Due to her lack of understanding about “Neon Nightmare” and its ranks of “silver-tier assassins,” Yvette was unaware of how much notoriety and rumors her counterattack against the Neon Nightmare assassin would bring her in the future.
From her perspective, this assassination felt fairly unremarkable. She doubted that even if she stood still, the assassin would have the ability to break all four layers of her crimson armor.
After all, this was the result of iterating on ideas; if one were to quantify the defensive power, it should be much stronger than a single 80,000 specification defensive spell, though she didn’t know the exact equivalent specifications.
Afterward, Yvette began rummaging through the assassin’s corpse, acquiring several intact iron skewers and an 80,000 specification magical terminal.
She hacked into the terminal on the spot, checking the information inside. Besides a detailed set of data about Skewer Magic and a “creation summary,” there were several activated packaged spells. While most were elemental spells that were useless to her, one called “Shadow Slip” caught her attention.
This was a spell centered around “light and shadow magic” that allowed the user to merge into shadows and hide themselves—an essential ability for an assassin. Although it was heavily encrypted and the original runic set was nearly impossible to trace, it could still be utilized directly.
Yvette decided to keep this terminal. Initially, she considered selling it, but since the effect of “Shadow Slip” was good and it pertained to the deeper realms of “light and shadow magic,” it had significant residual value.
As for the complete runic sequence of “Skewer Magic” and the creation summary, well, that felt a bit like a white elephant.
Though after glancing through Dead Skewer’s creation summary, she could sense that this Skewer Magic was his painstakingly crafted unique skill, developed through years of hard work, and was the cornerstone of his rise to silver-tier assassin—something he regarded as the most important and proudest achievement of his life.
However, this was genuinely the most awkward thing for Yvette. While its piercing power was commendable and the magical consumption was low, it required a specially crafted magical device to use, making it exceedingly cumbersome. She’d rather expend a bit more magic using wind magic as a substitute.So, she would keep it for now, hoping to sell it on the dark web later and make a nice sum of money, as a way to respect the effort and sacrifices of this assassin.
……
Meanwhile, as Yvette was estimating how much she could sell the knowledge of Skewer Magic for…
In the gentle rain, on the outskirts of Shalin Town, several figures suddenly appeared in the quiet, dark wilderness.
Most of them were ordinary people armed with firearms, with a small portion modified with cyber enhancements, their mechanical eyes glimmering with red light. Additionally, some drones were silently released into the sky around Shalin Town, patrolling to ensure not a single mouse could escape from any corner.
This was a team pulled together by “Fireghost” Colby, utilizing his connections to partner with some local gangs, totaling over 80 people. They used drones and some manpower to seal off all exits of Shalin Town, while others streamed in, heading toward the location of the two little girls that their informants had already tracked down.
The chief commander of this joint operation was a formidable figure under Colby, nicknamed “Tiger” Balke, a muscular giant who clearly had consumed many runic potions.
His role was somewhat akin to that of Bryce’s deputy, “Blackblade” Okasi, responsible for most of Colby’s organized violent actions. Although other gangs had sent leaders over, Balke’s fearsome reputation earned through brute strength led them to willingly accept his temporary command.
“Eric, where are Eugene and the others? Any news?” Balke asked into the walkie-talkie, standing underneath a tilted street lamp at the entrance of Shalin Town, with a subordinate holding an umbrella beside him.
Colby and Balke had interests in Shalin Town, particularly the casinos that no longer had any survivors; the managers in charge, including Eugene, were among Balke’s minor leaders.
Because they typically did not establish contact when nothing was going on, even though it had been five days since they vanished, it was only two days ago when organizing the team that Colby and Balke discovered people, including Eugene, from the casinos were missing.
This was a significant issue, but as the real owner of the small casinos, Balke’s first reaction was not that Eugene and the others had been harmed, but rather that they had collectively fled with funds. Furious, he wasted much time until he found out from Eugene’s family that they had just disappeared, allowing Balke to breathe a sigh of relief.
Thus, when coming to capture the two little girls, Balke planned to simultaneously check on the casinos to investigate the reason behind Eugene’s disappearance.
“I don’t know, Second Brother, the surveillance has been destroyed, but there are no signs of a fight here. It seems like they just walked away. But I logged into the accounts, and the money is still there; it hasn’t been transferred,” a strange voice came through the walkie-talkie. “Second Brother, this feels a bit eerie to me.”
“As long as the money is there, it’s fine.” Balke was completely unconcerned about where Eugene had gone; after all, if people were gone, he could just get someone else to take their place.
Then, as Balke was about to instruct his subordinate to head to the back of the target location to prevent the two little girls from climbing over the walls to escape, he suddenly heard a piercing scream over the walkie-talkie.
“Eric? Eric?” Balke’s heart sank, and he quickly called out, but there was only silence in response.
He glanced around and noticed that the shocked expressions of the other subordinates mirrored his own concern.
“Let’s go check on Eric; the casino isn’t far. We need to see what happened,” Balke ordered.
Soon, they passed through several small alleys around Shalin Town and arrived at a large compound where the casino was located. Balke saw no sign of Eric and the others; perhaps due to the rain washing away evidence, there were no traces of blood—just a misty field with puddles that reflected the dark sky like silver mirrors.
Standing outside, Balke ordered about half of his gang—around 30 or more—to go in and check, while the others remained outside to investigate and block suspicious escape routes.
He himself stood under the umbrella held by his deputy, lighting a cigarette while awaiting reports from the others.
The raindrops pattered on the umbrella surface, and as he listened to the rumbling thunder, he waited quietly for a while, feeling that it was about time. He shouted for the investigators inside to come out.
However, after calling out, silence enveloped the house, before suddenly illuminating with countless red points of light, as if a multitude of bloodthirsty eyes were staring outside.
Balke furrowed his brow; as the infamous “Tiger,” he certainly wouldn’t be frightened by this situation. At most, it made him a bit more vigilant.
Then, a bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating the interior of the house. The faces of everyone were washed in a pale light. Balke finally made out the situation inside, realizing that the pairs of red dots originated from the gang members he had just commanded to go in. Strangely, however, they all appeared very odd, with stiff expressions and clouded pupils, looking more like corpses than living people.
“Eric?!” Once Balke recognized one of their faces, he froze for a moment. “Are you alright?”
But Eric did not respond. He walked out of the room in a daze, swaying slowly towards Balke. This abnormal behavior immediately sent a wave of unease through Balke, and he barked, “Stay right there! Did you hear me? Otherwise, I’ll shoot you dead!”
Eric ignored his shouts, continuing to move forward. Left with no choice, Balke raised the runic handgun at his side. Thanks to the runic potions, his physical combat capability was slightly stronger, giving him immense strength and skin close to steel, but it was more convenient to use a handgun against ordinary people.
Keeping his gun aimed at Eric’s head, Balke stared in suspicion, and then saw a scene he would never forget—Eric’s head suddenly split open, morphing into six fleshy petals with a writhing central sucking mouth, resembling a blooming flesh flower.
“Fuck!” Balke shouted, and along with his deputy, he fired frantically, quickly turning the monstrosity into a ruin on the floor.
But soon, more rigid figures appeared in the rainy night, some emerging from within the house, while others were the subordinates sent out to investigate. The only two people left who appeared normal were Balke and his deputy.
“Second Brother… let’s run…” His deputy was on the verge of tears, trembling uncontrollably. He had never witnessed such an absurd scene; it felt as though they had stumbled into a horror movie set.
Balke was equally shaken, a chill creeping up his spine. Although he was strong, his psychological defenses weren’t as resilient. Watching his previously fine subordinates transform into flesh flowers before his eyes was a shock he found hard to process.
“Run! This place is haunted! It’s not safe for humans!” Faced with the approaching crowd, Balke turned and fled, quickly pulling out a specialized communicator. “Shalin Town is haunted! It could be the cult’s doing! We need to inform the boss!”
Due to the demands of the human trafficking industrial park, the area around Shalin Town had no network coverage. Balke had to rely on a specialized communicator for real-time communication. After Colby’s puzzled voice echoed through, Balke hurriedly exclaimed, “It’s haunted! Boss! This place turns people into ghosts!”
“What… are you talking about?” Colby’s voice was unclear.
He was still waiting for good news on both fronts—the assassination of “Nameless” and the capture of the two little girls. It had to succeed on at least one of them, or he would end up with nothing.
“Damn, this isn’t nonsense! It’s true! I don’t know why, but all of a sudden, Eric and the others turned into monsters and are chasing me! This must be a trap!” Balke said anxiously as he ran.
He regretted getting involved in the tasks released by the general; they couldn’t possibly be simple. He should have just focused on capturing pigs and making money!
After running through the rain for a few steps, Balke and his deputy left the alley and emerged onto the main road of the town. He wiped the rain off his face, and as he looked ahead, he found a silver-haired little girl standing lightly on a streetlamp, wearing a white dress, barefoot and watching him with a smile. Her extraordinarily beautiful face should have been alluring, but the dark red pupils were filled with mockery and cruelty, creating a deeply eerie atmosphere in the present environment, like a female ghost.
Seeing the suddenly appeared silver-haired little girl, Balke erupted in anger, roaring, “Stop pretending to be a ghost in front of me!”
Then, with runic light flowing around him, he leapt forward, determined that she was the source of all the strange occurrences.
However, as the “Tiger” Balke lunged toward the little girl, her smile only broadened.
Next, standing in the middle of the road, his deputy expressionlessly witnessed as his undefeated brother, “Tiger” Balke, suddenly disintegrated mid-air, transforming into a massive flesh flower that bloomed in the night rain, each petal and muscle fiber stretching in free expression.
“What’s happening? Is anyone there? Balke, where are you?” The communicator, dropped into a puddle, still transmitted Colby’s shocked voice.
But the assistant, named “Light,” could no longer respond. Before his eyes, a massive blood and flesh monstrosity descended from the sky, blocking his escape route while extending a tongue-like appendage from its maw, coiling around him.
A repulsive odor filled the rain-soaked air, invading his nostrils. As he snapped back to reality, the deputy began to scream and beg in terror, but no matter how he struggled, he could not prevent the spiral teeth from drawing ever closer.
In the final seconds before his consciousness was engulfed by pain, he observed the silver-haired little girl yawning with a sense of drowsiness.