Ghoul

Ryan's expression changed slightly.

Had the Winter aspect already eroded things to this extent?

The ghoul slowly crept forward, its movements growing faster and faster, its deathly pale eyes filled with hunger.

Ryan gripped the lens tightly, his mind racing.

He couldn't beat it.

Absolutely not.

The gap in strength, speed, and physical constitution was simply too vast.

His only advantage was the Lantern.

With this thought, Ryan gritted his teeth, and the Lantern's glow began to swirl deep within his left eye.

Buzz—

The world suddenly lit up.

Countless trails of light emerged.

The warehouses, wooden crates, iron chains, shelves, and even the ghoul's movement trajectory all became clear.

In that instant, Ryan finally saw it.

Inside the ghoul's body, a grayish-white mass was swirling.

The Winter aspect core.

It was right in its chest.

And the ghoul had already pounced.

Boom!

A wooden crate shattered instantly, sending wood splinters flying everywhere.

Ryan dodged just in the nick of time. At the same time, he raised the lens and channeled the Lantern's glow into it.

In the next second, an extremely thin beam of white light suddenly flared.

Buzz!

The air vibrated slightly.

The beam instantly swept across the ghoul's shoulder.

Splat!

Half its arm flew off, spraying blackish-red blood all over the ground.

The ghoul let out a shrill, agonizing shriek.

Even Ryan was stunned for a moment.

Was he really this strong?

But soon, he realized there was a problem.

A headache.

A splitting headache.

That single strike had consumed at least a third of the Lantern's glow in his body. If he did it a few more times, he would collapse first.

The ghoul was clearly aware of this as well.

Instead of fleeing, it grew even more frenzied.

With its severed arm dangling at its side, its body charged forward, moving even faster than before.

Ryan turned and continued to run.

The warehouse district instantly turned into a chase. Wooden crates were smashed one after another, iron barrels rolled, and the docks echoed with the monster's roars.

Ryan felt as if his lungs were about to burst.

But just as he rounded the corner of a warehouse, he suddenly stopped.

Because a warehouse had appeared ahead.

Its doors were half-open, piled high with cargo inside, but the entrance was plastered with City Hall seals.

It was precisely one of the warehouses that had been sealed off recently.

A thought suddenly flashed through Ryan's mind.

In the next second, he dashed straight inside.

The ghoul pounced into the warehouse right after him.

Boom!

The warehouse doors slammed shut.

Darkness descended instantly.

The moment the Lantern's glow illuminated the interior, Ryan clearly saw the scene inside, and his entire body froze in place.

Deep inside the warehouse, people were standing shoulder to shoulder.

No.

They could no longer be called human.

Dozens of grayish-white figures stood there silently.

There were dockworkers, sailors, and even people wearing police uniforms.

They all kept their heads lowered, their bodies covered in a thin layer of white frost, motionless like corpses.

In the air, the aura of the Winter aspect was thick to the extreme.

Ryan slowly drew in a sharp breath.

He finally understood.

The problem at East Port was far more serious than he had imagined.

Because here, there was far more than just one ghoul.

Ryan stood at the warehouse entrance, completely frozen.

Under his Lantern perception, the scene inside the warehouse was terrifyingly clear.

Dozens of figures stood quietly in the darkness, motionless like forgotten wax figures.

Their heads were lowered, their skin grayish-white, covered in a thin layer of frost.

Some wore the coarse cloth coats of dockworkers, while others still wore sailors' uniforms.

A heavy stench of decay filled the air, mixed with the icy breath of Winter.

Ryan's grip on the lens tightened bit by bit.

These things were still alive.

Or at least, they hadn't completely died yet.

Because his Lantern perception could vaguely sense that extremely weak signs of life still lingered within their bodies. It was just that these signs were continuously fading, as if something was slowly gnawing away at them, transforming them in another direction.

A term immediately surfaced in Ryan's mind.

Ghoulification.

And it was still in the incomplete stage.

If they were all fully transformed...

He didn't dare to think any further.

If dozens of ghouls appeared at the same time, the entire East Port would completely spiral out of control.

Just then, a sudden thud came from outside the warehouse.

Thud!

The sound was exceptionally grating in the silence.

Ryan's body tensed instantly.

The ghoul.

That thing had chased him inside.

But the expected pounce did not happen.

Quiet returned to the outside once more.

Only the sound of the wind remained.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

...blowing through the gaps of the warehouse.

Ryan did not go out immediately. Instead, he slowly backed up behind a cargo crate, using the shadows to hide his figure.

Time trickled by.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Five minutes.

Still, there was no movement outside.

The ghoul seemed to have left.

But Ryan grew even more vigilant instead, for he did not believe that thing would give up so easily.

To survive until now, he had relied heavily on caution.

Half an hour later, Ryan finally felt some of his strength return.

His shoulder still throbbed with a dull ache, and his forehead felt slightly feverish from the continuous use of the Lantern's glow.

But he was in much better shape than before.

The semi-transformed individuals in the warehouse still showed no reaction, all maintaining their original postures, as if fast asleep.

Ryan did not plan to stay any longer.

This place was too dangerous.

He had gathered enough information tonight.

East Port, the Winter aspect, ghouls, and this warehouse—any one of them was enough to warrant the mobilization of the Suppression Bureau.

With this in mind, Ryan slowly rose and walked toward the warehouse's side door, his movements almost completely silent.

Creak.

The side door was pushed open a crack.

Outside was pitch-black, with nothing out of the ordinary.

Ryan observed carefully for a dozen seconds, and only after confirming it was safe did he slowly slip out.

Night had completely fallen.

East Port was shrouded in a grey mist, and even the outline of the river in the distance was barely visible.

Keeping his footsteps quiet, Ryan made his way toward the outskirts.

Along the way, he maintained his Lantern perception at all times, observing his surroundings.

But strangely, that ghoul seemed to have truly vanished.

No pursuit, no sound, not a single trace.

This only made Ryan feel increasingly uneasy.

Because the most dangerous time for a hunter was often not when they were chasing their prey, but when they lost track of it.

After walking for two streets, an open space piled with wooden shipping crates appeared ahead.

As long as he crossed it, he would reach the main road.

Just as Ryan was about to pick up his pace—

Suddenly.

A sharp pain shot through his left eye.

Danger!

Almost at the exact same instant, the sound of rushing wind came from above.

Boom!!!

A dark shadow plummeted from the sky.

Wooden crates were smashed to pieces, splinters flying everywhere.

Ryan rolled away awkwardly, his back slamming into an iron barrel, sending a wave of sharp pain through him.

But he couldn't care less about that.

Because the ghoul was standing right where he had just been, slowly raising its head. A bizarre smile actually played on its deathly pale face.

Ryan's heart sank instantly.

An ambush.

This thing hadn't left at all.

It had been following him the entire time.

And it had learned to wait.

It had learned to ambush.

This was by no means an ordinary beast.

The ghoul licked its teeth.

Its severed arm was still bleeding, but the wound was already covered in grayish-white frost, its recovery speed astonishingly fast.

It stared intently at Ryan, its cloudy eyeballs filled with malice.

In the next second, the monster suddenly let out a low laugh.

“Clack...”

“Clack, clack...”

It was as if it were mocking him.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Ryan's forehead.

Because he suddenly realized something.

This thing might have retained a portion of its intelligence, rather than being a completely out-of-control monster.

The ghoul slowly advanced, its steps deliberate, like a cat playing with a mouse.

Ryan backed away bit by bit, his mind working furiously.

He couldn't beat it.

He couldn't escape.

At least, not through normal means.

Just then, his Lantern perception suddenly caught something.

On the warehouse wall behind the ghoul, there was a peculiar mark.

Grayish-white.

It looked like some kind of symbol.

Extremely faint.

An ordinary person wouldn't be able to spot it at all.

But Ryan recognized it.

It wasn't naturally formed.

It was a trace of a ritual left behind by someone.

Seeing this, Ryan suddenly understood.

This thing hadn't appeared by chance.

It was guarding.

Guarding something inside East Port.

Guarding that warehouse.

Guarding those who were currently undergoing transformation.

And since he had seen what he shouldn't have tonight, it had to kill him.

The ghoul closed in once more, the distance between them now less than ten meters. An icy, rotting stench rushed toward his face.

Ryan slowly gripped the lens tighter, his gaze turning grim.