The Walking "Geller Field"

Yellow toxic mist drifted slowly between the ruins like living tentacles.

Li Wei wore that scavenged respirator, which still smelled of a mechanical dog's musk, and groped his way forward along that half-collapsed street.

Visibility was less than five meters.

There were corpses everywhere around.

Some had been shot by the enforcers, while others had suffocated in the poison gas.

Yet what made Li Wei the most uneasy was not the dead, but the things rising out from the dead.

As a modern man who understood the Warhammer 40K lore, he knew very well that in places where massacres and painful deaths occurred, the veil between reality and the Warp would grow thin. The grievances and fears of the dead would lure predators from the other side.

Help... someone... save me... A wandering cry for help came from ahead.

Followed closely by intense gunfire. Tat-tat-tat! Boom!

Li Wei immediately squatted behind a broken concrete slab.

Through the fog, he dimly saw that in an open space among the ruins ahead, a survivor squad of four or five people was forming a circle, backing against each other and firing frantically.

Yet this scene was extremely bizarre.

There was nothing around them.

No enforcers, no beasts, and no mutants.

"Get lost! Get lost!!" A burly man leading the way in gang leather armor wielded a chainsword, hacking wildly at the empty air.

"They're biting me! They're biting my neck!" Another fellow holding an autogun suddenly shrieked, his whole body lifted up as if by an invisible giant hand, feet off the ground, face turning purplish as he desperately scratched at his throat.

Warp Ghosts.

Or some sort of low-level telekinetic entity.

Physical attacks were basically useless against them.

We're done for, we hit ghosts. Li Wei's heart tightened, and he instinctively wanted to turn around and run.

Against this kind of supernatural phenomenon, the las pistol in his hand, which was running out of power, was completely useless.

Yet the moment he turned around, the person whose throat was gripped by the "invisible hand" suddenly stopped struggling.

Accompanied by a crisp sound of snapping bone, that person's neck was broken, and the corpse was tossed out like garbage, landing right in front of the cover where Li Wei was hiding.

Those unblinking eyes stared directly at Li Wei.

And on this dead person, Li Wei saw a vague, translucent gray shadow slowly emerging, seeming to greedily devour the pain lingering in the deceased.

That gray shadow seemed to sense the presence of a living person, abruptly turning its head (if that mass of mist had a head), and lunged toward Li Wei!

"Shit!" Li Wei leaned back in fright, subconsciously raising his hand to block in front of him.

However, the anticipated coldness and suffocation did not arrive.

The very moment that gray shadow touched within a one-meter radius around Li Wei's body.

Sizzle—!!!

It was just like a drop of water falling into a boiling wok of oil.

That gray shadow let out a shriek of the utmost misery (although Li Wei could not hear it, he felt his eardrums vibrating).

Immediately after, as if corroded by some invisible strong acid, it instantly boiled, disintegrated, and turned into a wisp of blue smoke that completely vanished.

Li Wei froze.

He looked at his own hand, then looked at the place where the gray shadow had just disappeared.

An absurd yet ecstatic thought surged into his mind.

I am not just invisible to radar... I am a living 'exorcist'?

I am a... Pariah. Warp energy touches me like ice hitting a branding iron!

The screams ahead were still continuing.

"Old Third is dead! Damn it! Bullets can't hit them!"

"I can't see where they are! There are shadows everywhere!"

Li Wei's gaze changed.

He glanced at that squad.

They had long guns and short cannons in their hands, a chainsword, and plenty of ammunition.

Whereas Li Wei only had a small pistol.

If he wanted to walk out alive from this bottom hive filled with physical and ethereal threats, the best method was—cooperation.

Or rather, utilization.

Li Wei took a deep breath, adjusted the dog mask on his face, and made his voice sound more muffled and ruthless.

He stood up from behind the cover and strode toward the group of survivors who were being slaughtered.

"Ahhh! My leg! Something is gnawing on my leg!" In the gang squad, a skinny man was rolling on the ground, bloody scratch marks appearing out of thin air on his thighs, yet there was clearly nothing around him.

The burly leader waved his chainsword in despair: "Come out! If you've got the guts, come out and fight me one-on-one! Stop playing God and acting like ghosts!"

Right at that moment, a figure broke through the yellow toxic mist and walked over like a ghost.

"Who?!" The burly man abruptly swung his muzzle, pointing it at that figure.

"If you don't want to all die, stop pointing guns at me." A muffled sound carrying a strange mechanical echo came over.

Li Wei ignored the pitch-black muzzle and walked straight toward the skinny man rolling on the ground.

The instant he drew close. Buzz-zz-zz— A dense burst of cracking sounds came from the air, just like an electrical short circuit.

That skinny man suddenly stopped screaming.

Because those invisible "things" gnawing on his legs had all screeched and disintegrated the moment Li Wei approached.

Just as sunlight dispelled shadows.

The entire place fell dead silent.

The remaining three survivors stared dumbfounded at this scene.

Although they couldn't see the ghosts, they could sense that chilling, bone-piercing oppressive feeling suddenly vanish.

Li Wei stood in the center of the area.

He did not perform any rites, nor did he chant any spells.

He merely stood there. Yet within three meters around him, an absolute "pure land" had formed.

All the chilling winds, strange sounds, and even the flow of the toxic mist seemed to congeal once they reached here.

"Th... those things?" The burly man swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the chainsword in his hand still idling in the air.

"Gone." Li Wei turned his head, looking coldly at the burly man through the cloudy lenses of the gas mask. "They don't like my smell."

The burly man looked at Li Wei, his eyes filled with terror and doubt.

In this superstitious world, there were only two kinds of people who could dispel evil spirits: holy priests, or even more terrifying sorcerers.

And the person before him... though looking frail, wearing tattered clothes on his body and wearing a comical dog mask, the sickening sense of "void" emanating from him made the burly man instinctively want to flee.

"Are you... a psyker lord?" The burly man cautiously put away his gun, his tone instantly turning respectful and fearful.

"Don't ask what shouldn't be asked." Li Wei neither admitted nor denied it.

This ambiguous attitude was the best at bluffing people.

"Too many people died in this area, the veil broke. No matter how much you shoot, it's useless, bullets can't kill grievances."

He pointed toward the darkness ahead.

"I'm going to the safe zone in the upper levels. But I lack a few guards to carry luggage." Li Wei swept his gaze across these people. "You have the firepower I need. I have the 'tranquility' you need. Making a deal?"

The burly man glanced at the two corpses on the ground, then looked at Li Wei, who stood unscathed in the mist.

This simply didn't require a choice.

"Deal! Master! Deal!" The burly man nodded hurriedly, his face plastered with a smile (though it looked worse than crying). "I'm the captain of the 'Iron Skull Gang', just call me Bark! As long as you can lead us out, bullets, food, even the equipment of that dead guy, all yours!"

"Very good." Li Wei extended his hand. "Pay the deposit first. I want the autogun on that dead person."

Without a second word, Bark immediately stripped the equipment off his dead companion and offered it with both hands.

Li Wei took that heavy autogun, skillfully swapped in a new power cell, and racked the bolt.

Clack. That grounded feeling of possessing firepower finally returned.

"Stand over here." Li Wei ordered. "If you don't want to be eaten by ghosts, don't leave my three-meter radius."

The remaining three survivors immediately scrambled to crowd around Li Wei like frightened chicks.

Although the kind of "Pariah aura" on Li Wei's body made them feel dizzy, nauseous, and sick to their stomachs, compared to having their necks snapped by invisible ghosts, this bit of nausea was nothing!

"Move." Li Wei cradled his gun, walking at the very front.

This time, he was no longer the prey hiding in the corner.

In this toxic ruin full of evil spirits, he became the only light source—even though this light was pitch-black.

The team began to move.

Along the way, those greedy gazes hidden in the shadows scattered in terror the instant they touched Li Wei's aura.

This squad composed of thugs and scoundrels, at this moment, tightly thronged around their mysterious "priest" like the most devout believers, pressing forward toward a path of survival.

Li Wei walked at the front, listening to the dry retching sounds emitted by the few people behind him due to drawing close to him, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

It seems being unlikable is also a superpower.