Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As there wasn’t much space in the truck, only some of the familiars were allowed to ride in it. The other familiars, which were much larger than the rest, were forced to run or fly alongside the truck outside.
There was a section of the road specially reserved for familiars. The King Eel Skeleton slithered on this part of the road like a bullet train. Other familiars quickly moved out of its way.
Clouds of dust were kicked up in its wake. The ground shook and rattled as it slithered by.
“What is that?” A couple of pedestrians had caught sight of the King Eel Skeleton. Its bones were making odd scraping sounds against the asphalt. The wind howled as it passed by.
Behind it was the King Centipede Skeleton, its legs rattling endlessly against the ground…
In the Southern Sky group, seeing that their young master had returned, the guards quickly opened the gates. As soon as the electronic gates were open enough, a group of familiars and undead skeletons stampeded through.
The group of familiars came to a stop by the lake in front of the manor. The place was instantly filled with life and noise.
“Roar!” An irritated roar sounded from the lake.
Everyone immediately fell silent. Peace and quiet returned to the lake.
The Primitive Jade Armored Crocodile seemed to be in the middle of a weird yoga stance in its little puddle by the lake. It had flopped its body over and was now pressing its head and tail against the ground while holding its belly up in mid-air, its eyes staring off into the distance. After a while, it quietly slunk back into the water, then opened its mouth wide, releasing the excess heat from its body into the air.
Not far away from it was a set of training equipment designed to store electricity. The Thunder Shell Lord was lying flat on it, quietly engaged in its training routine.
Blue electricity was dancing across the Thunder Shell Lord’s body. The grass around it had been scorched black.
When his grandfather returned, Gao Peng gave the Stone of Thor to him and then told him how to use it.
The steps required to evolve the Thunder Shell Lord weren’t that complicated. One might even have said they were a bit too easy. All he needed to do was have the Thunder Shell Lord swallow the Stone of Thor and then soak itself in a pool of Yu Spirit Water for a certain length of time.
Ji Hanwu opened the jade box that his grandson had given him. A transparent, hexadecagonal purple stone sat quietly in it. There was a purple-red blemish at the center of the stone. If he hadn’t been observing the stone so closely, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
As his fingers slid across the stone’s surface, he suddenly felt a numb sensation growing in his fingertips.
Ji Hanwu smiled, then put the stone back into the box and nodded. “All right. I’ll bring the White Dragon and the Thunder Shell Lord to Tianchi Lake tomorrow for a soak. You go get some rest now.”
“Stay safe,” said Gao Peng, even though he knew that danger rarely reared its ugly head as long as his grandfather had the White Dragon by his side.
“Well, the Tianchi Snake King of the Paekdu Mountain formed a ritualistic agreement with the local government not too long ago. I’m just going to go there and ask for a bit of Yu Spirit Water from the Snake King. There won’t be any trouble,” said Ji Hanwu, waving a hand at him.
As there needed to be someone holding down the fort in the Southern Sky headquarters, Gao Peng would have to wait for his grandfather’s return before he could ask him about going to Changping Village. Also, he was exhausted from his travels. He decided to take this opportunity to get some much-needed rest here in Yuzhou.
The next day, his grandfather left for the Paekdu Mountain alongside the White Dragon and the Thunder Shell Lord. It would take him at least a week to make a round trip to and from the mountain, not including the time for the Thunder Shell Lord to complete its evolution.
“Don’t worry. Once Grandpa gets back, I’ll definitely bring you back to your place of birth,” Gao Peng reassured Flamy.
Flamy, which was patiently preening itself, suddenly stopped. It seemed to have forgotten about this. After a moment of silence, it resumed its preening.
“Okay.”
…
Yuzhou City, Baiye District.
There was a dark abandoned building in the district with floors that were littered with rubbish. Three oil drums were sitting in a corner of the building with dusty wooden planks placed on top of them.
As its previous owner hadn’t kept up with its final payments, the place had simply fallen into disuse.
It soon became a gathering spot for vagabonds.
The building’s steel beams, which were completely covered with rust, stuck out from the walls like shrivelled fingers. A tangle of electrical wires hung down from the steel beams, serving as a makeshift clothes rack for the building’s current occupants. Their tattered clothes and underwear were left to hang on them.
Yellowing newspaper pages were plastered across the walls. On the left was a pin-up poster of an attractive lady, whose chest had been punctured to reveal the layer of newspapers beneath it.
A human-shaped figure could be seen huddled behind the oil drums, its unkempt hair sticking out above the drum lids. One could only guess how long this man had gone without taking a proper shower.
The afternoon sun was still shining in the sky. However, for some reason, the building had turned depressingly dark inside as a faint black mist permeated the air…
“Achoo!” The homeless man who was sleeping behind the oil drums suddenly sneezed. He opened his eyes blearily and rubbed the gunk out of his eyes.
Is the sun going down? He yawned hugely. Evening was the best time to scrounge for food.
He crawled out of his blanket and rummaged around in his pillow. After a while, he managed to produce a few shiny coins and a couple of wrinkled bank notes, which he carefully inserted in his pocket. These were the only valuable things he had left in this world. There was no way he was going to leave them lying around unsupervised.
Then he realized something. Why is the coin so cold? The man frowned and touched the concrete floor, which was just as cold. He shivered. The floor had never felt as cold to the touch before. Was there a leak somewhere in the building?
It was then that he realized that something was wrong. He quickly bolted out of the building.
Before he could even take too steps, a black shape flashed across his eyes. Then, everything went dark.
…
“Chief, three homeless men were found dead in an abandoned building,” said Han Rui as he handed the documents in his hands over to his superior.
“I see,” said the chief, nodding. He flipped through the documents. The murdered victims were all homeless men. It wasn’t a case that warranted his attention.
“All three men died at around the same time. Their bodies showed signs of rigor mortis. However, their blood was also frozen solid… There were no electrical appliances in the building, and it wasn’t even raining that day. I think it must have been the work of a monster or a familiar,” continued Han Rui.
The chief stopped flipping through the documents and frowned.
If it was a run-of-the-mill murder case, he would have let one of his subordinates handle it. However, the possibility of a familiar or monster being involved here instantly made this case worthy of his attention.
“Go investigate it. Bring Special Cases with you…” said the chief with a sigh.
The Baiye District had always been plagued with crime. There were reports of unusual deaths coming in every day. In a place like this, the battle between good and evil had become a permanent fixture in the citizens’ daily lives.
After locking down the building, the Baiye District’s police officers entered the place to carry out their investigation. However, they couldn’t find anything.
There were no footprints left by the culprit in the building aside from those left behind by the three dead men. There were also no signs of struggle on the walls.
Later, the case was kept under wraps by the police department, and the abandoned building was kept on lockdown. No unauthorized personnel were allowed to enter the place.
