Investigation Bureau headquarters.
Action Department core meeting room.
The massive circular conference table was filled with members from various departments, along with several spokespeople representing their respective factions.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the projection screen at the front.
On the screen, technically processed video footage was being played repeatedly.
The protagonist in the footage, without exception, was that mysterious man with long, flying hair—Yue Shi.
The footage switched to the fierce battle in the plaza in front of the hotel.
The Executioner was the first to strike, activating 【Waist Chop: Separation】, an invisible slash of incredible speed and power.
But in the next second, Yue Shi's figure vanished from the spot without any acceleration process. It was as if he had been erased by an eraser, only to reappear behind The Executioner an instant later.
Technical staff slowed the playback speed down dozens of times, yet they still couldn't capture any movement trajectory or any telltale startup. There was only the abrupt disappearance and reappearance.
This was the purest form of spatial transfer, definitely not a matter of extreme speed.
In another clip, The Executioner held the branding knife and lunged at Yue Shi's face with the force of a thunderbolt.
But twenty centimeters away from Yue Shi, The Executioner's movement came to a screeching halt, as if he had slammed into an invisible wall.
Immediately after, The Executioner's body stiffened, and a look of extreme pain and disbelief appeared on his face as he retreated in panic.
The screen switched again to an even more bizarre scene.
The space around the hotel rippled and distorted violently.
Then, the figures of The Executioner, Su Qingqian, and all the headquarters members vanished into thin air one after another.
The video was paused, frozen at the moment just before The Executioner's figure disappeared, his face still etched with shock and confusion.
Yue Shi, on the other hand, looked into the camera with a playful gaze, as if he had already discovered they were observing from afar.
The Vice Minister of the Action Department, a middle-aged man with graying temples, lightly tapped the microphone to draw everyone's attention back from the screen.
His expression was cold and solemn as he cleared his throat. His voice echoed through the meeting room via the amplification equipment:
“Alright, everyone. All valuable parts of the combat footage regarding the S-rank fugitive Yue Shi have been compiled and analyzed.”
He operated the console, and the screen began listing the analysis results point by point.
“Currently, it can be confirmed that the target possesses at least the following abilities: high-level concealment, powerful defense, short-range spatial displacement with no cooldown, and large-scale reality modification.”
“Combined with other footage showing the third eye appearing on his forehead, the summoning of shadow ravens, the inexplicable wounding of The Executioner, and his consistent ability to preemptively avoid fatal attacks...”
“We can reasonably infer that the number of supernatural powers he has mastered is at least ten or more.”
“Furthermore, each one is considerably powerful. More importantly, there is a lack of obvious correlation or systemic connection between these abilities.”
As the Vice Minister's voice fell, the people in the meeting room looked at each other in surprise.
It was rare for a transcendent to possess more than ten supernatural powers at once, but not unheard of.
However, such transcendents usually had their abilities derive from a single, root-level core power.
Take The Executioner, for example. All of his abilities originated from a single base power.
No matter how many abilities he had, the correlation was very tight; they all revolved around the concept of 'torture,' forming a clear system.
But what about Yue Shi?
Space, concealment, summoning, defense, curse, anticipation...
His abilities were varied and numerous, like a warehouse randomly stuffed with various top-tier tools without any classification.
There was no visible correlation, nor any indication of where the root of his power lay.
The Vice Minister continued, “Based on existing intelligence, we have two primary theories.”
“First, Yue Shi may possess a highly unique base ability or a powerful supernatural object that allows him to acquire various supernatural powers from different systems, either randomly or specifically, by fulfilling certain unknown conditions.”
“Second, perhaps he possesses multiple different supernatural forms. Different forms grant him completely different sets of abilities.”
“As for his motives and goals, it is clear that he is targeting the Su family.”
With that, the Vice Minister turned his gaze to one side of the conference table.
The current head of the Su family, Su Tianyan—a middle-aged man with a face as dark as stagnant water.
Everyone's eyes, whether openly or subtly, fell upon Su Tianyan.
Su Tianyan took a deep breath, his hands clenched into tight fists under the table as he struggled to suppress his rage.
His daughter, Su Qingqian, was dead.
The people the elite families had spent years planting in headquarters were mostly gone.
Most importantly, the captain pushed forward by several elite families was dead.
The Executioner, the martial representative of the family factions in headquarters, had actually fallen at Yue Shi's hands!
Su Tianyan might look like he still had the right to sit here for the meeting, but in reality, he had lost his voice. He was more like a negative example brought in to warn everyone else.
He didn't make a fool of himself by insisting on speaking in his own defense.
Everyone present knew exactly why Yue Shi harbored such hatred for the Su family.
Headquarters had always turned a blind eye to the shady business in the laboratory.
There was no need for Su Tianyan to say anything high-sounding and invite further humiliation.
Seeing Su Tianyan remain silent, the Vice Minister looked away and continued to preside over the meeting: “Based on behavioral analysis, this man, Yue Shi, has a significant anti-social personality disorder.”
“Fluorite Valley has been destroyed. Regardless of the cause, the result is a city turned to ruins. For both public and private reasons, we must find a way to eliminate this potential threat.”
“However, even Captain Executioner failed. Therefore, any subsequent actions must be extremely cautious and fully prepared.”
“The primary task at hand is to track Yue Shi's movements. We absolutely cannot let him disappear from our sight again!”
Su Tianyan's mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something.
He wanted to ask why headquarters didn't focus all its strength to crush Yue Shi with absolute power.
If one or two captains couldn't do it, could they really not kill a single fugitive if all the captains attacked together?
But he eventually held back and didn't utter such a stupid question.
He knew very well that the frequency of supernatural incidents worldwide was increasing, and the alert levels were constantly rising.
Every captain in headquarters bore the vital mission of guarding a specific region; it was impossible to pull them all back.
As for those with insufficient strength, sending them to hunt Yue Shi would just be sending them to their deaths, making them a laughingstock.
Thinking of this, Su Tianyan sighed and sneered inwardly as he looked at the Vice Minister who was talking incessantly on the stage.
Those old monsters in the decision-making layer weren't showing their faces, leaving a Vice Minister to handle the situation.
This old dog of a Vice Minister was putting on quite a calm act.
He looked composed on the surface, but he was probably jumping with rage inside, wasn't he?
The Su family wasn't the only one losing face this time.
The authority of headquarters was also being trampled on and repeatedly slapped in the face.
Afterward, the meeting turned to relatively simpler topics.
The aftermath of Fluorite Valley's destruction, and how to calm the tsunami of public opinion triggered by The Resonant Daoist's discourse on the Supernatural Forum...
...
Headquarters affiliated hospital.
A high-level ward.
The Resonant Daoist lay bored on the hospital bed, his long white hair scattered across the pillow.
Last night, that brat had exploded right in his arms.
The explosion was too close. Although he had reacted quickly enough, he was still injured internally and had spat out several mouthfuls of blood.
However, after consuming two bottles of precious healing potion, his injuries had long since healed.
But he still lingered in the hospital, unwilling to return immediately and face that mess.
He simply used recuperation as an excuse to hide here for some peace and quiet, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
The phone on the nightstand was set to silent, but the screen still lit up soundlessly from time to time.
He didn't even need to look to know it was that video uploaded by Yue Shi, which had set public opinion ablaze.
A single video had pushed The Resonant Daoist into the eye of the storm. The internet must be filled with countless condemnations and even conspiracy theories against headquarters.
The Resonant Daoist didn't want to look at it at all; it would only ruin his mood.
Although after some time, these matters would naturally cool down, and in the eyes of the commoners, he would still be a glorious captain of headquarters.
But the high-level officials would definitely not forget the stain he had left.
“Those old guys at the very top, who knows what they're busy with, dumping all this crap on the departmental deputies...” The Resonant Daoist muttered to himself.
Suddenly, he felt a wave of inexplicable panic.
His sixth sense had always been very accurate. This sudden heart palpitation was likely an ominous sign.
“What's going on? Am I about to be unlucky again?”
The Resonant Daoist sat up in bed, and Yue Shi's figure—that handsome yet malicious face—unconsciously surfaced in his mind.
Right then.
“Pfft!”
He suddenly sprayed out a large mouthful of fresh blood without warning, his face turning deathly pale.
The Resonant Daoist clutched his chest tightly and slowly collapsed.
His heart... it hurt so much!
...
Somewhere in the wilderness outside Fluorite Valley.
Two corpses lay on the ground, long since devoid of life.
Two unlucky bastards who just happened to pass by became the sacrifices for Yue Shi to test his new toys.
The Ghost drifted around in the air, watching helplessly as Yue Shi acted like a maniac.
Currently, Yue Shi was clutching a withered, ugly straw man in his left hand and a blood-stained small hammer in his right.
A strand of white hair was wrapped around the straw man, and a pitch-black nail was driven into its chest.
Yue Shi raised the small hammer and smashed it hard against the nail in the straw man's chest.
“Eighty! Eighty! Eighty!”
He looked deranged, shouting with every strike.
The Ghost simply couldn't bear to watch, not knowing what to say.
Ever since he detonated Fluorite Valley last night and created that world-shaking explosion, Yue Shi's mental state had been clearly off.
Before, he was just purely crazy, not stupid.
But now, it was as if Yue Shi's brain had been fried, turning him into a complete moron!
Just then, Yue Shi pulled out two more nails that were equally pitch-black and ominous.
He drove one nail deep into the top of the straw man's head and the other into its groin.
Then, as if he had completed some evil ritual, he swung the small hammer even more vigorously, smashing back and forth between the three nails.
In truth, Yue Shi hadn't actually become a moron.
It was just that there was too much trash in his brain.
He had double defenses, but defenses only blocked 'damage.'
The Resonant Daoist's move of trash knowledge infusion hadn't been judged as 'damage,' only as the reception of knowledge.
Perhaps the harmful knowledge had been filtered out, but the massive, chaotic fragments of harmless knowledge had still been poured into his mind.
As a result, Yue Shi was currently very irritable.
He really didn't want to know why men could also be this beautiful!
He especially didn't want to know the full self-taught tutorial for the Ground Talent Dance!
The Replication Bead could reset his physical state to its peak at any time, giving him a fresh brain.
But it couldn't reset memories. Memories already stored could not be erased.
Every time he refreshed his state and enjoyed a moment of peace, the fresh brain would quickly be occupied by the trash knowledge again.
Yue Shi stared viciously at the battered straw man, his eyes filled with resentment.
The relics of the Curse Master: the 【Straw Man of the Ox Hour】, the 【Curse Hammer of the Ox Hour】, and the 【Curse Nails of the Ox Hour】.
Three curse-type supernatural objects that could be used as a set.
As long as one obtained a medium like the target's blood or hair, they could launch a vicious curse that ignored distance!
“Curse Master, you died such a miserable death!” Yue Shi suddenly wailed at the top of his lungs.
“I'll gladly accept your straw man, I'll gladly accept your nails, and I'll even gladly accept your hammer!”
“Don't worry, I'll definitely avenge you~ Everyone in headquarters can go rot!”
His manic voice echoed through the wilderness, sounding hair-raising.
The Ghost circled anxiously, wondering when Yue Shi would return to normal.
With his current mental state, if an enemy came chasing him now, or if he was targeted by some ill-intentioned faction...
Just as the thought occurred, the situation the Ghost feared most happened.
From the sky above, a figure slowly drifted down.
It was a young girl holding a red oil paper umbrella. Her anti-gravity skirt fluttered in the wind as she descended slowly and gracefully, like a dandelion.
Almost simultaneously, footsteps approached from the tall grass nearby. The newcomer was a young man.
The man and woman were clearly partners, wearing the same style of clothing. Their goal was clear: they were here for Yue Shi.
A sweet, harmless smile appeared on the girl's face. The way she looked at Yue Shi was hard to describe—a bit fanatical, even a bit infatuated.
The young man's expression was much simpler, showing undisguised disdain and dislike.
“I think this guy has gone mad. A dangerous lunatic who could lose control at any moment. What's the use of recruiting such a waste, other than causing trouble?”
The girl didn't bother to respond to him, only staring at Yue Shi's face. “Why care so much? The boss told us to bring him back, so let's just obediently carry out the mission and take him back...”
Before she could finish, Yue Shi, who had been facing away from them, suddenly stopped his cursing actions and turned to look at them.
The girl and the young man's hearts skipped a beat. The malice on Yue Shi's face was too obvious.
Before they could even state their purpose, the surrounding scenery changed abruptly!
The world spun as direction, position, and distance all became scrambled.
The young man and the girl only felt a blur before their eyes, and they were already in a completely different environment, having lost sight of each other.
The girl immediately shouted loudly, “Mr. Yue Shi, we mean no harm! We want to invite you to join our organization! We admire you very much!”
In another part of the space, the young man cursed angrily, “Yue Shi, don't be ungrateful! Don't refuse a courtesy!”
“We came to find you personally because we think highly of you! This is your honor! Let us out, now!”
But no matter how they shouted, explained, or threatened, they received no response.
Time passed minute by minute.
A long, long time went by.
In the labyrinth, the young man's initial arrogance was gradually worn away by the repetitive scenes.
He was tired of cursing and felt extremely annoyed.
“Tap, tap-tap.”
Footsteps came from behind him.
The young man turned around with a look of surprise and joy.
Then, his expression froze on his face.
“What are you expecting...” Yue Shi's sinister voice echoed all around him.
Rate on N.U.
