The rain continued to fall, washing the blood on the ground into the drainage system. The old communities lined up on both sides of the main road stood silently in the dark, as if all the townsfolk were immersed in the white noise of the steady rain, enjoying undisturbed slumber.
Zero walked barefoot, stepping on the slick streetlamp cover while her distorted subordinates gathered around her. She yawned and waved her hand, and soon a massive worm broke through the ground, consuming the distorted beings all at once, turning them into nourishment for its own evolution.
Suddenly, a voice emanated from a nearby rooftop—a rough male voice chuckled, “No wonder Black Tower Pharmaceuticals is so eager to acquire you; little girl, you are indeed special.”
Zero paused her yawning, a smile creeping back onto her face. She mechanically turned her head toward the source of the voice, the corners of her mouth curving upward to reveal pure, chilling malice.
“I don’t wish to be your enemy, little girl. I’m here to offer the goodwill of the sect,” the speaker came into view—not a living person, but a skeleton with ghostly green flames flickering in its eye sockets.
On this stormy night, only a creature of this form could match the eeriness of the silver-haired girl atop the streetlamp.
“You possess a secret of great importance to Black Tower, and we can provide you protection. I think this is a splendid deal,” the skeleton said cheerily. “Little girl, it’s tough to find an organization like ours capable of helping you directly counter the super corporations in this world.”
Zero remained silent, her eyes widening slightly. The malice in her dark red pupils intensified. Meanwhile, behind the windows of houses surrounding the main road—where the townsfolk should have been—bright red lights suddenly illuminated, revealing countless grotesque shapes twisting in the darkness, like demons crawling out of hell.
“You actually turned everyone in this town into monsters? You madman! You damned monster!” The tone of the skeleton shifted, laced with anger.
Evidently, even a necromancer from the world’s most notorious cult, the Holy Spirit Sect, was taken aback by Zero’s indiscriminate slaughter of innocent lives, with no regard for morality.He even doubted whether Zero still identified as human—how could she so devoid of empathy turn against innocent civilians?
And they weren’t just ordinary civilians; they were the precious believers of the sect!
Zero grinned at him, and the next moment, countless hideous humanoid abominations crawled out from inside the houses, heading straight for the skeleton on the rooftop.
The skeleton snorted; he knew that there was no longer a chance for negotiation. He even doubted whether Zero could communicate normally with humans. He exhaled a puff of soul fire capable of burning the spirit, and under this attack in the realm of souls, numerous distortions fell to the ground, turning into a pile of mangled flesh.
Then, he extracted a rib from the corpse of a distorted being below, quickly casting a spell to melt it down and reshape it into a bone dagger. Although the main body wasn’t present, he believed that with the strength of this remotely controlled elite skeleton warrior, it would be sufficient to forcibly subdue this little girl.
But soon, that confidence shattered when he met Zero’s gaze.
Just that glance, laden with mockery, caused the ghostly green soul fire in the skeleton’s eye sockets to suddenly extinguish. The skeleton dropped to the ground, reduced to a pile of bone fragments. At the same time, somewhere in the dark outside Shalin Town, a figure clad in a black robe screamed as they collapsed to the ground, gasping in terror.
“How does she have soul magic?” the necromancer whispered in shock, his eyes filled with uncertainty as he gazed towards Shalin Town, anxiety sharpening his features. Without any hesitation, he struggled through the intense pain and, buoyed by wind magic, floated away, quickly disappearing into the stormy night.
……
On the streetlamp post of the main road, Zero watched as the skeleton disassembled into a pile of bones in the puddle, her smile fading slightly as she glanced indifferently at the distorted beings on the ground.
Under her gaze, those twisted creatures began to gradually revert to their original forms, revealing their human shapes. However, compared to the townsfolk before, these restored individuals now possessed blank stares, behaving like living corpses still adjusting to their bodies.
As they returned home with dreamlike movements, a deeper weariness washed over Zero, and she let out another deep yawn.
……
The neon light pollution dyed the entire sky in bizarre purples, pinks, and blues as the rain slanted down against the blinding signs, refracting mesmerizing halos.
By the time Yvette rode through the city streets and returned to her villa on Yangon Street, it was already late at night.
After parking her bike, she quickly slipped into the narrow dark alley adjacent to the street, making her way to the “Red Pepper” nightclub, the primary establishment where “Fireghost” Colby frequented in the city, located only four blocks from her home.
Given that Rusted Bone was her suspected enemy willing to hire assassins to trouble her, the likelihood of encountering troubles from the Ghost Hand Society was particularly high. With the two human trafficking industrial parks destroyed, there were genuine grievances on both sides.
So, taking advantage of the fact that the target, “Fireghost” Colby, had just returned from Silver Mirror Island, she planned to seize the moment and assault this place to extract the information she needed.
Of course, normally, this situation could pose a bit of a headache.
After all, the “Red Pepper” nightclub was in the urban area, not far from the Soul Fire Cathedral, meaning necromancers from the Holy Spirit Sect, SWAT teams from the police bureau, or even military forces from the borders could swiftly come to their aid. If anything escalated and attracted attention from multiple parties, that would certainly not bode well for her.
However, now that she possessed the light and shadow spell “Shadow Slip,” the situation was different. Yvette could meld silently into the shadows like the silver-tier assassin Dead Skewer, bypassing most guards to reach her target. Even after killing, escaping would be convenient.
Ten minutes later, Yvette slipped into the nightclub’s top floor through the shadows cast by the outer walls. The air in the corridor was thick with the smells of alcohol, perfume, and cigars, making her wrinkle her nose slightly.
As a significant asset of the gang, the “Red Pepper” nightclub operated on a closed local network, making it impossible to hack in from the outside for information. She would have to physically invade or check each room to find Colby’s location once inside.
After using Shadow Slip to evade several of the gang’s guards, Yvette found herself outside a large room, where she could hear voices inside.
Listening in for a while, she realized there were quite a few people in there, speaking in a strong Rusted Bone accent that even her translation programs were struggling to decipher.
She glanced at the sign on the door and confirmed it was indeed the chairman’s office before kicking the door open and stepping inside.
The enormous metal-plated door swung open, slamming against the walls with a dull thud.
Under the glaring ceiling lights, the movements of nine people froze. Most were seated at an expensive mahogany long table, and at the head sat a fat middle-aged man who was none other than “Fireghost” Colby.
“Who the hell?!”
When someone suddenly kicked open the door, Colby exclaimed, and the other henchmen swiftly drew their guns, aiming at the unexpected intruder.
However, upon seeing the silver-haired girl’s face, the expressions of the gangsters turned strange—aside from Colby, the others didn’t recognize this silver-haired girl and just gazed at her stunning beauty and delicate figure, speculating whether she was a surprise act arranged by their boss, which eased their tension considerably.
Colby’s complexion, however, turned exceedingly pale.
He clearly remembered that tonight was the night the assassin from Neon Nightmare was set to act. Though not a golden-tier assassin, this was still a top-notch killer in the assassination world—why could the target appear here so undisturbed?
Had he mistaken the timing? Wasn’t the operation time for the silver-tier assassin tonight? Or… had the Neon Nightmare assassin failed?
No, that’s not possible… Perhaps the assassin hadn’t even moved yet… And even if he failed, the employer’s information remained confidential; Nameless wouldn’t be able to track him down because of that…
Thoughts racing, Colby quickly gestured to his men, then turned to the silver-haired girl, feigning bewilderment, “This… uh… Miss? May I ask what brings you here in the middle of the night?”
The eight gangsters exchanged glances, their expressions revealing disbelief, but they still lowered their guns.
Yvette had no interest in playing games with Colby. She got straight to the point and asked, “How do I find the ‘General’?”
“Uh?” Colby was momentarily taken aback, doubting that he had misheard.
“Answer me, how do I find the ‘General’?” Yvette repeated, her expression blank as she looked at him. “I’ll give you ten seconds.”
The air in the room suddenly fell silent. Aside from Colby, whose expression fluctuated between uncertainty and dread, the other eight gangsters wore strange looks, as if they were staring at a fool.
They suspected this little girl had no idea who she was dealing with. How could she be so bold as to ask for the location of the “General,” the underworld king of the entire Rusted Bone territory, right in front of the local overlord, “Fireghost” Colby?
Was she courting death?
But what the eight gangsters didn’t expect even more was that before ten seconds had passed, only about four or five seconds in, Colby hastily exclaimed, “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Please, just hold on a moment…”
The gangsters all turned their heads, incredulity spreading across their faces as they looked at their boss in disbelief, each collectively wondering if their ears were malfunctioning.