Carnage!!!

At ten in the evening, inside a second-floor room.

Xu Mo pulled up his white shirt, exposing his chest.

A large patch in the center of his chest had turned red, marred by several cracks. Within those fissures, a golden light pulsed in tandem with his breathing.

‘The red area has grown again.’ Xu Mo frowned slightly as he observed the change.

Every time he used his ability, the red area expanded, and his strength permanently increased by ten percent.

He did not know if he would still be considered human once his entire body was covered in red.

This was one of the reasons he had rejected all the invitations from those who came to his door.

Pulling his shirt back down, he lay on the bed and was just beginning to drift off to sleep when...

Outside Xu Family Village.

A five-meter-tall Specter was rapidly charging toward the village. Its lower half was a black snake tail, while its upper body split into three human torsos, with several-meter-long snake tails sprouting from its left and right sides.

Not far from it, a half-human, half-grey mantis creature over two meters tall was also rushing toward Xu Family Village.

In the sky, a massive three-meter-wide female ghost's head appeared alongside them.

They seemed to be driven here by some terrifying existence.

Only when Xu Family Village came into view did that eerie aura of death finally vanish.

“So tired... so tired... I want to eat...” the three heads of the snake-tailed Specter hissed in high-pitched voices.

It had not even begun to feed today before being driven here by that great terror.

At the thought of this, it lunged violently toward a single-story house at the entrance of the village.

Its massive body smashed straight through the house. A middle-aged man was wrapped tightly in one of the snake tails, his eyes wide with sheer terror.

As the man panicked, the snake-tailed Specter opened its middle mouth as wide as possible, and the tail stuffed him straight inside.

This loud crash caused Xu Mo, who had just lain down in his second-floor room in the distance, to instantly snap his eyes open. ‘That noise... what on earth is happening?!’

He rushed to the window and saw that the house of the uncle at the entrance of the village had been reduced to ruins. A five-meter-tall Specter was already heading toward the neighboring house.

The dozens of other households in the village were awakened by the commotion, and lights began to flicker on in house after house.

Even the lights below him turned on, and a puzzled, elderly voice echoed. “Old woman, you stay home and watch. I'm going out to see what's happening.”

Seeing this, Xu Mo hastily shouted, “Grandpa, don't go outside!”

With that, he jumped straight out of the window.

The doors of several houses near the village entrance opened. The villagers who had stepped out to investigate went pale the moment they saw the terrifying Specter.

“A monster!” a middle-aged woman screamed, trying to run back inside.

A snake tail pierced straight through her stomach, carrying her along as it moved rapidly, skewering three other nearby villagers in quick succession.

“Ah!”

“Someone save me!”

“Help! Help! I don't want to die yet!”

The four of them were skewered like insects on a single black snake tail, letting out wails of agony.

“So... delicious!” As blood pooled onto the ground, the three heads of the snake-tailed Specter split into wide, sneering grins over a meter wide, preparing to feed.

“You bastard!” an angry voice bellowed at that moment.

The snake-tailed Specter turned its three heads to look at Xu Mo. Surprise flickered in its eyes, and it asked curiously, “You... are not... food?”

Staring at the villagers skewered on the Specter's tail, Xu Mo's body suddenly began to swell.

A crimson hue rapidly spread across his entire body as his height shot up to two meters. His muscles swelled, and two black patterns stretched from his forehead down to his eyes before fading at his cheeks. A ten-centimeter-long red horn sprouted from the left side of his forehead.

With blood-red eyes, he looked exactly like a malevolent demon.

The ground beneath Xu Mo's feet shattered as he transformed into a red blur, slamming violently into the abdomen of the snake-tailed Specter.

The impact sent the snake-tailed Specter flying back more than a dozen meters.

Xu Mo pressed his attack, deliberately trying to beat the creature away from the village.

With this intention, the two of them quickly vanished from the village entrance.

However, at the back of the village, the half-human, half-mantis creature was quietly feasting on a villager. Nearby, several other villagers had been sliced in half, their blood and entrails spilled all over the ground.

In the sky, the female ghost hovered slowly over the center of the village. With a gentle breath, several wisps of white mist floated out from the houses.

In the distance, He Wenxi watched quietly as the Specters and Evil Spirits began slaughtering the village.

On a road a kilometer away.

Xu Mo shattered the Specter's last remaining head with a single punch, and its massive body collapsed heavily to the ground.

“Whew, what a troublesome bastard. I need to get back!” Xu Mo turned and ran back toward the village.

However, as he neared the village, his expression froze. A dense, metallic scent of blood filled his nostrils.

Inside the village, there was absolute silence.

He rushed back to his home, where the overwhelming stench of blood grew even stronger.

Pushing the door open, he saw blood and shredded flesh scattered everywhere. A mantis creature was currently slicing up his grandmother's corpse.

It seemed entirely oblivious to his arrival.

“Grandma!” His pupils dilated. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the lifeless elderly woman.

The mantis Specter turned to look at Xu Mo, who was still in his red monster form. Mistaking him for one of its kind, it casually tossed a human head to his feet and said in a clumsy voice, “You... eat... this...”

Specters possessed a rudimentary intelligence; when food was plentiful, they would not fight among themselves.

Xu Mo stared at his grandfather's head rolling to his feet, its eyes wide with lingering despair.

This completely pushed Xu Mo over the edge. Veins bulged on his face, and tears flowed uncontrollably. “Ahhhhh!!!”

With a flash, he instantly appeared above the mantis Specter's head and slammed his right fist down.

With just a single punch, the Specter's body exploded, and his grandmother's mangled remains fell to the floor.

Ignoring everything else, Xu Mo scrambled toward his little brother's room.

But the moment he reached the doorway, he saw nothing inside but a heap of mangled flesh and blood.

Xu Mo fell to his knees, staring at the scene with bloodshot eyes. “How did this happen? How did it turn out like this?!”

He could not understand why the tiny Xu Family Village would be attacked by two Specters at the same time.

Xu Mo knelt there for the entire night, his body slowly reverting to its original form, until some villagers who had been away returned and reported it to the inspectors.

The village was cordoned off.

Footsteps echoed outside the door, followed by a woman's voice. “Xu Mo?”

Hearing the voice, Xu Mo turned his head blankly. A beautiful woman dressed in a white shirt and black trousers had appeared.

Looking at Xu Mo, whose eyes were bloodshot and who seemed to have aged a decade overnight, she walked over and knelt down on one knee.

He Wenxi gently placed a hand on his head and said in a flat tone, “The moment I heard that Xu Family Village was under attack, I rushed here with my people. I didn't expect to still be too late.”

“Are you... from the Special Bureau?” Tears of blood trickled from Xu Mo's eyes, his body trembling violently.

He had not expected the Special Bureau to be so dedicated. Though they had arrived late, they had still come.

“The appearance of Specters is the greatest disaster in human history.”

“What happened to you today could very well happen to someone else tomorrow.”

“Xu Mo, join the Special Bureau. Not just to eradicate the Specters, but to ensure that tragedies like yours never happen again.”

He Wenxi's voice was completely devoid of emotion, yet her youthful, feminine tone sounded incredibly gentle to Xu Mo.

Catching a faint whiff of her body fragrance, Xu Mo nodded, his eyes burning with hatred. “My family is gone. Those Specters deserve to die. I want to join the Special Bureau and slaughter every last one of them!”

He Wenxi stroked his hair, an imperceptible smile playing at the corners of her lips.