"With Tie Lan here, not a single one of these Blue-Faced Ghosts will escape," the old officer seemed quite confident in Tie Lan.
"Is that really the case?" A soldier next to him asked with some doubt. "But I heard from a guy in the Security Corps that while Lord Tie is strong, once the fight gets intense, he tends to make mistakes."
"Damn it, don't start jinxing us now!" The old officer's eyes bulged in anger, and with a swift, powerful chop, he struck the soldier's head without hesitation.
Just then, a blood-soaked soldier rushed over, panting heavily as he reported, "Officer Chen, bad news! A Blue-Faced Ghost has escaped in the direction of Dawn Street."
"Damn it," Officer Chen's face turned red with fury as veins bulged on his forehead. "That flag came up a little too quickly, huh? Where's Tie Lan?"
"Lord Tie Lan has already gone after it."
"How did the Blue-Faced Ghost manage to escape?" Officer Chen, not willing to give up, asked with a tinge of disbelief.
He needed to know the truth of the situation. As a seasoned mage, there was no way Tie Lan should have missed any of the Blue-Faced Ghosts, under normal circumstances.
"Uh…" The soldier hesitated, clearly unsure of how to phrase his answer, as if carefully considering his words. "Lord Tie Lan was having such a great time fighting that he… he… he…"
"Spit it out already! What happened?" Officer Chen demanded, his frustration growing.
The soldier, now realizing the officer was about to lose his temper, quickly responded, "That Blue-Faced Ghost that escaped… Lord Tie Lan used it as a projectile and threw it at another Blue-Faced Ghost."
"Don't tell me that the one that escaped got away because he missed!" Officer Chen laughed, almost in disbelief.
"Uh… Lord Tie Lan… he didn't…" The soldier trailed off, unable to speak further.
Officer Chen was stunned, standing frozen as if a statue made of gray stone. He couldn't process the information, and for a moment, he even demonstrated how humans can turn to stone in a state of confusion.
Before he "turned to stone," his mind kept replaying the words earlier: Tie Lan is strong, but once the battle gets intense, he tends to make mistakes; strong, but tends to make mistakes when things get heated; makes mistakes; mistakes; mistakes.
It was true—never tempt fate was a wise saying. The ancients were right.
"Officer, what happened?" The soldier who had reported the news stared in confusion at the lifelike stone statue in front of him.
"Don't worry, this is Officer Chen's ability. When he's mentally overwhelmed, he can petrify himself to block out all external dangers," the soldier who had made the comment about jinxing the situation said casually, speaking as if he had experienced this before. "Just leave him be. He'll recover in ten minutes."
"I didn't know Officer Chen was an Awakener. What use is this ability?" The soldier who had delivered the news now looked at the petrified officer with respect.
"Doesn't matter. It's just a turtle shell," the other soldier replied.
"Ha?" The soldier was completely baffled. There's such a weird ability?
...
It was now approaching midnight, and the streets were naturally devoid of people.
Ye Yun hummed a tune, a happy smile on his face as he walked home. He hadn't expected such a good haul tonight—not only had he earned a ton of evolution points, but his work efficiency had also improved. It really was a double win!
He was now approaching Dawn Street, just a few hundred meters away from home. He thought to himself, I'll take a nice long bath when I get home. My clothes stink of sweat.
Having spent so much time in that closed-off space, it was inevitable that he'd carry the pungent scent of blood with him—that was the smell of Karlos.
"Creak, creak!"
Suddenly, an eerie sound echoed through the air.
"What was that?"
Ye Yun's face tightened as he looked around for the source of the noise. He spotted a small black cat, nimbly landing on a nearby trash can, seemingly searching for food. The creaking sound had come from the cat stepping on the metal lid of the can.
"Pfft, I was getting worked up for nothing. It's just a stray cat!" Ye Yun relaxed, inwardly laughing at how jumpy he had become.
But what happened next nearly made him question whether he had crossed into another world.
A creature with a blue-faced ghost-like appearance but resembling a praying mantis suddenly dropped from the sky. Like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, it devoured the cat with one swift motion. Bright red blood poured from its mouth, dripping slowly onto the ground, staining it crimson.
"Thud."
In the stillness of the night, Ye Yun's swallowing sound was unbearably loud.