Chapter 209 | The One Who Devours All

Xin Yanzheng briefly recounted the tragedy of his family's destruction years ago.

Despite the danger and the surrounding peril, the human instinct for gossip surfaced upon hearing such a shocking and bizarre secret of the elite.

Some exchanged looks that said, "As expected, big families are a mess," and on the faces of several colleagues, besides fear, there was even a faint, strange look of satisfied curiosity.

However, Old Chen frowned slightly. He keenly caught several logical inconsistencies in Xin Yanzheng’s narrative.

How was Xin Yanzheng’s father—a powerful transcendent capable of summoning tsunamis—so easily killed by an "evil ghost"? Even the specific cause of death was vague.

Why was the brother, possessed by the "evil ghost," able to live in peace with Xin Yanzheng’s mother and sister at first? What triggered his sudden betrayal and the subsequent slaughter?

The change in the brother was so obvious, yet when family members died gruesome deaths, why did no one suspect him? Why did they only start to doubt him after so many had perished?

Was it because Xin Yanzheng was too young at the time and had undergone so much trauma that his memories were blurred, causing him to miss key information?

Or was he hiding certain important details!

Old Chen didn't know. These questions were like small thorns pricking at his heart. But he would never actively seek the answers.

"Wait," an investigator said, snapping out of the gossip and raising a crucial doubt.

"How can you be sure that the cases happening in the Bureau right now are definitely the work of the 'evil ghost' you mentioned?"

Xin Yanzheng looked up, his eyes bloodshot, his certainty bordering on obsession. "The method of killing!"

"Old Wang was drowned in a toilet, Li Mo was posed strangely and thrown off a building, and the two bodies found just now... every method of death, even their sequence! They are exactly the same as the way he killed people in my home back then! This can't possibly be a coincidence!"

"So, could this 'evil ghost' be coming for you?" another investigator murmured.

At those words, the gazes directed at Xin Yanzheng became complicated.

Old Chen spoke up at the right moment, his tone impartial. "We can't blame Xiao Xin for this. However, since this likely relates to your past experiences, it’s most appropriate for you to take full responsibility for handling it."

"By the way, Xiao Xin. What exactly is the 'evil ghost’s' ability to possess human bodies? Are there limitations? Can he change bodies at will, or are there specific conditions? Is there a risk of any of us being possessed? Does he have other abilities?"

"The more information we have, the better everyone can cooperate with you and protect themselves."

Hearing this, an awkward and dazed expression appeared on Xin Yanzheng’s face. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Everyone was shocked, finding it hard to believe.

He told such a horrific story, yet he knew nothing about his enemy's abilities?

Xin Yanzheng clutched his head in pain. "I really don't know. I was too young then. I only remember him killing people relentlessly until everyone was dead and everything was burned to the ground. It was pure luck that I survived."

His voice carried a sob, sounding genuine.

Old Chen gave him a meaningful look and said, "Xiao Xin, based on what you know, what do you think we should do next?"

"Normally, when such a serious incident occurs in the Bureau, we should immediately activate emergency protocols. But now, the one with the problem might be the director himself..."

Xin Yanzheng took a deep breath, as if making a final decision. "Activate the emergency procedures. Target the director's office. I will take full responsibility for all consequences afterward!"

With those words of total commitment, the group found a goal and seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

But soon, the atmosphere became awkward.

It was so quiet.

It was too quiet. There was none of the chaotic bustle that usually followed a leader's command.

Only then did they realize with a start that the Investigation Bureau building, which should have been filled with various sounds, had fallen into a dead silence at some point.

Previously, they had been focused on the bodies and Xin Yanzheng’s narrative, ignoring the change in background noise.

The voices from other departments, the footsteps in the hallways, and the hum of printers were all vanishing.

Even the commotion and discussion caused by the investigators' deaths had disappeared.

Where was everyone?

The assistant investigators, clerical staff, and guards who were supposed to be searching, maintaining order, and processing the scenes—where had they all gone?

An ominous premonition swept over the dozen or so core personnel remaining.

"Could it be... that they thought it was too dangerous and evacuated on their own?" a young investigator guessed wildly, clutching at straws.

But his eyes betrayed him; he didn't even believe his own nonsense.

Evacuation was impossible.

A series of bloody murders occurred inside the Investigation Bureau, the director was suspected of having issues, and the staff just left without leaving any message?

That was fucking ridiculous!

That left only the other, more hair-raising possibility that they didn't want to consider...

"Contact them, now! Use the internal channel to call all units!" Old Chen barked.

Someone immediately took out a communicator and tuned it to the general channel. "Attention all units! Attention all units! This is the Special Operations Section. Please respond if you hear this. Report your location and status!"

Only the crackle of static came from the communicator.

"Technical Department, respond!"

"Logistics Support Center, do you copy?"

"First-floor lobby guards, report!"

Call after call went unanswered, like stones sinking into the sea.

There was no response.

The entire building seemed to have turned into a tomb.

"Impossible... this is impossible," someone muttered, the color draining from their face.

"Should we send someone to check?" another person suggested, suppressing their unease.

"In pairs, to watch each other's backs. Search the nearby floors and see what happened."

This plan seemed reasonable, but Xin Yanzheng said, "The situation is unclear. It’s better if we all stick together."

Old Chen nodded beside him, clearly agreeing that they should move as a group and not separate rashly.

"But... I really need to go to the restroom," an assistant investigator said weakly.

"Can't you hold it for a while?"

"I've been holding it for a long time. I’ve reached my limit. In this state, even if I run into danger, I won't be able to run fast. I'll just be a burden. It's better if I go and take care of it quickly."

"Don't go alone. Those who need to use the restroom should go together in a group," Xin Yanzheng said.

The restroom on this floor wasn't far. Nothing should happen... right?

Two assistant investigators who were on good terms volunteered to accompany him.

To prevent accidents, they kept their communication devices on.

The footsteps of the three men grew distant as they walked toward the restroom. Then, at a certain moment, without any warning, they vanished.

It wasn't a gradual fading; it was as if a mute button had been pressed. The footsteps and the rustle of clothing all stopped abruptly.

"Hey! You three, what’s going on? Respond!" someone immediately shouted into the radio.

No response.

A deathly silence.

Unease spread rapidly.

"Maybe the signal is bad, or they found something and it's not convenient to respond," someone tried to comfort themselves, but their voice was trembling violently.

No one else brought up the need for a restroom; no one dared to stray too far from the transcendents.

However, the mysterious disappearances continued.

"Where's Xiao Zhang? How did Xiao Zhang disappear?" someone suddenly cried out.

"What happened?" Xin Yanzheng asked.

The person replied, "Xiao Zhang was right next to me just now. I looked away for a second, and he was gone!"

"Did anyone else see Xiao Zhang?" Xin Yanzheng asked.

Everyone shook their heads in terror.

A living person standing right next to them had just evaporated into thin air?!

"A ghost! There's a ghost!!" a clerical worker who had recently joined the Bureau finally snapped under the psychological pressure.

He screamed and turned, trying to run away.

"Don't run off," Old Chen said, but his attempt to stop him was only verbal.

The five transcendents present all watched the fleeing clerk.

He had only run a dozen meters and turned a corner when, the moment he left their line of sight, his voice vanished.

The atmosphere returned to a dead silence.

Those who remained felt chilled to the bone, cold sweat soaking their backs.

Old Chen frowned and guessed, "Could it be line of sight? People who aren't in someone else's sight disappear?"

Hearing Old Chen’s words, the rest immediately formed a circle, facing outward and watching each other, not even daring to blink.

They held this for a while, and indeed, no one else disappeared.

But this was not a long-term solution.

At that moment, a strange sound broke the silence.

Tap, tap, tap.

It was the sound of footsteps.

Coming from the stairwell upstairs, slow and heavy, each step filled with a sense of stiffness.

Accompanying the footsteps was a soft humming; the melody was quite pleasant.

Xin Yanzheng snapped his head up, looking toward the stairwell, and squeezed a sentence through his teeth:

"He's here."

Old Chen’s voice was dry. "The 'evil ghost'?"

Xin Yanzheng nodded heavily, his eyes fixed on the turn in the stairs.

A figure slowly stepped out of the shadows.

It was—Director Jiang Yaoshan!

To be precise, it was Jiang Yaoshan’s corpse.

The temperature inside the Investigation Bureau had accelerated the changes in the body; anyone could see this was a shell that had long since lost its life.

However, a smile was plastered on the corpse's face, and its cloudy eyes stared straight ahead.

The humming was coming from his throat.

"It's you! You really came back for me, didn't you?" Xin Yanzheng barked, years of accumulated hatred erupting in that moment.

However, the "reunion with an old acquaintance" he expected did not happen.

The other four transcendents present had no intention of wasting words.

Enemy? Evil ghost?

No matter what it was, they would subdue it first!

Since the director was clearly dead, they had nothing to worry about. One attack after another was launched, flying toward the director’s corpse.

Xin Yanzheng was stunned for a moment; his long-prepared emotional outburst was bypassed. A split second late, a surging torrent of water erupted beneath his feet, coiling toward the "director."

Facing the full-scale assault of several transcendents, the walking corpse didn't move a muscle. It made no attempt to defend or dodge, merely maintaining its smile, its gaze fixed on Xin Yanzheng, while it continued to hum the unknown tune.

Boom! Bang! Squelch!

The various attacks landed squarely on the corpse.

The intense confrontation they expected didn't happen.

Upon being hit, the director’s corpse shattered into pieces, with chunks and foul blood splashing everywhere.

The humming also stopped abruptly.

Everything happened too fast, too easily.

The scene fell into a brief, dead silence.

The four transcendents whose attacks had landed also realized something was wrong.

If the "evil ghost" could destroy the Xin family and turn the entire Investigation Bureau upside down, how could he be killed so easily?

Unfortunately, by the time they realized this, they were gone.

Only Xin Yanzheng remained. Because he had been that crucial split second slow, his water torrent had only just reached the area.

He clearly saw—or rather, sensed—that at the moment the four vanished, a small portion of the edge of the water he controlled had also vanished into thin air, the cut in the water perfectly clean.