Xin Lei checked the time and said, "Let's go, it's 1:30 AM."
"Drip drip drip—"
Ding Yang's phone suddenly rang. After getting Xin Lei's permission, Ding Yang answered it.
"Hello?"
"Greetings, Lord Ding Yang, I am xxx, the Minister of Personnel Recruitment from the Special Ability Administration. I hope you can do me a favor."
Ding Yang frowned upon hearing this and replied, "You can tell me, but let me tell you first, I am currently on a mission. If it hinders the mission, I will not agree."
"It's like this... we plan to go and assess a police officer who might join us. We originally intended to send someone, but Lord Yimu transmitted an order to send someone at or above the Earthly Branches level from nearby. After careful consideration, it can only be you."
"Who? And when?"
"Mochuan, male, 19 years old, currently investigating a case at the Shengjing Joint Jianzhou Public Security Bureau... The timeframe is within three days."
Ding Yang was stunned. Thinking it was likely an order from the Emperor, he agreed.
...
Mochuan took a picture of the fragment labeled "Five" and then looked at Zhang Henshui, saying, "For now, we can only report this to the Special Ability Administration." He then turned to Abe Haruko and asked, "Are you alright now?"
Seeing Abe Haruko nod, Mochuan said to Zhang Henshui, "Let's head back. That's all for today. We can't fully contend with what comes next on our own."
The three took off their gloves and tossed them into the trash can by the door. Zhang Henshui led the way, Mochuan in the middle, and Abe Haruko brought up the rear as they descended the stairs.
"So, you're saying that the Five-Sense King harvests believers through the idol and evil forces, and then the believers help him spread his faith, causing the idol to gradually evolve and expand in the shadows?" Zhang Henshui summarized, organizing the information as he walked down the stairs.
"Most importantly," Mochuan interjected with a frown, "we have no way of knowing how many people he has already controlled."
"If I'm not mistaken, that haunted house is already one of the believers helping to spread his influence. By the way, Brother Zhang, do you know about Cthulhu, mentioned by Westerners?"
"I know. You mean..." Zhang Henshui seemed to understand.
"Exactly. I think the more people who know, understand, and believe in the Five-Sense King, the stronger he probably becomes."
"Um... can I ask you something..." Abe Haruko interrupted with a frown, "Do you police finish work very early? How is it that there's no one guarding the scene for such a big case?"
"Impossible, wasn't there someone just now..." Zhang Henshui also realized something was amiss and immediately took out his phone to call the guard.
As Zhang Henshui made the call, a mobile phone ringtone echoed from the stairwell. The three exchanged glances and hurried towards the source of the sound.
Finally, they found the phone with a shattered screen on the ground in the first-floor lobby.
Mochuan picked up the phone and sniffed it, saying, "There's a bloody smell."
Zhang Henshui looked up, scanned the surroundings in the dim light, and then noticed something abnormal about the second-floor railing. He said, "Look at that railing, it's been heavily pressed by something."
The two looked up as well. Sure enough, the metal railing on the second floor was bent in many places by something; the center of the bend was where Mochuan had climbed with his grappling hook earlier; and the plaster around the railing had cracked into many large and small fissures.
"That police officer was leaning on the railing on the second floor at the time. Something from the first floor forcibly pulled him down, and his phone consequently fell to the ground on the first floor..."
"Bang!"
A loud noise interrupted Zhang Henshui's analysis. The three looked to see several thick plant vines extending from the stairwell on the side, rushing towards them like giant pythons.
"Dodge!" Mochuan, knowing Zhang Henshui had no displacement skills, immediately swung his lantern, pulling him away from his spot, and then used his grappling hook to pull Zhang Henshui up to the second floor. Abe Haruko directly activated her ghostification, grabbed Mochuan's chain, and ascended to the second floor with them.
Boom—
The massive vines smashed a large pit into the first-floor wall, stirring up a lot of dust and smoke.
Mochuan pulled the two to stabilize themselves and said, "Spread out! Don't cluster together!" Then he activated [Hell Curse], leaped down to the second floor.
Seeing that it had missed the three, the vines immediately retracted, making the already spacious lobby seem even wider.
As soon as Mochuan landed on the ground, he swung his grappling hook and threw it into the stairwell.
"Pfft—"
Mochuan was stunned. He hadn't expected to actually hook someone. He had intended to force the attacker out of the shadows, but instead, he had directly pulled them in.
Mochuan quickly regained his composure, directly activated [Judgment Pendulum] to immobilize the target, and then, with all his strength, pulled him out of the stairwell.
In the moonlight and faint light, Mochuan and the other two saw the person who had been hooked—a man of medium build, wearing glasses, who even looked somewhat refined.
The man neither cried out in pain nor struggled. He was pulled out by Mochuan, and then vines grew from the joint above his hooked left forearm, forcefully dislocating his left arm.
Afterwards, he didn't stand idle. He directly manipulated the vines that grew from the severed joint like whips and lashed them towards Mochuan.
"Illusionary Dream!"
Zhang Henshui controlled the Dream Weaver Shuttle to coat Mochuan with a layer of silver light, pulling him from reality into the dream realm.
The vines passed directly through Mochuan's body and slammed heavily onto the ground.
Mochuan gave Zhang Henshui a thumbs-up in passing and then immediately threw his lantern to Shuten Doji, pulling her down. On the other side, he lunged forward, attempting to engage the opponent in close combat.
However, even with Shuten Doji's help, Mochuan could only fight the opponent on even terms.
Firstly, the opponent's primary damage type was magic, which put Mochuan at a disadvantage.
Secondly, the opponent's control over special abilities was quite skilled. Losing an arm did not affect his combat. Instead, he used prosthetic hands woven from vines to repeatedly confront Mochuan's hook blade directly.
Thirdly, the opponent fought fearlessly, with every move being a trade of blows. Sometimes he even attempted to exchange lives with Mochuan. This suicidal fighting style forced Mochuan to abandon advantageous attack routes multiple times.
Furthermore, Mochuan and Zhang Henshui's coordination was not high, and the battle situation became a stalemate.
Finally, Abe Haruko could no longer stand it. As the former Ghost King, she was being pushed back like this by an unknown assassin. She stopped suppressing her strength and, while the opponent was entangled with Mochuan, directly summoned her Ghostly Claws and slammed them into the man's back.
A direct hit.
Seeing this, Mochuan immediately wanted to throw his lantern to stack passive effects. But as he retrieved the lantern, he saw the man's movements clearly through the dust—he had stood up again, and with the creaking of his bones, his distorted form was slowly recovering.
The person before them... was not real! At least not a living person!