Yue Shi rubbed his abdomen and looked at the two people trapped in the loop, his eyes filled with malice.
“As expected of a captain from headquarters, you really do have some skills.”
The Resonant Daoist’s attire was far too flamboyant. Even with a different skin and a mask, Yue Shi could recognize that pretentious aura at a single glance.
As for the other glamorous woman...
Heh, it’s been a long time, Boss Pi.
Yue Shi wasn't sure how The Resonant Daoist had escaped the curse of the Girl of the Ox Hour, nor why he was entangled with someone who looked like Boss Pi.
But none of that mattered.
Killing them both would solve everything.
Once a person dies, all debts are settled!
“Do you have any other killing moves? If you do, use them now!” Boss Pi shouted.
“Don't worry, I have other preparations.”
The Resonant Daoist was about to reach into his coat when he suddenly realized the painting in his other hand was gone!
“Wait, where’s my painting?”
“Do you have any other killing moves? If you do, use them now!” Boss Pi shouted again.
“Don't worry, I have other preparations.”
“Wait, where’s my painting?”
The loop continued.
Although the content of the loop had changed, the interval was less than ten seconds, leaving them no time to think at all.
The painting was already in Yue Shi’s hands, covered once more with the black cloth.
“What is this?” Ghost asked listlessly.
He had looked at the painting just now, but the moment he saw it, he had stopped thinking. He had no idea what was in the painting.
Yue Shi didn't know either, only saying, “This is a divine artifact for increasing birth rates.”
“Huh?” Ghost was utterly confused.
A smile played on Yue Shi’s lips. “I heard that birth rates in major cities have been very low these past few years.”
“As a warm-hearted, meticulous man who has risen above base interests, I feel it is my duty to help everyone.”
“I’ll make sure the people of this city give birth quickly, urgently, and flexibly, tailored to their specific circumstances. I’ll make the number of newborns explode in a short period of time.”
Ghost asked, “What kind of cryptic nonsense are you talking about?”
Yue Shi shook his head and sighed. “You don't understand. I am about to make a massive contribution to this city.”
Ghost said, “...”
He had completely lost track of what was going on.
...
Su family manor.
A small skull pyramid had been built in front of Su Qingqian’s memorial hall.
The head of the annoying little brother she hated was placed at the very top of the pyramid.
“Alright, the disobedient ones have all gone down to keep Miss Su company.”
“I assume none of you will object anymore?”
“This is a joyous funeral. Change all your clothes to red!”
Hearing Yue Shi’s command, the survivors trembled with fear.
They had been trapped here, suffering through agonizing torture.
Then Yue Shi had suddenly returned and showed Su Tianyan the video of him digging up the Su family’s ancestral graves and burning the bodies.
Su Tianyan had broken down on the spot and tried to fight Yue Shi to the death, only to be killed.
Su Tianyan’s wife had gone mad and tried to fight Yue Shi, only to be killed.
Su Tianyan’s son had been so terrified he tried to run, but Yue Shi dragged him back and executed him on the charge of being unfilial.
Among those present, anyone who showed even a hint of indignation, suppressed anger, or sorrow was killed.
The remaining survivors didn't dare to offer even the slightest resistance.
“Mr. Yue Shi, we didn't bring any red clothing with us...”
“No need for such trouble. Just dye them with fresh blood.” Yue Shi smiled brightly, pointing to the blood flowing on the ground.
“O-okay.”
The crowd didn't dare to voice any disagreement. They stripped off their black coats and used their light-colored inner garments to soak up the blood.
Soon, every one of them was draped in bright red, looking exceptionally festive.
“That’s more like it~ Next, we shall hold the funeral procession for Miss Su.”
“Come, find a speaker and play a divine suona melody.”
...
Yujing, the most prosperous part of the city center.
The sound of the suona tore through the sky.
The melody was played with such speed and sharpness that it made people’s ears ache.
A funeral procession suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.
They were all dressed in eye-catching red.
A heavy scent of blood wafted through the air.
Their clothes were entirely soaked in blood, which was still dripping steadily onto the ground.
The blood-soaked clothes clung to their bodies, outlining their stiff limbs.
Some passersby recognized that those carrying the coffin seemed to be important figures, people they usually only saw on screens.
At this moment, however, they were like marionettes, their expressions stiff and their eyes hollow as they marched forward step by step.
Someone walked beside the coffin, grabbing handfuls of flower petals from a basket and scattering them.
They were white chrysanthemums dyed red with blood. The petals, mixed with droplets of blood, pelted the pavement.
There was no portrait of the deceased atop the coffin. Instead, a massive painting was displayed.
Pedestrians on the roadside stopped in their tracks, pointing and whispering.
In any other city, many people would have fled the scene immediately upon seeing such an eerie sight.
However, the residents of Yujing possessed a natural sense of ease, appearing completely unconcerned about supernatural incidents.
“Whose funeral is this?”
“Why are they wearing red?”
“What is that painting of...?”
A curious young man stood on his tiptoes, his gaze piercing through the procession to land on the painting.
The moment his eyes touched the painting, his movements came to a grinding halt.
The expression on his face froze as if his soul had been instantly sucked out, and he stood rigidly in place.
Immediately afterward, his flat abdomen began to swell rapidly, the fabric of his clothes groaning under the pressure until it tore.
He wasn't the only one.
Everyone who cast their eyes toward that painting, regardless of distance, even if it was just a fleeting glimpse, was affected.
No one could clearly see what was on the painting, but their movements stopped simultaneously.
Then, their abdomens all began to bulge in unison.
Very quickly...
Splat! Splat!
Flesh was forcibly torn open, and the sound of ripping skin echoed through the air.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Grotesque creatures, looking like skinned raccoons, crawled out of the ruptured abdominal cavities and fell to the ground.
They emitted shrill, high-pitched shrieks that were drowned out by the festive suona music.
The monstrous fetuses were born and began to commit matricide as soon as they opened their eyes.
The funeral procession continued to advance, treading upon the blood and flowers that covered the ground.
The coffin-bearers didn't look left or right, and the flower-scatterer didn't stop his movements.
The shrieks of the monstrous fetuses, the screams of the mothers, and the loud suona music wove together into a sinister symphony.
A celebration of the intersection of death and rebirth.
Standing by the roadside, Yue Shi was grinning from ear to ear.
“Wonderful. The birth rate in this city will surely be several times higher than in previous years.”
“Heh.” Ghost’s expression was grim.
He already knew the effect of that painting and understood why abnormal information had appeared inside him earlier.
Conceived, then born.
“What a pity that electronic devices can't capture the true form of that painting. Otherwise, I would definitely post it online to make a major contribution to the world’s birth rate.”
“When the time comes, they might even give me an award.” Yue Shi’s tone held a hint of regret.
Ghost felt his scalp tingle. “I’m still too normal. I feel completely out of place with you.”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sound of rushing air echoed as figures sped toward the street from all directions.
In an instant, they had vaguely surrounded the grotesque funeral procession and Yue Shi.
At a glance, there were dozens of them.
These people were dressed in various ways—some wore the uniform of the Investigation Bureau, while others were dressed fashionably.
At this moment, however, their faces all bore the same gravity, and a deep-seated fear and unease flickered in their eyes.
In the most prosperous part of Yujing’s city center, in broad daylight, such a horrifying supernatural incident had occurred!
The blood-stained mess on the ground, the monstrous fetuses with sharp teeth, the mutilated corpses, the festive funeral procession, and the eerie suona music—all of it was an assault on their nerves.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
The worst part was the long-haired man standing near the procession!
The man who had destroyed two cities in a row and was listed by headquarters as the S-rank number one fugitive!
He had actually dared to appear here so brazenly.
There was no doubt that the living hell before them was his doing!
When Yue Shi saw these uninvited “guests,” the smile on his face grew even more unrestrained.
“Hahaha! Good! You’ve come just in time. I was worried it wouldn't be lively enough!”
Hearing this laughter, the dozens of people who had gathered around simultaneously took half a step back in unison!
The suona music continued. No one dared to be the first to speak, and even less dared to be the first to strike.
They might have been competitive and eager to prove themselves on ordinary days, but now they all chose to remain silent.
Everyone understood the principle that the first bird to fly gets shot.
Whoever spoke first might be the first to attain ultimate bliss.
If their opponent were just an ordinary character, they would have swarmed him and captured him long ago.
But who was standing across from them?
It was the peerless monster who could kill a captain from headquarters in a head-on fight, force another captain into a pathetic retreat, and slaughter two cities!
“Why is no one speaking?” Yue Shi looked at the crowd with a smile.
“Did you all come here in such force to join this joyous funeral, or did you come to die?”
Hearing the undisguised killing intent in his words, the expressions of the crowd darkened further.
Who would dare to respond?
Headquarters had long since had the most professional analysts study Yue Shi’s behavioral patterns.
He was paranoid, extreme, impossible to communicate with, and impossible to negotiate with. Once you provoked him, it was a fight to the death.
The only way to deal with him was through violent suppression.
But looking at those present, who dared to compete with Yue Shi in violence?
If not for the strict orders from above and their concern for their friends and family still in Yujing, they would have really wanted to flee right now.
They knew in their hearts that they probably didn't even have the qualifications to make Yue Shi take them seriously.
They were mostly just cannon fodder used to buy time.
Yue Shi had no interest in playing a game of statues with these cannon fodder.
Snap.
He snapped his fingers, a casual and nonchalant sound.
Others, however, thought he was about to attack.
The leader’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't remain silent any longer.
He suddenly took a step forward and shouted sternly, “Yue Shi! You have disregarded the law and committed murder in Yujing!”
“By order of headquarters, you are under arrest!”
“If you dare to resist, we will kill you on sight!”
The others all shouted along with him, “Kill you on sight!”
They seemed to be shouting especially loud just to bolster their own courage.
The sound waves were so powerful that the shop windows on the roadside rattled, creating a grand momentum.
In the next second, the space around them seemed to turn into fragile glass.
One after another, fine, irregular black spatial rifts appeared out of thin air, silent and emitting a heart-stopping aura of destruction.
The faces of the crowd instantly turned pale.
This was only the beginning.
The blood-red funeral procession suddenly turned in unison, pointing the painting on the coffin toward the densest part of the crowd.
Someone instinctively looked up.
“Argh!”
With just one look, the person’s movements suddenly froze, and their abdomen began to swell rapidly.
“Don't just stand there and take it! Attack!”
“Split up! Some of you tie him down, and the rest of you destroy the funeral procession!”
“Quick, pressure those above! Get a captain here as soon as possible! We won't last long!”
Orders were quickly issued.
A few figures steeled themselves and rushed toward Yue Shi, while more people lunged at the funeral procession.
As one of those rushing Yue Shi moved, a previously stationary spatial rift suddenly twisted and swept past him.
Pfft.
The man maintained his forward momentum, but half of his body had already disappeared.
The cut was smooth, and his internal organs and blood sprayed across the ground.
The pupils of the nearby people constricted, and their movements involuntarily faltered.
He had been killed in an instant!
In that same heartbeat, Yue Shi flicked his fingers.
More spatial rifts writhed and spread like living things.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Blood sprayed as severed limbs were mixed with short, shrill screams.
A large group of people was wiped out, their deaths extremely gruesome.
A clear space was carved out of the crowd.
Whir—Boom—
A piercing sound suddenly came from the sky as a beam of light slammed down from the clouds, piercing directly into the center of the funeral procession.
Yue Shi raised his hand, and the eerie painting vanished from the coffin, retrieved by him just in time.
The beam of light landed.
BOOM!!!
The funeral procession exploded.
Soil, rocks, and flesh flew in all directions. The corpses in the coffins, the coffin-bearers, and the flower-scatterers were all blown to pieces.
“After struggling so hard to survive until now, they were actually killed by their own people?” Yue Shi’s face was filled with mockery.
“Fugitive Yue Shi, for the slaughter of the citizens of Yujing, your crimes are unforgivable!”
“By order of headquarters, kill him!”
A roar descended from the sky, the voice rolling like thunder as it pronounced Yue Shi’s sentence.
With that roar, countless figures in Investigation Bureau uniforms rushed out from all directions.
Most of them were only Rank 2 or Rank 3 transcendents, but their numbers were massive, filling every street and occupying every high point.
On the ground, armored combat vehicles rolled over the pavement, their cannons turning grimly.
In the sky, dozens of uniquely shaped fighter jets circled, their engines roaring and casting massive shadows below.
The military power of Yujing far exceeded that of any other city.
An inescapable net, an iron-walled encirclement.
An ordinary person facing such a scene would have already suffered a mental breakdown.
But Yue Shi showed no fear; instead, he grew increasingly excited.
After stalling for so long, he had finally attracted the main force.
His raid on Yujing this time wasn't just to wipe out the Su family.
Without the headquarters’ protection, would the Su family have dared to be so arrogant?
The Su family deserved to die, their protective umbrella deserved to die, everyone deserved to die!
Amidst the chaos, Ghost sank into the ground, disappearing in plain sight.
With his limited combat power, there was no need for him to remain on the battlefield. He was better off exercising his value in other ways.
He understood Yue Shi’s nature. Revenge was nothing more than an excuse for slaughter.
Yue Shi’s actions had long since moved beyond the realm of revenge; there was no sense of justice to speak of. It was pure, lawless evil.
Even if there were no grudge, Ghost believed that with Yue Shi’s personality, he would have found some random excuse—or perhaps no reason at all—to persecute people at random.
And he was Yue Shi’s best partner in committing evil.
“Everyone, are you ready to die?”
Accompanied by Yue Shi’s arrogant proclamation, countless spatial rifts centered on him, launching an indiscriminate attack on everyone in the vicinity.
Rate on N.U.
