Calamity Mark

"This time, you can't reverse it, can you?" Diodos thought fiercely to himself.

The target in the prophecy, known as "the Broken Wing Against the Wind," required them to carry out three hunts before they finally succeeded!

Diodos was about to leave when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

He turned his head again to look and discovered that what was hovering above the helicopter was actually a hippopotamus!

What's going on here!?

Diodos pushed open the car door and walked in astonishment to the highway guardrail. All around him were passersby busy taking photos and posting them on social media, but in his view, he saw a lazy hippopotamus spirit floating in the air, even turning over and letting out a burp!

Something's not right! Diodos suddenly realized, not to mention the Broken Wing. There were clearly two pilots on the helicopter, but he couldn't see their souls at all!

He quickly rushed back to his car, sped off, and fled the scene!

****

Inside the cabin of the AC312E helicopter, the three humanoid figures were completely shattered, revealing the intricate torque motors and ball screw transmission systems inside, which occasionally sparked.

The one that resembled Miao Xin had a pendant emitting a ghostly light hanging from its chest. Due to the infusion of negative energy, cracks had appeared on the gemstone.

From the very beginning of today, the "Miao Xin" that appeared at the venue was just a highly realistic robot remotely controlled by the technical team. Ling Wen followed closely behind, providing cover and making corrections according to the technical team's instructions.

Miao Xin's job was simply to put a pendant containing Little He's soul on the robot, then hide in a safe place and talk through headphones.

As for the stack of paper that turned into shreds, the details and principles behind it are unclear. But Ling Wen handed the paper to the robot; it was all just a magic trick to deceive the mole.

This was Jin Rongjia's request to Su Ming: to cooperate with them in a real fishing trip!

Five kilometers away, on the rooftop of the small mountaintop building where they started, Miao Xin pointed to Diodos ' car speeding down the highway, "Gotcha! That's the one!"

Although it's a long distance away, Miao Xin's high-profile move indicates that she has already targeted Diodos!

She stayed here the entire time and never left. The temporary command center for the entire operation was also set up here.

The commander immediately picked up the communicator and ordered, "All units, move out!"

The command team members in the room quickly got to work, and all hidden personnel and equipment within a radius of several kilometers were immediately activated!

In the air, the two escorting helicopters received orders and quickly flew towards the highway. On the horizon, several small silver dots appeared, faintly accompanied by the roar of breaking the sound barrier, rapidly approaching this direction.

On the ground, several large wagons lifted their camouflage cloths and opened their armored panels. Drones quickly took off, swarming out like bees, the hum of their propellers blending together.

Behind the target, several vehicles with "road administration" markings patrolling the highway began to accelerate and approach rapidly from behind. The personnel in the vehicles removed their road administration uniforms, revealing bulletproof vests, and began to check their weapons.

Ahead of the target, within the service area, the rear door of a large transport truck disguised as a freight truck suddenly opened, and a group of fully armed soldiers and special police officers quickly disembarked. A fully concealed trailer next to it also began to move, and two wheeled armored vehicles drove off.

Passersby muttered "Holy crap" and slowed down, pulling out their phones, only to be waved away by the SWAT officers.

"Immediately cut off regional communications!" the command center issued the order. All communication service providers, including satellite providers, quickly cut off civilian communications in the designated area. Civilian satellite navigation signals were also blocked.

As part of the prior planning, most of the ground units were actually distributed throughout the mountains and forests. Now, under the command of the command center, they are rapidly assembling towards the highway area. Considering that the enemy might abandon their vehicles and escape by climbing over the guardrails, the follow-up support personnel are carrying a large number of police dogs.

The highway has been closed in both directions. Support troops on both sides have quickly begun to stop civilian vehicles and prevent new vehicles from entering the operation area.

Real-time satellite signals were transmitted, providing a clear picture of the situation on site.

"The target is about to pass through the tunnel!" the tracker reported.

Seven or eight kilometers past the tunnel is a service area, where an armored vehicle team is on high alert.

Judging from the current situation, the most pressing issue is that there are still many civilian vehicles around the target vehicle.

"The drone will move to the vicinity of the tunnel entrance. Once the target vehicle enters, the drone will immediately use voice commands to warn the following vehicles to stop." The commander quickly issued the order, "Armored interception team, block half of the lanes in two minutes to slow down civilian vehicles. Assault team members, immediately separate the target vehicle from the civilian vehicles!"

This means that at the very beginning of the operation, only this one action group was blocking the enemy's front, while all air firepower was blocked on this side of the mountain tunnel.

But it only takes two minutes for the air force to catch up, and ground support will arrive in about five minutes, forming a pincer attack that creates an inescapable trap.

"No!" Su Ming suddenly spoke up, irrationally interrupting the commander, "Intercept immediately! Attack the helicopters now!"

"The reason?" The commander looked at Su Ming.

"That shouldn't be human!"

****

The moment Miao Xin sensed the arrival of the Resentment Mark, Su Ming summoned Zijin.

"Enemy lands on Earth and unleashed their Resentment Mark upon you?" the scholar asked in surprise. "Did it cause any damage?"

"Not at the moment," Su Ming replied.

"Then it might be a curse," Zijin analyzed, resting her chin on her hand. "But don't worry, the vast majority of curses have no effect on your technological equipment."

Are you sure?

"I've tried it," the scholar said, tossing over his lab notebook. "Weakness, sluggishness, withering, the marks of pain, nightmares—none of these work on your steam engine."

"..." Su Ming almost choked, "Can't you tone down your research spirit a bit!"

But before he could finish speaking, the helicopter suddenly malfunctioned, tilting and descending.

"[Yay! Wind shear!]" Miao Xin's voice came through, sounding very happy.

What is wind shear?

"A technical term, a sudden change in wind direction," Su Ming quickly explained. "Don't you encounter that when you're flying?"

"That's true, just flap your wings a few more times." As someone who came from an aerial unit, Zijin quickly understood.

"There's no major problem here either, just fix it normally--"

"[Oh no, the plane is starting to spin! The tail rotor is broken!]" Miao Xin Xinmei exclaimed again, her voice even more excited.

She continued her live broadcast, and seconds later the helicopter crashed, slamming onto the ground with a loud bang.

[It must be the enemy's movement. I'll try to track the ripples!] Miao Xin said, and began to focus on deploying the Nether Sea.

Su Ming and Zijin quickly pondered: what exactly was the nature of this Resentment Mark?

Zijin suddenly remembered something, "Do you remember the young man Miao Xin met at the cemetery?"

Su Ming certainly remembered that half a month ago, at Si Ran's grave, a young man named Gao Boyang also came to sweep the grave in the evening. Miao Xin sensed a faint Resentment Mark on him for the first time.

Miao Xin, who had left halfway, immediately returned and spoke with Gao Boyang.

Miao Xin didn't even need to use her Resentment Power to interfere; the other party was so nervous that they dared not look directly at her face. When they spoke, they stammered.

Miao Xin loves this kind of socially awkward person the most; she's a social butterfly in front of them!

She persisted in making small talk, following him all the way to the cemetery gate. She got almost nothing out of him except his name, but she seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

However, upon seeing that the other party had arrived in a small car with a green license plate, Miao Xin immediately found an excuse, "Mr. Gao, this place is so remote, could you give me a ride to the city center?"

Gao Boyang really wanted to break up and enjoy his life alone, but he was also bad at refusing others, so Miao Xin got into his car.

However, he had only driven a short distance when an underground water pipe suddenly burst ahead, and the manhole cover was pushed up by the water pressure.

Unable to brake in time, Gao Boyang ran over the manhole cover, his chassis got stuck, and the lower edge of the manhole cover touched the ground. At a speed of tens of kilometers per hour, the manhole cover directly wedged into the car's battery pack.

Miao Xin reacted extremely quickly, smashing her side of the car door open with one hand and pulling Gao Boyang out of the car with the other. Just a few seconds later, the entire car was engulfed in sparks and thick smoke, bursting into flames.

"Misfortune!" Su Ming exclaimed in sudden realization, "It's the ' Misfortune Curse '!"

"No, it should be the nature-based ' Calamity Mark '!" Zijin immediately corrected, "' Misfortune Curse ' is essentially mental interference, causing the target to experience misfortune and a series of bad luck. This kind of curse is easy to break and is ineffective against your technological equipment!"

A book flew into her hands, unfolding and turning to the designated page under the influence of Mage Hand. Zijin quickly scanned it. "But ' Calamity Mark ' is completely different. It's an extremely rare and difficult spell, capable of truly interfering with objective causality!"

"Rare? Highly difficult?" Su Ming had indeed never heard of this spell before.

"Things involving causality are extremely difficult to learn; those without innate talent can't even begin to grasp them," Zijin said. "Moreover, they're not very meaningful to our magical world—it's better to just kill directly than go through all that trouble." She paused, "But on your technological side, ' Calamity Mark ' are probably your nemesis!"

The technological side relies on the precise coordination between countless system units; even the slightest mishap at a critical point can instantly destroy the entire system.

****

Su Ming didn't know if "Calamity Mark" actually existed on Earth, but one thing was certain:

The items seized from the Plundering Clock have appeared in the hands of Miao Xin's enemies on Earth.

These people can activate vengeful spirits.

Their genes differ from those of humans on Earth.

All these signs point to an overlooked conclusion—the enemy comes from the magical world!

Soldiers on the other side of the tunnel might be able to intercept ordinary people, but the situation is entirely different when facing superhumans. Once the enemy breaks through into the service area, the buildings and people there will severely limit the ability to track and strike them using technological means.

Not to mention dangerous facilities such as oil storage tanks, the situation will completely spiral out of control!