As the three Monsters appeared, inside Houseman's residence in the city center.
A cold, eerie aura began to fill the room, its source a bizarre painting hanging on the wall.
The original image of a middle-aged man and a blonde woman had vanished, replaced by countless fierce ghosts with pale eyes and skin mottled with corpse spots.
Behind the ghosts swirled gray mist; the painting kept shifting as the ghosts inside walked toward the canvas's edge.
Seconds later, thick gray smoke burst from the painting, and within it several hideous figures flickered past.
Like an illusion, the gray mist passed straight through the walls and spread outward.
At the same moment, in an ordinary two-story house elsewhere in the city, Harold—who had been asleep—suddenly opened his eyes, revealing gray pupils. "It's begun!"
He rose from bed, dressed, and walked to the bedside where a new black telephone had been placed.
Click! Click!
Harold tapped the keys and dialed.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
After a few rings someone answered. "Hello, Central Intelligence Bureau."
"This is Harold. Any abnormal reports?" Harold asked flatly.
The Intelligence Bureau staff hadn't been replaced yet, so Harold couldn't speak too plainly.
"Archpriest Harold, a few minutes ago we received word of a murder suspect being pursued downtown—gunshots exchanged—but it's just between ordinary people, so we didn't report it." The voice turned respectful the moment it recognized Harold.
"Very well. Lock every door and window at once," Harold ordered with a cold smile.
"Yes, sir!" Though puzzled, the man obeyed immediately.
Harold hung up and sat quietly on the bed, waiting.
The Intelligence Bureau operated around the clock.
Eight people sat on the first floor. After hanging up, the young operator looked toward a middle-aged woman sipping tea in the corner. "Captain, Archpriest Harold wants every door and window shut."
The Middle-aged Woman Investigator frowned. "Why lock up in the middle of the night?"
Still, she supposed the new Archpriest might simply be testing their obedience.
She stood and addressed everyone. "Two of you stay; the rest secure every door and window!"
At her order the staff moved, sealing doors and windows one after another.
Within minutes every entrance was locked.
As soon as the last bolt slid shut, the Ghost Painting in Harold's office on the third floor began to emit gray mist.
In seconds the gray fog enveloped all three Bureau buildings.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Back at his residence, Harold hadn't waited long before the phone rang again.
Static…
He lifted the receiver, but only crackling static came through, as if the line were jammed.
Yet Harold smiled and calmly ended the call.
"With the Bureau attacked and casualties, we can buy time before the Source-Artifact Users realize the Monster Association is invading." Harold lay back, smile unwavering.
As for whether the Church Holy Soldiers had other surveillance, he couldn't know; such secrets were beyond even the Intelligence Bureau he now controlled.
Several kilometers away on the outskirts, a gray mist spanning ten kilometers had silently appeared.
Thanks to many "willing" donors, the portal kept spitting waves of Monsters—some even Level Four carrying monster weapons.
On Blue Planet, beside the cavern of the City of Mist, Monsters gathered in dense ranks.
Before them, within Elder Jin's doorframe shimmered a golden screen of light.
"Hurry inside, children. Level Three may enter freely; Level Four, one per minute!" Elder Jin narrowed his eyes in delight.
Whenever a Monster stepped through the golden veil, he couldn't help a strange grin.
An Conghao and Jiang Yan stood at a distance, watching the oddly smiling Elder Jin.
An Conghao whispered to Jiang Yan, "President, is something wrong with that gate?"
Especially when a Level Four entered, the gate actually produced peculiar noises.
"Oh my God—my goodness—shoot—can't take it…" and the like.
Jiang Yan, equally bemused, stared at Elder Jin; he'd never noticed the gate behaving this way before.