Great Harvest Township, the ruins of the Liu Household's estate.
The blazing sun burned like fire, yet could not dispel the heavy gloom and bloody stench lingering here.
The once sprawling, magnificent Liu estate had long since become scorched earth and shattered walls in that devastating rat infestation.
Charred beams lay strewn across the courtyard. The dark red blood on the ground had dried and blackened, drawing a few bold crows to circle overhead, crying mournfully.
At the very center of the ruins, the white-jade-paved Martial Training Ground that had once been the Liu Household's pride had collapsed, exposing a vast black hole roughly ten feet across, its bottom lost to sight.
The hole resembled an Abyssal Maw leading into the hells of the Nine Netherworlds, constantly spewing cold, foul-smelling subterranean air.
This was the passage through which thousands of Gold-Devouring Rats had burst onto the surface last night to ravage the human world.
"Leave eight men up here to set up a cordon. Arrest anyone who dares approach these ruins! The other two will guard the entrance and stand ready to assist."
Clad in heavy armor, Pang Song strode to the edge of the black hole and issued orders to the elite soldiers of the Demon-Suppression Brigade behind him.
Then he leaned over and glanced down. The fathomless darkness seemed capable of swallowing souls; even sunlight could not penetrate three feet into it.
"Hu Hao, scout the way." Pang Song turned and gestured, his expression grave.
"Understood, Uncle Pang."
In private, with no outsiders or other subordinates present, Hu Hao still habitually called Pang Song his uncle.
It was not merely respect for this veteran of the Demon-Suppression Office. It also reflected the friendship they had forged across their difference in age, licking blood from knife edges in this