It was 11:15 PM at night.
The capital city was still brightly lit. This was a place where miracles were created every single day. Countless construction sites were working day and night to further the construction of the city, and nighttime was when the construction projects were at their most active.
This was because slag trucks could only enter the city at night.
In a particular construction site in the Dade District, there was a bright searchlight shining from a massive crane, resembling a glowing lighthouse in the night. The construction site was completely opened, and countless slag trucks were entering the site in an orderly fashion under the supervision of the workers. Bright searchlights were lit all around, casting ghostly shadows that were quite unsettling to behold in the night.
“Speed up a little! Turn left!” The manager of the construction site was wearing a safety helmet as he barked instructions into a megaphone. Right in front of him was a line of around a dozen slag trucks, and they were undergoing the final examinations.
“Have some water, Manager Zheng.” A thermos cup was handed to him from the side, and Manager Zheng set down his megaphone, then took a sip of warm water before heaving a long sigh.
Earning money was not easy. He looked around at the lively and bustling construction site as he shook his head in silence.
There were no concerns about real estate in the capital city going unsold. More and more rich people were emerging in the nation, and their demands were becoming more and more rigorous to fulfill. They wanted sections of greenery, parking spots, all types of benefits… The district that they were constructing was an upper-mid-tier district, and the employers were enforcing a very tight timeframe on them. Furthermore, they had decided to sell the houses at an earlier date than initially planned, so the construction team was having to work day and night to meet their deadlines.
He heaved a faint sigh and was just about to set down the thermos cup when his pupils abruptly contracted slightly.
He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, so he rubbed them before casting his gaze forward again, upon which he drew a sharp breath. He dragged over his apprentice, then said, “Look… Is there someone standing on top of unit A?”
His voice was trembling. That building wasn’t sealed at the moment, so the top of it was essentially a forest of rebar. As such, there was no way that anyone would go up there unless they wanted to be skewered!
However, he really could see a humanoid figure standing up there.
His apprentice was a young man wearing a yellow safety helmet, and after looking up at the top of the building, he also drew a sharp breath. As he turned back to Manager Zheng, he immediately began to nod frantically as he stammered. “Y, y, you’re right! There r, really is someone up there!”
The humanoid figure was entirely white in color, and it almost looked like an illusion as it stood at the top of the building, striking the beholder with a bone-chilling sensation.
Who was up there? Why had they gone up there?
Manager Zheng stared up at the figure for a moment longer before yelling, “What are you all looking at? Hurry up and contact the guy responsible for unit A and… Holy shit!”
Before he had a chance to finish, he was already frantically rushing toward the construction site of unit A.
This was because just now, the humanoid figure had taken a step forward.
From the sharp rebar, they had taken a stride forward into the empty air up ahead, following which they immediately plummeted into freefall like a white flower petal.
Manager Zheng’s eyes were already completely bloodshot. He wouldn’t be held responsible for someone committing suicide on his construction site, but if an incident like this were to take place, a lengthy investigation would undoubtedly follow, thereby delaying the project indefinitely. Everyone was waiting for the conclusion of the project so that they could be paid, so no one wanted to see any accidents happen here.
Even his apprentice was also rushing toward unit A frantically, and both of them were in such a panicked state that they didn’t even realize that they had already stepped onto the road.
The sharp sound of screeching brakes suddenly rang out, and a pair of bright headlights illuminated Manager Zheng like a pair of hellish eyes. Manager Zheng almost had the soul frightened out of his body, and he was rooted to the spot, while his mind had gone completely blank.
“What’s going on?” A male voice rang out from the vehicle, and it was a little cold, but it didn’t sound displeased or angry.
It was very calm, too calm, eerily so.
The voice snapped Manager Zheng out of his stupor, and shuddered as he realized just how close he had come to an encounter with death. His back was drenched in cold sweat, and his legs almost gave out from under him.
Right at this moment, he caught sight of the vehicle’s number plate.
He clasped a hand over his own thumping heart as he said in a trembling voice, “This is the slag truck for unit A!”
No response.
“Did you see that?!” Manager Zheng frantically tried to look through the car’s windscreen, but unfortunately, the headlights were too bright for him to see anything.
“See what?” the male voice replied, still in a completely emotionless voice.
“Someone jumped down from the top of the building! How could you have not seen that?!” Manager Zheng roared in a furious voice. The indifference of the driver was really getting on his nerves, and he was unable to hold back his temper any longer.
Finally, the headlights were turned off.
In the instant that they were turned off, the entire road was plunged into complete darkness. Right as Manager Zheng’s eyes were quickly adjusting to the darkness, a sinister voice rang out from within the slag truck. “Who jumped off the building? Was it… me?”
Manager Zheng’s pupils contracted drastically as he stared through the windscreen, and his body was trembling uncontrollably. His mouth was gaped wide open, but he couldn’t muster up even a single word.
His hands were trembling so violently that it looked as if they were spasming. He pointed at the figure through the windscreen, yet he was so horrified that he had lost his voice.
That wasn’t a human, nor was it a slag truck.
The slag truck should’ve been carrying construction waste, yet instead, it was filled with wreaths!
As for the driver, it was a figure of unidentifiable gender, wearing a white lotus crown.
Their face was deathly pale, but their cheeks were unnaturally red, much like a classical Cathayan opera actor. Two white ribbons were trailing down from the white lotus crown, and blood was flowing out of all of their orifices as they watched Manager Zheng with a faint smile on their face. Held in one of their hands was a white balsam flower.
“ARRRGH!!!”
……………………………………
At the Special Investigations Department branch of the capital city, an investigator’s fingers were flying over his keyboard as he said in a grim voice, “We’re getting Yin energy readings of three million from the Dade District!”
“We’re receiving Yin energy readings of 4.2 million from the Gaolan District.”
“We’re receiving Yin energy readings of 4.8 million from the Xishan District.”
“Three bursts of Yin energy have been detected in the Tianhu District, but the fluctuations are too drastic for a reading to be secured at the moment.”
This Special Investigations Department branch had the nation’s most advanced technology, and it was very much like a set out of a sci-fi movie. The desktop computers were as thin as paper, and all types of futuristic-looking devices were flashing incessantly. If someone were to accidentally stumble into this place, they would think that they had fallen through a portal into the future.
In front of the computers stood a series of investigators, all of whom wore grim expressions. The footage being captured by the live high-definition surveillance cameras all over the city was being displayed on the screens in front of them, and there were red symbols indicating the presence of figures cloaked in Yin energy. Behind them stood the city’s municipal party committee secretary, Zhang Junliang, the mayor, Ji Changqing, the deputy mayor, Ma Youcai, and the director of the Special Investigations Department, Zheng Shuguo.
The atmosphere in the branch was extremely oppressive, and Zheng Shuguo’s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, “How many targets can be identified at the moment.”
A string of rapid typing rang out, following which someone replied, “We’ve identified 65 bursts of Yin energy total, seven of which belong to Abyssal Prefects, while the rest are all Infernal Judges.”
Zhang Junliang pursed his lips tightly, causing the wrinkles around his mouth to become even more pronounced. If it weren’t for his exceptional self-restraint, he would’ve already sworn out loud.
It had only been 24 hours since the meeting that was held the day before, yet 65 powerful evil ghosts had already descended upon the city, and that number was only continuing to increase!
The mythical 73 immortals truly existed, and they were making no attempt to hide their presence!
One legendary evil ghost after another was popping up all over the city.
This was the last batch of evil ghosts since the republic era. Ever since then, Cathay had steadily become more and more powerful, and belief in the supernatural and the arcane was gradually phased out. They had thought that everything was already behind them, buried in the sands of time, but they had returned in full force on this day.
Zheng Shuguo swept his gaze over one screen after another as he issued a series of orders. “Maintain communication with Hell at all times. When are Yanluo Qin and Ghost King Zhao going to arrive?”
“They’ll be here in an hour, sir!”
“Prior to their arrival, activate the supernatural tape! In the wake of the supernatural disasters, the citizens of the city should know what this entails. Group A, track the source of their Yin energy right away. Group B, instruct the municipal radio station to broadcast a notice prohibiting people from leaving their homes on all channels on repeat. Groups C and D, contact the military to set up the supernatural tape. We have to ensure that all of the citizens of the city are protected to the best of our abilities.”
Only after close to 20 minutes did he finish delegating orders, following which he finally turned his gaze toward the large screen at the center of the room.
The screen was depicting the Oriental Pearl Television Tower in the Pudong District.
At the moment, all of the Yin energy was converging toward the tower, yet somehow, there wasn’t any Yin energy there!
This extreme contrast was making Zheng Shuguo very apprehensive, and he was staring intently at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.
Ever since this morning, notices had been released throughout the entire city, prohibiting people from leaving their homes, so popular places such as the revolving diner at the top of the Oriental Pearl Television Tower had naturally remained closed for the day.
No one was allowed to leave their homes, and anyone who dared to do so would face the wrath of the law.
However, there was currently someone there.
It was impossible to see this person clearly, and no matter what angle the figure was filmed from, they registered as a blur on the screen.
They were seated calmly beside a table, and the only things placed on the table were several glasses of wine. With the high-zoom telescopes of the satellites, they could even clearly see the writing on the bottle of wine, but it was somehow impossible to make out this figure clearly.
All they did was sit in silence, seemingly waiting for some friends.
Zheng Shuguo closed his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly.
The figure didn’t possess any Yin energy, but just the mere sight of them was enough to make his soul churn and sway.
This was… a monster!
He forcibly repressed his emotional fluctuations as he turned toward a map of the city. There were several dozen red dots on the screen, all of which were already close to the Oriental Pearl Television Tower.
He joined his palms together as he murmured to himself, “Come, vermin of the Yiguandao! Let me see if you still have the power to wreak havoc on Cathayan soil!”
Even if everyone in this room had to die, they had to protect the honor of their nation!