"Ding!" As soon as Lin Feng got home, his WeChat notification sounded.
He received a photo from Qianqian.
It was the one that Ren Yu had just taken.
"Brother, how does this photo look?" Qianqian asked, holding up her phone.
Lin Feng took a careful look. He had to admit, it turned out quite well.
Qianqian's height matched well with Lin Feng's.
They hadn't taken many photos together before, and this angle was quite good.
He noticed that most other people's WeChat profile pictures were family photos.
His was still the default chrysanthemum icon, so he went ahead and changed it, uploading this new photo directly.
After putting away his things, he went to busy himself in the kitchen.
He had specially bought a large fish head today, planning to make a soup to nourish Qianqian's brain.
With just over a month left at this crucial time, proper nutrition was essential.
He really did worry a lot about this little sister of his!
...
Ancient Creek Village, Yangliu County, Jiangnan City
This was a particularly remote small village.
Most young people had gone to work in the cities, leaving only a few dozen elderly residents to watch over the village.
They also kept quite a few domestic animals.
Though there weren't many people, there was still a sense of life.
But overnight, this village suddenly became like a wasteland.
The entire village was empty of people, and even the penned animals had mysteriously disappeared.
After receiving reports from out-of-town relatives, the Patrol Bureau collected surveillance footage from various locations.
But they found no clues, and finally classified the incident as supernatural activity.
They had no choice but to request assistance from the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, as only they could deal with ghosts.
Ordinary people were truly helpless.
...
"Brother Lin, have you discovered anything?" asked a woman with a somewhat pure and cute appearance.
They had been dispatched by their superiors to come here and investigate the cause.
The man was named Lin Yuan, with awakened B-grade lightning power.
The woman was called Ding Yao, with awakened B-grade heavy water power.
The two had been together for many years, both as partners and as a couple.
Working together, they were not inferior to the average A-grade ability user.
"The spirit-detecting glasses haven't picked up anything, but I can sense residual ghost energy," Lin Yuan said with a grave expression.
This was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre incident, with no clues left behind.
What on earth could have done this?
The area around the village had already been sealed off by the Patrol Bureau. Until the truth was uncovered, no one else was allowed in or out.
"Let's wait and see what happens at night," Lin Yuan said after thinking for a long while.
"The Yin energy will be stronger at night. We might discover something then."
"Alright," Ding Yao said, seeing how serious Lin Yuan was. She also realized this ghost was no ordinary one.
The two found a spot with an excellent view.
Ding Yao took out a talisman and gently placed it on the ground.
Instantly, a red circle of magical script formed around where they were standing.
With this circle in place, they could temporarily conceal themselves from ghosts.
"I have to say, those talismans made by the Cultivators are quite useful," Ding Yao said with a light laugh.
"Naturally. They specialize in crafting talismans. Their techniques for flying through the sky and burrowing into the earth are not inferior to ours," Lin Yuan said, looking at Ding Yao.
There were quite a few Cultivators in the Paranormal Affairs Bureau. When they went out on missions, the bureau would also issue some special talismans.
These talismans were special in that they didn't require spiritual power to activate, only having simple passive effects.
But for carrying out their missions, this was already sufficient.
After all, the Cultivators wouldn't hand over their higher-grade talismans.
There had always been competition between the two groups, and the bureau was constantly mediating.
Night fell.
An eerie wind blew through the ancient village, occasionally rattling doors and windows.
Lin Yuan and Ding Yao wore grave expressions as their spirit-detecting glasses indicated continuous fluctuations of special energy.
Tick tock tick tock
As midnight approached
Ding Yao was shocked to see a terrifying monster crawl out of the old well they had investigated many times before.
The monster was about ten feet tall, with a horrifically rotted head and tiny maggots crawling all over its body.
There was a large hole in its abdomen, with a lot of red matter oozing out.
It was a ghastly sight.
"Strange, this monster is only showing as C-grade, but why do I feel so uneasy?" Ding Yao wondered, perplexed.
Suddenly, a wild rabbit appeared out of nowhere, coincidentally running towards the old well.
The rabbit naturally couldn't sense the monster's aura.
The instant it got close to the monster,
A red tentacle suddenly extended from the monster's abdomen, pulling the rabbit straight in.
"Glug glug" It was digested in an instant.
"This monster is different from any we've seen before. Has a new type appeared?" Lin Yuan thought to himself.
However, lightning had already begun to flicker in his hand as he saw the monster slowly walking in their direction.
It seemed somewhat slow and hadn't discovered the two of them yet.
"Should we attack, Brother Lin?" Ding Yao had also begun to condense a circle of heavy water.
"Be careful, I don't think it's that simple," Lin Yuan's expression grew even more serious.
He felt like they were overlooking something.
The monster seemed about to pass through where they were positioned. Though slow, the distance was steadily shrinking.
"Attack," Ding Yao said. The monster was already so close, better to take it out first.
Just as she was about to release the heavy water in her hand, several tentacles suddenly extended from the monster's abdomen, lashing out at them.
"Lightning Slash!" Lin Yuan's hand moved quickly. His years with Ding Yao hadn't been wasted.
The lightning in his hand directly severed the tentacles.
"Heavy Water Prison"
The heavy water in Ding Yao's hand formed a circle, directly trapping the monster within.
The monster continued to howl, with tentacles about to extend from its abdomen, but they were all blocked by the water prison.
Lin Yuan's lightning formed into a sword,
"Lightning Cleave!"
He slashed directly through the heavy water prison.
The monster was brutally cut in half.
"Is it dead?" Ding Yao saw the two halves of the body collapse to the ground.
Just as she was about to relax,
"No, don't let your guard down!"
Lin Yuan saw that the monster's bisected body was continuously wriggling.
Then it began to reform, actually turning into two identical monsters!
"Lightning Cleave!"
Lin Yuan slashed again.
...
How could this be!
Under continuous slashing attacks, the monster seemed to split like a cell division.
The more they killed, the more there were.
And they were getting stronger!
"Brother Lin, the Heavy Water Prison can't hold much longer!"
"Devour!"
After splitting, the numerous monsters began to devour each other.
"How is this possible?"
Both of their faces showed shock as the monster's energy increased after devouring!
It was now approaching B-grade.
This was the first time the two had encountered such a ghost, one that would continuously split when killed.
After splitting, it could even re-devour itself to evolve.
This situation had never been recorded in their database!
...
On another hillside.
Lin Feng stood atop a giant ancient tree, intently watching this scene unfold.
He had just completed a ghost-catching mission assigned by the System in the suburbs, eliminating an old village corpse.
When he stopped here, he saw the fierce battle between the man and woman.
"Host, aren't you going to help them?" the System suddenly asked.
"You think I can handle this?
This thing that keeps dividing and devouring itself completely violates the law of conservation of energy," Lin Feng said.
He was very self-aware and just wanted to see what methods this monster had.
In case he suddenly encountered something similar in the future, he'd have some idea how to deal with it.
As for swooping in to save the day?
He had no such intention at the moment.
The two people in the fight didn't seem like they'd die so easily anyway.
Just as he was preparing to leave
"Hm?"
Lin Feng, standing in the tree, saw a man wearing red cloud-patterned clothes not far away.
Wearing a bamboo hat, he was gazing at the fiercely battling man and woman from a distance.
Lin Feng had a feeling and used Detect on him.
"Ability: Eye Power SS Supreme Grade???
How can it be so strong?" Lin Feng was somewhat shocked.
This was the first time he had seen someone with SS-grade power!
"Ding! For watching an exquisite battle, you are awarded one Mysterious Draw!"
"System, who did you learn this from? Giving out big prizes for watching videos?"