Zhang Suyuan was rushed back to the Headquarters of the Supernatural Administration. Despite his terrible condition, the others disregarded his condition and immediately began to inquire about the situation in Shanque City.
Although he felt uncomfortable all over, Zhang Suyuan knew the situation was urgent and there was no time for him to be coy, so he cooperated and told her about what had happened.
It all started with an incident in Shanque City where a suspected superhuman had attacked people; a strange man manipulating ropes was indiscriminately killing innocent people in the city.
Upon receiving the notification, the organization immediately dispatched a force to capture the superhuman.
Having previously experienced the operation to eliminate Zhao Chuxia, an extraordinary individual, the preparations for this operation were very thorough, and they even brought along Zhang Suyuan, an official extraordinary individual.
With physical attacks ineffective, Zhang Suyuan did indeed defeat the superhuman in Shanque City who manipulated the ropes.
"I thought that was the end of it, but things took a sudden turn for the worse. The guy manipulating the rope wasn't even human!"
"He was wrapped in bandages and wearing loose clothes. At first, I thought he was too thin, but after hitting him, I realized he was just a skeleton!"
"After I knocked that skeleton down, it crumbled into a pile of rotten bones, and then black smoke rose from the bones. And then, you all know what happened next: Shanque City was sealed off, and communications were cut off."
Upon hearing this, Mu Xingrui, the director of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau, hurriedly asked, "And then? What happened inside Shanque City after it was sealed off? Why did all the residents die and turn into skeletons?"
Zhang Suyuan said, "Have you ever seen a zombie movie? Something similar happened in Shanque City during the 24 hours it was locked down."
"Skeletons emerged from the black smoke. These skeletons would attack the living, and the flesh of those attacked would rot and fall off, turning into new skeletons, which would then attack other living people."
Zhang Suyuan's description was simple and straightforward, but those who heard it changed their expressions repeatedly. Just hearing the retelling was enough to imagine how terrible the tragedy that happened in Shanque City was, let alone those who faced the tragedy directly. No wonder most of the survivors broke down and went crazy.
Director Mu Xingrui took a deep breath, steadied himself, and asked the most crucial question with a serious expression, "Why did the black smoke that was blocking Shanque City suddenly disappear?"
Zhang Suyuan fell silent, his expression growing increasingly strange. After a long while, he finally said, "You might not believe it, but all that black smoke was actually absorbed by one person."
"Huh?!" Everyone was stunned.
Zhang Suyuan explained, "At the time, I didn't know what happened. The skeletons wandering the streets suddenly fell down and didn't move. Then the black smoke in the sky gathered in one place. When I arrived, I saw that all the black smoke had entered a woman's body."
"And then?!" Mu Xingrui asked hurriedly.
"After the lockdown was lifted, the rescue team arrived," Zhang Suyuan said wearily, rubbing his shoulders.
"Didn't you go and contact the person who absorbed the black smoke?!" Mu Xingrui's voice rose several octaves in excitement.
Zhang Suyuan fell silent again, his brows furrowed. After a long while, he finally spoke, "That person is dangerous. She seems to be able to manipulate black smoke and control those skeletons..."
"Oh! Are you serious?!"
The members of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau looked utterly shocked.
Director Mu Xingrui turned pale and asked very cautiously, "Comrade Zhang Suyuan, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
Zhang Suyuan nodded solemnly, "I absolutely didn't see wrong!"
Mu Xingrui immediately summoned several forensic artists and asked them to draw a portrait of the woman who had absorbed the black smoke from Shanque City based on Zhang Suyuan's description.
After the portrait was completed, Mu Xingrui immediately issued a new order: obtain information about this person and their whereabouts.
This workload may seem large, but it is actually not difficult. The staff will not search aimlessly, but will prioritize limiting the search to Shanque City.
During the lockdown, the person who could absorb the black smoke in Shanque City was most likely a local resident. Through facial comparison in the database and Zhang Suyuan's identification, the Investigation Bureau quickly identified a suspect— Bai Jingjing.
Subsequently, all of Bai Jingjing's information since birth was thoroughly investigated.
At this very moment, Bai Jingjing had already left Shanque City and headed to another city.
She walked along the road at an extremely fast pace, like a gust of wind.
The pedestrians on the street didn't see anything clearly; they really just thought it was a gust of wind blowing past them.
Bai Jingjing paid no attention to the passersby, walking and thinking at the same time.
To be honest, she still feels like she's dreaming and can't believe the miracles that have happened to her.
The strange things that happened in Shanque City yesterday completely overturned her understanding of the world.
She thought she would die in that disaster, like her relatives and friends, turning into skeletons, losing her mind, and only attacking the living.
However, at the moment she was dying, a miracle occurred.
The black smoke that enveloped Shanque City rushed into her body all at once. In that instant, some scattered fragments of memory vaguely surfaced in her mind, as if telling her that the black smoke was the manifestation of an ancient demon, "White Bone Madam," who possessed her body because the name "Bai Jingjing" was more suitable.
They escaped unscathed because of their names!
She gained a strange, cold, evil, and ominous power.
She can control the black smoke, causing the living to die and turning corpses into skeletons that she can command.
However, the black smoke didn't seem to obey her body very well, always having a tendency to take over. She couldn't control it as she pleased, and her body was also affected, no longer resembling a normal living person.
However, since she has already obtained such extraordinary power, it is inevitable that she will have to pay this price, and she can accept it.
She was now using this power to travel, black smoke billowing from her body and forming an alternate dimension around her. She used this dimension to move at an extremely fast speed.
Before long, she arrived in another city.
She walked to a corner, put away the black smoke, and slowly walked out, blending into the bustling crowd as if nothing had happened. Everything seemed normal, and she didn't attract anyone's attention.
Bai Jingjing's composure throughout the entire process was largely due to her own personality.
She suffers from depression.
Nowadays, depression has become a tool for people to sympathize with online, and its reputation has been tarnished by some, turning it into "Yu Yu Syndrome".
People with genuine depression rarely have the energy to play the victim online, let alone use it as an excuse to make money. Losing interest in everything and losing motivation in life are the true manifestations of depression.
Now, a mysterious White Bone Madam has inexplicably appeared inside the Bai Jingjing, and she is always restless, seemingly wanting to replace herself.
Bai Jingjing couldn't describe the feeling of her body being slowly eroded, and she didn't really care.
She simply took this as a goal, a goal that would keep her going.
She was pretending to be working very hard to find a way to suppress the awakening of the White Bone Madam within her; without this goal, she might commit suicide at any moment.
"I've heard there's a very famous Daoist temple here. I need to go check it out and see if there are any Daoist priests who understand these metaphysical teachings..."
As Bai Jingjing thought this, she resolutely walked towards the Daoist temple.
At the same time, Hu, the mastermind behind all the chaos, was sitting on a green train.
He sat alone by the window, admiring the scenery outside, like a ghost, with an extremely low presence, as if he didn't exist at all, subconsciously Neglect by everyone in the carriage.
Hu Jiu paid no attention to the noisy and crowded passengers in the carriage, holding a piece of yellow paper in his hand, constantly changing its shape.
The yellow paper eventually transformed into the shape of Spirit Money.
"It seems that people with depression who control Fierce Ghost have some unique advantages; their prolonged low mood doesn't stimulate the Fierce Ghost to resurrect further..."
"What about other mental illnesses? Could the effects of a manic patient controlling Fierce Ghost spirit be the exact opposite of those of depression?"
"Worth a try."
"Perhaps we could also find a few people with severe mental illness, supermale syndrome, or antisocial personality disorder..."
Hu Jiu was making plans in his mind when he heard a voice announcement: "Dear passengers, we have arrived at the final stop. Please take your luggage and prepare to disembark..."
Temporarily interrupted, Hu Jiu stood up and followed the crowd off the train.
"The train station has a lot of foot traffic."
Hu Jiu's eyes darted around, and a completely new, terrible idea popped into his head.
He strolled slowly toward a fast food restaurant inside the train station. Although the rent was high in such a place, the prices were also high, so the income was still quite good.
As Hu Jiu walked over, he happened to see the owner of the fast food restaurant, and he followed the owner in.
The sunlight turned the station's dome white, and the cool air from the central air conditioning, mixed with the aroma of fried chicken, wafted through the air.
Two identical shadows were reflected in the glass door. The sound of the door being pushed open was slightly jarring. The waitress inside was wiping ketchup stains off the counter when she looked up and was startled.
"Boss?" Her rag fell onto the cash register keyboard, her voice filled with surprise and uncertainty.
Upon hearing the voice, two middle-aged men in blue plaid shirts turned around simultaneously and said in unison, "What is it?"
Only then did the real boss realize that there was someone standing behind him who looked exactly like him.
"Who are you?!" The real boss was so frightened that he backed away, accidentally knocking over tables and chairs, which then shattered and smashed onto the tiled floor.
Hu Jiu, disguised as the fake boss, smiled slightly at him.
The customers dining in the restaurant looked left and right, thinking it was a dispute between twins.
"Don't be so nervous." Hu Jiu put his arm around the trembling boss's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "I'm here to help you make a fortune~"
A chilling, Supernatural sound seeped into the boss's ears, and his gaze suddenly became somewhat unfocused.
Then, Hu Jiu stuffed the Spirit Money into the real boss's hand.
The moment he received the Spirit Money, it was as if some knowledge had been directly poured into his brain. The real boss immediately understood how to use it, and an exaggerated smile appeared on his lips.
When I turned around again, I found that the person who looked exactly like me had already pushed open the door and left.
"Did you see that person just now?" the shop owner asked the waiter.
The waiter nodded and asked curiously, "You saw him? Boss, is that your twin brother?"
The boss was about to shake his head, but then changed his expression and nodded instead. "He is indeed my brother, but we haven't been in touch for many years. I was quite startled when I first saw him."
He offered a simple explanation for his earlier panic.
The waiter was still somewhat puzzled; if they were twins he hadn't seen in years, why were they dressed exactly alike?
But she didn't ask that question aloud. After all, it was none of her business, so why meddle in other people's family affairs?
That evening, the cashier at the fast food restaurant was empty, and customers could only see the owner busy frying chicken nuggets in the kitchen.
The oil in the pan sizzled, and the owner's apron was stained with dark red stains, a color like tomato sauce, but darker.
Freshly fried chicken nuggets were sold.
"Mmm, this tastes really good." The customer couldn't wait to take a bite and couldn't help but praise it.
"Cash payment would be best," the shop owner said softly with a smile.
"Huh?!" The customer, who was wolfing down his food, was somewhat surprised. "I didn't bring any cash. These days, most people use mobile payments when they go out. Few people carry cash; it's usually the elderly."
"Then forget it." The shop owner was slightly disappointed, but did not force the customer to pay in cash.
He wasn't in a hurry; he'd need it sooner or later anyway... Spirit Money.
He deliberately lowered the prices, and the number of customers coming and going gradually increased.
At night, a gust of wind stirred the wind chimes, and a young man dressed in casual clothes dragged a suitcase into the fast food restaurant.
The way the young man bit his lower lip while ordering looked so innocent; he seemed like a naive and naive college student.
The owner served a generously portioned student meal, and the young man looked surprised. "Boss, you're really generous in opening this shop."
The owner, always smiling, said, "Our shop offers discounts for students."
The young man shivered inexplicably. "Is the air conditioning in the store too cold? I feel a bit chilly."
"It's probably because it's evening and the temperature drops, and you're dressed too lightly," the shopkeeper explained.
"Perhaps." The young man stopped paying attention to the slight temperature change and began to enjoy his meal.
Unfortunately, after the meal, the network signal became very unstable for some reason, forcing the young man to pay in cash.
"Boss, you gave me too much change."
The young man noticed that the shopkeeper seemed to have given him an extra bill in change after settling the bill, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the bill seemed a little off.
"Is this the kind of Spirit Money used for funerals?" He was a little angry, thinking the shop owner was trying to cheat him out of his money. Just as he was about to argue, he was surprised to find his body moving uncontrollably toward the kitchen!
A look of fear appeared in the young man's eyes.
The shopkeeper grinned savagely, his face contorted with ecstasy. "It's actually true! Spirit Money really works!"
"Haha, money makes the world go round! If you take my 'money,' you have to do my bidding!"
Actually, the change he gave the young man was just right, but there was an extra piece of Spirit Money mixed in. The young man took his money without reason, so he had to pay the price!
Thinking of this, he looked intently at the crowds coming and going outside the store, assuming that soon more hungry customers would come to taste this special fast food.