At the same time, in An City proper.
Those trial participants who were lucky enough to survive the Flesh Demon's night raid hadn't even had time to catch their breath before they were struck by a true daytime Nightmare.
The shopping street near the shopping center.
A skilled trainee was cornered in an alley by a dozen Ghost Infant. His Shadow was stretched out from around the corner of the wall and then bitten.
He reacted quickly, using his knife to slice off the Shadow along with the wall, cutting off its tail to save his life.
But after running less than fifty meters, they discovered that the walls of the entire alley were covered in green light.
Residential area in the west of the city.
The two trial participants, back to back, faced their enemy. One of them possessed light-based Supernatural Ability and erected a light shield, believing it could suppress the Ghost Infant.
But the light made his Shadow larger, so the Ghost Infant didn't need to attack him.
They only need to crouch about twenty meters away from him and start gnawing from the end of his Shadow.
The light- Supernatural Ability died while still in the posture of holding up a shield; powder drifted out from the light shield and shone briefly in the morning light.
Chengdong Hotel.
A prodigy from a reclusive sect displayed exceptional skill, slaying dozens of Ghost Infant and carving a bloody path through them.
But he was too focused on breaking through the enemy lines ahead to notice that his Shadow was reflected behind a kicked-open iron gate.
The Ghost Infant inside the iron gate didn't chase him; it simply quietly finished gnawing on that Shadow.
He was running wildly when suddenly his legs gave way, and he flew out of the window on the third floor of the factory, turning into powdery snow before he even hit the ground.
The killings unfolded in every corner.
This city ruin, ravaged by the Flesh Demon for countless days and nights, welcomed another group of predators under the sunlight.
The Ghost Infant traveled from south to north and from east to west, picking up, crushing, and devouring the scattered trial participants one by one.
The manner of death was quiet and efficient.
What was eaten was not the body, but the Shadow.
They didn't even feel any pain before they collapsed.
The only warning sign was that my body grew colder and heavier, and then, at the moment my eyes lost their luster.
But there is one exception.
An City Park, the island in the middle of the lake.
A man was crossing the lawn, his steps quick but steady, each step landing precisely on the edge of the shadow cast by the tree canopy.
He wore black-rimmed glasses, and his white lab coat was already tattered.
Behind him, shadowy figures moved about.
Dozens of Ghost Infant surrounded him from both sides, constantly compressing his escape route.
The man didn't even turn his head.
He stepped onto an overturned bench, used it to jump over a dry ditch, and paused briefly after landing.
After assessing the terrain ahead, I turned left onto the gravel path.
There was no sign of panic on his face.
It's like observing an experiment that has nothing to do with you.
Meanwhile, three other pairs of eyes were also watching the experiment from the shadows, but they weren't planning to intervene yet...
"The path is too shadowy; we'll change course."
The man muttered something to himself, then turned and veered off course, crossing into the middle of a sunlit lawn.
The Ghost Infant's pursuit route was cut off by the wall of light for a moment, and they circled around from both sides, slowing down slightly.
This brief respite was enough for him to reach the lake.
The water glistens ahead.
That's the central lake in An City Park. The water area isn't large, but the depth is estimated to be over two meters.
Rotten lotus leaves and various debris floated on the lake surface, and the water was murky and green.
The man did not hesitate.
He stepped into the lake, his whole body submerged, and he paddled and pushed his way to the center of the lake, leaving only his head above water.
His glasses were covered in water droplets. He took them off, wiped them haphazardly with his soaked sleeve, and put them back on his nose.
Lakeside.
The Ghost Infant stopped.
They stopped less than a meter from the lake water, crowding into several dense rows.
Their eyes were fixed on the man in the center of the lake, but they dared not take another step forward.
The water reflects the sky and their Shadow.
The man waded in the water in the middle of the lake, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
"Give up."
"If I'm not mistaken, you can only attack Shadow, at least for now."
"The reflection will be completely scattered on the water's surface; even if you go into the water, you won't be able to find any Shadow to locate it."
"Furthermore, the lake's reflectivity is high enough that the daytime sunlight is intense enough to make you lose your bearings underwater."
He paused, looking at the dark figures huddled together on the shore.
"Instead of wasting your time on me, go find someone else."
"I'm probably not the only living person in this park right now."
The Ghost Infant on the shore looked at each other and made low hissing sounds, as if they were communicating.
Men can tell they're hesitant.
These creatures possess collective intelligence, but their IQ seems to be stuck at a basic instinctual stage, and they will briefly get stuck when faced with situations beyond their existing knowledge.
But this hesitation didn't last long.
The Ghost Infant stopped their commotion.
They parted to the sides like Moses parting the Red Sea, making way for a passage in the middle.
At the end of the passage, an even larger cloud of Black Mist was slowly approaching.
It was a tiny, dark figure, about 1.3 meters tall, with an outline resembling that of a seven or eight-year-old child.
Anyone who has seen it would never associate it with humans.
Its limbs were longer and thinner than the Ghost Infant's, and instead of hands and feet, they ended in four sharp, black bone spurs.
Two rows of interlocking fangs grew from its mouth, and its eerie green eyes were no longer empty; instead, they gleamed with the excitement of hunting.
Where it passed, the moss on the lawn immediately withered, leaving a trail of black scorch marks.
The calm on the man's face finally crumbled.
His brows were furrowed, and the corners of his mouth were pressed down.
This was the first time he had shown this expression since encountering these ghostly things.
"It has evolved to the second stage..."
"It can directly absorb soul energy without needing Shadow as a medium."
No wonder it dared to go into the water.
He began to back away, his paddling movements becoming somewhat more frantic than before.
But the center of the lake is less than 30 meters from the shore, a distance that would only take a few breaths for that Ghost Brat.
The Ghost Brat raised his right hand, a bone spur, and pointed it clearly at the still-moving head in the center of the lake.
The man took a deep breath, then suddenly spoke:
"Hello!!!"
He shouted towards the woods across the way, "How much longer are you going to look before you come down?!"
The words had barely left his mouth.
The entire sky was burned to a dark red, and a beam of aurora cleaved down from the canopy of a tree across the lake.
The Extinction Tribulation Light.
The little Ghost Brat didn't even have time to turn its head.
A slender red light cut in from the center of its brow, traveled down its spine, and split its entire body in two.
Two jet-black bodies slid to the left and right, then crashed into the lake with two splashes.
The group of Ghost Infant standing on the shore didn't even have time to make a move to escape before the calamity light swept over them.
All the Ghost Infant on the red light track were cut in half at the same instant.
His upper body slid down at an angle, while his lower body remained rooted to the spot.
In less than three seconds, the shore fell silent.
The black, dissected remains scattered on the ground were slowly melting, like ice cream placed in the sunlight.
The man climbed out of the lake, soaking wet, with a few rotten lotus leaves hanging on his white coat.
He rested his hands on his knees, looked down, and coughed for a while.
His glasses were fogged up by the lake water, but he didn't bother to wipe them. He looked up at the ancient cypress trees across the lake.
A dark shadow was falling from between the branches.
The moment it hit the ground, the park's cement bricks cracked into a spiderweb pattern.
The man held the Godslayer Spear in his left hand, the tip of which was three inches into the ground, while his right hand was pale.
A crack appeared on his forehead, and embedded in the crack was a dark red eyeball, which was closing.
The man looked up and was met directly by the tip of a gun.
The tip of the Godslayer Spear was pressed against his chin.
He could feel the lingering warmth of the energy on the blade, but he didn't flinch; he simply slowly raised his hands.
"I surrender, though I doubt you care much about that."
His voice sounded unusually calm.
Jiangnan did not respond.
A note fluttered from between his fingers and landed on the man's lap.
[An ordinary person could notice my location and understand the attack mechanics of those monsters.]
Tell me, who are you?
The man looked down at the note, then looked up at the tip of the gun pressed against his chin.
He pushed his glasses up and smiled.
"That's a long story."
"But before that, could you move the gun two centimeters away?"
"If I sneeze now, I'll stick myself up to it."