Notes

"This stuff is getting thicker and thicker. We'd better not waste any time."

Fu Qian pointed upward with his palm.

Getting four hired musclemen so easily was an unexpected bonus.

There was no time to lose. His top priority was to lead the group to the Divine Son and help with the delivery.

Besides, he wasn't just making things up.

It had only been a few minutes since they'd left the building, but the shadows overhead had already grown much thicker, and visibility had worsened considerably.

Even the wind had turned unpleasantly viscous, as though it were filled with invisible needles that prickled their skin.

"We've nearly finished clearing the outskirts, too."

The Captain nodded and decisively issued his orders.

Considering Fu Qian wasn't in good shape, he specifically told White Porcelain Woman Su Gao to keep a close eye on him.

Whether that meant watching over him or keeping him under surveillance was hard to say.

Fu Qian had no objections.

Whatever the case, he had a mysterious background. A few words weren't going to put them at ease.

Not to mention, all of them were still in a bloodthirsty state.

The group soon made their way down the long street, heading toward the center of the shadows.

The atmosphere was oppressive, and not a single person spoke.

Indeed, unless someone was a natural-born psychopath, few people could stay in a good mood after slaughtering their own kind—even with ample justification.

The area around them was an old residential district, with buildings packed tightly together and their view severely obstructed.

Everyone had their weapons drawn and stayed alert. Fu Qian walked in the middle of the group, and was the most relaxed of them all.

Just as they were about to reach the central area, Fu Qian suddenly felt a twinge of alarm.

A window nearby suddenly swung open, and a grayish blur shot out with a whoosh, lunging straight at his face.

Su Gao's blade and Fu Qian's Air Bullet hit it almost simultaneously.

Smack!

The thing staggered from the impact, then Su Gao cleanly cut it in two.

Even so, it left a deep wound on Fu Qian's shoulder.

Half its body even crawled several meters across the ground before stopping.

After his special training, Fu Qian no longer paid any mind to minor injuries like this. He immediately retreated to a safe distance.

Only then did he get a clear look at what had attacked him.

Long black hair and a stained coat—it looked like it had been a person not long ago.

Unfortunately, it had now been completely warped.

Its whole body looked as though it had been stretched tenfold and then snapped back. Its legs had almost shrunk into its torso, with only the very tips showing.

"This is the first time I've seen a curse like this."

Buzz Cut Man took a deep breath, but there was a hint of relief in his voice.

Fu Qian looked around. The others, including the Captain, seemed to feel the same way.

They had previously suspected that people would mutate into monsters under the curse's corruption, but it had only been a suspicion. Now that it was confirmed, their guilt seemed to ease a little.

"How's your wound?"

The Captain turned to look at Fu Qian.

"It's nothing. Let's keep going!"

Fu Qian acted as if he didn't even notice the wound on his shoulder. He'd already decided to maintain his tough-guy image to the end.

"Hm."

The Captain nodded silently. He'd seen how Fu Qian had reacted when he was attacked.

Now he was even more convinced that Fu Qian was an extraordinary individual who had seen plenty of death.

Only someone like that could possess such knowledge and courage.

The Captain silently admired him and resolved to find a way to help Fu Qian lift the curse once the incident was over.

"Damn, why are there still so many!"

At that moment, Buzz Cut Man growled under his breath.

In just that brief moment, Maggot People had crawled out of the windows, off the rooftops, and even from the pipes overhead. One after another, they swarmed toward the five of them.

"Move!"

The Captain gave the order without hesitation.

The group sprang into action, cutting a path through before they could be surrounded.

Fu Qian was actually quite pleased. Whenever anyone attacked along the way, he invariably added an Air Bullet of his own.

If he remembered right, the report included the number of enemies killed. Maybe it would affect the rewards or something. There was no harm in racking up a few more kills.

It was also good practice.

Before long, Fu Qian's Air Bullet had become accurate enough to hit heads every time.

With the Cat School's boost, he could hit whatever he aimed at.

By then, the five had rounded the corner at the end of the street, and the space before them opened up.

Nearly a hundred hunched figures, wrapped in human clothing, crouched on the floor of the vast hall.

They were packed in so tightly that they covered every inch of the place.

Some of them were even dressed to the nines.

Their bodies swayed gently, as if keeping time with some rhythm.

Damn!

Though Fu Qian claimed to have seen it all, even he felt sick at the sight.

The Captain's face had darkened like charcoal. He clearly hadn't expected things to be this bad.

"All right, that's enough. We stop here!"

Before he could say anything, the Old Man, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

Seeing everyone look his way, the Old Man snorted and continued.

"I think this incident is beyond our authority to handle. We should report it to the agency and have them send people to deal with it."

"Sounds to me like you're scared!"

Buzz Cut Man was the first to flare up.

"Report it and let them handle it? Don't tell me you don't know how long it'll take them to get here!"

"That's right. I'm scared."

The Old Man didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

"I'm not like you. I only do what's part of my job."

"What we've done so far can still be explained to some extent. But what are you going to do about this? With so many people here, if this place turns into a living hell, are you sure you won't be held responsible?"

"If we all die here, then the incident will truly spiral out of control."

"We don't even know what caused the curse's corruption. All we have is this guy of unknown origin telling us about it. Are you really going to believe everything he says?"

How did I get dragged into this again?

When the Old Man pointed at him, Fu Qian simply shook his head.

"You don't need to believe everything. I wasn't telling the whole truth anyway."

"We can't just walk away. There's no way we could explain ourselves when we got back."

The Captain's face was cold.

"Who said we came away empty-handed?"

The Old Man pulled out an object and tossed it over.

"At least we found this."

Fu Qian glanced at it. It was a battered black notebook.

"Where did you find it?"

The Captain looked startled.

"While we were carrying out the purge."

The Old Man snorted and pointed at Fu Qian.

"I just didn't trust him, so I held onto it for the time being."

"With this, we can't exactly say we came away empty-handed, can we?"

Seeing the other three fall silent, looking somewhat convinced, Fu Qian felt uneasy.

Something's wrong. We haven't even met the boss, and the team's already about to split up.

Fu Qian pointed at the item in the Captain's hand.

"Hey, can I take a look?"

"This is an important item."

Buzz Cut Man was the first to object, before the Captain could say anything.

The Captain ignored him and handed the notebook over.

"It's fine if you take a look. This thing is connected to another incident we've been investigating.

"I've already gone through it. There's nothing unusual."

The notebook was thin and didn't contain much. Fu Qian turned through it with his fingertips, then furrowed his brow.

"I don't understand this part down here. What does it mean?"

"What?"

When they looked where Fu Qian was pointing, everyone gave him a look that said, Are you messing with us?

"Are you joking?"

"Why would I joke? This part is a complete jumble. I can't make any sense of it."

The Captain silently handed him a stick.

"Can you make a copy of it?"

Fu Qian asked, "Why?"

"Because, to us, that part is blank."