Locked by those eyes in an instant, Ji Jue inside the car shuddered, feeling a chill spreading throughout his body.

But right after, he fell into confusion... You've been chasing like this all this way, pouncing on the window like you're avenging an Evil Ghost, and then calling me to have a meal together?

What meal?

Then, he felt that something was not right.

Everyone in the car silently turned their heads and looked back at him, including Lou Feng beside him, who, under the shock, instinctively moved a bit away, his eyes suspiciously asking,

"Are you all in cahoots?"

Wait, could it be you who brought these ghouls here?

No...

Ji Jue stared back in anger and grief. I've just joined the team with great difficulty, How did I suddenly become the mole?

Faced with this sudden slander, he hadn't even had time to refute loudly, but someone had already grown impatient.

On the roof, Ji Liu, who had been waiting for the signal from Tong Shan for a long time, descended from above the moment the signal was received.

"Throw the screw!"

A mere two-meter distance seemed like a meteor falling from the sky, trampling down!

Suddenly, he stepped on the eerie figure rushing at him, a mere stomp, and yet it stirred up a bloody frenzy, spreading, causing all the surroundings to distort violently from the impact.

Blessing "Wind Sweeping Cloud!"

Immediately after, blood and fire flowed, covering his right hand as he reached forward, grabbed the figure by the neck, and yanked it up from the ground, smashing it down!

The spiritual essence turned into flames burst forth, instantly engulfing that writhing distorted figure!

It was like dousing it with a layer of gasoline; the blood fire spread like flesh-borne plague, swiftly spreading, pulverizing everything in its path into ash.

Such an astonishing fluctuation of spiritual essence, and the terrifying destruction targeted at all tangible things, wasn't merely inherited skills; its base was another crucial high-level blessing of the crowd— "Withering!"

In just an instant, the screaming writhing figure vanished without a trace, leaving only ashes drifting down from Ji Liu's hand.

"What is this…"

Ji Liu scoffed disdainfully.

But immediately after, his face drastically changed, and he sharply turned around.

Then, he realized, that eerie doorway with the torn curtain had somehow appeared behind him; behind the curtain, a face with the same features as before peeked out with a creepy smile, one hand already reaching out toward him.

Trying to pull him behind the door.

"Come on, have a seat, come on in..."

Ji Liu's figure swiftly retreated backward, his speed rapid, but the doorway chased him like a shadow. Until a thunderous burst erupted, and the invisible great force in the air appeared, bringing down a terrifying pressure upon the seas, locking the doorway in place.

Tong Shan finally acted.

In Ji Liu's hand, a curved dagger appeared out of nowhere, he slashed downward, slicing the laughing figure from top to bottom into two halves. He flipped back into the car under his sister's support.

The split figure, however, swiftly grew in mid-air, turning into two, and with a mournful laugh, lunged again.

Then, suddenly, it stopped.

It was as if a nail had suddenly pinned them to the ground, the split ghostly shadows violently convulsing, their high-pitched laughter sounding like a shriek, a roar.

It was a line of silver light.

Just as others were ready to make a move, the reactive Ji Jue waved his hand, and from the slit of the car window, a bead of mercury shot out. After infusing with a massive amount of spiritual essence, and fired by the Heavenly Skill, it was nearly as fast as a bullet, flying straight through the two residual shadows, myriad fine strands spreading out like spider silk.

Landing on Ji Liu, it broke instantly under the gust of wind, but a few strands that caught on the two ghostly shadows tightened in an instant, contracting.

As tough as steel cables.

An invisible spiritual Vortex burst out from the mercury, like an invisible maw tugging at the residual shadows, drawing them into the storm!

The two ghostly figures froze in place, their movements rapidly slowing down, flickering intensely. However, what caused Ji Jue to frown was that the residual shadows seemed to have taken root, as if solid alchemy's gravity couldn't pull them into the shackles of mercury.

Something was wrong!

Completely wrong!

Even though it was a hurried measure, Ji Jue still used double the amount of mercury, estimating the required amount.

Based on past experiences, such residual spirits, not just two, but four or five, would have been dealt with.

But now, they couldn't be budged at all.

It was as if he merely bent down wanting to uproot some weeds but found upon tugging that a more profound and enormous root system was hidden beneath the ground.

That eerily laughing residual shadow was just a facade; behind it was something massive, so that even though it was burnt to ashes by the Withering, it could quickly regenerate, its haunting persisting.

But under the shackling and pulling of the mercury, during that moment of delay, Tong Shan decisively hit the gas pedal, speeding away.

Just two seconds later, the mercury exploded and evaporated, while the mournfully entangled eerie figure could no longer find its target. No matter how it searched, it couldn't detect any trace or scent of the outsiders.

On the desolate street above, it cackled and screamed, crying out, yet in the end, behind the tattered curtain, a hand reached out from the doorway, beckoning to it.

In midst of the wailing and manic laughter, it was pulled into the darkness like a mad dog on a leash.

The curtain gently swayed in the wind, and finally, it disappeared along with the broken doorway.

Or perhaps it only returned to silence, waiting for the next visitor to come.

"What on earth was that thing?"

Inside the car, having come to his senses, Ji Jue wiped his sweat. He had been in Spring City for barely ten minutes and had already had his eyes opened twice.

What seemed like ordinary shadows were the projections of eerie beings, and the persistently entwined feeble residual spirits couldn't be killed, their souls lingering indefinitely.

"Ever watched a horror movie?"

Ji Xue sighed, "Just think of it as one of the fierce ghosts in those movies, once they latch onto you, they won't stop until they get you.

Sometimes you get lucky and find a way to expel them. But if you can't, a simple initial exploration can turn into a total loss, and you might even lose team members.

Did you both read the safety manual? If you meet strangers in there, do not talk and do not respond, just leave immediately. After you lose sight of a team member, you need to verify their identity before reengaging. Who knows whether they will be impersonated in the blink of an eye.

The second team from Tide City got it bad. By the time they realized, there were already three extra members in the team, and they couldn't figure out who was real, so in the end, they had to ask Master Tao to take action."

Ji Jue watched as they spoke nonchalantly, feeling slightly chilled, "Are there… many of these things?"

Ji Xue was silent for a moment, then turned to look at him, softly saying,

"They're everywhere."

Decades ago, when Spring City was seized, Master Tao made a swift decision, advanced to Heavenly People, and supported the whole of Spring City for two hours like a Heavenly Pillar, giving all the civilians a sliver of a chance to survive.

But besides the survivors who managed to flee Spring City in those first two hours, many victims due to accidents and various incidents couldn't escape.

They fell with the whole city into darkness, struggling for survival, with a lucky few later rescued by search teams. Others had already completely mutated or died before they could be found.

Their flesh decayed, weathered, turned to dust; their souls twisted, shattered, or in their mutation, dissolved into an unrecognizable form.

Those countless resentments, frenzies, hates, and despairs scattered with the winds, over this lengthy passage of time, had already merged with all unrecognizable things.

Eventually, after many years, a minute fraction, catalyzed by the Evil Cult, formed a tumorous breeding ground for evil entities, drifting towards Cliff City…

Ji Jue remained silent, sighed inaudibly, at a loss for words.

On the roof of the car came rhythmic knocking sounds.

Tong Shan waved his hand, and then Jiang Xuan, supporting himself on the seat, got onto the roof, while Ji Liu came down, his expression twitching as he gasped for air, "Damn, something's not right; little sister, take a look for me."

Saying so, he stuck out his butt.

"Get lost!"

Ji Xue, infuriated, was about to kick him when she then saw a black fingerprint on the protective suit on his buttocks…

Xu Guan couldn't help but chuckle, "Big Liu, did someone just touch your butt? Want to be crowned as 'Cliff City's Best Butt'?"

"Buzz off," Ji Liu rolled his eyes and angrily took off his protective suit, only to see a clear fingerprint on his snow-white butt.

Then, no one could laugh anymore.

Mutated Pollution.

No, it seemed more like a mark.

If left alone, who knows when that ghostly thing would come knocking.

"At this point, there's nothing else we can do," Ji Xue's expression shifted, revealing a sorrowful smile, and she pulled a dagger from her boots, ignoring Ji Liu's shocked and fearful look, "We have to cut it out."

"Holy shit, wait a minute…"

"Delay could worsen matters; we can't wait any longer!" Ji Xue glared, "Don't worry, I'll make it quick. I have a large one; just bear with it, bro."

Watching the gleaming knife measuring back and forth on his own butt, Ji Liu grew more terrified and couldn't interject before Ji Xue's hand was stopped.

Ji Jue.

"Xue, don't rush; it might not need to be so drastic."

He pushed the dagger back, and Ji Liu broke into a relieved smile, "Ah, young Ji is a decent man... Oh shi—!!"

Before he could even relax, he saw Ji Jue pulling out a bone short knife, even more outrageous than the previous dagger, and decisively plunged it into his buttock.

"Hiss—"

A unified sharp intake of breath sounded.

Everyone in the car felt a phantom pain in their buttocks.

Ji Liu didn't have time to struggle when he felt a chill in his buttock, and then, the previous burning pain disappeared. Ji Jue pulled out the knife, wiped the non-existent blood stain off the edge with what seemed like a piece of aluminum foil, then sheathed the knife, "It's done."

"Huh?"

Ji Liu stiffly turned around, using the reflection in his phone screen, and discovered to his astonishment that the dark fingerprint on his buttock had completely vanished, not only that, there wasn't even a cut on his body, as if the whole thing had been a hallucination.

It was over!

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