In the central district of Ningcheng, a thirty-meter-tall cylindrical building stood tall among a cluster of high-rises.
This was the Ningcheng Library, where all records and news of Ningcheng were preserved.
Inside, Tong Lin sat in a corner, browsing the news on the laptop in front of her.
Feng Shaojun sat not far away, looking through a local newspaper.
At this hour, the library was closed to the public.
“Found it!” Tong Lin, who was reviewing the news, suddenly called out.
Her loud voice drew the eyes of everyone else in the library. Realizing this, an embarrassed look flashed across her face as she looked toward Feng Shaojun.
He quickly walked over and whispered, “What did you find? Ningcheng might only have a population of two million, but there's no shortage of news. They'd report it even if someone's sow gave birth to an extra-large litter.”
Tong Lin turned her laptop toward Feng Shaojun. “Look at this!”
Feng Shaojun leaned in for a closer look. “'Ningcheng's Richest Man Critically Ill'? What's so interesting about that?”
“Now look at this one.” Tong Lin quickly scrolled down to another news report.
“'Ningcheng's Richest Man Discharged, Critical Illness Rumor Debunked!'”
Looking at the two completely contradictory headlines, Feng Shaojun scratched his head. “So he was cured. What's the big deal?”
Tong Lin stared at him. “When I saw these two articles, I used my clearance to access the hospital's internal database. Liu Wen was practically on his deathbed, and his family had already signed the DNR. How could he suddenly recover? There's definitely something fishy going on here!”
“In that case, compile the data quickly and send it to the team leader.” A smile spread across Feng Shaojun's face.
He hadn't expected them to find a lead on the very day of their arrival.
“What did you two find that has you so happy? Care to share the good news with this old man?” A raspy voice suddenly echoed from across the table.
Frowning, Feng Shaojun turned toward the source of the voice.
Sitting at the opposite table was an old man in sunglasses and a black traditional vest. Four fleshy, bulging lumps protruded from his cheeks.
“Old man, go wander somewhere else if you've got nothing to do. Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong,” Feng Shaojun said impatiently.
Beside him, Tong Lin stared at the old man in sunglasses. He looked incredibly familiar.
She instinctively glanced at the photo of Liu Wen on her laptop, then back at the man across from them. Her expression shifted.
A terrible premonition gripped her heart. She quickly looked around for the plainclothes inspectors assigned to protect them.
In the distance, where several plainclothes inspectors should have been stationed, five figures in black now stood.
Their eyes glowed a deep crimson, and they stared back at her with expressionless faces.
Hearing Feng Shaojun's words, the corners of Liu Wen's mouth curled into a sinister smile. He took off his sunglasses. “You yourself said to stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Since you were sent down here to deal with those monsters, you should have just stuck to that. Why did you have to investigate things you shouldn't have?”
Seeing Liu Wen's crimson eyes, Feng Shaojun's face paled. He immediately reached for the pistol at his waist.
Tong Lin, already on high alert, raised her gun and aimed it straight at Liu Wen.
Buzz!
But before they could pull their triggers, the world around them suddenly turned a blood-red hue, accompanied by a deafening ringing in their ears.
An agonizing sensation tore through the inside of their bodies.
Writhing in pain, Feng Shaojun felt a warm sensation dripping from his nose. He instinctively reached up to wipe it, only to find blood mixed with a white substance.
The white substance was his brain matter.
Thud!
His vision went black, and he collapsed straight to the floor.
Beside him, Tong Lin collapsed onto her laptop, blood pouring uncontrollably from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
“How utterly foolish. As ordinary humans, you should have the self-awareness of ordinary humans. There are some things you simply shouldn't touch.” Liu Wen looked down at the two corpses, put his sunglasses back on, and walked out.
Under the library lights, shadowy tentacles writhed and flickered within his shadow.
The five men in black followed closely behind him, their movements and steps perfectly synchronized like puppets on strings.
Upon reaching the entrance, one of the Night Slaves pulled out a lighter and sparked a flame.
Liu Wen watched silently. Before coming here, he had cut the surveillance and fire suppression systems. The Ghouls would serve as a convenient cover story for their deaths.
Whoosh!
Inside the book-filled library, the flames spread rapidly. In less than a minute, the entire building was engulfed in a raging inferno.
With his work done, a sedan pulled up right in front of Liu Wen.
Just as he was about to get in, he suddenly turned his head and looked toward a high-rise building dozens of stories tall across the street.
His eyes suddenly flared with red light. A second later, the glow vanished, and Liu Wen climbed into the car and drove off.
On the tenth floor of the high-rise, inside a room, two sniper rifles were set up.
Jiang Nan leaned heavily against the wall, staring at her teammate who had collapsed to the floor, eyes wide, with blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She couldn't help but murmur, “What a mess. I didn't expect there to be other supernatural beings besides the Boss!”
She had arrived here two hours ago, planning to eliminate Tong Lin and Feng Shaojun herself, but she hadn't expected Liu Wen to make a move first.
Furthermore, the man had even attacked them. Her teammate had been killed instantly just from a single glance from dozens of meters away.
With that thought, she grabbed her sniper rifle and quickly left the room, pulling out her phone to message Tang Yongyun as she walked.
Across the street from the Inspector Bureau, Tang Yongyun stared at the message from Jiang Nan, lost in thought. 'A newly emerged supernatural being? Well, that makes sense. Given Mr. Zhao's methods, how could I possibly be the only one?'
Putting his phone away, a sense of urgency gripped him. If this newcomer stole all the spotlight, how would he ever get closer to Zhao Jin?
Feathers began to sprout on his face, and his body looked as if it were about to fracture.
Bang!
In the next instant, Tang Yongyun's body exploded. A massive swarm of crows erupted from where he stood and flew straight toward the Inspector Bureau.
Inside the lobby of the Inspector Bureau, two inspectors on duty were sitting at their desks.
“I wonder when those monsters will finally be wiped out. I haven't even dared to take my girlfriend out lately,” a young inspector remarked.
Beside him, an older inspector replied, “Isn't the investigation team already on it? With the military involved this time, they should be able to wipe those monsters out completely.”
“Huh? What on earth is that?” Just as the younger inspector was about to reply, he noticed a massive cloud of crows appearing outside the entrance.
The older inspector followed his gaze and saw the flock of crows charging rapidly toward the entrance.
“Caw!” A sharp crow's cry suddenly echoed from outside.
In the next second, the crows flooded into the lobby. Before the two inspectors could even react, they were set upon by the birds.
Splat! Splat!
The crows moved like blurs, punching straight through their bodies and leaving gaping, bloody holes in their wake.
“Ah! Aaaah!!!”
“Caw! Caw!”
Bloodcurdling screams mingled with the harsh cawing of crows inside the lobby.
Flap flap flap!
A second later, the screams abruptly stopped. The swarm of crows split, with one group surging up the stairs and the other rushing toward the back rooms.
“Ah!”
“What the hell are these things?!”
Screams began to echo continuously throughout the Inspector Bureau.
On the third floor, inside the drone operations room.
Fang Jian had been staring at his computer screen, but the sudden screams coming from outside made him freeze.
Bang!
Before he could react, a hole blasted through the wooden door, and a black blur shot inside.
Splat!
An inspector with his back to the door had his head pierced clean through. Brain matter and blood splattered across the screen in front of him.
“Ah!” A woman nearby shrieked, her face turning deathly pale at the sight.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As she screamed, crow after crow burst straight through the wooden door.
Moving at blinding speeds, the crows tore through everyone in the room except for Fang Jian.
Before they could even register what was happening, their bodies were riddled with holes, and they collapsed.
“What is this?!” Fang Jian stared at the bizarre, horrific scene.
Even as an experienced veteran inspector, he couldn't help but feel a wave of sheer terror wash over him.
This was simply not something human strength could stand against.
Hundreds of crows swirled around the room, their speed far exceeding that of any normal bird.
Then, right in front of the computer Fang Jian had been staring at, a human face materialized from the swirling flock of crows.
Tang Yongyun looked at Zhao Jin's image on the computer screen and said coldly, “Spying on that gentleman? You certainly have a lot of nerve.”
Staring at the face, Fang Jian suppressed his fear and roared, “Who are you?! Are you with him? Let me tell you, even if you possess supernatural powers, you cannot oppose the Nanming Kingdom!”
Tang Yongyun tilted his head slightly, looking at him with cold disdain. “How laughable. Can a weak ant really threaten an existence whose power is far beyond your wildest imagination?”
With a single thought, all the crows circling the room turned in unison and charged at Fang Jian.
Faced with the oncoming swarm of crows, Fang Jian let out a desperate, unwilling roar. “Ahhh!!!”
Splat! Splat!
In an instant, he was torn to shreds by the crows, his body disintegrating into a bloody mist that filled the room.
The computer on the desk was also destroyed.
Tang Yongyun's face dissolved back into crows, merging into the flock.
Crash!
The swarm of crows smashed through the window and flew out into the night.
And just like that, the Ningcheng Inspector Bureau was completely slaughtered by Tang Yongyun in less than a minute.
Every single one of the dozens of staff members stationed inside was dead.
Rate on N.U.
