Seven o'clock in the evening, at the dining table.
Grandmother surveyed her family gathered around the table and announced in a cheerful tone:
"Yuanzi, your uncle will be back tomorrow afternoon. Yuanjun, remember to pick him up from the airport. Yu'er, come home early after work."
Yu'er was Aunt's childhood nickname.
Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er each gnawed on a chicken leg, while Chen Yuanjun sipped chicken soup, all maintaining their usual composure.
Seeing their lack of reaction, Grandmother slammed her chopsticks down and glared at them. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Oh."
"Mm-hmm."
"Got it."
Grandmother: "..."
Uncle and Aunt had been traveling abroad for nearly two months. Uncle was a lazy, irresponsible playboy, while Aunt had never lifted a finger in her life. Their absence made no difference to the household.
So they're coming back. It's not like it's some grand occasion worth celebrating. Perhaps only Grandmother would be genuinely happy about Uncle's return.
Jiang Yu'er, still gnawing on her chicken leg, remarked, "Why couldn't that family disgrace stay away a few more months? The house has been so peaceful without them."
Chen Yuanjun glanced at his aunt. "Don't talk like that. He's still my dad, after all."
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at his cousin. "Don't talk like that. He's still my uncle, after all."
Seeing her grandmother's fury, who was about to tear her wayward descendants apart, Jiang Yu'er quickly intervened, tossing out a topic her mother couldn't resist:
"Mom, our hospital is haunted."
Haunted? Zhang Yuanqing's ears perked up instantly.
As expected, Grandmother abandoned her son and demanded:
"Aiyo, why would it be haunted all of a sudden? Tell me everything!"
"It's Sister Zhou from our department. During her night shift, she heard children's laughter in the office. When she went to check, the laughter stopped. Then, when she went to the restroom, she saw a baby clinging to her shoulder in the mirror—it nearly scared her to death!"
Aunt chimed in emphatically, "It's not just Sister Zhou. Other colleagues on night duty have also heard children's laughter in the middle of the night. Everyone says it must be the spirit of an aborted child, unwilling to leave the hospital."
Grandmother listened with rapt attention, commenting, "How eerie! I bet that's exactly what it is. When you're on night shift again, have Yuanzi keep you company. More stories, more stories!"
"Oh, there are plenty!"
Grandmother's gossiping tendencies hadn't been passed down to Mom; instead, they were inherited by Aunt. As Zhang Yuanqing listened to the mother-daughter duo's endless chatter, the initial spark of interest in the ghost stories gradually fizzled out.
As a Nightwalker, he immediately recognized this as a fabricated ghost story, not reality.
Firstly, Spectral Entities cannot produce sound. Lacking physical bodies and vocal cords, they can only interact with the living by directly influencing their minds.
However, given the weak will and Mental Energy of an infant, it's impossible for a Spectral Entity to persist after death.
Finally, ordinary people can't see Spectral Entities. Only those nearing death or with heavy Yin energy might occasionally interact with them, making such rare occurrences plausible.
But for multiple people to hear an infant's laughter? That was utter nonsense.
"Aunt," Zhang Yuanqing said ominously, "be careful not to bring any dead hospital babies home with you."
Jiang Yu'er, who had been animatedly gossiping, froze mid-sentence, her oval face stiffening. "Mom, he's scaring me again!" she cried.
Grandmother gave her grandson a symbolic tap on the head.
After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing quietly slipped out of the house and hailed a taxi to the nearest tertiary hospital.
He was going to the hospital to exorcise wandering spirits and boost his experience points.
The Nightwalker's "Soul Devouring" skill remained the most efficient way to level up. With the next Spirit Realm opening still uncertain, it was crucial to strengthen his abilities beforehand.
Even at Level 1, the difference between 99% and 1% experience points could mean the difference between heaven and earth in combat prowess.
Hospitals were excellent places for Nightwalkers to gain experience. Birth, aging, illness, and death all converged there. Crematoriums were also good, but Songhai's crematoriums were mostly located in the suburbs, with few in the city center.
Sitting in the car, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly recalled Guan Ya's words from earlier that day.
"Why are Taiyi Sect Nightwalkers so averse to Soul Devouring? Is it an industry rule, a belief that it diminishes karmic merit? Or is there another reason?"
Thinking of this, he pulled out his phone, logged into the official Spirit Realm Walker forum, and searched for related information.
The search results showed: No relevant entries found.
In the suburbs, night began to fall.
In a cheap rental apartment in an industrial park, Ou Xiangrong sat in the filthy, cluttered living room, holding a large bowl of freshly cooked instant noodles. He walked over to a table piled high with beer cans.
With a casual sweep of his hand, he sent the beer cans and other debris clattering to the floor, clearing space for the bowl. Then he grabbed a can of beer from the refrigerator.
He devoured the noodles and chugged the beer in large gulps.
The noodles were scalding hot, fresh from the pot, but they couldn't burn his resilient oral tissues.
Ou Xiangrong's face flickered between ferocity, cold indifference, and loathing, like a psychiatric patient on the verge of a breakdown.
Suddenly, his ear twitched. He froze, chopsticks suspended in mid-air, his expression twisting into a ferocious snarl.
Ou Xiangrong slowly rose, drew the yanagiba from its sheath at his lower back, and moved silently toward the door.
Bang!
He had barely reached the entrance when the door was violently kicked open. A searing light erupted, and a blazing fireball hurtled toward him.
The scorching wind slammed into his face. Ou Xiangrong froze, swung his blade-wielding right arm, and the yanagiba's snow-white edge sliced through the fireball. With a deafening boom, the room erupted in a dazzling shower of fiery sparks.
In the sudden blaze, a figure engulfed in flames darted into the apartment. Knees pumping like pistons, the figure lunged at Ou Xiangrong with the force of a rocket.
But Ou Xiangrong was even more ruthless. He sidestepped and rammed his shoulder forward with brutal force.
Thud!
The fiery figure was sent flying backward, crashing into the hallway wall with a bone-jarring impact.
Ignoring the searing burns on his right hand and shoulder, Ou Xiangrong whirled around and charged toward the window. He dared not use the hallway; the narrow corridors of the dilapidated apartment building would become a death trap if he were cornered.
Amid the shattering glass, Ou Xiangrong leaped from the third floor.
Bang! Bang!
Just as he crashed through the window, two gunshots rang out. He deflected the bullet aimed at his head with the yanagiba, but couldn't stop the one aimed at his chest.
The bullet's kinetic energy pierced his skin, lodging in the thick muscle beneath.
Following the gunshots, Ou Xiangrong spotted a tall, mixed-blood beauty standing in the shadows near the greenbelt. She wore a white blouse and a black pencil skirt, her dark hair billowing in the wind, radiating an unparalleled cold elegance.
She held a silver pistol in each hand, and two holsters were strapped to her long, black-stockinged legs.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The Mixed-Blood Beauty calmly fired with deadly precision, as if predicting his trajectory as he fell.
After taking several bullets, Ou Xiangrong finally crashed to the ground. He glared at the woman, his pupils flashing with two blood-red, twisted talismans.
In the next instant, the woman's expression went blank. She turned her pistol and pressed it against her forehead.
Bang!
The muzzle spat flames, but the bullet failed to pierce her smooth brow. A rough, calloused hand intercepted it.
A miner in a hard hat had materialized beside her, his dark face etched with solemnity. "A Seductive Demon?" he asked.
"A Level 3 Seductive Demon," came the reply.
A man leaning on a cane emerged from the darkness, impeccably dressed in a black suit, black vest, and white shirt, his slicked-back hair gleaming.
"Have the others secure the perimeter. Keep them away from here."
Another voice echoed from the stairwell as a lean, powerful man in a black leather jacket strode out, his aura sharp and dangerous.
Ou Xiangrong, clutching his blade, surveyed his surroundings with a dark, brooding expression.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that moment, the roar of a motorcycle engine echoed in the distance, its blinding headlight piercing the darkness. A motorcycle roared into view, ridden by a woman in a white racing suit, leaning low over the handlebars. In her hand, she wielded a three-foot-long black katana, charging ahead of the pack.
A split second later, gunfire erupted again, blocking Ou Xiangrong's retreat. The Flame Figure leaped from a window, flanking him from the side.
Tang Guoqiang, wearing a miner's helmet, pressed his hands against the ground. The concrete cracked as earthen hands erupted from the earth, gripping Ou Xiangrong's ankles.
Ou Xiangrong calmly swung his Yanagiba, deflecting the sharply angled bullets with blinding sparks. His leg muscles bulged, shattering the earthen hands. He rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the Flame Figure's fiery descent from the third floor.
Thump, thump, thump. After rolling to his feet, he sprinted toward the approaching motorcyclist.
In the darkness, they passed in a blur. The Yanagiba sliced through the woman's chest, but there was no solid resistance. At the moment the blade struck, her body dissolved into water.
Her katana slashed across Ou Xiangrong's chest and abdomen.
Ou Xiangrong's chest split open, blood gushing from the wound.
Ignoring his injuries, he continued his desperate escape toward the residential complex's exit.
At that moment, a beautiful woman in a qipao leaped from a second-floor window. Her snow-white feet were bare as she ran effortlessly along the wall as if it were flat ground.
With a graceful leap, she landed before Ou Xiangrong, letting out a delicate shout as she spun. Her qipao billowed, and her long, powerful legs lashed out like whips, striking Ou Xiangrong with brutal force.
He was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through the wall of the residential building before collapsing slowly to the ground.
"Daring to kill an Official Spirit Realm Walker in my jurisdiction? You've got guts," Li Dongze said calmly, having watched the entire scene unfold. He leaned on his cane, his expression grave and composed like a mastermind pulling the strings from behind the scenes. "Now, I'll personally send you on your way."
"Hah..." A massive sigh echoed through the surroundings as Ou Xiangrong slowly rose to his feet. His eyes burned crimson, filled with madness and savagery, and a powerful, malevolent energy awakened within him.
His voice rasped, "You'll all die."
Li Dongze silently took two steps back. "Brothers, that was just a joke. I'm not one to hog the credit."
Meanwhile, Zhang Yuanqing, unable to find any relevant information in the taxi, returned to the forum homepage and instinctively refreshed the page.
There, he saw a post marked in red and pinned to the top:
WANTED! Level 3 Seductive Demon Ou Xiangrong
This post hadn't been there just a few minutes ago.
Zhang Yuanqing clicked on the thread:
"Ou Xiangrong, Level 3 Seductive Demon, killed Zhao Yingjun, a Scout from the Five Elements Alliance's White Tiger Corps, on April 18th. On the night of April 19th at 19:05, he escaped during an ambush by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Squad.
"This individual possesses a terrifying, malevolent power, far beyond that of an ordinary Seductive Demon. He has been severely wounded by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Squad, but his current whereabouts are unknown. All Spirit Realm Walker Teams in every district are advised to exercise extreme caution. Ou Xiangrong is on the verge of losing control. If the target is located, eliminate him immediately.
"A reward of 50,000 yuan will be given for providing information leading to his capture. A reward of 100,000 yuan will be given for his elimination."
The post had been up for less than three minutes, yet the comments had already surpassed a hundred.
Most of the comments criticized the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Squad for their incompetence in allowing a half-mad Seductive Demon to escape.
"Are you kidding me? This kind of dangerous individual could lose control at any moment. What are the Kangyang District team even doing?"
"Once he loses control and kills someone, triggering a Spirit Realm bounty, by the time we arrive, it'll likely be a river of blood. We'll become the laughingstock of Spirit Realm Walkers nationwide, mocked for our inadequate containment and for drawing high salaries while accomplishing nothing."
"We're screwed."
Ou Xiangrong had escaped? How had the Chief and his team located him so quickly and launched a capture operation?
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't decide whether to praise the Chief's efficiency or criticize their incompetence for letting this ticking time bomb slip through their fingers.
"Since they've already engaged, Ou Xiangrong's blood—or even flesh—must have been left at the scene. We should be able to track him down using the Red Dancing Shoes."
Zhang Yuanqing immediately thought of his Rule Item.