Chapter 338: Chaos

At the Cinnabar Pharmacy station, another psychic hurried through the entrance, barely stepping in before spotting charred bodies scattered haphazardly across the gateway, causing their pupils to shrink momentarily.

Suddenly, a strong surge of psychic energy fluctuation hit, and a girl’s voice eerily echoed from behind.

“Over here~!”

Following the sound, a shadow loomed in the darkness, approaching rapidly. The psychic, sensing imminent danger, didn’t hesitate. With a swift motion, dazzling flames burst from their fingertips, striking a nearby pillar.

“Beautiful!” Lu Yibei praised.

Then…

Her hand moved, and the sword fell.

The blade’s humming as it cut through the air, cold light intertwined and mercilessly shredded the psychic’s body.

“Splurt-!”

“Thud-!”

As blood splattered and a body hit the ground with a dull thud, Lu Yibei swiftly retreated, disappearing again, quietly waiting for her next target.

It’s about time to move to the next phase, isn’t it? Lu Yibei thought, her gaze drifting outside the station.

Despite everyone in this dilapidated city being under the influence of drugs, it didn’t mean they were fools – they simply couldn’t manage their emotions.

It was during a casual conversation with the vagrants at the station that Lu Yibei learned about something they affectionately called “treasure,” a mysterious substance.

From the vagrants’ descriptions, she surmised it was a kind of psychic addictive substance catalyzed by alchemical materials, somewhat similar to certain Gu known to manipulate the mind under the lore of the Great Serpent God, yet not quite the same.

Consuming treasure released a special psychic energy fluctuation inside the user, suppressing deep-seated pain and sorrow at the soul level while amplifying joy and elation.

According to those at the station, during the drug’s effect, they could recall and immensely magnify every pleasure from their past, from the first time they met someone they liked, conquered a favorite game, tasted candy, or even the first sip of breast milk.

However, once the effect wore off, the temporarily suppressed negative emotions would return a hundredfold, plunging the user into a deep abyss of suffering. This intense disparity was enough to break the spirits of most people and any haunting affected by it.

Thus, those in the city who had taken “treasure,” whether human or haunting, became increasingly irritable, suspicious, and selfish, with their desires greatly magnified.

This was why Lu Yibei was confident in using words to destabilize their emotions, driving them into “madness.”

However, Lu Yibei considered this to be a short-term solution.

With so many people and hauntings outside, relying on this method could only eliminate a small portion before others began to notice something was amiss and become cautious.

A solo raid couldn’t last; eventually, it would have to evolve into a group effort. Lu Yibei thought.

One-on-one, she was confident in quickly eliminating these average-level 0.5 hauntings and psychics, but if they grouped up…

Her chances of success would be about seventy percent, a risk that was indeed quite high. It would then be time to change strategies.

Outside the station, a group of Ambushers gathered on the wasteland near the station.

Just as Lu Yibei had anticipated, after hearing the repeated screams coming from inside the station, some of the people and hauntings slowed their pace, gathered together, and began to whisper among themselves.

“Do you guys feel something’s off?”

“Yeah, those unlucky ones who went in first seem to have walked into an ambush. This might be a trap!”

“So, what do we do now? Even though we know it might be a trick, we can’t just let others go in first, right? What if they get ahead of us…”

Becoming the red-clothed foreman was too tempting for these poor souls, enough to make them risk their lives.

“Bro, we’ve known each other for a while. If you trust me, why don’t we go in together? That way, we can watch each other’s backs.”

“Let me think about it…”

After some discussion, the Ambushers on the wasteland, who were initially acting independently, began to change.

Familiar psychics or hauntings gradually gathered together, forming small groups of “surface brothers,” and launched another assault towards the station.

Inside the station, at the entrance and exit.

After taking down another haunting that ventured in alone, Lu Yibei flicked her wrist, shaking off the blood from the Broken Sword, ready to hide again and wait for the next prey.

At that moment, a premonition flashed through her mind.

[They appeared at the entrance and exit]

Them? Already teaming up? Faster than expected!

Lu Yibei furrowed her brow slightly, not lingering any longer, and quickly moved before those psychics and hauntings traveling in pairs appeared.

Her toes touched the ground, and she leaped up, climbing along the station’s stone pillars to the metal framework above the platform, hiding in the shadows, minimizing her psychic energy fluctuation.

Once hidden, she pondered for a few seconds and whispered, “Jacket, make the robe look a bit more worn…”

Immediately, with a writhing motion, the jacket transformed from a brand-new black robe into a battle-scarred one.

Soon, footsteps echoed from the station’s entrance and exit.

Hearing the footsteps, Lu Yibei peeked out from behind the stone pillar, looking down to see a psychic and a haunting entering the station together.

They kept a certain distance from each other, each vigilant in different directions, forming a faint defensive stance.

These two Ambushers, one was a psychic, short in stature, with thick limbs and a menacing scar running from the top of his head down to his jaw.

The other was a haunting with a hunched figure, large malformed tumors covering its back.

Lu Yibei studied them, narrowing her eyes slightly.

These two weren’t weak. Judging from the faint psychic energy fluctuation emanating from them, they were likely among the seven or eight Class A entities her psychic sense had detected earlier.

Not easy to deal with! Better wait a bit longer, Lu Yibei thought.

As Lu Yibei pondered, a faint call echoed through the station.

“Wait a minute, something’s not right!”

As soon as two Ambushers entered the station and saw the corpses strewn around the entrance, their steps faltered, they looked at each other, and through their eye contact, the tension in the air noticeably heightened.

“Looks like there really is an ambush?” Scarface growled to his companion in the darkness.

“Come closer, be careful not to get ambushed.”

“Heh heh, don’t worry! The two of us together are already the strongest combo tonight. Anyone who tries anything sneaky will regret it!” Sarcoma Haunting cackled.

Oh? The strongest combo of the night? Lu Yibei’s eyebrows slightly raised, a sly glint flashing in her eyes.

She watched as the two Ambushers gradually searched deeper into the station, dark thoughts beginning to surface in her mind.

A minute later, before the two Ambushers had gone far, the thought of a second wave of attackers crossed Lu Yibei’s mind again.

Judging from the psychic energy fluctuation, they were much weaker than the first two Ambushers, but there were many more of them-twelve in total.

Sensing the psychic energy fluctuations of the twelve Ambushers, Lu Yibei’s gaze sharpened, and she quickly acted before they could enter the station.

Using her exquisite agility and the ability to fly for short periods, she ghosted through the crisscrossing metal scaffolding in the darkness, returning to the spot above the bodies she had previously slain.

After a slight pause, she pressed herself against a stone pillar, silently descended, and then hid next to the bodies.

Kneeling down, she positioned herself and, after a few seconds to muster her emotions, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, grabbed a headless male corpse, and then burst out into a heart-wrenching wail.

“Oh my God! Big brother, my dear big brother!”

“In this cursed place, you were my last friend; what am I to do without you now?”

“You still hadn’t returned the treasure you borrowed last time!”

The two Ambushers, who had just entered the station and were on high alert, were startled by the scream from behind. They spun around and saw Lu Yibei clutching the headless corpse.

Scarface and Sarcoma Haunting exchanged glances and whispered, “What’s going on?”

“It looks like a brother got ambushed earlier when she entered first?” Sarcoma Haunting responded quietly.

Scarface didn’t speak, just nodded slightly to acknowledge Sarcoma Haunting’s explanation.

At that moment, Lu Yibei suddenly pointed towards them and shouted, “You, you’re too sneaky! We were supposed to compete fairly for that thing, and you ambushed us!”

Scarface and Sarcoma Haunting, “??? What?”

What’s going on? Is that guy high on drugs? Why is she spouting nonsense?

While they were still puzzled, twelve more Hauntings, each with a ferocious, eerie, or twisted appearance, gradually appeared near the entrance.

The twelve Hauntings, hearing Lu Yibei’s tragic cries and seeing the corpses scattered around, immediately halted their steps and went on alert.

Then, before they could understand the situation, they saw Lu Yibei suddenly turn towards them, loudly warning, “Be careful, everyone, it was those guys who ambushed us from the shadows!”

The twelve hauntings glanced at Scarface and Sarcoma Haunting, leading a formidable small group, then turned their gaze to Lu Yibei, who was clutching a headless corpse, her clothes tattered and appearance pitiful. Their bizarre eyes showed a hint of hesitation.

Scarface paused, catching on, and looked at Lu Yibei with a dark expression.

“Rubbish! You little brat, dare to say that again?!”

“It’s you!” Lu Yibei retorted defiantly. “You killed my brother! You even tried to kill me!”

“Alright! You’ve got guts, but let’s see if you can still say that later!” Scarface growled, charging forward with a menacing aura.

As he advanced, he glanced at the twelve hauntings, about to explain something, when Lu Yibei suddenly exclaimed, “Run everyone! He’s going to silence us!”

Startled, the twelve hauntings took a step back, their psychic energy fluctuation rising as they assumed a defensive stance, shouting at the approaching Scarface.

“Stop! One more step and we’ll attack!”

“Golden Blade Number Three! I told you to stop, don’t think we’re afraid of you!”

Scarface, known as Golden Blade Number Three, became increasingly ferocious, growling, “You fools, don’t be deceived by her! Let me through, I only want to kill her, I won’t harm any of you!”

“Everyone, don’t trust him!” Lu Yibei shouted at the right moment. “Though they are few, they are the strongest tonight. If they get close, we’re doomed!”

“Earlier… Yes! My brother and I were ambushed by those bastards. They said working together would be safer, but once they found the target, they turned on us!”

Found the target? The hauntings’ expressions shifted subtly. “You mean they’ve already got the item?”

“Yes! If I hadn’t escaped quickly, I’d be headless like my brother!”

Lu Yibei rambled on, while anger and murderous intent grew in Golden Blade Number Three’s heart.

A man with a treasure is a target. If Lu Yibei was just slandering him before, now she was trying to get him killed.

He looked at the twelve hauntings, coldly asking, “Do you believe her nonsense?”

“This…” The hauntings hesitated, glancing around.

Golden Blade Number Three was indeed strong, and the girl sobbing over the headless corpse seemed genuinely miserable.

“Brother, brother, you died so tragically!”

Seeing this, Golden Blade Number Three’s face turned cold, stepping forward forcefully, his powerful psychic energy fluctuation pressing forward aggressively.

“Why am I wasting words with you? Simple question, will you let me through or not?”

“Well… Golden Blade Number Three, whether we let you through or not, we should first understand the situation, right?” one haunting said seriously. “How about we talk this over?”

“You pathetic minnows think you’re worthy of negotiating with me?”

Golden Blade Number Three roared, advancing a few more steps, drawing the wide-bladed knife from his waist.

“Stop right there!” Upon seeing the situation, a group of hauntings shouted in horror.

However, Golden Blade Number Three seemed completely oblivious to their words and continued forward.

Just then, Lu Yibei, who was hiding behind the twelve hauntings, pinched her nose and said sinisterly, “Everyone, it looks like he’s gone berserk!”

“If we want to survive, we’ll have to join forces. There are many of us, we shouldn’t be scared of him. How about we all attack together?”

Attack together? The hauntings hesitated.

Golden Blade Number Three had some notoriety within the bounds of Cinnabar Pharmacy. Otherwise, they would have swarmed him the moment they knew he had located his target.

As the hauntings pondered, Golden Blade Number Three had already charged at them, his heavy blade bursting with dazzling golden light as it slashed forward.

“If you don’t move, you’ll die with her!”

With a swift movement of his blade, the twelve hauntings scattered in horror. One aberrant type Jiangshi haunting was too slow to escape Golden Blade Number Three’s attack range. In the next moment, a golden arc swept through, splattering a gruesome burst of blood.

“Pfft-!”

As foul-smelling blood sprayed out, a head with greenish-purple skin and rotting flesh soared into the air, tracing a parabola before heavily hitting the ground.

The twelve hauntings, initially unsure of whom to trust, saw Golden Blade Number Three charging at them and suddenly acted decisively.

As they distanced themselves from Golden Blade Number Three, their psychic energy fluctuations suddenly erupted.

In an instant, the normally dark entrance of the subway station seemed as if overturned with paint, covered in layers of colors. Various streams of light collided mid-air, emitting deafening booms.

Just then, the third wave of ambushers entered the station.

Lu Yibei was about to further fuel the fire but heard amidst the chaotic battle, one of the eleven hauntings suppressed by Golden Blade Number Three and the Sarcoma Haunting shouted.

“Everyone, it was Golden Blade Number Three ambushing us just now!”

Lu Yibei, “… Well, that was quick.”

That saves me a lot of talking.

Great! Let the fight begin!

The third wave of ambushers, six psychics, hesitated upon hearing the haunting’s words.

Dog eating dog, they did not want to get involved.

Then, another haunting growled, “They got the goods, and we caught them. They want to silence us!”

“I can testify, I saw it too. They also killed my brother!” Lu Yibei chimed in.

Hearing this, the six psychics paused, then their looks towards Golden Blade Number Three turned sinister.

When it involved their interests, their thoughts changed.

“Hehe, Golden Blade Number Three, did you really get it? How about you hand it over to us, and we’ll help you kill these hauntings?” one of the psychics said with a meaningful laugh.

Golden Blade Number Three, beyond defense and furious, roared, “I’ll hand over nothing!”

He swung his blade.

The dazzling golden light swept through, forcing the psychics to dodge in panic, their eyes filled with murderous intent. After exchanging glances, they spread out, surrounding Golden Blade Number Three and the Sarcoma Haunting.

Then, the fourth wave of ambushers appeared.

“What are you doing?”

“Damn Golden Blade Number Three, breaking the rules, daring to ambush in the station!”

“Kill Golden Blade Number Three, and take the Calamity core!”

Thus, after a brief and clear exchange, a brutal fight began.

Soon, chaos filled every corner of the station, with continuous cries of death and the loud collisions of psychic energy fluctuations.

The shockwaves generated rippled through the air.

In the chaos, no one noticed a small figure taking advantage of the darkness to move away.

From afar, hearing their conversation, Lu Yibei was all questions.

What’s going on?

They’re really coming after me?

Calling so many people to attack me, what grudge is this?

As she thought, she quickened her pace, making her way towards where Ah-Hua was hiding.

Damn, it’s time to get out of this dangerous place and take Ah-Hua with me…