53: Chapter 53 A New Tactic: Malice Resurfaces Across the City
Chapter 53: Open Conspiracy Reappears, Malice Engulfs the City
In the shadow of this steel jungle, Lin Qingzhi and I were like two master hunters engaging in a silent, fatal game with a beast far stronger than us.
My 'Swarm Network' was the rule-maker of this chessboard.
Every time Ghost Hand and his remaining subordinates thought they had found a clue and were about to close the net, we had already quietly relocated to another part of the city, utilizing the blind spots in their vision and surveillance.
One hour.
Two hours.
Time flowed by, second by second, amidst this suffocating chase and counter-chase.
Through the 'eyes' spread throughout the city, I could clearly 'see' Ghost Hand's face, hidden beneath his hood, growing increasingly distorted and ferocious.
He was like a male lion trapped in a cage, being toyed with by countless flies and mosquitoes—possessing the power to tear apart heaven and earth, yet unable to even touch the shadow of his opponents.
That feeling of frustration and humiliation was pushing his already cruel heart toward the abyss of complete madness.
Finally, in the third hour, after he once again pounced on nothing but a mutated moth I had left behind to mislead him, he stopped.
He hovered silently in mid-air, motionless.
He neither roared again nor unleashed that tyrannical Demonic Power.
But through a Cockroach resting in the shadow beneath his feet, I sensed a terrifying aura of stillness before a storm, more dangerous than any before.
He had realized it.
He realized he was facing not two mere prey who only knew how to flee, but an opponent possessing some kind of inescapable, net-like reconnaissance ability that he could not comprehend.
"Interesting... truly interesting..."
I captured his cold, bone-chilling whisper, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, through the Cockroach's hearing.
"Since you two enjoy being the 'eyes' so much, enjoying watching from the shadows..."
He slowly raised his hand, and a black communication jade slip, engraved with bizarre runes, appeared in his palm.
"Then this Seat will prepare the grandest 'show' for you!"
He injected an order into the jade slip.
The next second, my 'Swarm Network' captured a scene that sent a chill down my spine.
In every corner of the city, the peripheral members of the Xuantian Alliance, who had been searching for us like headless flies, suddenly ceased their actions.
They had received a new directive.
They were no longer searching for us; instead, they began... capturing people!
They stormed the strongholds of the families of the weaker Awakened Ones recorded by the Dragon Soul Bureau, and they raided the barracks of the mercenary groups composed of rogue individuals who were insignificant.
There was no resistance, or rather, any resistance was pale and powerless against the elites of the Xuantian Alliance.
In less than ten minutes, at least thirty Awakened Ones from five or six small forces were forcibly abducted, as if they were livestock, and escorted to the largest area in Jiangcheng City Center—the Central Plaza, which housed a giant outdoor LED screen!
I transmitted these unsettling scenes in real-time to Lin Qingzhi, who was struggling to regulate her breathing inside the ventilation duct.
She suddenly opened her eyes, and a most ominous premonition flashed through her already cold phoenix eyes.
"What does he want to do?"
The moment her voice fell, the massive LED screen in the Central Plaza, hundreds of square meters in size, which had been playing commercial advertisements, suddenly crackled with static and turned into snow.
Immediately afterward, a figure shrouded in black robes, resembling the God of Death, appeared on the screen.
It was Ghost Hand!
He had hacked into the entire city's public screen system using the Xuantian Alliance's technology!
"Good evening, friends of Jiangcheng."
His hoarse, emotionless voice echoed clearly through the screen's speakers into every corner of the plaza, and also reached my and Lin Qingzhi's ears through my Swarm Network.
"I don't want to waste everyone's time. I am here only to find two people."
The screen's image shifted, displaying two portraits.
One was Lin Qingzhi's cold and supremely beautiful face.
The other was a depiction of a black mosquito, drawn to look incredibly ferocious and exuding an ominous aura...
"Ice Maiden, and Shadow Mosquito."
"I know you are watching."
Ghost Hand's voice was filled with the mockery and cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse.
"I'm tired of this game of hide-and-seek. Now, let's try a new game."
The image switched again.
A dozen Awakened Ones, tightly bound with rags stuffed in their mouths, their faces etched with terror and despair, appeared on the screen.
I recognized them; they were members of the small martial arts school called 'Iron Fist Society' who had been captured earlier.
"From now on,", Ghost Hand's voice was like a devil's whisper from the Nine Hells, "every half hour, I will personally execute a batch of 'guests' right here."
"Until those two 'esteemed guests' are willing to show themselves and meet me here in the Central Plaza."
A bright red countdown, like a death warrant, appeared on the screen.
[29:59]
"The game starts now."
"I hope you will enjoy the grand 'fireworks' I have prepared for you."
The image froze on the desperate faces of the hostages and the constantly ticking, blood-red countdown.
The entire Jiangcheng City fell into a deathly silence at that moment.
This was immediately followed by earth-shattering, hysterical... panic!
I 'saw' countless people rush out of their homes, fleeing the city like madmen.
I 'heard' the Dragon Soul Bureau's emergency lines being instantly overloaded, but the voices coming through were no longer tips, but countless curses filled with anger and fear!
"What good are you people for! Why haven't you captured those two scourges yet!"
"It's them! They brought this devil here!"
"Please! Hand them over! We just want to live!"
Malice.
Surging malice from the entire city!
Under Ghost Hand's simple yet vicious open conspiracy, we instantly transformed from hunted victims into the very culprits who brought disaster upon this city!
Inside the ventilation duct, there was dead silence.
I could clearly feel Lin Qingzhi beside me; her body was trembling slightly.
It wasn't fear.
It was a surging, world-destroying killing intent that had been suppressed to the extreme, on the verge of erupting!