This was getting ridiculous.
"I didn't open it. I could tell this thing was trouble."
Chen Yu said, still a little surprised.
The supernatural was everywhere. He hadn't expected it to be able to invade even a cellphone.
If he opened that chat window, the supernatural would definitely notice him.
[Good! You didn't open it. This supernatural entity is like a virus. It spreads almost as fast as the Spanish flu. I reckon every Ghost Controller with an account on the Anomaly Era Official Forum has received this message...] [If a few more Ghost Controllers open the chat window and get killed by the supernatural, it'll take over their bodies and revive. Then the world will descend into chaos.]
"At a time like this, your Investigation Bureau needs to step in. Your bureau was founded to protect Huaxia and eliminate supernatural entities that threaten humanity."
Chen Yu said.
[Our motto is 'We won't become Buddhas until all supernatural entities are gone,' but this virus on the Anomaly Computer is spreading so fast that we simply can't be everywhere at once.] [That's why we had to look up your identity. We wanted to see if you might have a solution.] [Mr. Nightfall, I'm really sorry for the trouble...]
The voice on the other end was frantic. The caller was clearly begging Chen Yu to come up with a plan.
"Help you? I don't think I have that kind of ability. If your Investigation Bureau can't deal with this supernatural entity, there's no way I can."
Chen Yu said, "You don't think that just because I handled a high-risk supernatural incident, I'm the greatest in the world, do you?"
[No, no. This is a collective effort.]
The voice on the other end was anxious. "You're someone our Investigation Bureau takes seriously, and the Director personally asked me to call you."
The Director?
Looks like the Investigation Bureau thinks pretty highly of me.
Chen Yu couldn't help smiling.
The Anomaly Computer must be quite a formidable supernatural entity, or the Investigation Bureau wouldn't be this worried.
If he devoured the Anomaly Computer, he'd surely gain a lot from it.
"I can try to help you, but I'm just a civilian. You're not expecting me to do it for free, are you?"
A smile curled Chen Yu's lips.
[Of course not! Our Director personally promised...] [Let me talk to him. Move aside!]
A voice from the other end interrupted the staffer. Then someone snatched the phone, and a deep, resonant voice came on.
[I'm Yang Guanlin, Director of the Investigation Bureau. I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Nightfall. If you're willing to help us deal with this supernatural entity, you can choose any item from the Investigation Bureau's collection or claim a large quantity of gold.]
"Not bad."
Chen Yu smiled.
The Investigation Bureau was a state agency.
The items in its collection were bound to be treasures.
Chen Yu chose the first option without hesitation.
He had no use for gold right now.
[All right, it's settled. We'll be waiting for good news, Mr. Nightfall.]
With that, the Director hung up.
Chen Yu picked up his phone and opened the Supernatural Forum again.
The conspicuously pinned chat window was still in his private messages.
"Heh. I'm not opening it. I'll just mess with it."
Of course, Chen Yu wasn't stupid enough to open it himself.
Didn't he have the Headless Ghost Shadow?
The next moment,
his aura stirred.
The shadow on the ground sprang to its feet with a whoosh.
Then it wrapped itself around him from head to toe.
Chen Yu grinned and tapped the chat window with his pitch-black hands.
Crack, crack, crack!
The phone flashed with static, like an old television suddenly being unplugged and shutting down.
The screen went black!
The next moment,
line after line of crooked text appeared on the dark screen, seeping with an eerie aura.
[Hahaha, another one fell for it.] [You're a lucky one. You've been infected with the Anomaly Incense Burning Virus I created!] [The moment you opened that chat window, you stepped into an abyss with no way out. All that awaits you is death.] [Now, two things are going to happen to you.] [First, your brain will slowly shut down, leaving only a sliver of your consciousness.] [Second, that last sliver of consciousness will make you feel your heart pounding wildly. Once it reaches a certain rate, congratulations—you're dead! Hahahaha!] [I died because of that damn overtime!] [Why did the company treat me like this?! I was only a twenty-year-old programmer, but at such a young age I went bald and turned into an old man!] [Overtime, overtime... I hate overtime...]
From the words flashing across the screen, it was clear why the Anomaly Computer had come into being.
He had been a programmer. And programmers, well, they often did a little work on the side—hacking.
But in the end, he'd died from working overtime for his company.
[Everyone's going to die from overwork! Every last one of them!] [...]
Another line of text flashed across the phone, followed by a countdown.
It was obviously a countdown to death.
Five...
One...
When the countdown ended,
Chen Yu was still standing where he was, holding the phone. Nothing happened.
[Huh? Why aren't you dead?!] [Why hasn't your brain shut down?] [What the hell? Why can't I sense your brain? Where's your head?!] [You don't have a head?!]
The phone's message sounded utterly shocked.
Chen Yu couldn't help laughing.
Although Chen Yu was holding the phone, the one wrapped in the Headless Ghost Shadow was Chen Yu himself.
The Headless Ghost Shadow didn't even have a head. How could it have a brain?
[D-doesn't matter. You'll die anyway...] [Don't get cocky. You're infected with my Anomaly Incense Burning Virus. You're dead for sure.] [If you don't have a head, your heart should still be pounding wildly, right?] [Hehehehe...] [Huh?] [Where's your heart? What's going on?!] [Why don't you have a heart either?! What the hell, why are you a shadow?!]
"Had enough?"
Chen Yu smiled.
The other party could spread the supernatural through cellphones.
His shadow could use these messages to infect the other party's shadow, too!
As the saying went,
you had to return the favor.
Linjiang City.
Inside a remote, deserted internet café.
The place was utterly forlorn, without a soul in sight.
But in the very last seat sat a man, and a girl lay in the chair beside him.
She was bound hand and foot. Her delicate features and slender figure gave her a certain charm.
Right now, though, her face was deathly pale with fear.
The man sitting in front of the computer was extremely fat, and he wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.
The flesh on his face was packed together, making it look like a human-shaped chrysanthemum.
"Hahaha, Liu Jia! Didn't you look down on me? I've become so powerful now! Whoever I want dead, dies!"
The fat man turned around, his chrysanthemum face stretching into a smile more miserable than a sob. He said to the girl, "Didn't you say you'd marry me if I became strong?"
The bound girl was named Liu Jia. Seeing that Zhou Gui had completely lost his mind, she grew frightened. "Zhou Gui, let me go! What you're doing is illegal!"
"Illegal? Let me tell you, in Riverside, I'll be the law from now on!"
Zhou Gui declared arrogantly.
"Zhou Gui! Let me go right now! It's not too late to turn yourself in!"
Liu Jia said anxiously.
"Turn myself in?"
A sinister smile appeared on Zhou Gui's face. "If I turn myself in, they'll shoot me on the spot. How could I possibly do that?"
He was a gaming addict who was often beaten and scolded by his parents.
Over time, it became normal to him. He got used to their abuse and even grew to hate them.
Eventually, he moved into the internet café. Luckily, he was fairly clever and knew a little about computers, so he began exploiting loopholes on various websites to earn money for internet fees and the like.
Liu Jia was the attendant here, and he'd had his eye on her for a long time.
Then, by chance, he gained control of the Anomaly Computer and acquired a supernatural ability.
Whenever he hacked into a website and sent a file, email, or message, anyone who opened it would be targeted by the Anomaly Computer and killed.
At first, he was still fairly normal after gaining the Anomaly Computer. But not long ago, his parents took him home and beat him up. His classmates looked down on him, too, and when he confessed to Liu Jia, the attendant at the internet café, she rejected him without hesitation.
He completely broke down, and his mind began to change.
He started learning about the Anomaly Computer's supernatural ability and releasing viruses everywhere.
Two days ago, his parents received a text on their phones. They opened it, and he killed them.
His classmates who looked down on him—especially the class monitor—also died after opening a news pop-up he'd hacked.
After several successful attempts, Zhou Gui became more and more convinced that he was invincible.
He became more and more certain that he ruled the world, and no one could stand against him!
That was why he'd kidnapped Liu Jia.
Didn't Liu Jia look down on him?
He'd show her just how powerful he was!
Right in front of Liu Jia, he hacked into the Anomaly Era Forum!
"Hahaha! I've taken over the Anomaly Era Forum! Every Ghost Controller on the Supernatural Forum is going to die at the hands of my supernatural entity!"
After learning that there were quite a few Ghost Controllers in this world, Zhou Gui had hacked into the Anomaly Era Forum to kill them all and prove how powerful he was.
The inferiority he'd felt in the past had become a stepping stone leading him into the abyss.
All the vile traits he'd hidden deep inside were now laid bare!
Liu Jia stared at Zhou Gui in terror.
What had this fat man gone through to drive him insane?
"Hahaha! Supernatural entities, supernatural entities! Once I've killed every Ghost Controller in this world, I'll be the strongest Ghost Controller!"
Zhou Gui spoke with a crazed look on his face. His eyes narrowed to slits, and the rolls of flesh on his face bunched together, making him look utterly terrifying and sinister.
When his phone invited him to join the Anomaly Era Official Website, he'd discovered that he wasn't the only Ghost Controller in the world!
Without a supernatural entity, he'd been a nobody, a fat, internet-addicted shut-in who did nothing but surf the web. Everyone looked down on him and despised him.
Now, he had a supernatural entity and had finally turned his life around.
When he discovered that there were others in the world like him, who also possessed supernatural entities, he couldn't accept it.
In the end, he used the Anomaly Computer's supernatural ability to hack into the Anomaly Era Official Website and plant a virus there.
[Buzz!] [You're amazing! Your supernatural entity helped you kill a Ghost Controller.] [The two of you are a match made in heaven!] [Keep killing. Make sure everyone knows you're no longer who you used to be.] [You're the one who rules this world.] [Make everyone fear you!]
Blood-red words wreathed in flickering flames appeared on the phone screen again.
They kept tugging at Zhou Gui's soul, drawing him deeper and deeper.
He was unable to resist, growing more and more deranged.
"Did you see that? Just a moment ago! I already killed a Ghost Controller!"
Zhou Gui showed the text on his phone to Liu Jia, flaunting his battle results.
Liu Jia's face was terrified and pale as death, and her feet kicked back repeatedly as she tried to retreat, only to find that she could not back away at all.
[Buzz!]
[Someone else has opened your text message!]
[You can now ravage his body without restraint!]
A prompt appeared once more, and Zhou Gui was overjoyed!
He did not expect someone else to fall into the trap!
He hurriedly began to control the Anomaly Computer, sending sections of text to the mobile phone invaded by the Anomaly Computer.
"Your name is Nightfall, right? You're also one of my stepping stones, haha."
Zhou Gui felt joy in his heart.
As long as he killed this Ghost Controller, then he would have killed two people in total!
Having invaded Nightfall's phone, Zhou Gui was waiting for the good news brought by the Anomaly Computer.
Buzz buzz buzz!
The phone began to vibrate frantically.
"Did it succeed?"
Zhou Gui excitedly picked up the phone to take a look, but he found rows of text instead.
[Buzz!]
[Although you are powerful, you must also be careful and not be too arrogant.]
[In this world, there are people above people, and heavens beyond heavens.]
[Perhaps when you are targeting someone with an anomaly.]
[Someone is also targeting you...]
Seeing this prompt, Zhou Gui was stunned; what did this mean?
Did he succeed in killing the target or not?
"He didn't die?"
Zhou Gui looked baffled!
Anyone who fell victim to the Anomaly Ability of his anomaly would definitely experience brain crashes, followed by accelerated heartbeats, and finally sudden death. Yet it had been so long, why had the message of Nightfall's death not been fed back yet?
[Do you want "him" or "Him" to die?]
[You are overthinking it; whichever one it is, you cannot kill them.]
[You are not worthy. If you insist on straying down the crooked path, the only road before you is death.]
[Although you know all about courting death, it is best to immediately conceal your identity before He completely fixes His gaze on you.]
[That way, you still have a sliver of a chance of survival.]
The phone continuously gave prompts to Zhou Gui.
"I still have a sliver of a chance of survival? The anomaly I harness is so powerful, who can compare to me?"
Zhou Gui looked disdainful.
Because he had killed so many people in a row without a single failure, survivorship bias made him feel immensely inflated, and he believed that he was the king of the Anomaly Era.
And this time, he also discovered after invading the website that the website had some kind of regional competition ranking.
Before you continue