Chapter 68

Zhu Di received a call from Su Wan. Hearing her best friend say she was scared and wanted to come over, Zhu Di was just about to agree when Miao Zheng’s words suddenly flashed through her mind.

…Miao Zheng had said not to open the door for anyone, and not to let anyone enter her home.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di hardened her heart and said to Su Wan, “Wanwan, whatever you do, don’t leave your house. Just stay inside. The Supervisory Bureau must already know about the anomaly here; they’ll be arriving any moment.”

But on the other end of the line, Su Wan acted as if she hadn’t heard a word Zhu Di said, repeating, “Zhu Di, I’m a little scared. Can I come to your place to find you?”

Even an ordinary person who had never encountered a supernatural event would realize something was wrong at this point.

This time, Zhu Di didn’t respond. She decisively hung up the phone, turned it off, and threw it straight into the trash can.

Before she could even calm her chaotic emotions, Zhu Di suddenly noticed that her shadow seemed a bit… off.

Without a word, she rushed back to her bedroom at top speed, threw herself onto the bed, and pulled on an eye mask and earplugs.

The moment she lay down, the glass of a snow globe on her nightstand clearly reflected her figure.

The reflection in the glass was turning its head to look at Zhu Di lying on the bed, but because Zhu Di was wearing the eye mask, she didn’t see it.

Consequently, the reflection could only remain stuck on the glass, staring fixedly at the reclining Zhu Di, unable to undergo any further change.

Before the sky over the residential area turned strange, Hou San and Miao Zheng had already arrived at Penghu Gardens.

They had been commissioned by Zhou Fangdong to deal with the troublemaking cultists at Penghu Gardens.

The moment the sky turned black, Miao Zheng discovered that an invisible glass dome seemed to have covered Penghu Gardens. Even though they were standing right at the entrance of the complex, they couldn’t leave… the people inside couldn’t get out, and those outside couldn’t get in.

Seeing this, Hou San immediately took out a black paper man he carried with him, placed it on the ground, and burned paper to contact Zhou Fangdong.

Back in his apartment, Zhou Fangdong received Hou San’s message and immediately utilized the shadow puppet.

The black shadow puppet on the ground slowly drifted upward. Then, a familiar figure appeared before Hou San and Miao Zheng.

Zhou Fangdong stretched his body.

Aside from feeling a bit weightless, it wasn’t much different from using a substitute.

Furthermore, after using the shadow puppet, he felt a strange sensation… as if something was attracting him. It felt like a long-lost part of his own body, making him want to go toward it uncontrollably, to merge with it once again.

Zhou Fangdong looked toward the east; the thing attracting him seemed to be in that direction.

He activated his [Ghost Pupils]. Piercing through the flowing trajectories of Yin Energy, he caught a faint glimpse of a long, thin wooden pole.

[Ding—Detected missing part of [Cursed Tool: Human-Skin Shadow Puppet]. This tool can be upgraded. Once upgraded, important functions will be unlocked. Please retrieve it promptly.]

A missing part of the shadow puppet play? He would check it out in a moment; the most important thing right now was to confirm the safety of the two girls.

Zhou Fangdong opened the [Linjiang City Map] and checked the locations of the four investigators.

Coincidentally, all four investigators were in Unit 2 nearby—two on the third floor and two on the fifth floor.

However, the two red dots representing the investigators on the third floor looked a bit off, appearing much dimmer than the others.

Zhou Fangdong looked at Miao Zheng and asked, “Miao Zheng, does the girl who contacted you live in Unit 2? Is she on the third or fifth floor?”

“It’s Unit 2, fifth floor. I forgot if it’s 501 or 502, but I remember the position of her door. I’ll recognize it once we get to the fifth floor.”

Zhou Fangdong nodded. It seemed the floors where the four investigators were located on the map corresponded to the girls’ positions; they were still protecting them.

To be safe, however, Zhou Fangdong decided to go there personally.

On the stairwell landing of the third floor of Unit 2.

Li Zhe and his teammate stood frozen in place, their expressions numb and exhausted.

Anyone who had witnessed someone with their exact face die dozens of times in various gruesome ways would end up in such a state.

When the black sky anomaly first occurred, Li Zhe and his partner, who were guarding the hallway outside Su Wan’s home, noticed something wrong with their shadows.

Immediately after, their shadows reflected on the surface of their metallic supernatural energy detection instruments began to undergo a localized, eerie transformation.

They quickly discarded the instruments, but even after doing so, the reflections on the metal buckles on their chests began to change.

The two of them quickly realized the danger and moved with maximum speed to put away or cover every reflective object on their persons.

Yet, they still failed to evade the erosion of the ghost.

The final time, Li Zhe and his partner saw their own twisted reflections within each other’s pupils.

After witnessing the eerie reflections three consecutive times, Li Zhe and his partner found they could no longer move.

Then, their shadows changed. As if coming to life, they slowly rose from the ground, transforming into the black silhouettes of graceful, long-haired women.

After the two female silhouettes approached them, they gradually began to take on their appearances.

During this process, Li Zhe and his partner felt their memories and senses being stripped away bit by bit…

Just as they were about to be completely replaced, a searing, burning sensation suddenly radiated from their chests.

The two Room 204 keys, which had been hanging around their necks and tucked deep inside their clothes, actually forced their way out from beneath their garments.

The surfaces of the keys shimmered with a faint light. Then, Li Zhe and his partner heard that familiar, scalp-numbing sound of coughing suddenly ring out.

With the appearance of the coughing, the shadow replacement was forcibly terminated. The shadows that had already taken on the forms of Li Zhe and his partner suddenly broke out in pustules across their entire bodies. They rotted rapidly, turning into two unrecognizable, putrid corpses.

However, the death of these two shadows did not end the replacement process. Two more shadows rose from the ground.

The sound of coughing rang out again. This time, the two shadows were covered in festering sores and oozing pus, corroded into a puddle of foul liquid by some unknown pathogen.

Yet more shadows stood up again with relentless persistence.

The coughing sound rang out once more, refusing to be outdone.

The shadows died miserable deaths again.

…This cycle repeated dozens of times until Li Zhe and his companion were completely numb.

Although their lives weren’t in immediate danger, they were trapped in place, unable to move.

They didn’t know if they were the only ones being attacked by this ghost, or if every resident in the building was under assault.

If ordinary people were being replaced by shadows, it would be a catastrophe.

This shadow entity couldn’t be detected by instruments, and it could even strip ordinary people of their memories. If these ghosts, disguised as humans, were allowed to spread into the city center, Li Zhe shuddered to think of the horrific disaster that would ensue.

After witnessing the death of yet another shadow, Li Zhe suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from the stairs behind him.

He couldn’t turn his head and had no way of knowing if the newcomer was friend or foe.

But soon, a familiar voice put Li Zhe’s mind at ease:

“Those shadows have already spread to the fifth floor. For the ordinary people I’ve already swapped back, don’t let them leave this unit. I need to check them again after I deal with the shadows upstairs.”

Zhou Fangdong gave instructions to Miao Zheng and Hou San as he arrived on the third floor.

As he passed Li Zhe and his partner, he waved his hand. The black shadows that had plagued the two for so long instantly dissipated, turning into two plumes of smoke that merged into Zhou Fangdong’s hand.

The eerie power of these shadows that could replace living people shared the same origin as the Shadow Play cursed item; it was likely created by the pole-shaped supernatural item Zhou Fangdong had sensed earlier.

Li Zhe was still reeling from the shock that the landlord of Liwan Apartments could actually leave the building. Seeing Zhou Fangdong resolve the shadows they were helpless against with a casual wave of his hand left him even more terrified.

What terrifying power…

However, the shock didn’t last long, as Zhou Fangdong’s words snapped them back to reality: “You two, get down there and help blockade the unit. Don’t let anyone leave this building.”

“Yes!” Li Zhe and his partner quickly collected themselves and ran downstairs.

When Zhou Fangdong reached the fifth floor, he found the other two investigators in the same state Li Zhe had been in, trapped on the landing.

A short-haired girl was standing at the door of Room 502, knocking incessantly and calling out like she was summoning a soul: “Zhu Di… open the door… it’s me, Su Wan… Zhu Di…”

Zhou Fangdong pressed his hand onto the girl’s shoulder. Another wisp of black Qi merged into his hand, and the girl who had been knocking instantly turned into a black paper cutout. It spontaneously combusted and vanished in a flash.

At the same time, the shadow on the floor slowly rose, and a pale, weak, short-haired girl appeared on the ground.

She was still conscious, but she seemed dazed with terror, her eyes tightly shut as she muttered something under her breath.

After confirming she was alive, Zhou Fangdong didn’t linger. He dealt with the shadows on the two investigators, signaled for them to look after Su Wan, and continued up to the sixth floor.

From the sixth floor to the roof, everything was fine, which allowed Zhou Fangdong to breathe a sigh of relief.

When he returned to the third floor, he happened to run into Li Zhe, who was carrying an ordinary person on his back, preparing to head downstairs.

Li Zhe noticed Zhou Fangdong coming down: “Mr. Landlord, we’ve gathered all the residents on the same floor. You can come with me.” He reported the progress to Zhou Fangdong as if he were reporting to a superior officer.

After this mysterious landlord had taken the initiative to help handle the supernatural incident and rescue civilians, the fear Li Zhe felt during their first meeting had vanished, replaced by unconditional trust.

[Favorability of the four investigators from Room 201 has reached 80. Host, please claim your rewards in a timely manner.]

Zhou Fangdong and Li Zhe arrived at the first floor together.

The door to Room 101 was wide open. The residents of the building were all inside, with Miao Zheng and Hou San watching over them.

However, three people had their hands and feet tied and had been tossed into a corner.

Seeing Zhou Fangdong return, Miao Zheng said, “Boss Landlord, not long after you left, these three were taken over by shadows again.”

Zhou Fangdong walked over quickly and extracted the black shadows once more.

During the extraction process, Zhou Fangdong said to Miao Zheng and Hou San, “Go toward the bicycle sheds on the east side of the complex and see if there are any cultists nearby. If you see a cultist using a wooden pole-shaped supernatural item, Hou San, you steal it. Don’t let them use that item anymore.”

This would never end if it continued like this. If they didn’t stop it at the source, those cultists would keep using that wooden pole to control shadows and replace the living.

Hou San rubbed his palms together and said with a grin, “Consider it done, Boss! We’ll make sure this is handled beautifully.”

Zhou Fangdong added one more instruction: “Don’t be stingy with the talismans. If you feel danger, use a Scapegoat Doll immediately. the consumption of these items is trivial; your safety is what matters most to me.”

Hou San’s face was filled with emotion as he nodded repeatedly in agreement.

[Favorability of Room 203 tenant Hou San has reached 80. Host, please claim your rewards in a timely manner.]

Miao Zheng and Hou San left the building.

When the two reached the vicinity of the bicycle sheds, Hou San shook out the loose sleeves of his suit and smiled. “Hah, they’re really being blatant about it, not hiding at all. Miss, this way. I’ll need you to cover for me in a bit.”

Miao Zheng nodded, readying all her talismans and hanging the supernatural camera Zhou Fangdong had given her—the one that could photograph ghosts—in the most accessible spot.

Hou San led her to an open space near the bicycle sheds. This was the complex’s activity area, featuring a small central plaza surrounded by a ring of fitness equipment.

Beside the fitness equipment stood a small gazebo for resting. Behind the gazebo was a small shack that looked like a utility shed for cleaning supplies.

Four bald men sat casually on the stone benches inside the gazebo.

They were gathered around a stone table. Three of them were busy with paper-cutting; every time they finished a small black paper effigy, they would use blood from their fingertips to draw runes upon it before handing it to the tall, fat bald man holding a wooden rod.

The wooden rod in the tall man’s hand was about the length of an adult’s forearm and was engraved with eerie runes. Each time he received a paper effigy, he would flick it with the rod, causing the paper man to transform into a dark shadow and fly toward the distant apartment buildings.

Hou San and Miao Zheng were hiding behind a large tree. After finalizing their plan of action, Miao Zheng slapped a protective talisman onto herself and walked straight out.

The four cultists in the gazebo immediately noticed Miao Zheng’s presence, but only one of them stopped what he was doing.

He looked at Miao Zheng with disdain and pulled out a talisman.

As he chanted under his breath, a hideous, malevolent ghost manifested out of thin air and lunged fiercely at Miao Zheng.

This feeling… Miao Zheng’s expression tightened, and she decisively threw out a Mid-grade Ghost Expelling Talisman.

The pressure this ghost exerted was intense, likely around B-rank, so she didn’t hesitate to use the strongest talisman in her possession.

The bald man controlling the ghost had been wearing a look of contempt, but when he realized he had inexplicably lost control over the malevolent spirit, he finally panicked.

“How is this possible?!”

This was the strongest ghost he had, yet it had been dealt with so easily by a single talisman?

However, he didn’t give up. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out a handful of talismans and released several more ghosts to attack Miao Zheng.

This time, Miao Zheng relaxed considerably. Holding her supernatural camera, she pressed the shutter rapidly, her hand steady as she took clear photos of every single ghost.

Since these were relatively low-level spirits, they were all frozen in place the moment they were captured by the camera.

Before that bald man could cry out in shock again, the three men behind him started shouting first: “Where’s the Soul-Picking Rod?! How did it just disappear??”

The wooden rod in the tall, fat man’s hand had vanished.

Meanwhile, by the large tree behind Miao Zheng, Hou San’s eyes crinkled into a smile as he took the wooden rod from a bruised, purple ghostly hand.

Finding the Soul-Picking Rod gone, the four cultists were livid and rushed out of the gazebo.

At that moment, the bald man who controlled the ghosts sensed something and pointed behind Miao Zheng: “This woman has an accomplice! The Soul-Picking Rod was stolen by her partner!”

“How is it that guy?!” Another bald man seemed to recognize Hou San and pointed at him, shouting to the tall, fat man, “Deacon, that’s the thief who stole the furniture from our stronghold!”

“Enough talk! Kill this woman quickly, then catch that thief. Don’t let him get away with the Soul-Picking Rod.” The tall, fat bald man’s face was exceptionally grim as he drew a blood-colored dagger engraved with runes from his waist.

Seeing this, the other three also pulled out daggers of the same design.

Since attacking with ghosts wasn’t working, they would resort to physical slaughter.

They could all see that only the woman between the two of them possessed any combat ability. As long as they took her down, they could easily catch the thief she was protecting.

Could four grown men with knives really fail to kill one woman?

Miao Zheng watched their movements and raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat incredulous. “Huh? You’re not using ghosts but trying to swarm me in close quarters? Are you serious?”

The cultists didn’t respond. The ghost-controlling bald man in the lead struck first, his blade thrusting directly toward Miao Zheng’s face.

Miao Zheng let out a cold snort and sidestepped the thrust with extreme speed. Instead of retreating, she lunged forward. The muscles in her right arm bulged as her fist, like a heavy cannonball, smashed violently into the cultist’s face.

Blood sprayed from his nose as the center of his face caved in instantly. The cultist didn’t even have time to scream before he toppled straight backward.

After taking down one cultist with a single punch, Miao Zheng’s momentum didn’t slow; it accelerated. She kicked off the ground like a pouncing leopard, using the momentum to duck low in front of another cultist. Then, she drove her elbow upward like a sledgehammer, slamming it hard into the second cultist’s jaw.

A sickening crack of bone echoed. The second cultist didn’t even realize what had happened before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.

At the same time, the blades of the other two cultists arrived.

Miao Zheng nimbly ducked, the cold edges of the knives nearly grazing her short hair.

However, she wasn’t just dodging. As she crouched, she shifted her stance, and her right leg swept out across the ground like a steel whip, directly taking the legs out from under the two cultists attacking her.

Two cries of pain rang out almost simultaneously as the sharp pain in their ankles caused them to lose balance and fall forward clumsily.

The tall, fat bald man managed to stay upright thanks to his weight advantage. He staggered, trying to regain his footing, but in that instant, Miao Zheng was already airborne. A flying kick slammed into his chest, sending him crashing back to the ground.

A crisp crack of bone came from his chest, and the back of his head slammed heavily against the pavement.

Using the momentum from that kick, Miao Zheng tightened her core and twisted her body mid-air. Her other leg swung around like a heavy battle-axe, delivering a spinning second-stage flying kick.

This powerful kick landed directly on the side of the face of the last cultist who was just trying to push himself up.

The only remaining conscious cultist had his head snapped to the side by the impact and went completely still.

Miao Zheng landed steadily on the ground and brushed off non-existent dust from her clothes.

She looked at the four cultists scattered across the ground and curled her lip in disdain. “That’s it? I thought you’d be tougher.”

While Miao Zheng was fighting these four, four other cultists were hiding in the small utility shack behind the gazebo.

These four had noticed the chaos outside and, without hesitation, offered themselves as sacrifices. They activated the Evil God Avatar Core and began the summoning ritual.

This mission allowed for only success; failure was not an option.

As the cultists chanted their incantations, the eerie runes drawn in blood upon the ground began to emit an ominous red glow. The entire corrugated iron shack trembled slightly, as if something beneath the runes was about to burst through the soil.

The air grew increasingly viscous, as though an invisible liquid were flooding into the small cabin.

When the stagnation of the air reached its peak, a mass of indescribable pitch-black matter suddenly surged from beneath the runes.

It had no fixed shape, appearing only as a writhing mass of darkness that expanded and contracted rhythmically. Twisted human faces, expressions frozen in despair and agony, constantly surfaced upon its sludge-like exterior. These faces were like bubbles that appeared and vanished, trapped in a perpetual cycle of reconstruction and rupture.

The moment this mass of darkness appeared, a terrifying aura saturated with malice and mental pollution exploded outward. In an instant, the fragile iron shack housing the summoning ritual was blown apart.

The cultists were also sent flying, crashing heavily near Miao Zheng, landing alongside their four previously unconscious companions.

However, these four did not faint. Instead, they scrambled to their feet, staring toward the site of the shack with faces full of fanatical zeal.

“The avatar of our Great God—has descended!”

“Great God! Please, let us become one with you!”

The mass of black matter writhed in place for a moment. Then, as if hearing the cultists’ voices, it lunged toward Miao Zheng at extreme speed—it seemed to view the eight cultists and Miao Zheng alike as sacrifices to be devoured.

Miao Zheng watched the scene in horror, realizing too late that his body was unable to move.

The bizarre mental pollution brought by that sludge had completely severed the connection between his brain and his body. The moment he laid eyes on it, he had been contaminated and controlled, left with no choice but to bide his time like a lamb led to the slaughter.

Just as the sludge reached the pavilion, Zhou Fangdong appeared in the nick of time.

As he arrived on the scene, the system’s electronic voice sounded with a hint of urgency:

[Nearby Evil God aura detected! Host, please eliminate it immediately! Once the Evil God Avatar fully awakens, it will devour and contaminate every ordinary person within the boundaries of this residential district!]

Zhou Fangdong didn’t need the system’s reminder; he could already sense the loathsome, nauseating filth of that aura.

He pulled Miao Zheng aside and stood directly before the mass of twisted black matter that had emerged from the ritual and had yet to fully take form.

Once he confirmed the area ahead was clear, Zhou Fangdong raised his hand and cast [Death Realm Invasion] directly at the sludge.

A far more powerful and terrifying Yin Energy instantly overwhelmed the bizarre pollution brought by the black matter. A crimson rift slowly tore open in the void, and the turbulent Yin Energy surging from the gap instantly shredded the runic barrier the cultists had used to isolate the district.

With the barrier torn asunder, the artificial night shrouding the district vanished, and the sky turned from black to white. But as the Yin Energy from the rift scattered, the newly brightened sky darkened once more… the light of the heavens was like a light switch being flicked at will, changing colors with a mere wave of Zhou Fangdong’s hand.

The cultists who had just summoned the Evil God Avatar were stunned. The members of the Supervisory Bureau, who had finally been able to enter the district after the barrier was destroyed, were equally paralyzed by the sight.

An invisible pressure radiated outward with Zhou Fangdong as the center. That terrifying deterrent force was almost tangible; the air seemed to congeal, weighing heavily on the hearts of everyone present. A sense of suffocation spread from their bodies to the very depths of their souls.

The dense, restless Yin Energy transformed into countless ghostly hands that seized the Evil God Avatar.

The moment those ghostly hands attempted to drag the Evil God Avatar back into the rift, Zhou Fangdong stepped forward and planted his foot firmly upon the frantically writhing filth.

At this sight, the ghostly hands of Yin Energy—which had surged from the rift with a manic impulse to annihilate everything—obediently released the Evil God Avatar, transforming into a gentle breeze around Zhou Fangdong.

His loose black clothes snapped and fluttered in the Yin Energy, outlining his lean, upright silhouette. His phoenix eyes, with their slightly upturned corners, were lowered; his pitch-black pupils were like bottomless pools of freezing water, reflecting the writhing filth beneath his feet.

He didn’t even exert force; he simply stood there casually, as if what lay beneath his boot were not the incarnation of an Evil God, but a mere clump of insignificant dust and mud.

The Evil God Avatar let out a piercing shriek beneath him. The shapeless mass of black matter struggled, trying to coil around Zhou Fangdong’s calf, but the moment it touched the hem of his trousers, it hissed and dissolved like snow under a scorching sun.

The first cultist to fall did not even realize when his knees had hit the ground. He simply stared at the figure with trembling pupils, meaningless rasps escaping his throat as his hands shook uncontrollably.

One, two, three… the cultists who had summoned the Evil God Avatar fell like stalks of wheat blown over by the wind. They all knelt, their bodies shivering uncontrollably—it was an instinctive fear that originated from the depths of the soul, one that could not be resisted.

These cultists, who had been driven to a frenzy of excitement by the summoning of the Evil God Avatar, had now completely forgotten the “god” being trampled underfoot. Their eyes held only that tall, slender figure.

Their so-called god, their twisted faith—at this moment, under the weight of absolute power and a deterrent force capable of shredding the soul, it was utterly crushed. They knelt and surrendered unconsciously, their entire beings focused on the black-clad figure standing atop their god.

The crimson rift that had been casually torn open had closed at some point, yet the pressure brought by the man did not diminish in the slightest.

Simply by standing there, he made it impossible for anyone to harbor the slightest thought of resistance. They wanted only to bow their heads in worship and offer up everything they possessed with both hands.

Whether it was the members of the Supervisory Bureau or the mentally broken cultists, the same thought emerged simultaneously in the hearts of everyone present.

If there truly were still gods in this world, they would likely look like this… tearing through the canopy of heaven, treading upon filth and karmic sin, commanding all things to bow their heads in willing submission.

And the figure regarded by everyone as a god remained expressionless, his gaze sweeping over everything before him with cold indifference.

Whether it was submission or awe, to him, it all seemed like nothing more than the most ordinary of sights.