The alley was between a few residential buildings. The alley was originally lit by street lamps. However, a few of the lamps had recently blown, and the municipal department had yet to get around fixing them. Looking down the alley, some sections were lit and some were pitch-black, especially in the dead of night. The dark alley twisted and turned. It was not too friendly to maneuver through it for pedestrians returning late at night passing through the two neighborhoods.
An orange taxi stopped at the alley. The doors of the taxi opened, and two women got out. They were wearing black miniskirts and high heels. They had heavy makeup, and the scent of alcohol was lingering on them.
The two women were not very young. They were at the tail end of their youth. The two of them looked as though they had the special aura of people who mingled and partied in the night scene all year long. Such an aura was difficult to describe in detail. Women who were tainted with such an aura were like fresh flowers tainted by oil. Those who knew what they were looking at could tell them apart at a glance.
The uncle who was driving the taxi collected his payment and whistled at the two women. His eyes glanced over at their swaying hips before he stepped on the accelerator. He seemed reluctant to leave.
There was still light in the alley. On the ground, there were a few piles of burned paper money. The two women carefully avoided the burned paper money and walked towards the alley somewhat trembling in fear.
A cold gust of wind blew from the alley and sent the ashes of the burned paper money flying into the air. The dark alley suddenly felt sinister.
The sound of their heels hitting the ground reverberated in the alley. The clicking sounds of their heels hitting the ground sounded like the hooves of two terrified fawns. The street lamps drew long shadows behind them. Some puddles on the ground distorted their shadows.
"May, we should probably find another place to stay," one of the women said as her teeth were chattering. She tightly grabbed the other woman's arm as she said, "I am scared of having to walk past this alley every night when we come home."
"Lily, what is there to be scared of?" May retorted as she pretended to be calm. "Last time, we just happened to come across a thug. That thug only dared to fondle and tease us. We won't get hurt. Moreover, the rent here is cheap, and it is near our workplace. It is really difficult to find a place that is so cheap and so convenient."
Lily looked towards the pitch black alley worriedly. She said, "Do you think the thug is in the alley tonight?"
"Regardless of whether he is there, a thug like him only dares to threaten people with a knife. He wouldn't dare to do more."
The two women walked down the alley, but they did not notice that their shadows behind them were shifting strangely. Their shadows were out of sync with their steps. It seemed as though something was about to crawl out from their shadows.
They quickened their steps past a dark area that was 20 meters long and came to another place lit by a lamp. Against the street lamp in the alley, there was a silhouette wearing a blue sweater. The silhouette's back was towards them as it leaned against the street lamp.
The figure wore a hood over his head. However, the sweater was very familiar, so was the silhouette. It was the thug who had a dagger and fondled the girls in the alley. He seemed to be waiting for them.
The two women glanced at each other. Their footsteps did not stop as they walked straight towards him.
"I say, aren't you boring? It's the middle of the night, and you actually think that the two of us are such pushovers. Brother Xiong has our backs. If you step out of line again, even if I don't ask Brother Xiong to deal with you, I will at least call the cops. If you wish to have your way with women, go to the nightclubs. As long as you have money, there are all sorts of women for your choosing. What is the meaning of this? Do you wish to f*ck for free?" May was somewhat daring as she went up to scold him. She even pushed the thug's shoulder forcefully.
The thug fell over onto the ground. His face was pale, his eyes were full of terror, and his skin was as dry as tree bark as his head rolled out from his hood. It rolled about on the ground for a few meters.
From the clothes of the headless corpse that fell over, countless rats and cockroaches emerged from the bloody holes in the thug's neck and chest, scurrying about in the alley.
From the mouth, ears, and nose of the head that had fallen on the ground, green snakes slithered out.
Such a scene caused the two women to scream in fright. Their legs went limp, and they instantly fell on the ground that was still covered in black puddles. They fainted from shock.
As the women fainted, their shadows did not fall over. Instead, they expanded and squirmed. The shadows shifted and became a translucent human form. Its eyes were blood red. It opened its bloody, gaping mouth which split apart from its face to the back of its head as it closed its jaws down on May.
"Brute!" Tu Polu shouted with an angry roar as he descended from the sky. A faint golden light flashed over the blade of the machete that was like a fodder chopper in his hand.
The machete cleaved the monster that had emerged from the women's shadows in two from head to toe as Tu Polu descended from above.
The human figure that had been cleaved in two by Tu Polu sizzled and emitted burned black smoke. Its body turned to dust, and a dark red smoke emerged from the figure. It immediately passed through the walls to the side and burrowed towards the sewers nearby.
Just as the black smoke was trying to hide into the sewers, Fang Lingshan's cold and clear voice uttered, "Fire."
A fireball suddenly flew out from the entrance to the sewer. It directly struck and surrounded the black smoke, burning intensely.
An ear-piercing, high-frequency scream came from the smoke. The few lights that lit up the alley were shattered by the scream. Countless shards of glass fell to the ground like snowflakes.
The alley became completely dark.
Only the mass of bright flame was still intensely burning. In the blink of an eye, the mass of black smoke had withered down and completely dissipated. Nothing was left behind at the scene.
Only then did Fang Lingshan's figure leap down from the rooftop. With a gentle tap of the wall and as light as the night, she landed steadily in the alley.
In the alley, the two women had completely fainted by then and were lying on the ground.
Aside from that, no corpse was found in the alley. It was completely empty below the street lamp nearby. The thug was not there, as well as rats, snakes, or cockroaches.
"The main body of the illusory demonic spirit has already been eliminated," Fang Lingshan reported as she swept a glance down the alley. "There are no more demonic spirits in the area."
"Thankfully, we arrived in time. Otherwise, these two women would be dried corpses by now. God knows what they saw after being put into an illusion. They were actually so badly frightened," Tu Polu said seriously.
Tu Polu appeared like a tough guy, but he was very heedful at this moment. When he saw that the two women were lying in a puddle of slops, he shook his head and lifted them up from the ground, one in each hand. He placed them against the wall under the street lamp.
Fang Lingshan walked over. She took out a bizarre-looking syringe from her pocket, kneeled down, and swiftly injected both women, each with a dose of pale green drug.
The two women initially looked very frightened, but after being injected, they gradually calmed down. A moment later, they were sound asleep while leaning against the wall of the alley.
The drug that Fang Lingshan administered to them was a special kind of tranquilizer. After one was injected with it, they would fall into a deep sleep. When they woke up, they would not remember what happened before.
If ordinary people were not injected with this kind of drug, they would most likely go crazy after experiencing such a terrifying incident. It was common for them to be scared and turn lunatic.
Tu Polu took out his phone and informed the police to send the victims to the hospital.
Before the police arrived, Mo Yanshao and An Qing, who received the news, rushed over. Cao Xinghua and Li Yunzhou also met up with them.
Li Yunzhou was cursing. He was drenched, as though he just came out from the water.
Mo Yanshao's brows were tightly knitted together after he heard Tu Polu and Fang Lingshan telling them what had happened.
Mo Yanshao told them, "It has been more than two years since any illusory demonic spirit last appeared in Xianghe City. Therefore, this illusory monster was definitely smuggled into the city by a host recently. Based on the timeline, this host is highly likely the member of the Devil's Eye that committed the murder in the Lyra Shopping Complex incident. This member of the Devil's Eye is still in Xianghe City and has not left. Moreover, he is in the area within 10 kilometers from here."
Mo Yanshao scanned the surroundings. However, towering buildings packed the area within 10 kilometers from where they were at, encompassing the entire downtown area. There were countless hotels and neighborhoods. It was way too difficult to identify the criminal who was a stranger in this area. Mo Yanshao couldn't do it with his current level of clairvoyance.
"This illusory demonic spirit had a body of its own," An Qing said softly. "Thus, the member of the Devil's Eye might be a host for more than one demonic spirit."
"Based on what happened tonight, was that host testing whether we were igniting the light? It seems like he is in it for a long haul with us," Li Yunzhou said as he rubbed his nose.
"As long as the person still stays in Xianghe City, we need to ferret him out. I want to see for myself how many demonic spirits he has with him." Mo Yanshao's gaze turned cold.
...
A moment later, two police cars arrived outside the alley. A few police officers came into the alley with torchlights and discovered the two women who were asleep. The police immediately contacted the ambulance.
The three heartlights, which had been ignited, were still burning. They were at three corners of the city, protecting Xianghe City quietly at night.
…
Five meters away from the alley where the incident took place, in a standard room on the 37th floor of a hotel, a fat man was sitting by the window. He was in his 40s and was slightly bald. He looked nothing out of the ordinary. With a glass of wine in his hand, he narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction where the incident occurred.
The fatty looked like an ordinary salesman who was in Xianghe City for a business trip. He seemed like he had been out all day. The first few buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned, and his tie was loosened, hanging casually on his neck.
Only a desk lamp was turned on in the room.
The shadow of the fatty twisted and warped on the floor carpet.
"Stop it," the fatty muttered. The distorting shadow quieted down.
Then, a bizarre smile appeared on the fatty's face. He whispered, "The Lighters from the National Order Council. It's great that they're on the move. They should be more active. The Divine Advent is coming soon."
The next morning, the fatty checked out of the hotel. Then, he drove an unremarkably old truck and left Xianghe City unnoticed.