Chapter 154: Fusing Ghosts (6)

A modified grudge interference device was activated by the burly leader, and a blue flash vanished into the room in the blink of an eye.

Shortly after, Xiao Ke'ai immediately felt the magnetic energy within her body plunge into chaos. For a short time, she was unable to mobilize magnetic energy for attacks, and she even lost her ability to phase between the corporeal and the ethereal.

Xiao Ke'ai curled her cat whiskers in disdain.

Aside from wielding magnetic energy, the physical bodies of magnetic lifeforms were not inferior to anomalies of the same rank. It seemed this group of people knew nothing about this!

"Get her! Take her alive! If this cat loses even a single hair, I'll skin you all!"

Following the lead of the burly man's battle cry, six individuals from the crowd surged forward alongside him to attack Xiao Ke'ai. Meanwhile, the rest of the people quietly slipped away from this floor; they were not aligned with these attackers and had only banded together in search of sanctuary.

To avoid getting entangled in a dispute with these people over a magnetic lifeform later on, it was better for this loosely affiliated group not to linger here.

By this time, Xiao Ke'ai had transformed into a streak of blue lightning, weaving continuously among the seven individuals. Commander Cat's diminutive physique granted her superior agility, and within moments, three of them had their limbs severed by Xiao Ke'ai, leaving them incapacitated and stripped of their combat capability.

Those razor-sharp cat claws could snap bone with effortless ease. With the seven conspirators targeting the magnetic lifeform holding back out of fear of harming their prize, capturing Xiao Ke'ai was completely out of the question.

"I'll pin her down! You two grab those two people and use them as leverage against her! I refuse to believe this wretched cat won't yield then!" the lead man ordered the remaining three. He then engaged Xiao Ke'ai single-handedly, blocking her path and preventing her from going to the rescue.

The other three immediately lunged toward Wu Zui and Ming Rurou, who were still deep in cultivation. A moment later, a deafening crash echoed beside the bed as several figures were hurled violently against the room's walls. The burly leader was still tangled with Xiao Ke'ai and failed to notice the accident over there.

A hand landed on the shoulder of the frantically moving burly leader, pinning him in place with sudden force.

"Hey! Weren't you just saying you wanted to catch me?"

Before the burly man could turn his head or even see who it was, Wu Zui, who had successfully broken through, kicked him straight out through the doorway. Accompanying this kick was a magnetic energy blade that surged into the man's body like a razor-sharp knife.

The ferocious magnetic energy blade directly shattered the man's magnetic core, instantly reducing this five-star awakener to a crippled waste.

"Seeing what you've become, I truly feel it's an injustice to those who sacrificed their lives to protect you." Wu Zui stroked Xiao Ke'ai, who was standing on his shoulder, and began checking her injuries as he spoke.

However, as Xiao Ke'ai shook her fur, all the blood splattered on her was flung away. A pristine, flawless blue fluffy ball was back.

A small white writing board was held up.

[Master, there are ghosts and monsters running amok outside. Not only do they harbor evil intentions toward me, but they also want to snatch the Golden Bell and the Great Drum. Deal with them quickly; I'm terribly worried about how my parents are doing right now!]

From Xiao Ke'ai's somewhat hasty handwriting, Wu Zui could sense her current anxiety.

The next instant, six magnetic energy attacks pierced the magnetic cores of the remaining six intruders respectively, giving birth to seven cripples in one fell swoop. Following closely behind, Wu Zui opened a spatial singularity and tossed all seven individuals out of the hotel, leaving them to fend for themselves in the outside world.

The reason they had been able to awaken safely back then was entirely due to Wu Zui's help with this pair of eyes. Now, Wu Zui decided to take back this power that should never have been given to them. Having disposed of these people, Wu Zui turned his gaze toward the window.

The two colossal phantom silhouettes and the domain bearing the signature of a seven-star ghost made Wu Zui realize who the mastermind behind the turmoil in Yanqing City was. Then, Wu Zui waved his hand, and the Golden Bell and the Great Drum, which had originally been hovering in the sky above the hotel, materialized inside the room.

The golden barrier began to contract slowly.

Wu Zui then glanced at Ming Rurou, whose clothes were tattered and whose body was covered in blood. Gazing at the boundless scenery revealed through her torn garments, a trace of awkwardness flashed across his face.

"Ai'ai, can you do me a favor?"

Wu Zui asked earnestly, looking into Xiao Ke'ai's small face.

[No!]

The white board was hoisted up.

Xiao Ke'ai, who knew Wu Zui well, naturally knew he must be doing this for the injured Ming Rurou. He was likely either asking her to stay and look after Ming Rurou or planning to settle Ming Rurou in a safe place first. Worried about her parents, Xiao Ke'ai naturally could not agree.

"Uh... alright."

Wu Zui scratched his head, not expecting to be refused so flatly.

A red crystal appeared in Wu Zui's hand. Lai, who was still fast asleep on Xiao Ke'ai's back after doing a good deed without leaving a name, was awakened by the red crystal at that moment.

"Awoo... What is it?"

Lai swallowed the red crystal by its mouth in one gulp and asked.

"Take good care of her until I get back. Don't leave this place, okay?" Wu Zui pointed at Ming Rurou on the floor, produced another five red crystals, handed them to Lai, and asked.

Lai glanced at the half-dead Ming Rurou, seemingly confirming the target. Although the bleeding had stopped, Ming Rurou's body remained weak from excessive blood loss, and she was still unconscious. Taking care of a wounded person sounded easy enough, so Lai agreed directly.

"Can do!"

Lai replied, accepting the five crystals.

However, before Wu Zui could pick up Ming Rurou and place her on the bed, Lai, having collected its payment and swallowed all five crystals in one gulp, slumped right down onto Ming Rurou's body. The ghost domain belonging to Lai completely enveloped her, and then Lai drifted back into slumber.

Although things turned out a bit differently than Wu Zui had anticipated, under these circumstances, unless Lai was woken up again or someone directly defeated this seven-star peak ghost, Ming Rurou was safer now than anyone else.

Putting away the Golden Bell and the Great Drum, the golden barrier vanished.

A blue glow rippled across Wu Zui's body. Then, picking up an unhappy-looking Xiao Ke'ai, he opened a spatial singularity and bolted straight from the hotel toward the underground base where Xiaoanguo was located. Barring any accidents, Xiao Ke'ai's mother, as the family member of a high-ranking official, should be there as well.

As for why Wu Zui was able to open a spatial singularity within the domain of a seven-star ghost?

Naturally, it was because after breaking through to the six-star level, he had acquired the prototype of his own domain field. While he could not go head-to-head against the domain of a seven-star ghost, trivial tasks like opening a spatial singularity to escape were still well within his reach.

While Wu Zui was rushing toward Xiaoanguo's location, Xiaoanguo was directing the base personnel in emergency evacuation procedures. Unnoticed by anyone, the experimental data regarding the assimilators within the base was being silently transmitted outside via computers.

Soon, all nations received the research data from Hua Nation.

Back inside the base, the high command of Hua Nation had already sensed trouble the moment the spirit detectives at the experimental site cut off their communications. Although the black fog of the heavenly anomaly had been absorbed by the ghost assimilators, the ghosts within their bodies had also assimilated them, elevating them to the seven-star rank.

It could be said that it was the research institute itself that had created these two seven-star ghosts currently rampaging through Yanqing City. Before long, swarms of yellow pages and red eyes appeared here after destroying the underground base of the research institute.

The spirit detectives inside the base began to resist the advance of these ghost thralls, trying their utmost to buy time for everyone's evacuation. Yet, based on magnetic sensing, Xiaoanguo deduced that the number of ghost thralls converging outside was growing exponentially.

Evacuating beneath the watchful eyes of so many ghost thralls was virtually impossible. For once the crowd grew too large, the true forms of those two ghosts would inevitably be drawn over. Facing seven-star ghosts, this group of awakeners, who were merely at the five-star level, stood not a single shred of a chance.

"Quick! Fall back into the isolation chamber!"

At Xiaoanguo's shout, several golden doors swung open. These were rooms forged entirely of gold, capable of temporarily guaranteeing the safety of the party. The reason it was temporary was that no one could determine whether a seven-star ghost could breach golden matter.

After all, they already possessed the power to alter rules.

Presumably, altering rules so that ghosts no longer feared golden matter and magnetic energy within a certain area was probably entirely possible. By then, the isolation chambers forged of gold would likely turn out to be nothing more than ornate tombs.

Fortunately, those ghost thralls could not shatter the golden matter on their own, and the true forms of the two seven-star ghosts had been lured away by a suddenly appearing domain field. For a short time, they likely wouldn't notice the situation here.

Meanwhile, Wu Zui, having just departed the hotel, caught sight of those two colossal phantom silhouettes charging directly toward him. One of them was an immensely thick black book, while the other was a red eyeball fixed in an unblinking stare upon him.

A flash of crimson fire suddenly ignited across Wu Zui's chest, the skin over his chest burned clean through by karmic fire, and a plume of black Qi accompanied by a gush of blood rapidly spilled forth. This was precisely because the karmic fire within his body had detected the parasitism of the red-eyed ghost and directly incinerated those parasitic ghost thralls.

Immediately afterward, a beam of black light flickered across Wu Zui's body, and his physical form abruptly began to disintegrate. His body grew to resemble black smoke, while the flesh, blood, and magnetic energy inside him actually began transforming into plumes of grudge energy.

The drifting grudge energy flew straight toward the black book, looking as though it was about to be devoured by it instantly.

At that exact moment, a flare of crimson light ignited, and a small, entirely red sword at Wu Zui's heart was glowing brilliantly. The grudge energy that had been on the verge of absorption raced back into Wu Zui's body in an instant, transforming back into his flesh, blood, and magnetic energy.

The successive attacks from the two ghosts made Wu Zui acutely aware of the disparity in their strength. Refusing to clash head-on, he directly employed a spatial singularity to escape, hurtling straight toward Xiaoanguo's location. Saving lives was the most pressing priority of all.

Seeing Wu Zui vanish, the two ghosts gave chase as well.

As for Xiaoanguo's side, the so-called isolation chamber proved to be just as Xiaoanguo had feared. Within the ghost domain, the ghost—having regained its wits—had altered the rules, and that horde of ghost thralls had now effortlessly passed through the golden matter, penetrating deep into the interior of the isolation chamber.

The surviving spirit detectives inside the isolation chamber put up a desperate resistance, but faced with the influx of hundreds upon thousands of ghost thralls, the spirit detectives began to fall in droves. At this moment, high-ranking officials, researchers, and guards alike were all reduced to the same status.

No matter who they were, a single lapse in judgment meant death right here.