The one who had stabbed him was none other than Hao Zhengyi's younger brother—Hao Wenming. At that moment, Director Hao's face turned crimson. After landing the stab, he just stared blankly at his own elder brother. Then, all of a sudden, he opened his mouth and—splat—a mouthful of blood spurted directly onto Hao Zhengyi's face. Hao Wenming's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious to the ground.
By then, Sun Fatty had also rushed up behind me, but several Soul Husks were blocking the way, preventing him from reaching me. I had to divide my attention to protect him. Thankfully, Sun Fatty had some self-awareness and backed off a dozen meters, giving me the space to fight freely. Seeing Hao Wenming fall, Sun Fatty shouted from behind, "Hao Zhengyi! You even went after your own brother—are you still human?"
His words made Hao Zhengyi tremble. Staring at his unconscious brother on the ground, he muttered incoherently, "I didn't... I didn't... I'm sorry... I really didn't..."
"Crow!" Lin Feng suddenly shouted. As his voice rang out, Crow's half-transparent body instantly dissolved into icy mist, wrapping around both Hao Zhengyi and Lin Feng. The mist thickened rapidly, then just as suddenly dispersed. In a flash, it vanished without a trace—and with it, both Lin Feng and Hao Zhengyi. Left behind on the ground was only Hao Wenming, still lying in a coma.
As Lin Feng disappeared, the remaining Soul Husks collapsed as if their spirits had been sucked out. They slumped to the ground and didn't move again.
"Hey! Take me with you!" Xiao Siyang howled toward where the three had vanished. But Lin Feng and Hao Zhengyi didn't even glance his way, let alone attempt to take him with them. Moments later, of all the people Lin Feng had brought, only Xiao Siyang was still standing—barely. He was in worse shape than those underlings who had been soul-shocked by the Nyeh.
We had to watch helplessly as Lin Feng and Hao Zhengyi escaped. The remaining Soul Husks were now powerless. Sun Fatty sprinted over to Gao Liang's corpse and carefully examined it, then collapsed to his knees and broke into loud sobs. His crying shattered the last sliver of hope. Rage boiled in my chest with nowhere to go, so I charged straight at Xiao Siyang.
Earlier, Xiao Siyang's body had sunk into the ground several times, but each time Yang Jun had pulled him back at the last moment. That was only because Yang Jun didn't want to kill him—otherwise, Xiao Siyang would've been dead a dozen times over.
Now, Xiao Siyang was a spent force. After being dragged out of the ground once more, he suddenly let out a roar and spat a mouthful of purplish-black blood at Yang Jun.
The moment the black blood sprayed out, the air was filled with a pungent, acrid stench. Yang Jun staggered backward over a dozen steps to avoid getting splashed. When the blood hit the ground, it sizzled with white smoke. After vomiting that mouthful, Xiao Siyang's body hunched over, and his skin broke out in blotchy patches of black and yellow. His whole figure shriveled like dried orange peel. Though only in his sixties or seventies, he now looked well past a hundred.
Taking advantage of Yang Jun's retreat, Xiao Siyang pitched forward, slapping both palms to the ground. As his toes touched the surface, ripples spread out, and his lower legs began to sink rapidly.
Just as he was about to escape underground, his neck suddenly tightened—someone had grabbed him and yanked him back up.
That someone was me.
Xiao Siyang's perception was seriously dulled. He hadn't even noticed me approach from behind—one more reason why Yang Jun dared to back off. It wasn't until I lifted him off the ground by the throat that he realized something was wrong and, like a withered branch, clawed backward with both hands.
But before his hands could reach me, a flash of cold light flashed by—swish—and both his hands were severed cleanly.
With a scream of agony, Xiao Siyang's body was half-dragged, half-lifted back to the surface by me. As he howled in pain, his eyes landed on a fat man holding a short sword—Sun Fatty—glaring at him with a vicious, contorted expression.
Yang Jun walked over, expressionless, and stared down at Xiao Siyang. Without looking at me, he said, "You can let go now. He's not going anywhere. After spitting that blood, Xiao Siyang's finished. He missed his last shot—he won't be using escape techniques again."
Sure enough, Xiao Siyang's feet had touched the ground, and just like Yang Jun said, he could barely stay standing, let alone vanish underground. His blood from the severed arms was gushing out. I found him repulsive and tossed him to the ground.
Xiao Siyang collapsed and curled up, howling pitifully. After wailing for a while, he forced himself to kneel and looked toward Sun Fatty, pleading: "I don't have much time left... I used to be with the Special Case Handling Office... for the sake of Xiao Sanda..."
Before he could finish, Sun Fatty cut him off coldly. "Xiao Sanda? I barely knew him."
As the last word left his mouth, Sun Fatty raised his short sword and slashed upward from beneath. There was no suspense—like a hot knife through butter, half of Xiao Siyang's face and skull were sliced clean off. His body pitched backward toward me. Luckily, I dodged fast enough to avoid the sticky mess splattering on my pants.
Sun Fatty seemed like a completely different person now—his face twisted, baring his teeth, the features so contorted they looked displaced. Yang Jun's eyes moved from Xiao Siyang's corpse to Sun Fatty's face.
"I thought you wanted him alive," Yang Jun said. "If you didn't, I would've taken care of him long ago."
Sun Fatty didn't respond. He turned and walked back. After checking that Hao Wenming was stable, he sat down on the ground beside him, staring blankly at Gao Liang's corpse.
I had never seen Sun Fatty like this before. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but didn't know what. Looking at Gao Liang's body, a tightness rose in my chest, and tears welled up uncontrollably.
After a while, I turned my gaze away, trying to distract myself. But then I looked over at the group of Lin Feng's underlings who had been soul-shocked by the black cat—and suddenly, something felt off. I couldn't say what, but something was definitely... wrong.
Yang Jun didn't seem particularly saddened. He was planning to check on Yang Xiao, but before taking a step, his gaze followed mine—and then he muttered, "Huh? Someone's missing."
Missing?
A cold chill surged through my chest. I suddenly had a very bad feeling.
After scanning the faces of everyone around, Yang Jun turned to me and said, "It's that fat guy who came up with you just now. He's gone."
Something's wrong. It's got to do with Guangren! In that instant, even if I didn't yet know exactly what had happened, I already had a strong sense of the general direction.
"Something happened downstairs!" I shouted to Yang Jun and immediately turned to race down the stairs to the level below. Yang Jun hesitated for a moment, glanced at Sun Fatty, and ultimately didn't follow. I understood—he didn't want to leave Sun Fatty alone up here. So I had no choice but to return to Basement Level Five by myself.
As I came down, I saw Guangren still sitting alone on the floor in the distance. His head was bowed, motionless. At first glance, he didn't seem off in any way.
But the fact that he appeared unharmed only made me more uneasy.
I called out loudly in his direction: "Guangren! Are you alright?"
He didn't react at all. He remained seated in the same posture, like a wooden statue, not moving an inch.
Something's wrong. The chains—why are they all slack?
That's when I realized what was off. The chains that had been binding Guangren's limbs always maintained a taut, symmetrical arc, no matter how he sat. But now, all four chains lay limply on the ground. They didn't look like they were restraining anyone at all.
I looked closer. His head had drooped forward onto his chest, white hair covering his face, making it impossible to see his expression. Admittedly, every time we'd seen Guangren, he'd always looked like this—but now it felt different. As if he'd been holding this pose for a reason, preparing for something.
I quickened my pace, hurrying toward his position, still shouting his name. I was clinging to a sliver of hope that I was simply overthinking, that nothing had actually happened.
But Guangren gave no response.
It wasn't until I was within a hundred meters or so that a strong stench of blood suddenly flooded the air and punched straight into my brain.
At the same moment I smelled that metallic stench, Guangren's aura vanished completely.
I looked again at the figure sitting on the ground. That wasn't Guangren anymore—it was a flayed corpse, a large skeletal frame that Guangren's thin build could never have produced. The corpse wore Guangren's robes and was posed as if seated.
On its skull sat what looked like a white wig, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was countless strands of white hair, matted with blood and stuck to the bone. The chains that had once restrained the limbs were now broken, merely draped across the skeleton, creating the illusion—from a distance—that a white-haired man still sat there.
Before the skeleton lay several clumps of bloody flesh, arranged in strange patterns. I didn't recognize most of them, but one of them seemed vaguely reminiscent of an Illusion Array—that likely explained why even with my eyesight, I hadn't noticed the switch.
At the center of those blood-formed sigils were eight bloody characters: "此去一别,后会无期"—"This farewell is final; we shall never meet again."
Guangren had escaped.
When I returned to Basement Level Four, both Yang Xiao and Xiao Heshang had regained consciousness. Yang Xiao was relatively calm, but Xiao Heshang broke into gut-wrenching sobs the moment he saw Gao Liang's corpse. If I hadn't been there to console him, he might've followed Gao Liang to the grave right then and there.
While I was trying to comfort him, no one noticed that Hao Wenming, who had been lying unconscious, had quietly stood up. Taking advantage of the chaos, he slipped away without anyone realizing.
That night, aside from Wu Rendidi, all field investigators returned to the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. When they saw the scene for themselves, they were stunned. Although everyone had already received word beforehand, witnessing the corpses of Gao Liang and the others firsthand was something else entirely. Most simply couldn't process it.
A heavy, mournful atmosphere pervaded the Bureau.
Not long after the attack on the Bureau, someone reported it to the police. But the Bureau's reputation was too strange—so strange that when officers arrived at the scene, they didn't dare enter the building. They radioed their superiors for instructions and were told to stay put and do nothing.
Those superiors, in turn, reported to their superiors. And so the chain continued, one level up at a time...