Execution Squad

Xia Shou held his breath and stood rooted to the spot, his entire body engulfed in fear.

He quietly waited for some unknown horror to descend, but even after a long while, nothing happened.

"Alice?" Xia Shou called softly. Alice, on his back, did not respond.

Had she fallen asleep again?

But what was going on? Why was he still fine after his deep-dive depth had passed the 1,300-meter red line?

"Forget it! Who cares? I need to eat something, fast!"

Although nothing unusual had happened after he crossed the 1,300-meter red line, Xia Shou's instincts told him that remaining at this depth was dangerous.

Whatever the case, he should rise as much as he could and keep his deep-dive reading as low as possible.

At a thought from Xia Shou, the shadow beneath his feet spread smoothly across the surface like asphalt, covering the church's entire dome.

The blood flowing freely through this church should provide him with a considerable amount of buoyancy...

In the office of Investigation Department Three at the Containment Bureau, Shangguan Yan suddenly stopped typing. She froze for a moment, as though sensing something, then gave a helpless smile.

"Urgh!" Shangguan Yan let out a faint grunt.

The next second, countless hair-thin wounds opened across her body. An invisible impact knocked her out of her office chair, and blood gushed from her in quantities wildly disproportionate to the size of the wounds, instantly staining her pristine white shirt scarlet.

She fell from the chair and braced herself on all fours, keeping herself from collapsing completely.

[Heh heh... paying the price for your generosity already?] The Ram-Headed Demon's laughter rang in Shangguan Yan's ears, its teasing edged with mockery.

Shangguan Yan stared fixedly at the floor with bloodshot eyes, her lips pulling into a smile full of wild defiance.

Then she placed her hand in the spreading pool of blood and commanded coldly, "This is mine. Give it back!"

As though it understood her forceful command, the blood stopped spreading across the floor. Driven by a mysterious force, it gradually gathered toward Shangguan Yan, flowed back up her body, and slowly slipped into her wounds.

[Oh~ how impressive. But even steel has limits to its resilience. Don't die too soon.]

The strange fluctuations in the air, perceptible only to Shangguan Yan, slowly faded.

In the end, the office became spotless once more. Only the sodden red shirt on Shangguan Yan's body, reeking of blood, bore witness to what had just happened.

She pushed against her knees and rose from the floor, her expression as elegant and mysterious as ever, like an exquisitely flawless mask.

"It looks like I'll have to take a few days off."

In the open woodland outside the Blood Demon House, Zhang Zhengde stared dumbfounded at the reading on the anomaly detector. The figure, previously over a thousand, had already dropped below 1,000 and was still slowly falling!

Usually, there were only two possible explanations for this.

First, the aberration had been eliminated.

Second, the aberration had adopted a more convincing disguise.

Given the Blood Demon House's recorded history, the probability that the Blood Demon had been destroyed was infinitely close to zero.

According to the latest intelligence, however, the probability that the intruder had become the Blood Demon's host was extremely high.

Thus, the reason for the declining anomaly reading was already obvious: the person inside had been taken over by the Blood Demon!

Zhang Zhengde raised his wrist and checked his watch. Only an hour had passed since the Tamer went inside.

Just then, another transport truck arrived at the scene.

The door opened, and five people wearing gas masks and matching black trench coats jumped out. They were dressed almost entirely in black. The only indication of their identity was the simple guillotine emblem on their left breasts, marking them as members of the Execution Squad.

The Execution Squad specialized in dealing with high-risk Transcendents who lost control. By entering into a series of almost brutally restrictive bindings and paying an enormous price, they forcibly raised their Anomaly Levels to the point where they could deal with powerful Cleaners.

The Execution Squad was one of the very few exceptions in Transcendent society where the weak could punish the strong. This was also a major reason why this world still prioritized collective interests rather than the will of powerful individuals.

Only when the weak possessed the power to cut down the strong could collective order exist.

"Who's in charge here? What's the anomaly reading now?" a burly man asked in a deep, powerful voice.

Zhang Zhengde quickly stepped forward and reported, "It's already dropped from over a thousand to five hundred."

"Then they've become a host," a female executioner remarked.

Uneasy, Zhang Zhengde hesitantly asked, "Will you be all right? I read the latest files. The Blood Demon's Anomaly Level is very likely above four. Can you handle it?"

He certainly did not mean to belittle the Execution Squad, but reality was harsh. Their overall strength generally hovered around Anomaly Level three. Through special methods, they could briefly break through to level four, but reaching level five was extremely difficult.

If the Blood Demon was only level four, things would be manageable. But if it was level five... probably no one present could restrain it.

"According to decoded intelligence that hasn't been sent to you, the Blood Demon's Anomaly Level is very likely to drop after it takes a host. And judging by the fluctuations in the anomaly readings over the past few days, the Blood Demon House's overall Anomaly Level is unlikely to meet the criteria for level five.

"Combined with the documentary records, it's most likely above four and approaching five, so we shouldn't be under too much pressure.

"Of course, to make absolutely sure, the bureau just reached a cooperation agreement with 53-678. That damned lizard is willing to work with us."

Zhang Zhengde knew that designation very well. It belonged to the Calamity Crystal Dragon Lizard, captured in 1953. The Containment Bureau had paid a devastating price to capture that enormous monster.

This Anomalous Entity was one of the core mechanisms that kept the Containment Bureau operating under intense pressure. It was specifically responsible for handling all kinds of uncontrolled Curse Power leakage. The Dragon Lizard's own level-five anomalous nature allowed it to digest the vast majority of things sent for disposal.

If the Dragon Lizard went up against the Blood Demon, it should be able to keep it in check!

"Wait, you haven't transported that monstrosity here, have you?" Zhang Zhengde asked worriedly.

The female executioner shook her head. "Of course not. Let me briefly explain the plan. If we confirm that whoever comes out is the Blood Demon's host, we'll try negotiating first. If negotiations break down, we'll do our best to create a exploitable opening, then create a Dimensional Wormhole about this big."

She extended both arms horizontally to indicate its size.

The teammate beside her immediately continued, "That's just big enough for the damned lizard to stick its head

"through. It'll be responsible for eating the Blood Demon's host."

"Although those notes say the Blood Demon's true body can't be killed, barring anything unexpected... its host will become lizard droppings."