil qi changes in this testimony are consistent with our records. Fu Xingchuan, who arrived later, can testify to this. According to Fu Xingchuan, the person who calls herself “Qi Xin” isn’t a human but some kind of special evil that hasn’t been discovered yet…]
[Qi Xin disappeared after swallowing the initiation, releasing the evil things from its control. The townspeople returned to normal and fell into chaos. Fu Xingchuan signed a temporary contract with the escaped Yellow Millet (An A-level abnormal phenomenon) to eliminate the remaining evil beings belonging to Sunken Society in the mountain town.]
[At each key point, there were no suspicious actions taken by Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo. They actively assisted in restoring Gengsheng Town to normal. Ge Tingting and Huang Jin performed very well. So far, Unit 9’s execution mission can be regarded as ending normally…]
……
[The following is the preliminary judgment of this comprehensive execution mission.]
[Yin Ren: Part of his strength is hidden, possibly due to the influence of previous events with unclear self-awareness. There is no sign of external contact, and his action is completely non-malicious. Currently, he is still able to work normally, but further observation is required. Comprehensive assessment: Threat level F.]
[Zhong Chengshuo: His physical fitness is far superior to the results of the physical examination. Considering the nature of the previous mission, it cannot be determined whether he deliberately hid his condition. There are no external signs of contact, and he’s currently able to work normally, but further observation is required. Comprehensive assessment: Threat level F.]
At this point, the cursor paused for a moment again.
[Xiang Jiang: As the person in charge of Gengsheng Town, he failed to investigate the actual situation of Gengsheng Town clearly, and there was a serious dereliction of duty. During the mission, Xiang Jiang responded negatively, did not guide weaker teammates, did not call for foreign aid in time, and didn’t actively rescue civilians. There were signs of external contact before entering the mission, but there was no clear evidence of betrayal. Currently, he is still able to work normally, but his access to missions needs to be restricted. Comprehensive assessment: Threat level C.]
[The above assessments refer to the opinions of Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian.]
The cursor stopped for a long time after the letter “C”.
After a long pause, there was a crisp sound of the keyboard being tapped, and a small plus sign was added to the C.
On the bright screen, Hao Wenzhe stared at the name of this old colleague without any special expression on his face.
[As of the date of this report, townsperson Qi Xin has not been found, and the identity of the woman posing as Qi Xin is unknown. The police will continue to follow up. Gengsheng Town has received assistance from the local Shian branch. A team of psychiatrists has settled in, and the current mood of the townspeople is stable.]
[The current mayor took the initiative to contact the relevant government departments and will conduct the follow-up development of Gengsheng Town in the near future. She proposed that while carrying out reclamation and governance, the town’s architectural advantages should be utilized to create relevant theme parks, and some of the town’s residents should be retained as staff…”
[Regarding the appointment of the mayor, personal data will be in the form of scanned copies]
Hao Wenzhe didn’t finish typing his sentence. His fingers froze in the air.
When he got here, he subconsciously glanced at the kraft paper bag that was set aside. The kraft paper bag was opened, and he took them out, preparing to scan them later.
He was busy sorting out the data just now and didn’t look at the most “irrelevant” information.
Taking a closer look, a thin layer of sweat oozed from his forehead.
…The old information on those documents didn’t seem to have a problem at first glance. There were photos that should be there, and the form was densely written in black pen, very typical of old information.
But the words were not words.
At least not the handwriting that existed in this world. No matter what file it was or what department it came from, the printed words on the form were clearly legible, but the words on the form were all crooked and distorted, like some kind of mutated bone, which made him feel uncomfortable all over.
Black pen, ballpoint pen, fountain pen. The handwriting was different, but the content was the same and unrecognizable.
They were even slowly shattering and fading, as if they were rotting.
The same was true of the photo of the old mayor.
Whether he was young or old, his features in the photo were blank, and his figure was blurred.
The traces of the only victim in this incident were gradually being erased.
Hao Wenzhe called Ren Jiying without hesitation.
“Hello?”
The mayor’s panting voice came through.
“Mr. Hao, is there anything I can do for you?”
“What’s the name of your last mayor?”
“Why are you asking this suddenly?” Mayor Ren was a little surprised. “He’s a household name. He’s the only college student that this mountain village has produced. When he came back, he discovered the mines… discovered… discovered…”
“Mayor Ren?”
“It’s fine. I’m just a little dizzy. What were you asking?”
If it weren’t for regulations, Fu Xingchuan would really like to smoke a cigarette.
The bloody spear of his life-giving blow hit Qi Xin right in the bullseye but failed to cause the slightest damage. It was true that the two members of Unit 9 cooperated flawlessly and twisted Qi Xin into pieces in an instant.
Hehe.
Of the two, one of them manifested power directly from nothingness into red ropes—truly spiritual.
The other wielded a dagger and moved extremely fast to the point where people couldn’t make out the details, but Fu Xingchuan had a feeling that the crimson knife light looked a bit familiar.
Unfortunately, he was too far away and couldn’t feel the power attributes around the two. It was great that they were doing such a good job of suppressing their abilities.
Fu Xingchuan moved his fingers, holding a non-existent cigarette while his eyes were blank.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have shot that bloody spear and exposed his existence, but he couldn’t afford the consequences of “Zhong Chengshuo is innocent” and “Zhong Chengshuo might die”.
Although facts proved that the little beast was also a fraud. His left hand was probing Shian, while his right hand was disturbing Qi Xin. The judgment of the deception was instantaneous. Zhong Chengshuo was undoubtedly a veteran in combat.
‘It’s too difficult to be a person with a moral bottom line,’ Fu Xingchuan thought gloomily.
Now he could only bet on one thing—
When he woke up from his coma, the “man in red” who was riding Yellow Millet that he witnessed was probably Yen Ren. That kid was strong enough to control a Class A-A evil being, but his powers to simply stun them showed that he wasn’t hostile to Shian.
At least there was no hostility at the moment.
Dressed in red with Yellow Millet on his feet, this was an extremely powerful evil creature. Was Yin Ren the “same kind” as the figure in the mural, or was that figure in the mural actually “him”?
Minister Fu bowed his waist and continued to look into the distance.
The troublesome spirits were talking to Qi Xin shards. Unfortunately, his technique was limited. The images given were quite rough, and Fu Xingchuan couldn’t distinguish the lips of those people.
Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo weren’t hostile to Shian, but that didn’t mean they had good intentions towards him either. Now Qi Xin came with an unknown purpose, but it didn’t seem like she was in the same camp as those two.
What are their motives…
Minister Fu hadn’t smoked half the cigarette that he imagined yet when his back suddenly felt cold.
He didn’t stay for less than ten seconds when there were two more breaths behind him. Looking at the vicinity of the circular loop, he couldn’t find the figures of Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo.
Fu Xingchuan closed his eyes.
They’re coming.
The wound on his shoulder was painful and numb, which was the result of the drug suppression. As soon as he threw the blood spear, his state became unsuitable for fighting. Minister Fu turned around slowly. He dove one hand into the pocket of his tunic as the marquee of life flashed in front of his eyes.
In front of him stood the target of this “execution mission”.
Yin Ren’s long hair was loose, and his body was tightly wrapped in red cloth that resembled an ancient costume. The wounds from his shoulders to his chest were healing at a speed no human should have… Most of Zhong Chengshuo’s jacket was in tatters, revealing unexpectedly fair skin with only a few scratches on it. This kid was firmly holding his sampling box, and his face was full of brilliance as if he had a great harvest.
Were they here to silence him or…?
Fu Xingchuan straightened his back and cleared his throat, just intending to make a sufficiently deterrent opening statement. As a result, before his mouth opened, Yin Ren trotted up to him.
“I’m sorry!” Yin Ren’s tone was so sincere that it was scary. “I didn’t mean to conceal my personal situation.. I’m indeed, uh, not human.”
Fu Xingchuan: “?”
Is this… explaining?
Yin Ren pinched an extremely complicated spell causing Fu Xingchuan’s shoulder to emit a burning-like creaking sound.
Along with green and black smoke floating out, the wound caused by the poison arrow healed quickly. His exhausted limbs slowly stretched, and fatigue melted away like the snow. Except for the emptiness due to exhaustion of power, Minister Fu’s body didn’t feel any pain.
In the pocket of his tunic, Fu Xingchuan’s hand twitched, almost pressing on the most advanced security alarm.
He squinted at Yin Ren and said nothing. To be honest, Fu Xingchuan didn’t know if he wanted to create a sense of oppression or simply had nothing to say.
He would let these two act and see what tricks they were up to.
“Minister Fu.”
Yin Ren took out a colored marble-like thing from his pocket and spoke solemnly.
“Does this count as confessing to receive a lighter sentence? It’s indirectly surrendering itself and gaining merit by confessing to its crimes, right?”
Fu Xingchuan glanced at Yin Ren’s palm and almost vomited a mouthful of blood.
After living for so long, he didn’t know that Yellow Millet had the ability to become smaller. That evil thing that was chasing them was now crushed like an asteroid and was now lying obediently in Yin Ren’s palm, suddenly looking like a rainbow lollipop without a stick.
Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze was more focused than Fu Xingchuan—Comrade Xiao Zhong stared at Yellow Millet, rubbing his fingers on the edge of the sampling bag. Yellow Millet seemed to feel something and nestled hard into the palm of Yin Ren’s hand again.
Yin Ren gathered up his old cushion. “This is Yellow Millet. It has no malicious intentions, but it was controlled by Sunken Society using magic.”
Yellow Millet tried its best to show weakness, letting out a trembling, “Puff…”
Fu Xingchuan’s head swelled to the size of a bucket.
What is going on?
With two identities exposed, shouldn’t there be a dialogue between the strong and the strong? What was this atmosphere like that felt like a work review error meeting?
Yin Ren’s strength was unpredictable, Zhong Chengshuo was immune to spells, and there was no need to talk about Yellow Millet. If he picked any one of them casually, they weren’t an enemy he could easily deal with. Fu Xingchuan had thought about many possibilities, but he really didn’t expect this kind of development.
“Do you recognize this Yellow Millet?” Minister Fu really couldn’t hold back and tried to pivot.
Yin Ren considered his wording. “We used to be colleagues, so I know it very well. You know, Yellow Millet only eats evil things. This one is very lazy and has no interest in actively hurting people.”
“…I’m not doing a background check on it.” Fu Xingchuan laughed dryly. “This Yellow Millet has at least a thousand years of cultivation. How old are you?”
Yin Ren: “……”
What’s with modern people? Why does everyone keep asking this sad question?
“Or rather, I should ask…”
Seeing that Yin Ren didn’t answer, Fu Xingchuan straightened his tunic, which was covered with blood and dust.
“Is the person on the ant’s nest mural you?”
Yin Ren’s smile froze for an instant.
Since he could confirm that the person on the mural was himself, it would only be a matter of time before Fu Xingchuan deduced that he was “Zhong Yi”.
Sure enough, the #1 Ghost General wouldn’t be so easy to fool. In the next second, Lord Ghost King realized a problem.
Sometimes, “not answering immediately” was also a kind of “answering”.
Sure enough, Fu Xingchuan didn’t wait for his answer. Minister Fu pressed his temples frantically, and his tone became erratic. “Zhong Chengshuo, you… Forget it, we’ll check it ourselves.”
Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses. “Good luck.”
Fu Xingchuan wasn’t in the mood to pursue this person’s attitude. He sat on the ground, flat on his ass, and took out a cigarette from his pocket.
After taking a long puff, Fu Xingchuan looked at Gansheng Town in the night. “…If you two wanted to be detrimental to Shian, at that time in the underground ant’s nest, you had countless ways to kill Lao Li and me. The two of you staying in a C-level investigation team—you have something you want from Shian, right?”
When he said this, he didn’t look at the two of them and showed his back frankly.
“If I report the situation, Yin Ren will definitely be fully inspected and guarded. Zhong Chengshuo will definitely be fired. You can guess this, but you still choose to communicate with me.”
“Well, we discussed it. This is a deal.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes would dart toward Yellow Millet from time to time.
“Fu Xingchuan, you’re a powerhouse who sincerely wants to protect Haigu and knows what actions are most appropriate.”
“It’s useless to flatter me.” Fu Xingchuan took a hard puff from his cigarette and exhaled. “But I can’t drive you to Sunken Society… Haa, how troublesome.”
He raised his hand and spat out the cigarette into his palm.
The originally soft smoke condensed into a sharp blue and white blade, cutting open the wound just healed by Yin Ren. Bright red blood gushed out in an instant and floated upwards against gravity. They stretched into scarlet filaments and spun out runes one after another.
The bloodshot lines intertwined in the night, turning into gorgeous and terrifying giant patterns. It was three meters high and floated quietly in front of Fu Xingchuan.
“Forget Zhong Chengshuo. There’s a complete set of criminal laws governing him.”
Fu Xingchuan moved the bleeding wound, and the huge blood array above the wound moved slightly.
“Yin Ren, since you passed the physical examination, there must be entities that are similar to humans… You can figure it out yourself.”
Yin Ren looked up at the cobweb-like blood as he casually rubbed Yellow Millet with his fingers.
“Puff?”
Zhong Chengshuo also walked to his side. “What is that?”
“A kind of spiritual contract,” Yin Ren said. “The type that is binding on both parties. It’s quite fair… Well, in general, I can’t indiscriminately harm innocent people, and Fu Xingchuan needs to guarantee my freedom. At most, he can only tell Li Nian. It can be regarded as a temporary peace agreement.”
“What will happen to you if you violate it?” Zhong Chengshuo said curiously.
“My own strength will backfire, and even the slightest injury will be serious. This is an agreement based on cognition that can’t be falsified.”
Yin Ren’s palm cracked, and a ball of blood squirmed and flew out.
It also turned into filaments, penetrated the bloodshot gap made by Fu Xingchuan’s blood, and drew out another spell. When the two met, the blood circle immediately collapsed into blood beads and then disappeared into the air with a bang.
Well, Fu Xingchuan personally dared to make this kind of spiritual contract—Yin Ren knew in his heart that even if he was seriously injured, there were still many ways he could destroy Haigu. This agreement couldn’t be 100% binding.
If this was any other official from Shian, they would never take the risk of cooperating with an evil being at such a level.
“I still have some questions.”
After the spiritual contract was concluded, Yin Ren spoke solemnly.
Fu Xingchuan blew out smoke violently: “Ask.”
“You know the situation between me and Zhong Chengshuo. Can we continue to get promotions and raises? What about year-end bonus? Leaving aside the spiritual contract, I’m not human, so is the labor contract still valid? Can I still be Zhong Chengshuo’s partner?”
Fu Xingchuan: “…”
Fu Xingchuan: “?”
He suddenly realized something, stood up trembling, and stubbed out his cigarette butt.
“Damn, wait!” Minister Fu pointed at Zhong Chengshuo with his index finger, which was trembling slightly. “You know that Yin Ren is a thousand-year-old evil?”
Zhong Chengshuo innocently said, “Nn.”
“Are you serious with him? Isn’t it just an excuse for joint activities?”
Zhong Chengshuo replied with a harmless expression, “Yes.”
Fu Xingchuan was silent for a full five minutes.
“Yes, you can. Both of you can do whatever you want. As long as you don’t cause trouble, you can do whatever you want.” Fu Xingchuan finally spoke in a sleepwalking tone. “I’ll tell you what to write in the report later, but this Yellow Millet, I need to collect first—”
He went to grab Yellow Millet, but the naked evil thing instantly turned into a stretched rice cake, half of which was pulled far away by Fu Xingchuan and half of which held tightly to Yin Ren’s palm.
“Puff—puff—”
Fu Xingchuan continued to pull expressionlessly until Yellow Millet lost its form of a ball and was stretched out even longer.
“Puff—puff—” It puffing almost resembled howling.
“You see, it doesn’t want to,” Yin Ren said cautiously.
Fu Xingchuan’s eyes were beyond exhaustion. At this moment, they were dull, almost looking like Zhong Chengshuo’s.
“Oh,” he said. “Then you take care of it, and you’ll be responsible for the consequences if something happens.”
“Okay!”
“When others ask later, you will say that Xiao Zhong was left behind, so Yin Ren went back first to find him after waking up. For the rest, we’ll discuss it when we get back to Shian,” Fu Xingchuan said as he lay calmly on the ground.
Zhong Chengshuo squatted down next to his head, and his face was full of doubts.
“I’ll be in a coma for ten minutes. I need a break.” Minister Fu closed his eyes bitterly.
……
Haigu, Municipal Hospital, a certain ward.
The old man looked out the window.
It was late, and the appearance of the house was more clearly reflected than the scene outside the window. The glass window became a half-mirror, reflecting a wrinkled, aging face.
“That guy acted without authorization again.”
He hissed at his own image.
“That guy has been disagreeing with your approach for a long time. Is it okay to let him come over now?”
The old man’s mouth opened and closed, but the image on the window remained motionless.
“The inferior product got out of control, and the mountain town was destroyed. The tragedy spreads among the people… It was obviously an excellent opportunity to test our ‘theory’, but it swallowed the inferior product directly. I know that Gensheng Town is its territory, but—”
The image watched him silently.
“…Okay, I admit, its power is indispensable.” The old man snorted coldly. “Will Sunken Society give this up? Let ‘Ms. Qi’ handle this mess herself..”
After Qi Xin said this, the only remaining body fragments made a sizzling sound as they became more transparent in the air and were about to disappear.
The speed of the vortex in the sky gradually slowed down, and the surrounding mist was thinned by the evening wind. The remnant Evil Force dissipated, becoming weak and broken, transforming into rich but ordinary evil qi.
Yin Ren was floating in midair. He left a few circles of the red rope around his body so that Zhong Chengshuo wouldn’t fall. He finally had time to heal the wound on his shoulder, and when the high tension was relieved, Yin Ren realized that his throat was dry and cold sweat had permeated his back.
Thousands of years ago, he had never seen such a weird opponent.
The “thing” that Qi Xin ate just now smelled a bit like an Evil Spirit, and it was very likely that that was the original target of her trip—a crappy imitation of the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi, an evil thing that could transform into an Evil Spirit.
But it was devoured by Qi Xin as if it were bread.
Judging by Qi Xin’s tone just now, if it weren’t for “other mysteries” of his own situation, Yin Ren might have also become Qi Xin’s meal.
What exactly was this “woman” who was mixed into their team? What was her position and purpose?
…No, it was better to send this heavyweight trouble away first.
With his head full of problems, Yin Ren instinctively held his breath and watched Qi Xin, who was about to disappear.
Zhong Chengshuo: “Miss Qi, your approach isn’t appropriate.”
The Qi Xin fragment that was about to disappear stopped fading. The remaining eyeball fragment turned, and its pupil stared at Zhong Chengshuo. Yin Ren choked on his saliva and started coughing.
“You didn’t explain anything to Yin Ren.” Zhong Chengshuo calmly pointed out. “And the so-called ‘Mr. Qiu’… The ‘surname Qiu’ isn’t a common name, but there are still many people who possess it—about 200,000 to 300,000 men. How can you expect us to be careful?”
Qi Xin: “……”
“If you hope for Yin Ren to be safe and survive, I suggest you give us clearer information.” Zhong Chengshuo straightened his glasses as he held the sampling bottle tightly in his hand.
After fighting for so long, Qi Xin looked at Zhong Chengshuo solemnly for the first time.
“You’re also a little interesting. No wonder you can act with ‘him’.” She spat out the words from her broken mouth, unknown how she was able to make a sound. “Don’t you have the most basic fear?”
Zhong Chengshuo didn’t answer and just had a look of “Let’s get down to business” on his face. Yin Ren froze in place, not knowing whether he should intervene or not. He awkwardly tightened the red rope again, in case Zhong Chengshuo accidentally offended the powerful figure in front of him.
Fortunately, Qi Xin didn’t make another move.
“Teach you step by step? I don’t want to betray my own kind for the time being,” she replied calmly.
“I gave you enough hints. The rest is up to you. If this cub doesn’t live up to expectations, it won’t be useful when it grows up.”
Yin Ren looked at her numbly.
The answer was correct. He was really indefatigable. He didn’t want to go out looking for trouble to find out all the details!
Lord Ghost King couldn’t wait to go home with one click, wrap himself up in a blanket, and have a big fight with Mr. Zhong about “acting safely”. He didn’t care about the truth, the big picture, or justice; he couldn’t benefit from any of them anyway.
He just wanted to check in to work in the new era and enjoy his life without provoking anyone. Was this too much to wish for?
But Yin Ren had the same premonition—if he dared show anything, he would spend the night in Qi Xin’s stomach.
So Yin Ren frowned and froze himself into an unfathomable statue.
Qi Xin’s remaining eyeball was still staring at Zhong Chengshuo. “But in order to reward your bravery, you can ask me a question—a question that has nothing to do with Yin Ren or me. I will answer according to my mood.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s originally calm face instantly wrinkled. There were too many mysteries in the whole matter. Yin Ren would be the head of that science post, and there was probably an extra copy of “One Hundred Thousand Whys”.
Fortunately, in terms of seeking knowledge, he could rest assured since it was Zhong Chengshuo.
“What is an ‘Evil Spirit’?” Zhong Chengshuo said as he raised his eyes.
A simple and general question but was surrounded by a myriad of mysteries.
Qi Xin smiled.
Although her left eye and lower jaw were only left, the smile still looked obviously weird.
“A stillborn.” Her voice was fluttering and faint, slightly hoarse. “…In terms of the concept of humans.”
As soon as her voice fell, Qi Xin’s fragments completely disappeared.
She had left.
Under the orbit of the circular loop, only Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were left staring at each other.
“I tested it just now. Fu Xingchuan is watching us.” Perhaps it was because Yin Ren’s expression was really ugly that Zhong Chengshuo spoke first. “We have to figure something out.”
The ugliness on Yin Ren’s face instantly multiplied eight folds.
He was so focused on paying attention to Qi Xin that he completely forgot about that flying spear just now…His life crisis was not over yet!
“Will I look a little weaker if I faint now?” Yin Ren gasped in pain.
“No.”
……
Ge Tingting sat on the muddy ground, trying to keep her eyes wide open.
Night fell and the mist became thin. The evil things in Gengsheng Town continued to wander aimlessly, while the evil things that chased them from underground disappeared without a trace. If it weren’t for the messy ruins around her, she would almost suspect she just had a nightmare.
Things hadn’t improved.
Not long ago, almost all the townspeople in Gengsheng Town mobilized. Now there was no one in the area, and the entire mountain town was dark.
In the chaotic night, uncontrollable howls and shrill screams followed one after another as the elderly and children cried in despair together. Compared with the previous pursuit in a weird state, the current Gengsheng Town seemed more interesting—that was, it was a bit more human compared to an insane asylum.
Due to the weird situation, Ren Jiying gave up asking questions about Qi Xin’s whereabouts.
She scratched her hands on the sand a few times, reluctantly got up, and walked towards Li Nian. “What the hell is going on?”
This time, in addition to fear, there were obvious worries in her inquiry.
“Something had affected them before.”
Li Nian glanced at the large numbers returned by Shian. They had dropped quite a bit and were still rapidly falling at this moment.
“…Now that whatever it is has disappeared, the state of these people is close to being awakened from their sleepwalking, so panic is inevitable.”
In fact, he only said a few words to lighten the situation.
The “xenophobia” in Gengsheng Town had reached the point of disregarding the law. Such collective evil should have appeared in a real war. Judging by the corruption here, it was difficult to say how long these people have been corrupted.
This dream was too long.
In the “affected” state, people’s thinking would be completely different. Now that the influencing factors had suddenly disappeared, it was difficult for the brain to deal with such a gap. Not to mention, the previous townspeople turned a blind eye to the evil things in town, which may be part of the influence.
Not everyone was a science post, so for most mortals, it was like waking up in hell.
Ren Jiying’s reaction was fast.
“In other words, they don’t know where they are or what they are doing…” And there was no order around; only chaotic ruins.
“Yes.”
Li Nian picked up the phone. When the fog dissipated, he could immediately call for support from personnel in neighboring areas.
“Wait a minute.” Ren Jiying swallowed. “You have a lot of equipment. Do you have something that can amplify sound, like a PA loudspeaker?”
Li Nian’s movements stopped.
“I need to take responsibility for this place first.”
Even though she knew the townspeople couldn’t see her, Ren Jiying subconsciously brushed her short hair. Her face was covered in mud and ash, making her look quite miserable, and even her tone was full of uncertainty.
But she still spoke.
“If this continues, something may happen before support comes… I have to do something.”
Li Nian lowered his head. “It’s a pity we don’t carry such equipment.”
Ge Tingting breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the bloodstains from her face. She also didn’t have such an ability. If Fu Xingchuan was here, or even Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, perhaps they would be able to find a way…
Ren Jiying’s expression darkened. She held her arms out and sat quietly in the same place. Her eyes were more at a loss and desperate.
Fwish, fwish.
The soft sound of gravel rubbing against the soil was heard.
Ge Tingting subconsciously turned her head and faced Huang Jin, who was looking hesitant. The former Nightwalker had a flat face as he moved his butt a little uncomfortably.
“Why are you looking at me?” Sensing his teammate’s gaze, Huang Jin turned his head and muttered.
“You have a solution?” In the night, Ge Tingting’s AI voice was particularly clear.
“Shhhh!” Huang Jin gritted his teeth. “I can’t help. I just…”
He glanced at Ren Jiying again and muttered in bits and pieces, as if he were trying to convince himself. “Anyway, this is not within the scope of our work. They made us suffer so badly before… It’s none of my business…”
Amidst the constant ghostly howls, a normal person might not be able to make out the murmurs. Fortunately, Ge Tingting’s speech recognition system was made by Shian, and it was top-notch quality. Huang Jin’s muttering became text stacked up like mountains in front of Ge Tingting.
Ge Tingting silently stuffed the phone in front of Huang Jin, and the AI voice said loudly, “Oh!”
Even though he was covered by night, Huang Jin still flushed. “What’s the matter? Am I wrong?”
Ge Tingting didn’t say much and just blinked at him.
“No problem.” She lowered her AI voice. “Your abilities are yours. I didn’t ask for your position.”
They had been rolling in the mud for too long, and their kindness to others was extremely limited, but…
“As a senior, I want to say that if you really believe so firmly, you wouldn’t try so hard to convince yourself,” Ge Tingting continued in a low voice.
…But if they could abandon all their good will, neither of them would be here.
“Okay, I just don’t like her expression.”
Huang Jin looked at Ren Jiying from the corner of his eyes and scratched his hair vigorously. As a result, he had pulled so many roots out at once that he became terrified and abruptly stopped.
“I previously helped Ding Lizi come up with a sound-amplifying spirit device for her songs… It’s doable, but if we want to cover the whole town, we need to lay it throughout the town.”
Ge Tingting remained silent.
Her gaze moved away from the interpreted words, and her eyes widened slightly.
In the dust, something was struggling to crawl. After a while, dozens of bone birds with missing wings and broken legs circled above her head.
Not far from the two of them, Xian Jiang was hugging his knees, with two vague eyes showing through the gap between his bangs.
In the shadows, the disgust in those eyes flashed.
……
Ren Jiying’s voice exploded into the night. It passed through the fog and turned into radio waves and signals leading to the distant Haigu.
[Everyone, don’t panic… The mist is contaminated by a chemical leak from neighboring areas. It’s harmless to the human body but has a strong hallucinogenic effect…]
[The relevant staff will come soon and check on your health tomorrow… Their leader, Mr. Li, has already arrived and has a few words to say…]
The sound of the stereo was slightly distorted, but it was clear enough.
“What did you say?”
In the technical department of Sunken Society, Minister Zou roared in the communication.
“Yellow Millet, Snake Swallowing, and the ‘Imitation’, brought over hundreds of evil creatures with them. The town full of civilians is under lockdown… Now you’re telling me that Yellow Millet is missing, Snake Swallowing is out of control, and the Imitation has disappeared? And Shian has nothing to do with this?!”
“Let alone a hundred evil things; even if it’s a hundred pigs, shouldn’t they at least break one of Fu Xingchuan’s legs?”
“No, I don’t know… The Evil Force was too strong just now, so we can only record approximate data, and Shian can only pass through satellite…”
“Don’t bullshit me. Answer me!”
“Yes, they all seem to be fine.”
The person in charge of Unit 2 of the Technical Department’s face twisted into a bitter gourd as he tried desperately to explain.
“Before, we relied on Yellow Millet to suppress Snake Swallowing, but Yellow Millet seemed to have disappeared… As for that Imitation, there’s also a possibility of collapse. Just now, we detected a peak of Evil Force and there was an explosion…”
“Now that the townspeople are basically awake, we can locate Snake Swallowing. If we force it to use its talents, we might be able to incite violence and chaos…”
At the same time, on the stereo, the voices in Gensheng Town continued.
[…Thank you Professor Li for your explanation.] Ren Jiying hadn’t drunk water all day, so her vocal cords seemed as if they were being rubbed with sandpaper. Her voice was hoarse and unpleasant. [Most likely due to this case, some people may still be affected by hallucinations. Please stay safe…]
There was no echo from the loudspeaker.
The screams and cries became weaker, but they continued.
In the chaos, most people still chose to ignore her, just like they had done before.
[I know everyone doesn’t accept me. I know everyone trusts the old mayor more, as I only tell you to tear this or that down every day… I have not been accepted in the past few years…]
After a while, Ren Jiying’s voice sounded again.
This time there was no smile in her voice—only determination, revealing a trace of willful stubbornness.
Her speed of speech was getting faster, as if she was going to vomit out all her words.
[To be honest, I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, and I don’t know what will happen in the future, but the days have passed. In any case, we have to move forward…]
[This is also my hometown, so no matter what, I will definitely be here until the end, until I find a way out…]
[Please go home and rest immediately. If you have any concerns, we’ll talk in person tomorrow!]
“As long as Snake Swallowing can be located—” the researcher of Sunken Society wiped off his sweat and checked the data quickly.
“Wait, there’s a reaction from Yellow Millet!” Another researcher almost broke his vocal cords. “Great, as long as Yellow Millet obeys us… Eh? What is it doing?!”
Thousands of miles away.
Ren Jiying’s voice wafted over the mountain town, and following it, there were blurred and swirling colors. They were like snowflakes with only shadows.
Yellow Millet, a Class A-A evil creature, attacked in the form of cognitive manipulation, and was especially good at expanding emotional influence.
All it took was a seed in a person’s heart—a moment of sorrow, or a moment of peace of mind.
Under the night, the train stopped on the rails, and everything was silent.
Apart from…
“Puff.” Yellow Millet maintained its size as a marble and lay honestly in Yin Ren’s palm.
Yin Ren put his hands together, holding Yellow Millet solemnly.
“Minister Fu.”
Lord Ghost King’s voice was deep and sad.
“Does this count as confessing to receive a lighter sentence? It’s indirectly surrendering itself and gaining merit by confessing to its crimes, right?”
The author has something to say:
Qi Xin a riddler. Xiao Zhong doesn’t allow Qi Xin to be a riddler. Qi Xi insists on being a riddler. (ry
Yin Ren: Cosmic cat.jpg
Kinky Thoughts:
Arc is over. Summary below.
With high suspicion cast on them, Shian decided to assign an A-level mission, an execution mission, to Unit 9 in order to find out Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo’s true nature. They suspected that either one or both could be a plant, whether it was from Sunken Society or another force, and wanted to know what their motivation was for joining Shian.
Led by Xiang Jiang, the head of the Emergency Management Department, Unit 9 embarked for Gengsheng Town, which Shian believed to be a base of Sunken Society. As soon as they entered the town, they noticed many things amiss. There were many evil spirits lingering about, and the town was full of hostility that was chalked up to xenophobia. They stayed with the mayor of the town, who also seemed like an outcast from the town.
Their mission was simple. They needed to investigate the town’s mines in order to find out what Sunken Society was up to. In the following day, led by the mayor’s assistant, Qi Xin, they entered the mines that once made Gengsheng Town prosperous but now were dried up, leaving the town in shambles.
While in the mines, Yin Ren, Zhong Chengshuo, and Qi Xin fell into a trap, got separated from the other members of Unit 9, and were swallowed up into the depths of the mine. Minister Fu and Minister Li were following them closely behind in order to investigate and intervene when necessary. Eventually, they had to reveal themselves, as the trap that triggered was actually part of an evil being called Snake Swallowing.
Snake Swallowing started to chase the members that were swallowed underground, eventually forcing them to run into an unexplored area. Here, it was revealed that they encountered an Ant Nest; a place where Sunken Society conducted their experiments for many generations. There were murals on the walls that depicted what their goal was. Seeing those murals triggered Yin Ren’s memory, at which point he realized the figure in those murals was of him.
Here, we get Yin Ren’s backstory. He was once the famous Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi who was revered by everyone as a great exorcist who sealed away the 7 Evil Spirits. Shian mistakenly believed that the figure in the murals that controlled thousands of ghosts was part of the Evil Spirits, but in actuality it was Yin Ren.
Yin Ren had close ties with Huajisi, which was the ancient version of Shian thousands of years ago. He provided Huajisi with information about evil beings, which they then compiled into <The Book of Exorcism> which was passed on to the present day. Sunken Society also existed back then, but their goal was to obtain Yin Ren’s power.
The experiments they conducted in Gengsheng Town were basically to create an imitation of Yin Ren in order to harness his power and break the limits of humanity. Before Unit 9 could investigate further, they were chased by another great evil, Yellow Millet, which was actually Yin Ren’s sofa cushion in the past.
Meanwhile, on the surface, the other members of Unit 9 and Mayor Ren Jiying were being chased by the villagers. Something had influenced their xenophobia to the point where it reached an abnormal state, and they ignored the laws and wanted to kill them. Since it was against Shian’s principles to harm innocent civilians, they could only run and avoid.
Eventually the two separated teams meet, along with the two great evils, Yellow Millet and Snake Swallowing, and the influenced townspeople. Along the way, Zhong Chengshuo disappeared, leaving Yin Ren behind. When the two evils collided, Yin Ren knocked everyone unconscious and revealed himself. Yellow Millet finally recognized its old master and behaved obediently, while Snake Swallowing, seeing the tremendous power of Yin Ren, cowered in fear and ran away.
Yin Ren left with Yellow Millet to find Zhong Chengshuo and ordered Snake Swallowing to watch over and protect the members of Shian.
Meanwhile, Zhong Chengshuo went to find the source of all the corruption in the town and the thing responsible for controlling Yellow Millet, Snake Swallowing, evil things, and the townspeople. Eventually, he reached the railway loop at the center of the town and encountered the original mayor, who had now turned into a half-evil being.
We then finally learn the background of what happened to Gengsheng Town. Gengsheng Town used to be prosperous due to the rich mineral deposits in the mine. The mayor developed the town, eventually allowing it to reach its peak comparable to a big city. Everyone benefited from the prosperity but eventually prosperity dwindled. Due to the Divine Descent that happened 28 years ago, the mineral deposit dried up and the mining city no longer produced any goods.
The mayor, who was on the mountain at that time, was almost killed after being crushed by falling rocks, but Divine Descent saved him. This was his first step in turning into an evil being.
The townspeople, who once experienced prosperity, were unwilling to leave the dying town and begged the mayor to save it. Under intense pressure and the corruption of the Evil Force, the mayor eventually turned into half an evil being and was transformed into almost an Evil Spirit.
Using his similar aura as Yin Ren, he was able to confuse Yellow Millet and in turn, Yellow Millet’s power was able to control Snake Swallowing and influence the townspeople with its cognitive abilities. After Yin Ren’s death thousands of years ago, Yellow Millet went into the mines to sleep but was unknowingly captured by Sunken Society. Sunken Society wanted to create a Yin Ren and used the mayor that was contaminated by the Divine Descent to experiment on this, exploiting the mayor’s weakness of wanting to save his town.
It was then revealed that the town was simply a breeding farm for Sunken Society. Underground was where they conducted experiments in raising thousands of evil spirits along with Yellow Millet and Snake Swallowing, and they provided them with food that came from the corrupted town on the surface.
Things came to a head when the old mayor was taken away and it was revealed that Qi Xin was an extremely abnormal and powerful being of unknown origins. Her goal was to eliminate the mayor, who would become an Evil Spirit.
Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo had a great battle with her and managed to beat her with the help of Fu Xingchuan.
Now, some mysteries have been revealed while others arise, and Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo have to deal with Fu Xingchuan, who now knows about their true power.
His heart was just a mimicry, but the experience of being human was engraved deep into his bones, and all kinds of cognition were stubbornly rooted in his body.
Right now, the tips of Yin Ren’s tongue were numb, and his heart was about to burst. The broken arms recovered as before, but the pain lingered like a ghost.
Lord Ghost King didn’t have time to think about the safety of the world and its follow-up process. There was only one simple thought left in his mind…
He must live.
He was alone, and at that time, he felt unlucky. If he died, he died. When the seal was first broken, Yin Ren felt every day he lived was simply a bonus, like an exceptionally peaceful dream. If the heavens made him turn back into a pile of bones, he would just lie down and accept it.
But now it was different.
His wings clung to Zhong Chengshuo’s body tightly, like a dragon holding its treasures.
All the soft feathers on the remaining wing clusters exploded. Yin Ren’s black hair scattered and the red cloth around his body flowed like water. His face was slightly exposed from the flowing red cloth, and his red eyes were full of fighting spirit.
His thoughts were racing.
He couldn’t throw Zhong Chengshuo away—the enemy in front of him wasn’t like Kong Wanqing’s kind. Zhong Chengshuo knew it wasn’t easy to change direction in mid-air, and he would become a human target.
Unable to use the wing ball for defense—purely in terms of strength, Qi Xin could easily penetrate his wings.
So he could only continue to fight.
“Let’s see, which child you are from.”
After the single blow failed, Qi Xin stopped her offensive.
With most of her neck cut open, a clear curiosity appeared on her face for the first time. Just looking at it wasn’t enough. She twisted her arms at an angle that no human could reach, and she suddenly stretched out and grabbed Yin Ren.
Bang!
It was like an explosion. With Yin Ren as the center, scarlet filaments erupted.
The gauze-like red cloth was instantly scattered into thousands of red ropes, each as thick as blood vessels. In an instant, they covered the entire world in crimson like fire.
Those suppressed Evil Force and destructive power turned into red ropes that intertwined with the air, creating a chaotic yet strange geometric beauty. Countless red ropes grew, intertwined, and bent. From a distance, they looked like a blooming flower with fine petals.
Unable to retain strength, but also couldn’t cause catastrophe. To unleash all the power, but also to compress it into a tiny space.
Yin Ren had never manipulated his Evil Force so finely. In the process of pulling, the familiar sharp pain returned again, as if his body seemed to be crushed into fine pieces.
All of this was just in half a second.
Qi Xin’s fingertips touched the red ropes before touching Yin Ren.
Swish!
The surrounding red ropes went crazy in an instant and entangled Qi Xin’s joints like snakes. Thorn-like things protruded out, and the out-of-control Evil Force all penetrated Qi Xin’s body.
Unfortunately, Qi Xin didn’t respond. She just moved her head and looked at the wrist bound by a red rope…
A red knife light flashed by.
Just in an instant, her right hand disappeared with a swish.
Qi Xin’s right hand and wrist were lopped off and fell to the ground. After a successful blow, Zhong Chengshuo retreated like lightning and jumped back above the red ropes.
Qi Xin’s brows twitched.
Zhong Chengshuo’s weight suddenly disappeared and Yin Ren thought he had fallen. Seeing that familiar figure, Yin Ren’s wings froze in the air, and his heart stopped in shock.
The three of them were at a high altitude above the circular loop, which was comparable to the top of a ten-story building. In the void, there were only countless thin ropes made out of magic.
Zhong Chengshuo crouched diagonally behind Yin Ren. His entire body stretched into a squat with a posture ready to go. There was only a red rope under his feet, but his body was as stable as a bud on a branch.
Zhong Chengshuo took out a sample bag that was dangling behind his back and found there was no trace of damage on it. The Evil Fruit trembled endlessly in his hand, making a slight buzzing sound.
Seeing Yin Ren’s gaze, the man tilted his head, showing a look full of innocence.
…Does this guy have a death wish? Was that two minute cold war not enough?!
Yin Ren almost cursed out his lungs. He clenched his teeth, and with a suffocating breath, the brilliance of various spells ignited around him.
Curses, ghosts’ spells, illusions, enchantments. Techniques of different systems were all matched in pairs and varied, forming a rotating eight-trigram formation behind him.
The setting sun sank behind the dilapidated building, and the bloody mist rose again. Between tens of millions of red ropes, countless dull radiances rose one after another and finally became chaotic gray and black.
“…Nothing new.”
The curiosity on Qi Xin’s face faded a little as she retracted her broken wrist.
“Forget it… No matter whose child you are, I’ve found you, and you’re mine now.” She gave a twisted smile, with almost all her teeth exposed. “It’s rare that I can have a good meal today.”
She wiped the blood from the corners of her mouth and narrowed her eyes.
It was like a bomb had been detonated. The blood mist brought by Yin Ren was blown away in an instant. The surrounding red ropes were like frightened earthworms, squirming and fleeing.
Countless black droplets spurted out from Qi Xin’s broken wrist, and they ejected at the two of them like bullets. The air suddenly became thick with mucus, and a heavy sense of oppression fell from the sky.
Yin Ren’s head buzzed. He was extremely familiar with this process. If the power gap was too large, as long as the prey was subdued by the overwhelming power, the next step would be to be eaten.
He gritted his teeth and commanded the red ropes to resist with difficulty. His control was truly unskilled, and he was half a beat slower, missing some fish that slipped through the net and they passed through his rope shield. Zhong Chengshuo was splashed on his arm and didn’t respond. On the other hand, half of Yin Ren’s shoulder was exposed to the liquid droplets, turning into a sieve in an instant.
Fortunately, although the sense of oppression was strong, it was unexpectedly tolerable.
This time, Yin Ren didn’t care about his bloody shoulders. He directly drew out all the gushing blood and used it to strengthen the countless magic arrays behind him.
Zhong Chengshuo didn’t seem to notice the “oppression” in the air at all. “…Are you okay?”
Then he didn’t forget to add, “It’s been two minutes. I can talk to you now.”
Yin Ren: “……” Either this person was really bold, or he was completely unaware of the seriousness they were facing right now.
Yin Ren: “I can’t die.”
At the moment he turned his head to answer, hundreds of spells behind him activated at the same time, hitting Qi Xin like a meteor shower. Hundreds of rays of light turned into sharp arrows, causing the mist to swirl, almost like a tornado.
Zhong Chengshuo reacted at a speed that wasn’t human. He jumped out almost at the same time, hiding himself behind countless brilliance.
With such a move, Yin Ren really did save the strength to protect him.
The advantages of a top science post were highlighted at this moment—Zhong Chengshuo’s aura completely disappeared. Not to mention Qi Xin; even Yin Ren, who was a spellcaster, couldn’t find him.
Qi Xin’s body was suddenly overwhelmed by countless lights.
……
Just a few kilometers away from the battle between the three, Fu Xingchuan was sitting on the roof of an abandoned building. His complexion was abnormally ruddy, and a piece of talisman paper full of charms was attached to his brows.
The pupils of his eyes flicker between bright gold and dark. There were two deep cuts on the palm of his hands, and countless blood beads flew out of his wounds…
Not far from Fu Xingchuan’s side, the blood beads were torn into countless blood-covered threads that intertwined with each other endlessly and condensed into a red and black spear. The spear emitted an ominous, dark light and made a raving noise in the air.
“Those two brats… Not only did they hold back, but they also left behind the thousands-armed Guanyin*.”
*In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara, also known as Avalokitasvara, is a bodhisattva who contains all the compassion of all Buddhas and is the principal attendant of Amitabha Buddha on the right. He has 108 avatars, one notable being Padmapani (lotus bearer). In Chinese culture, he’s depicted in a female form and is known as Guanyin. || In this context, Fu Xingchuan is referring to how Yin Ren’s ropes look like Guanyin (with his thousands of ropes looking like arms, which is similar to how Guanyin is sometimes depicted) That and also his strength that’s like a god.
Thinking that he had given these two special training before, Fu Xingchuan gave himself a self-deprecating laugh.
He simply felt a yearning for a vacation.
Minister Fu groaned. Seeing the blood on his palm gradually diminishing, he took out a bag of blood with his name written on it. After tearing it apart, the blood in it floated up by itself and continued to melt into the spear.
The forbidden technique of using living human blood was the strongest move that Minister Fu could currently use.
It stood to reason that this technique would drain all of the caster’s blood, which would be regarded as a “life-threatening blow” in a literal sense.
Fortunately, modern humans had perfect blood-drawing equipment and preservation technology. In addition to the longer preparation time required, this technique could keep him alive even if he used it. After the first pack of blood ran out, Fu Xingchuan fumbled and tore open a second pack. His hands were busy, but his eyes were elsewhere.
Through the heavy fog, Fu Xingchuan stared intently at the battlefield not far away.
This wasn’t a battle that his “weak self” could join head-on.
As a veteran of Shian, Fu Xingchuan’s judgment in combat level was always excellent. As a normal human, getting involved in a battle of three monsters at this time was tantamount to courting death.
Leaving aside the inexplicable Qi Xin, Fu Xingchuan couldn’t even see through Yin Ren’s strength.
Spells were no better than science. Even if one were a genius, it would take a long time to accumulate such knowledge, technology, and combat experience. There was no possibility that this young man was in his early twenties.
If Yin Ren was an evil thing, most likely he was quite old and could successfully avoid the screening and identification process of Shian, so Fu Xingchuan couldn’t infer his strength.
As for Zhong Chengshuo, this kid was even more outrageous—even if Yin Ren and Qi Xin were two people of unknown origins, Zhong Chengshuo’s grades from elementary school could be found. God knew how this kid mutated into this.
Oh, and this guy and Yin Ren were “in love”.
What a complete mess. Fu Xingchuan only felt that his brain had borne a burden that it shouldn’t bear, and he wanted to rush to the edge to “stop the operation” several times.
What a pity that he didn’t bring along Li Nian so the two could suffer together. Fu Xingchuan turned his head and glanced faintly at the blood spear that was being completed. The #1 Ghost General looked sad, as if hoping this spear would simply take him away.
He would continue to sit on the mountain and watch as the tigers fought.
Fu Xingchuan rubbed the blood spear that was gradually forming. The evil qi on the spear’s body became deeper, and the tip of the spear was pointed at Qi Xin’s head.
Before the execution mission was over, as long as the two of them weren’t detrimental to Shian, no matter what kind of origin they were or what kind of strength they had…
As a boss, he had the obligation to protect them.
A few kilometers away.
The glow of the spells dissipated, and Qi Xin was still standing in the same place. After eating nearly a hundred of Yin Ren’s spells, she was completely unscathed.
In response, Yin Ren was expressionless. He inserted one hand into the wound on his shoulder, using his five fingers as a pen and blood as ink. Larger and more dazzling techniques gradually took shape behind him.
Zhong Chengshuo was rarely distracted, but he gave Yin Ren a deep look. It was hard to tell what emotion was going on in those dark eyes of his.
“It’s all mediocre goods. Give it up.”
Qi Xin put away her exaggerated smile and bent her body slightly. Amidst the sticky sound of blood and flesh ripping apart, one of her eyeballs stretched out of her eye socket like a snail and stopped in front of Yin Ren.
In the next instant, only a whooshing sound was heard, and the eye was cut off by the Evil Fruit. Zhong Chengshuo used his backhand to grab it and quickly stuff the eyeball into a sampling bottle.
Qi Xin: “……”
She flashed back, avoiding the Evil Fruit that swung again.
Being a powerful, nonhuman thing, an inevitable trace of “Is there something wrong with you?” appeared on her face. This fragile human was constantly dangling in front of her, as annoying as a buzzing fly.
A pure black bead condensed from Qi Xin’s fingertips, but before her fingers moved, Zhong Chengshuo was like a bird with a broken wing—he suddenly fell from the air.
His fall was so sudden that Yin Ren and Qi Xin both lowered their heads at the same time. At this moment, a strong wave of power exploded in the distance and rushed towards them.
A blood spear broke through the air and landed right into Qi Xin’s temple.
An orthodox technique from Shian.
In the blink of an eye, Yin Ren instantly understood Zhong Chengshuo.
Indeed, this person had noticed their own small actions and anticipated what Shian might do.
Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t the object that he wanted to protect. This guy was also an extremely cunning hunter.
Yin Ren sighed slightly, and his heart moved.
This time, it wasn’t magic that was activated.
As Zhong Chengshuo fell, the blood spear struck. Qi Xin didn’t lose her fighting power, but she was distracted momentarily.
In that short moment, with a buzzing sound, all the red ropes in the space straightened.
A breakthrough was exactly what he needed.
Half of his body was stained with blood, and the red cloth was so dark that it almost turned black. Yin Ren’s complexion was pale, his pupils were dilated, and his breathing and heartbeat stopped.
From the beginning, he was sure Qi Xin wasn’t an opponent that he could defeat by magic. As a nonhuman being, her control over power and aura was terrifying.
But the Evil Fruit had cut her neck and her hand, and she wasn’t able to recover afterwards. For some reason, Qi Xin wasn’t good at dealing with physical attacks.
This could be some kind of restriction, and it was also his only chance to seriously injure his opponent.
Under the cover of countless spells, Yin Ren became crazily familiar with the operation techniques of these “red ropes of Evil Force”. Forcibly controlling those powers was like tearing out the nerves in his own head.
Fortunately, he had long been accustomed to pain.
In the “all-or-nothing” spell bombardment, time passed little by little. The red ropes used for assistance were stretched into murder weapons with sharp edges like blades. Once he caught a flaw, Yin Ren didn’t leave Qi Xin any time to react. The red ropes twisted towards her from all directions.
Qi Xin let out a “huh”.
There was a crackling sound of flesh and blood being separated.
The red rope gathered together, and Qi Xin’s body was twisted into palm-sized pieces. There were no bones or flesh in the broken section—just a translucent black substance.
Immediately afterwards, all the red ropes withdrew. Yin Ren wasn’t careless. He panted as he concentrated all his strength and wrapped layers of barriers around himself. The “falling” Zhong Chengshuo shot out a transparent steel wire from his hand and neatly jumped back onto the red rope.
He smiled jerkily at Yin Ren.
Yin Ren gave a weak smile back.
While the red ropes were entangled, Yin Ren stretched out his blood-stained right hand and swung it down like a slash.
When the qi exploded, it sent fragments of Qi Xin everywhere—at least they weren’t covered with corruption. As for the aftermath, that would be Shian’s headache.
However, Qi Xin’s fragments remained motionless. They continued floating in midair in their separate forms.
After receiving such a severe injury, Qi Xin’s aura wasn’t even slightly disturbed. Strangely enough, her hostility disappeared.
A few seconds later, as if to express a “truce”, some fragments fell to the ground and disappeared like melting snow. In the void, Qi Xin only kept one eye, a mouth, and a hand.
Yin Ren put away his performing hand, and his heart almost froze.
…This situation only represented one thing.
The “Qi Xin” in front of them was most likely just a controlled puppet, or a division from the main body. This kind of technique wasn’t uncommon, but with Qi Xin’s terrifying strength, they had some preconceived ideas.
At present, it seemed that the destruction of the body would not cause damage that their opponent would “care” about.
“While applying spells as a cover up, you arranged your ultimate move? You weren’t suppressed by my aura and still had leeway to focus on multiple objectives…”
“Ha… Haha… So that’s how it is…”
On the jaw fragment that still remained, her mouth gradually curled up—the smile was almost genuine.
“’You’ are still alive. No… No, it should be said, ‘You’ are back… I knew it would be like this…”
“You have to grow up quickly. Come back soon and kill us well.”
Lu Xiaohe kept moving the miniature screen, looking at the jumping data on the screen with her face covered in sweat.
“Hao Wenzhe, Lu Xiaohe, continue to investigate and try to locate the controller.”
Before they left the Ant Nest, Li Nian had instructed them.
The real-time judgment of the front line was handed over to Hao Wenzhe, while Lu Xiaohe’s head swelled up to the size of a basketball as she assisted with the data. The reaction screen of the evil qi in Gengsheng Town became like a sieve, with dense red dots pressing against each other on the terrain map, enough to make someone with agoraphobia faint on the spot.
They varied in size, flickering on and off and disappearing one or two at a time, making the entire screen chaotic and disorderly. Lu Xiaohe stared at it for a few minutes and felt her eyes blur.
“It’s the usual methods of the technical department from Sunken Society. Stimulate specific large-scale evil things, causing chaos in the evil qi to throw all the evil spirits into disorder.”
Hao Wenzhe wiped his nose and stared at the screen with both eyes.
“At this level of confusion, only close-range detection is reliable. Satellite images can only reflect part of the situation—you have to make your own guesses.”
Lu Xiaohe “Nn” twice.
She did have aspirations for promotion and salary increase, and she was also willing to challenge difficult problems, but since the establishment of Special Investigation Unit 9, she had a feeling of “over-eagerness” as if fate were pulling her scalp towards the sky.
The difficult tasks in recent months were almost more than her previous years combined.
Lu Xiaohe looked at the screen numbly. On the black screen, those blood-bead-like red dots were still leaking out… What was the C-level investigation team next door doing? Oh, right, they were investigating a mysterious blockage of the sewers in the community.
She thought the execution mission would be tricky, but she was too naïve.
Suddenly, a huge red dot disappeared.
Lu Xiaohe rubbed her eyes, thinking she had read it wrong. The dispersal of evil things required a process. Even if Fu Xingchuan personally took action, he couldn’t just make the enemy disappear instantly.
In less than ten minutes, the next one also suddenly disappeared.
Lu Xiaohe’s back went cold as she slid a chair to Hao Wenzhe’s side. As a result, before she could speak, Hao Wenzhe blocked her again without raising his head…
“It may be that the evil qi index exceeded the limit, causing the instrument to malfunction. Those evil things are too powerful. The only thing that can reach this kind of effect is to change the limit, ahem, Evil Fruit.”
“But the Evil Fruit must be paid with a human life. It’s impossible for us to miss such a group of ‘suiciders’. Shian’s operation is nearby. It’s meaningless to show up at this time.”
Lu Xiaohe opened her mouth.
…Maybe the other party has calculated this?
But this wasn’t the time to delve into things. She rubbed her temples, and the ever-changing data crackled in her eyes.
By simplifying the model of the change in evil qi concentration and the movements of the evil things, along with using AI-assisted analysis, she could probably determine the approximate direction of the impact. It was just that it took time for her to get a relatively certain value.
Lu Xiaohe adjusted the communication channel. Considering the battle of the top powerhouses couldn’t be distracted, she tried her best to remain silent.
But wasn’t it too quiet now?
A group of people in Gengsheng Town broke through the ground, and the sound of distorted signals could be heard endlessly. During this period, there was the whistling sound of wind brought by the levitation spell, and there were small noises from the activities of the crowd.
But after a jolt just now, the wind stopped.
While Lu Xiaohe was still reacting, Hao Wenzhe had already mercilessly applied electrical stimulation—of course, mainly targeting the three members of the Emergency Management Department.
“Headquarters, answer!” he yelled, furrowing his brows.
No one answered.
Hao Wenzhe poured half a cup of coffee fiercely as he tapped his fingers on the keyboard. Lu Xiaohe turned the chair around and saw that he had changed the indicator under the words “Fu Xingchuan” to the highest level and pressed the electric stimulation button again.
Lu Xiaohe: “……”
Under the extremely strong electrical stimulation, Fu Xingchuan’s channel made a few rough gasps.
“Headquarters,” Hao Wenzhe repeated.
Fu Xingchuan didn’t answer. He was short of breath, and his body temperature rose abnormally. After a while, the noise disappeared again, and Shian’s “#1 Ghost General” seemed to have lost consciousness again.
“Fu Xingchuan has fallen… The unsuspecting ultra-close range enemy attack started quickly, hitting all the staff. Fu Xingchuan woke up but didn’t say a word. This is good news—at least they aren’t dead yet.”
Hao Wenzhe’s eyes were glued to the electrical stimulation level.
“Most likely, this kind of attack is from a mole. The execution task is like this, so there’s no surprise this time.”
Lu Xiaohe pursed her lips.
“Aren’t there two outsiders acting together?” she asked hopelessly. “It could be those people…”
Hao Wenzhe didn’t answer directly. “Continue to check your data.”
After this, he pressed the electrical stimulation button again.
Lu Xiaohe turned back to the screen wall dejectedly and continued tapping on the keyboard.
She couldn’t help but think of the Archive mission before.
Zhong Chengshuo was dressed as if he was going to survive in the wilderness, and Yin Ren was wearing a t-shirt with “Most Troublesome” written on it. One had a serious expression while the other looked cheerful—both of which were rarely seen straightforward and pure, without any of the darkness of twists and turns.
…Among the two, was there really a traitor who didn’t like Shian?
Finding herself distracted, Lu Xiaohe pinched her thigh and focused on the data again.
It didn’t matter if she looked at it, but when she glanced over, she almost flew out of her chair.
[Fluctuation of evil qi in the area of Gengsheng Town: 6,745.23fR]
[Stable evil qi value within a radius of 2km in the center of the town: 2562.12~2574.38fR]
The latter was very close to the “stable evil qi value ≥3000fR” index that was that of an Evil Spirit.
Almost at the same time, a series of painful gasps appeared in the Shian’s channel.
“Tsk.”
Fu Xingchuan’s gasping voice came through.
“Why are there two missing?”
……
After Fu Xingchuan regained consciousness, he woke up Li Nian—he pulled out Professor Li’s thermos and poured out all the water in the cup on his partner’s face. Professor Li opened his eyes faintly, seeing two swollen goji berries still sticking to the bridge of his nose.
He glanced at Fu Xingchuan coldly, took out the medicine pack skillfully, and discharged six doses of a soothing awakening agent.
In the process, Li Nian quickly figured out the current situation.
Yellow Millet and Snake Swallowing disappeared along with the evil creatures into the mist. Only the high-raised ruins were left around them. The thick mist shook with the wind. The townspeople were also gone, and no one had approached them for the time being.
Just looking at where they fell, they were probably stunned by the collision of the two powerful evil creatures and had fallen to the ground under Fu Xingchuan’s protective barrier.
…But the number of people was wrong.
Except for Zhong Chengshuo, who had already left the team, their team had lost two more people.
Li Nian raised the syringe calmly.
Ren Jiying was the first to wake up after. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Professor Li’s wet face. Well, the mayor had seen such big scenes that she held back the scream in her throat.
Ren Jiying got up awkwardly, turned her head, and eagerly scanned the unconscious people around her.
“What’s going on? Shouldn’t she be with you?”
The new mayor swallowed. Her forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat, and her hair stuck to her skin in a mess.
“…Where’s Qi Xin?”
Li Nian continued to inject medicine into his own staff. “She was still there just now, right by your side. Maybe she fell—”
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Ren Jiying’s trembling lips.
“By my side?”
Ren Jiying’s face turned pale, and her eyes widened slightly.
“The girl by your side. She’s wearing a small suit with her hair up in a bun… Isn’t that the one you sent over?’
“Qi Xin is in her forties, very fat, shortsighted, and has curly hair. Since you were going to the mine this morning and I had work, I let her guide you.”
She said tremblingly.
“Who are you talking about just now?”
Fu Xingchuan frowned.
After the underground meeting, Xiang Jiang briefly reported. When they woke up, Qi Xin was waiting for them at the homestay, as Ren Jiying had already gone to work, so they didn’t appear at the same time.
Seeing so many weird scenes in the underground at the Ant Nest, the girl had always remained calm—that was beyond a level of courage. Her calmness was more like “indifference” rather than because she was “brave” or “slow”.
But she was a partial science post and there was no evil qi or Evil Force on her, and she showed no hostility towards them. Fu Xingchuan had been fighting in chaos for many years, so he still possessed insight.
…She was like a detached observer.
The previous situation was urgent, so Fu Xingchuan simply thought she was strange. Now looking back, all her actions seemed to have changed.
Who was “Qi Xin”?
Or rather, what?
In the end, Minister Fu didn’t answer Ren Jiying’s anxious question. He just raised his head and looked at the mist-covered sky.
The red light of dusk disappeared, and the other side of the mist was darker than night. There was something more in the thick fog, and the touch was cold and sticky, making people breathless. The environment was obviously much calmer than before, but this calm was particularly terrifying at this time.
“Hao Wenzhe, report on the evil qi index.”
Fu Xingchuan stood up with a cough and patted the dust off his tunic.
“Li Nian, you and me…” He suddenly paused. “You and Xiang Jiang stay here to ensure the safety of the rest.”
Professor Li put away the empty syringes. “You’re going alone?”
His words were more like a statement than a question.
“Nn.” Listening to the terrifying readings in his headset, Fu Xingchuan wiped the dust from his face. There was no smile; only solemnity.
Li Nian knew what this expression meant—it meant that Fu Xingchuan was uncertain about the current situation, and this situation was enough to put their lives in danger.
“I see.” Li Nian nodded. “Keep in touch. Go and come back.”
Fu Xingchuan didn’t answer him.
The #1 Ghost General threw a pill in his mouth and rose into the air.
……
Near the circular loop, Zhong Chengshuo neatly climbed onto the top of the train. He was just about to raise his head when something soft fell beside him from the sky.
Yin Ren slid down from Yellow Millet. Under the red cloth, he was flat-faced and made a gesture to Yellow Millet. “Take it.”
Yellow Millet hurriedly shrank to the size of a marble and was stuffed into his pocket. In the next second, layers of protective shields unfolded around the two, and countless runes were scattered and arranged, almost turning into the “rings of Saturn” with the two as humanoid planets.
Zhong Chengshuo recognized his lover at a glance. “Yin Ren.”
Yin Ren: “Two minutes. Don’t talk to me.”
“Oh.”
Yin Ren was silent for a few seconds, feeling that this person probably couldn’t understand his implication, so he could only add bitterly, “I’m angry. Very angry with you.”
Sure enough, Zhong Chengshuo showed a look of surprise and puzzlement, which was as irritating as he thought.
And under the confusion, the person really didn’t speak, so the degree of his irritation doubled.
…But this wasn’t the time for their first quarrel.
Under the layers of red cloth seals, Yin Ren stretched out his finger and pointed towards the center of the circular loop.
In front of the two of them, a vortex suddenly swirled in the sky. The mist gathered into water droplets and fell to the ground with a splash. The dense fog seemed to have been dug out, and the scenery was inexplicably clear.
Uncomfortably clear.
A black vortex stirred up in the sky, and under it was the source of the “sense of peeping”.
Qi Xin floated in mid-air.
She was still the same as when they first met her, in a slightly ill-fitting work suit and spotless cheap leather shoes. A few strands of hair floated across her pale face, sticking to the black blood on her lips.
Qi Xin watched the two quietly.
She leaned forward slightly, holding a black and red thing in her hands.
It was a dirty red blanket, already soaked in black blood. There were rotten and swollen limbs scattered around the edge of the blanket, and sticky, dirty blood was flowing down from those lifeless limbs.
Zhong Chengshuo’s pupils shrank suddenly—the body in the blanket shouldn’t have been so thin.
On the edge of the dirty red blanket, a small, half-dilapidated body was exposed.
In front of them, “Qi Xin” lowered her head indifferently and bit the edge of the bloody flesh. Her mouth wasn’t the size of a human, as she bit off a piece of meat the size of half a head in one bite.
It was like the flesh wasn’t something that once belonged to a human but a bloody marshmallow full of air.
Inhuman eyes and a forward-leaning body. Although the age and gender of the two objects in front of him didn’t match at all, Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t help but be reminded of a dark oil painting.
*Painted by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It’s traditionally interpreted as a depiction of the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus (also known as Saturn in Roman mythology) eating his own offspring.
When she was with them, Qi Xin’s eyes were always dull. Now the plainness was torn apart, and inside was a creepy emptiness and indifference.
The bone bells on Yin Ren’s ankles rang frantically. One defense after another surrounded the two of them. His long, dark hair slid over his soft wings, ready to go at the edge of the red cloth.
He stared at the floating Qi Xin.
After living for thousands of years, he had never felt such a terrifying sense of oppression. If the “sense of peeping” was just a smashed rock, then what they were facing now was a towering mountain.
What was even more terrifying was that although Qi Xin’s body was thick with evil qi, to the point of almost boiling over, there was no trace of Evil Force leaking from her—the only remaining Evil Force undoubtedly came from her food.
Was there such a “thing” in this world?
The “weak” that came out of Dog Thing now seemed quite accurate. Yin Ren smiled bitterly in his heart—no wonder that guy was pretending to play dead. If he were Dog Thing and found such an existence by his side, he would definitely use all means to protect himself.
Not to mention he hadn’t regained all his power as an Evil Spirit. Even if he could use those powers freely, he may not be a match for the thing in front of him.
To Qi Xin, he was tantamount to a baby staring at a powerhouse. Although it was not an insurmountable gap, it was enough to make one despair.
They couldn’t even escape—with this power difference, if they showed their back to their opponent, they would only die faster.
That slender body that belonged to a woman exuded an intimidating aura that only belonged to the upper echelons. She may not be doing this deliberately, but vigilance already existed in the instinct of the weak.
Yin Ren subconsciously stopped Zhong Chengshuo behind him. The red cloth was already soaked in sweat, despite him looking quite calm.
The air almost solidified.
Qi Xin didn’t make a move. She swallowed the town’s former “protector” in front of them. Her eyes were clearly staring at the wreckage of the old mayor, but the strong sense of peeping never stopped.
She ate slowly and quite solemnly.
In less than half a minute, the blood-stained blanket fell from the sky, but before it could land, it suddenly disappeared without a trace.
As if it had been touched by the Evil Fruit.
After finishing her “meal”, she finally straightened her waist. Qi Xin followed the two people on the top of the train with her eyes and raised her bloody right thumb to slowly wipe her lips.
“You saw it.”
She was full of black blood as she spoke calmly.
Then she snapped her fingers, and the train stopped. Qi Xin stretched out her hand and pointed at Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren.
“Whoosh!”
The moment he felt the murderous aura, Yin Ren didn’t hesitate.
As long as they could buy time, at least one of them may be able to escape.
He left the heavy protection and condensed all the Evil Force he could use to the surface of his body, then rushed straight in Qi Xin’s direction. It was just that as Lord Ghost King took two steps, he suddenly realized that his feet had become a little heavy…
Zhong Chengshuo had firmly grabbed his wing mass with both hands and hung firmly onto him.
Yin Ren: “?!”
Unfortunately, Yin Ren had already taken off. Before Yin Ren’s exclamation could finish, the two were already rushing to Qi Xin.
It may be that she had never seen such a pair rushing to death that Qi Xin tilted her head slightly, with a vague puzzlement in her eyes.
But she didn’t plan to figure out the reason.
The woman raised her hand and poked Yin Ren quickly and fiercely. It was obviously a simple action, but the evil qi it brought was as strong as substance. The red cloth fluttered as Yin Ren formed a circle of bone rings engraved with runes on his arm, taking the abrupt blow.
The runes dimmed, and bone fragments were sent flying.
The heavy defenses suddenly broke, and the sound of bones cracking could be heard. Yin Ren’s arms were instantly broken. Amidst the pain, he gritted his teeth and quickly repaired the wound.
Qi Xin let out a soft, “Huh”.
As she was distracted, Zhong Chengshuo pressed Yin Ren’s wings together, and a red blade pierced her neck.
The Evil Fruit that was supposed to annihilate all evil beings was no different from a simple dagger at this moment. The bright red blade cut through the flesh and sank deeply into Qi Xin’s neck, almost to the bone.
Other than that, there was nothing else.
She didn’t disappear.
Qi Xin’s expression was slightly surprised. Her gaze flashed past Zhong Chengshuo as if he was a dragonfly, then continued to look at Yin Ren. Zhong Chengshuo stopped his hand decisively, and with a grunt, half of Qi Xin’s neck was sliced open by a sharp force.
Yin Ren separated his mass of wings, quickly caught his bold lover, and pulled him back behind him.
“Interesting.”
The wound on Qi Xin’s neck turned outward, revealing a translucent, dark gray interior without a single drop of blood flowing out. She looked at Yin Ren up and down until her gaze rested on his mass of wings.
“Let’s see, which child you are from.”
Kinky Thoughts:
Well, I did suspect there was something off with Qi Xin in the beginning, but I didn’t expect this.
Zhong Chengshuo was sitting upright in the middle of the carriage’s seat. The old man-like evil creature was half sitting, half leaning less than an arm’s length away from him. The window behind the two seemed to be a gray reflector.
Around the “reflector”, sheets of yellow talisman fluttered without wind. To the side of the talismans was covered in paper, making the carriage wall a little less creepy due to the pure, bright yellow.
Zhong Chengshuo twitched his nose as he used his feet to push away an obstructive steel pipe. After staying in the carriage for so long, the stench wasn’t as pungent as when he first smelled it.
He simply bandaged his wound, took out his glasses from his pocket, and carefully put them on.
“Higher… Higher…” The evil thing kept murmuring. It was tearing up and its cloudy eyes were looking at a point in the void.
Zhong Chengshuo took out a fountain pen from the sampling bag and spun the end of the pen. A tip poked out from the opening, revealing a hidden syringe. Hearing a soft grunt, the tranquilizer was injected into the neck of the evil thing.
Since it was considered a “Living Evil”, it would have a biological nature.
Sure enough, the old man shook in place for a moment. A few seconds later, he wrapped the blanket tightly around himself, and another confused look appeared on his face.
“Ah… I… Why…”
He curled his body. His eyes wandered from the ground full of townspeople and zombies, and finally stopped on his own deformed body. The old man opened his mouth and vigorously vomited on the ground.
However, all he vomited was transparent mucus.
“You… Who are you…?”
Retching for a few minutes, the old man asked in a daze.
“Official staff.” Zhong Chengshuo lightly flashed his blood-stained ID cards. “I’m here to deal with you.”
The old man’s face was full of wrinkles and tears. The astonishment quickly turned into deep sorrow. A few seconds passed, and his expression became dazed again.
“Tell me everything.” Zhong Chengshuo took out a small hard-cover notebook for recording and scratched the blade of the Evil Fruit with his thumb.
The old man panted for a while, and when he spoke again, his tone had a strange sense, as if he were tearing up and was speaking in a dream.
“Twenty-eight years ago, I was damned… When the mine collapsed, I was on the mountain.”
“Blood-red sky, a black vortex. Something hit me…”
Zhong Chengshuo opened his notebook and carefully recorded and analyzed it.
The Evil Fruit was placed on the page of the book as he flipped the gel pen between his fingers. His beautiful handwriting flowed onto the paper, succinctly recording the events described by the old man.
Divine Descent came into the world and disordered the evil spirits.
A strong and Evil Force fell from the sky, like invisible hail, stimulating the remaining evil things in the Ant Nest, causing the mine to collapse.
That was the beginning of their nightmares.
Back then, Mr. Evil, the old mayor, happened to be on the mountain. Rolling rocks caused by the quake almost crushed him in two. When he was on the verge of death, something extremely cold smashed into his internal organs, and the cold spread rapidly causing him to instantly pass out.
When the old mayor woke up, his injuries, which should have been fatal, were perhaps lighter.
But as a price, he began to experience severe pain, as if his body were being ground up into mincemeat. The pain felt like countless red-hot needles poking into his bones day and night.
The old mayor only regarded it as a sequela of his serious injuries. He kept prescribing analgesics to himself and continued to work conscientiously.
But there were many changes in him.
For example, he only needed to consume very little food. For example, he didn’t need to normally sleep. Despite that, there was an inexplicable hunger in his heart. Hunger and severe pain tormented him so frantically that reality took a sharp turn for the worse.
“That’s a good point, but the other party says they won’t sign the contract. Didn’t they say they could still work together for a few more years?”
“My family has taken out loans. Haven’t you read the news? Those people up there definitely value you. You have to find a way!”
“If the mine suddenly doesn’t produce anything, what are we going to do?”
……
“This isn’t the end of Gensheng Town, right?”
“How can it end so easily! Right, Mayor?”
At the beginning, everyone was optimistic.
The mine had enriched the people of the town, and every household had a surplus of food. The townspeople firmly believed that when the disaster passed and the sadness faded, the mines would continue to develop, and the former prosperity would surely return.
However, as time passed, panic gradually spread.
They were unable to find new mineral deposits, and investors were beginning to pull out. Companies withdrew, factories shut down, and shops fell to pieces. The townspeople could only pick up manual labor to make ends meet or sit and eat mountain air. The prosperity and happiness in those reports were like soap bubbles that popped the second before.
The circular loop repeated itself day in and day out, just like in the past. Its rumbling sound carried countless prides, but now there was only boundless sadness.
But the people couldn’t leave.
Their ancestors were born here and grew up here for generations. They were different from those “outsiders”, who simply came and went. Besides here, they had no other “home” to go back to.
The people once again turned their eyes to the old man; the man who once brought the mountain town to its peak.
“Think of a way…”
“It can’t go on like this…”
“Mr. Mayor, can you change this place back?”
The townspeople came to his door day and night, praying in vain.
No one wanted to point out the truth. Everyone knew the town was reaching its end—just like a terminally ill patient looking forward to a miracle while knowing such a miracle wouldn’t happen.
The mountains were too ugly due to the mining to become a natural landscape. The destroyed arable land couldn’t grow crops, much less raise specialty products. The built real estate couldn’t be rented out, and it would cost too much to demolish them.
And even if they were removed, there was nothing to fill the space.
The paint flaked off and the metal corroded. The supply of electricity and water became increasingly scarce, and the barren city slowly decayed in silence.
They couldn’t go back.
At the end of the year, Gengsheng Town finally welcomed new visitors—after measuring the situation in Gengsheng Town, the relevant project personnel brought a compensation agreement.
They asked the townspeople to leave and relocate en masse to a large town down the mountain. For the mess in the mine, the public government would be responsible for ecological restoration and reclamation.
But this process would take a very long time—long enough for a generation of old people to die in a foreign place.
In the midst of heavy snow, the other boot finally fell*.
*Metaphor that comes from the saying “waiting for the other shoe to drop”. It’s referring to deferring action or a decision until another matter is finished or resolved/awaiting a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable. (In this case, it means the latter).
The compensation wasn’t much, nor was it too little. If they were in the pre-development era of Gengsheng Town, most likely the villagers would’ve accepted it with enthusiasm. But the villagers of the current Gengsheng Town only showed confusion and despair.
Is it over just like this?
It was unknown who was the first to take up arms, but the project staff was eventually driven out—there was a mixture of desperation and hope on the faces of the townspeople, as if the town could be saved by driving away this person.
The mayor hurriedly came out to dissuade them but was surrounded by the out-of-control townspeople.
“Mayor, think of a way.”
“Do something…”
Countless eyes looked at him.
“This is our home.”
“I can’t live without my home!”
Countless hands stretched out to him.
“You’re so powerful. Look at the great city we have built.”
“If we all work together, there are no obstacles that we can’t overcome, don’t you think?”
Countless mouths were speaking to him.
Chaos and sorrow were like echoes, lingering in the crowd endlessly. The faces of the townspeople had stiff and uneasy smiles, but their eyes, which were no longer young, showed a little sadness.
…Familiar people, familiar scenes, but not familiar emotions.
Surrounded by the group of townspeople, the mayor vaguely saw the day when the first mine was successfully mined.
Every family set off firecrackers. Men, women, and children walked out of their low adobe houses, and laughter filled the town. They said that their future would definitely get better.
Perhaps it was because he didn’t take painkillers tonight that the pain inside him was burning like a prairie fire, heating him so hot that it made his brain boil.
“This is all temporary, right? Mayor… Mayor?”
Accompanied by huge sadness, countless fragments of information flooded the mayor’s mind. Something seemed to have broken in his body, and cold mucus flowed freely from his chest and abdomen. His internal organs seemed to be frozen and twisted into a ball.
The world was spinning, and everything in front of him melted like cream.
Countless thoughts converged into a torrent, whispering frantically in his head. They formed a cold and heavy stone mill, and the mayor could feel that his sanity was slowly being crushed by it.
I want to go back to the past. Such a good life has just begun… Slightly younger voices were buzzing.
Our ancestors were born here and died here for generations. Our roots have been entrenched here for hundreds of years… The thoughts of the old people were sticky and churning in his mind endlessly.
Yes… They watched their adobe houses turn into brick houses, and the brick houses turned into high-rise buildings that were only prevalent in the cities. The railway was opened, and the circular line was built. Gengsheng Town was like a teenager who was changing every year.
Everything was clear… It shouldn’t be like this…
Why?
Helplessness, confusion, pain, bewilderment, and despair all rolled into a chaotic mess, eventually culminating in great sadness.
[I don’t want to disappear.]
They eventually merged into one voice. The voice was tormented and lost, sounding like his own, yet completely out of his control.
[I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear.]
The mayor who fell to the ground was supported by the townspeople. His eyes were extremely dull and the depths of his pupils were dimly red. He just looked at the land under his feet steadily, then suddenly vomited dirty blood from his internal organs.
The “Living Evil” was born.
For some reason, the mayor sensed something. There was something underground. Something rare and powerful, but extremely ominous.
It didn’t matter. As long as he could use those powers… As long as this place didn’t disappear…
The mayor closed his eyes. His hands became cold and were no longer human-like.
“We can go back in time.”
His thinking almost stagnated and his vocal cords vibrated of their own accord. His consciousness seemed to be divided into thousands of pieces and scattered among the villagers.
“As long as everyone… work together.” He heard himself say this.
In the hazy consciousness, the conversation continued out of his control. “I’ll let everyone live like they used to.”
Countless consciousnesses were entangled, and the expressions of the townspeople gradually became blank. Emotions of sadness and paranoia surged from all sides, blending with his own emotions.
It was like some of their emotions had been opened up and continued to circulate in this land, and he had become the heart of this huge cycle.
He could direct the flow of emotions and the strength and weakness of those emotions, slowly integrating the newly joined people—as long as they believed in him, respected him, and agreed with him.
A strange sense of peace of mind swept over the mayor.
Just like a drop of water that merged into the sea, relying on this common grief, they condensed into a huge, sturdy, and uncontradictory group.
No one could tear it apart.
This was a miracle, he thought in a daze. “Gengsheng Town” would definitely continue to exist.
……
“I see.”
The pen Zhong Chengshuo was holding didn’t stagnate, and he didn’t raise his head.
“Divine Descent happened, and the former mayor was severely corrupted by its Evil Force, turning into a half-evil thing. On the basis of being ‘widely known’, the people have placed a unified emotion… The birth method is somewhat similar to that of a ghost.”
“You in turn use this emotion to influence the evil things around and achieve the result of ‘driving them’.”
“But at that time, you didn’t look like this, did you? Did Sunken Society come into contact with you?” Zhong Chengshuo paused.
“They’ve been… observing me. Those painkillers I’m taking… What’s in them…” The old man said with difficulty.
“When I went underground to look for Yellow Millet, Sunken Society approached me… They told me a lot of knowledge… In exchange, I must continue to take medicine… and don’t interfere with… their actions…”
Zhong Chengshuo remained silent and wrote in his notebook: [Under the condition of Divine Descent, long-term use of Evil Force from a corruption source.]
The situation was clear.
Most of what the mayor found underground at the beginning were “dangerous evil things” that would be left behind by Sunken Society. As long as Yellow Millet used a little cognitive interference, naturally, the townspeople would see the “prosperity of the past” and continue to live in their fantasy.
As for the silent and sluggish evil things above ground, they were just by products of high concentrations of evil qi, which could then be used to raise the underground “army of evil beings”.
The underground was a research institute while the above ground was a breeding farm. The people in the meantime were probably the most insignificant part of this experiment.
“I just remember… this…”
Tears gushed out of the old man’s eyes again. The tone of his words was chaotic, as if he had suddenly forgotten how to express them.
“Hometown… My… hometown… My… I don’t want to disappear…”
Zhong Chengshuo closed his hardcover notebook. “26 minutes and 37 seconds.”
“Are you going to… kill me…”
The old man wrapped himself tightly in a blanket, but he couldn’t cover his rotting, weird limbs. They were scattered all over the ground, oozing sticky pus.
“But I still… don’t want to die… Everything just started… just… started…”
He didn’t know if this was the collective will or the mayor himself who was talking.
Those aging eyes flickered with a dim, hopeful brilliance. Through the decaying shadow in the mist, those eyes seemed to be staring at the past, revealing a trace of innocence belonging to the young.
Zhong Chengshuo remained silent.
He knew he should kill this thing.
When facing some evil things, he occasionally had a… strong intuition. It wasn’t derived from a biological instinct to seek profit and avoid harm, but more like some kind of subtle impulse.
Zhong Chengshuo put the notebook back in his backpack and replaced the Evil Fruit with an ordinary blade. Using the blade, he took part of the tissue from a relatively fresh strange limb. The evil thing sat stunned, without resisting.
When he finished all this, Zhong Chengshuo clenched the Evil Fruit tightly, but in the end, he let go.
Behind the lens, Zhong Chengshuo lowered his eyes and stretched out an empty hand.
The weak monster turned its head and looked at him in bewilderment.
“You used too much power that your cognition is unstable.” Zhong Chengshuo stared at an upside-down yellow talisman. “As a human, you’re too old. As a monster, you’re too young and unrestrained… You know your ending.”
For twenty-eight years, it lived here, slowly losing its human form. It lived clumsily, maintaining a deceptive illusion for its “believers”.
It was strong, but broken. It was collapsing silently, just like “sorrow” itself.
“Even if I don’t kill you, you’ll die soon.” Zhong Chengshuo calmly said his conclusion.
“…” The evil thing didn’t answer.
Its fighting spirit had long since disappeared, leaving only a tired gasp, like a weak little animal.
“If you’re really uncomfortable, you can hold my hand.” Zhong Chengshuo opened his hand and showed his palms. “…You used to be human, so it should have some effect on you.”
“I don’t want to disappear…”
“I understand.”
“I don’t want to disappear…”
“You will not disappear.”
“The people who live here will die and be forgotten, but you will always be here, and I will always remember you. Perhaps in the near future, countless people will know you, and you’ll be turned into data forever.”
“Maybe one day, someone will see your case and remember, ‘My ancestors lived here’.”
Zhong Chengshuo rubbed hard on the leather book with one hand as he explained solemnly.
“I don’t want to… disappear…”
In a weak gasp, a trembling strangle limb climbed into Zhong Chengshuo’s palm. It was dry and wrinkled, and it still had a trace of human temperature.
“Eventually, one day, this planet will be destroyed. All things are classified as nothingness and become other things again. You, and me too—we’ll all be scattered everywhere, existing in everything.”
In the rumbling sound of the rain, Zhong Chengshuo closed his hand.
“Your traces will always exist. You will not disappear.”
“No… I want to… Ah…”
The evil thing swallowed with difficulty for two breaths. The power of its body suddenly ignited like a flash, but it didn’t take this opportunity to attack.
It just turned its head with all its strength, and on its thin body, the oversized head turned to Zhong Chengshuo.
“…You…”
For so long, it made the first action that was close to “human”.
It smiled with difficulty.
“Ah… You… You are…”
The next moment, its sound dissipated in the air.
Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes widened suddenly.
He didn’t know when, but at some point a round hole appeared in the carriage window behind them. Before the evil thing could finish speaking, it was suddenly sucked away by the mouth of the hole, leaving only flesh and blood behind around the hole.
The turbid droplets slowly slid down the window glass, and the talismans in the carriage burned at the same time, turning into fine paper ash.
The two zombies standing quietly lost control and let out a hoarse roar. The brilliance of the Evil Fruit flashed. Zhong Chengshuo kicked the edge of the round hole, causing the window glass to shatter in response.
At the same time.
Yin Ren on Yellow Millet suddenly got up, and Fu Xingchuan in the ruins opened his eyes.
The mist gradually thinned, but the evening sky darkened. A huge black vortex gradually formed.
“…A sense of peeping.” Under the red cloth, Yin Ren bit his thumb nail.
“Tsk.”
Fu Xingchuan half sat on the ground, glanced around at “his companions” and took a deep breath.
On the circular line, the train shuttled through the fog. Its style was close to an old-fashioned subway, but it wasn’t as fast.
Zhong Chengshuo’s metal hook instantly hooked the joint between the carriages. He seized the right moment to jump and stick himself to the outside of the car. The Evil Fruit pierced deeply into the hard compartment wall. Zhong Chengshuo quickly bowed and smashed the corner of the glass window.
The tempered laminated glass was covered with cracks in an instant, then kicked in by King Yama.
If he was a metaphysician, then he would fall at this moment. The evil things inside the carriage were as dense as packed sardines in a can. As soon as Zhong Chengshuo kicked the car window in, a soft limb of some unknown person was exposed in the window by his forefoot.
However, Zhong Chengshuo didn’t notice it.
He neatly passed through the soft limbs and jumped into the carriage. The soft limbs that he passed through shivered and curled back up.
In Zhong Chengshuo’s dark eyes, the carriage in front of him was empty. The plastic seats on both sides were covered with unknown stains, and the pull ring holding the billboard swayed side to side following the vehicle’s movements.
The situation was almost the same as his speculation.
Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian weren’t opponents who could be easily dealt with. As long as their enemies still had brains, they would send physical evil beings there—most of the physical evil things weren’t weak. For example, Snake Swallowing or Yellow Millet.
Shian wouldn’t take the risks when the situation was unknown, let alone counterattack when the situation became unfavorable.
Taking a step back, the position of the science post personnel was more inclined toward “defense”, and there wouldn’t be much physical combat power left around the “evil thing behind the scenes”.
Zhong Chengshuo leisurely threw down Shian’s headset and crushed it with his feet. With the sound of a click, Shian’s last means of contacting him was also cut off.
The smashed headset was retrieved by Zhong Chengshuo, who stuffed it in his pocket, and he even zipped up the pocket to prevent the broken pieces from falling out.
Now, he wouldn’t be bothered by anyone—
Even if there was no physical evil thing, the residents of this town were insane, making it difficult to predict what method they would employ.
Blood red and milky white were intertwined as the fog somehow infiltrated the carriage. There was no barrier between each carriage, but the scene ten steps away was already submerged by thick fog.
There was now fog outside and inside the window, thinning out all colors like a bad dream.
There were old-fashioned LED scrolling screens installed between the carriages. The red light on the black background penetrated the fog as characters composed of red dots kept scrolling. Its content should have been daily notices and arrival reminders, but all it had was the same words that kept repeating themselves.
[I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear…]
The dial Zhong Chengshuo was wearing had turned blood red, but it didn’t vibrate again—rather, it kept making a piercing sound.
The carriage he was in was at the rear of the train. King Yama was playing with the Evil Fruit as he kept moving forward step by step in the thick fog.
There was no air conditioning in the carriage, which made the strange smell even stronger in the humid atmosphere.
Strictly speaking, in the years of being in the Nightwalkers, Zhong Chengshuo had smelled everything he should and shouldn’t have. This smell wasn’t the thickest and most uncomfortable scent he had ever encountered, but it had a hint of Yin Ren in it, which made him particularly unaccustomed to it.
Zhong Chengshuo accelerated his steps.
In the world he couldn’t see, it was a completely different scene.
The carriage was like a subway during rush hour, with all kinds of evil things standing side by side.
The old people sat neatly on the plastic seats with pale, expressionless faces. The ancient shrouds they were wearing gleamed like silk.
They hugged tablets tightly in their arms and their backs were covered with white paper elegiac couplets. Those white papers were sitting under their butts, making light clicking noises from time to time.
The rest of the men and women had their necks stuck in suspension rings. They wore thick cloth gowns that were common in the countryside, and their heads were swollen and bruised. As the vehicle moved forward, the corpses flickered, and all their cloudy and protruding eyeballs stared at Zhong Chengshuo.
The floor was full of fragrant ash, soil, and paper money.
More inhuman evil creatures occupied the remaining spaces. Their appearances were similar; most of them were weird hairless animals or withered vines with strange fruits.
Rows of ghostly bodies passed through Zhong Chengshuo’s shoulders, which then spat out vicious curses. The rotten blood stuck to the ceiling dripped and strange eyes in the shadows would open from time to time. Zhong Chengshuo kept moving forward on his own, quite content with “passing through a myriad of evils, none of which could touch him*”.
*(万邪丛中过，片煞不沾身) This is a line from a poem often used to describe someone who is pure and untainted even in the midst of corruption and evil.
At the connection between carriages, there were two oblong monsters guarding it.
They were similar in structure, dressed in expensive materials that were popular a hundred years ago, and had jade-studded melon skin hats on their heads.
The bodies of those two evil monsters were flat, as if they were forcibly pressed
into the door panel of a mansion—if one ignored the truly deformed brows, the neck that was folded to their chest, and the light green mucus flowing on their skin, they looked quite harmless.
When Zhong Chengshuo approached, the two monsters formed a fleshy door, which tightly blocked the junction between the carriages.
They opened their large mouths and let out a threatening roar. The light green mucus flowed faster and accumulated into a pool on the metal plates at the junction, and there was a tendency to expand even further.
Tap, tap, tap.
A pair of sneakers stepped into the mucus without hesitation. Zhong Chengshuo walked fast and steady into the unknown fog.
Tap, tap, tap.
He easily passed through the two abnormal looking “evil gates” with their unusual appearances and continued to move towards the front of the train.
The next carriage was long and empty.
The smell of that evil thing became stronger.
Zhong Chengshuo wrinkled his nose subconsciously and sneezed.
Every living thing had its own scent, which could be strong or light. In any case, the smell of a living person couldn’t be stronger than that of a corpse. The lingering scent at the tip of his nose reminded Zhong Chengshuo of smelling a “corpse”.
The evil thing hiding behind the scenes—a poor imitation of Yin Ren, the failure of Sunken Society that couldn’t be controlled… Its condition may not be good.
Zhong Chengshuo walked into the second “empty’ carriage. Countless evil things instantly turned their faces and looked at the intruder.
The evil things in this carriage were slightly different from the ones in the first section.
Although their outfits were old-fashioned, they were much more modern than the previous carriage. They sat neatly, with smiles on their faces, and there was even a little hint of hope in their dead eyes.
A miner’s lips were purple. His face was covered with dust, and he held an envelope full of banknotes tightly in his hand. A bride’s twisted braids were coiled behind her head. Something had crushed half of her body, and a delicate rose was pinned to her chest. A rich businessman had gold chains hanging around his neck. His face was swollen, like he had drowned, and muddy water dripped from his mouth and nose.
Black smoke and dust rose from the bottom of the seats, mixing in with the red paper of firecrackers. Flower baskets celebrating a grand opening fell all over the floor.
The windows of the carriage were plastered with headlines about “Gengsheng Town”. The huge black letters were particularly eye-catching. The walls of the carriages were covered with cinnabar red letters, all of which were auspicious words such as “Wishing Prosperity” and “Great Luck and Fortune”.
The non-human evil species were richer than before. Some had characteristics unique to exotic monsters.
The evil things huddled together in a cramped manner. Their joints collided with the metal, and their soft flesh blended with rotten wood. The smell of sulfur and water were indistinguishable from each other, and there was a bit of excitement in the cold atmosphere.
There was dazzling dark red everywhere.
Compared to the surroundings, Zhong Chengshuo was plainly colored; even the color of his lips were somewhat light. Among the heavily colored evil things, he looked like a person walking out of a faded old photo.
The blade of the Evil Fruit was clasped in the palm of his hand as Zhong Chengshuo passed through the evil things, like he was passing through ancient times.
…As if he were a phantom.
At the end of the second carriage, there was a huge calendar of the God of Wealth.
On the paper painting, the Gold of Wealth had a round face with big earlobes and a beaming smile. However, his eyeballs had been gouged out and painted over with a red pen.
The days on the wall calendar were crossed out one by one in red ink, stopping on a certain day twenty-eight years ago.
Above the wall calendar, the red light from the LED screen condensed into a line, passing through the thick fog and reflecting on Zhong Chengshuo’s glasses.
[I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear…]
Blood-red spots of light circulated in the fog.
Zhong Chengshuo cast a quick glance at the electronic screen but did not linger for more than a half-second. He put on a loose sweater and passed through the weird wall calendar as if it wasn’t even there.
As soon as he entered the third carriage, a few arrows shot out from the fog. Zhong Chengshuo had been prepared. His attack flashed like light wind as he twirled his feet.
The dial on Zhong Chengshuo’s wrist emitted a long and uninterrupted shrill noise. The metal shell behind the dial was as hot as soldering iron. During the long-term strange noise, a wisp of green smoke appeared from the electronic watch, then the red dial went out and turned into a deep black.
He finally arrived.
Zhong Chengshuo removed his glasses and placed them in a strong pocket bag. His too-long bangs were disturbed by the frame as it glided across the ends of his eyes.
Immediately afterwards, he tore off the button of his cuff and threw it into the depths of the thick fog.
Three seconds after the little thing stopped, there was a muffled “puff” sound, followed by a violent shake in the air. The fog in the carriage was twisted into pieces, sucked into the button, and disappeared with a quick spin.
When the fog disappeared, the Yin Ren-like smell became extremely thick, almost condensing into a strong stench. It was several grades more irritating than the smell of corpses. Zhong Chengshuo almost burst into tears when he sniffed it.
…The “thing behind the scenes” was nearby.
At this moment, Zhong Chengshuo could see clearly.
The interior of the carriage was covered with dense yellow symbols. They were organized in an orderly manner, one by one, and the edges were arranged neatly, leaving only the windows. Zhong Chengshuo glanced at the lines of the symbols—the lines had obvious characteristics, and most of these charms were used to “diffuse” corruption.
There were between thirty to forty people sitting in the carriage.
Most of them were middle-aged men and women, mixed with a few sturdy old people, but there were no young faces.
The fog had dissipated, revealing their hateful eyes on their almost dull, pale faces. Their bodies trembled lightly, and there were water vapors floating around their mouths and noses, as if they were sitting in a cold environment.
Kitchen knives, shovels, wrenches… All kinds of weapons were scattered on the floor. At this moment, everyone was holding a homemade crossbow in their hands. The tips of the arrow loaded in the crossbow emitted a faint sweet smell, which was probably a homemade poison.
Finding that Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t shot down, they turned their heads sideways at the same time and stared straight at the uninvited guest.
In addition to this group of “innocent people”, there were four mummified corpses standing in the carriage.
They blocked the long aisle—two in front and two behind. Their faces were submerged by layers of yellow talismans. The skinny skeleton barely propped up the large cloth gown, which was stained with a dark yellow liquid of unknown origin. Whether it was the body shape or the claws with sharp nails, these zombies were exactly the same as Lao Jiang from the ghost market pawnshop.
The zombies curled up, making hoarse noises in their throats.
The mental outlook of these enemies was far from that of Lao Jiang, Zhong Chengshuo thought regretfully.
He stepped on the “weapon carpet” with one foot.
The entire carriage seemed to be activated at this moment. Everyone in the carriage suddenly got up. There were dozens of crossbows firing arrows at him this time. Zhong Chengshuo leaned down on one side, bit the Evil Fruit, raised two rectangular kitchen knives with his toe, and held them with both hands.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The majority of the poisonous arrows missed, and the rest were all blocked by the kitchen knives. Not a single scratch was made on this person’s oily skin. In the next instant, two kitchen knives were thrown out in a spinning motion, passing by a living person and hitting right between the eyes of the two zombies.
Two knives were embedded horizontally into the zombie’s head, cutting nearly half a head deep.
The corners of Zhong Chengshuo’s lips curled.
Countless incorporeal evil things gathered around him long ago. Numerous severed hands tried to grab Zhong Chengshuo’s feet as a giant bloody mouth descended from above, attempting to bite off his head. Wet and slimy tentacles emerged from the ground, overwhelmingly covering Zhong Chengshuo.
The severe hands caught nothing. the mouth above bit into air, and the tentacles almost got tangled in each other.
The strongest one just managed to corrode Zhong Chengshuo’s clothes, exposing half of his shoulders and arms, revealing the unscathed skin underneath.
Curses, collisions, and corruption were all invalid attacks. The position of evil things in relation to mortals appeared to be completely reversed.
All but for a few seconds.
Seeing that the situation wasn’t good, the living people switched out their crossbows. They replaced them with the “short-ranged weapons” on the ground and swarmed up.
They acted disorderly, trying to suppress Zhong Chengshuo with their own bodies. However, since their target threw the kitchen knives, his movements hadn’t stopped at all.
Zhong Chengshuo stepped on one end of a rake, lowered his body, and cocked the rod directly into the person behind him, knocking them out. He crouched down and performed a roundhouse kick, knocking over two people in front of him. Zhong Chengshuo then grabbed their heads and slammed them together, causing their eyes to roll back.
As soon as his body fell, there were three fewer enemies.
When he stood up, Zhong Chengshuo bit the Evil Fruit and grabbed a nearby steel pipe. He used it to block an old man who was attacking him from behind with a meat cleaver. Zhong Chengshuo hooked his arm around the old man’s shoulder, and then used the momentum to jump up and kick a man and woman who were trying to hit him with shovels, sending them flying away.
Before the old man could react, the steel pipe hit his chin, causing him to fall back and hit his head on a seat, rendering him unconscious.
People continued to pour in.
Their goal was like a high-precision instrument, and their movements were as smooth as if they were filming. Although the space was narrow, the people used the most difficult encirclement method. However, that person was like a breeze and was impossible to catch.
Zhong Chengshuo advanced firmly in the front line as murder weapons danced around the carriage full of astral winds that caused the yellow talismans to flutter.
From a third person’s perspective, he advanced at a much slower pace than the first two carriages but still maintained a terrifyingly uniform speed.
One step, then another, then another.
With a roar, the two zombies with kitchen knives embedded in them crossed the unconscious townspeople and rushed towards Zhong Chengshuo. The sounds of chains rattling lightly sounded as the Evil Fruit flew out in a red arc along the chain—
Cling, cling. Two solitary kitchen knives fell to the ground.
The next moment, a pair of sneakers stepped on them.
…Finally, with a slashing motion, the last townsperson fell.
Zhong Chengshuo stopped beside a pole-shaped handrail. His expression became more vigilant.
Sure enough, the spirit weapon hidden in the corner was activated at the same time. Countless metal wires soaked in lethal poison twisted around the unconscious bodies as they approached Zhong Chengshuo. At the same time, a concealed machine gun on the top of the carriage was activated and fired at Zhong Chengshuo’s head.
King Yama swung the Evil Fruit attached to a chain and countless metal wires broke in response. It seemed he had eyes on the back of his head. With a neat twist, Zhong Chengshuo circled the thick metal pole in the middle of the carriage. All the bullets fired by the machine gun hit the metal pole.
He didn’t give them more time as he threw out the Evil Fruit quickly, destroying the organs of the spirit weapon—after learning about the arrangement of the spirit weapons here, even those that had not had time to activate were calculated by him.
Time and again, a bright red brilliance cut through the space.
The Evil Fruit returned to Zhong Chengshuo’s hands, leaving behind only four “people” who were still awake in the entire carriage.
Except for Zhong Chengshuo, two zombies were still standing quietly in the back row, as if they were background decorations for the carriage. At the back of the carriage was a thin figure wrapped in a blanket who appeared to be an elderly man.
The old man sat among all kinds of weapons. Compared with those sturdy townspeople, he looked extremely weak, and the space around him seemed wider.
The LED screen above his head was still scrolling red letters.
[I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to disappear…]
Under the old man’s dirty red blanket, something gray and visceral leaked out. It shivered, then retracted, and a foul stench emanated from the blanket.
Yin Ren’s translucent wings were soft and beautiful, with the smell that Zhong Chengshuo liked. Under the old man’s blanket, the abnormal limb appeared to be stillborn, decomposing, and necrotic.
Zhong Chengshuo’s hands once again only held the Evil Fruit.
He stopped a few steps away from the old man and lowered his gaze.
…He speculated that this was a replica of Yin Ren, or rather, an imitation of the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi. Since the “evil thing behind the scenes” was based on a living human, it probably had a physical form.
But he never thought that the “evil thing behind the scenes” was still alive.
The old man-like thing was breathing. He could even hear its rapid, human-like heartbeat. Unlike the weird madness that Zhong Chengshuo imagined, that thing looked old, thin, and confused.
The townspeople scattered in all directions, and all that remained was silence, save for the rumbling sound of the circular train moving forward.
“Look up,” Zhong Chengshuo said softly.
The evil thing understood human language and subconsciously raised its head, revealing a human face.
Zhong Chengshuo was slightly startled.
“You guys… go back…”
The face was filled with sticky, muddy tears.
“Must… all go back… I don’t welcome you… Ahhhhhh…”
Its face twitched with an expression of pain, and its mouth couldn’t stop raving.
“Go back. Go back… die… die… let me… stay quiet…”
Zhong Chengshuo silently stood in the ruins of the murder weapon.
He had been in control of the battle initiative all along, but he couldn’t claim to have emerged unscathed—his clothes were mostly corroded and were full of holes and tattered edges. Purple and blue bruises were visible through the tears, and blood was oozing from his wounds, mixing with the dirt on his skin.
Fresh soil was smeared on the shovels beside him, and the cleavers had obvious scratch marks on them. They trembled and stirred in the pile of lethal weapons, as if eager to be used again.
Even if the Evil Fruit had cut through most of the space, Zhong Chengshuo could guess that there were still powerful intangible evil things left. They still hadn’t given up and were trying their best to attack.
The night was long and fraught with dreams. He knew what he should do.
The body of the “evil thing behind the scenes” wasn’t strong. Its sense of oppression was far inferior to Yin Ren’s. He could quickly take samples, and then destroy all the evil things here. Then came the investigation and analysis, which was what he did best.
Shian had withdrawn in time. Even if he didn’t deal with this evil thing, Sunken Society would transfer it away afterwards and even destroy the corpse.
This was his only chance to get in touch with the “imitation”, and there was no problem with his plan.
Zhong Chengshuo cracked his knuckles and moved the Evil Fruit to his left hand. He made an improvised knife from the surroundings and pasted several talismans on it, creating a crackling sound.
However, the sharp knife hung in the air for a long time, but it didn’t fall.
The thing that looked like an old man stared at Zhong Chengshuo. Perhaps it was because they were too far away, but the thing didn’t recall Yellow Millet or Snake Swallowing, nor did it beg for mercy. It just watched Zhong Chengshuo sadly.
…The same kind as Yin Ren.
“King Yama”, who had always been resolute, was a little disturbed.
Perhaps it was the smell that reminded him of Yin Ren that numbed him.
Perhaps it was because the other party’s breathing and heartbeat were too close to a living person.
In the carriage that was wrapped with yellow talismans, Zhong Chengshuo was expressionless as his makeshift knife dangled frozen in the air.
The evil thing raised its wrinkled face, a little more puzzled in despair.
“Order Snake Swallowing and Yellow Millet to keep everyone alive, but don’t let them go for now.” Zhong Chengshuo stared at those human eyes, trying to suppress the strange emotions in his heart.
“What do you want to… do…”
Zhong Chengshuo lowered the makeshift knife, tilted his head, and thought for a while. “Let you live for about half an hour longer?”
The evil thing made a series of rapid breathing sounds; he didn’t know whether he was crying or laughing.
“Slowly studying is fine, but I’m very curious this time.” Zhong Chengshuo played with the Evil Fruit as he spoke. “I know you… How did you become like this? What is your current condition? You…”
Zhong Chengshuo paused as he digested his question for a while.
“Are you in pain?”
With his back to the unconscious people on the floor and small wounds all over his body, Zhong Chengshuo asked this question solemnly.
“……”
The living, evil thing didn’t answer immediately.
It took a short breath and slowly exhaled. The expression on the old man’s face was frozen, as if trying to understand his words.
“I… don’t know… for hundreds of years… I have been… here…” Its eyes were dilated, and muddy tears continued to flow. “I just… don’t want… to disappear…”
Zhong Chengshuo looked down at the “person” in front of him in amazement.
He thought for a few seconds, then slowly squatted down in front of the evil thing, looking directly into its eyes.
“You…”
Zhong Chengshuo frowned slightly.
“Do you remember your name?”
“I’m more… No… I don’t remember… too much… No, no, I’m human…. My name is…”
The evil thing coughed painfully, exposing some necrotic intestine-like limbs under the dirty red blanket that was covered with dust.
This time, Zhong Chengshuo was silent for a while.
“So that’s it. I understand,” he said softly. “No wonder they chose you… It’s a pity that you and him are still different.”
“I’ll give you half an hour.”
Zhong Chengshuo picked up the skinny old man with one hand and put him on a plastic seat. He ignored the two zombies who were still standing in the corner and sat beside the old man.
“Let’s talk about ‘the will of Gengsheng Town’.”
……
Time reversed ten minutes ago.
Fu Xingchuan was shot by a poisonous arrow, and his defenses fell. Yellow Millet and Snake Swallowing were coming from above and below, intending to collide with the eight people that were floating in the air.
Yin Ren’s eyes shone with a faint red light, and everything around him seemed to move in slow motion.
Xiang Hai’s hemp-rope net came over. Li Nian immediately threw the green willow whip, tied himself, Ren Jiying, and Qi Xin together, and locked the handle of the whip onto Xiang Jiang. Several science posts were bound by the wicker, and they didn’t slip through the hemp rope net.
Ge Tingting subconsciously stretched out her hand, wanting to summon bones to serve as a shield. Huang Jin hugged his spirit weapon bag tightly as he cowered his head and closed his eyes. Fu Xingchuan was struggling to cast a spell. Yin Ren could recognize that it was a strong protective spell.
The huge eyeball and the hideous snake mouth were getting closer.
If this was just a protective technique, the battle would only continue to prolong.
Yin Ren closed his eyes.
He put his hand behind his back to cast a different spell at an inhuman speed.
At the same moment that Fu Xingchuan’s protection spell was activated, Yin Ren’s left hand also completed a spell. The air suddenly shook, and in less than a heartbeat, the violent impact stunned seven people physically.
Immediately, his right hand followed.
Yin Ren straightened his right arm and rushed straight at Yellow Millet’s huge pupil that was close at hand.
“Idiot, after being controlled by someone for a few days, you don’t even recognize your old master?”
In the dense fog, a red light appeared.
“…You still have my spirit contract on you,” Yin Ren added with a smile.
A huge circular formation appeared out of thin air. The circular array was like a dumpling wrapper. It bent from the center and wrapped the huge Yellow Millet into a stuffing.
In an instant, Yellow Millet’s cognitive confusion was completely broken.
Immediately afterwards, those scarlet runes merged into the body of the giant eye. Yellow Millet shivered, and there was a strange sound in the air like a tendon being torn. Yin Ren’s spirit contract was significantly higher than that of the manipulator, and the effectiveness of the latter was instantly suppressed.
At the moment of recovery, the huge eyeball shrank back 800 meters. The entire evil thing concave backward, turning its perfectly round sphere into a bowl-shaped depression.
“Yo, now you know how to be scared?”
Lord Ghost King bared his teeth at his royal sofa cushion.
He didn’t even look at it and threw a series of spells at his feet. The dark spells fell murderously, causing Snake Swallowing to close its mouth in terror. It retreated into a hole in the ground, vigorously pulling its head back.
Yin Ren narrowed his eyes—according to Shian’s conclusion, the evil thing behind the scenes used the emotion of “sorrow” to control people and the evil beings here. It seemed that the control ability of that evil thing wasn’t very strong, as the survival instinct of evil beings superseded its control.
Finding that its old master was lost in thought, Yellow Millet tried to take advantage of the situation to slip away, but before it jumped a few hundred meters, it was pulled back by the spirit contract. When it saw the smiling Yin Ren in front of it, it shrank quickly, down to the size of a grape, and continued to shrink.
“It’s useless to shrink. Change back.”
Yin Ren flicked this noble Class A-level evil spirit with his fingertips.
“I still have to find someone—what kind of evil thing was it that controlled you before?”
When Zhong Chengshuo left the team, Yin Ren could guess with the tips of his wings.
Yellow Millet hurriedly “puffed” a few times. It was aggrieved and turned into a soft ball with a diameter of two meters. Yin Ren sat down onto his old cushion and supported everyone with a levitation technique, slowly sending them to the ground and arranging their appearance of “falling after the defense spell was activated”.
Yellow Millet, who exuded a monstrous sense of oppression in the Ant Nest, was now an honest glutinous rice dumpling at this moment.
Snake Swallowing peered around, revealing the tip of its mouth from the ground. Yin Ren almost teleported to its side, pressing a hand against the cold and slippery rock.
“It’s been a long time since I did this,” he muttered with emotion.
After the Archive incident, his strength had recovered quite a bit. However, since he came to this world, he never tried to use “old methods” to control evil things, and he didn’t know if the effect would be as good as it was thousands of years ago.
In less than half a second, the entire body of Snake Swallowing trembled. It bowed its head in an instant and obediently sent the tip of its mouth over.
“Protect these people. Remember, don’t let them see that you are protecting them. If you do well, I’ll help heal your wounds later.”
Snake Swallowing seemed to have won its gold medal of avoiding death and snuck back into the earth. The ground shook violently, and a bulge surrounded the seven unconscious people on the ground.
Yin Ren nodded.
“Yes, let’s go meet my ‘imitation’ first.”
Before his voice fell, something drilled out of his hair, intertwined, and turned into pieces of red cloth. The red cloth continued to grow, and various seal patterns appeared on it.
Flesh, blood, and bones stimulated the sense of dead matter intertwined into various “spirit weapons”. All kinds of spirit weapons clanged and collided, and the power of the seal became stronger.
Under the heavy seal, Yin Ren’s aura gradually weakened. Not to mention the aura of an evil qi, it finally became not even as strong as a living person.
The appearance of Yin Ren at this moment was still slightly different from the “Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi” of thousands of years ago.
The red cloths weren’t wrapped into thick and clumsy cocoons. The lower ends of those red clothes were loose, revealing a little bit of translucent black wing clusters. Looking at it as a whole, it looked more like a drooping flower bud that was about to bloom.
A strand of black hair wrapped around Yin Ren’s ankle and turned into a circle of dark yellow bone bells. The bells were no longer crisp, and there was a chill in the sound of its ring.
Now, apart from not having hundreds of arms, Yin Ren was closer to the “Evil Spirit” form in the Archive.
Yin Ren floated on Yellow Millet who had consciously changed itself to a black color that wasn’t easily exposed. The red cloth slid down the pitch-black eyeball, and the edges of the soft wings swayed in the wind.
“Go find that evil thing that controlled you.”
“Puff, puff, puff!”
“You only know its general location? …Fine, just tell me on the way. What exactly happened to you?”
Yin Ren didn’t know that a few seconds after he flew into the air, among the ruins, a certain powerful individual struggled to open their eyes—
Yin Ren’s burst of qi was so powerful that a heavier hit would cause problems. Unfortunately, one of the seven people had endured too many beatings and had developed a sad resistance.
In Fu Xingchuan’s blurred vision, a scarlet humanoid stepped onto Yellow Millet and rode away in the wind. The surrounding evil things scattered, and a small number of them followed far behind, forming a procession in the mist.
It was like the ancient murals in the Ant Nest had come true.
Fu Xingchuan dug into his wound fiercely with trembling hands, holding on to watch the figure of the man disappear into the fog. It was a long time before he succumbed to the toxin attack and lost consciousness again.
Yin Ren was preoccupied with lying on top of Yellow Millet.
Yellow Millet flew around, puffing sharply and trying to tell its sad story.
More than a thousand years ago, the Great Celestial Master died.
Yellow Millet, who had lost its master, was miserable. In the past, with Yin Ren around, everyone was used to the heavenly days of having food served to them. They even got the chance to savor delicious evil spirits.
Now that there was no commander, the IQ of the evil things simply couldn’t support the activity of “hunting large evil beings”. They couldn’t even catch fierce ghosts that were slightly clever.
It wasn’t good to feel hungry, but the taste of ordinary evil things was dry and bland, so Yellow Millet simply dug a hole in the mountains and prepared to fall into a deep sleep, escaping hundreds of years of an evil life.
As a result, the poor thing was apprehended by Sunken Society.
As he had speculated, Sunken Society created an Ant Nest near Gengsheng Town just to study the terrifying power of the Great Celestial Master Zhong Yi and tried to figure out how to obtain such power.
As Yellow Millet was one of Zhong Yi’s closest evils, it and a group of evil beings were locked here for observation by Sunken Society.
Prison food wasn’t delicious, but the advantage was that it didn’t have to hunt for itself. Anyway, it had nowhere to go, so Yellow Millet and the other evil creatures didn’t struggle and just laid low and lived a life of eating and sleeping.
Until twenty-eight years ago.
“For thousands of years, Sunken Society has been corrupting the people and land here with all kinds of Evil Forces. It wasn’t until the ‘Divine Descent’ that a group of extremely corrupted and relatively stable corrupted people appeared here.”
Yin Ren tried his best to sort out Yellow Millet’s upside-down “puffs”.
“Puff, puff, puff… puff, puff, puff!”
“You have always been very lazy, but they thought you were out of your mind, so they talked about things in front of you?”
“Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff—” Yellow Millet accelerated its speech and narrated quickly.
“They recorded the changes in the power of those people and found those similar to my situation—artificially aggravating the corruption… Similar situation? Are you saying, something widely known and revered by the people can cause serious corruption and give birth to a ‘living evil’?”
If he thought about it carefully, “widely known” and “tragic death” were conditions for the birth of ghosts.
The “serious corruption” would cause the living to lose the characteristics of normal creatures and become more like evil things, and they would be more easily affected by metaphysical-related things.
But it was just “like”, not “is”.
In other words, he and the imitation were born as “specific evils”, essentially derived from “being widely known” and “being revered”…
If “tragic death” created resentful ghosts, then what did “being revered” create?
When Yin Ren was still alive, he was always isolated from human society. Except for the great pain of being corrupted, he wasn’t affected by anything else. Yin Ren was unaware of the world’s awe, expectations, and sustenance for him, and he was uninterested in it.
He just liked to be lively and didn’t have much sense of responsibility in the world.
But the person who lived here… What would happen if the person who carried the sustenance of thousands of people and was also born as a “living evil”?
Countless thoughts and questions raced through his mind. In a trance, the former Great Celestial Master realized something.
“Now things have become interesting.” Yin Ren petted Yellow Millet under his ass. “Hurry up and be careful not to stir someone’s hornet’s nest.”
“Puff?”
“Zhong Chengshuo,” under the red cloth, Yin Ren murmured. “If you find that guy, don’t irritate him…”
“Things like us—if we lose control, we may become an ‘Evil Spirit’.”
Kinky Thoughts:
Yellow Millet reminds me of π…
Yin Ren is what Oliver strives to be… collecting all these evil spirits (demons) as his pets.
Without catching the expected body heat, Yin Ren’s heart felt empty.
Zhong Chengshuo had just broken free from his embrace. Yin Ren thought that due to the falling objects, Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t used to being restricted in his movements. Who would have thought that after a few seconds passed, he had just turned his attention away for an instant, and Zhong Chengshuo had evaporated in place.
Fu Xingchuan’s levitating spell was extremely fast. It felt like everyone was riding on a high-speed subway. As soon as they passed an unfinished building complex, Zhong Chengshuo was like a raindrop outside a window. In an instant, he was flung away to an unknown location.
In consternation, Yin Ren almost stopped in place. Luckily, his subconscious was screaming frantically, telling him that Fu Xingchuan wasn’t weak enough to be “embarrassed” in the literal sense. The usual magic spells couldn’t help Zhong Chengshuo, who had left the team completely on his own initiative.
The mountain town shook, the ground rumbled, and the tumbling mist turned turbid, all of which appeared to be warning signs of impending disaster. Coupled with those murderous townspeople, the above ground would only be more dangerous.
What was Zhong Chengshuo thinking?
This was probably the most pressing question Yin Ren had since meeting him.
The moment Zhong Chengshuo left the team, Fu Xingchuan, as the spell master, noticed a stagnation and was also aware of it.
As Yin Ren expected, Minister Fu didn’t stop for “one person”.
With Zhong Chengshuo’s character, he wouldn’t do such a stupid thing as jump frantically on the verge of death. His lover had to be very sure, so he didn’t need to worry too much…
Yet he was still worried.
After more than a thousand years of unencumbered days, Lord Ghost King, who had just tasted fetters for the first time, was irritable and restless, as if his entire body was crawling with ants. The taste was worse than he had ever imagined.
The ground was misty, and the underground was buzzing with a sound that was approaching from afar. Fu Xingchuan quickly rushed to the location of Xiang Jiang’s group. The levitation spell swept up the four of them like waves, leaving Zhong Chengshuo behind. Now, an eight-person team was floating in the sky.
“I’ll send you to Linzhen first.” In the howling wind, Fu Xingchuan raised his voice.
Li Nian was a top science post, while Qi Xin and Ren Jiying could also be considered good-quality “science post” personnel. As long as Professor Li was leading, it wouldn’t be too difficult to break through the mist.
While the dream was beautiful, the slap of reality gave everyone in Shian a few buckets of ice water.
Yellow Millet made an ear-piercing “leaky sound”, and its body shook rapidly. Countless invisible blades slashed through space, cutting everyone’s vision into neat cubes. The world in front of them was broken and rearranged like a jigsaw puzzle, as if the entire world had become a Rubik’s cube.
Their bodies were cut into thousands of pieces, spinning and tearing apart; they resembled a scrambled mess with skin, muscles, and organs randomly twisted. They couldn’t even move smoothly, let alone fight.
It was a typical cognitive confusion, which was a cognitive attack that Yellow Millet was best at.
In the gradually thick fog, the visibility was only a hundred meters, making it impossible to tell their direction.
The group of evil things was spinning frantically around the eight people as they desperately crowded towards their sides. In the fog, countless huge black shadows came forward. Xiang Jiang was already in a trance, and at this moment, he was completely stunned by the cognitive confusion, unable to move.
Xiang Hai discovered his brother’s crisis. He shook the wings of human faces, causing them to let out a mournful howl.
The surrounding evil beings stopped for an instant.
Fu Xingchuan seized this opportunity. He closed his eyes and relied on muscle memory to move. All the fire dragons that had just rescued the townspeople returned to their positions, biting their heads and tails around them to form a protective circle. The red circle formed a wall of fire, isolating them from Yellow Millet once more.
With cognitive confusion, the energy consumption of this task more than doubled. Fu Xingchuan panted desperately and fell downwards with gravity, attempting to put some distance from Yellow Millet…
A rumbling sound on the ground approached steeply, and a large stream of evil qi erupted from it.
Snake Swallowing.
Yin Ren had long been accustomed to the methods of his own sofa cushion. At this moment, his vision was clear.
The snake’s head, which was bigger than Yellow Millet, arched through the surrounding ruins and opened its mouth wide towards the group of eight.
It was unclear what Snake Swallowing did before it was submerged. Its aura was completely suppressed, and its body merged with the rocks. The scales, which were once shiny and prominent, turned into stones, and the delicate flesh beneath them turned into mud. Snake Swallowing’s eyes were reduced to two black holes, and its large mouth was filled with water-covered sharp stalactites.
Fu Xingchuan’s fire dragons wrapped around its exposed body—the firelight reflected showed it was covered with hundreds of caves and stone gates, which seemed as if it was done purposefully.
The huge and ominous beast was transformed into a living “tunnel elevator”. No wonder when they entered the “cave”, the traps and organs weren’t obvious—their enemies only needed to give instructions and the Snake Swallowing would act on its own and swallow them into the designated place.
Yin Ren couldn’t help but exhale. As expected of a town that had been infiltrated by Sunken Society for a long time. The combination of “research site” and “big trap” was just waiting for Shian to deliver themselves to their front door.
Now, there was Snake Swallowing at the bottom and Yellow Millet at the top. Their surroundings were crowded with evil beings and the townspeople had gathered nearby. Murderous auras and hostility came from all directions, mixing with the thick fog.
The eight people froze in mid-air, gathered together by Fu Xingchuan’s levitation spell. Fire dragons were constantly swimming around them.
The energy consumption was too much, and Fu Xingchuan couldn’t bear it any longer. His breathing was short and erratic, and the red tunic he was wearing was soaked and wrinkled with sweat, turning it a more wretched red. Yin Ren could perceive that the levitation spell was becoming less stable.
In order to ensure everyone’s safety, Fu Xingchuan flew closer to them; the distance was about less than an arm’s length away.
Yin Ren gritted his teeth.
If he tried to find Zhong Chengshuo, he wouldn’t escape Fu Xingchuan’s eyes, but if he didn’t…
He couldn’t do it.
The dilemma had to be resolved as soon as possible.
The evil qi around them was getting stronger. When Yellow Millet saw that their group was surrounded, it was finally willing to put in a little more effort. Yin Ren was very familiar with this attack method—
It constantly disturbed the five senses until the human brain froze due to being unable to process. At that time, the target would be like a deer in the headlights, making it easy to catch.
Even against masters, this trick could dull people’s thinking. The more dangerous the surroundings, the easier it was to use.
This was a move that he personally taught it.
It was better to wait to act decisively against his sofa cushion. Fu Xingchuan and the others were already overwhelmed, and they would…
“Help!” In the tumbling fog, suddenly a hoarse wailing of an old man sounded, followed by the strong scent of warm blood. “Don’t step on me. What’s going on? What’s wrong with you guys? …Don’t step on me. Help! Huizhen, Qiangzi! You guys, wake up—”
“Ack, ah…” The voice was full of pain.
Fu Xingchuan sighed from between his teeth. His brows were pouring sweat as he threw out a fire dragon.
The fire dragon dispelled the turbid fog and flew to the side of the caller. The white fog lifted, revealing an elderly man on the ground with blood on his face. A stout man was stepping on him, with a strong visible malice on his face.
Something brushed past the fire dragon—
There was no trace of evil qi on it, and the brilliance of the flames flashed across it.
An arrow from a short crossbow.
Fu Xingchuan realized something was wrong and shook his body slightly. However, with Yellow Millet interfering and him having to guard his companions, his movements were still a half beat slower.
The arrow from the crossbow shot firmly into his shoulder.
At the same moment, Yin Ren smelled a sweet, pungent scent.
The arrow was coated with poison.
The fire dragons that were blocking Yellow Millet and Snake Swallowing began to disperse, and the strength of the levitation spell plummeted. Fu Xingchuan swayed, and the eight of them fell towards Snake Swallowing’s mouth.
Li Nian didn’t panic. Against the influence of perception, he quickly took out something from his pocket and plunged it into Fu Xingchuan’s chest. “Xiang Jiang!”
Xiang Hai’s hemp rope knotted into a net that could hold several people.
Without the fire dragons blocking it, at the next moment, Snake Swallowing jumped up while Yellow Millet dove down.
Eight small figures disappeared in the collision of the two giants.
……
Not so long ago, in the center of the town, in an unfinished building.
Zhong Chengshuo retracted a metal hook from his sleeve and stopped perfectly on the edge of a tall building. The half-built reinforced concrete was still exposed. In just half a step, Zhong Chengshuo would plummet from a height of seven stories.
But there was only concentration and seriousness on his face.
The metal hook hooked down like a living thing, hitting every solid gap steadily. Zhong Chengshuo slid down the rope quickly and, in less than ten seconds, landed on the ground.
Zhong Chengshuo flicked his wrist. The metal hook in his hand turned into a curse like magic, transforming into the Evil Fruit. In the murky fog, the evil redness of the Evil Fruit also dimmed a bit.
He also put on a large-dial electronic watch on his other wrist. On the dial, there were dense red dots. Next to the red dots, there were also parameters, such as distance and evil qi index. The coverage area wasn’t large, but it was enough.
Zhong Chengshuo swept his gaze against the dial and then ran towards the “big red dot” closest to him.
The townspeople in the fog spotted the uninvited guest and let out indistinct growls as they lunged at him with their weapons. Unfortunately, their target was faster—he slipped into the complicated terrain like a fish in water and quickly climbed over the ruins and low walls, running quickly against the walls that were as thin as the soles on his shoes.
The townspeople only had time to realize that this person was unfamiliar, and just as they turned to attack, the target had melted into the depths of the fog.
“It can affect a large range of townspeople, but it can’t let them break through their own ability limitations.”
Overall, the townspeople still acted of their own will. From this alone, it was impossible to estimate the location.
Zhong Chengshuo neatly propped his hands on the wall, stepped on the shoulders of a sturdy townsman, and jumped briskly to a roof not far away.
His goal was close at hand. He couldn’t see it, but he could see two very conspicuous open spaces among the townspeople.
Almost at the same time, the dial trembled violently and made a buzzing alarm sound. Zhong Chengshuo hooked the corners of his mouth. The thin chain on the Evil Fruit slid out silently. He exerted force with his hand, and the cursed short knife shot out like a sharp arrow…
The blade of the knife passed through the air, and the vibration on the dial stopped. The rapidly flashing red dots disappeared, and there was a moment of dead silence in the air.
Zhong Chengshuo looked at the dial. Sure enough, when the “general” disappeared, the surrounding red dots reacted to varying degrees. Some just froze, while some moved directly towards it, as if to fill the gap left by the great evil thing.
Zhong Chengshuo smiled. He used the same technique again and rushed towards the other great evil thing.
The disappearance of the great evil thing by his hands would attract attention from the “evil being behind the scenes”, and such reaction speed wouldn’t be faked. As long as the data was sufficient, he could calculate its position.
No matter what it was.
This thick fog helped him—everyone in Shian was surrounded by evil spirits, and they had no time to mind other things, which was convenient for “King Yama” to move freely.
One, two, three…
After killing a fifth powerful evil thing, Zhong Chengshuo stopped. He lightly climbed onto a broken traffic light and hid himself at the intersection of the light poles to avoid the townspeople wandering in the fog.
The Evil Fruit was dragged by the thin chain and obediently returned to Zhong Chengshuo’s hand. He fiddled with it, causing the red blade to slide lightly between his fingers.
The location where the big red dot disappeared, the intensity difference, the reaction time difference, and the time between interval actions of the dots… Comprehensive calculations could determine the approximate location of the commander.
One computational model after another appeared in his mind.
His goal wasn’t far away.
His goal was in motion.
His goal…
Zhong Chengshuo stopped playing with the knife and looked into the depths of the fog.
……
In less than five minutes, accompanied by the long sound of brakes, Zhong Chengshuo jumped off the “temporarily recruited” motorcycle. He raised his head and looked at the huge monster in the fog.
“No wonder why I always felt that something was off.”
Zhong Chengshuo clenched the Evil Fruit as he muttered.
Since entering Gengsheng Town, it was difficult for him not to pay attention to the circular line that the townspeople respect. The train continued galloping, stopping, and circling the town on the tracks.
But since they broke through from underground, the sound of the loop line was extremely regular. In other words, it was simply too regular.
The train never seemed to stop again.
The metal hook flew out. Zhong Chengshuo climbed onto the railway track like a spider and then stood on the side. The mountain town wasn’t big, and the loop line wasn’t long. Within a few minutes, two beams of light broke through the thick fog and swept towards Zhong Chengshuo.
There was a faint smell in the air.
The smell was a little similar to Yin Ren’s, but it felt different—if Yin Ren’s smell was high-quality fragrant wood, then the smell near the train was more like a pungent inferior perfume that contained a rancid scent.
“An imitation of Yin Ren.”
Zhong Chengshuo pressed the sampling package with one hand.
“This place has a lot of problems. If it continues to drag on, something will definitely happen.”
In front of her were the townspeople behaving strangely, and around them were evil things with disordered movements. Ge Tingting looked at the text on her phone in confusion, quite at a loss about what Fu Xingchuan meant by “something will definitely happen”.
But they understood the instructions.
Blasting a ruined building? Ge Tingting turned her head nervously and looked at Xiang Jiang.
“I can’t do it. I don’t have enough strength.” A few seconds later, Xiang Jiang replied blankly. “There are two newcomers next to me and ordinary people around. I can’t guarantee their safety.”
“Really?”
“Huang Jin is good at crafting spirit bombs. We can try—”
“Can’t.”
Not long after Ge Tingting’s AI voice sounded, Xiang Jiang glanced at her coldly as he interrupted.
“Well, I’ll give you five minutes.” Fu Xingchuan seemed as if he didn’t hear anything, and his tone remained casual. “With your strength, there must be a way… Aren’t you the best at dealing with this kind of place?”
After speaking, the #1 Ghost General directly cut off the call.
It was almost evening, and half the sky was dyed with a red haze. The haze dyed the mist with a little warmth, but failed to add any heat to Xiang Jiang. Xiang Jiang’s original pale face added another layer of white, making him seem unlike that of a living human.
“Ah… Ah…”
The townspeople let out meaningless shouts. The uniform sound spread from the streets to the alleys, from the houses to the ruins, leaving a disturbing echo in the mountain mist.
Two huge bony hands grasped the edge of the ground as two red flames flickered in the skull’s eye holes. Countless evil beings that Ge Tingting couldn’t name climbed up the giant skeleton and mixed perfectly with the townspeople as they wandered outside Huang Jin’s red paper barrier.
Compared to the townspeople holding murder weapons, these evil things weren’t very aggressive. They crowded more and more, causing the mass of evil things to overflow, burying the three metaphysical posts from the tops of their heads to the tips of their toes as if they were in deep snow.
Seeing that the skeleton’s hands were about to shoot down, Xiang Jiang threw a circle of burning incense. The burning incense inserted themselves into the cement rooftop, and black smoke like ink appeared from the top. The black smoke continued unbroken; it condensed but was not scattered, loosely gathering above their heads.
The hands of the giant skeleton patted the smoke like a rock-solid iron cage.
Under the shock, the evil spirits scattered.
Huang Jin’s red paper barrier made an overwhelming tearing sound, and the deep red on the paper quickly faded. He subconsciously grabbed two wood chips spirit bombs—since the big explosion in the Archive, he always carried a lot with him in case a violent person temporarily needed it.
They gave him a weird sense of security.
Huang Jin threw the wood chips on the ground, causing them to flutter everywhere and exuding a manic, evil qi unique to spirit bombs.
“Hurry up and blow up a building. My spirit bomb is enough. We just need to drive the people away.” Huang Jin stared at the breach in the red paper barrier as he said this numbly.
He kept wondering over and over again if this was really a C-level mission of Shian.
He really didn’t know what those Nightwalkers, who frantically wanted to go ashore, were so crazy about. After these two missions, Huang Jin only felt his original gloom had been tempered into anxiety and hair loss, despite being only in his 20s.
Xiang Jiang crossed his arms.
In the swaying black smoke, he watched people moving in unison outside the paper barrier. Those dead-like eyes remained motionless. Huang Jin wasn’t sure if he had heard his words.
Xiang Jiang’s eyes shifted from the numb faces of those whose hands were clenched with weapons, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. The mountain wind blew his earrings slightly.
“Haa… It’s fine.”
Xiang Jiang didn’t pay attention to Ge Tingting and Huang Jin. He muttered to himself, accompanied by a dry laugh, without the slightest smile on his face.
“Xiang Hai, work.”
As soon as Xiang Jiang’s voice fell, a ghost emerged from behind him. The ghost was exactly the same, including his appearance and how he was dressed. At first glance, it looked like his soul was separated from his body.
Xiang Hai had no expression when he was first called out. He raised a pair of empty eyes and looked at the distant mountain with only a silhouette left in the mist, then turned his head and looked at the townspeople who were besieging them—he specifically picked a crowded place and ignored all the evil things around him.
As his “gaze” moved, the concentration of evil qi around him sharply increased. Even Ren Jiying, a science post, was affected. She stared blankly at the strange townspeople, red paper, and black smoke, as she tremblingly puffed out white steam.
“It’s cold,” she said.
Ge Tingting couldn’t hear her voice. After the “gaze” stopped, Xiang Hai let out a scream that was about to burst their eardrums. His mouth opened to an extent that was impossible for any human, and the skin on his cheeks turned into sticky and piercing fleshy lines.
Ge Tingting and Huang Jin staggered at the same time, almost falling out of the black smoke protection circle.
“This is a mountain town. It used to be a mountain village,” Xiang Jiang said softly. “The place you hate the most.”
The clothes behind Xiang Hai squirmed and burst like balloons, revealing two butterfly wings, but if they looked closely, the wings were made up of countless human faces—mainly the heads of young women, with a very small number of boy’s faces embedded in them.
The faces of those people gathered into abnormally large butterfly wings. The scale was countless withered and shriveled old hands, which neatly covered those faces.
At this moment, those scaly hands opened together. The faces under the palms were exposed, revealing countless pairs of resentful eyes that were wide open, staring at the townspeople a few steps away.
Xiang Hai’s spine broke, and his body became deformed. Countless bloodstains gradually appeared on his limbs, almost breaking into meat paste.
It really looked like a butterfly with its abdomen curled up.
He only had one of his faces intact as he continued to scream with his mouth wide open. On those wings and from his wound, hundreds of blood-stained hemp ropes shot out at the same time, binding the nearest townspeople.
Those hemp ropes were soaked in foul-smelling grease and pus, with rough edges. They looked incredibly old that they could break at any moment, but when they bound the townspeople, it was impossible for them to move.
The evil qi and murderous aura mixed, radiating a strong, bloody, and rancid smell.
Ren Jiying, who couldn’t see it, was fine. Huang Jin fell on his ass, dropping wood chips all around.
“Blow it up.” A blood-stained hemp rope brushed Xiang Jiang’s face one after another, but he didn’t look back at Xiang Hai.
Huang Jin’s eyes were still staring at the terrifying human-faced wings. His fingers trembled as he gathered the spirit bombs, quickly piling them to one side on the ground.
“I…”
“Blow it up.” Looking at the townspeople who were trying to break free from the hemp rope, Xiang Jiang ordered impatiently.
Ge Tingting wanted to stop Huang Jin, but she didn’t have time to type.
They didn’t know what Xiang Jiang was thinking. Needless to say, the donut girl had already broken a piece of the hemp rope, not to mention that Ren Jiying didn’t have any protective measures on her. If the building blew up like this…
“Bang!!!”
The office building itself wasn’t too big. Two thirds of the first floor were blown up by the spirit bombs, which made the building lose its balance. A deafening sound of collapse rumbled as the building fell towards a deserted area in the center of the town.
…And judging from the chase just now, there had to be townspeople hiding there!
Ge Tingting and Huang Jin were hung up by hemp ropes. The two held Ren Jiying tightly so she wouldn’t fall eight stories.
Everything happened instantaneously.
As if things were moving in slow motion, the 8-story building slowly collapsed.
Xiang Hai was floating in the air, staying in his original position, with his human-faced butterfly wings fully unfolded. More hemp ropes bounced around and were grasped by those old “scaly hands” that were vomited out of the young faces. The ropes rushed towards the townspeople in the depth of the smoke and mist.
Xiang Jiang had launched a thousand hemp ropes towards the ground. Just looking at the scene, it was like a poor worm that wanted to break free of the “hemp rope spider web” but couldn’t do it.
Was this the end? Ge Tingting desperately grabbed Ren Jiying’s sleeve. Mayor Ren’s work shirt was covered in dust, and she was out of breath. She tried hard not to look at the void under her feet and firmly retained her consciousness.
Huang Jin’s attention was all on grabbing hold of Ren Jiying, but in this short moment, Ge Tingting had never thought so quickly.
There were still many townspeople ambushing below. If Xiang Jiang missed them, there would be heavy casualties.
Would the master of the Emergency Management Department, the #1 Ghost Master of Haigu, make such a terrifying mistake? As a rookie who had just entered the industry, was she really qualified to question this senior?
But…
Ge Tingting gritted her teeth and clenched her free hand tightly. Her nails dug deep into her palms.
“Wo!” The moment the floor collapsed; she yelled wildly something that no one could understand!
Under the ruins, countless bird bones emerged from the ground.
The most indispensable thing in mountain towns were wild animals. The bones of birds were thin and strong. They span species and ages to form a “patchwork of skeleton birds”. Corpses were extremely sensitive to vitality. As soon as the skeleton birds were born, they rushed towards the living in the dust and mist.
The skeleton birds didn’t attack. They grabbed the townspeople’s clothes, regardless of whether they had hemp rope or not, and pushed them out of the collapse range.
The minds of evil things were all on the group floating in the sky. They ignored the fast and light movements of the small things.
Ge Tingting felt a chill in her heart.
Her skeleton birds caught three hundred and nineteen people, three of whom didn’t have a hemp rope on them.
…And with her current ability, she probably didn’t find all the nearby townspeople.
But she didn’t have the strength to continue thinking.
This was the first time Ge Tingting had controlled so many corpses. Despite the strong evil qi of this mountain town, her seven orifices still spewed out back blood. Ren Jiying tilted her face, causing a few drops of blood to fall on it.
Ren Jiying narrowed her eyes for an instant in a daze, revealing a trace of worry.
“You guys…”
As soon as she uttered a few words, the abandoned building that had just collapsed halfway ushered in another explosion.
It was just this time, the explosion came from the inside.
Tens of millions of fire dragons rushed out from the explosion point, instantly dispersing the fog. In less than half a second, the group of fire dragons spread all over the ground, swept through the air, and wrapped the townspeople firmly with their bodies. The ruins fell into flames and instantly turned into dust. The evil spirits were swept away by dragon fire and suddenly dyed into clusters of cyan fireworks.
The glass curtain wall shattered into countless pieces in the explosion.
The brilliant lights swept across the glass surface, causing broken light to splatter everywhere as grand green and red fireworks burst out in the mist.
Fu Xingchuan was here.
Sure enough, at the same time, five people broke out from under the ruins and rushed straight into the sky.
Ge Tingting showed a weak smile, but her smile froze…
Behind the five people, a three-story colored “eyeball”, and thousands of evil beings followed closely. Unlike these blind and crazy evil spirits on the ground, these evil things were quite organized, chasing aggressively with a murderous aura.
…It turned out that they weren’t here to save them, but the group underground was also running for their lives?!
And based on how this thing looked, Ge Tingting felt it wasn’t good news. She had never heard of any giant eyeball, but the oppression it gave off was hundreds of times stronger than Xiang Hai’s in their party.
“…We’re screwed,” Huang Jin stated relatively objectively.
As Fu Xingchuan appeared, Xiang Hai retracted the hemp ropes. He lowered his head and looked at the three people under him with a dim expression.
Xiang Jiang flew nearby and looked at the huge green and red fireworks.
“Yes, we’re screwed,” he said lightly.
……
Yin Ren was pelted by the glass ballast and ash from the ruins.
Fu Xingchuan and Li Nian had kept a close watch on him so Lord Ghost King didn’t dare to wander even a strand of his hair. He could only hold Zhong Chengshuo in his arms. Zhong Chengshuo was well versed in the principle of self-protection. He didn’t struggle at all and even adjusted his position cooperatively.
Evening was approaching. The mountain mist was immersed in a blood-stained sunset. The mist swallowed up most of the light, but it was also much brighter than the ground. Yin Ren squinted unconsciously as he got out from underground.
“Very good. There are no dead people.”
The fire dragons frantically dispelled the mist as Fu Xingchuan wiped the sweat from his face.
Li Nian: “What are you going to do next?’
“Of course, run for our lives!” Fu Xingchuan said confidently. “The enemy is in the shadows while we’re exposed. We don’t even know who our opponent is. If we fight again, we’ll surely die!”
“Sure enough,” Professor Li replied helplessly.
“Take the four people over there later. Let’s transfer the nine of us together.”
Fu Xingchuan was still sprinting frantically. He took them to fly in circles near the ruins, picking places with complex terrain to squeeze into, trying to distance them from Yellow Millet.
Yin Ren was still hugging Zhong Chengshuo. The latter struggled at this moment, trying to break away from Yin Ren’s arms. Yin Ren didn’t have time to delve into it. He suddenly felt restless evil qi in the air and frowned slightly.
As the leader, Fu Xingchuan’s judgment was reasonable.
…Unfortunately, it was a few seconds too late.
Something rumbled through the ground. Behind them, Yellow Millet let out a high-pitched scream. The aura of spells became more intense.
Unsurprisingly, just as Fu Xingchuan turned his head and rushed towards the above ground team, the entire town shook. At that moment, everyone happened to be passing through an abandoned floor without glass.
Yin Ren instinctively grabbed Zhong Chengshuo, trying to protect him again…
But he only grabbed air.
Zhong Chengshuo had disappeared.
The author has something to say:
Think about it carefully. Xiao Yin can make himself cool so that Xiao Zhong can post*! (?
*(贴贴) It’s an internet term referring to the close relationship and interaction between two people (including love, family affection, friendship). It’s mainly used to describe the love between two people. || In this context, the author is saying, Yin Ren gets all the cool scenes, so now it’s time for Zhong Chengshuo highlights.
Kinky Translations 