Dead of night, with every household's lights aglow.
A demolition ruin more than fifty kilometers from Qingshui Village.
Many staff members had come during the day.
They had put up cordons around the area and persuaded the nearby businesses and residents to leave. Seeing such a commotion, the residents were terrified. No further explanation was needed—they hurriedly packed up their valuables and fled.
That saved them a lot of trouble.
No staff members remained that night. They had merely arranged for several drones to monitor the area. The drones had connected to a long power cable from a nearby shop, ensuring they could monitor the surroundings all night.
If the footage showed interference,
or if a drone inexplicably crashed, that meant something was happening.
Under the cover of night.
At the edge of the ruins, a Shadow Figure slipped in silently and swiftly headed toward the depths. As expected, a thermal-imaging drone high above instantly captured the figure.
"Something's happening."
Several kilometers away, the monitoring-room staff heard the alarm and immediately perked up.
They stared at the surveillance footage with solemn expressions.
"It's a living person."
"Someone who wandered in?"
"No. At that speed, they don't look like a normal person."
The person in charge of the monitoring room came before the screen. Seeing the heat source moving nimbly through the ruins, they first ruled out a Vicious Ghost. Yet the person crossed the uneven rubble as though walking on level ground, almost like they were parkouring.
No, that wasn't right.
Even parkour couldn't be this effortless.
"An Awakened?"
"But the higher-ups didn't say any new investigators were coming."
The person in charge was puzzled. "Keep an eye on this person's movements. Report to me immediately if anything unusual happens. I'll call Captain Jiang and ask."
Jiang Qiao walked