Chapter 6: No Need to Apologize
Su Xiao tapped on the skull of the dead ghost on the ground. The texture was hard; if he struck it with his bare hands, he couldn't break through this kind of exoskeleton.
Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in Su Xiao's hand. A blade light flashed, and three slash marks appeared on the ghost's abdomen.
Su Xiao cut open the dead ghost to examine its feeding state. If it wasn't starving, then this situation was highly unusual.
Su Xiao looked at the ghost's stomach sac. He saw no food residue, only a lump of flesh.
"What is this…"
Su Xiao examined the lump of flesh. Just then, an unexpected change occurred. The lump of flesh rapidly deformed, transforming into a humanoid shape in an instant, leaping out from the ghost's abdomen and lunging straight at Su Xiao.
With a smack, Su Xiao caught the lump of flesh with his bare hand. A layer of pale blue crystal wrapped around his hand, making it look like a crystal sculpture. This was a new form of Proud Song he had developed—a crystal layer converted from Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, possessing strong defensive and isolating properties.
The bright red lump of flesh writhed in Su Xiao's hand. Observing it, he felt it wasn't a living creature but more like some kind of pre-set biological mechanism.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…
The lump of flesh expanded in Su Xiao's hand. Though he wanted to study its composition, for safety's sake, he had to throw it away.
Pfft~
The lump of flesh shattered. It didn't explode but sprayed a cloud of sickly green mist, corroding a nearby lamppost with a hissing sound.
Clearly, this ghost that killed someone in the street wasn't acting voluntarily. Ghosts were intelligent beings; they could disguise themselves as humans, and secretly eating people was their way, much like ghouls. No, they were far more advanced than ghouls. Even the lowest-level ghost would be invincible in a ghoul world.
If not for professionals, it would be impossible to find ghosts hidden among ordinary people. Even if found, whether they could be eliminated was unknown. If not dealt with in one go, the ghost would become more cunning, its disguise more realistic, and it might even actively conduct counter-surveillance.
"Deputy Commander Kukulin, do you have any suggestions on this matter?"
The female officer frowned deeply. Today's incident was definitely a great achievement for her, but she keenly sensed that ghosts were more troublesome than she had imagined. As the saying goes, pretending to know when you don't leads to disaster. Merits were always welcome, but the current situation was clear—her troops weren't professionals, and continuing to handle this matter alone wasn't wise.
"No suggestions. After all, this matter is under the jurisdiction of your security forces."
"…"
The female officer was momentarily speechless. Earlier, she just didn't want to lose the credit. Over a dozen of her men had died; she couldn't let their deaths be in vain, only to benefit someone else in the end.
"Commander Kukulin, by 'handle,' I meant dealing with these bodies, not investigating the subsequent events."
"Is that so."
Su Xiao glanced at the female officer. If that venomous snake from the Execution Agency had half the breadth of mind this female officer had, things would be much simpler.
"No suggestions. This ghost is already dead, so… it's over."
"Huh?"
The female officer was stunned. So many people dead, and it just ends like this?
Su Xiao walked out of the crowd. He still didn't know much about this world. As for the Ghost Ring faction, the earlier attack might be related to them, but it couldn't be confirmed.
Gus, who had been disemboweled by the ghost, had already been taken to the hospital for treatment. Given his performance today, Su Xiao told him to come to the office after he recovered. With a awakened's physique, Gus would be fully healed in two or three days.
Gus entered the operating room with a smile, clearly understanding that his superior was about to promote him.
The late-night street began to quiet down. Su Xiao walked in the direction he remembered, toward the former deputy commander's residence—a three-story villa. Amu was already inside the villa, while Beini had gone treasure hunting.
A cigarette hung from Su Xiao's mouth. As he passed under a lamppost, it flickered.
"Come out."
Su Xiao exhaled a puff of blue smoke, and Dragon-Slaying Flash appeared in his hand.
A figure in a black robe emerged from an alley by the street. No, it was more like a figure clad in black smoke. The clothing seemed made of smoke, constantly twisting, and the hood fluttered in the night breeze.
Su Xiao flicked away his cigarette. Clearly, this was an unfriendly visitor. Two possibilities: first, the hidden enemy had grown impatient and sent someone to personally destroy Su Xiao; second, it was retaliation from ghosts or demons. Many ghosts and demons had died directly or indirectly at the deputy commander's hands, so revenge was normal.
The Apostle's Eye floated up. Su Xiao needed to determine which faction this person belonged to.
[Scanning…]
[Scan failed due to unknown energy interference.]
[Rank assessment in progress… Assessment successful. You have obtained the following information.]
Name: Lucas
Category: Human · Awakened (93% Awakened).
…
"Lucas?"
Su Xiao stared intently at the newcomer. This was someone from the Execution Agency. In the memory images, he was a somewhat reclusive but reliable man. If he were still a member of the Execution Agency, a single order from Su Xiao would send Lucas thousands of miles to the border to fight ghosts to the death.
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Lucas, clad in surging black smoke, took a step back.
"Commander…"
Lucas's voice was very hoarse, like sandpaper scraping.
"Did Lady Nancy send you?"
"No, it wasn't her. This is the last thing I can do for you. As for who sent me, I can't say. Thank you for your past patronage. I'm sorry."
Lucas bowed his head to Su Xiao. It was clear he deeply respected Su Xiao as his commander.
"You'll tell me who it is."
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. For some reason, seeing his smile, Lucas suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity, thinking: 'Is this really the deputy commander of the Execution Agency?'
"Who… are you?"
Lucas swallowed his saliva, his eyes fixed on Su Xiao.
Su Xiao ignored him. This was an awakened, not a ghost. However, Lucas's awakening rate was as high as 93%. Such a high rate was definitely artificially suppressed.
As awakened fought and killed ghosts, their awakening rate gradually increased, and their strength grew. But an increase in awakening rate was never a good thing. Once the awakening rate exceeded 65%, it caused emotional instability in the awakened, and the empire would no longer employ such individuals.
If the awakening rate exceeded 70%, it entered the transformation period—the transition from human to demon. Over 80%, turning into a demon was only a matter of time. At 85%, one could transform into a demon at any moment. As for awakened with an awakening rate over 90%, they were extremely rare.
Clang.
The long blade in Su Xiao's hand was drawn. He still didn't know the enemy's true strength, so he needed to proceed cautiously.
"I'm sorry, Commander."
Lucas clenched his fists, and black smoke swirled around him, forming two pitch-black curved blades.
With a boom, gravel flew at Su Xiao's feet. He vanished instantly. Lucas's surroundings churned with black smoke, and he too disappeared.
One minute later.
Bang!
A figure crashed through a wall, collapsing to the ground, blood slowly spreading across the floor.
Lucas had nearly been killed in a single exchange by Su Xiao. It wasn't that Lucas was weak, but that he had used energy-constructed weapons to fight Su Xiao. Cyan Steel Shadow was best at devouring energy, and the result was predictable. If Su Xiao hadn't wanted to take him alive, Lucas's head would have been severed in the first round.
Su Xiao lightly flicked the blood off his blade and crouched in front of Lucas.
"No need to apologize to me. You're the one who's going to die."