Escape

7:00 PM, the dining table.

Grandma looked around at her family and announced with a rather pleasant mood:

"Yuanzi, your uncle is coming back tomorrow afternoon. Yuanjun, remember to drive and pick him up. Yu'er, come home early after work."

Yu'er was the nickname for his aunt.

Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er were each gnawing on a chicken leg, while Chen Yuanjun sipped chicken soup, all of them looking perfectly calm.

Seeing this, Grandma slammed her chopsticks down and glared. "Did you hear me?"

"Oh."

"Mm."

"Got it."

Grandma: "."

Uncle and Aunt had been traveling abroad for nearly two months. Uncle was a ne'er-do-well with a cynical attitude, and Aunt never lifted a finger to do any housework; the household felt exactly the same whether they were there or not.

Returning was just returning; it wasn't a grand event worth celebrating. Grandma was likely the only one happy about Uncle's return.

Jiang Yu'er gnawed on her chicken leg and said, "Why couldn't that family disgrace stay away for a few more months? It's exceptionally peaceful at home without them."

Chen Yuanjun glanced at his aunt and said, "Don't say that. The family disgrace is my father, after all."

Zhang Yuanqing glanced at his cousin and said, "Don't say that. The family disgrace is my uncle, after all."

Seeing Grandma fly into a rage and rise to tear into her unfilial descendants, Jiang Yu'er quickly pacified her and threw out a topic her mother would certainly be interested in:

"Mom, our hospital is haunted."

Haunted? Zhang Yuanqing immediately pricked up his ears.

Grandma, as expected, ignored her son and hurriedly asked:

"Oh my, why would it be haunted out of the blue? Tell Mom all about it."

"It's Sister Zhou from our department. When she was on the night shift, she heard a child giggling in the office. She went in to check, and the laughter stopped. Then she went to the restroom and saw a baby clinging to her shoulder in the mirror. It scared her half to death."

Aunt said with conviction, "It's not just Sister Zhou. Other colleagues on the night shift also say they occasionally hear a child's giggling in the middle of the night. Everyone says it must be some aborted child who couldn't let go, wandering around the hospital."

Grandma listened with great interest and commented, "How eerie. I think that's most likely the case. Next time you're on night shift, have Yuanzi accompany you. Is there more? Is there more?"

"There is, there is."

Grandma's love for gossip hadn't been passed down to his mother, but his aunt had inherited it all. Zhang Yuanqing listened to the mother and daughter chattering away, but the interest that had been piqued in his heart slowly flickered out.

As a Night Wanderer, he knew at once that this was just a rumor and a ghost story, not reality.

First, spirits cannot emit sound because they lack physical bodies and, consequently, vocal cords, unless the spirit's power acts directly upon a person's psyche.

But given the willpower and mental strength of a baby, it was impossible for a spirit to remain after death.

Finally, ordinary people with mortal eyes cannot see spirits. Those who are near death or have heavy yin energy might interact with spirits, so isolated incidents are plausible.

But for so many people to hear a baby laughing? That was pure nonsense.

"Aunt, be careful. Don't bring any dead hospital babies home with you," Zhang Yuanqing said eerily.

Jiang Yu'er, who had been speaking with great enthusiasm, stiffened, her oval face freezing as she shrieked, "Mom, he's scaring me again!"

Grandma gave her grandson a symbolic rap on the head.

After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing quietly left the house and hailed a taxi to the nearest Grade-A hospital.

He was going to the hospital to ferry the spirits and increase his experience points.

The Night Wanderer's Spirit Devour skill was currently the best way to level up. He didn't know when the next Spirit Realm Walker instance would open, so it was necessary to improve his strength before entering.

Even at Level 1, the difference in combat power between 1% and 99% experience was like heaven and earth.

Hospitals were excellent places for a Night Wanderer to gain experience; birth, old age, sickness, and death all converged there. Of course, crematoriums were also quite good, but all the crematoriums in Songhai were in the suburbs, with very few in the city center.

Sitting in the car, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly recalled what Guan Ya had said today.

"Why are the Night Wanderers of the Taiyi Sect so wary of devouring spirits? Is it an industry rule, a belief that it damages one's karmic merit? Or is there another reason?"

Thinking of this, he took out his phone, logged into the official Spirit Realm Walker forum, and searched for relevant information.

The search results showed: No relevant entries found.

In the suburbs, the night began to descend.

In a cheap rental room within an industrial park, in a dirty and messy living room, Ou Xiangrong held a large basin of freshly cooked instant noodles and walked over to a table covered in beer cans.

With a casual sweep, he knocked the beer cans and other debris to the floor with a clatter to clear space for the basin, then grabbed a can of beer from the refrigerator.

He ate the noodles in large mouthfuls and drank the beer in big gulps.

The noodles, fresh out of the pot, were scalding hot, but they couldn't burn his tough oral tissues.

Ou Xiangrong, with his sparse eyebrows, wore an expression that shifted between vicious, indifferent, and hateful. He looked like a psychiatric patient on the verge of an episode.

Suddenly, his ears twitched. He stopped his chopsticks, and his expression instantly turned ferocious.

Ou Xiangrong rose slowly, drew the Willow Blade tucked into the sheath at his lower back, and leaned against the door, light and soundless.

"Bang!"

He had barely approached the entryway when the door was kicked open with brute force. Immediately, a blinding light flared, and a scorching fireball hurtled toward him.

As the heat wave washed over him, Ou Xiangrong halted his stride, swung his right arm holding the blade, and struck the fireball with a brilliant flash of steel. With a "boom," the room was filled with a dazzling spray of dancing flames.

Amidst the sudden eruption of fire, a figure wreathed in flames lunged into the apartment, knees coiled, slamming into Ou Xiangrong like a rocket.

Ou Xiangrong was even more savage; he shifted his body to the side and drove his shoulder forward with a brutal shove.

"Thud!"

The figure flew backward, slamming into the hallway wall with such force that the entire structure shuddered.

With his right hand and shoulder covered in burn marks, Ou Xiangrong ignored the pain and turned to sprint toward the window. He dared not take the stairwell; the corridors of the old residential building were too cramped, and if he were surrounded, he would surely die.

Amidst the sound of shattering glass, Ou Xiangrong leaped out from the third floor.

"Bang! Bang!"

Just as he broke through the window, Ou Xiangrong heard two gunshots. He used his Willow Blade to deflect the bullet aimed at his head, but he could not stop the one heading for his chest.

The immense kinetic energy of the bullet pierced his skin, only to be lodged deep within his toughened muscle.

Following the source of the gunfire, he saw a tall, mixed-race beauty standing in the shadows near the green belt. She wore an OL skirt and a white blouse, her hair fluttering in the wind, looking cold and peerless.

She held a silver pistol in each hand, and two holsters were strapped to her long, black-stockinged legs.

Bang, bang, bang. The mixed-race beauty fired calmly, her marksmanship precise, as if she could predict his trajectory as he fell.

After being struck by several more bullets, Ou Xiangrong finally hit the ground. He glared at the woman, two twisted, blood-red runes manifesting in his pupils.

The next moment, the woman's expression turned vacant; she turned her muzzle and aimed it at her own forehead.

"Bang!"

The muzzle spat flame, but the bullet failed to shatter her smooth forehead, blocked instead by a pair of rough palms.

Beside her, a worker wearing a miner's helmet had appeared out of nowhere, his dark face etched with gravity as he spoke:

"Bewitching Demon?"

"A Level 3 Bewitching Gu Demon."

From the darkness walked a man leaning on a cane, dressed in a black suit with a black vest and white shirt, his hair slicked back with meticulous precision.

"Tell the underlings to set up a perimeter outside the complex. Don't let them get close."

Another voice rang out. A man in a black leather jacket emerged from the stairwell, lean and powerful, his aura sharp and aggressive.

Ou Xiangrong gripped his blade, his face grim as he scanned his surroundings.

"Boom, boom, boom."

Just then, the roar of a motorcycle echoed from afar. Blinding headlights pierced the darkness as a bike came screaming toward them. The woman on the bike wore a white racing suit, leaning low over the handlebars, wielding a three-foot-long black blade as she led the charge.

The next moment, gunfire erupted again, sealing off Ou Xiangrong's retreat, while the flaming figure leaped from the window to intercept him from the side.

Tang Guoqiang, wearing his miner's helmet, pressed his hands to the ground. The concrete cracked with a "crunch," and a pair of hands formed from earth seized Ou Xiangrong's feet.

Ou Xiangrong calmly swung his Willow Blade, knocking away the incoming bullets with impossible angles, the impact between the lead and steel throwing off blinding sparks.

Immediately after, his leg muscles bulged, shattering the earthen hands. He rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the flaming figure diving down from the third floor.

Tap, tap, tap. After rolling to his feet, he sprinted at full speed, charging toward the woman on the motorcycle.

In the night, the two passed each other. The sharp Willow Blade sliced through the woman's chest, but there was no sensation of cutting through solid matter; the moment the blade struck, the woman on the bike turned into water.

Meanwhile, her long blade swept across Ou Xiangrong's chest and abdomen.

Ou Xiangrong's chest split open, and a massive spray of blood erupted.

Ignoring his wounds entirely, he kept his pace, fleeing toward the exit of the complex.

Just then, a beautiful woman in a qigong leaped from a second-floor window. Barefoot, her feet white as snow, she ran along the wall as if it were flat ground.

With a single bound, she landed in front of Ou Xiangrong. With a sharp cry, she spun, her qipao fluttering, and her powerful, athletic legs whipped through the air, slamming into Ou Xiangrong with the force of a lash.

The latter was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing into the residential building's wall before slowly slumping to the ground.

"Daring to kill an official Spirit Realm Walker in my jurisdiction—you're quite something."

At this moment, Li Dongze, who had been watching the show from start to finish, walked over slowly, leaning on his cane. His expression was solemn, as composed as a mastermind behind the scenes, as he said coolly:

"Next, I will personally send you on your way."

"Sigh..." A massive sigh echoed through the surroundings. Ou Xiangrong slowly stood up. His eyes were scarlet as blood, filled with madness and violence, as an evil, powerful force awakened within him.

He said in a hoarse voice: "You all must die."

Li Dongze stepped back silently. "Brothers, that was just a joke. I am definitely not the type to hog all the credit."

In the taxi, Zhang Yuanqing, having failed to find any relevant information, returned to the forum homepage and instinctively refreshed the page.

Then, he saw a post marked in red and pinned to the top.

#Wanted! Level 3 Bewitching Gu Demon Ou Xiangrong#

A few minutes ago, this post hadn't been there.

Zhang Yuanqing clicked on the post:

"Ou Xiangrong, Level 3 Bewitching Demon, killed Zhao Yingjun, a Scout of the Five Elements Alliance's White Tiger Corps, on April 18th. On the evening of April 19th, at 19:05, he escaped from a siege by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Walker squad.

"This individual possesses a terrifying evil power and is no ordinary Bewitching Demon. He has been severely wounded by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Walker squad and his current whereabouts are unknown. All regional Spirit Realm Walker squads take note: Ou Xiangrong is on the verge of losing control. If the target is spotted, execute him immediately.

"A reward of 50,000 yuan for providing clues. A reward of 100,000 yuan for the kill."

The post had been up for less than three minutes, and the comments below had already exceeded a hundred.

They were all complaining about the Kangyang District Spirit Realm Walker squad's incompetence, letting a half-mad Bewitching Demon escape.

"Are you kidding me? A dangerous character like this could lose control at any moment. Is the Kangyang squad just sitting on their hands?"

"Once he loses control and starts killing, he'll be wanted by the Spirit Realm. By the time we arrive, it'll likely be a bloodbath. We'll be the laughingstock of Spirit Realm Walkers across the country, mocked for our poor containment and for taking high salaries while doing nothing."

"We're screwed."

Ou Xiangrong escaped? The Squad Leader and the others locked onto the target and launched an arrest that quickly?

Zhang Yuanqing didn't know whether to praise the Squad Leader and the others for their efficiency or complain about their incompetence in letting this ticking time bomb get away.

"Since they've already engaged him, Ou Xiangrong's blood, or even flesh and tissue, must have been left at the scene. I should be able to track him down using the Red Dancing Shoes."

Zhang Yuanqing immediately thought of his own Rule-type item.