Chapter 65: The Gathering Storm (3)

"Yan Sheng, you should get a magnetic energy check as well. Then return to the Bureau as soon as possible—it's too dangerous for a one-star to stay here," Wu Zui said to Yan Sheng, his tone calm.

Yan Sheng, whose magnetic energy had been largely devoured, was now a beacon in the hospital, attracting newly formed powerful evil spirits.

"Don't worry, I know the procedure! This is truly a calamity from above. My points... I've really suffered a loss!" Yan Sheng bemoaned, his face sorrowful, gesturing with his hand for Wu Zui to begin the check.

After his magnetic energy was drained by the Shadow Ghost, the loss was permanent. He could only visit the magnetic energy enhancement chamber and see if it could be replenished.

A crimson flame enveloped Yan Sheng, including his shadow reappearing on the ground. The red fire swept through everything. Wu Zui finally confirmed that there were no lingering traces left by the Shadow Ghost on Yan Sheng.

"All right. Farewell!" Wu Zui said after finishing the check.

"Bye-bye~" Xiao Ke'ai, holding the cat commander that had just returned, waved her hand.

...

While Wu Zui dealt with the Shadow Ghost's avatar in Binhai City Central Hospital, on the seashore of Binhai City, a bespectacled man fished up a strange, jet-black little fish.

The odd fish was covered in warty protrusions, reminiscent of a toad, making it rather repulsive. Even out of water, it didn't struggle to breathe as ordinary fish would.

"When will your true form return?" The man, holding the black fish in his palm, lowered his head and interrogated it. His voice unmistakably belonged to the Shadow Ghost—the bespectacled man had clearly been possessed. But who it was talking to remained unknown.

"The cities along the northern coastline of Meida Capital are all finished. My true form is heading back now. And remember, we're merely partners—don't speak to me as you would to a ghost servant!" The black fish's mouth opened and closed, a sinister voice emanating from within.

"Then hurry up! Your enemy is more dangerous now than before. If you're slow, I'll work with other anomalies. All I need is the magnetic energy from the spirit investigators—I don't care who devours those rotten corpses!" The bespectacled man spoke, his face murderous, tightening his grip and crushing the black fish to pieces.

"Damn it!" The sinister voice cursed faintly from the crushed remains.

Far across the southern sea, a monstrous whale-like creature, composed entirely of human corpses of various colors, swam toward Binhai City. Suddenly, its tail lashed the water, a human head atop its body screaming, sending waves exploding outward—it seemed enraged...

At that moment, the bespectacled man tossed the crushed fish corpse into the sea and headed toward the city. A sudden thought made him pull out his phone, channel resentful energy into it, destroying it completely before throwing it into the sea as well.

Meanwhile, one of the four Tian Sheng Cinema audience members who had returned home also destroyed his phone with resentful energy and flushed it down the toilet. Immediately after, he got into his car and left his home.

Waves surged on Binhai's coast, and a vast black cloud seemed ready to engulf the entire city.

A storm was brewing.

Binhai City Central Hospital

After Yan Sheng departed, Wu Zui and Xiao Ke'ai headed straight for the shore.

"Master, two signals just vanished," Xiao Ke'ai, who had been monitoring the computer map, suddenly informed Wu Zui, who was driving the Soaring Dragon One.

Wu Zui immediately pulled over, looking at Xiao Ke'ai's computer. One of the vanished signals was at the shoreline.

It seems the Shadow Ghost has noticed.

Wu Zui thought silently.

"Let's go to the residential area first. Use the computer to see if we can locate the two whose phone signals disappeared. Also, check for any footage of the one at the shore. Him going there alone feels suspicious," Wu Zui said as he turned the car toward the residential area.

"Okay!" Xiao Ke'ai replied, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Soon, they checked the magnetic energy of the other three audience members in the residential area—all clear.

As for the two whose phone signals had disappeared, suspected of being possessed by the Shadow Ghost, no footage was found, but with the Sky Eye system, Xiao Ke'ai successfully located them.

The location caught Wu Zui's attention—they were both in a hotel near the Bureau.

Both of them.

As Wu Zui pondered the Shadow Ghost's intentions, their phones rang simultaneously—a message from the Bureau. At their usual mission pickup spot, bold red words appeared—Red Evacuation Directive!

Red Evacuation Directive:

All spirit investigators and awakened individuals in Binhai City are ordered to evacuate all citizens immediately, ensuring complete evacuation within three days. All point-exchange items at the Bureau are suspended, to be managed by the Binhai Bureau chief.

Wu Zui opened the directive's detailed content: The whale anomaly that ravaged Meida Capital is now headed for Binhai City. According to information from Meida Capital, its strength has reached the level of a six-star anomaly. Awakened individuals are already attempting to intercept...

"I only wish to protect every beautiful thing..."

Wu Zui had just finished reading when a call came in.

"There are evil spirits and that whale anomaly joining forces in Binhai City. The city is now covered by a confinement space. Use your blood to break through it, then take my daughter and escape quickly!" Xiao Anguo's voice was hoarse, sounding nothing like the Bureau chief—now, he was simply a worried father.

"...Understood," Wu Zui responded after a brief silence.

The call ended with tacit understanding.

"Master, who called? Are they giving us a task?" Xiao Ke'ai asked, seeing Wu Zui's somber expression.

"Yes, let's return to the Bureau first," Wu Zui replied casually.

In Wu Zui's mind, Xiao Ke'ai had to be sent out, but he himself had no intention of leaving.

The evil spirit cooperating with the whale anomaly to confine Binhai City was almost certainly the Shadow Ghost. With the power of his blood, once he found the Shadow Ghost's true form, he could destroy it.

Otherwise, when the battle began, if the Shadow Ghost and whale anomaly managed to awaken and free the five-star anomaly from the Sea Mountain, disaster would follow.

To Wu Zui's knowledge, Binhai City had no magnetic energy awakened individuals above five stars. At that point, forget safe evacuation—even leaving a whole corpse would depend on whether one suited the anomaly's taste.

Binhai City might fare even worse than the cities along Meida Capital's northern coast.

Xiao Ke'ai was not worried about the red evacuation directive at all, acting like a simpleton. Ever since becoming Wu Zui's apprentice, her brain seemed to have automatically blocked her intelligence.

The two returned to the Bureau in silence, ignoring the Shadow Ghost avatars near the Bureau. Since they knew the Shadow Ghost's likely intentions, those avatars could be the key.

Wu Zui planned to send Xiao Ke'ai away, then use them to locate the Shadow Ghost.

Back at the Bureau, Wu Zui led Xiao Ke'ai straight to the forensic lab. Xiao Ke'ai pouted—she disliked seeing Ming Rou Rou, the corpse-dissecting maniac. More importantly, Ming Rou Rou's figure made her feel defeated.

Sure enough, Ming Rou Rou was dissecting a corpse. As Wu Zui had anticipated, she was working on an anomaly's body.

A corpse with only a humanoid torso lay on the dissection table. Unlike humans, its body was covered with eyes the size of oranges, some of which were still open.

"Ugh~" Xiao Ke'ai covered her mouth and turned away. Anyone with trypophobia would faint at the sight.

"Master, let's le—" Before Xiao Ke'ai could finish, Wu Zui struck her from behind, knocking her unconscious.

Watching Xiao Ke'ai collapse into his arms, Ming Rou Rou glanced over and, full of seductive charm, remarked, "Did you come here just to bully your apprentice?"

A normal question, but from Ming Rou Rou's lips, it always carried a hint of flirtation.

"Get the sedative. I need your help," Wu Zui replied, unfazed. Ming Rou Rou had tried every trick to obtain his blood for experiments—seductive words, even honey traps.

Ming Rou Rou glanced at the dying anomaly cells under her microscope, sighed, and went to fetch the sedative.

One dose later, Xiao Ke'ai fell into deep sleep.

"You'll help me take her out of Binhai City," Wu Zui said, placing Xiao Ke'ai on a nearby chair, pulling from his chest a vial of his own blood and a small bone-cutting knife he'd prepared for Ming Rou Rou, setting them before her calmly.

"You're not leaving yourself?" Ming Rou Rou, seated and resting her chin on her hand, looked at Wu Zui, surprised. As a three-star spirit investigator who gained points through anomaly experiments, she too had received the red evacuation directive.

"I have things to do. I'll leave later. I'll send you both out first. My blood is more complex than you think—it is lethal to anomalies," Wu Zui said, uncapping the vial and pouring some blood onto the dissecting table's anomaly.

Boom—

A surge of crimson flame erupted from the anomaly, swiftly reducing the long-dead creature to nothing, not even ashes remaining.

Ming Rou Rou stared at Wu Zui, her eyes gleaming as if she could peel him apart. The gaze of a scientific madwoman made Wu Zui shudder involuntarily.