At the same time, DQ City.
The chill in the air had grown increasingly exaggerated. There were only a handful of pedestrians on the streets, wrapped in heavy cotton-padded coats, hurrying along. The entire city had not the slightest trace of Spring Festival atmosphere. Most residents stayed indoors, bundled in quilts, shivering from the cold.
This low temperature was clearly abnormal. It carried a faint stench of rotting corpses, like frozen meat that had been kept in a freezer for years, then suddenly set out under the blazing sun to thaw.
Today, the phones of every department in the city had been ringing off the hook. Everyone was asking the same question: why was the temperature so abnormal this year, while the weather forecast had failed to provide any accurate temperature report?
In an unremarkable alley, a dim yellow streetlamp cast a weak glow. A blurry figure appeared soundlessly in the depths of the alley.
Most of this person’s body was hidden behind the corner at the end of the alley, with only a head exposed. Looking closely, the face on that head was extremely bizarre.
The left half of the face was as pale as a dead man’s, its stiff features utterly lifeless. On the other half, a yellowed scrap of old newspaper was firmly stuck to the skin. Beneath the newspaper, the outline of half a human face could faintly be seen, as if its mouth were stretched wide open, painfully trying to make a sound.
This person’s behavior seemed almost shy. Whenever someone passed by outside the alley, he would immediately withdraw half his face, leaving only the part covered by newspaper exposed, cautious and careful, as though avoiding the killing pattern of some fierce ghost.
After staying in the alley for a while, this person seemed to discover something and sprinted rapidly toward an amusement park.
The view rose from the ground into the sky.
A passenger plane was flying over DQ City.
“Cao Yang, why did you turn off your phone just now? I was worried sick.”
Inside the cabin, Cao Yang was on the phone. The woman’s voice on the other end carried a trace of anxiety.
Cao Yang said in a low voice, “The situation just now was extremely dangerous. That ghost’s killing pattern was to kill anyone who made a sound. I was afraid you’d be implicated, so I turned off the phone.”
“Ah—” A cry of alarm came from the other end. “Good thing you turned it off. If something like last time happened again, when a large number of operators at headquarters died, it would be over...”
Cao Yang nodded and said, “That’s right. To protect your safety, I turned off my phone without hesitation. But it’s fine now. With Yang Jian and me working together, that ghost has already been successfully contained.”
Beside Cao Yang lay a body bag made of gold, and inside it was the ghost contained in Dachang City. After completing the mission, he had to return to Dajing City immediately to assist there. There were still some highly concealed ghosts wandering within Dajing City, and someone had to deal with them.
The woman on the other end continued, “By the way, Minister Cao was looking for you just now. He told me to tell you that once you’re back, you’re to go report to him directly. There’s a classified mission that needs you to handle it.”
“Classified?”
Cao Yang instinctively frowned.
Within headquarters, any mission involving confidentiality or above often meant the unknown, danger, and even threats to one’s life.
“All right, I understand. Organize this ghost’s file first. I need to rest for a bit.”
Cao Yang rubbed the space between his brows, a trace of exhaustion in his tone. Ever since Dajing City had gone out of control, he had been dealing with the fierce ghosts that had escaped from headquarters. This short while now counted as a rare moment of rest.
“No one can stand being worked like an ox every day.”
After saying that, Cao Yang hung up the phone and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes to rest.
For safety reasons, apart from him, there were only a small number of crew members on this plane. At this moment, Cao Yang’s feet were constantly tapping against the floor, producing a “tap, tap, tap” sound.
But if one looked carefully, one would discover something extremely eerie: Cao Yang’s feet were not moving at all. Yet that tapping sound still came from beneath his soles, muffled and extraordinarily regular.
Cao Yang felt a little cold. Instinctively, he shrank his neck and continued resting with his eyes closed.
Just then, “beep beep beep beep beep beep...” A rapid ringtone woke him.
“Cao Yang! Cao Yang! Can you hear me?”
His eyes snapped open. Cao Yang instantly sensed something abnormal. He had actually felt cold. He quickly picked up the phone and said in a deep voice,
“Xiao Li, what happened?”
Xiao Li’s voice on the other end carried obvious panic. “Emergency! An unknown supernatural incident has occurred in DQ City. The plane you’re on is currently right above DQ City. The relevant intelligence has already been sent to your satellite phone. Liu San is on his way. Minister Cao requests that you go down immediately and investigate this matter.”
“DQ City?” Cao Yang’s expression changed slightly.
“Wasn’t Lin Bei assigned to that area before?..”
“Yes, but Lin Bei and Yang Jian encountered another supernatural incident there. Lin Bei’s current condition is extremely unstable, and he can no longer take action.”
Cao Yang looked out the window. His gaze passed through the gaps between the clouds and looked downward. The entire city was covered by an extremely abnormal layer of white, as though swallowed by heavy snow. But DQ City was low-lying terrain, surrounded by mountains on all sides. A large-scale snowfall like this over such a short period of time was simply impossible.
“Understood. Keep the line open. I’m going down now.”
Cao Yang hung up the phone. Looking at that snow-covered city, he took a packet of traditional Chinese medicine from his pocket and swallowed it in one gulp.
“With this scale... looks like it won’t be easy.”
High in the sky, on the metal exterior beneath the plane, a pair of bare footprints appeared out of thin air, as if someone were walking on the belly of the cabin.
As the footprints moved, Cao Yang’s figure also emerged, stepping precisely onto them. He hung upside down beneath the cabin, staring at the earth below.
“At any rate, I count as someone with connections, don’t I? Why do they keep assigning me such dangerous missions? It’s nothing like what novels write. No matter how you look at it, shouldn’t I be sitting in an office?”
After grumbling, Cao Yang lifted his foot and took a step into empty space.
The next second, his entire body instantly vanished. At the same time, a string of footprints immediately appeared in the sky. These footprints were extremely strange; they had forcibly stepped a black line into the void.
As Cao Yang’s feet moved, this black line formed by footprints began extending downward at an extremely fast speed.
Cao Yang’s figure flashed continuously along this black line. In a manner as though walking on air, he sped rapidly in the direction of DQ City.
Headquarters.
A waxy, sallow-faced man was standing opposite Cao Yanhua.
“Minister Cao, you’re really that comfortable letting Cao Yang go to DQ City? I heard he’s even a relative of yours...”
Cao Yanhua interrupted him unhappily.
“Liu San, regardless of whatever relationship Cao Yang has with me, when it comes to work, I have always handled matters impartially. If you’re interested in Cao Yang, you can go through headquarters’ files.”
Liu San shrugged, looking indifferent, and casually pulled over a chair to sit down.
“Go on. I’ve already agreed to take part in the raid plan. What are you calling me here for now?”
Cao Yanhua said solemnly, “DQ City needs you to support Cao Yang. Judging by the range shown in the satellite images, the danger level of this fierce ghost has already reached S-class. At least two or more persons in charge are needed to handle it together. It’s just that headquarters is short-staffed right now. Only your paper effigy can still move...”
At this point, Cao Yanhua pointed toward the corner, where an object covered by coarse cloth stood quietly.
The coarse cloth did not completely cover the lower part of the object. At the bottom, two heavy pieces of steel were exposed, gleaming with a metallic sheen.