I and Sun Fatty hadn't even caught our breath when Yang Xiao suddenly shouted, "You're still not dead!" As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of bloody light erupted from his body. His whole body trembled violently. If his left foot hadn't been nailed to the ground, he would have fallen over completely. Dark mist around him moved as if sensing an opportunity, drifting over to Yang Xiao and flowing into his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, entering his body.
Yang Xiao lost control of himself and eventually collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.
A shadowy figure staggered out from the darkness several dozen meters away, clutching his chest. With a metallic tone, he said, "In the end, you still died before me."
Everything happened so suddenly that by the time I reacted, Yang Xiao was already on the ground. There was no point in wasting words on that mysterious figure—I raised my hand and fired a shot. Since the gun had a silencer attached, the dull thud was barely audible, and the figure collapsed immediately. The shot was just a reflex—I didn't expect it to be effective. After that, I found myself at a loss.
Yang Xiao lay twitching on the ground. It seemed he had some deep connection with the array; when he lost consciousness, the formation he had set up vanished as well. Fortunately, with the disappearance of the formation, the gloomy atmosphere inside the hospital dissipated, and my Heavenly Eye vision cleared up again.
Sun Fatty looked at Yang Xiao, still twitching, and said, "Lazi, what do we do with Old Yang? We can't just let him lie there convulsing, can we?" I hesitated. Those dark clouds earlier must have been the Underworld Agents Yang Xiao mentioned. Since the black mist had flowed into Yang Xiao's body, who knew what might happen next? It didn't seem like a good idea to rush and carry him away.
Just as I was unsure what to do, dozens of blurry human shadows suddenly appeared in rows of vacant houses a distance away. More and more figures gathered, and within a short while, two or three hundred had assembled, with others continuously gathering momentum. They had begun to test the waters, moving closer to the hospital. I was no stranger to these ghostly figures—over the past two decades, I had encountered them sporadically—and now the stray restless spirits had joined the fray. I told Sun Fatty, "We don't have time for Old Yang now. Let's deal with these gatecrashers first."
Seeing the growing number of ghosts and spirits, Sun Fatty grew uneasy: "At least eight hundred, if not a thousand. I'm not joking—this must be the biggest gathering of dead ghosts in Qilin so far. Lazi, you sure you can handle this many?" "Don't worry. We've got weapons. These little ghosts come here, they'll die again," I said, though inside I had no confidence. At this moment, the hospital's surroundings were filled with ghosts as far as the eye could see. Forget Qilin alone—I suspected that ghosts from surrounding cities had converged here as well.
The first few dozen ghosts had reached within fifty meters of the hospital's front. Their faces were grayish-white with the clear aura of death. I had already planned: using Yang Xiao's body as a line, if these ghosts dared to cross him, Sun Fatty and I would open fire simultaneously, taking down the first few in line. Hopefully, killing a few brave ones would scatter the rest.
Just as these restless spirits were about to reach Yang Xiao, who was still twitching on the ground, he suddenly staggered to his feet. The ghosts stopped dead in their tracks, startled. It was like the scene had frozen in place.
Yang Xiao turned his back to me, so I couldn't see his expression. I had no idea what he was doing, but the ghosts seemed terrified as if they had seen a real demon. After a moment of stunned hesitation, they suddenly went berserk, fleeing wildly. In an instant, the ghost tide dispersed completely. The empty space in front of the hospital was left desolate, with only Yang Xiao swaying alone in the middle.
"Lazi, Old Yang doesn't look right," Sun Fatty said. He noticed something was very different about Yang Xiao. Though he was standing, his body still twitched like he was suffering from severe epilepsy. Slowly, Yang Xiao turned his head. Seeing his face made my heart shudder: black qi engulfed him; his facial skin twitched and sagged, his mouth and eyes were crooked, looking like he was suffering post-stroke sequelae. A trail of drool dripped from the corner of his mouth. Despite all this, he kept sneering coldly at Sun Fatty and me.
Sun Fatty murmured, "Is this really Yang Xiao?" Then he spotted another problem: "Hmm? Lazi, what happened to that person you shot just now?" Only then did I realize the mysterious man who had been lying on the ground a few minutes ago had vanished without a trace. All our attention had been on the ghosts and Yang Xiao, and I had no idea when that man disappeared. But there was no time to worry about that now, because Yang Xiao was swaying and heading toward the hospital.
"Old Yang, are you okay? Seriously, you don't need to come inside. Just watch from outside," Sun Fatty shouted. Yang Xiao acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing to approach us. Sun Fatty called again, "Old Yang, Director Wu Rendie just came down. He asked me to tell you your wife is about to give birth. Take care and don't cause trouble!" Hearing that his wife was about to give birth, Yang Xiao trembled violently. The black qi on his face suddenly faded a lot. It was clear he was using great effort to stop himself, trembling as he murmured his wife's name over and over: "Rongrong… Rongrong…"
Suddenly, Yang Xiao let out a heart-wrenching scream and shouted at Sun Fatty and me, "Kill… kill… kill me!" Then he dropped to his knees, clawing desperately at his chest, as if trying to rip something out of his body. Though we both had guns raised, Sun Fatty and I were frozen in shock, unable to move, completely stunned by what was happening before our eyes.
Yang Xiao's chest was dripping with fresh blood, and I could clearly see the pale white bones exposed beneath his ribs. I felt dizzy at the sight. He must have realized that neither Sun Fatty nor I would bring ourselves to finish him off, so he was trying to tear out his own heart to die quickly. Sun Fatty's face also turned pale. He shouted to Yang Xiao, "Old Yang, talk to us properly. Director Wu Ren'di will be down any minute. Even if the sky falls, he's got our backs!"
Yang Xiao seemed not to hear him, still clawing at his chest in desperate, slow motions. Judging by the way he was going, he didn't even need to dig out his heart—he would bleed out and die before that. Gritting my teeth, I dropped one of my pistols and snatched Sun Fatty's crossbow. I pulled the trigger, shooting a bolt straight at Yang Xiao's left hand back. Without making a sound, Yang Xiao cried out in pain. His other hand trembled as he tried to pull out the bolt, but after several failed attempts, he dared not touch it. Eventually, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted onto the ground.
Just as Sun Fatty and I rushed outside the main gate to bring Yang Xiao back in, he suddenly stood up straight again. The black mist immediately cloaked his face anew. His feet didn't move, but the man vanished into thin air. Before we could react, a shadow flashed in front of us. One hand grabbed my neck, the other grabbed Sun Fatty's. He lifted us both up by the throat.
Simultaneously, Sun Fatty and I fired five or six shots at him. Yang Xiao took over ten shots but showed no reaction, his twisted face breaking into a cold smile. I dropped my pistol and struggled to draw my short dagger from my waist, but Sun Fatty was faster. He pulled out a crossbow bolt and plunged it into Yang Xiao's shoulder.
With a miserable howl, "Yang Xiao" flinched in pain and finally shook us off. We scrambled back inside the hospital.
I immediately drew my short dagger while Sun Fatty stowed away his pistol and crossbow, holding the dagger and crossbow tightly as he faced the panting figure at the door. But when I looked back, Yang Xiao had vanished completely. Only a pool of blood remained on the ground. The front gate was empty and completely exposed; there was nowhere to hide.
Cold sweat dripped down Sun Fatty's face. I glanced at him and asked, "Great Sage, where is Yang Xiao? Did you see where he went?"
Sun Fatty shook his head, "If Yang Xiao's not chasing us down from behind, that's already lucky. Who has the time to watch where he went?"
My heart was pounding hard. Just now, it felt like we stared death in the face. If Yang Xiao had put in a little more effort, he might have already broken our necks. The Underworld Agents inside Yang Xiao were there to stop Xu Rongrong's celestial soul from reincarnating. Judging from the current situation, they probably hadn't taken her soul away yet, so those ghost envoys wouldn't give up easily.
Yang Xiao vanished into thin air just like that. Nine times out of ten, he was wary of the crossbow Sun Fatty was holding, hiding somewhere and waiting to strike us unexpectedly.
"It's unsafe at the door," I said to Sun Fatty. "Let's move to the center of the lobby."
Sun Fatty immediately understood my meaning. As we cautiously backed away toward the center of the hall, suddenly, with a loud bang, the concrete wall to the left of the door was smashed open. A bloodied man rushed inside, reaching us in an instant. His eyes were askew, his face covered with black mist. It could be no one else but Yang Xiao.
Luckily, we were prepared for him to rush in suddenly. As he reached us, Sun Fatty shot an arrow into Yang Xiao's calf. The bolt hit perfectly, causing Yang Xiao to stumble awkwardly and fall, rolling until he barely stopped in a corner.
Yang Xiao struggled on the ground. The arrow in his calf made him lose balance. After struggling to stand, he fell again.
Sun Fatty didn't expect things to go so smoothly. Reloading another bolt, he aimed at Yang Xiao, who was still struggling on the floor, and asked me, "Lazi, what now? Tie him up and wait for Director Wu Ren'di to come and decide?"
I looked at Yang Xiao writhing on the floor. The best way to deal with him now was to have Sun Fatty shoot arrows to pin down each of Yang Xiao's limbs so he couldn't move at all. If it were Old Qiu or Wang Ziheng, two more bolts wouldn't matter. But seeing Yang Xiao's earlier desperate bid for a quick death, I couldn't bring myself to be so ruthless.
So I agreed with Sun Fatty to tie him up first. Sun Fatty guarded Yang Xiao while I searched the lobby. Finally, I found some rolls of tape in the pharmacy and grabbed them for temporary use.
Just as I held the tape, a heavy object dropped suddenly from the direction of the hall. Alarmed, I shouted, "Great Sage, are you okay?"
There was no reply.
When I hurried back, I saw Sun Fatty lying flat on his back, completely motionless. Yang Xiao lay on the ground, still with three bolts sticking out of his body, showing no sign of change.
I rushed to Sun Fatty's side. His eyes were tightly shut, lips purple, face pale, fists clenched hard. The crossbow he held was missing, but his dagger and pistol were still tucked on his waist. Whoever took his crossbow must have missed the dagger.
I grabbed his pistol and took off the safety. Suddenly, a metallic whooshing sound shot toward me. I barely had time to dodge, shifting my body just enough to protect vital parts.
"Pfft." A tiny crossbow bolt pierced my left shoulder. At first, I felt a cold sensation that quickly faded into a stabbing pain. Warm blood began to flow from the wound.
Enduring the pain, I fired five or six shots into the dark corner where the bolt had come from. The muffled gunshots seemed to have no effect.
As I hesitated whether to shoot again, a man slowly emerged from the darkness. With that metallic, emotionless voice, he said, "Not bad with your moves. I was going to use your life to empower this bolt, but looks like I'll have to send you off myself."
It was the mysterious man who had repeatedly tangled with Yang Xiao.
I saw his face clearly this time—a deathly gray complexion, his facial features intact but unsettling, as if this was not his true form.
I asked him, "Do we know each other? Or do you have a grudge against Yang Xiao or Wu Ren'di? Can you at least let me die knowing who I'm dying to? We're all colleagues in the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. Before death, I want to see your true face."
He stopped, hesitated, then shook his head. "Not the time yet. Once everyone on the fourth floor is dead, your souls will see who I really am. Enough talk. I'll be quick—there won't be any pain."
Then he threw down his crossbow and drew out a nearly transparent thin thread from his sleeve.
I immediately recognized the source of the thread and said, "Is that the only thing you have? Where's the treasured sword? If Big Pu knew you were using this to harm people, he'd never rest in peace."
My words startled the mysterious man. He took a step back and stared at me intently. Slowly and clearly, he said, "Say—how do you know…" Then he cut himself off, "Hao Wenming the big mouth. He knows well that what happened in 1975 is forbidden to talk about… Never mind. Whether you know or not doesn't matter—we're all doomed anyway."