On the Run

7:00 PM, at the dinner table. Grandmother looked around at the family gathered at the table and announced in high spirits, "Yuanzi, your uncle is coming back tomorrow afternoon. Yuanjun, remember to drive over to pick him up. Yu'er, come home early after work." Yu'er was his aunt's childhood pet name. Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er were each gnawing on a chicken leg, while Chen Yuanjun sipped his chicken soup, all of them entirely nonchalant. Seeing their reactions, Grandmother slapped her chopsticks onto the table and glared. "Did you hear what I said?" "Oh." "Mm." "Got it." Grandmother: "..." Uncle and Aunt had been traveling abroad for nearly two months. Uncle never did an honest day's work and treated life like a joke, while Aunt never lifted a finger around the house. Having them around made zero difference from having them gone. If they were back, they were back; it was hardly some joyous occasion worth celebrating. Grandmother was probably the only person happy about Uncle's return. Jiang Yu'er gnawed on her chicken leg and said, "Why didn't that family disgrace stay on vacation for a few more months? The house was wonderfully quiet without them." Chen Yuanjun glanced at his aunt and said, "Don't talk like that. That family disgrace is my dad, after all." Zhang Yuanqing glanced at his cousin and said, "Don't talk like that. That family disgrace is my uncle, after all." Seeing Grandmother fly into a rage, getting up ready to tear her unfilial descendants to pieces, Jiang Yu'er hurriedly placated her by throwing out a topic she knew her mother would find irresistible: "Mom, our hospital is haunted." Haunted? Zhang Yuanqing's ears instantly perked up. Sure enough, Grandmother completely forgot about her son and eagerly asked, "Oh goodness, why would it suddenly be haunted? Hurry up and tell me!" "It was Big Sister Zhou from our department. During her night shift, she heard a child giggling inside the office. When she went in to check, the laughter stopped. Then she went to the restroom and saw a baby clinging to her shoulder in the mirror. It scared her out of her wits." His aunt spoke with great conviction: "And it wasn't just Big Sister Zhou. Other colleagues working the night shift have also said they occasionally hear a child laughing in the middle of the night. Everyone says it must be some aborted baby that couldn't let go, wandering around the hospital." Grandmother listened with rapt fascination and remarked, "How eerie! I'd bet that's what it is too. Next time you work the night shift, have Yuanzi keep you company. Anything else? Anything else?" "Yeah, yeah..." Grandmother's love of gossip hadn't been passed down to his mother; his aunt had inherited every bit of it... Listening to the mother-daughter duo chatter away, Zhang Yuanqing's piqued curiosity gradually died down. As a Night Wanderer, he knew right away that this was just an urban legend, not real. First, spiritual bodies could not produce sound because they lacked physical form and certainly had no vocal cords—unless the spirit's power acted directly upon someone's mind. However, given the willpower and mental strength of an infant, it was impossible for a spiritual body to linger after death. Finally, ordinary mortals with mortal eyes could not see spiritual bodies. Those close to death or heavy with Yin energy might occasionally interact with one, so an isolated incident was plausible. But multiple people hearing a baby laugh? That was total nonsense. "Auntie, you'd better be careful," Zhang Yuanqing said in an eerie drawl. "Don't go bringing a dead baby home from the hospital." Jiang Yu'er, who had been speaking with great enthusiasm, instantly froze, her oval face stiffening. She wailed, "Mom, he's scaring me again!" Grandmother gave her grandson a token swat over the head. After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing slipped out of the house and hailed a cab to the nearest Grade-A tertiary hospital. He was going to the hospital to deliver souls and raise his experience points. The Night Wanderer skill Spirit Devouring was currently his best method of leveling up. With no telling when the next Spirit Realm would open, it was vital to boost his strength before entering. Even at Level 1, the combat disparity between having 99% experience and 1% experience was like night and day. A hospital was an excellent place for a Night Wanderer to grind experience, as birth, old age, illness, and death all unfolded there. Of course, crematoriums were great too, but Songhai's crematoriums were located in the suburbs, with none to be found in the downtown area. Sitting in the cab, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly remembered what Guan Ya had said earlier today. "Why do the Night Wanderers of the Taiyi Sect have such a taboo against devouring spiritual bodies? Is it a professional code, believing it harms one's hidden merit? Or is there another reason?" At this thought, he pulled out his phone, logged into the official Spirit Realm walker forum, and searched for related information. The search result displayed: *No matching entries found.* *** In the suburbs, night began to fall. Inside a cheap rented flat in an industrial park, in the filthy, cluttered living room, Ou Xiangrong carried a large bowl of freshly cooked instant noodles over to a table strewn with beer cans. With a casual sweep of his arm, he clattered the beer cans and clutter off the table onto the floor, clearing space to set down the large basin, and then fetched a fresh can of beer from the fridge. He gulped down the noodles and gulped down the beer. Fresh out of the pot, the noodles were scalding hot, yet they could not burn the tough cells of his mouth. With his sparse eyebrows, Ou Xiangrong's expression fluctuated between ferocity, apathy, and loathing... like a psychotic patient teetering on the verge of a breakdown. Suddenly, his ears twitched. He froze his chopsticks, his expression instantly morphing into a snarl. Ou Xiangrong slowly rose to his feet, drew the yanagiba knife tucked into the sheath at the small of his back, and crept silently toward the front door. *Crash!* Just as he approached the foyer, the door was violently kicked open. Immediately after, a blaze of intense light ignited, and a scorching fireball hurtled toward him. A gust of fiery wind blasted his face. Ou Xiangrong halted his step and whipped his knife arm across. A gleam of snowy blade-light struck the fireball, and with a booming blast, dazzling streams of flame scattered across the room. Amid the sudden flash of firelight, a figure wreathed in flames lunged into the rental, driving their knee forward like a rocket, crashing straight toward Ou Xiangrong. Ou Xiangrong was even more ruthless. Pivoting his body to the side, he rammed his shoulder brutally forward. *Bang!* The figure flew backward, slamming into the wall of the corridor and rattling the entire partition. Bearing the pain of the burn marks covering his right arm and shoulder, Ou Xiangrong spun around and charged for the window. He didn't dare take the corridor; the hallway of this dilapidated residential building was cramped, and if surrounded, he would surely die. Amid the shattering of glass, Ou Xiangrong leapt out from the third floor. *Bang! Bang!* Having just burst through the window, Ou Xiangrong heard two gunshots. He parried the bullet aimed at his head with his yanagiba, but was unable to stop the one targeting his chest. The bullet's immense kinetic force pierced his skin, only to be caught in his tough muscle. Looking toward the source of the gunfire, in the shadows beside the landscaping strip, stood a tall mixed-race beauty wearing an OL skirt suit and a white blouse. Her hair fluttered in the wind, cool and breathtakingly gorgeous. She held a silver pistol in each hand, with two holsters strapped to her long, black-stockinged legs. *Bang, bang, bang...* The mixed-race beauty fired calmly with pinpoint accuracy, seemingly able to anticipate his downward trajectory. After taking several more hits, Ou Xiangrong finally hit the ground. He glared sharply at the mixed-race woman, two twisted, blood-red runes surfacing in his pupils. In the next moment, the woman's expression went blank, and she pivoted her gun, aiming the barrel right between her eyebrows. *Bang!* Flames spewed from the muzzle, but the bullet failed to shatter the woman's smooth forehead—it was stopped by a pair of rough, weathered hands. Beside her stood a worker wearing a hard hat, who had appeared out of nowhere. His sun-darkened face was fraught with gravity as he said, "A Bewitching Demon?" "A Level 3 Bewitching Demon." Emerging from the darkness came a man leaning on a cane, clad in a black suit with a black waistcoat over a white shirt, his pomaded hair combed impeccably. "Have the boys set up a perimeter outside the compound. Keep them away from here." Another voice chimed in as a man dressed in a black leather jacket stepped out from the stairwell—lean yet powerful, radiating a razor-sharp presence. Blade in hand, Ou Xiangrong surveyed his surroundings with a grim face. *Vroom, vroom, vroom—* Just then, the roar of an engine echoed in the distance. Dazzling headlights pierced the darkness as a motorcycle came tearing in. Leaning low over the handlebars was a woman in a white racing suit, brandishing a three-foot black blade, leading the charge. In the next second, gunfire erupted once more, cutting off Ou Xiangrong's retreat, while the flaming figure leapt down from the window to intercept him from the flank. Tang Guoqiang, wearing his hard hat, pressed both hands to the ground. The concrete cracked with a sharp snap, and a pair of hands formed from earth seized Ou Xiangrong's ankles. Ou Xiangrong calmly swung his yanagiba, deflecting the tricky incoming bullets, sending dazzling sparks flying as the slugs struck the blade. Immediately afterward, the muscles in his legs bulged, shattering the earthen hands. He rolled forward, narrowly dodging the flaming man plunging down from the third floor. *Thump, thump, thump...* Rolling back onto his feet, he sprinted forward, charging head-on at the woman on the motorcycle. In the darkness, the two crossed paths in an instant. The razor-sharp yanagiba sliced through the woman's chest, but lacked the sensation of cutting solid flesh; the moment the blade struck, the woman's body turned into water. Meanwhile, her long blade swept across Ou Xiangrong's chest and abdomen. Ou Xiangrong's chest tore open, spewing copious gouts of blood. Paying no heed to his wounds, he kept his pace without pausing, bolting toward the exit of the compound. At that moment, an attractive mature woman in a qipao leapt from a second-floor window. With bare, snow-white feet, she sprinted along the wall as though on level ground. With a flying leap, she landed directly in front of Ou Xiangrong. Letting out a sharp cry, she pivoted on the spot, her qipao flaring as her toned, powerful leg cracked through the air like a whip, lashing violently into Ou Xiangrong. Ou Xiangrong was sent flying like a cannonball, cracking the wall of the residential building before slumping limply to the ground. "To dare murder an official Spirit Realm walker in my jurisdiction—not bad at all." At this point, Li Dongze, who had watched from the sidelines the entire time, walked over slowly, leaning on his cane. With a stern face, exuding the calm of a mastermind behind the scenes, he said coolly, "Next, I will personally send you on your way." "Sigh..." A deep, booming sigh echoed through the surrounding air. Ou Xiangrong slowly got to his feet, his eyes scarlet as blood, brimming with madness and violence as a sinister, formidable power awakened within him. In a raspy voice, he said, "All of you will die." Li Dongze silently took two steps back. "Brothers, I was only joking just now. I'm definitely not the kind of guy to hog all the credit." *** Inside the cab, having failed to find any relevant information, Zhang Yuanqing returned to the forum homepage and instinctively refreshed the page. Then, he saw a post stickied in red at the top. *#Warrant! Level 3 Bewitching Demon Ou Xiangrong#* The post hadn't been there a few minutes ago. Zhang Yuanqing tapped to open the post: "Ou Xiangrong, Level 3 Bewitching Demon. Killed Zhao Yingjun, Scout of the White Tiger Battalion under the Five Elements Alliance, on April 18. Escaped encirclement by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm squad on the evening of April 19 at 19:05. "Subject possesses a terrifying evil power and is no ordinary Bewitching Demon. Heavily wounded by the Kangyang District Spirit Realm squad, current whereabouts unknown. All district Spirit Realm walker squads be advised: Ou Xiangrong is on the verge of losing control. If spotted, shoot to kill immediately. "Reward for providing information: 50,000 yuan. Reward for elimination: 100,000 yuan." Less than three minutes after the post went up, the comments below had already surpassed a hundred. All of them were roasting the Kangyang District Spirit Realm squad for incompetence, letting a half-mad Bewitching Demon slip through their fingers. "Are you kidding me? A dangerous guy like that could lose control at any moment. Does the Kangyang team do anything besides eat and breathe?" "If he loses control and goes on a killing spree, getting himself wanted by the Spirit Realm, blood will have run like a river before we can even get there. We'll become the laughingstock of Spirit Realm walkers across the entire country—laughed at for botched containment, sitting on high salaries and doing squat." "We're screwed." Ou Xiangrong got away? The Decurion and the others tracked down the target and launched an arrest that quickly? For a moment, Zhang Yuanqing didn't know whether to praise the Decurion and the team for their efficiency or roast them for dropping the ball and letting a ticking time bomb get away. *Since they've already clashed, Ou Xiangrong's blood—or even bits of flesh—must have been left behind at the scene. Using the red dancing shoes should be able to track him down...* Zhang Yuanqing immediately thought of his rule-based item.