Chapter 565: Assigned Mission

Pripyat.

The boundless wasteland was shrouded by night. The mountains, trees, and buildings had all been reduced to vague outlines. The night wind whimpered, both mournful and desolate.

In the wind, this small town, where time seemed to have frozen, was not still. Rag dolls lying on rusted playground equipment, buildings inhabited by swarms of deformed rats, the Ferris wheel that had stopped forever… everything was wandering, like ghosts.

Suddenly, at the center of the town, a tiny figure shot into the sky, like a scorching bullet fired heavenward.

Immediately after, the earth trembled violently. Waves of dust swept out, and blazing light instantly illuminated the sky above the town, as though that terrible disaster recorded in the annals of human history had replayed itself.

Beneath the blazing light, the shopping mall at the center of town, wholly taken over by plants, rose from the ground like an enraged beast jolted awake from sleep.

Broken bricks and stones and rusted steel bars rolled and trembled like throat tissue within the twisted maw opening from the top of the mall, producing a deafening roar.

Accompanied by the thunderous noise, countless small hauntings with bodies made of plants and concrete, resembling giant cockroaches, surged out like a swarm leaving the nest. Waving their feelers, they emitted shrieks like metal scraping and flew toward the fat little white bug in the sky.

From afar, it looked like the wreckage of a shattered building, a spire piled together in a structure that defied common physical sense, covered in alien plants.

The intense lingering resentment had almost condensed into substance, rolling up dust filled with powerful radioactivity and forming aurora-like, dazzling currents of air that danced wildly in midair like ribbons.

Just as the densely packed feelers were about to touch the little bug, a dense string of code suddenly flashed through its dark green eyes.

Immediately, a triangle play icon from a paused video appeared out of thin air in midair, freezing the moving “spire” below and the shopping mall undergoing haunting transformation in an instant, as if they had been cast into a statue.

Then, a low whisper came from the direction of the little bug.

“Delete…”

As the words fell, the surrounding space briefly warped. Light patterns in the three primary colors interwove and flashed across the sky above the town, and a faint sound similar to electromagnetic interference crackled in the air.

The next moment, the group of hauntings frozen in midair and their mother body suddenly shook, as if struck hard by an invisible heavy hammer, and in an instant disintegrated into powder.

Pale dust drifted down in a flurry, but before it reached the ground, it rapidly vanished into nothingness.

It was as though it had been devoured by another world and no longer existed in this one.

The little bug slowly descended from the sky and landed on the trembling Ferris wheel. It patted the Ferris wheel’s steel frame and said with a pout, “Stop shaking. I’m not going to kill you. I’m just sitting for a while.”

The Ferris wheel gave a soft creak and stopped moving.

The little bug wriggled its fat body and sat down. Its six forelimbs, so short they could practically be ignored, rested in front of its chest. It looked around at the town shrouded in darkness and began muttering to itself gloomily.

“Damn it, where am I supposed to find an embryonic Divine Land?”

Void had originally thought that this small town, which had undergone an overall haunting transformation due to the continuously spreading reputation of “Life-Devouring Ghost Town” and the lingering resentment that had long refused to dissipate on this land, would be a natural embryonic Divine Land.

However, only after it truly arrived here did it discover that aside from aberrant type hauntings of all sizes scattered everywhere, the thing it wanted was nowhere to be found—not even a single hair of it.

“I’m so jealous that Calamity has a mom…”

Void was muttering to itself when, as if it had suddenly sensed some danger, its body stiffened. Its dark green pupils trembled, and with a whoosh, it shot up from the Ferris wheel like a bolt of lightning.

It wriggled its body in midair and was just about to flee when, at that moment, a terrifying psychic energy fluctuation abruptly descended, imprisoning it in place.

That psychic energy fluctuation clenched it tightly, relaxed, clenched again… repeating over and over, like an invisible giant hand toying with its springy body.

It could feel that psychic energy fluctuation drilling into its body, disrupting the circulation of its psychic energy. Its entire body was sending out painful wails, yet there was no substantial injury.

That feeling made Void recall a miserable encounter it had not long after it had just become a haunting, when it had been wandering the internet and casually peeping at the filthy little secrets on human hard drives.

That time, it had encountered a lunatic. Like raising a gu, that person had installed seven or eight antivirus programs on the computer, including Some Penguin Manager, Kingsoft Poison King, and 361 Warrior.

The programs first killed each other, and only in the end did they free up a little gap to kill it.

They could not kill it, but they kept tormenting it nonstop, like cutting flesh with a dull knife—especially uncomfortable.

Human. Unknown type of Spirit Pattern. Catastrophe-class psychic…

Void sensed the source of that psychic energy fluctuation coming to a position less than two meters behind it. Its psychic sense spread outward, and in an instant it detected this information.

However, when it wanted to probe further, its body suddenly convulsed. The words “insufficient permissions” flashed before its eyes, and the next moment its psychic sense detection was sealed off.

That feeling was as if the other party had invaded its “systems” through psychic energy fluctuation and restricted its usage permissions.

A psychic capable of doing this had to meet at least two conditions: their power had similarities to its own, and their psychic energy fluctuation level exceeded its by one level.

The look confirmed it—this was someone it could not beat!

“Uh, friend, we can talk this out. Why resort to violence the moment we meet? Anyway, this is only one of my avatars. Even if you kill it, there won’t be any true-body core for you to take…”

A network haunting without “backups” was not a good haunting. Void never showed others its true body.

Even an Online Old Pervert had over ten million alternate accounts!

Though this avatar was a relatively important “backup,” and restoring it would be rather difficult…

Void anxiously added that sentence in its heart.

“Do me a favor. After it’s done, I’ll tell you where you can find an embryonic Divine Land.”

The person’s voice had clearly been processed through psychic energy fluctuation, and no characteristics could be found at all.

“So this is about cooperation? That’s great!” Void said.

Just like open-source code, cooperation for mutual benefit—this was its favorite thing.

Of course, the premise was that the other party was not the kind of lunatic whose head had been overwhelmed by negative emotions, causing their power to fall and corrupt.

“Uh, if you don’t mind, could you first tell me the content of this cooperation?” Void asked.

“Calamity.”

“Huh?” Void said in surprise. “You want her? That’s not very good, is it?”

Kidnapping female hauntings was something the haunting chat group really had never done. It was too immoral.

“Bastard! What nonsense!”

A low growl came from behind it.

“Uh, then you want to persecute her? That won’t do. She’s an important partner of mine. I can’t damage her interests. Otherwise, there’ll be no way to cooperate in the future.”

At worst, it would only lose one important avatar. Calamity was an important reference template for me. If she’s gone, she’s truly gone.

Moreover, if it did something like that and word got out, the reputation of the haunting bounty website would be ruined.

Void thought.

“Who said I wanted to persecute her?” the person behind it said coldly. “I know you established a bounty website. I only need you to issue her a designated task.”

Void: “…”

And you still say this isn’t persecution? Why do I feel like you’re setting a trap for Calamity?

Forget it. I’ll agree in appearance first. When I issue Calamity the task, I’ll max out the danger warning. Once she sees it, there’s no way she’ll accept.

Thinking this, Void replied, “All right, it’s a deal! Then tell me first what bounty you want to post.”

“Very simple. If she has the chance, have her join the Esoteric Society hidden inside Great Pure Palace…”

“What Society?” Void asked.

Although, by relying on the special nature of its power, it had the ability to peep into any corner of the world covered by the internet, having the ability did not mean it dared to.

Great Pure Palace was one of the places it did not dare to probe deeply into.

Some simple information, such as things like Fu Xinyi’s daily schedule, it still dared to take a peek at.

But when it came to forces like the Esoteric Society, something it had never heard of before, hidden deep within the Great Pure Palace, it touched upon a blind spot in its information.

Seeing that the person behind it had not responded for a long time, Void asked tentatively, “Hey, friend, want to join a group chat first? For something like this, you could actually message Calamity privately…”

After saying that, it suddenly sensed that the psychic energy fluctuation, which had been oppressing it so much that its heart palpitated, had dissipated without warning.

It froze for a moment, waited a few seconds, then abruptly turned around, only to discover that the person had already vanished.

Looking at the empty abandoned town beneath the night sky, Void spat and said, “Tch! I really ran into a weirdo today… what bad luck!”

You call it cooperation, but in the end you won’t even tell me what benefits I can get…

For something like this, couldn’t you just go straight to Calamity? Why did you have to come mess with me? Void thought.

——————

Shizhou City, Sleepless Street.

Ever since the nights became long, nightlife crowds all over the world had sharply declined, and industries such as bars, nightclubs, and late-night eateries had suffered severe blows.

But there were always exceptions to everything.

Cities like Shizhou City, which were close to psychic forces and had very few haunting incidents, were exceptions.

Sleepless Street had originally been just a very ordinary tourist bar street, but after the nights became long, large numbers of workers poured in from other cities, and the place gradually became prosperous, even crowded and chaotic.

Exaggerated lighted signs blazing all night, shops squeezed into every available gap, snack stalls set up along the street, endless streams of people, the aroma of liquor permeating the air…

All sorts of elements piled together, the clamor continuing throughout the night as though there were no darkness at all. Thus, someone jokingly called it “Sleepless Street,” and it became another must-visit attraction in Shizhou City besides the Zhenwu Mountain Scenic Area.

Over time, the original official name of this prosperous, noisy, and chaotic street had instead long since been forgotten.

Near Sleepless Street, inside a secluded small building.

This was a rare quiet corner of Sleepless Street.

Deep inside the small building, in a room with doors and windows tightly shut, without the slightest trace of light, the air was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

A man dressed in a moon-white Daoist robe was hanging from the ceiling by ropes.

His hair was disheveled, clumped together in many places by sticky liquid. The Daoist robe on his body was torn in multiple places, revealing wounds deep enough to expose bone. A blue-purple metal ring pierced through his back, wrapping around his spine and locking the area where the Spirit Pattern was located. Blood dripped from his toes, splattering across the floor like leopard spots.

“Wu Yutang, have you thought it through? Are you certain you want to leave the Society?” A voice sounded in the darkness.

“Y-yes, I’m certain!” the man called Wu Yutang replied in a trembling yet resolute voice. “Back then, j-joining you was a mistake.”

“A mistake? Heh!” The voice in the darkness let out a cold laugh. “In that case… say goodbye to your precious fan!”

As soon as the words fell, a soft “crack” rang out in the darkness, as though something had been snapped apart.

Along with that faint sound of breaking, Wu Yutang’s body instantly went taut, as if what had been snapped apart was not merely the psychic artifact that had accompanied him for so long and greatly enhanced his strength, but some vital organ he depended on for survival.

Then a bloodcurdling scream pierced the silence of the room, spreading outward only to be mercilessly swallowed by the clamor on Sleepless Street…

————

On a mountain road several kilometers away from the Zhenwu Mountain Scenic Area.

The middle-aged man driving the off-road vehicle was a decent person. After the car blew a cylinder, he let Fang Ji get into the bus first, while he stayed by the roadside alone waiting for help from the repair shop. Fang Ji wanted to compensate him, but he refused to accept it.

“Thank you, uncle. You really are a good person!”

Fang Ji bowed slightly to the middle-aged man, then swiftly stuffed the gold necklace he had accidentally picked up into the off-road vehicle.

Having received kindness from someone, he repaid it with gold.

As if this behavior had been carved into his bones, he did it subconsciously, without feeling there was anything abnormal about it at all.

“Uncle, just take that as a birthday present for your daughter!”

Fang Ji shouted from afar at the middle-aged man, who had not yet come back to his senses.

After saying that, he ran toward the bus, scanned the QR code, and excitedly got on.

Then…

“Splat!” He fell right in front of the bus door. His forehead hit the edge of the step trimmed with a metal strip with a “dong,” bounced once, and then his back went “Duang” as it slammed into the metal handrail.

The bus driver: “!!!”

This girl isn’t going to die on my bus, is she?

Huá Sāng: “…”

Uh, why are there so many strange people today?

Shem, Salih: “…”

A false Holy Son, possessing nothing but the fragrance of the Flower of Miracles!

Lu Yibei: “…”

This girl is way too unlucky. If I ride on the same bus as her, nothing bad is going to happen, right?

Today was only the second time Lu Yibei had seen Fang Ji, yet she had already witnessed him having terrible luck twice in a row. She could not help but begin to suspect that perhaps this was not a coincidence.

She felt that if there were gods in the world rolling dice, then Fang Ji would be the kind hated by the gods.

A “lucky one” blessed by the world’s malice, similar to an Eldritch Destroyer.

Under everyone’s gaze, Fang Ji stood up completely unharmed, rubbed his forehead, and looked around the bus with eyes full of expectation. Gradually, disappointment appeared in his eyes.

The person he wanted to find was not on the bus.

The next moment, his gaze seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force, slowly shifting toward Lu Yibei. Immediately, his eyes lit up.

Although he had not found Lu Yibei, he sensed from this unfamiliar girl a friendly aura similar to the one on Lu Yibei.

It was precisely that aura that had guided him all the way here.

“Sister, may I ask if you’ve seen Lu Yibei? I’m looking for him!”

“…” Huá Sāng fell silent and looked at the girl beside her, her gaze sizing her up from head to toe.

“Sorry, I haven’t seen him!” Lu Yibei replied politely.

Who’s your sister? Hurry up and get lost!

The one you’re looking for is Lu Yibei, so why are you asking me, Calamity?

“Eh?” Fang Ji bit his finger and muttered, “But sister, you have an aura similar to Lu Yibei’s!”

Lu Yibei: “!!!”

Damn it! Didn’t the jacket already conceal my aura completely? How did you recognize it?

Are you some customs inspection dog or something?

Huá Sāng: “???”

She tilted her head, and for a moment, the way she scrutinized Lu Yibei became even sharper, as though she wanted to carefully distinguish every single pore on her body…