The Demon Lair

Qingyu Industrial Park. A sprawling zone formed by several interlinked, medium-sized residential compounds. Only upon arriving outside did Yaoguang discover the area was under strict patrol. Moreover, the guards seemed to have been trained by professional military personnel, with numerous sentry posts and observation points arranged throughout. Anyone unaware of the truth might easily have mistaken it for a restricted military zone. "Looks like I'll need to end this quickly. Making a loud commotion could bring substantial trouble." Yaoguang observed the layout for a moment. Relying on his peak human Grandmaster physique and razor-sharp senses, he closed in swiftly. At the same time, he activated his sensory secret technique to scour the area for demons. The technique's range depended on the cultivator's vitality. At present, having not yet reached the ultimate limits of the human body, his detection radius hovered around forty meters. While such coverage easily encompassed more than half of Yulong International, it was somewhat small for the vast expanse of Qingyu Industrial Park. Yet the moment he infiltrated the grounds, his keen senses picked up something unusual. Focusing his mind to scan more intently... He detected two distinct signatures of abnormal vitality. And at this point... He had explored less than a fifth of the park. "Another demon den?" Yaoguang was somewhat surprised. The demons he had hunted down already numbered in the double digits, yet they had almost always operated alone, fiercely guarding their own territories and hunting the surrounding humans for food. Yet here... Three demons had gathered at Yulong International. And now, this place held more than one as well!? Recalling the satellite imagery of Qingyu Industrial Park he had studied earlier on his phone's map, Yaoguang devised a search pattern and inspected the area section by section along his planned route. The sensory secret technique did not rely on sight and demanded little in the way of visual line-of-sight, making his reconnaissance noticeably smoother. As he moved through the grounds, he soon realized this industrial park was anything but ordinary. There were guards on watch with firearms. There were people suspended from the rafters of an indoor basketball court, their survival uncertain. There were emaciated workers who looked as though they had gone days without food. From certain corners, shrill, despairing screams echoed through the air. Yaoguang was not surprised by any of it. He had witnessed similar horrors while hunting other demons. "A demon lair." Several hours later, Yaoguang slipped into a large building. He had scouted the entire industrial park. Counting the one that had fled from Yulong International, there were three demons in total. "I already suspected that since demons can disguise themselves as humans and use human social rules to manipulate people into doing their bidding, they must possess an organized, structured high society of their own. It was just that the ones I crossed paths with before were isolated rogues, rather than regular troops operating as a cohesive unit." Yaoguang remained impassive. He was hardly taken aback. At that moment, his sharp hearing caught the sound of approaching footsteps from the corridor behind him. Without hesitation, he stepped forward, spotted an unlocked door, and pushed it open, swiftly slipping inside. Yet the moment he entered, he realized... There were people in the room. Five haggard workers in ragged clothes were typing away at computers. The moment he entered, all five pairs of eyes snapped toward him. Yaoguang said nothing. With calm composure, he walked up before them, behaving as if he were inspecting their work. At the sight of him, the five hastily turned back to their monitors and began working furiously. Once the sounds in the hallway faded, Yaoguang pushed the door open and stepped out, as though his routine inspection was complete. Throughout the entire encounter, not a word was spoken, nor was the slightest disturbance raised. "Three." Yaoguang recalled the positions of the three red markers he had sensed. One of them... Lay noticeably apart from the main buildings. In that case... "I'll start with you." Murmuring softly, he wove through the building. Feiyu was not Dayu; its surveillance systems were far less advanced. Or perhaps the masters of this industrial park simply did not trust electronic equipment. With just a little care, his figure glided through the corridors like a phantom, quickly reaching a two-story building several dozen meters away from the main complex. After pausing to listen and observe, he circled around and slipped in through a window. Inside the room, he grabbed a white lab coat, slipped it on, and donned a medical mask. Stepping out the door, he saw three guards playing cards outside. A handgun lay in plain sight on the table. They glanced at Yaoguang once and paid him no further mind. Following the sensory marker, Yaoguang crossed the main hall and entered a corridor lined with several rooms. He glanced inside one of them. It was an operating room devoid of any sterile equipment, separated from the corridor merely by a few hanging curtains. Vaguely visible within were several figures dressed in white coats just like his, working away on a blood-soaked human body whose survival was uncertain. He withdrew his gaze and soon came to a halt outside another door. Yet... His brows furrowed. The location he sensed was right here. Yet there was clearly no one in the room. "On the second floor?" He tilted his head toward the stairwell. After focusing his senses for another heartbeat, however, he looked downward instead. "No, it's the basement." He made his way to the stairwell. Behind it stood a door. It was unlocked. Pushing it open, Yaoguang indeed spotted a staircase leading down. As he descended, he caught sight of a guard scrolling through his phone, absorbed in whatever was on the screen. Yaoguang gauged the guard's position. Using the dim light below to mask his descent, he leapt, pouncing downward without a sound. Just as the guard sensed something amiss, Yaoguang's hand clamped onto his throat. Fingers tightening, inner force erupted— *Crack.* The neck shattered. The guard died on the spot before he could utter a single syllable. Yaoguang tucked the corpse into a corner behind some clutter. "I need to pick up the pace." He pushed open the door ahead. A chilling draft reeking of foul, nauseating odors rushed over him. By the orange glow of the lights, he took in the surrounding environment. It was a room spanning no less than four hundred square meters. Inside, however, stood dozens of iron cages stacked two tiers high. Every cage held anywhere from one to several naked women. Most were young. He could only say "several" because some lay motionless on the floor, their survival impossible to tell. Those still sitting or standing had hollow, numb gazes. Stripped of every thread of clothing, their human dignity had been trampled into nothingness. They looked like two-legged sheep awaiting transport to an abattoir, each waiting blankly for their fatal end. Even when Yaoguang entered, none of them showed the slightest reaction. Such a sight... Yaoguang was not unfamiliar with it, but on such a massive scale, with well over a hundred people... This was the first time he had witnessed it. Grief for one's own kind. Anyone seeing such an atrocity firsthand could not help but be consumed with fury. Yaoguang forced his emotions down, refusing to show even a flicker of anger, lest he rekindle hope in these captives and cause a chaotic uproar. He moved quietly through the basement. At the far end lay another room. Yaoguang glanced inside... Dozens more captives. Only this time, they were men. Beyond that area stood another iron door. Pushing it open, he found what appeared to be a storage room filled with miscellaneous supplies and implements of torture. He looked straight ahead. According to his sensory technique, the demon lay just beyond the next door. The guard's death could be discovered at any moment. He had no time to waste. Striding forward, he moved to shove the iron door open. Yet it did not budge. It was locked. Yaoguang took a closer look; it was no sophisticated lock, merely barred from the inside with an iron rod. Drawing the short sword he had bought not long ago, he wedged the blade into the seam and pressed down hard. *Clang!* A crisp snap echoed. The iron bar was severed. He thrust the iron door open at once. The sound of the bar snapping had clearly alerted the figure inside. A massive creature standing fully two point three meters tall, laden with rolls of fat and bearing a hideous, demonic face, came into Yaoguang's view. By the look of it... It had likely possessed a human body not long ago and had yet to master full control over its demonic form. Yet that was not what seized Yaoguang's attention. What seized him was the state of the room. It was a scene so horrific that even Yaoguang found it nearly impossible to restrain his killing intent. Humans. Dozens, perhaps a hundred humans. More precisely, dozens upon dozens of naked corpses. Some were laid out across surfaces resembling butcher's blocks. Dozens more hung suspended in midair, left to dry. Several had already been cured and seasoned with salt and spices. The entire scene... Was a waking nightmare. *** "Human meat! What delicious human meat! The boss was right, this place is wonderful!" The demon caught scent of Yaoguang, and its whole frame trembled with excitement. Yet before it could make a move, Yaoguang, having pulled his gaze away from the horrors of the room, sprang forward. Things had reached this point. To speak even half a word would be an insult to the human race. Kill!