Darkness and the Beginning

Darkness, before the birth of humanity, was merely a natural law of the cycle of the sun and moon.

But after humanity was born, they harbored a natural fear of the dark. This fear had persisted for countless millennia, ensuring that the onset of darkness was almost always accompanied by dread.

Until today, in a place devoid of light, the darkness began to fluctuate.

When faced with such a conceptual entity, the first to react was its own kind.

A figure materialized. The consciousness of death slowly took shape here, manifesting in the form of He Wenxi.

What a unique existence. If I can control it, it will be of great help to my subsequent plans. She stared at the darkness before her, which was already forming the embryonic stage of consciousness, a trace of surprise flickering in her eyes.

Just as He Wenxi reached out a hand, intending to exert some influence on the nascent dark consciousness—

An eye manifested out of thin air in the space before her, staring at her with utter coldness. “You are reaching too far. This is not something you are qualified to touch.”

Looking at the eye, He Wenxi’s expression froze. She had not expected another entity to be able to reach this unique domain.

Before she could speak, neat cracks spiderwebbed across her body out of nowhere, and her consciousness instantly exploded.

In the physical world, inside an office in the Imperial Palace.

He Wenxi snapped her eyes open. Blood flowed uncontrollably from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

A look of confusion flashed in her eyes. When was I attacked? I didn't even sense it. Was it the original one?

She had read the files on Zhao Jin. The current emergence of the supernatural was heavily linked to him, and even her own birth might have been his doing.

He Wenxi felt a throbbing pain from the depths of her consciousness. The very origin of death had been shaken—something she had never experienced since her birth.

Originally, she had no real concept of Zhao Jin, but after suffering this blow, her wariness of him reached its absolute peak.

Unbeknownst to her, an eye silently watched her from directly above.

It seems the plan needs to be adjusted. I cannot recklessly interfere with those unique conscious existences. He Wenxi’s expression grew grave.

Once the bleeding stopped, she changed into a fresh set of clothes.

Shortly after, a knock sounded on the door.

“Come in,” He Wenxi said calmly.

Li Xueming walked in, looking at He Wenxi with a respectful expression. “Director He.”

“Are preparations complete?” He Wenxi asked, her expression serene.

Hearing this, Li Xueming quickly produced a document and placed it on the desk. “The personnel for Team One, who will be escorting the Ghoul and Professor Wu, have all assembled.”

With that, he turned to look outside. “You may come in.”

Outside the door, the lifeless-eyed Chu Jizhen and Liu Wangao walked in. Behind them followed two young men.

One was Yu Renjia, who had a scar at the corner of his mouth, and the other was the ordinary-looking Zhang Liu. Both were supernatural beings who had joined the Special Bureau later on.

“These four have performed the best during this period,” Li Xueming said. “Chu Jizhen will serve as the team leader. With them around, we can guarantee that Professor Wu and the Ghoul will be safe.”

He Wenxi swept her gaze over the four of them and said, “Add Xu Mo and Wen Yu to the team.”

“Yes, ma'am!” Li Xueming replied immediately without asking why.

“Xu Mo? Is that the kid who can turn into a Specter?” Chu Jizhen asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

He had been out in the field before and had heard rumors about someone in the Special Bureau who could transform into a monster. He was highly curious about this guy.

He Wenxi looked at the four of them, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Chu Jizhen, Liu Wangao, Yu Renjia, Zhang Liu.”

“The four of you are the top performers in the Special Bureau. Since we are doing an escort mission, we might as well slot Xu Mo and Wen Yu in to build chemistry with you all.”

“You will form the Special Bureau's strongest squad, and resources will be prioritized for you!”

Upon hearing this, the four of them grinned.

“The strongest, huh? It seems I, Yu Renjia, have finally caught Director He's eye.” Yu Renjia laughed, the scar at the corner of his mouth looking exceptionally menacing.

An hour later, at the boarding gate of the Capital Airport.

Having received the notification, Xu Mo and Wen Yu rushed over. Li Xueming was already waiting for them at the boarding gate.

Seeing him standing there, Wen Yu said apologetically, “Sorry, Brother Li. Traffic was bad on the way, so we got delayed a bit.”

Li Xueming shook his head and handed them a piece of paper covered in writing. “It's fine. You are part of Escort Team One. The team leader is Chu Jizhen.”

Hearing this, Xu Mo asked curiously, “Escort Team One? So there's a Team Two?”

“Yes. Team Two will be escorting via a flight,” Li Xueming nodded.

To prevent any unforeseen accidents, they were splitting the Ghoul escorts. If something went wrong with one team, at least they would still have the other.

As for the idea of keeping the Ghouls together to have a stronger defensive force—

He didn't dare to gamble. The escorts were indeed powerful, but the Ghouls themselves were fragile. If the Ghouls were accidentally caught in the crossfire, everything would be lost.

Wen Yu looked over the paper. When she saw Chu Jizhen’s name, something clicked, and she asked curiously, “Is that the Chu Jizhen who is known as the Hand of Kidney Deficiency?”

“Hey, is that any way to talk about your team leader before we've even started?” a listless voice drifted over from behind them.

Embarrassed, Wen Yu looked toward the boarding gate. A pale young man dressed in a suit stood there, his eyes completely lifeless.

“Go on, get moving. If nothing goes wrong, you'll be in the same squad from now on. The Director did say she wants to turn you into the strongest squad, you know,” Li Xueming said, patting both of them on the shoulders in encouragement.

Xu Mo nodded, saying earnestly, “Don't worry, I won't let Director He down!”

He the moment he recalled the beautiful Director He encouraging him with her sweet voice, he felt as if his life was filled with hope once again.

“Brother Li, I won't embarrass you either!” Wen Yu nodded seriously, then boarded the plane alongside Xu Mo.

The boarding stairs pulled away, and after waiting for a few minutes, the plane took off.

Li Xueming quietly watched the charter flight head in the direction of Yangcheng. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong with this escort mission.

The matter of the Ghoul was still classified as top-secret. In his eyes, this mission was merely a formality, and everyone should be back soon.

Just as the Special Bureau set off, a high-speed train departed from Xichang City, heading toward Yangcheng.

The train was packed with Night Slaves dressed in suits.

Among these Night Slaves, a small portion exhibited blood-red patterns on their bodies, which snaked from their torsos all the way up to their necks.

While they were on the move, inside a seaside villa.

Zhao Jin withdrew his consciousness from the darkness, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. After death, it took this long for darkness to emerge. The probability is indeed rather low.

There were many conceptual things in the world. Although the birth rate was low, any conceptual consciousness that did emerge was an extremely powerful entity.

He estimated it would take another ten days to a month for this darkness to be fully born.

On the notebook beside him, basic information about the darkness began to be recorded automatically.

Zhao Jin reached out his left hand. The space in front of him blurred slightly, and a black syringe materialized.

Pasted on it was a label with the words: "Ghoul Serum."

He opened the vial and took a sniff. A faint fragrance wafted out. The scent is decent. I didn't expect you to give me such a pleasant surprise, actually managing to research something from the Ghoul.

He casually set the vial aside. If he were to create new supernatural entities in the future, this thing would serve as one of his raw materials.