Blood Mist

Chapter 8: Blood Mist

"What if that shadow... is actually an Anomaly?" 0401 asked worriedly.

"If it really is an Anomaly, report it to the Investigation Bureau and have them send 'Hunters'," Captain Huang said. "But first, you need to be sure it's an Anomaly. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise, what?" 0401 inquired.

"You don't want to know," Captain Huang said, shaking his head with a stern expression. He seemed very tight-lipped about these individuals called 'Hunters'.

"Are 'Hunters' the 'experts who deal with Anomalies' mentioned in the mission briefing?" Sun Hang asked.

Based on his limited common knowledge, there were at least some descriptions of the Investigator profession, but the word 'Hunter' only brought to mind the meaning of 'someone who hunts for a living'.

It was clear that the 'Hunters' Captain Huang was referring to were far from what Sun Hang understood.

"That's right... but honestly, I'd rather face vicious outlaws than deal with those things," Captain Huang sighed.

Sun Hang noticed that the adjective Captain Huang used for 'Hunters' was 'those things', not 'those people'.

Two Peacekeepers had reached the spot where the shadowy figure had been standing. Their flashlights shone on the ground, revealing a clear set of footprints on the floor, covered in a thick layer of dust, leading in the direction the figure had fled.

"Judging by the size and shape of the footprints, it appears to be a woman, barefoot, with flat feet, and a missing little toe on her right foot," a Peacekeeper skilled in forensics quickly analyzed.

"Follow," Captain Huang ordered concisely.

Everyone immediately pursued the footprints. With the forensics expert leading the way, they managed to keep track of their target despite the numerous other footprints on the path. They tracked the figure from the second floor back to the first, and then down into the haunted house's basement.

During this pursuit, the Peacekeepers also discovered a surprising clue.

Among the jumbled footprints, they found the tracks of the missing intern Peacekeeper!

"Size thirty-eight field training boots, it's Hu Lijun," the forensics expert confirmed, nodding to Captain Huang. "She went into the basement last and hasn't come out since."

The barefoot woman in the robe had also fled into this basement.

For some reason, Sun Hang felt something was off.

Before entering the haunted house, he had glanced at the advertisements posted on the walls. They detailed the various attractions inside, including the themed escape rooms on the first floor and the retro maze on the second, but the basement was never mentioned.

"Does the haunted house include the basement?" Sun Hang voiced his confusion. "Why wasn't it mentioned in the promotional materials outside?"

"Probably places like the power room, the monitoring room, or the control room for the mechanisms," 0398, who had recovered, explained. "These places aren't open to visitors, so it's normal for them not to be on the list."

The entrance to the basement was a locked iron door, covered in rust and some suspicious dark brown marks, which could have been water stains mixed with rust or bloodstains left by some creature.

"Thump!!"

With a dull thud, the battering ram broke the lock. Two Peacekeepers holding riot shields rammed the iron door open with their bodies and charged in.

The remaining Peacekeepers also drew their weapons.

About ten meters from the entrance, the barefoot woman in the long robe stood beneath a large hanging painting, her head bowed, muttering something in an unintelligible voice.

Everyone could now see clearly that she was holding an old-fashioned oil lamp. A faint flame flickered at the end of the wick.

"Don't move!" Captain Huang shouted sternly. "Put down what you're holding! Take off your hood! Raise your hands!"

The woman ignored Captain Huang and instead increased the speed of her chanting.

A strange aroma filled the basement. The next second, a deep red mist emerged from the cracks in the floor, instantly enveloping everyone.

"Subdue her!" Captain Huang ordered.

The two Peacekeepers with shields moved to advance, but found their bodies frozen in place, as if they had lost control. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't take a single step forward.

"Cap... Captain Huang, I can't seem to move!" the shielded Peacekeeper stammered, a hint of terror in his voice. "What's going on?"

"Is the mist poisonous?" Captain Huang instinctively raised his hand to cover his mouth and nose. With his other hand, he raised his pistol, intending to fire. But before he could pull the trigger, his wrist suddenly went limp, and the pistol fell to the ground.

Another Peacekeeper attempted to fire as well. However, something even more terrifying happened. He raised his gun, aiming at the robed woman's knees, but a second before pulling the trigger, he suddenly shifted the muzzle towards his colleague next to him.

"Bang!"

The gunshot echoed through the basement. The Peacekeeper who fired was splattered with his colleague's blood. He looked down at the corpse at his feet and let out a terrified scream.

Everyone in the squad seemed to have lost control of their bodies, except for one person.

Sun Hang flexed his wrist with a hint of confusion and bent down to pick up the pistol Captain Huang had dropped.

He noticed that the deep red mist rising from the floor cracks maintained a distance of a few centimeters from him. Wherever he walked, a human-shaped "blank area" appeared. It was as if the mist was actively avoiding him.

They... are afraid of me?

Sun Hang tilted his head, pondered for a moment, and then walked directly up to the robed woman.

He smiled at her, then raised his hand and delivered a resounding slap to her face.

"Slap!"

The sound of his palm hitting her cheek was crisp and loud, echoing throughout the entire basement.

Everyone was stunned, including the robed woman.

After a two-second pause, she spoke in a voice that was both sharp and trembling, "You, you dare..."

"Slap!!"

Another resounding slap interrupted her question, knocking the oil lamp from her hands to the ground.

The moment the oil lamp was extinguished, the blood-like mist vanished into thin air.

"You... you... unforgivable! He will descend punishment..."

"Slap! Slap-slap-slap!!!"

Loud slapping sounds rang out one after another. The woman in the long robe was slapped backward repeatedly until she finally had to crouch down, raising her arms to shield her cheeks.

"Don't... don't hit me..."

Sun Hang rubbed his already red and swollen palm, sighing inwardly – as expected, the law of action and reaction applies universally.

He turned his head, glanced at the stunned crowd standing frozen in place, and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Come over and cuff her!"