Chapter 52: Wuming City Alien Life

“Go away!” Yang Yi whispered, her voice hoarse.

Daniel suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if an invisible beast had locked its gaze upon him; he stopped walking and turned toward Yang Yi.

She gripped the windowsill with both hands, her back to him, her slender figure trembling—as if shaken by the night wind outside.

He seemed to smell a heavy stench of blood in the air, but upon closer sniffing, it felt like an illusion.

“Are you alright?” Daniel took another step forward, but an invisible barrier halted him.

“I’m sorry to trouble you, but I… I’m not in good spirits right now… please give me some space alone…” she rasped, as if suppressing something with great effort.

At that moment, Yang Yi’s back seemed to twist into a swirling black hole, spinning, contorting, deforming; Daniel’s hair stood on end, memories of her behavior in Misty Town flashing into his mind—a deep-seated fear drove him to step backward several paces.

He steadied himself and stared again: Yang Yi was still Yang Yi, her back still the same back—as if what he had seen had been nothing but an illusion.

Is this what an S-rank ability looks like? His heart raced with panic; he left, desolate.

After sensing his departure, Yang Yi used the last of her mental energy to drag herself back to her room, threw herself into the bathtub, and turned on the warm water.

Tiny threads of blood seeped from her face and every pore, gradually filling the bathtub…

The bright moon hung high, spilling its pale light through the window, painting the floor in cold, silvery glow.

This night was so long.

#

After returning to Xia Country, Wei Chang’an and Chen Yushu did not go back to the capital; they changed flights directly to Wuming City in Fujian Province, where the alien life crisis was severe and already rated an A-level threat.

Yang Yi needed to deliver the Soul-Parasite infection source to the capital’s Alien Life Research Institute—it was one of only two known new intelligent alien organisms in the world, and no caution could be excessive.

When Yang Yi arrived in Wuming City, Fujian Province, it was already the next morning; to assist the institute’s research on the Soul-Parasite, she had not slept at all.

As soon as she stepped off the plane, she sensed an unusual atmosphere—not because the scenery differed from elsewhere; Xia Country’s major cities all looked nearly identical: towering skyscrapers, bustling streets.

The difference lay in the people: even though it was early June and the weather was scorching, nearly everyone wore thick helmets, completely enclosing their heads.

Their eyes were filled with panic, their expressions haunted by fear and uncertainty, as if some great horror might strike at any second.

The air was taut, stretched like a rubber band pulled to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.

The closer she moved toward the city center, the thicker the tension became; she saw many people laying steel plates over their homes and the ground.

As the car sped closer, Yang Yi’s skin prickled—some unseen gaze seemed to be watching her.

Yet her mental energy swept through the surroundings and found nothing amiss.

She was taken by private vehicle to Wuming City’s temporary base for Awakened Individuals—a chain five-star hotel called Lihao Hotel. She found the name vaguely familiar, as if someone had mentioned it to her recently.

The entire ground floor of Lihao Hotel was covered in steel plates, at least five centimeters thick; though the staff did not wear helmets like the citizens, their expressions were equally anxious and unsettled.

She was led into the reception room, where personnel and equipment were already prepared, waiting for her arrival.

As soon as she entered, every pair of eyes in the reception hall fixed on her; a short-haired man with a military bearing stepped forward and introduced himself: “Hello, Captain Yang, I’m Li Mingliang from the Fujian Jueguan Bureau, B-rank Earth user, currently serving as team leader. These are my team members: Sun Yaxi, B-rank Fire Controller; Li Yang, C-rank Body System Bone Sword; Qian Ming, C-rank Water Controller…”

After mutual introductions, Yang Yi sat down calmly, her expression composed; the researchers began presenting the situation.

“Starting May 26, corpses began appearing around Wuming City—some completely pierced through, others partially pierced—but all had their brain matter completely drained, their faces frozen in expressions of agony and terror.”

Screens displayed photos of the corpses: each appeared to have been impaled from below by steel rebar, a hole drilled through the skull, brain matter entirely gone.

“According to our records, most of these victims disappeared at night. Our surveillance cameras captured some footage—please watch…”

The screen showed nightfall, dim streetlights; a man staggered down an alley, clearly drunk. As he stopped at a corner to urinate, a white tube, as thick as a child’s arm, suddenly shot up from the ground and plunged into the back of his skull. The man screamed, convulsed violently, and collapsed motionless two or three minutes later.

In another clip, again at night, a man and woman walked hand-in-hand down a street, whispering sweet nothings; another white tube erupted from the ground, latching onto the woman’s head. The man panicked but did not flee—he rushed to rescue his girlfriend—only to be pierced directly through the body by the same tube, skewered like a candied hawthorn, the tube then draining their brain matter in sequence before retracting into the ground and vanishing.

Subsequent footage varied in clarity, but most followed this pattern.

Even after people became wary and began wearing thick steel helmets, unless their entire bodies were encased in metal, there were always gaps—these ghostly white tubes always found an opening, drilling into skulls to suck out brain matter.

“The locations of these corpses are inconsistent, and the times of brain-draining overlap; one night, eight separate locations reported corpses simultaneously. Based on the diameter and markings of the wounds on the skulls, we estimate there are at least twenty-three of these creatures.”

“It began with residents from Shangyang Village reporting disappearances; soon after, the nearby Bajiao Industrial Park saw a string of missing persons. To date, Wuming City has recorded 1,065 missing individuals. If there are twenty-three creatures, each has killed an average of forty-six people—six per day.”

“Just last night alone, 142 people died,” said the glasses-wearing researcher, his tone heavy.

“These creatures live underground and possess limited earth-controlling abilities, allowing them to move freely beneath the surface. They only emerge at night—we suspect they fear sunlight.”

“Hasn’t anyone caught one?” Yang Yi asked. “Do you even know what this thing looks like?”

Her tone held no accusation—only pure curiosity.

Yet these two questions caused everyone in the room to exchange uneasy glances, their faces strained; some even looked resentful. Yang Yi’s mental energy caught a muttered whisper: “If we could catch one, why would we have called you…?”

Yang Yi remained impassive, turning to Chen Yushu and Wei Chang’an beside her: “You arrived yesterday. You spent one night here—did you learn anything?”

“Though there appear to be twenty-three of these creatures, they’re scattered across the entire city, and they drain brain matter too quickly to track. By the time we received tips and arrived, we only found corpses,” Wei Chang’an said, knowing Chen Yushu was silent by nature.

“So far, the only person who has seen the true form of these creatures is Team Leader Li.”