Past Events

Xin Yanzheng's body was trembling slightly, his muscles twitching uncontrollably as they fought against the chill—a bone-piercing, malevolent cold rising from the depths of his soul.

The chaos of the scene masked his agitation; for the moment, no one noticed anything was wrong. With colleagues they saw every day dying one after another in such a bizarre fashion, everyone present was gripped by fear and fury. Their rapid breathing made Xin Yanzheng’s own distress unremarkable.

But this was only the beginning. The horror showed no signs of stopping.

Guards searched the entire building, and soon, they brought back news that made everyone's skin crawl.

A third body had been found.

In a remote corner of the archives, the deceased was a transcendent who specialized in trace analysis and tracking.

He was found in a kneeling position, his back against a filing rack. His hands were pinned behind his back, his fingers snapped one by one and twisted together as if in prayer. His head had been rotated 180 degrees at an impossible angle to face backward, his eyes had been replaced with two glass marbles, and his mouth was stretched into a massive, fixed grin.

According to the preliminary forensic assessment, this victim had also been posed in this sinister manner after death.

Should that be considered good news?

At least he hadn't suffered that agony while alive.

However, a single sentence from the lead investigator on the scene made everyone’s blood run cold.

“It looks like he did it to himself. He turned himself into this.”

!!!

The investigator felt his own words were contradictory, but since the forensic doctor had already stated the body was posed after death, he could only reach that conclusion.

The facts supported it. The surveillance cameras in the archives hadn't been tampered with. The footage showed the victim walking into the corner alone and then performing a series of atrocious acts upon himself.

The fourth body appeared in the backup generator room on the second basement level.

The deceased was a defense-type transcendent with a powerful physique. When found, he had been stuffed into a metal box originally used for storing tools.

Again, the victim had entered the box himself and gripped the lid shut from the inside. Because of his burly frame, the box had been forced out of shape.

Four deaths so far.

Every death scene was meticulously crafted, filled with a ritualistic sense of desecration that far exceeded the scope of a simple vendetta or a silencing. It was more like a series of insane “performances” with a clear, targeted message.

Negative emotions like terror and rage spread silently through the crowd. Uneasy whispers and rapid breathing filled the air, and even the lights seemed to turn a pale, flickering grey.

The escalating pressure was almost suffocating.

The victims were all transcendents. The clerical staff no longer dared to move alone. Even the Investigation Bureau had become a place of extreme peril, and they couldn't imagine anywhere else being safer.

For Xin Yanzheng, this wasn't just terror; it was a chain dragging him back into an endless nightmare.

The drowning in the toilet, the swastika fall, the eyes replaced with marbles, the suffocation in a box...

Every method of death, even the sequence of the killings, was a perfect match for the horrific way his family members had died one after another years ago!

His expression was beyond description. Amidst the shock and fury, there was even a faint, twisted spark of anticipation, like a reunion with a long-lost foe.

While most people were panicking and at a loss, the slick veteran investigator, Old Chen, remained calm.

Standing on the outer edge of the crowd, he scanned his surroundings, his mind racing as he weighed the pros and cons.

While the Chijing City Investigation Bureau had many transcendents, few were capable of standing on their own. The director—or rather, the faction behind him—deliberately restricted the development of “all-rounder” transcendents. Most of the transcendents trained by the Bureau were specialists in one field and completely ignorant of others.

The offensive types lacked defense and scouting abilities, while the assistant-type transcendents had almost no way to protect themselves.

In Chijing City, those who possessed multiple supernatural powers and could handle both offense and defense tended not to live very long. Even those who were exceptionally clever didn't last.

Old Chen’s own abilities were neither powerful nor unique, and he wasn't top-tier in terms of intelligence. His greatest strengths were his caution and his powers of observation.

After catching onto the Bureau’s unspoken rules, he began to hide his light and play the fool. For years, he had never been competitive. He performed his duties adequately—contributing enough to be useful, but never enough to be indispensable.

This mediocrity had allowed him to plant his feet firmly in the Investigation Bureau, eventually becoming a senior investigator through sheer seniority.

His wife, children, and elderly parents all lived in this city. He couldn't leave, nor could he afford to lose this respectable, high-paying job that came with a modicum of power.

Over the years, he had watched newcomers arrive and then disappear one by one. He had long since grown accustomed to it, becoming numb to the constant turnover.

So, at this moment, as the Chijing City Investigation Bureau faced a major crisis, Old Chen’s first thought wasn't how to solve the problem or turn the tide, but how to protect himself.

He was thinking of how to extract himself from the situation without catching any of the trouble.

Old Chen quietly surveyed the room, his gaze finally landing on Xin Yanzheng.

Xin Yanzheng’s emotional state was clearly different from the others.

He’s the one.

Old Chen made up his mind instantly.

As a senior investigator, the younger generation sometimes looked to him as a pillar of support. In certain situations, it was assumed the senior investigator would take the lead.

But Old Chen had no desire to be anyone’s pillar, especially now. The unknown enemy was powerful, and the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. He needed to shift the responsibility.

Adopting a mask of concern and gravity, Old Chen stepped forward and casually patted Xin Yanzheng on the shoulder. His voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough for everyone nearby to hear.

“Xiao Xin, you look very unwell. You’ve been like this for a while now. Do you know something about what’s happening?”

At those words, every eye in the room snapped to Xin Yanzheng.

Under the collective weight of their stares, Xin Yanzheng was pulled out of his trance, and his rationality slowly returned.

But with it came even deeper conflict and pain.

“What are you hesitating for? Look at what’s happening! If you know something, say it!” an investigator on the verge of a breakdown barked urgently.

Xin Yanzheng took a deep breath and spoke with difficulty. “I think... I know who the killer is.”

Without waiting for further prompting, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze was resolute.

“It’s an evil ghost that can possess the bodies of others! Years ago, my hometown was destroyed by this ghost. He’s back, and he’s come for me.”

Xin Yanzheng’s thoughts pierced through time and space, sinking into his memories.

He thought of his own biological older brother.

That year, his brother had gotten into an argument with a half-brother. In the chaos, his brother was struck in the head by a heavy object and knocked unconscious on the spot.

When he woke up, he remembered nothing. His past memories had been completely erased.

At first, everyone thought it was simple amnesia.

Their father had always been indifferent to the squabbles between his children. As long as no one died, he considered bloody heads or broken limbs to be trivial matters beneath his notice.

But after the amnesia, his brother’s personality changed completely. The once gentle and honest man became arrogant and overbearing.

Three days after he woke up, the half-brother who had fought him—along with that brother’s birth mother and their entire branch of the family—perished in a mysterious fire.

Initially, their father assumed it was the work of a rival or an enemy.

The Xin family were nouveau riche, to put it politely. Xin Yanzheng’s father had risen from nothing with unbelievable speed. Many had been harmed because they stood in his way, and many coveted his secrets regarding pearl farming.

Fortunately, Xin Yanzheng’s father later awakened a supernatural power and became a powerful transcendent. He once summoned a small tsunami in public to assert his dominance. After that, most of those lurking in the shadows retreated.

The Xin family was flourishing.

His brother’s change didn't catch the father’s attention.

But then, things began to spiral out of control.

The change in his brother went far beyond amnesia. His eating habits, clothing style, and hobbies all changed. Occasionally, he would accidentally use words no one understood or hum melodies no one had ever heard.

Xin Yanzheng’s branch of the family—his mother, his sister, and himself—all sensed something was wrong.

But his mother and sister shared a silent understanding and did not expose it. Xin Yanzheng didn't understand anything back then; he simply followed their lead and stayed silent.

The four of them maintained a facade of harmony and love, and for a time, they actually lived in peace.

During that period, his father’s other women and his many half-siblings began to die in a series of bizarre and gruesome ways.

The deaths were all different, but they all carried an unsettling, malevolent signature.

His brother’s original cowardly personality had been a perfect disguise. But with so many people dying in such a short time, the father soon realized that the problem was likely within the family.

The change in the brother was too obvious. The father immediately suspected the child whose personality had flipped.

He went to confront him, determined to uncover the truth.

That night, the father vanished and never returned.

Then, the evil ghost occupying the brother’s body seemed to cast off all restraint and began a killing frenzy.

He didn't spare the mother or the sister.

In the end, everyone in the Xin family was dead, except for Xin Yanzheng, who was luckily rescued by the Glory Association. Even the mansion that symbolized their wealth and power was reduced to nothing in a towering inferno.