“Is it fun to watch someone else’s family tragedy?”
Hearing Yue Shi’s words, the patriarch was jolted with shock and followed his gaze.
In the southeast corner of the hall stood a tall, acidwood display cabinet, showcasing many treasures and ornaments that glowed warmly under the lights.
It was empty. There was nothing unusual there.
The patriarch frowned. Was there someone else in the room?
How was that possible?
He had personally overseen the security system for this hall, and tonight he had laid an inescapable net. How could this be?
A few seconds of dead silence followed.
Only Old Madam Wang’s low, barely audible sobbing remained.
A trace of impatience flashed in Yue Shi’s eyes. He pointed his right index finger at that corner and gave it a gentle hook.
The space in the corner suddenly rippled with a visible wave.
Pfft!
The sound of someone unable to suppress a cough of blood suddenly rang out.
Immediately after, a figure stumbled out of the distorted space, propping himself up with one hand while the other covered his mouth, blood seeping through his fingers.
He wore ordinary dark grey casual clothes and had an average face—the kind that would be ignored in a crowd.
But at this moment, his eyes were flashing with shock.
Even more shocked was the patriarch; there really was someone else in the room!
How did this person get in?
And how long had he been hiding?
Yue Shi watched the uninvited guest with leisure, his gaze like that of someone evaluating an object.
The man coughed a few times, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and slowly stood up.
His gaze toward Yue Shi was full of wariness, yet his back remained straight.
“Zhongzhou Central Supernatural Management Bureau, Special Operations Department, code name ‘Grey Falcon.’”
He spoke of his own accord, his voice raspy but exceptionally steady.
“Yue Shi, you are under arrest.”
“Bureau headquarters?” Yue Shi raised an eyebrow slightly.
“You’ve alerted the headquarters so quickly? I thought I could play for a few more days. I didn’t expect you to even know my name.”
“Play?” Grey Falcon sneered, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
“The containment station in the Death Desert was completely destroyed. Twelve high-risk supernatural objects, including the Book of Creation, were stolen. The entire station’s security force was wiped out. You think this is a game?”
He took a step forward. Despite his injury, his presence did not diminish. “You underestimated Zhongzhou and overestimated your own concealment abilities. You left behind far more traces than you imagine.”
Yue Shi rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful, his tone casual. “Is that so? It seems I did indeed underestimate you all.”
“According to Article 31 of the Supernatural Individual Control and Special Litigation Act, you are suspected of multiple counts of first-degree felonies. I am now placing you under arrest in accordance with the law.”
Grey Falcon stopped wasting words. With a flick of his wrist, an unremarkable black metal disc appeared in his palm, faintly flowing with energy.
“Giving up resistance and cooperating with the investigation is your only choice.”
“Arrest, huh?” Yue Shi drawled. “What a headache. I’m a person of habit when it comes to freedom; I hate being locked up most of all.”
He sighed and looked at Grey Falcon. “There’s no other way. I’ll just have to send you to your death.”
The moment he finished speaking, Grey Falcon’s face changed drastically. The black disc in his hand suddenly became scalding hot, and the stable energy circuits within it instantly became chaotic.
Not only that, he felt as if the air around him had turned into thick glue, with invisible pressure squeezing him from all directions.
“Stubborn!” Grey Falcon growled. Fine silver patterns suddenly lit up on his seemingly ordinary casual clothes, and a clear, peaceful ripple spread out, barely resisting the pressure.
He retreated rapidly without hesitation, while shouting sharply, “Move! Suppress the criminal with everything you have!”
Almost at the same time he spoke.
Boom!
The ceiling of the Wang residence, along with parts of the walls, was torn apart from the outside by several sword lights that were practically solid.
Cold wind surged in.
It seemed the Bureau headquarters understood Yue Shi’s personality very well, skipping the negotiation phase and going straight into slaughter mode.
Outside the residence, dozens of figures had appeared out of nowhere, suspended in the air. Some held swords, others held strange objects.
They were surrounded by an energy aura that Yue Shi had never encountered before, and they seemed to have formed a profound formation, locking down the entire Wang residence.
Further out, the streets were deathly silent; the residents had long since been evacuated.
The Bureau’s operation this time was clearly well-prepared, having cleared the battlefield in advance.
“Hmph! Bold thief, you are trapped in the Nine-Lock Spiritual Realm Array. You have no way out!” An old man with a transcendent air stood in the sky, his voice like a great bell, containing power that shook the soul.
“Some of those who came out of the book world with you have already defected to the Bureau. We know your abilities inside and out.”
“Submit immediately, and we may still spare your life. The Bureau will give you a chance to repent and start anew.”
Yue Shi stood in the center of the wrecked hall, looking up at the powerful people in the sky. The ∞ symbols flashed in his eyes, and then he suddenly laughed—a smile full of malice.
“So you’re the cultivators?”
“It’s my first time seeing you. I’d really like to take you apart and slice you up for some careful research.”
“Presumptuous!” the old man barked.
Yue Shi clicked his tongue. “I’ve been presumptuous here for so long, and you only come to catch me now? Isn’t it a bit late?”
“And what’s this about knowing my abilities inside and out? You dare say that based on a few scraps of information from those defectors?”
“What arrogance.”
He shook his head, as if pitying their ignorance.
The next second, he moved.
He didn’t rush toward the sky, nor did he try to break through the formation. He simply raised his right hand toward the white-haired old man who had spoken and flicked his finger.
The movement was casual.
But the protective spiritual light around the old man suddenly flashed wildly as if he had been hit by an invisible giant hammer. He groaned and actually retreated several steps in the air, a look of horror flashing across his face.
He hadn't seen how Yue Shi attacked at all!
And as Yue Shi made that move, his left hand made an extremely subtle circle at his side.
Mirror · Virtual-Real Reflection.
In the sky, behind another middle-aged man who was performing hand signs to drive the formation, an identical figure suddenly appeared, also performing hand signs in sync!
The middle-aged man was horrified, and his spell nearly backfired.
Before he could react, the mirror image suddenly reached out and struck him in the back.
“Pfft.” A protective spell of the middle-aged man activated automatically, but he was still hit hard enough to disrupt his energy, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Be careful! He has the ability to manipulate mirrors and space!” the old man hurriedly shouted a warning.
Yue Shi narrowed his eyes. As expected of cultivators, they had quickly figured out what ability he was using to harm them.
The people sent by the Bureau headquarters reacted extremely fast. The formation churned, spiritual energy chains crisscrossed, and the light of dharma treasures flared.
Various techniques poured toward Yue Shi like a rainstorm.
The data they had received showed that Yue Shi was skilled in multiple abilities, so they had to settle this quickly and not give him the chance to use his full power.
The Wang residence was being destroyed. The patriarch was quick-witted, grabbing his wife and rushing to escape into the distance.
The old couple was covered in dust and trembling, constantly praying to gods and Buddhas in their hearts. When masters clashed, they hoped that small figures like them wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.
Yue Shi’s figure was submerged in the sky-covering attacks.
But in the next instant, he appeared in another position, completely unharmed.
He was even still holding the snow leopard cub in his arms. The cub’s eyes scanned the sky with a dazed, cute expression.
“Not bad power, but a pity you didn't hit anything,” Yue Shi critiqued, while his toe tapped the ground lightly.
Tidal Lock.
The bodies of several cultivators in the sky stiffened, as if they were suddenly burdened by a mountain, and their formation showed a hint of disorder.
“Form the seals! Suppress his spatial ability!”
“Clearing Heart Incantation! Guard against mental shocks!”
The cultivators were well-trained and responded immediately.
Yue Shi didn’t seem to be in a hurry. He was like a butterfly, flickering through the increasingly dense attacks, with each appearance accompanied by some bizarre method.
Sometimes it was a phantom of flying mirror shards, sometimes the ground beneath his feet suddenly turned into water.
Under the cover of these attacks, Yue Shi quietly triggered the evil thoughts in their hearts and secretly tied red threads for them.
Sinful connection lines silently coiled around those cultivators.
“Ah.” A cold and elegant woman wielding twin swords suddenly felt her mind waver. When she looked at the rigid, old-fashioned man next to her—someone she usually couldn't stand—her heart actually began to race for no reason, and her cheeks warmed.
The man was also feeling inexplicably irritable, thinking that the woman, who was usually so aggressive, actually looked exceptionally pleasing today.
On another side, three people who were working together to drive a lightning technique suddenly felt that the other two were both seducing them, and their gazes became pointlessly flirtatious.
“What is the relationship between you three? I’m seeing something a bit… abnormal~”
Yue Shi’s mocking voice rang out from behind. The sinful connections were being tied randomly, dragging those who were originally focused on battle into a trace of subtle, indescribable sentiment.
While it wasn't enough to make them lose control immediately, it was enough to cause a moment of distraction or hesitation in a high-intensity confrontation.
That single moment was enough for Yue Shi to find an opening.
And he could disgust them as well.
The rhythm of the battle unknowingly became a bit… strange.
“He’s using some method to interfere with you!” the distant Grey Falcon shouted a reminder while enduring his internal injuries.
Although he wasn't a cultivator, his experience was extraordinary. “Don’t let Yue Shi lead you by the nose! If you have to, use the reality stability anchors!”
“Shut up!” the old man presiding over the array said with a dark face. If they used reality stability anchors, they would also be severely affected.
He wouldn't do something that hurt himself nearly as much as the enemy.
“Change formation!” the old man shouted.
Hearing the voice, everyone immediately adjusted. The light of the formation changed, turning from a lockdown into a grey-black, dim array that seemed capable of devouring everything, spreading rapidly downward.
Yue Shi looked up at the descending grey-black energy, gently stroked the snow leopard, and finally put away his leisurely, playful expression.
“Alright, the warm-up is over.”
“Cultivators are only so-so.”
As he spoke, the skin on his forehead quivered, and a vertical slit slowly opened.
All three eyes flashed with ∞, and his deep, indifferent pupils gazed toward the sky.
Within a thousand-meter radius, everything that reflected light simultaneously showed Yue Shi’s image.
Thousands upon thousands of Yue Shis looked up at the same time, with a begonia hairpin appearing in their hands out of nowhere.
The grey-black array in the sky suddenly froze, and then, like glass struck by an invisible giant force, countless cracks appeared.
Everyone participating in the formation simultaneously felt their connection to it severed, and their own bodies seemed to undergo a miraculous change!
“What is this?”
For the first time, cries of horror came from these people.
The intelligence they had received hadn't said anything about Yue Shi having such a terrible ability.
Yue Shi’s long hair moved without wind, looking as sinister as a demon god.
The roles of hunter and prey had quietly reversed.
The real battle had begun.
...
Yu Duanhong returned to the Bureau by car.
Having two ghosts inside him had delayed his recovery, but he still felt very uncomfortable.
Right now… he really wanted to kill someone.
As soon as he stepped into the hall, before he could walk to the elevator, three people blocked his path.
They weren't familiar faces from the Forging City Bureau.
Two men and one woman, all in uniform, with sharp eyes.
“Yu Duanhong?” the middle-aged man in the lead spoke, his voice steady.
“It’s me.” Yu Duanhong stopped, his heart sinking for no reason.
“We are from the General Bureau’s special investigation team.” The man produced his credentials.
“There are some circumstances we need your cooperation to understand. Please come with us.”
It wasn't a request; it was a notification.
Yu Duanhong noticed that the few colleagues in the hall were all deliberately avoiding this direction, keeping their heads down and walking away quickly.
He had no choice but to nod. “Alright.”
The three of them stood in a triangular formation, escorting him to a dedicated elevator that was rarely used.
The elevator descended, and the indicator showed it eventually stopped on the third basement floor, which was usually used for high-security temporary containment or special interrogations.
The elevator doors opened to a corridor with cold white lighting.
The three of them led Yu Duanhong into a room without any windows. There were several inconspicuous black hemispheres in the corners—likely some kind of instruments—and light fell evenly from the ceiling.
“Sit.” The middle-aged man pointed to a chair on one side of the table.
Yu Duanhong sat down.
The woman and the other young man stood at the door. The middle-aged man sat across from him, pulled up a file on a portable tablet, and looked at it.
The silence lasted for about a minute before the middle-aged man finally looked up, his gaze landing on Yu Duanhong’s face.
“Yu Duanhong, twenty-four years old, native of Forging City, formerly a content creator. On the 15th of this month, you were summoned by the police due to a murder case next door. On your way home that night, you encountered an unidentified long-haired man. Under his inducement, you conducted a supernatural livestream and were ultimately possessed by a ghost...”
He read out Yu Duanhong’s resume in one breath. “Is the above basic information correct?”
Yu Duanhong: “It is.”
“Very good.” The middle-aged man turned the tablet toward Yu Duanhong. On the screen was a sketch with simple lines.
“Do you recognize this person?”
Yu Duanhong’s pupils shrank.
The sketch was exactly that mysterious long-haired man. Although it was just a sketch, he would never mistake that aura.
“I do.” Yu Duanhong did not hesitate and admitted it directly.
There was no point in hiding it; the General Bureau likely held information far more detailed than he imagined.
“What is your relationship?”
“There is no relationship,” Yu Duanhong said, meeting the other’s scrutinizing gaze.
“The first time we met was that night on the street. He led me out of a ‘walking in circles’ trap, then followed me home, said some things, and had me start a livestream.”
“After that, I encountered the Knocking Ghost and almost died. Finally, under his prompting, I was possessed by that ghost through a stroke of luck. Later, the people from the Bureau arrived, and he vanished.”
Rate on N.U.
