Hearing the commotion in the distance, Feng Xue figured the gang members had probably arrived. He immediately pulled his hood lower, confirmed that he was hidden, then slipped out of the crime scene through a narrow alley.
Even after combat ended, the speed boost from the Boots of Silence was still considerable. Combined with the Assassin Set's ability to lower his presence, it let him shake off the gang members, who may or may not have tried to track him, despite the blood soaking the clothes over his left ribs and right arm. He made it back home without trouble.
Thanks to the Boots of Silence's healing, his wounds had already begun to scab over, and the blood-soaked White Robe was gradually turning white again. This was one of the Phantom Object's notable features: as long as it wasn't destroyed outright, dirt and damage would slowly disappear over time. If the damage was too severe, though, it might take a long time to heal. In that case, feeding it some [Shi] could speed up the repair.
Feng Xue was actually rather glad that Infinite City had a climate like one controlled by central air conditioning. It never got foggy. Though Disassembly Madonna could unleash its greatest killing power at night, in fog, and against female opponents, against an Omen created from a corpse, its organ-removing attacks might not be any more effective than a simple sharp weapon.
Still, today's incident had finally made Feng Xue realize that Omens weren't nearly as rare as he'd thought. After pondering for a moment, he made a decision—
From now on, unless he got a stronger weapon, he'd only work at night, and he'd only take female corpses.
Elsewhere, the Administrator, leader of the Administrator Gang, stood at the place where Feng Xue had fought the Omen, his expression hard to read. Two middle-aged men stood beside him, scanning the area. Both had the Tag of [Appraiser].
After a moment, one of them suddenly looked up, as if he'd noticed something. His tone was certain as he said:
"That's it. The Omen that appeared here must have been a 'Bone Woman.'"
"Bone Woman? That's already a high-level variety. Even newly born, it has Anomaly Level Combat Power. And it looks a lot like an ordinary person. It'd be too dangerous if one slipped into the Landfill Area. Can you tell which way it went?" The other Appraiser frowned and walked over. The one who'd found the clue gave him a strange look.
"No, there's no need to chase it. It was killed right here. Look at the mark on this stone. This kind of mark only appears after an Omen is killed. Otherwise, the stone couldn't have acquired the [female] element."
Following his companion's direction, the Appraiser who'd just arrived looked over and indeed found a stone bearing the [female] element. Based on past experience, he even marked the approximate spot where the Bone Woman had died.
Within the marked area, the two Appraisers also found several items affected by the mark's radiation. However, elements that didn't match an item's nature wouldn't become permanent; they gradually faded and vanished over time. That was why the phenomenon was called mark spread rather than element spread.
Listening to the two Appraisers exchange their findings, the Administrator finally lost patience and spoke up:
"So you're saying that in the less than ten minutes since I got the notice about the Omen and rushed here, someone already killed a Bone Woman—an Anomaly Level Omen that was on the verge of becoming a true Weird Tale?"
"It's hard to believe, but that's what the traces at the scene indicate." The Appraiser, who also worked as a detective, pointed to the ground. There were almost no footprints, just a few inconspicuous drag marks and a handful of scratches. "The other party probably clashed with the Omen inside that house and immediately tried to flee. But the Bone Woman caught up with them, and they fought here. The whole thing probably took less than three minutes."
"Impossible! The Bone Woman might look human, but it's still a corpse-type Omen. It couldn't possibly be killed that easily!"
Disbelief filled the Administrator's face. As the person in the entire Landfill Area who'd encountered Omens the most, he knew full well how troublesome corpse-type Omens were. The ones with obvious weaknesses were manageable, but varieties like the Bone Woman, Stitched Monster, and Frankenstein's Monster were practically mindless Weird Tales. Even he could only fight them by trading blood—unless...
"The other party probably has a Phantom Object that counters the Bone Woman!"
Yes, it had to be a Phantom Object. A False Thing with a countering element could also inflict effective damage, but it could never let its owner catch up to the Bone Woman's physical speed.
The Administrator hadn't even considered the possibility that the other person was strong enough to stand against the Bone Woman, or even overpower it. He simply couldn't do that himself.
This wasn't the conceit of "I can't do it, so no one else can." The [Administrator] profession was only granted to the strongest person in the area, excluding equipment. If someone stronger than him existed, the profession would be taken away immediately.
The fact that the [Administrator] profession was still firmly attached to him meant that whoever had beaten the Omen was definitely weaker than he was.
For someone weaker than him to kill a Bone Woman that could ignore defenses and move at incredible speed, the Administrator couldn't imagine any explanation other than a Phantom Object!
"Find them! We have to track this person down! Also, the Bone Woman was a corpse mutation. We didn't get any report of a corpse showing up here yesterday, only a notice about an Omen. That means someone must have brought the corpse in. Start by checking everyone who took a corpse disposal job last night!"
The Administrator quickly pieced things together and issued orders to the underlings behind him. It wasn't just greed for the other person's powerful Phantom Object. More importantly, he wanted to protect his own vested interests.
Owning a powerful Phantom Object meant the other person could obtain combat-related Tags more easily and snowball from there. If they grew stronger than him, Infinite City would strip him of the Administrator profession, and the two of them would have to compete for it again.
The Administrator profession meant control of the Garbage Dump and a monopoly on high-quality professions. He'd grown so accustomed to the perks of his position that he could no longer give it up!
So anyone who might threaten his position had to die!
Feng Xue, already asleep, knew nothing about this. But his comfortable sleep didn't last long. The vibration of his work badge jolted him awake.
"Hello? What is it?" Feng Xue picked up the work badge and saw a call from Old Li. He casually pressed the answer button, and Old Li's voice came through—
"The Administrator Gang's gone crazy for some reason. They've suddenly started searching the whole city. If you've got any secrets, make sure you hide them. I'm leaving the Landfill Area. If you need anything after this, go find Old Xia on East Street. He's a Novice Instructor too. He won't turn you away."
"Wait, what do you mean, you're leaving? Do you have a way out?" Feng Xue froze slightly and quickly stopped Old Li from hanging up. Old Li replied helplessly:
"What way out? I'm going through the wilderness. All right, I still have to notify the others. We'll talk later."
"Wait, I..." Feng Xue hadn't finished speaking before Old Li hung up. When he called back, all he heard was the busy signal...
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