The Cruel Transcendent World

"Wood Guest language, a detection-type ability?"

Shen Qing's eyes lit up; finally, another useful ability had appeared, though now was not the time to study it.

He walked to the end of the corridor and headed up the stairs, finding only a single, tightly shut security door.

"Are you coming out yourselves, or do you need me to help you?"

"Bang!"

The response was a gunshot, leaving a bullet hole in the security door.

Shen Qing grabbed with his left hand, catching a bullet in his palm, leaving a white mark that quickly faded away.

"So it really is a criminal gang; they actually have handguns?"

Shen Qing's gaze turned cold in an instant.

He kicked the security door with a violent force, sending the door frame and a section of the damp, peeling wall collapsing inward with a loud "boom," sending dust and debris flying everywhere.

When the door is sturdier than the wall, the wall becomes the door.

The seven or eight people inside were startled, and the man holding the pistol trembled, instinctively firing another shot.

Then they watched as the bullet streaked through the air and struck Shen Qing's abdomen; the expected scene of blood and gore did not occur, and instead, the bullet simply "clinked" as it fell to the ground.

"You, you aren't human either!!"

The gunman's voice was trembling.

Even those corpses could be pierced by bullets, so what was this situation?

"Heh, if you ask me, you are the ones who don't deserve to be called human."

Shen Qing flashed and vanished from his spot. With a few "bang, bang, bang" sounds, before any of them could react, they all collapsed to the ground, merely knocked unconscious.

He brushed the non-existent dust off his hands with a look of disgust.

He looked around; perhaps due to the Wood Guest's habit of nesting in trees, a thick tree trunk had blocked the window and extended into the room.

Shen Qing felt a stir in his heart and placed his hand upon it; a vision—not quite a picture, but more like a perceived scene—instantly flooded his mind.

Many images flashed by.

The clearest one showed a person wrapped tightly in clothing fumbling behind this house for a moment before opening a basement entrance.

"There's a basement here, too."

Shen Qing glanced at the window blocked by the tree trunk; he couldn't fit through it anyway, so he turned and headed downstairs.

As soon as he stepped out of the house, he was met by a dozen dark gun barrels pointed his way.

Shen Qing remained calm and said, "The targets have been dealt with. They are on the second floor, unconscious."

The lead officer instinctively glanced at Captain Wang Yu. Seeing him wave his hand, the officers immediately moved in pairs, raising their riot shields and cautiously entering the building.

Upon entering the first-floor corridor, the first thing they saw was the exploded corpse of the Wood Guest, with green liquid splattered everywhere, looking quite gruesome in the dim light.

They couldn't help but shudder, and someone whispered, "Where did this Rakshasa come from..."

Outside the building, Officer Wang Yu walked up to Shen Qing and said solemnly, "Thank you for this time."

Shen Qing shook his head. "It was our mission to begin with." He paused, then added, "By the way, has my bonus from last time arrived yet?"

He needed to take back some proof to show he wasn't lying and had indeed come to collect his bonus.

"It has. We were planning to notify you tomorrow on Monday."

Shen Qing nodded. "It seems they have a basement here as well."

He and Wang Yu walked around to the narrow alley behind the house, where a thick locust tree almost completely blocked the path.

Shen Qing found the spot and stomped his foot hard. The ground instantly cracked with several fissures that spread outward, revealing the edge of an iron plate.

Finding the handle, he pulled with force, and a dark, gaping entrance appeared before them.

"I'll go down and take a look. I'll notify you once it's clear."

"Take this."

Accepting the flashlight handed over by Captain Wang, Shen Qing followed the stairs downward. The staircase was not short and included a corner.

The further he went, the more he felt a chilling cold, causing goosebumps to rise involuntarily on his skin.

Finally, he reached the bottom.

Shen Qing turned on the flashlight, and a beam of intense light cut through the darkness. After seeing the scene before him, his pupils instantly contracted.

Corpses—corpses were everywhere, neatly laid out on both sides of the floor.

Shen Qing couldn't help but shudder, his brow furrowing. If the source of these corpses couldn't be determined, it was no small matter.

He realized then why Walking Corpses had become so common lately; they were likely being refined from these very bodies... there was no peace for them even after death.

Suppressing his emotions, Shen Qing lightened his footsteps and continued to walk deeper inside.

From the deepest part of the room came a constant, rattling sound of chains scraping against each other.

It was a figure bound by iron chains, twisted in posture. When the flashlight beam hit it, Shen Qing froze instantly.

"..."

"Where did all these corpses come from?!"

A sudden exclamation came from behind; Chen Chen and Xie Chong had finally caught up.

"Ugh! Qingzi, this..."

Chen Chen walked over, retching, and just as he was about to ask something, he looked up and suddenly froze as well.

"Instructor?!"

The figure heard the voice and struggled to lift its head. It was a familiar face, though half of it was now a ghastly, grayish-blue—it was their instructor, Zhou Ming.

"Save, save me..."

His words were slurred, a subconscious plea for help. It took several seconds before he seemed to recognize the two of them.

"...Shen, Shen Qing... Chen Chen..."

Most of his body was now a grayish-blue, yet he remained conscious. He was in the process of turning into a Living Corpse, and the pain was clearly excruciating.

"Save me! Why won't you save me!"

Zhou Ming suddenly turned violent, struggling desperately, causing the chains behind him to rattle incessantly.

After half a minute, seeing that Shen Qing and the others remained silent, he seemed to realize he was beyond saving and gradually calmed down.

"Give, give me a quick end..."

His voice was hoarse. Not knowing what else crossed his mind at the end, he added, "Help, help me... my mother..."

Corpse after corpse was carried out by officers in hazmat suits and loaded onto the morgue transport vehicles.

Wang Yu looked at the message just sent to his phone by the bureau and explained to Shen Qing and the others:

"There have been no reports of missing or deceased adults in the area recently. Based on information cross-referencing, some of these bodies appear to be people who were buried in rural areas; we can track their deregistered household records.

There is also a portion from neighboring countries, likely illegal immigrants, but we have to wait for news from the Baipu branch for the specifics. It's impossible to determine the time of death."

He paused, then continued:

"Only in Zhou Ming's case, he went home a few days ago, had a huge argument with his mother, and then went missing.

However, he only had a mother at home who was bedridden due to illness, and since he didn't visit often, no one reported him missing.

As for the school, since his work had effectively been suspended, he was like a ghost to them."

"Alright, thank you, Captain Wang," Shen Qing said.

"It's nothing." Captain Wang shook his head and turned to direct the scene.

Shen Qing stood where he was, his expression turning somewhat complex.

His relationship with Zhou Ming was neither good nor bad; after all, unless there were awards or evaluations involved, he rarely interacted with the instructor.

But he was still someone he knew, someone he had spoken to, and now, because of him and Wu Yuan, he had ended up in this state.

Even if an ordinary person encountered a demon, they might die, but they certainly wouldn't have to suffer like this.

"You don't think this is entirely your fault, do you?"

Beside him, Xie Chong glanced at him.

Shen Qing shook his head.

He wasn't so sentimental as to think that, but having an acquaintance die in front of him like this left his mood complicated.

It was hard not to think of the other people around him, and if one day—he shook the thought away.

"By the way, what's the situation with the instructor's mother?"