The Vanished Cemetery

"I feel like I've dug myself into a hole." Sun Hang turned off the television. "Is this... urgent?"

"Extremely urgent," Yang Qi said. "More than three-quarters of Tianfu City's management attended the flower-laying ceremony, not to mention the Federation Council representatives... If they remain missing for more than forty-eight hours, all of Tianfu City will descend into chaos."

"Since this is such a serious matter, didn't the Federation send anyone over?" Sun Hang asked. "Having a hunter who just started the job take on such an important responsibility... isn't that a bit of a joke?"

"You're the only hunter in Tianfu City who can be deployed right now," Yang Qi said. "The reinforcements' plane has already taken off and should arrive in around six hours... But no one can say what the situation will become after six hours. We have to race against time."

"...Then what can I do? I'm no different from an ordinary person right now. Even if you gave me six hours, I couldn't bring those missing people back."

"That may not be true. You saw images on the television that shouldn't have appeared. That means you resonate with the anomaly... Once you reach the scene, that resonance will become even stronger. That's our way to break this deadlock," Yang Qi said.

"All right... But I can't guarantee that this so-called 'resonance' will still happen once we get there."

"Then we'll deal with it when we get there!"

The two left the villa. Yang Qi pulled a large black duffel bag from the SUV's trunk and tossed it to Sun Hang.

The bag was heavy, and its contents clanged together with the distinct sound of metal.

"Equipment prepared for you... I wasn't sure what you might need, so I grabbed a little of everything," Yang Qi said. "You should have picked this stuff yourself, but there wasn't time."

Sun Hang unzipped the bag. Inside was a complete set of top-tier tactical gear, two carbines fitted with all kinds of expensive equipment, several special magazines bearing different labels, and a small titanium-alloy case containing six disposable syringes.

"The case contains medicine developed by the Anomaly Research Institute. The three yellow ones are Enhanced Stimulants. Their main ingredient is adrenaline, so I probably don't need to explain what they do, right?"

"What about the other three red ones?"

"Serum extracted from anomalies and refined afterward. It can greatly enhance a hunter's abilities after injection, but the degree of enhancement, its direction, and the side effects vary from person to person... It's still in clinical trials. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't recommend using it," Yang Qi said.

Sun Hang zipped the duffel bag shut and climbed into the vehicle.

Yang Qi did not let him drive. Instead, she hopped into the driver's seat, slammed on the gas, and drifted straight out through the villa's gate.

The SUV's rear scraped past the wrought-iron gate, sending sparks flying.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" Yang Qi asked amid the chaos.

"More or less." Sun Hang picked up a carbine and aimed it toward an empty spot outside the window—holographic sights were far more beginner-friendly than iron sights requiring three-point alignment, and the safety switch and magazine release on the receiver had even been thoughtfully labeled in Chinese.

"But I don't think we'll need guns for this mission."

"You never know." Yang Qi shook her head. "It'll be night soon. There are wild animals around the South City Public Cemetery after dark..."

The SUV had not gone far when a dull thud came from the roof, as though something had landed on it.

Yang Qi's expression stiffened slightly, and she opened the sunroof.

A nimble figure slipped into the car through it.

"Night Fiend, you weren't on the deployment list for this operation," Yang Qi said flatly.

"I know." Wang Xiyi glanced at Sun Hang and nodded.

"Then what do you mean by this?"

"Do you think a rookie hunter like him can complete this mission?"

"He resonated with that anomaly. He saw the missing people on his television at home," Yang Qi said. "Based on my assessment, the anomaly behind this incident should be Class A or Class B. It isn't an enemy you specialize in dealing with."

"So you're sending him to his death?" Wang Xiyi said.

"We're only handling the initial investigation. The risk won't be too high," Yang Qi said as she drove. "Before the Federation reinforcements arrive, we need to understand the situation as thoroughly as possible and save as much time as we can for the follow-up operation... To be honest, I don't think Tianfu City's forces alone can find those missing people."

"Then one more of me won't make a difference, and one less of me won't either." Wang Xiyi leaned back comfortably in her seat and crossed one long leg over the other. "If something comes up that this rookie can't handle, I can still serve as the last trump card in your hand."

"But you can't enter your beastified state anymore." Yang Qi frowned. "You might not come back."

"If I can take an anomaly down with me, that's not a loss." Wang Xiyi sounded unconcerned. "It's better than watching those things cause even greater damage."

"You... Fine, do whatever you want!" Yang Qi said helplessly. "But I'll report this to Teacher. If he—"

"I'll take full responsibility," Wang Xiyi said.

Then she held out her hand to Sun Hang. "Give me the things."

"What things?" Sun Hang asked.

"The three red syringes," Wang Xiyi said.

Sun Hang considered it for a moment, then took out two of them.

"I need to keep one for myself, in case I can use it," Sun Hang explained.

Wang Xiyi gave him a somewhat surprised look and said gravely, "Do you know the consequences of injecting that stuff?"

"No, but the worst that can happen is dying." Sun Hang smiled. "If I really end up in a hopeless situation, I'm dead either way. Having a chance to gamble is better than being able to do nothing."

"Interesting." Wang Xiyi put away the syringes. "You've got more guts than those cowards from the last batch."

Yang Qi drove the SUV at full speed, running more than a dozen red lights and scraping an unknown number of private cars before finally reaching the site of the incident half an hour later—the South City Public Cemetery.

Although the South City Public Cemetery was also located in Tianfu City's southern outskirts, it was actually some distance from the South City Development Zone destroyed by Bloody Mary—the South City Development Zone was called South City, but it was actually southwest of Tianfu City. The South City Public Cemetery lay farther east.

Sun Hang had already looked at photos of the South City Public Cemetery on the way there—the cemetery itself had been built on a hillside with a slope of roughly thirty degrees. Rows of white marble headstones stood amid lush greenery, and a sizable coniferous forest lay at the top of the hill.

But now, beyond the car window, there was only a stretch of barren hills.