Three days later.
The roar of the propellers gradually died down, and the plane landed smoothly on the runway of Hong Kong International Airport.
...
Outside the cabin window, it looked as if it were soaked in a thick layer of paper ash. The noon sun was tightly obscured by dark clouds.
Everything between heaven and earth seemed to be covered in a matte finish.
The smell of sea breeze mixed with paper ash in the air seeped through the gaps in the cabin, causing Chen Xi to cough.
“Cough, cough.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt, stood up, and grabbed her tactical backpack from overhead, her movements crisp and neat:
“Check your gear. Spiritual energy detector, emergency talismans, medical kit, lighting equipment—don't leave anything behind.”
Several people in the cabin immediately began counting.
Aside from the technical staff, there were five players traveling with her, all of whom were elite forces handpicked by the Special Investigation Bureau.
Jiang Chen, an unawakened Class User, who had survived the 《Old Lady Huang's Birthday Celebration》 Instance.
Lin Jianguo, an awakened player, Class: 【Cowherd】, capable of predicting risks through animal reactions and temporarily gaining bovine vision, who had survived the 《Old Lady Huang's Birthday Celebration》 Instance.
Zheng Wenxuan, an awakened player, Class: 【Pill Master】, capable of refining a Marrow-Cleansing Pill every six hours to remove general abnormal statuses from teammates.
Wang Lei, an unawakened player, classless, who had survived both the 《Taiping Cemetery》 and 《Old Lady Huang's Birthday Celebration》 Instances.
Kang Xiaojia, an awakened player, Class: 【Physician】, with Pharmacological Mastery, capable of identifying common herbs, reducing the cost of healing items by 15%.
Finally, Chen Xi herself, an awakened player, Class: 【Constable】, passive technique 【Heaven's Justice】, which increases all damage by 25% and extends the duration of control skills by 30% against targets labeled with "Sin", "Evil", or "Yin Soul".
And every time she successfully kills a hostile target, her attack power permanently increases by 1 point, up to a limit of three hundred.
...
...
...
“Listen up,” Chen Xi zipped up her backpack and warned her team members. “The fact that the Hong Kong police had to urgently call for help means that the spiritual energy level here must be extremely high. Everyone, stay sharp. This is highly likely to be an unknown Instance with unclear rules. Be careful in everything.”
“Understood,” the others responded in low voices.
The cabin door opened, and a hot, humid wind carrying the smell of paper ash rushed in.
The team descended the gangway one by one. The distant terminal building was submerged in fog, leaving only a blurry silhouette.
The staff on the tarmac were all wearing masks, their paces hurried.
No one was chatting; everyone had a tense expression, as if being chased by something invisible.
...
...
The pickup vehicles were already waiting at the bridge entrance—three black, seven-seater business vans with heavily tinted windows.
A middle-aged man in a dark suit stood beside the cars.
His hair was combed meticulously, but sweat at his temples glued stray strands to his skin. His tie was slightly crooked, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his face was filled with exhaustion and anxiety.
“Captain Chen, right? I am Li Weiming, Senior Assistant of the Chief Secretary's Office, in charge of coordinating this case.”
The man immediately stepped forward to shake hands. His Mandarin was stiff, heavily accented with Cantonese and mixed with English words:
“Thank you, thank you. Your arrival is truly timely. We really can't hold on much longer over here.”
“Assistant Li,” Chen Xi shook his hand. Feeling his palm slick with sweat, she immediately realized that the crisis in Hong Kong was far more complex than imagined:
“We'll talk about the details in the car.”
“Yes, yes, of course. Let's talk in the car.” Li Weiming and his subordinates quickly opened the car doors and ushered them inside.
...
...
The cars left the airport and headed toward the city center.
The fog grew thicker and visibility dropped lower along the way.
The driver drove very slowly. Even though it was noon, the fog lights were turned on.
The yellow light carved two holes through the gray air.
The researcher held the detector, fingers flying across the keyboard. The values on the screen jumped rapidly, the red line surging upward.
He pushed up his glasses, looking incredulous:
“Chief Chen, the spiritual energy level is still rising. It's at 8.7 now, which has already reached the threshold of a B-Tier Instance. Moreover, this value is still climbing at a rate of 0.2 per hour.”
—He had only seen such a strong spiritual energy level at the scene of the Tokyo Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
How was Hong Kong still safe and sound until now?
How did they manage it?
“B-Tier...” Chen Xi tapped her fingers on her knee. “It's higher than estimated.”
Originally, they thought it was just a missing persons case related to an Instance, but looking at it now, it was not that simple.
The car window was half-open, and the wind felt sticky against their skin.
Kang Xiaojia leaned by the window to look outside, whispering, “Chief Chen, the people on the street... they all look very angry.”
Chen Xi followed her gaze.
Outside the door of a roadside tea restaurant, two men were pointing and shouting at each other's faces.
“Are you blind? You knocked over my milk tea!”
“You put it on the edge of the table yourself and didn't watch it, and now you're blaming me? You're crazy!”
The two argued more and more fiercely, eventually coming to blows. A patrolling police officer blew his whistle and ran over, also sweating profusely and looking extremely irritable.
Passersby walked around them with cold faces, completely indifferent.
Further ahead, a taxi driver poked his head out to curse at pedestrians crossing the street, blaring his horn deafeningly:
“Walking so slow! Are you rushing to your reincarnation?!”
The pedestrian refused to back down, turning around to shout something back. The driver pushed open the door and got out to fight, while the passenger in the front seat desperately held him back.
Most of the shops along the street were open, but none of the staff had a good look on their faces.
If people accidentally bumped into each other on the road, they would start tearing at each other the next second.
Everywhere they passed seemed packed with gunpowder kegs; a tiny spark could trigger an explosion.
“It's all yin energy.”
Lin Jianguo activated his skill, looking at the wisps of black mist drifting in the air. The next second, he closed his eyes, and his pupils returned to normal:
“Why is there so much yin energy gathering here? This isn't normal. If people stay in this environment for too long, having nightmares at night will be the least of their worries. People will only become more and more irritable.”
“Yes, yes,” Li Weiming, sitting in the front row, let out a bitter laugh and chimed in. “Over the past few days, the number of complaints across Hong Kong has tripled. Fights, domestic disputes, street conflicts—it's endless. The police stations don't even have enough manpower; everyone has been sent out to patrol. Everyone is so short-tempered, arguing over the slightest things. The doctors say it's collective anxiety, but we know in our hearts that it has to do with this fog and those paper coins.”
“What's the deal with the paper coins?” Chen Xi asked.
At the mention of this, Li Weiming's face turned even grimmer:
“Three days ago, around four in the morning, the observatory suddenly detected a massive gathering of dark clouds over the city, pitch-black and heavy, right over Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei, and Central.”
He gestured, his expression showing lingering fear:
“Not even half an hour later, paper coins began falling from the sky. They were golden and round, looking similar to the hell bank notes burned during Qingming, but the texture of the paper was different.”
“At first, the police thought it was a prank and sent up drones to film. But as soon as the drones entered the cloud layer, all instruments failed, control was completely lost, and they crashed straight down! Later, the Fire Services Department sent up helicopters. Same thing. As soon as they entered the fog layer, all data went haywire, the engines stalled, and three helicopters crashed into the sea. Fortunately, the pilots all ejected and survived, so there were no casualties.”
“Is it happening all over Hong Kong?”
Chen Xi felt that this situation was somewhat similar to the signs before the Tokyo Night Parade of a Hundred Demons:
“Besides this, are there any other anomalies?”
“Copper coins are everywhere!”
Li Weiming emphasized:
“Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, even on the sea. They're falling in scattered bits, and we can't sweep them all up. The Department of Health workers sweep from morning to night, but they keep falling right after. It's simply endless.”
The car happened to drive into the bustling downtown of Mong Kok.
Now, everyone could see it even more clearly.
Under the gray sky, golden copper coins drifted down in scattered bits, like autumn leaves slowly spinning as they fell.
If one ignored the context, it actually looked quite beautiful.
When pedestrians on the street saw the paper coins, they treated them like the plague, steering clear of them from far away.
On the otherwise bustling sidewalks, if a piece of paper coin landed in the middle of the path, people would immediately split to both sides to bypass it.
Like Moses parting the sea, a small empty space was left in the middle, and no one dared to get close.
A Department of Health work vehicle was parked by the roadside. Several workers wearing full white protective suits and gas masks were using long tongs to collect the paper coins.
Their movements were as gentle as defusing a bomb. After picking one up, someone would immediately scan the ground with an instrument for a long time, only leaving after confirming there was no residue.
An old woman passing by, holding a bag of groceries, quickly stopped when she saw a paper coin. She pressed her hands together and bowed:
“Forgive us, forgive us. Children don't know any better...”
After bowing, she quickly pulled her grandson and walked around it.
...
...
“The public's reaction has been huge.”
Li Weiming sighed. “There are all kinds of rumors online, saying the underworld has opened its gates, the ghost army is passing through, the end of the world is coming—everything. Wong Tai Sin Temple and Che Kung Temple are completely packed. People aren't even going to work; they're running to worship the gods and pray for peace. But the most critical issue is the missing persons. As of this morning, there are already nine hundred and two people missing.”
“Nine hundred and two people missing?” Chen Xi gasped. “In just three days?”
“Yes, and the number is still growing.”
Li Weiming added, “All the missing people share one common trait—they all picked up the paper coins that fell from the sky. After picking them up, they vanished in the middle of the night on the very same day. At home, on the street, in the subway—a living person just disappears out of nowhere, leaving absolutely no trace.”
“Then I have reason to suspect that these paper copper coins are the Instance entry tickets.”
Chen Xi's expression was far from pleasant. “We can officially consider this an Instance.”
The faces of the Hong Kong coordination staff turned pale instantly.
—Everyone knew about the Tokyo Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
Physical ghosts and monsters had rampaged directly in reality, and the Self-Defense Forces had to use heavy weaponry to barely bring the situation under control.
Not to mention the heavy casualties, the Tokyo incident still hadn't been fully resolved to this day.
This was also what the Hong Kong police feared most—they were afraid that the Instance would directly descend upon Hong Kong. If that happened, it would be an absolute catastrophe.
...
...
The business van driving them went around Mong Kok again and again before the Special Investigation Bureau's researchers finally locked onto an unfinished building based on the spiritual energy concentration.
As they drew near, several players immediately received a notification that they were queuing for the Instance.
【Detected player Chen Xi's squad applying to enter Instance 《Ghosts in the Hong Kong Building》.】
【Current number of players inside the Instance: 6/50】
【Please wait patiently in the queue for an open slot. Once a slot is available, you will be automatically teleported.】
【Queue position: 1】
【Tip: Detected that you do not possess the entry item.】
...
...
“Found it.”
Chen Xi stared at the unfinished building, her tone heavy.
From the prompt, she could clearly see that of the last batch of fifty players who had entered, only six were left alive.
But the number of people inside the Instance did not match the nine hundred missing people in Hong Kong.
Where, then, did the rest of the missing people go?
Rate on N.U.
