Chapter 234 - 231: A Chill Down the Spine

Chapter 234: Chapter 231: A Chill Down the Spine

The situation was urgent. This time, manpower was more critical than raw power.

Half an hour later, at the quadrangle courtyard where the Kyoto Secret Realm was located, Qin Xiaoxia, Su Su, and the Red Demoness were the first to step out of the Technique. Over the next few minutes, more people arrived one after another, using the connecting power between their Secret Realm Rings.

Among them were Jenny, Mark, and Joey, as well as the Knight, Otto, who had achieved a high rank at the Hercules Security Company. There were also several groups of people who had graduated from training in Baru Hell, along with Brown, Philier, and others.

Before long, the inner courtyard was filled with over seventy people—men and women, young and old. If the courtyard hadn’t been so large, a normal-sized one might not have been able to hold them all.

For many, it was their first time seeing so many members of the association gathered in one place. It was also the first time Qin Xiaoxia had assembled such a large group. The scene was quite a spectacle.

Everyone present was an internal member of the Dawn Association. For a long time, they had all been undergoing systematic training, some with Mentors and others at nearby branches.

They all had at least some understanding of the Dawn Association’s current situation.

The Dawn Association’s main areas of influence were currently concentrated in the Hua Country, the United States, and France. In other countries, branches had either not yet been re-established or their current level of strength was too low.

This gathering likely represented a significant portion of the personnel that the Dawn Association could mobilize on short notice.

Although many knew that such a large gathering meant something major had occurred, they couldn’t help but feel excited to see so many like-minded comrades.

"Save the excitement and friend-making for later. This time, we’re here to hunt down a particularly troublesome Demon. The Hua Country Capital is a crucial city, and it absolutely cannot fall into chaos, not now, when humanity is still unprepared!"

Qin Xiaoxia’s voice was exceptionally stern, instantly dousing the crowd’s rising excitement.

Everyone realized what he meant. ’Master Sage is saying that Kyoto City might descend into chaos because of this Demon?’

"That’s right. It’s just as you’re thinking. This Demon isn’t what you’d call powerful, but it’s one of the types the Dawn Association has always despised most."

As he spoke, he waved his arm, and a large stack of scrolls piled to the side flew into everyone’s hands.

These were Special Sheepskin Paper Scrolls, which contained translated versions of the Magic Pattern Scrolls, detailing important information about the Soul-possessing Spirit.

"There’s no room for carelessness this time. I’m going to contact the Hua Country’s official special department immediately. All of you, familiarize yourselves with the information in these scrolls. Quickly."

Qin Xiaoxia had been wanting to establish a dedicated archive of scrolls for the Dawn Association anyway. So, recently, besides training the Ear-Piercing Monster, he had also been organizing the Magic Pattern Scrolls.

If this incident was resolved smoothly, he would have to establish the archive immediately to prevent future members from being unable to identify most of the Demons they encountered as they grew stronger.

Seeing that everyone was absorbed in the documents, Qin Xiaoxia and Su Su headed out. They walked directly to the nearby intersection, where Huang Jiutian was already waiting in his car.

Given the potential severity of the situation, certain aspects of the investigation would be beyond the Dawn Association’s capabilities or would waste precious time. Therefore, he decided to pay a direct visit to Tao Xingzhi.

As for the Soul-possessing Spirit Mother Body that Mo Shaoge and Mo Qingxue were pursuing, its own strength wasn’t great. With the Magic Power contained in their arms, the siblings could destroy it with a single clean hit.

However, to ensure this mother body was eliminated first, the Red Demoness had already departed to help them as soon as they arrived in Kyoto.

...

Tao Xingzhi had enjoyed a rare period of leisure recently. It wasn’t that he was truly idle, but for the first time in a while, he wasn’t running around day and night. He’d actually had a normal work schedule for half a month.

This was largely thanks to the Special Security Team’s personnel training and expansion program, which had been launched over six months ago and was finally beginning to show results. Manpower for the Special Security Team was now more sufficient nationwide, and the construction of various bases was mostly on track.

But over the past ten-odd days, he had started to feel uneasy. Perhaps he was just not used to the quiet after being so busy for so long. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the calm before a major storm.

"RRRING RRRING~"

The phone rang. In his office, Tao Xingzhi was reviewing the files of newly discovered Evolvers one by one. He rubbed his forehead, put down the pen he was using for annotations, and answered.

"Hello, Chief. It’s me."

Before Tao Xingzhi could even speak, Jiutian’s next words made him sit up straight.

"The people from the Dawn Association are in my car right now. I’m bringing them to headquarters immediately. I’ll explain the details when I get there... Oh, and Chief, they just sent a file to our email. You should look at it right away!"

Hearing this, Tao Xingzhi immediately turned to his computer and opened his email.

He knew in an instant that something major was about to happen—or had already happened. Otherwise, the Dawn Association wouldn’t have shown up so suddenly and with such urgency.

But he was the kind of person who grew calmer in a crisis. Although his heart was already pounding, his tone of voice remained unchanged.

"Alright. When will you be here?"

"In less than twenty minutes."

As the call disconnected, Tao Xingzhi opened the special email.

The email was densely packed with text. As he read, Tao Xingzhi’s eyes widened, and his pupils gradually constricted.

His palm, resting on the file he had just been reviewing, unconsciously tightened, wrinkling the papers.

The last few lines of the email read:

The discovered mother body is more than halfway decayed. We must prepare for a city-wide outbreak.

Tao Xingzhi took a deep breath. He immediately summoned all senior agents on duty and canceled all leave for elite agents at headquarters.

Once that was done, he steadied his breathing, picked up his desk phone, and dialed the number for the Director-General.

The email was also immediately forwarded to every elite member of the Special Security Team.

The Soul-possessing Spirit is a very unique type of Yin Spirit monster. Its world of origin is unknown. Unlike other Yin Spirit creatures, its numbers in the Corpse Shadow Qipero World are actually the lowest.

It is a monster that is particularly dangerous to species living in large groups, and it poses a far greater threat than Ghouls.

They are a semi-social species. The Soul-possessing Spirit Mother Body is not an existence like a queen bee, but rather a developmental stage of the Soul-possessing Spirit itself.

The eggs are typically laid upon a soul, regardless of whether that soul belongs to another Yin Spirit or a creature of flesh and blood.

The two types of hosts result in different growth patterns.

If the host is another Yin Spirit or an independent, special soul, the eggs will develop by consuming the host, much like parasitic maggots hatching within a body.

Consuming a single host is often insufficient for the larval Soul-possessing Spirits to fully mature. These small Parasite Spirits, acting like wandering Spirit Body monsters, will continue to seek out and swarm other Yin Spirit creatures. This process continues until they reach full maturity. At that point, they must gather in large numbers and cannibalize one another, allowing a select few to develop into the final Soul-possessing Spirit Mother Body.

The entire process can be quite lengthy, and some Yin Spirit creatures are not to be trifled with.

This might be why these Parasite Spirits are so rare in the Corpse Shadow Qipero World.

If the host is a creature of flesh and blood, however, they will seek out only females. After laying their eggs, they begin a dual gestation of body and soul, cultivating a special organ within the creature’s "uterine viscera."

That’s right—not a fetus, but an organ. A feeding organ. An organ capable of transferring energy to the larval Parasite Spirits.

The host’s flesh outside the uterus is torn apart, but the host does not die. Instead, it moves about like a puppet, searching for "food."

The most terrifying part is that they are not just mindless, walking corpses. They are "Spirit Mothers," possessing the memories and logical thinking of their former selves.

But unlike their lives as normal people, from this point on, all actions of the host "human mother" are driven by one thing: satisfying the "fetus’s" appetite.

To devour flesh, and to devour souls!

Soul-possessing Spirits prefer creatures of flesh and blood because it allows them to skip the tedious intermediate steps, developing directly into a mother body and even breaking past their natural limits.

Everyone who read the document—whether they were agents of the Special Security Team or members of the Dawn Association awaiting Master Sage’s command—imagined a heavily pregnant woman suddenly grabbing them, her abdomen splitting open to reveal a horrific, bloody maw that would devour them.

A chill ran down everyone’s spine.

According to the document, they only knew that one Soul-possessing Spirit Mother Body was more than halfway decayed.

This alone suggested it had already laid eggs dozens of times. But the most terrifying part was that when this Soul-possessing Spirit mother body was discovered, it had been mistaken for a pervert—meaning it had a human form!

This meant it wasn’t a native Parasite Spirit that had crossed over to Earth. It was a fully developed specimen that had grown inside a human host!