Chapter 462: The Midnight Watchers Society Takes Action

In a boundless darkness like an abyss, a giant “bubble” shrouded the city like a thin veil, making everything indistinct and blurred.

Above the city wrapped in the giant “bubble,” a bizarre scene was unfolding.

Squirming dark red flesh, like a serpent devouring the world, coiled atop the “bubble’s” shell, constantly intercepting the figures that flew out from the shattered gaps in the “bubble.”

Then…

Splitting, duplicating, abandoning, as if searching for something.

Thus, countless figures, after being tainted by the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance, continued to float upward, merging into the darkness and vanishing without a trace.

Meanwhile, a small, ugly black fish darted back and forth in the vast space.

Rushing ahead of those figures before they could touch the dark red flesh, it used its weak body to intercept, collide, and shatter them.

Spaces like this, created by high-tier hauntings, have existed since ancient times.

For example, the Indian epic Mahabharata records King Kakudmi visiting the heavenly palace, and in the Liezi, King Mu of Zhou was taken by a divine being to a wondrous place “where looking up one could not see sun or moon, and looking down one could not see rivers or seas” to enjoy himself-both are such examples.

According to what the systems know, those outrageously powerful hauntings, when creating special spaces, more or less mix their own powers into them, and what the Beast of Inheritance is doing now is searching among those scattered figures for possible fragments of power.

If it finds one, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Without a host, the systems cannot stop the Beast of Inheritance; the only thing they can do is destroy as many of those scattered figures as possible, reducing its chances of finding a power fragment.

Suddenly, the psychic energy fluctuation permeating the darkness grew restless.

The system’s body stiffened, it looked up into the darkness, fish lips opening and closing, “Damn! Again? How many times is this now? What the hell is that thing?”

As it spoke, in the midst of that chaotic psychic energy, a star abruptly emerged from the darkness, slowly rising, then suddenly plunging, trailing golden flames and dazzling brilliance, falling toward the “bubble.”

This was already the seventh time the system had seen this strange sight: that streak of light, like a falling star, charging toward the “bubble” again and again, only to be intercepted by the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance, never tiring.

“……”

That woman who could play mobile games while watching the world end, seeing this scene again and again like drawing cards and getting a hit, must be absolutely thrilled, right?

The system secretly complained, its dead fish eyes suddenly quaking.

This time, that streak of light was flying straight toward it.

“What the hell!?”

The system cried out, hurriedly arching its body, tail fin thrashing violently from side to side, and with a bang, it shot forward like a cannonball.

In an instant, the streak of light brushed past the system, its brilliant radiance shining over its body.

Like a hallucination, a voice sounded in its mind.

“Hello, may I ask for a favor?”

The system froze, and in its lifeless dead fish eyes, a sudden gleam appeared.

It was misty water vapor, refracting the golden light.

Although Gu Qianqian ate a lot, never did anything proper and always caused trouble, her growth rate was among the slowest of all hosts, and aside from being especially diligent and bursting with justice, she had almost no redeeming qualities.

But being able to hear her voice again, the system was so moved its voice choked and tears welled up.

“Gu Qianqian?”

“Eh? Not Gu Qianqian! It’s Gu Xiliu.” the voice corrected.

The system froze, “Who?”

“It’s, it’s Gu Xiliu…” the voice repeated weakly.

System, “……”

Only changed one character in the name, and now you’re pretending to be a stranger? Truly worthy of you, Gu Qianqian!

Your brain really is as not-smart as ever!

But knowing Gu Qianqian is still alive is a good thing!

The system was a bit happy, but then it remembered the monument inside itself, already engraved with Gu Qianqian’s name, and a strong sense of awkwardness quietly rose in its heart…

Absolutely must not let her know about this! the system thought.

Early morning, Hua City Central Hospital, inside an independent laboratory.

Bang bang bang-bang bang bang-!

A series of metallic tray strikes against the bedside echoed in the laboratory.

An Qing, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide and looked toward the pale-faced Silver Horn on the hospital bed.

“What’s wrong? Did you discover something?” An Qing asked.

“I… uh… no…” Silver Horn opened his mouth, but after a long moment, couldn’t utter a complete sentence.

Bang-!

As if angry with himself, a flash of irritation crossed Silver Horn’s eyes. He slammed the metal tray hard against the bedside again, then opened his mouth wide toward An Qing.

An Qing looked into his mouth, and her heart tightened instantly.

Inside Silver Horn’s mouth, a large number of teeth had grown, and two tongues were tangled together.

The overgrowth of tissue in his oral cavity had robbed him of the ability to speak. Even though he’d made a major discovery, he could no longer tell An Qing verbally.

Seeing the change in An Qing’s expression, Silver Horn confirmed she understood his situation. He turned his head and raised his eyebrows toward the pen holder on the desk not far away.

An Qing was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood what Silver Horn meant. “Paper and pen, right? Hold on, I’ll get them right away!”

As she spoke, An Qing quickly walked to the desk, fetched paper and pen, set up the bedside table, and placed them in front of Silver Horn.

Silver Horn sat up with difficulty, took a deep breath, and began to write.

……

[The special substance extracted from the Nocturnal Syndrome research sample was injected into my body. On the very night of the injection, I developed a sleep disorder-this is a sign of infection.

About two hours later, I sensed a foreign tissue with psychic energy fluctuation proliferating inside me, attempting to replicate my Spirit Pattern power.

It seems to enter organisms randomly through dreams, copying any power it comes into contact with.

This is one of the reasons why patients with this Nocturnal Syndrome eventually develop abnormal limb overgrowth.

To verify its various characteristics more quickly, I deliberately relaxed my Spirit Pattern to let it copy, accelerating the progression of the illness.

The moment I lifted my psychic energy defenses, its replication speed increased more than tenfold!]

Seeing this, An Qing’s heart skipped a beat. She looked at Silver Horn in shock. “Then now, your body…”

Silver Horn gave An Qing a bitter smile and continued writing.

[Don’t worry, I’m fine, I won’t die.

My Spirit Pattern can create life-saving medicine, so naturally it can also produce deadly poison. It’s just barely possible to preset some toxicity in the power.

Uh, you can think of this process as the DNA double helix replicating before cell division-my power serves as the template for it.

When I used my Spirit Pattern skill to imbue my power with toxicity, it was like a malignant mutation in DNA, so during replication, it gradually became ‘poisoned.’

Fortunately, its intelligence doesn’t seem high-it actually fell for it. While copying the power, it also copied the preset toxin.

As it replicated rapidly, I also analyzed the changes in my own psychic energy fluctuation to gain a deeper understanding of it.

Just now, I got the conclusion I wanted.]

At this, An Qing’s eyes lit up and she took two quick steps forward.

Silver Horn smiled at her, gestured for her to stay calm, and continued writing.

[I can now confirm that this Nocturnal Syndrome is infectious. Its transmission is similar to a parasite. Psychic potential bearers are the most susceptible, ordinary people next, and even animals, plants, and buildings can be infected.

According to current data, as long as the patient hasn’t entered the limb overgrowth stage, it’s possible to use a combination of Alchemical potions to deactivate the haunting tissue in their body and suppress Nocturnal Syndrome.

Later, I’ll use my Spirit Pattern ability to create the corresponding suppressant potion. You just need to find a psychic skilled in Alchemy to analyze the potion’s ingredients, and you’ll be able to produce the same potion.

Once mass-produced, spray it throughout Hua City and add it to the daily water supply to suppress the spread of the disease.

However, this is only if the activity of that haunting tissue doesn’t increase further.

Also, this outbreak of Nocturnal Syndrome is caused by the tissue of a haunting without a physical entity, showing parasitic characteristics and extremely high activity.

Simply suppressing the disease still leaves a major problem.

Patients whose symptoms are suppressed won’t die from Nocturnal Syndrome, but the haunting tissue and the Alchemical potion used to suppress its activity will both leave some residue. In the short term, the psychic potential of those infected will show a pseudo-increase.

The residue from the Alchemical potion can be ignored.

As for the haunting tissue residue, we must find that haunting and hunt it down, to prevent it from advancing in the future and reactivating the residual tissue.

I have a list here of hauntings currently known by The Midnight Watchers Society that possess the ability to replicate other psychics’ and hauntings’ powers. They can be key investigation targets.

Later, please help me hand this to the Supervisor-she’ll compare it with the database for investigation.

Also… please prepare a high-standard isolation room for me. I need to be alone for a while.]

“Alone for a while?” An Qing was stunned, her gaze flickering with suspicion as she looked at Silver Horn.

He’s not… planning to give up and wait for death alone, is he? An Qing thought.

Silver Horn gave a bitter smile and wrote another line.

[I need to give myself a heavy dose, otherwise I can’t completely cure the Nocturnal Syndrome in my body.

This heavy dose is extremely toxic. To prevent the toxicity from spreading, I must have a high-standard isolation room.]

After reading what Silver Horn wrote, An Qing took a deep breath, nodded, and said, “I understand. Leave it to me!”

“Heh…” Silver Horn let out a muffled laugh, wrote down his suspected haunting list on the paper, then closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. His breathing soon dropped to freezing point, as if he were dead.

One hour later.

Jinguan City, The Midnight Watchers Society Southwest District Headquarters, Supervisor’s Office.

[……Suspected haunting: Beast of Inheritance, bionic demon.

The Beast of Inheritance is suspected to be under the control of the Eclipse Society. Based on current clues, golden horn has been ordered to investigate.

The bionic demon appeared in the Shanhaiguan Pass area three months ago. Requesting local Midnight Watchers Society to assist in the investigation.

Above, Xing Yuan.]

After clicking to upload the report, Xing Yuan slumped into her chair and let out a long breath.

By comparing the power characteristics of the five hauntings listed by silver horn and their recent movements, she finally narrowed the scope from five down to two.

Although investigating the movements of two hauntings at the same time would still require a lot of manpower and resources, it was already within the range that The Midnight Watchers Society could afford.

After uploading the report, she rested for about three minutes, then sat up straight again, picked up the golden Death Owl Emblem on the desk, and lightly touched it with her fingertip, sending a message to her subordinate responsible for contacting the more than twenty operators proficient in Alchemy.

“How’s the progress?”

“Madam Inspector-General, everything is going smoothly. At the latest, we’ll be able to start deployment by noon tomorrow.”

“Very good!” Xing Yuan hooked the corner of her mouth. “Tell them, use any materials in the warehouse as they please. If it’s not enough, I’ll pay out of my own pocket!”

“Understood!”

After briefly inquiring about the progress of the potion refining, Xing Yuan sat at her desk, hands clasped under her chin, staring intently at the golden Death Owl Emblem on the table, waiting for golden horn’s reply.

Time passed slowly as she waited. About half an hour later, the golden Death Owl Emblem suddenly vibrated, buzzing on the desk.

“Bzzzz-!”

Xing Yuan reached out and lightly touched the emblem, and golden horn’s voice sounded in her ear.

“Boss! We’ve locked down that guy’s location. He’s in a cold storage warehouse on the outskirts of Yue City!”

“Excellent!” Xing Yuan nodded slightly, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes as she said calmly, “Then, let’s move!”

“Don’t worry, for silver horn’s sake, I’ll turn that bastard into mincemeat!”

—

Early morning, Hua City.

“Recently, a new type of influenza A outbreak has appeared in Hua City. The entire city will be under lockdown starting at 17:00 on March 7th… Citizens experiencing insomnia, frequent dreams, mental fatigue, abnormal limb pain or growth, please go to the nearest large hospital immediately…”

Jiang Li quietly finished watching the news broadcast, closed her laptop, and turned to look at the isolation room, frowning at silver horn, whose entire body had turned a purplish gray.

“Qing-Jie, I’ve basically got everything arranged on my end. Has he still not shown any signs of waking up?”

After gathering enough information about this outbreak of Nocturnal Syndrome, Hua City quickly launched emergency measures and issued announcements through TV, internet, text messages, and other channels.

The special task force was also in the city, dividing areas to isolate patients and suspected patients.

Although it was a bit rushed and suspicious, this was the only way. Only by effectively controlling the public could they hope to get the potion to everyone.

However, since Nocturnal Syndrome was almost considered incurable in the public’s perception, to avoid panic and chaos and prevent the situation from worsening, after much deliberation, the announcement only stated that a new type of influenza A had appeared.

In fact, even so, major supermarkets and malls in Hua City had already seen panic buying before the lockdown.

There were even some shameless people who tried to take their whole families and leave Hua City before the lockdown.

But with the help of the police and the Sky Eye systems, plus the standardized psychic artifact used by The Midnight Watchers Society for tracking, along with Bai Kai, the “fastest legend in Hua City,” and Li Xuan, who called himself the “Fujiwara Takumi of Hua City,”

As long as you can’t teleport with spell formations or fly at high speed in the stratosphere, they’ll catch you!

Within the entire Southwest region of The Midnight Watchers Society, operators proficient in Alchemy had been working nonstop for the past eight or nine hours, and the potion to suppress Nocturnal Syndrome was almost ready.

If you don’t stay put in Hua City and wait for the potion to be deployed, but run around everywhere, aren’t you just harming others?

An Qing looked at the unconscious silver horn, shook her head helplessly at Jiang Li, and said, “No, I figure he won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

“If this Nocturnal Syndrome is really as he analyzed, and he managed to survive just by relying on the special nature of his Spirit Pattern, even if he’s only in a coma, that’s already not bad.”

“……”

After staring silently at silver horn for a while, Jiang Li stood up and said to An Qing, “Let’s leave it at that for now? You stay and take care of him, I’ll head out first.”

“I just got a notice from Supervisor Xing Yuan. They’ve locked onto the movements of the Eclipse Society member secretly controlling the Beast of Inheritance, and the Owl signal has already been sent out. I need to hurry over to assist.”

And while I’m at it, I’ll ask Ah-Hua and Du Sixian if they’ve managed to get in touch with that guy… Jiang Li added silently in her heart.

This time, with the outbreak of Nocturnal Syndrome in Hua City, the number of patients was increasing relatively slowly at first, but starting from this morning, the number of cases has clearly surged. Almost every hour, there are thirty to forty new patients.

For a while, The Midnight Watchers Society and all the major hospitals in Hua City have been swamped and overwhelmed.

At a time like this, as the King of Hauntings who can draw upon the Ley Line Energy of Hua City, Lu Yibei should have been the most likely person to quickly find the haunting responsible for causing Nocturnal Syndrome, yet he has vanished without a trace.

Usually, Jiang Li didn’t care if he was just loafing around at The Midnight Watchers Society, but at a time like this, for him to still be missing-he’s slacking off all the way down to the Mariana Trench.

So infuriating!

—

On the outskirts of Yue City, inside a long-abandoned cold storage facility.

On the icy operating table, piles of unrecognizable chunks of flesh were stacked. Berses, his whole body splattered with blood, stood in front of the table, his face full of excitement.

After almost a whole day, he had thoroughly studied that Nocturnal Syndrome patient inside and out, and finally reached a conclusion, confirming his suspicions.

“As expected, I was right! All these Nocturnal Syndrome patients have the flesh and blood of the Beast of Inheritance inside them! But why would they lose their physical form?”

“No, no, it must have found some excellent template to copy!”

“I have to go back, hurry back and see what it’s copying!”

With that, Berses tossed the saw in his hand with a clang and strode quickly toward the exit of the cold storage.

As soon as he pushed open the door, he froze in place.

He saw a man blocking the doorway, holding a golden gourd in his arms, who gave him a cold sneer. “Scum, where the hell do you think you’re going? Did you ask me first?”

Berses, “……”