Chapter 67: The Storm Gathers, Wind Fills the Hall (5)

Ming Rou Rou glanced at Wu Zui, a questioning look in her eyes.

"It's just to make sure we're not possessed by any spirits. After I leave, you drive away. Someone will call you and tell you where to take her. Don't get out of the car until it's safe, and don't let her wake up," Wu Zui said to Ming Rou Rou, glancing at the peacefully sleeping Xiao Keai in the back seat.

"Hmph! How considerate of you!" Ming Rou Rou pouted and huffed angrily.

"This is the manual for Soaring Dragon No.1. Don't touch any of these marked buttons! And this—"

"Stop rambling! Just drive already!" Ming Rou Rou snapped, kicking Wu Zui's calf with her high heel in exasperation.

Wu Zui fell silent.

He started up Soaring Dragon No.1 and headed north out of Binhai City. This route would make it easy to reach either Yanjing or elsewhere—wherever Xiao Anguo decided to send her in the end.

To the north of Binhai City, a group of spirit investigators ranked three stars and above was gathered, recharging the breach-busting shells. These were all military spirit investigators; among them was Wang Yichuan, whom Wu Zui had met before.

Each of them held a breach-busting shell in their hand—these shells resembled oversized drill bits, with a black surface occasionally flickering with blue light, their material unknown. There were over a hundred of them, and spirit investigators were infusing them with magnetic energy. Normally, these shells could forcefully break open a five-star ghost spirit's confinement barrier, one that couldn't be restored quickly.

But in reality, the last batch of ten such shells only managed to breach the Shadow Ghost's barrier for about an hour. After evacuating some civilians from Binhai's northern district, the barrier quickly reformed.

If not for these complications resulting in a shortage of shells, they wouldn't have had to take every shell from the Dry Investigator Bureau. Even including those, the total number of breach-busting shells was less than four hundred, while Binhai had seven districts.

All the military could do now was recharge the remaining shells as quickly as possible. Once most of Binhai’s population was assembled, they'd keep breaking open the barrier, hoping the remaining 15 million people could all evacuate within forty hours.

To facilitate this, they had cleared all trees and buildings near the planned breach, creating a direct route to the gap. Military trucks would shuttle civilians out in a circular flow, speeding up the evacuation.

At that moment, the military officer in charge heard the roar of an approaching vehicle and frowned. Ordinary cars couldn't pass through the barrier—besides military trucks and spirit investigators’ vehicles, only a handful of new prototypes could do so.

Regular vehicles, even if passing through a breach created by the shells, would immediately have their dashboards fail and stall from the deathly energy, blocking traffic—a painful lesson learned during the first wave of evacuations.

Is someone here to cause trouble?

The officer wondered to himself.

Just then, his communicator crackled—a sentry reporting in nearby.

"Reporting! A spirit investigator has arrived southeast of our position, about 200 meters out, driving Soaring Dragon No.1. We've intercepted and secured them. Awaiting orders!"

Wu Zui, now detained, was helpless. He hadn’t expected the military to be breaching the barrier here. Clearly, they suspected him of being a saboteur, especially given the previous actions of the Purification Society among humans—caution was understandable.

If Soaring Dragon No.1 hadn’t been a confidential research institute prototype, which got reported up the chain, he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to deliver Xiao Keai at all.

Soaring Dragon No.1? The officer immediately recognized the vehicle—a high-clearance emergency prototype with a magnetic levitation system, recently developed and meant for senior officials only. Someone had connections.

"Hand him the communicator!"

…

After negotiating with the officer, Wu Zui was allowed to operate in the area, but under close military surveillance to ensure he couldn't interfere with the evacuation point nearby.

Wu Zui began examining the barrier. The pitch-black deathly energy formed a towering wall. If someone dug underground or flew overhead in a helicopter, they’d see that Binhai was trapped beneath a black dome, nearly ten thousand square kilometers of city and its outskirts sealed off.

Wu Zui couldn't fathom how powerful the Shadow Ghost must be. Was the gap between five-star and three-star ghost spirits truly that vast?

What he didn’t know was that the spirit investigators possessed by the Shadow Ghost had had their magnetic energy converted into deathly energy. Though this energy couldn't last long, it was perfect for constructing such a barrier.

Otherwise, only a six-star ghost king, like those born of fatal resentments, could confine an entire city alone.

As for the abnormities sealing cities with barriers? Even at six stars, their physical forms made this impossible; but their monstrous descendants could easily destroy a city in numbers.

When Wu Zui touched the barrier, a wave of despair, helplessness, and nihilism flooded him. He quickly withdrew his hand, realizing he had to find the Shadow Ghost’s true form soon.

He returned to Soaring Dragon No.1, taking Xiao Keai's laptop with him—he’d need it to track down the two audience members possessed by the Shadow Ghost.

Thanks to Xiao Keai’s laziness, the computer was set to auto-track, so their locations appeared immediately upon booting up—though Wu Zui had no idea how this worked.

He turned to Ming Rou Rou, who was in the driver’s seat, bent over to remove her high heels. "I’m counting on you to look after her."

As Wu Zui took the laptop and a vial from the car, Ming Rou Rou, shoes set aside, called after him, "Hey… come back alive, you hear? I don't want to have to collect your corpse—I’ll run out of fresh blood for my experiments!"

Wu Zui paused, then shrugged indifferently and walked toward the barrier. "I’ll do my best," he replied casually.

He wasn’t determined to fight the Shadow Ghost to the death.

But with Binhai’s population, even with enough breach-busting shells, it would be impossible to evacuate everyone in three days. The only solution was to eliminate the Shadow Ghost.

Wu Zui drew his golden longsword and slashed his left palm, pressing his bleeding hand against the wall of deathly energy.

Whoosh—

A burst of crimson flame burned through the wall, creating a gaping hole three meters high and wide.

At once, the deathly energy nearby surged to close the breach, like a living thing trying to snuff out the red flames.

Wu Zui signaled Ming Rou Rou to leave quickly; he could tell his blood’s restraining power over the deathly energy was fading for reasons unknown.

Under Ming Rou Rou’s control, Soaring Dragon No.1 shot through the opening. Wu Zui retrieved his left hand, feeling his blood drain rapidly to fuel the flames.

The sudden blood loss left him pale, but the crimson flames still licked at the barrier.

A soldier monitoring Wu Zui hurried to report his condition.

The officer at the evacuation point was astonished. A spirit investigator could break open a barrier of this magnitude?

Their own investigators had tried—even five-star investigators could only open a gap big enough for themselves, and as soon as they left, the breach would close in seconds. Even maintaining it for a few minutes was the limit. This time, the barrier contained not just deathly energy, but a special magnetic energy that countered the investigators' suppressive force.

"Bring him here! Now!" the officer ordered sharply.

"Yes, sir!" The soldier approached Wu Zui, who was on the phone.

"I’ve gotten her out of Binhai. You can send someone to pick her up," Wu Zui said calmly into the phone to Xiao Anguo.

"Out? You stayed behind yourself?" Xiao Anguo’s voice was full of surprise.

"Yes. I should be able to find the ghost spirit that sealed all of Binhai. If I don’t destroy it, there’s no way everyone can evacuate in time. We can't rely on the shells alone."

Wu Zui's tone was as calm as if he didn’t realize how dangerous staying behind was.

"My daughter actually made you stay behind?" Knowing his child well, Xiao Anguo was amazed.

"I knocked her out and gave her a sedative. Then a… female friend of mine took her away in Soaring Dragon No.1," Wu Zui replied, uncertain what to call his relationship with Ming Rou Rou—lab rat and scientist, perhaps.

"…Good man! Hold out as long as you can. Headquarters is already sending someone equivalent to a six-star awakener to help. Once they arrive, everyone will get out safely," Xiao Anguo said, his admiration clear.

"That’s good to hear. I’ll hang up now; the military needs to talk to me," Wu Zui replied, explaining before ending the call.

On the other end, Xiao Anguo listened to the dial tone, lost in thought.