Clatter clatter … Countless amounts of dirt and sand rolled down from the ceiling. Li Jiankang stood in the middle of the cavern, staring at the ceiling with his mouth agape.
"You … what the hell are you?" After a long time, he finally spoke with a trembling voice.
Qin Ye's body floated up and slowly descended.
Whoosh … He landed gently on the ground and surveyed the underground cavern.
Then, he muttered softly, "What am I?"
"I'm the one who collected your soul."
"Anitya Hellguard of Black and White?"
Li Jiankang's voice was shaky as he leaned against the wall, his chest heaving up and down rapidly. Suddenly, he dashed backward. There was a clatter of metal, followed by the bone-chilling clanging of the chains.
Qin Ye ignored him. He could tell that he was in an underground storage room.
The surroundings had been polished.
The houses on Tianxi Fourth Street were all very old.
Furthermore, this place wasn't originally the heart of the city. It was only due to the expansion of Mount Tai City in recent years that this area was included.
This used to be a rural area, and cellars like this weren't uncommon back when the building was first built.
The walls were grayish-brown in colour, and they were lit up by lamps that resembled emergency lights.
There were many more and larger freezers in the room than the ones on the second floor. However, they were all empty.
There was a strong stench of fish in the room. The dim lights flickered in the darkness, revealing a small iron door.
This was where Li Jiankang had escaped from.
As a normal human being, it was surprising that he wasn't so frightened by Qin Ye's inhuman Emissary of Hell state.
"Are you mentally strong … or are you already used to it?" Qin Ye gently lifted his saber and slashed down. With a crisp sound, the lock fell off.
There was a long passageway inside. It was narrow, and only wide enough for two people to pass through.
There was a dim light placed at the top of the passageway every five meters.
Qin Ye chuckled coldly, and his body transformed into a nethergale as he dashed straight up into the air.
Ghost?
There was no such thing in the face of a genuine Emissary of Hell.
Boom!!
The nethergale was far deeper than the darkness. As soon as he dashed through the passageway, the iron door behind him suddenly slammed shut, and the lights above him went out in unison.
Whoosh … The nethergale gathered once more and reformed into Qin Ye's figure.
Arthis muttered placidly, "He's cornered. He's already been discovered, and he's prepared to give it his all."
"You'd better be careful. The ghost of the Great Intergenerational Heredity … won't be easy to deal with."
Qin Ye didn't say a word. He held the demonhead saber in front of him, and the eerie jade-green netherflames on its blade illuminated everything within a meter radius around him.
At that moment, a hoarse roar suddenly sounded from the end of the road.
"Blood … Meat … Let me out … I'm so hungry … so hungry …"
A pitch-black tunnel.
There was an oppressive feeling in all directions.
He roared crazily.
There were also some messy noises, like the sound of rats crawling across the floor, or the sound of gravel falling to the ground. A split second later, the ground at the end of the passageway rumbled, followed by an endless series of thuds... thuds!
Dong dong dong!
Hualala!
The sound of an iron object being dragged on the ground caused the ground to tremble slightly. Hidden in the darkness, it rushed towards him like a tide!
If it was a normal person, they would have screamed and looked for something to lean on, such as a wall.
However, Qin Ye remained as motionless as Mount Tai.
Out of the corner of his eye, a distorted figure finally appeared at the end of his vision.
It wasn't moving very quickly, and the way it moved was even more bizarre. Every time it stepped on the ground, it would bounce about a foot high into the air, and its hands would claw at the air in front of it, almost as though it were trying to reach across the ten-meter distance, grab hold of Qin Ye, and drink his blood dry.
Zombie.
Stiff referred to the fact that the joints of the other party's body were stiff, and it was impossible for them to bend at all. There were even secret techniques that could be used to refine zombies in the Xiangxi region.
But it was precisely because of this that the other party's body was incredibly tough.
Of course, that was only if they were on the same level.
"Blood … meat … I'm hungry … I'm so hungry!!!" The only thing that could be heard in the dark and narrow passageway was a spine-chilling murmur.
Darkness had no effect on Emissaries of Hell, and Qin Ye had already seen who it was.
It was a young man of average height. His hair was disheveled and draped over his shoulders. His skin wasn't the colour of an Asian. Rather, it was a layer of metallic black.
It was wearing a T-shirt that had been shredded into strips, and the skin underneath was covered with black hair that looked like steel needles.
His eyes were completely white, and his black fingernails were two inches long.
There was even a talisman stuck to his forehead.
It stared at Qin Ye as though it were looking at a pork chop. Disgusting saliva dripped from its mouth. Then, as soon as it came within five meters of Qin Ye, it suddenly shrieked miserably and leapt five meters away from Qin Ye. Its mouth widened to a foot wide, and its razor-sharp teeth bit down at Qin Ye!
What greeted it was a dazzling saber light.
The saber cleaved through the air, and a sea of jade-green netherflames spread out along the walls on both sides of the passageway, transforming it into the netherworld.
With a miserable shriek, the zombie was sent flying back more than ten meters.
"It's not dead?"
However, Qin Ye was the one who was most astonished. He stared at the saber in his hand with great astonishment. For a moment, he even wondered if he had picked up the wrong saber.
The other party's Yin energy was incredibly weak, and it was barely visible beyond a meter.
It was also an Operative-class vengeful apparition, and yet, he still couldn't kill it?
On the contrary … it was almost as though a Hunter-class force had dispelled a portion of his Yin energy.
"Then let's see how many slashes you can withstand." He chuckled coldly, and a nethergale swirled around his body as he charged straight into the darkness.
Just then, the zombie sprang up like a spring and charged forward once more with a loud roar.
Its laughable hands waved about haphazardly, but … it managed to withstand Qin Ye's ferocious assault with its Operative-class body!
Clang … There was a loud clang of metal, and the two of them parted ways in an instant.
Qin Ye stared at the zombie with great disbelief as he murmured to himself, "Is this the Great Intergenerational Heredity?"
"That's right. There's a special term for situations like this - atavism.
As soon as a Yin spirit of the Great Intergenerational Heredity is allowed to grow, the threat it poses will be indescribable.
It's rated as an A-class Yin spirit in the entire system.
As soon as it's discovered, it'll have to be eradicated, even if it means breaking the rules of the netherworld.
It's only a single step away from becoming an A-class Yin spirit.
You're pretty lucky to have encountered an Operative-class Yin spirit. Otherwise … hahaha … "
Qin Ye raised his eyebrows quizzically, "That's impressive … but it's only an A-class Yin spirit?
What about the A-class Yin spirit?
What do you have? "
Arthis responded placidly, "Cathay has existed for thousands of years. Blood flowed everywhere during the warring era. What kind of monsters haven't appeared before?
An A-class Yin spirit … is something that only appears once every five hundred years. I've never seen one before either. There are only three types.
The emergence of any one of them would result in a reign of terror.
That said, I don't think such a peaceful society will ever appear again.
There's no need for you to know … Besides, do you still have the mood to ask about such things?
Do you think you can deal with it? "
Qin Ye glanced at the zombie that was charging towards him once more. He drew a deep breath and drew a one-centimeter long gash across his arm.
Whoosh!!
In an instant, the blood scattered into the air like scarlet pearls, before transforming into a scarlet mist that swirled around Qin Ye.
The zombie that was leaping towards him suddenly stopped moving.
It could sense an extreme sense of danger from Qin Ye's actions.
"Not bad … as an Operative-class Yin spirit, you're actually able to force my Yin weapon to unsheathe its blade."
Qin Ye's white hair fluttered wildly in the midst of a blood-red and pitch-black glow. He appeared no different from a monarch of ghosts.
A nethergale swept through the sealed passageway, causing Qin Ye's robes to flutter wildly. The dark-red mist emanated a misty glow as it swirled faster and faster, and more violently!
Seconds later, a one-inch-tall blood-red humanoid slowly rose from Qin Ye's saber.
Simultaneously, the walls around him began to creak and crack, as though they couldn't withstand the massive influx of Yin energy. Cracks began to appear on the walls, and the cracks grew larger and larger … In less than ten seconds, countless cracks had already formed on the walls!
"Roar … sss … daddy … save me … save me!!" The zombie turned around frantically and screamed as it fled towards the depths of the passageway.
"Don't worry, I'll give you a chance to reunite." Qin Ye smiled, and then slashed down with his saber!
BOOM!!!
Violent Yin energy tore through the entire passageway!
It was no different from a small-scale earthquake!
Back on the ground, the two investigators from the Special Investigations Department gasped in unison and shot to their feet.
Right in front of them, the Li family's building … collapsed.
Without any warning, the entire building caved in, sending rocks and gravel flying everywhere with a deafening roar.
They froze for two seconds, before rushing forward at full speed.
They could see with the naked eye that there was a sizable hole about ten meters below them!
"What a deep hole … Is this … a former air-raid shelter?
It's too deep. No wonder the instruments couldn't detect it. "One of the investigators remarked.
"Is this the time to be concerned about such things?"
The other investigator's eyes glowed brightly as he continued with a grave expression, "Such a massive tremor … S9527 must have found it … He must have found a way to dispel this hunting zone!"
"Should we inform the boss?"
"No need … this is a research project of the SRC. We can't interfere …" Before his colleague could even finish speaking, another violent tremor struck the area. At once, some of the walls that hadn't completely caved in earlier suddenly collapsed!
Dust and dirt filled the air.
Rumble … This time, the tremors were clearly coming from underground. The two of them looked at each other with envy on their faces.
What powerful true energy …
With such strength … it's no wonder he dares to challenge a C-grade hunting zone …
Gritting his teeth, one of the investigators tapped on his Momo app and sent a voice message to the Sea of Trees and Snowfield.
"Boss … S9527 has most likely found a way to dispel hunting zone X--7. There's an intense battle going on right now. Do you … want to come and take a look?"
"What?"
Even though it was already three or four in the morning, the Sea of Trees and Snowfield immediately responded with a voice message a minute later, "Immediately mobilize the surrounding police officers to secure the scene. I'll be there in a jiffy!"
Qin Ye wasn't aware of any of this. Right now, the only thing on his mind was the urge to bring Li Jiankang to justice.
His law, his judgment, and his justice.
He stood in the middle of the collapsed passageway. He could still vaguely hear the terrified screams of the zombies in the distance.
His attack wasn't aimed at the zombies. Most air-raid shelters were divided into several branches, and he didn't want to search for them one by one.
To strike the grass, one had to startle the snake.