The Situation

"What is that?!"

A chorus of frightened cries rose from the civilians.

The Night Watchmen, however, seemed to understand — many broke into wide, excited smiles.

The young man beside the Deputy Director rushed to speak. "Deputy Director! It's reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!"

Surprise crossed the Deputy Director's face. "They came so fast."

They had only just sent out the distress signal a short while ago, yet reinforcements had already appeared — far sooner than he had expected.

Still, he was hardly complaining.

A grin spread across his face. "Counterattack! Wipe out every last Shadow! ...And keep those civilians from panicking."

"Yes, sir!"

With that, the Deputy Director became a blur and shot into the sky, cutting down the Shadows that hadn't yet been purged by the golden light above.

The closer he flew to the blazing sun overhead, the more the temperature soared. Even at Battle King Rank, he felt his skin prickling and his mouth going dry.

He swept out a gale with a casual gesture, shredding a cluster of fleeing Shadows, then glanced up at the radiant orb hanging in the sky. Shock flickered across his face.

*Terrifyingly powerful. Who could this be?*

He wasn't the only one. Several other Battle King Rank warriors fighting in different sectors were also slaughtering Shadows in midair, and every one of them went rigid with awe as the scorching heat washed over them.

With that blazing sun overhead, the black clouds dissolved rapidly. Combined with the Night Watchmen sweeping up what remained, it wasn't long before every wisp of dark mist had cleared and every Shadow vanished.

The sun slowly dimmed, its brilliance fading to reveal a lone silhouette — and beside that silhouette, a second figure materialized.

Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe.

Li Qinghe had already dispersed the last black clouds that Lu Yuan had missed. She cast one glance at the devastation below, brow furrowing slightly. "Lucky we arrived when we did."

Lu Yuan nodded, his expression grim.

If the Aberrated Individual controlling the Soul-Devouring Orb used that sinister soul-devouring ability without restraint, the scale of destruction would be catastrophic.

He swept his gaze across the scene below. The Evolution Cube inside him remained still — not a tremor.

His brow creased. He couldn't tell whether it was because the Evolution Cube was too far from whatever lay below to register anything, or because the Aberrated Individual wielding the Soul-Devouring Orb simply wasn't in this area.

While Lu Yuan was still turning it over, several figures came flying toward them.

At the front was a woman with long white hair — mature, strikingly beautiful.

She looked over Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe, and when her eyes landed on Lu Yuan, she paused. Genuine gratitude spread across her face. "So it's Elder Lu and Elder Li. We owe you both a great debt — without your timely arrival, I don't know how much longer we could have held against those Shadows. I am Bai Linlong, Director of the Xikou City Night Watchman Branch. Please accept my sincerest thanks."

Li Qinghe had seen scenes like this more times than she could count. She smiled and shook her head lightly. "Director Bai, you're too kind — this is what we're here for. By the way, when did the Aberration start?"

"A little over two hours ago. Black mist appeared out of nowhere — at first it was faint, and only a few ordinary people died. But once our Night Watchmen moved in to investigate, members of the team started dying too. Then the mist thickened, and it escalated into what you just saw."

Bai Linlong held nothing back.

Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe exchanged a thoughtful nod.

It was clear that the Aberrations across all the cities Gu An had mentioned had erupted at almost exactly the same time.

The two shared a look. "Where did it first appear?" Lu Yuan asked.

"I'll take you both there! The rest of you, handle the cleanup."

Bai Linlong spoke to Lu Yuan, then turned to issue orders to the other Battle King Rank warriors present.

The other Battle Kings all nodded, offering their thanks to Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe before dispersing.

Bai Linlong led them to a perfectly ordinary-looking residential building deep in the sprawling neighborhood — white-walled, unremarkable in every way.

"According to witnesses who reported it, the initial black mist came from inside this building. When the Night Watchmen came to investigate, they discovered the Shadows."

Li Qinghe extended her senses — and found nothing. She frowned and turned to Lu Yuan. "Anything, Yuan?"

Lu Yuan's perceptive abilities were exceptional, but even he sensed nothing unusual in the building. The Evolution Cube remained still.

He frowned slightly. "Let's go inside and look."

"All right."

The three entered the building. Inside, Lu Yuan detected a faint, sinister residue — traces left behind by the dark souls the Soul-Devouring Orb had once controlled.

Beyond that, the corridors and stairwells were littered with bodies.

Every corpse had the same ashen, bloodless face. No visible wounds. No sign of struggle. Just... emptied of life.

Their souls had been devoured.

Lu Yuan glanced at the bodies and looked away. He had seen this before — back in Xili City, when he'd first encountered the Soul-Devouring Orb's handiwork.

The building had twelve floors. The three of them swept through every one, from the first to the last.

Bai Linlong looked at them with quiet anticipation. "Well? Elders, did you find anything?"

Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe looked at each other. Both shook their heads.

Disappointment flickered briefly in Bai Linlong's eyes. "Then the Aberrated Individual hiding in the shadows could strike again at any moment."

Lu Yuan considered it for a moment. "We'll stay here and keep watch for now."

Li Qinghe nodded in agreement. "We'll comb the surrounding area in the meantime. Something might turn up."

Hearing that they intended to stay, Bai Linlong felt the tension ease from her shoulders. She nodded. "Understood. I'll leave things in your capable hands, Elders."

Xikou City — South District.

In a dim basement, a beautiful black-haired woman slowly exhaled, dark wisps of sinister mist swirling through her pitch-black eyes.

A flicker of fear lingered in her gaze. *My Lord was right. That Lu Yuan is terrifyingly strong. He wiped out every one of my soul thralls without even breaking a sweat. If he ever finds me...*

The thought made her expression shift.

But then she thought of the mission her master had given her, and she set her jaw. *Tonight. I'll strike again tonight. Keep them all pinned here.*

Meanwhile, in the other cities struck by Soul-Devouring Orb Aberrations, large numbers of Battle King and Battle Sovereign rank warriors had poured in as reinforcements and finally stamped the incidents out.

The damage, however, was severe. Some cities had lost over ten thousand lives. Others had fared somewhat better.

Ordinary citizens across the affected cities were gripped by dread, scrambling by any means available to flee before the next Aberration could claim them.

Of course, only those with means — merchants and the educated elite — could actually leave. The price of an airship berth was well beyond what ordinary people could afford.

Even so, seats sold out almost instantly. Not everyone who could pay was able to get one.

As for the truly ordinary — those without wealth or rank — all they could do was carry on, fear gnawing at them constantly. Those whose neighborhoods had been destroyed were relocated under the Local Governors' direction, shuffled into other districts to make do.

Chaos spread through the affected cities. The security forces threw everything they had into maintaining order, but crime rates climbed regardless.

Gene Warriors — organizations like the Night Watchmen — had no time to worry about the disorder on the streets. Every resource was poured into finding the person behind the Soul-Devouring Orbs and eliminating the source as quickly as possible.

Only then could these cities begin to recover.

News of the large-scale Aberrations had spread well beyond the affected cities — word had reached every corner of the Red Maple Empire, leaving countless people anxious and afraid.

But for ordinary people without power, worry was all they had.

Imperial Capital — Night Watchman Headquarters.

Gu An sat in the chairman's office, his face a thundercloud, listening to Secretary Liu's report. His expression grew darker with every word.

"What in the world is this Soul-Devouring Orb? Who made it? What do they want? Eleven cities — eleven — are draining our manpower and our best fighters. Keep this up and it's only a matter of time before something cracks."

Secretary Liu's expression was equally troubled. "All we can do now is hope they find the Soul-Devouring Orb's master quickly."

"Hmph. Even the Battle Emperors are starting to ask questions. Let's hope this doesn't escalate further — if it does, whoever is behind those Soul-Devouring Orbs will answer for it. Speaking of which... how is the Underground Containment Room? Any irregularities?"

Since receiving that anonymous text message, Gu An had been placing increasing weight on the Underground Containment Room's security. With the outside world in turmoil, any lapse there would be catastrophic.

Secretary Liu replied, "The Underground Containment Room is holding steady. Elder Xingyun and Elder Meige — both Battle Sovereign rank — are on duty alongside the other Battle King rank elders. Even a Battle Emperor would be detected the moment they tried to enter, and at that point our own Battle Emperors would intervene."

Gu An let out a quiet breath and nodded. "Good. The Underground Containment Room cannot fall. Not under any circumstances."

Xikou City.

Bai Linlong led Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe back out of the residential building. Once they were airborne, she spoke. "We've run out of leads on the Aberration for now. The Night Watchmen will throw everything into tracking down the Soul-Devouring Orb. In the meantime, would you both care to come to our branch office and rest in the guest lounge?"

Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe exchanged a glance. Li Qinghe smiled cheerfully. "No need. We'll join the search. With eleven cities under siege from the Soul-Devouring Orbs, the sooner we resolve this one, the sooner we can help the others."

Bai Linlong broke into a smile. "That would be wonderful. I'm sorry to trouble you both."

"Not at all."

Li Qinghe smiled and turned to Lu Yuan. "Yuan, why don't we split up and cover more ground? We might turn something up that way."

Lu Yuan had no objection. He nodded. "Works for me."

With that, the two flew off in opposite directions across Xikou City.

As Lu Yuan flew, his shadow rippled, and a stream of dark figures slipped out from it, darting silently through the shade below.

Shadow Dominion.

His plan was to use a swarm of Shadow Clones to run a simultaneous search. The Evolution Cube could only be sensed by his true body — his clones had no access to it — but even without that advantage, more clones meant faster detection. Efficiency was everything.

Lu Yuan was far stronger now than when he had first broken through to Battle King Rank. He released hundreds of Shadow Clones, fanning them out in every direction — a carpet-search spanning fifty kilometers, with himself at the center.

During the search, he noticed the Night Watchmen weren't working alone. Members of local Gene Warrior families were also combing the streets alongside them.

For the Night Watchmen, it was duty. For the family scions, it was survival — if the Soul-Devouring Orb was allowed to keep growing, Xikou City itself could be abandoned, stripping their clans of their very foundation. With legacies at stake, none of them could afford to slack off.

At the entrance to an apartment unit in one of the residential blocks, two burly men grinned viciously, fire axes in hand, kicking at the door over and over.

"Open the damn door!" one of them bellowed. "My buddy and I just want a little spending money, that's all! Don't make us angry — or we'll kill you!"

A frightened voice came from inside. "Aren't you afraid the security officers will come?"

"Security officers?" The other man laughed. "My cousin runs the local security squad around here. You think they're going to show up? They've got their hands full right now. Open the door, or we'll hack you to pieces and nobody will care!"

Inside, a bespectacled man in neat clothes clutched a small boy against him, fear etched across his face. The boy trembled violently. Beside them, a refined-looking woman wore an expression of equal dread.

"What do we do?" she whispered, her voice barely steady. "They might break the door down."

The man's face had gone pale. His eyes darted around the room as he desperately tried to think.

Then, without warning, screams erupted from the other side of the door.

"What the hell are you?! Get away from me!"

**"AAARGH!!"**

The screams made the family of three flinch as one. Tears streamed silently down the boy's face, his lip clamped between his teeth, too afraid to make a sound.

The man and woman had gone white as paper.

When the screaming stopped and silence fell outside, they stared at each other, something cold moving through them both.

The man drew a slow, steadying breath. "Stay here. I'll check."

He crept to the door and pressed his eye to the peephole. The corridor was empty. No one there.

He blinked, then swallowed hard. "...Are you still out there?"

Silence.

He glanced back at his wife, took a deep breath, slid the chain lock into place, and eased the door open a crack.

Through the gap, he saw the two men lying on the floor. Both had their hands clamped around their own throats. Their faces were a deep, mottled purple-blue — as though they had strangled themselves.

The sight stopped his heart cold. A chill spread from somewhere deep in his gut, and every hair on his body stood on end.