"Auntie, please don't worry. The police are doing everything they can right now, and Gu Ruoxi will be fine."
On the other end of the phone, Gu Ruoxi's mother sounded as if she were about to burst into tears.
"Xiaohan, you simply must find Xiaoxi. The two of you were so close, Auntie is begging you..."
Judging by what she said, it seemed Gu Ruoxi's mother had no idea she and her daughter had broken up.
"Don't worry, I will definitely find her."
Li Muhand knew he shouldn't give the elderly woman false hope. How on earth did he have the ability to find anyone? He would have to rely entirely on Huo Tian and the others, but he couldn't bear to let Gu's mother be heartbroken.
After all, no matter how Gu Ruoxi had treated him, the old couple had always shown him immense affection since childhood. After the orphanage incident, it was also this old couple who had taken him in.
In a sense, they were half-parents to him.
"Hello, Xiaohan."
The person speaking next was Gu Ruoxi's father.
"We've already bought plane tickets to Tianhai City and will arrive tonight. You shouldn't worry too much either. With modern police technology being so advanced and cameras everywhere, Xiaoxi should be fine."
Li Muhand felt a pang of emotion. The old father must have been burning with anxiety himself, yet here he was, still comforting him.
"Yes, Uncle. Once you two arrive, I'll arrange a place for you to stay. Don't worry either, I will find Gu Ruoxi."
After comforting Gu's mother a few more words, Li Muhand hung up the phone, feeling an immense heaviness in his chest.
"Feeling the pressure?"
"Mm."
"Heh, if I were you, I wouldn't go shooting my mouth off like that."
Huo Tian smiled and shook his head.
"You basically just took all the responsibility upon yourself. What relation is this girl to you anyway?"
"Ex-girlfriend."
"Oh-ho, an ex—girlfriend."
Huo Tian dragged out the word "ex," then gave Li Muhand a meaningful glance before finally patting him on the shoulder.
"Relax, we won't tell Xia Yue about this."
"Huh? What does she have to do with this?"
"Tsk, you don't understand women, do you? Running around in the middle of the night for an ex—girlfriend—do you think Xia Yue won't get jealous?"
"Captain, Xia Yue and I are completely innocent!"
Li Muhand panicked.
Just as he was eager to explain, Huo Tian retreated back into the car. Li Muhand hurried to follow, only to find Huo Tian lying down directly in the backseat, closing his eyes to rest.
Chapter 27: Who is the Prey?
About half an hour later, Su Xue's voice suddenly came through the car's intercom.
"Captain, these gang members just got into their cars all at once, as if they had planned it, and are driving toward an abandoned factory on Old Street."
An abandoned factory?
Li Muhand felt a jolt in his heart. Could it be... the abandoned factory where Huo Tian's son had the accident all those years ago?
"Taozi, how's your position?"
Huo Tian had also sat up from the backseat, speaking into the intercom.
"Good visibility. I have to say, finding a vantage point around these old streets is quite difficult."
"Stay alert. Don't let anyone spot you."
Huo Tian lit a cigarette inside the car. After taking a deep drag, he exhaled a cloud of smoke that lingered in the car for a long time before quietly dissipating.
"All the cars have stopped in front of the abandoned factory's warehouse. They've gotten out and are heading toward the warehouse."
"Hold on, Taozi. Can your position see the entire factory grounds?"
"No problem."
"Then keep your eyes glued to it. Yin Qi, what's your situation?"
Huo Tian continued issuing orders. With just a simple name, she immediately knew what she needed to do.
"I've already slipped into the warehouse following these people and am tailing them covertly."
"Lin Ziyu, what about Zhou Zhiguo's situation?"
"Zhou Zhiguo has been staying at home, looks like he's watching TV right now. No abnormal movements."
It turned out Lin Ziyu's drone had been hovering near Zhou Zhiguo's home all along, because its coating had undergone special treatment.
Draped in the cover of night, the drone hadn't drawn anyone's attention.
Tick-tock.
Tick-tock...
Time ticked away second by second. No one spoke during this time, and Li Muhand felt his heart leap into his throat.
It was now 1:00 AM, yet Li Muhand didn't feel a shred of sleepiness. During this time, he even received a text message from Xia Yue.
The first message had no content, just a cute cat emoji.
Just as Li Muhand was feeling puzzled, a second message arrived.
"Sorry, it's my first time texting someone, I pressed the wrong button."
He had to admit, although Xia Yue seemed to be a vampire who had lived for a very long time, her common sense regarding everyday life was still an utter mess.
Thanks to this little episode, however, Li Muhand's tightly strung nerves relaxed just a fraction.
Before that tension could fully unwind, Yin Qi's voice came through the earpiece once again.
"Missing target located, inside the abandoned warehouse. These people are trying to move the hostages."
Li Muhand suddenly grew excited.
Not only because the missing person had been found, but also because this incident was the work of these gang members and had nothing to do with Zhou Zhiguo.
To be honest, seeing Zhou Zhiguo living in such a miserable state, Li Muhand still felt a twinge of sympathy.
"Captain! Let's head over right now!"
Li Muhand urged.
Yet Huo Tian was still smoking, seemingly deep in thought.
"Captain?"
Li Muhand called out again.
Only then did Huo Tian slowly turn his head to look at Li Muhand.
"I learned from Director Lin that you used to be human. So, Li Muhand, tell me—how do you view anomalies?"
"...?"
Li Muhand wore a puzzled expression, wondering why Huo Tian was asking him this now.
"They're all different, I suppose. For instance, the vampire that attacked me earlier was extremely cruel, but Zhou Zhiguo... well, he seems quite honest."
Hearing Li Muhand's reply, Huo Tian gave a faint smile.
"I hope you can always maintain this mindset when looking at every living creature in this world, regardless of whether they are human, and regardless of whether you are a member of the Special Management Bureau."
With that, Huo Tian ignited the car's engine. The moment he started the car, he suddenly clutched his stomach.
"Ouch!! Ouch! My stomach, it hurts so bad!"
Li Muhand was dumbfounded. Why on earth was Huo Tian getting a stomachache at a time like this?
"That restaurant we ate at for dinner must not have been clean! Ouch!!"
"Captain, didn't we eat together?"
"My gut is fragile, alright?! Ouch, dammit, I need to find a place to take care of this right now! Li Muhand, you go on ahead first and back up Su Xue and Yin Qi!"
"Huh?! Just me alone?"
"What the hell are you scared of? You're an anomaly, are you scared of humans?! Besides, Su Xue and Yin Qi are both combat personnel, just make sure you don't hold them back!"
"F-Fine then."
Li Muhand was dizzy with confusion. How did the situation turn into this?
"But I don't know how to drive!"
Huo Tian leaned directly over, pushed open the passenger-side door, and kicked Li Muhand right out of the car.
"Dammit, you still want to drive over?! Run! Hurry up! I'm about to crap my pants!"
"?????"
Though completely baffled, Li Muhand still sprinted at full speed toward the abandoned factory.
Watching Li Muhand's figure vanish into the night of Old Street, Huo Tian's pained expression gradually faded away.
He opened the door and got out.
Lighting a cigarette, he opened the trunk of the car, took out a long duffel bag, and strolled toward the shabby apartment building while humming some tune.
Just as Li Muhand was running close to the abandoned factory, Lin Ziyu's voice suddenly chimed in through the headset.
"What's going on?! Why did my drone crash?! And who cut off my signal just now?!"
Listening to Lin Ziyu, Li Muhand suddenly felt something was amiss.
"Where are you guys?! Report your status!"
Lin Ziyu shouted anxiously on the other end.
"No time."
Yin Qi's brief reply came through. Faint sounds of battle could still be heard from her end; it seemed Yin Qi had already engaged the enemy.
"Sorry, Lin Ziyu, we've already started fighting over here. Captain, how much longer until you reach the scene?"
The background on Su Xue's end was the whistling wind, occasionally accompanied by sounds resembling sniper rifle fire.
"The Captain suddenly said he had a stomachache! I'm running toward the abandoned factory right now to provide backup!"
At that instant, Li Muhand seemed to hear Lin Ziyu gasp sharply.
"Li Muhand! Go back!! Go back!!! Hurry back to the Captain's side!!!"
Li Muhand slowed his running pace and asked anxiously,
"Huh?? What's going on??"
"Li Muhand, the Captain intentionally sent you away."
Yin Qi said while fighting someone.
"Little Brother Muhand, the Captain must have noticed a detail that the rest of us missed—a detail concerning Zhou Zhiguo."
Su Xue said.
"Then why didn't he tell us?!"
"Because he wants to go settle the past affairs all by himself!! You can't let him go! Director Lin just sent word!! Zhou Zhiguo—meaning the disaster-class anomaly from the state of Xia—has suddenly escalated to Cholera-class! That's not a monster the Captain can handle!"
Li Muhand's mind went blank.
"Director Lin said to rescue the hostages first; as for Zhou Zhiguo, she'll send people to deal with him!! Hurry up and bring the Captain back!!"
Li Muhand didn't ask any more questions. He remembered what Zhou Zhiguo had said to him the last time they looked at each other.
His heart began to pound wildly, and he could already sense an ominous premonition.
Without hesitation, Li Muhand turned around and sprinted back toward Zhou Zhiguo's residence.
...
Meanwhile, on the fifth floor of the shabby apartment building, right outside Zhou Zhiguo's door.
Huo Tian smoked his last cigarette, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
"Coming..."
Zhou Zhiguo's voice came from inside.
"So late, who is it?"
Opening the door and seeing it was Huo Tian, Zhou Zhiguo froze.
"Captain Huo, y-you... why are you here again?"
"There are still a few things I haven't quite figured out."
Huo Tian said with a cold sneer.
Though visibly reluctant, Zhou Zhiguo let Huo Tian inside.
"Captain Huo, what else do you want to know?"
Zhou Zhiguo brought out a cup of tea, only to see Huo Tian toss a long duffel bag onto the table.
"Zhou Zhiguo, cut the act. There's no one else here."
"Captain Huo, what on earth are you talking about?"
"I know it. What happened five years ago was your doing, and this current case is your doing too."
Huo Tian looked at Zhou Zhiguo. Zhou Zhiguo's thin figure trembled slightly at that, and then he gave a dry laugh and said,
"Captain Huo, why do you keep bringing that up? I really wasn't..."
"Perfume."
Huo Tian interrupted Zhou Zhiguo and continued,
"You missed this detail five years ago, and now, you've made the same mistake again. On you, and in your room, there are the scents of at least five different women's perfumes—and these aren't perfumes that prostitutes could ever afford."
Zhou Zhiguo's mouth hung open. He couldn't utter a single word for a long time.
"Pardon me. My wife... my ex-wife was a perfumer, so I've long been accustomed to all kinds of perfumes. That was why I suspected you back then, too. At the time, I couldn't figure out why you didn't bother to clear the perfume scent from your room, but after joining the Special Management Bureau, I understood."
As Huo Tian spoke, he slowly unzipped the bag.
A Tang Dao with a black scabbard was revealed in all its striking clarity.
"Hehehehe..."
Zhou Zhiguo kept his head lowered and began to emit an eerie, chilling laugh.
"Because we Xiaguo folk have no sense of smell."
When he raised his head again, that pair of eyes was brimming with abnormal madness.
Chapter 28: Domain Ripping
Watching Zhou Zhiguo's true nature gradually lay bare, Huo Tian's heart grew increasingly calm.
He took out the Tang Dao and slowly unsheathed it. The blade, gleaming with a biting cold light, reflected Huo Tian's icy eyes.
"Five years. It's time to settle the score."
"Hehehehe... Captain Huo, you really are persistent. To us, five years for a human is worth jack shit, yet you actually managed to catch me twice in such a short span of time. Too bad last time, your son died in your place. I wonder this time..."
Swish—
A flash of blade-light later, Zhou Zhiguo's head, still with its mouth open, had already dropped to the floor with a thud.
Huo Tian slowly slid the blade back into its scabbard. Looking at the rolling head on the ground, his eyes remained utterly freezing.
The moment he intended to turn around, he suddenly felt a terrifying force eroding the entire building.
And right behind him, a strange, rustling sound echoed.
"Captain Huo."
The severed head on the ground was now looking up at Huo Tian, a ferocious grin plastered across its face.
"Don't rush off just yet. Since you're already here, have a cup of tea."
Huo Tian turned around, looked at the headless body climbing up from the floor, and let out a cold sneer.
"Just as expected of a monster."
The next instant, endless darkness began to spread, ultimately wrapping the entire building in a shroud of shadow.
"Domain, unfold. Slaughter all paths of life."
In the end, what Huo Tian heard was Zhou Zhiguo's voice, now slowly twisting into something monstrous.
"...Cholera-class."
Huo Tian widened his eyes, staring at the endless darkness before him and the figures writhing within that shadow, then smiled helplessly.
"My luck is still as terrible as ever."
...
Meanwhile, Li Muhand finally ran back in front of the apartment building. The car was still parked in its spot, but Huo Tian was gone.
He dashed into the building, climbed all the way up to the fifth floor in one breath, and kicked open Zhou Zhiguo's door, only to find everything inside as it was—except there was no Zhou Zhiguo, and no Huo Tian.
"They're not here."
Li Muhand spoke into his headset.
"Both the Captain and Zhou Zhiguo are missing. There are no signs of a struggle."
Lin Ziyu suddenly remembered something and said to Li Muhand,
"The Captain must have used the Special Management Bureau's Domain Edict to isolate the entire apartment building from the current plane!"
"Speak English."
Li Muhand was somewhat helpless; he didn't quite understand the Bureau's professional jargon.
"It's a prop used by the Special Management Bureau when cleaning up anomalies! You can understand it as: once this prop is deployed, this entire area gets separated into a zone forged by the prop! Except for anomalies and Bureau personnel, everyone else gets excluded! This is also to prevent ordinary humans from getting caught up in the fights between the Bureau and anomalies!"
Li Muhand's mind went completely blank.
"Then what do I do now? Is there any way to break the Domain Edict?"
Su Xue's voice came through the headset.
"Little Brother Muhand, look around nearby to see if there are any command flags. There are five in total. As long as you dismantle all five command flags, the Domain Edict will be broken."
"I'll try my best."
Li Muhand hurriedly ran back downstairs to search for anything resembling command flags.
Yet he circled the area several times, running until he was panting heavily, and didn't find a single flag.
It was easy to guess: in order to face Zhou Zhiguo alone, Huo Tian must have made thorough preparations. He knew very well that what he was about to do was both executing a mission and avenging a past personal vendetta under the guise of that mission.
Otherwise, he could have easily reported the anomaly regarding Zhou Zhiguo, but he didn't choose to do that. He was afraid.
Terrified of what might happen if things turned out with no results just like last time.
He didn't know if he could endure another ending like that.
Just as he returned to Zhou Zhiguo's room at his wit's end, Lin Ziyu's voice sounded in his ear.
"Li Muhand! I've already applied for special support from the Engineering Unit. They should be here very soon."
"It's too late."
Though he couldn't explain why he felt this way, a faint premonition told him that by the time the Engineering Unit arrived to break the Domain Edict, it might already be too late.
"I remember the first time I lost control and expanded my Domain, Xia Yue used her Domain to tear through my power."
As he spoke, Li Muhand began to channel the power within his body.
"Li Muhand? What are you doing? Don't act rashly before the Engineering Unit arrives."
Yin Qi's voice also came through the headset, though it was just a short sentence, quickly drowned out by the chaotic sounds of battle and shouting.
"I haven't even officially joined the Special Management Bureau yet."
Li Muhand slowly opened his eyes. A flash of golden light crossed his pupils, and the necklace around his neck reacted instantly, swiftly transforming into black threads that wrapped around half his face, converging into a black mask.
"Isn't an intern just meant to be the scapegoat?"
Sensing that his voice beneath the mask sounded somewhat off, Lin Ziyu grew anxious. Even though he was also worried about the Captain, Li Muhand was a new recruit after all; if anything happened to him, the Seventh Squad would have a hard time explaining it to headquarters.
"Y-You wait right there, Li Muhand!"
Li Muhand no longer paid attention to Lin Ziyu, instead slowly channeling the Demon Power inside him.
"Domain open... Myriad Thunder Guiding Slaughter..."
In an instant, the lights of the entire building—no, every light across the one-kilometer radius of the street—began to flicker, followed by household appliances emitting a buzzing sound, as if electrical current was being sucked away by something.
Lin Ziyu seemed to still be yelling something in the earpiece, but Li Muhand could no longer hear a thing.
He tried hard to recall the feeling of when his own Domain had been torn apart back then. But because his consciousness had been sparse at the time, with Baal basically doing the steering, it was extremely difficult for him to replicate what Xia Yue had done.
Thunder and lightning converged upon his body over and over again, yet he felt like a gun unable to find its target. After several attempts, Li Muhand felt a sharp pain in his head.
He could practically hear Baal mocking him from inside that dilapidated palace.
"Li Muhand."
"Shut up."