Pitter-patter!
Outside, a light drizzle fell. High above the small plaza of the Imperial Palace, a translucent membrane blocked the rain.
The Special Bureau agents, all dressed in suits, gathered here.
Click!
The door to He Wenxi's office clicked open, and all the Special Bureau agents in the plaza turned to look at her.
“Everyone, if not for this large-scale operation, most of you would be scattered across various cities, with no chance of ever meeting,” He Wenxi said calmly, looking at the crowd.
In the crowd, Yu Renjia spoke up with a smile, “Director He, since we've gathered here on this rare occasion, why don't we take a group photo? Everyone here is of the first generation of our Special Bureau. We can hang it in the office later.”
“Taking a photo before an operation... always feels like bad luck,” Chu Jizhen said, casting a listless glance at him.
A middle-aged man laughed heartily. “Hahaha! I think it's a great idea. We all know this operation is dangerous. If we have a photo, even if I die, I can leave it to my son so he knows his old man was once a total badass!”
Quite a few people nodded in agreement.
He Wenxi said with a faint smile, “Since everyone likes the idea, let's take one.”
“Hey, awesome!” A smile spread across Xu Mo's face.
They brought a long bench out of the office and placed it right at the front.
“Xu Mo, Xueming, Chu Jizhen, come sit down,” He Wenxi said, looking at them.
Soon, He Wenxi and Xu Mo sat in the middle of the front row, with Chu Jizhen on the left and Li Xueming on the right.
Behind them stood Wen Yu, Liu Wangao, and the others, forming several rows for a group photo of two hundred people.
Inside the palace, a staff member holding a camera shouted, “You, the third one in the second row on the left, stop picking your nose! Yes, just like that!”
Click!
With a flash, a group photo of all the first-generation members of the Special Bureau was captured.
After taking the photo, everyone immediately rushed to the military airport, where transport planes were already prepared and waiting to take off at any moment.
At three in the afternoon, in the western suburbs of Xichang City, dense crowds of figures were teleported out of thin air.
Leading them were the four Archbishops, including Zhang Yi, followed by a force of three thousand Earth Priests.
“This is the Nanming Kingdom TV Station. We urge all citizens of Xichang City to seek shelter immediately!”
“Official announcement from the Nanming Kingdom: Citizens of Xichang City, please find the nearest shelter!”
“A reminder from the Nanming Kingdom military: Citizens inside Xichang City who are able to do so should evacuate. Otherwise, please gather food and water, find the nearest shelter, or stay indoors if evacuation is not possible!”
As soon as they appeared, they heard the broadcast repeating on an endless loop.
The internet was already in an uproar, with everyone closely following the events unfolding in Xichang City.
Meanwhile, the streets were completely deserted.
“How strange. The Liu family hasn't even cut off this broadcast,” a middle-aged man with an afro, dressed in a hip-hop style, muttered in confusion as he stood next to Zhang Yi.
Like the other three, he was also an Archbishop, though he had attained the position relatively recently.
“People are resources. They're probably happy to minimize casualties too,” Wen Nana said, staring at the empty streets ahead.
Mu Ye looked at Zhang Yi. “Zhang Yi, are we heading in now?”
Zhang Yi lit a cigarette and looked up at the city, over which dark clouds were gathering. “We'll wait for the Special Bureau. If we go in alone, we'll easily become the Liu family's primary target.”
He narrowed his eyes. When you, the Liu family, rose to power on a rainy day because of the Earth Mother, you probably never expected that your downfall would also come on a rainy day because of the Earth Mother.
It was incredibly ironic.
In the eastern suburbs of Xichang City, at a gas station where the staff had long since evacuated.
Xiao Qi squatted on the ground, looking up toward the city district. “Jin Dayong, has the Special Bureau arrived?”
Behind him, Jin Dayong and the other two had found some stools from somewhere and were sitting there.
“Brother Xiao, they just arrived. They told us to wait for a signal,” Jin Dayong said quickly.
As he spoke, his expression was tense, and he kept looking around nervously.
He was terrified that someone might ambush them.
“A signal? What kind of signal?” Xiao Qi was slightly bewildered.
Jin Dayong replied with a helpless look, “They didn't say.”
Not far from the gas station, quite a few rogue supernatural beings were scattered around. To distinguish friend from foe, they all wore black plaques depicting a three-headed Golden Crow around their waists.
On a temporarily leveled patch of open ground in Xichang City, facing the direction of the Capital.
Two military transport planes were parked there, with Ghoul soldiers and Special Bureau agents scattered along the edge of the runway.
Li Xueming stood at the very front of the crowd. He was the official commander-in-chief for this operation.
“All personnel, divide into twenty teams as planned! With Chu Jizhen's team leading the charge, each team will maintain a distance of two thousand meters in a triangular formation to purge the Liu family's supernatural beings in Xichang City!” Li Xueming shouted.
“Old Li, when do we make our move?” Chu Jizhen asked from the front, looking at Xichang City, which was shrouded in dark clouds in the distance.
A cold smile played on Li Xueming's lips. “First, we'll send Liu Wen a meeting gift!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As he spoke, dozens of white streaks of light suddenly flashed across the sky several thousand meters up.
“What is that?!” someone below exclaimed.
“Sky Thunder missiles loaded with warheads!” Li Xueming said, looking up at the sky.
Although they weren't carrying nuclear warheads, their destructive power was still terrifying—a single missile was enough to level an entire football field.
As the white lights neared Xichang City, they rapidly accelerated, reaching speeds of Mach 30 as they plummeted toward the skyscraper where Liu Wen was located.
On the top floor of the tallest skyscraper in the center of Xichang City.
Liu Wen sat cross-legged in the darkness, his six eyes half-closed. His spiritual power had long since enveloped the surrounding area.
Just as the dozens of missiles reached an altitude of a thousand meters above the skyscraper...
Hum!
A massive wave of spiritual power swept over the missiles. The casings of all the missiles warped instantly, and sparks erupted from within.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening explosions erupted in the sky above the skyscraper.
Fireballs bloomed in the air, sending shockwaves rippling in all directions.
The entire city of Xichang, and even the areas outside, could hear the thunderous blasts.
Back at the government forces' position.
“Commander Li, the missiles were intercepted and destroyed right above the target!” a soldier reported, running over quickly.
Li Xueming stared at Xichang City. “It doesn't matter. We never expected missiles to harm that monster in the first place.”
“All teams, advance according to plan and crusade against the Liu family!” Li Xueming turned and shouted to the assembled crowd.
With that, he looked at Chu Jizhen's team. “Chu Jizhen, Xu Mo, I'm leaving Liu Wen to your team. Show that old man that we, the new era of supernatural beings, are not weaker than the old-timers!”
“Understood,” Chu Jizhen nodded, showing no trace of fear in his eyes.
Xu Mo said excitedly, “Don't worry. I've been dying to meet this first-generation supernatural being. I've heard so much about him that my ears are practically growing calluses.”
Their strongest team was still assembled at the same scale as the previous Ghoul escort mission. In Li Xueming's eyes, only Xu Mo and Chu Jizhen could truly serve as the main force.
“Move out!” Li Xueming waved his hand forward.
The moment his words fell, the Special Bureau agents behind him charged rapidly toward Xichang City.
Behind them, the Ghoul soldiers formed a separate unit, led by Li Xueming, marching down the main avenue.
In the western suburbs, the roar of the explosions reached the area.
Zhang Yi waved his hand backward. “Archbishops, follow me. Everyone else, hunt down the Liu family's supernatural beings and wipe them out completely!”
“Did you hear that? Slaughter every single one of those Liu family heretics! Let the world know that opposing the Church of the Earth Mother leads only to death!” the middle-aged man with the afro roared.
Wen Nana crouched down and pressed a single hand against the ground.
Crack!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the ground around where the four of them stood, and a ten-meter-wide slab of concrete beneath their feet suddenly lifted into the air.
Standing on this slab of concrete, the four of them flew straight toward the center of Xichang City.
In the eastern suburbs, the sound of the explosions reached the gas station.
Xiao Qi stood up and took large strides forward. “Let's go. Let me make this clear first: once we kill four supernatural beings, we're retreating immediately. No matter who wins or loses the upcoming battle, we won't even be able to withstand the mere aftershocks of it.”
“Brother Xiao, is it really that exaggerated? Didn't you always say you're also one of the earliest supernatural beings? You shouldn't be that far behind them, right?” Jin Dayong followed closely behind him.
Xiao Qi replied with an unperturbed expression, “Even among the earliest supernatural beings, there is a gap. Although your Brother Xiao is strong, that old codger Liu Wen is still a tiny bit stronger than me. I'd have to fight to the death just to have a chance of winning.”
Although his voice wasn't loud, the other supernatural beings present heard him.
Many of them cast frequent glances at him.
A young man looked blankly at his phone, which showed a video of a man running naked in the streets, then looked back up at Xiao Qi, who was walking at the very front with a serene expression, looking every bit the legendary master.
He was completely bewildered. Is the Yangcheng naked runner on my phone not him? Was that video photoshopped?
All the supernatural entities rapidly surged into the urban area, not encountering a single enemy along the way.
Inside the city, on the rooftop of a building over sixty stories high, a young man held his phone, speaking with an excited expression. “Brothers! The explosions! Did you hear those explosions?! The battle has begun! After Yangcheng, the biggest supernatural war in history has started! Quick, send some gifts to your host! I'm risking my life to livestream this for you guys!”
In the livestream room, the viewer count was skyrocketing.
There were many people just like him in the city. Although it was incredibly dangerous, they had started streaming one after another in order to go viral and make money.
Rate on N.U.
