When Mu Xingrui finally led his men to a safe area, Zhang Suyuan's corpse was wandering aimlessly in the corridor. Every time it encountered a living person, the Ghost Hand would mercilessly reap their life.
"All entrances and exits are sealed off." Zhou Yuan's voice was broken by her rapid breathing, "But... I'm not sure if we can stop him..."
Mu Xingrui wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and suddenly realized a terrifying fact. "Zhou Yuan, Zhang Suyuan didn't seem to be this formidable when he was alive, did he?"
Zhou Yuan nodded. Zhang Suyuan was barely clinging to life when he was alive, but she never expected him to become so fierce after death.
"I remember Zhang Suyuan saying that his ability is 'instant death upon contact,' and that it has no other effects."
Her voice trailed off, "But now..."
"He seems to be able to ignore space and obstacles, moving at high speed..." Mu Xingrui continued, his face terribly gloomy.
Why is Zhang Suyuan stronger after death than he was in life? Why does he attack others indiscriminately? Is this how every superhuman behaves after death?
The air seemed to freeze; no one could answer these questions, and some of them were truly terrifying to contemplate.
"Where is Feng Qian?" Mu Xingrui asked again, breaking the silence.
Zhou Yuan said, "We got separated just now. I saw Feng Qian running in another direction."
Mu Xingrui then asked, "Did Feng Qian attempt to fight against Zhang Suyuan's corpse?"
Everyone shook their heads. Although the situation was urgent, they still noticed that after Zhang Suyuan turned into a zombie, Feng Qian ran the fastest.
"Ah--"
A short scream suddenly came from outside the room, but it stopped abruptly after only a moment.
Clearly, yet another victim has died.
After making the emergency call for help, Mu Xingrui used all his strength to press against the metal door of the makeshift safe house. His back was soaked with cold sweat, and his wet shirt clung tightly to his skin.
Outside the door, screams could be heard every now and then, like dirges from Hell, accompanied by heavy, slow footsteps. The corpse was wandering the corridor, searching for its next prey.
The corpse seemed to have no purpose, simply killing on instinct, yet it possessed a chilling obsession, each step feeling like it was treading on everyone's hearts.
"Are all the passages blocked?" Mu Xingrui asked again, his voice trembling.
Zhou Yuan nodded, her fingers gripping her phone tightly, her knuckles white, her whole body trembling, yet she persisted in editing her last words.
Someone in the room swallowed nervously, their voice dry, and asked uncertainly, "With all the passages blocked, can we really stop Zhang Suyuan in his current state?"
This question is pointless; it's probably just something to ease the tension.
No one could answer him.
Everyone present knew very well that Zhang Suyuan's corpse was no longer human. Walls or doors might not have been able to stop him while he was alive, especially since he had been strengthened after death.
In the face of life and death, everyone is equal. Whether for the greater good or for personal gain, not a single person spoke up to save their colleagues who were left outside being chased by the corpses.
They have no ability to save people; rushing out would only be a pointless suicide mission.
All they can do now is pray that their colleagues outside can buy them some more time so that the rescue team can arrive in time.
The room was eerily quiet, save for the rapid breathing and the occasional piercing screams that came from outside.
Some people couldn't help but sob quietly, some closed their eyes to pray, and others hurriedly used their phones to leave messages and information.
After a long while, Mu Xingrui looked down and stared intently at the crack in the door. He saw a black smear slowly seeping in along the crack, like some kind of decaying odor corroding the metal, sending chills down his spine.
"The body is approaching..." Zhou Yuan's voice was almost squeezed out through clenched teeth, her lips trembling slightly, her eyes filled with fear.
Suddenly, the room lights flickered, as if disturbed by some unseen force.
Immediately afterwards, the walls began to age at a visible rate. The white walls quickly turned yellow and peeled off, revealing the moldy building materials underneath. The paint on the ceiling fell off in a rustling sound, as if it had undergone decades of weathering.
"It's affecting the environment..." Zhou Yuan's face was deathly pale, her voice trembling slightly, "What the hell is this thing?!"
Mu Xingrui's heart pounded; he knew that Zhang Suyuan's body had found them.
The next second--
"Bang!"
The metal door of the safe house was slammed open by an invisible force, the door panel twisted and deformed, and crashed heavily to the ground with a loud bang.
Zhang Suyuan's corpse stood at the doorway, his eyes lifeless and dull, devoid of any spirit, staring intently at the people inside the room.
"Run!!" Mu Xingrui roared, his voice filled with despair.
Everyone immediately scattered and fled, searching for a chance to escape.
Zhang Suyuan's corpse moved. He appeared behind a researcher with an eerie, almost teleporting speed, and Ghost Hand gently rested on his shoulder.
The researcher didn't even have time to utter a sound before he collapsed, his pupils dilated, his breathing stopped, and his body instantly lost all life.
Fortunately Zhang Suyuan could only kill one person at a time.
Taking advantage of the brief lull in the unfortunate researcher's death, the others frantically rushed towards the exit.
Mu Xingrui flung open the fire door at the end of the corridor and stumbled into the dark passageway.
Footsteps followed closely behind him; Zhang Suyuan's corpse seemed to have its sights set on him, its chilling aura trailing behind.
Mu Xingrui ran frantically, his lungs burning with pain, but he dared not stop. He could feel the corpse not far behind him, its chilling aura almost touching the back of his neck.
His intuition screamed wildly, a premonition of death overwhelmed him like a tidal wave, his legs went weak, his breath almost stopped, as if an invisible hand had already gripped his throat.
The lighting system had broken down sometime during the night. Mu Xingrui ran forward desperately, his hands groping along the walls in the darkness. Only one thought occupied his mind: He couldn't stop, he absolutely couldn't stop!
At the corner, Mu Xingrui stumbled, slowing his pace. He turned sharply and saw Zhang Suyuan's corpse standing less than two meters behind him, the Ghost Hand slowly rising and reaching towards him...
"No--!"
The Ghost Hand was less than an inch away from Mu Xingrui's nape. The icy touch came through his collar, instantly sending shivers down his spine.
His breathing stopped completely, his lungs felt like they were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, his limbs were stiff as if filled with lead, and cold sweat slid down his forehead, dripping onto the metal floor with a soft "tap".
At this critical moment—
"That's a resurrected Fierce Ghost."
A deep voice suddenly echoed in the space.
The sound seemed to come from neither the front nor the back, but rather appeared strangely from all directions at the same time, even resonating directly inside his skull. Mu Xingrui could feel the vibrations of the sound waves making his eardrums itch slightly.
"You need to carefully find the patterns of how ghosts kill to have a chance of avoiding being killed. Running around like a headless fly is useless."
As soon as he finished speaking, an invisible force exploded in the corridor, and Zhang Suyuan's body was sent flying backward as if it had been hit head-on by a high-speed train.
The body slammed heavily against a wall ten meters away, immediately creating a spiderweb-like crack at the point of impact. The wall collapsed, revealing a twisted and deformed steel frame inside.
Mu Xingrui's legs went weak, and his knees bent uncontrollably. He instinctively reached out to hold onto the wall to prevent himself from collapsing to the ground.
When he looked up, his pupils suddenly contracted.
In the shadows at the end of the corridor, a tall, slender figure walked slowly. The person's footsteps were light, yet carried a peculiar rhythm, each step seeming to pound on Mu Xingrui's heartbeat.
As they drew closer, the figure became clearer.
He was a young man about 1.75 meters tall, wearing a knee-length black overcoat.
The hem of his trench coat swayed gently with his steps, revealing a dark gray turtleneck sweater underneath. His face was angular, with slightly high brow bones that cast shadows in his eye sockets, making it impossible to see his eyes.
What was most striking was his right hand, which was half-exposed from the cuff of his trench coat. It was a sickly pale white, and the veins under his skin were an unnatural black, like ink spreading in water. These black lines stretched from his fingertips to his wrist, looking particularly jarring against his pale skin.
Mu Xingrui forced himself to calm down. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists. "Who are you?" His voice was hoarse, trembling with the shock of surviving a close call.
The mysterious man didn't answer immediately. He first looked around, his gaze sweeping over the surveillance cameras on both sides of the corridor, before turning his attention back to Mu Xingrui. A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth, "Such a massive national agency as the Supernatural Investigation Bureau, how can it be completely ignorant of Fierce Ghosts?"
"Fierce Ghost?" Mu Xingrui's pupils suddenly contracted, and the blood vessels at his temples throbbed.
He subconsciously glanced at Zhang Suyuan's corpse not far away. The body, which should have been completely dead, was twitching eerily, trying to stand up again. "You mean... the corpses of superhumans turn into Fierce Ghosts after they die?"
"A superhuman?" The mysterious man scoffed, his eyes revealing undisguised contempt. He shook his head, his black trench coat billowing in the breeze. "There are no superhumans in this world, only Ghost Tamers!"
The moment the last word was uttered, Zhang Suyuan's corpse stood up completely. Its neck was twisted at an abnormal angle, its lifeless eyes were fixed on the mysterious man, and its terrifying Ghost Hand slowly rose, its five fingers spread, reaching towards the mysterious man.
The mysterious man's expression didn't even change; he simply snapped his fingers casually.
However, the temperature in the corridor seemed to drop suddenly the next second, and Mu Xingrui felt a bone-chilling cold, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Zhang Suyuan's corpse suddenly froze in place, his movements frozen in the pose of the Ghost Hand outstretched, as if a pause button had been pressed. Even more eerie, fine cracks began to appear on the skin of his arm.
"Click."
A crisp snapping sound pierced the Silence corridor as Zhang Suyuan's right arm— the Ghost Hand that had claimed countless lives—was cleanly severed at the shoulder joint.
There was no bleeding at the cut, but you could see black, rotten flesh, and even the bones were black.
The severed arm hovered in the air, as if being supported by an invisible force.
The mysterious man slowly stepped forward, taking a golden bag from his trench coat pocket with his left hand. His movements were skillful and precise, as if he were performing a surgery that had been rehearsed countless times, accurately putting the severed Ghost Hand into the bag.
The moment the bag's opening tightened completely, the Ghost Hand that had been trembling and struggling slowly quieted down.
Without the Ghost Hand, Zhang Suyuan collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. This time, he remained motionless, completely turning into an ordinary corpse.
No, to be precise, this corpse was not ordinary either. It was decomposing at an extremely rapid rate, and the stench of decay was pervasive, making it seem nothing like someone who had just died.
With the crisis averted, Mu Xingrui's breathing was still rapid, his chest heaving violently. He could feel his heart pounding so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. But as the director of the Investigation Bureau, his mind remained rational and clear, and began to work at lightning speed, comparing everything he had just witnessed with past investigation data.
The abilities displayed by this mysterious figure were completely beyond the Investigation Bureau's comprehension. He claimed that Zhang Suyuan's corpse was a resurrected "Fierce Ghost," yet he could suppress it so easily. More importantly, he denied the existence of "superhumans," introducing the entirely new concept of "Ghost Tamers "...
"Who exactly are you?" Mu Xingrui asked again, his voice much more stable this time, but the urgency in his tone was even more obvious.
The truth was only a thin veil separating him from reality. He took a step forward. "What did you mean by 'Ghost Tamer'? How do you know these things?"
The mysterious man held the bag containing the Ghost Hand in his hand, turned to look at Mu Xingrui, and said with an inscrutable expression in his eyes, "It seems the Investigation Bureau really knows nothing." His voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.
As the mysterious man turned to leave, Mu Xingrui immediately stepped forward. "Wait!" His voice echoed in the empty corridor, "Tell me the truth! What should we do if something similar happens again? Many people in the department might be in danger!"
The mysterious man stopped in his tracks. He tilted his head slightly, revealing half of his sharply defined profile, a meaningful smile playing on his lips, "If you want to live, stop believing those lies about 'supernatural beings.' The Supernatural Investigation Bureau's research direction has been wrong from the start; you've all been deceived."
At this point, he glanced at Mu Xingrui from head to toe and said, "There's a Supernatural permeating the entire Investigation Bureau. I advise you to resolve your internal problems first before considering anything else."
As for who I am...