Dahai City
On a high-speed train racing along at breakneck speed, the morning rush hour was the same as always. People were crammed into the narrow space, and the air was filled with a silent exhaustion.
A young man frowned and complained to the middle-aged man in front of him, “Old Li, the company’s gone too far lately. Overtime every day, and not a single cent in overtime pay! We should band together and demand overtime wages!”
The middle-aged man sighed, bloodshot weariness in his eyes. “Sigh. I’ve got a wife and kids at home, and a pile of mortgage and car-loan payments waiting for me. I’d like to be like you young people too, but…”
Before he could finish, the young man suddenly noticed Old Li’s forehead and frowned. “What happened to your forehead? Are you hurt?”
Old Li raised a hand and wiped his forehead. A trace of sticky, bright red stained his palm. “Ah, maybe I’ve just been too tired lately. It’s not…”
Before his words fell, a horrifying scene erupted in an instant.
Old Li’s forehead was actually like the surface of shattered glass, splitting open with deep cracks.
“Bang!” With a tremendous explosion, his entire head burst apart!
Bright red blood and white brain matter sprayed everywhere, splashing all over the young man’s face. The stinking blood slid down his forehead. His eyes went wide, his whole body stiff, his lips trembling, yet he could not utter a single word.
Immediately after—
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A continuous series of explosions rang out like firecrackers. Inside the entire carriage, people’s heads burst open one after another, spraying scarlet blood.
Blood mist filled the whole carriage. Blood splattered across the windows and floor, and the air was thick with a foul stench.
“Ah—!!!”
The survivors screamed and rushed madly toward both ends of the carriage, but the sealed carriage left them nowhere to run.
At the same time, the high-speed train suddenly lost control. The body of the train violently shot off the tracks, the front smashing hard into the wall of the tunnel. The carriages twisted out of shape, while the ones behind, driven by inertia, piled up crazily on top of each other, producing a deafening crash that made one’s scalp go numb.
Explosions, screams, and the grinding of flesh and steel merged into one. In an instant, the entire tunnel became a living hell.
At the same time, in other parts of Dahai City, the same terror was playing out. Indiscriminate certain-death attacks were sweeping through all of Dahai City, and the entire city had completely fallen out of control…
“Something’s happened.”
High above, a man stood on the rooftop of a skyscraper, looking down over the city that had sunk into chaos.
The entire city seemed like a burning hell. Out-of-control vehicles rampaged in every direction, corpses littered the streets, and blood gathered into gurgling, flowing rivers.
Explosions kept coming from distant high-rises. Thick smoke billowed upward, blotting out what had once been a clear sky.
Awu turned and picked up a special black phone, his voice urgent. “Notify headquarters immediately! Dahai City has fallen! Evacuate to the safe house at once!”
However, the other end of the line was deathly silent.
The next moment, the second wave of attacks began.
Awu’s whole body went rigid. Cracks instantly spread across his forehead. His fingers, suspended in midair, loosened, and the phone fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
“It’s over…”
Headquarters
“Minister Cao! Emergency! Dahai City has fallen! The people in the entire city have almost…”
A staff member rushed into the conference room in a panic, holding a stack of documents, but before he could finish speaking, Cao Yanhua snatched them away.
Cao Yanhua lowered his head and quickly skimmed the report. His expression changed from shock to disbelief. The hand holding the documents trembled slightly. He took a deep breath, suppressing the anger and urgency in his heart.
“Which captains still have the ability to act right now? Contact them immediately! At the same time, notify the nearest rescue forces to support Dahai City with everything they have! No matter what, we must reduce the casualties to the lowest possible number!”
“Wait.”
Wang Xiaoming held another report in his hand. He raised his head to look at Cao Yanhua, his tone carrying its usual calm and rationality.
“There are still uncontained evil ghosts wandering through Dajing City. Ordinary people are dying every minute. The vast majority of headquarters’ persons in charge are currently in Dajing City handling the out-of-control ghosts. After the loss-of-control incident, every captain’s physical condition is extremely poor. Many are already close to the verge of complete revival.”
Wang Xiaoming paused, raised a hand to adjust his glasses, and continued:
“Not to mention, that hurricane, which has nearly covered two cities, is still raging. Rescue operations are also underway there. Support on the scale of an entire city is something we simply cannot provide at this stage. In other words, if Ye Zhen and Yang Jian cannot resolve the incident in Dahai City together, then no matter how many persons in charge we send, they will only be going to their deaths.”
“Professor Wang! Are we supposed to just watch so many ordinary people die?!”
Cao Yanhua’s voice rose unconsciously, his tone toward Wang Xiaoming becoming unusually heavy.
But Wang Xiaoming did not even lift his head. He remained facing the computer screen. The light shone on his lenses, reflecting a deathly pale glare that made his expression impossible to discern.
“It is not that we will not save them. It is that we cannot. The situation in Dajing City is only gradually coming under headquarters’ control. If any person in charge withdraws, the situation may spiral out of control again. Every region is now bearing the impact of supernatural incidents—Dajing City, the hurricane, Dahai City… Headquarters no longer has sufficient manpower to deal with such widespread and terrifying supernatural threats.”
His tone was so calm it was almost indifferent. “Whether manpower or resources, everything is nearly exhausted. What we can do now is wait.”
Cao Yanhua slammed a hand on the table and stood up, fists clenched as he remained silent for a long time.
He knew Wang Xiaoming was right, but he could not accept such a reality. He could not accept allowing countless ordinary people to be ravaged by the supernatural without taking any action.
A few seconds later, he said in a low voice, “Notify the peripheral rescue forces. Search inward from the edge of the city and advance in a fan-shaped formation. If they discover anything abnormal, evacuate immediately. At the very least… save some survivors.”
His voice was hoarse, as if all the strength had gone out of him.
The scene rewinds to half an hour earlier.
That lifeless female corpse had already entered the bridal sedan. The entire procession slowly moved forward amid the eerie sound of the suona.
Yang Jian pointed at a body bag made of gold and said:
“Awei, get in.”
Back in Huanggang Village, he had used this method to avoid the Ghost Messenger’s attack. Right now, he could only temporarily place Zhang Wei inside the body bag.
“Brother Leg, this thing is for holding dead people, isn’t it? That’s unlucky.”
“Weren’t you cursing me to die just now? Hurry up and get in, or Ah Zhen might change her mind in a bit.”
“That’s true. This Ah Zhen is moody and unpredictable. Maybe she’ll suddenly change her mind again later.”
As he spoke, Zhang Wei stuck out his butt and crawled inside.
“Brother Leg! Tell Big Brother Ye for me that Ah Zhen is no good. Best to chop her down with one slash.”
“Got it. If you feel stifled, open a small gap to get some air.”
Yang Jian sealed the body bag, then turned and headed in the direction of the wedding procession.
The sky was just beginning to brighten, faintly pale like the belly of a fish.
An eerie bridal escort procession moved forward in slow, orderly steps. The entire procession made not the slightest sound, walking soundlessly along the dirt road.
Yang Jian followed far behind the procession. Judging from the route they were taking, their destination was precisely the large courtyard where the marriage contract had been placed.