Lanterns and Spirits Appear

Uesugi Akizuki lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She turned her head to look at the intercom on the table, hesitated for 0.00001 seconds, and crawled over to pick it up.

But as soon as she gripped the intercom, with a bang, it was crushed to pieces in her hand. She froze in shock.

Looking at the shattered intercom in her hand, she felt both worried and scared, not knowing where this tremendous strength had come from.

Outside the door, Su Ze heard the crushing sound and sensed the sudden burst of powerful energy waves from the room. He was only slightly surprised - it seemed she hadn't yet learned to control her newly acquired powers.

This was Su Ze's clone. As a precaution, he always left a clone in the living room whenever he went out to fight against the blood moon. The reason he didn't let Uesugi Akizuki see the clone was that its condition would change along with the original body's state.

For instance, if the original body suddenly lost an arm, the clone's arm would vanish too - how would Uesugi Akizuki react to seeing something like that?

Su Ze's original body instantly transferred to the clone to open the door, then transferred again to continue fighting in District Seven.

It was still early night, and Su Ze hadn't reached exhaustion. Relying on the agility and mobility provided by rapidly transferring between clones, he hadn't sustained any significant injuries.

Upon seeing Su Ze enter, Uesugi Akizuki's blank expression immediately turned to a delighted smile. She stood up barefoot and rushed toward him.

"Don't come closer," Su Ze said calmly. This was just a clone controlled by the main body - visible but intangible. Uesugi Akizuki would certainly pass right through him if she tried to embrace him.

Uesugi Akizuki paused, obediently stopping in her tracks, looking at him with slight disappointment.

Su Ze sighed and pulled the bed next to the door. "Go to sleep. I'll be right outside, I won't leave."

With that, he turned and walked out.

Uesugi Akizuki seemed to understand. She happily lay down on the bed, and soon, a gentle, melodious tune drifted in from outside.

Uesugi Akizuki tried to position herself as close to the wall as possible. Though she didn't recognize the melody, it was very soothing.

Last time when Su Ze had comforted her this way, he had noticed the girl specifically running to crouch behind the door to listen to him humming, so this time he deliberately pulled the bed closer.

After a few minutes, the tune faded, replaced by Su Ze's gentle, soft voice singing:

"Penghu Bay, oh Penghu Bay, grandmother's Penghu Bay..."

The song wasn't particularly upbeat, but rather gentle and soothing. His voice was soft and tender, magnetic and pleasant to hear. Uesugi Akizuki listened, entranced.

Su Ze's clone sat on the ground, and as he sang, his eyes took on a gentle look. The clone couldn't develop its own consciousness - it was merely Su Ze's projection, sharing the same five senses.

When he was young, Su Ze's mother often used this song to lull him to sleep, her voice just as gentle and beautiful.

Having heard it so many times, he memorized both the melody and lyrics. As a child, when he would lie alone gazing at the sky, he would often hum this song.

The reason he was so gentle was because his mother had been gentle.

He had a younger brother in high school, and he was very gentle with him too.

His mother had died in recent years during natural disasters as frequent as the blood moons, which inspired him to join the military to protect his family.

His father was a worthless man, a parasite who lived off his wife's blood. After his wife's death, he lost his source of income, and things in the house began disappearing one by one.

So the brothers made a resolute decision together to send their father to jail.

At the time, Su Ze and his brother Su Yu were only teenagers. Their father had an extremely violent temper, often beating and cursing at them. Without their mother to stop him, their father became even more violent.

Su Ze was often beaten until he was covered in wounds.

The reason they didn't call the police was that the detention wouldn't last long. The last time Su Ze had reported him, he was only locked up for a week. When he got out, he nearly beat them to death. Even if he was locked up for a month or two, their situation would only be worse when he returned.

Besides, they were still young and didn't know where else to seek help.

Once, his brother tried to shield him from a chair their drunk father had thrown, and was knocked unconscious, confined to bed the next day after regaining consciousness.

It was the first time Su Ze had to steal buns to save his brother. He was eventually caught, ended up covered in bruises, but the stall owner, after learning of their situation, sympathetically gave him plenty of food and water.

But when he returned home, his somewhat delirious father pointed at the large bag of buns and water he was carrying, "What are you bringing? Let me see."

"Buns and water. Can we save some for Su Yu?"

Hearing this, his father flew into a rage and delivered a sharp slap across his face. "Who do you think you are?"

"If I'd known you'd be such an unfilial son, I would have shot you on the wall back then."

Su Ze had no power to resist, could only leave the food and cover his stinging cheek as he went to get tap water for his brother.

Their family's situation was indeed that difficult. Actually, their mother had left quite a bit of money when she died, but this money rapidly diminished in a short time. Their father's gambling was one thing, but Su Ze always felt there was more to it.

Once when their father went out, he secretly followed and discovered his father was involved in something strictly prohibited and severely punished by the state. This allowed him to report it to the police, resulting in his father being imprisoned for four to five years.

Immersed in the gentle singing, Uesugi Akizuki fell asleep on the bed with a sweet smile.

She hadn't noticed that the song kept repeating, while Su Ze remained silent outside the door, his phone continuously buzzing beside him.

On the battlefield, Su Ze charged into the ghost tide with fierce sword strikes, his blade qi swirling around him like wild wind, his long coat fluttering.

A ghost wielding a large sword found an opening and slashed at Su Ze, but the blade passed right through him. Simultaneously, a straight sword pierced through the ghost's skull from behind, emerging through its forehead - Su Ze had somehow appeared behind it.

He withdrew his sword and continued fighting, relying on the agility and mobility provided by his clone.

"Brother Ze! Brother Ze, help!" Shen Qingsheng's shout came from another street.

"Stop shouting, I'm here." Su Ze's clone in that area immediately became solid as he gravely watched a ghost creature that had just emerged from a spatial rift.

It had brownish skin and a human-like body, though extremely gaunt. Its eyes were slightly large, and its face bore an eerie, cunning, brilliant smile. The two large eyeballs rolled about craftily, making Shen Qingsheng's skin crawl.

Energy fluctuation: early Lamp Realm!

This was the first Lamp Realm ghost to appear in District Seven. On the first night of the blood moon, when a Lamp Realm ghost appeared in District One, a guardian died within minutes of its appearance, and three guardians died that night, including one Huaxia Ghost Officer.

Finally, the Huaxia Ghost Officer Shi Liang managed to slay it.

"Go handle the other ghosts," Su Ze said gravely.

Shen Qingsheng didn't hesitate, immediately rushing toward the street where other ghosts were present.

The ghosts didn't appear in hundreds or thousands like zombies.

Su Ze and his partner had actually managed to keep their numbers controlled to below twenty or thirty, and they were all at the Firefly Realm level. If any Candle Realm ghosts emerged, Su Ze and his partner would quickly team up to eliminate them.

Whenever the number of ghosts exceeded forty, Su Ze would go all out, launching into a frenzied killing spree.