Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Inside the Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s main hall, the map of the Safe Zone resembled rotting skin.
Dense red lights spread across it. The original five had become fifteen, each shining with a harsh crimson glow.
Most unsettling of all was the expanding red circle at the edge of the map, beyond the Safe Zone’s exit.
It represented an unprecedented wave of curse energy.
As the red spot brightened, the detected curse energy grew stronger.
Its rating climbed at an astonishing speed.
1-Star.
2-Star.
3-Star…
Then it crossed the line.
4-Star.
And there was more. Something incomprehensible came from deep within that energy.
Fragments of some language, perhaps, or the manifestation of a will. It came in broken pieces, yet instinctively filled anyone who heard it with unease.
Had Qin Lan been present, he would have understood immediately.
It was the voice of the Abyss.
Absolute, unadulterated evil.
Outside the Safe Zone’s eastern exit, Lu Xingshan stood suspended in the air.
A complex and arcane curse inscription glowed beneath his feet, supporting his body.
[Universal Curse Seal]
After years of development, Lu Xingshan’s Talent was no longer limited to simple applications such as “sealing,” “attack,” and “defense.”
He could use it with far greater intricacy and flexibility.
Below him lay several slowly disintegrating corpses, each belonging to a 4-Star anomaly.
The fissures inside the Safe Zone were only a minor disturbance.
These 4-Star anomalies, influenced by the Abyss and freed from their instances, were the true main course.
“Old Fang. Old Shen.” Lu Xingshan’s coat snapped in the cold wind of the Fallen Zone.
His voice was as casual as if he were discussing household chores. “Work’s here.”
A rough laugh came from behind him. “Been waiting for it.”
The sky was a murky gray-white.
In the distance, an expanding fissure hung in midair like a vertical pupil, coldly observing the last fortress of humanity.
Lu Xingshan stood in the air with his hands in his pockets, straight as a spear.
Behind him, a burly man strode forward carrying a massive sword as broad as a door. He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and an easygoing grin.
The man appeared about Lu Xingshan’s age. He did not possess Dong Haoran’s astonishing mass of muscle, yet somehow exerted even greater pressure.
With every step, he resembled a moving iron tower.
“Old Lu, that message of yours was way too urgent.” Fang Yue planted his massive sword on the ground, smashing out a shallow crater, and bared his teeth. “I just finished dealing with one. Haven’t even wiped my hands clean.”
“Congratulations. They’ll only get dirtier in a moment,” Lu Xingshan said with a sideways glance. “And perhaps not just your hands.”
To their right, a slender figure silently appeared in the shadows below.
Shen Qiu wore a black combat suit, her neat hair cut level with her ears. Two short blades hung at her waist.
Her expression was calm–so calm it bordered on indifference.
“You’re here?” Lu Xingshan glanced at her and nodded.
“Mm.”
Shen Qiu spoke only one syllable.
Three people. Three 4-Star Anomaly Hunters. Years of fighting side by side meant they needed no further words.
Fang Yue suppressed the enemy head-on. Shen Qiu waited for the opportunity to assassinate it. Lu Xingshan provided tactical support.
They had forged this coordination through countless brushes with death. It was carved into their bones.
Back in the Central Region, no one knew how many 4-Star anomalies had fallen to them.
Later, the three had gone their separate ways. Lu Xingshan returned home to ease into retirement. Fang Yue remained active in the Central Region. Shen Qiu became a shadow, her whereabouts unknown.
Today, disaster finally brought them together again.
None of them had much desire to reminisce.
The fissure’s fluctuations grew more violent.
The air began to tremble, as if an enormous drum were being struck underground. Every beat sent pain through their hearts.
Lu Xingshan narrowed his eyes at the fissure.
It was expanding outward. Blackness bled from its edges like ink soaking into the sky, devouring all surrounding light.
Then a voice came from within.
Not a roar. Not a scream.
A whisper.
It did not seem to come from any specific direction. It sounded directly inside their minds.
It had no tone or rhythm, yet carried a cold that seeped into the bones.
The malice was pure and undisguised, but it held no rage or frenzy. Quite the opposite. It was calm, even lazy.
Like a well-fed cat idly watching a mouse struggle beneath its paw.
[Oh? That little fellow didn’t come?]
[What a pity.]
The airy voice sounded as though it were talking to itself, its rising cadence light and unconcerned.
Fang Yue’s expression changed sharply. “Shit, Old Lu, it really is the Abyss?”
“I thought you were bullshitting me!”
As one of the finest 4-Star Anomaly Hunters himself, he naturally knew what the Abyss meant.
“Ignore it,” Lu Xingshan said quietly.
He raised his right hand and traced his index finger through the air. A pale golden curse inscription emerged from his fingertip and rippled outward like water, enveloping all three of them.
The whisper seemed completely unaffected. It continued to echo clearly inside every mind.
[Hmm? You can draw pictures too?]
[Are you an Anomaly Hunter or an artist?]
The voice teased him with open mockery.
Fang Yue cursed under his breath and tightened his grip on his massive sword.
Now that he knew the thing on the other side came from the Abyss, he had to remain maximally vigilant. More than a few 4-Star Anomaly Hunters had died to beings of the Abyss.
Even though all three of them stood among the strongest at 4-Star, none dared underestimate it.
The fissure began churning outward.
No anomaly crawled free. Something was “growing” from within.
Black tendrils extended from its edges one by one, resembling plant roots or veins. They pierced the surrounding air, greedily sucking at something unseen.
The tips opened and closed continuously, revealing dark red cavities like hungry mouths waiting to be fed.
Then a foot stepped out.
It had been assembled from countless shattered bones. Every fragment trembled slightly, producing a series of faint clicks.
The foot touched the ground and instantly corroded a deep, smoking pit.
The soil at its bottom turned charred black and released the stench of rotting meat.
The rest of the body squeezed through.
It was hideous and savage.
Three stories tall, its body seemed stitched together from the remains of countless corpses.
Arms, thighs, heads, torsos… all twisted and piled together in a horrifying arrangement.
Its “skin” was a translucent membrane. Black liquid flowed visibly beneath it. Distorted human faces continually surfaced in the fluid, mouths opening and closing in silent screams.
Every face belonged to an imprisoned soul shrieking in despair.
A peak 4-Star anomaly–Mourning Remains.
Its name had appeared only once in the Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s archives.
That time, an entire team of 4-Star Anomaly Hunters had been wiped out. There were no survivors.
Fang Yue swallowed, his head buzzing.
“Fuck. This is for real?”
“Last time I saw this thing was in an internal file at headquarters… I thought it got killed ages ago.”
Lu Xingshan produced another cigarette from nowhere, lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled.
“Whew… That one was killed.”
“But this thing can be manufactured. And the one capable of making it is the Abyss.”
Shen Qiu’s gaze settled on the faces surfacing over its body. Her voice was very quiet.
“This one is stronger.”
Lu Xingshan had noticed too.
The curse energy radiating from this Mourning Remains was nearly twice as powerful as the records described.
Worse, the energy carried a familiar, nauseating presence.
The evil of the Abyss.
The Abyss was strengthening it.
That flippant voice sounded again from deep within the fissure, excited as though enjoying a spectacle.
[That little fellow Qin Lan said the toys I made were rather boring… so I brought this one especially for him!]
[When can you call him over to see it?]
[It would be such a shame if a carefully prepared gift wasn’t opened in front of me…]
The voice paused as though savoring something, then gave a soft laugh.
[But that’s all right… Once you’re dead, he’ll get to see the gift.]
Lu Xingshan’s gaze turned abruptly cold at the voice constantly pressing against their minds.
As expected, this being from the Abyss had kept its attention fixed on Qin Lan.
But why? Why did it care so much about a mere 3-Star Anomaly Hunter?
Had it also noticed something abnormal about him?
Qin Lan’s growth had been full of mysteries. Lu Xingshan had no idea what allowed him to grow stronger.
If the being from the Abyss knew the reason and had been drawn to it, that was terrifying news.
“Ever consider the possibility that we’ll survive and your gift will get beaten into a lump of rotten meat?” Lu Xingshan sneered.
“Oh, sorry. It already looks pretty rotten.”
The whisper did not grow angry at his mockery. Instead, it giggled.
[You’re just like that little fellow… so annoying.]