The bespectacled man, the tall man, and the square-faced young man were currently at the foot of the first hunting zone.
Just a moment ago, they clearly felt a powerful energy fluctuation.
Qin Ye's eruption of Yin energy wasn't something that cultivators back in the mortal realm would be able to discern.
They felt the roof tremble violently, and then everything went silent.
"It's over?" The bespectacled young man looked at the roof in disbelief. "It's over?"
"That's impossible … This is the first hunting zone we're talking about … the very first hunting zone to appear in the City of Salvation. Fifteen years ago, teacher Zhang Xinyue was raped and dismembered.
But … the corpse disappeared overnight after being transported to the morgue. The murderer's entire family was wiped out, and the case was classified as an E-grade supernatural case. T-this is a fifteen-year-old ghost … "
If Arthis were here, she would definitely slap Qin Ye mercilessly. Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about the word 'old'?
Ben Gong hasn't even opened his mouth, yet a scum who's been training for fifteen years dares to call himself an old ghost? Then shouldn't Ben Gong be called an old granny?
At this moment, their phones rang.
"It's me." Zhang Chenghai's voice rang out. "Where are you?"
"Below the first hunting zone, my lord …"
"I more or less know the specifics. Who is it?
Is he in the system? "
"He's not here!" The three men responded in unison, and then proceeded to describe Qin Ye's appearance.
Zhang Chenghai was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Think about it carefully. Does he have any other special characteristics?"
The three of them exchanged glances and shook their heads.
Does being from the M87 Nebula count?
"Hold on!" At this time, the bespectacled man said, "There's one thing … I don't know if it counts.
It's just that … his camouflage doesn't seem to be the army's uniform. "
"It's … the fake goods sold in those military stores."
On the other end of the line, Zhang Chenghai's lips trembled slightly. You can … you really can … wear counterfeit goods to destroy souls. It's perfectly befitting of a cultivator's identity … You're so poor, yet you still don't know how to throw yourself into the arms of the country?
"I don't think you can make it to the next hunting zone right now, so I'll give you a mission.
He would do his best to keep up with this expert and seize the opportunity to explain to him the current state of affairs in the City of Salvation.
Try your best to rope them into the system.
He's someone who could kill an Operative-class expert from the first hunting zone in an instant … I'm afraid he's not too far off from becoming a Soul Hunter. "
"His strength is incredibly important to the City of Salvation!"
"Yes!"
Qin Ye was oblivious to all of this. Right now, he was rushing straight towards the next hunting zone.
Wherever there were densely populated areas, Yin spirits carrying blood-red lanterns would roam freely through the residential areas, screaming in horror.
It's simply too many … The number of Yin spirits that have been gathered here in the last hundred years must be in the tens of thousands!
They converged into a river and spiraled into a sea. Tonight was a carnival that belonged to the dead!
Qin Ye didn't make a move. He had more important things to do.
He passed through many streets and alleys.
Soon, he discovered that the closer he drew to the city center, the more frenzied the Yin spirits finally met their match.
In stark contrast to the clamorous and frenzied Yin spirits was the silent and somber mortal army.
Under the moonlit night, the Yin spirits flowed like a surging river, while the army was like a boulder in the middle of the river.
They were like rows of strong shields that could not be desecrated!
The armed police, the army, and the police were united to form this torrent of steel.
Right in front of them, Yin spirits hovered in the air, carrying scarlet lanterns in their hands. They were shrouded in boundless Yin energy, and each of them stood at a height of nearly ten meters!
They rushed towards the army formation like a tidal wave.
No words were spoken.
He did not say anything.
Just like a slumbering dragon.
It was a solemn, iron-blooded, hundred-strong army formation. The silence was tinged with a sense of desolation.
Each of the soldiers wasn't carrying a gun in their hands. Instead, they were carrying a small and exquisite crossbow.
They knelt on the ground as though they were cast from iron, and the arrowheads on their crossbows gleamed with a cold gleam.
The tide of Yin spirits stirred up a nethergale that tore through their camouflage uniforms. Qin Ye could see beads of sweat dripping down the foreheads of some of the soldiers, while the hands of some of the younger soldiers were trembling slightly.
However, not a single one of them retreated.
Nobody knew what they were carrying.
The Yin spirits that were originally invisible to them would immediately reveal themselves as soon as they entered within fifty meters of the army formation!
They were getting closer.
They were getting closer and closer … forty meters … thirty meters … and then, as soon as they were within twenty meters of the army formation, they heard a resounding "Release!!" and hundreds of arrows shot through the air.
Whoosh!!
At once, a large portion of the Yin spirits in front of them dispersed. As soon as the rest rushed over, they were instantly engulfed in flames, and countless Yin spirits screamed miserably as they were reduced to ashes.
It was only then that Qin Ye discovered that there was an ancient rope made out of copper coins suspended in the middle of the road just ten meters in front of the army formation. The rope was densely covered with talismans.
"True energy isn't strong. It's useless against Operative-class vengeful spirits.
But it's more than enough against these ordinary spirits. "
Having gained a better understanding of the strength of the Special Investigations Department, Qin Ye retracted his gaze and cautiously made his way across the battlefield.
The next hunting zone was just five hundred meters ahead.
Minutes later, he found himself standing right outside an abandoned hospital.
The surroundings were in ruins, and there were piles of construction waste everywhere. There wasn't a single neighbourhood to be seen.
He stepped into the abandoned hospital and ascertained that there was no one else around. Then, his disguised Yin energy surged, and a nethergale swept across the surroundings as he transformed into his Hell's Emissary state.
Hell's Emissary uniform, demonhead saber.
The flaming saber dragged sparks across the ground.
With an ear-piercing screech, he made no effort to conceal his presence as he rushed straight up to the third floor.
"Hiss!!"
As soon as he stepped onto the second floor, he heard a cacophony of shrieks and screams from the surroundings. Countless Yin spirits dressed in nurse uniforms and lab coats pounced on him frantically.
Qin Ye tightened his grip on the demonhead saber and drew a circle in the air. The jade-green netherflames on the blade formed a beautiful arc in the darkness.
A split second later, with a miserable shriek, more than twenty Yin spirits were instantly wiped out.
"I'm a very democratic person."
Rustle … The demonhead saber dragged across the ground with an ear-piercing screech. Qin Ye continued to walk forward as he continued, "So, why don't we discuss this?
Is there a possibility that you'll obediently slit your throat with my saber?
Wouldn't that save me the trouble of doing so? "
Sss … A wave of furious Yin energy came from the third floor, "Citizen … Lord?"
"Hiss … you … deserve … death!!"
Qin Ye slowly made his way up to the third floor, "Democracy naturally means that you're the citizen, and I'm the lord.
Besides, didn't I at least ask for your permission? "
As soon as he finished speaking, the demonhead saber unleashed a beam of saber light straight at the entrance to the third floor.
Buzz!
Wherever the saber light passed, the surrounding space trembled slightly, and a nethergale swept up in all directions.
Right there, a vengeful spirit with a white coat and an auditory organ, whose body was so distorted that it was hard to look at it directly, screamed and rushed at him. It was covered in purple livor mortis spots!
… …
Underground city hall, 8.00 a.m.
Zhang Chenghai stared intently at the screen.
On the screen, the colour of the city center was gradually changing from red to yellow. Everything within a radius of three kilometers from the city center was still bright red. However, the yellow zone in the center was slowly but surely expanding towards the edge of the city center!
"This won't do … it's not fast enough!" His eyes darkened. The significance of this battle was far greater than the outcome of the battle itself.
What he wanted the next morning wasn't a red map of the City of Salvation.
Rather, he wanted the entire map to be yellow!
In fact, he wanted the entire center of the map to be green!
"9.00 a.m. If the situation doesn't improve by then, prepare to activate the ghost-slaying treasures." He instructed.
Everyone around immediately responded. But just then, a man in a white lab coat stared at the screen in front of him. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and then abruptly shot to his feet.
"Sir!!!" His voice trembled, "Number seven … number seven!!"
What number seven?
Everyone, including Zhang Chenghai, furrowed their brows as they stared at him.
However, the man in the white lab coat was so excited that his face flushed red, "Number seven … number seven hunting zone has been breached!!"
"What?!"
Zhang Chenghai's first reaction was disbelief. Then, he immediately rushed over to the man's computer and took a closer look at the screen.
The image on the screen was that of the abandoned mental hospital. In this very moment … the red dot that had been stuck in his throat had completely vanished!
"Who … who is it?" He stood up abruptly and glanced around at the audience, "Who has contacted reinforcements?"
However, everyone looked at each other in dismay. Nobody responded.
Zhang Chenghai's eyes flickered, and he suddenly recalled something.
His hands flew across the keyboard.
A map immediately appeared on the screen.
"The seventh hunting zone … is four kilometers away from the first hunting zone. If it's an Operative-class cultivator, it would take at most ten minutes to reach the seventh hunting zone.
But … here!
The Second Army is facing off against a vanguard of seven hundred Yin spirits on Third Fragrant Grass Street … If he doesn't want to be seen … then he'll have to delay things even more … That's right, he didn't intend to enter the system in the first place, so he definitely wouldn't be discovered!
Professor Wang!
Immediately adjust the surveillance footage from Third Fragrant Grass Street to Third Fragrant Grass Street!
Immediately!! "
The nun beside him pondered for several seconds, "Are you saying that this is the civilian cultivator who killed the first hunting zone?"
"It must be him!!" Zhang Chenghai slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed excitedly, "The time it took to kill him is definitely less than five minutes!
Priestess Shuiyue, can you do it?
Can Elder Mei do it? "
The nun shook her head, "I can't.
Could this person … be trying to make use of the gathering of Yin spirits tonight to break through to the level of a Soul Hunter? "
"To be able to instantly kill a vengeful apparition in a hunting zone, he's definitely not too far away from the level of a Soul Hunter."
Zhang Chenghai drew a deep breath, "That's very likely … Pass on my orders. Everyone who sees Ultraman's army is to make way immediately without questioning!!"
It wasn't that he couldn't remove the hunting zones.
Rather, it was … tacit understanding.
Cao Youdao had never killed an ordinary person before. He had already deduced that there was a high possibility that there was a Hunter-class ghost in the city, and he had no way of locating it. Therefore, he had no choice but to swallow the humiliation and allow the hunting zones to continue to exist, which devoured human lives on a weekly basis.
Furthermore, he had to cover up for Cao Youdao every single week!
He was afraid, and he was also worried. If he removed the hunting zones first, what would he do if the invisible enemy were to act against ordinary people in a fit of rage?
This was a responsibility that nobody could afford to bear, and nobody dared to attempt.
As a special agent of the Special Investigations Department, the situation in the City of Salvation was no different from a tight slap to the face!
Yet, he had no choice but to suppress the urge to vomit blood.
Tonight, his opportunity had arrived.
Yet, he still didn't dare to make a move.
His opponent hadn't made a move yet, and he had to remain in the center of the city, ready to meet any attack at a moment's notice.
But now, someone had made a move.
Ultraman Tiga had arrived from the distant M87 Nebula and had interfered!