Chapter 18: Withdrawal

As the elevator doors slowly opened, the scene on the top floor at that moment appeared before Chen Shoushan and the other's eyes.

Corpses and bloodstains covered the ground; whether on walls or ceiling, there were bullet marks. Before Chen Shoushan and the other could examine closely, they heard a baby's sharp cry, and then, as if some mechanism had been triggered, the cries came one after another, and fist-sized, bluish-black dead infants crawled out from the corpses.

It was obvious that Chen Shoushan and the other, these two uninvited guests, had interrupted the dead infants' feast.

A dead infant lunged first at Chen Shoushan's head; Chen Shoushan did not dodge but threw a fierce punch, simultaneously imbued with the extraordinary ability—Weaken! Under the barbarian's tremendous strength, the fist wearing a black glove slammed hard into the dead infant's face.

In the next instant, the dead infant shattered into a puff of green smoke and vanished into the air. Ye Feng, watching from behind, stared with eyes wide like copper bells, his expression full of shock: "What kind of fighting style is this? It's completely unlike the Ghost Master's style."

There were only about seven or eight dead infants on the top floor, still far fewer than those on the first floor just moments ago.

Chen Shoushan did not leave the elevator; instead, he used the elevator's three-sided surrounding characteristic to make the dead infants all rush straight at him from the front, thereby ensuring his own rear safety.

With giant-like strength, golden gloves, and the extraordinary ability Weaken added, he punched all the dead infants lunging at him into green smoke—none could withstand a single blow.

After the shock, Ye Feng also did not idle; he stood behind Chen Shoushan to prevent any stragglers from entering the elevator, taking advantage of the elevator's terrain, and within just a few minutes the top floor fell silent.

Chen Shoushan stood in place, waiting a while longer until he was sure no stragglers remained, then relaxed, a smile appearing on his face. He discovered that his barbarian's magic potion had been partially digested—though not much, it was indeed digested somewhat.

The core rule of playing the barbarian is: break any rule in the world that does not serve one's own interests; the harder the rule to break, the better the digestion effect.

And the first-stage dead infant kills any living thing it sees—that is its killing pattern. By smashing the dead infants into green smoke, Chen Shoushan, in a sense, also broke the rule.

Ye Feng stared at the uneven fist marks on the elevator floor, one after another, and involuntarily swallowed, thinking, "Is this still human? Could this be a ghost wearing human skin?"

Ye Feng thought that if he were hit by such a punch, his fate would be no better than that of the dead infants turned to green smoke… even the ghost shroud wouldn't protect against physical attack!

"Chen, uh, Chen..."

Ye Feng momentarily didn't know how to address Chen Shoushan properly; he wanted to build a good relationship with him, after all, this is a Ghost Master capable of suppressing the Ghost Master's revival—though it cannot be maintained for long, but at the crucial moment when a fierce ghost revives, doing this would greatly increase the Ghost Master's chances of surviving the revival.

"Just call me by my name is fine!"

Chen Shoushan looked at the suddenly stammering Ye Feng and said with a smile.

"Then you can just call me Ye Feng directly."

Ye Feng also hurriedly laughed.

Chen Shoushan walked out of the elevator, frowning at the blood-soaked ground littered with corpses; some corpses had their bellies ripped open, others did not. Obviously, those with opened bellies were the dead infants' previous hosts, while those without were those killed by the dead infants.

Why would the dead infant gestate in this part of the police officer's belly? Clearly all the police officers came together; why choose this part?

Chen Shoushan had to consider this question, because he is not a true Ghost Master; even though he can lift a car, he is still at the stage of an ordinary human, meaning the dead infant could also gestate inside his body!

But the current information is too scarce; Chen Shoushan cannot figure out the pattern at all. This minor matter, barely described in the original work, has become Chen Shoushan's most troubling problem right now.

"Let's go find Wang Xiaoqiang and the others first!".

Seeing that there were really no clues, Chen Shoushan had no choice but to give up, deciding first to meet up with Wang Xiaoqiang and the others.

After contacting Wang Xiaoqiang and the others via walkie-talkie and learning they were on the nineteenth floor, Chen Shoushan and Ye Feng immediately took the elevator over.

Seeing Chen Shoushan and Ye Feng, Wang Xiaoqiang also breathed a sigh of relief; he truly had little combat ability, otherwise he wouldn't have been scared into running around by a few dead infants.

"Are you all right?"

Wang Xiaoqiang asked.

Ye Feng, a bit annoyed, said: "If there were something wrong, could I still be standing in front of you?"

Since becoming a Ghost Master, the time he has spent using supernatural powers today is longer than all previous times combined—how could this not make him happy!

Wang Xiaoqiang ignored Ye Feng's words, instead handing over his own satellite phone to Chen Shoushan: "My older brother says he has something to tell you!"

The satellite phone was originally equipment exclusive to the headquarters' person-in-charge, but it so happens that Wang Xiaoqiang's older brother is Wang Xiaoming!

From the other end of the phone came Wang Xiaoming's voice: "Chen Shoushan? How's the situation on your end?"

"I'm afraid not well; just now Ye Feng told me he saw Li Li's corpse, I'm afraid the Ghost Master squad on the west side is likely to suffer heavy losses."

"Indeed so; when I just received the call, I wanted to dispatch Zhao Kaiming's squad to support you, but they lost contact, and moreover, some of the police officers were also attacked by the dead infants."

Wang Xiaoming did not ask why Chen Shoushan and the others, who should have been patrolling the northern city, ended up in the western city; presumably Wang Xiaoqiang had already told Wang Xiaoming the whole story.

Wang Xiaoming continued: "Wang Xiaoqiang has already described the situation to me; I suspect the Starving Ghost is in the western city, which is why the dead infants there emerged so quickly, making the situation different from the hospital's side—you should withdraw first."

Chen Shoushan and the others also did not hesitate, leading the remaining police officers to withdraw from the Shangtong Building, returning along the way they came.

…………….

Outside Dachangshi at this moment

Military tents were pitched all over an open field, and a meeting was being held in a tent in the middle.

"What? Dachangshi has completely lost contact?"

Zhao Jianguo roared angrily.

"Yes, we suspect it's related to the complete formation of the Ghost Realm; according to Professor Wang's last call, this supernatural event code-named Starving Ghost has extremely rapid growth capability, and it is confirmed to be China's first S-rank supernatural event."

A staff officer spoke up, forcing himself.

"How many available persons-in-charge do we have left here? Can they enter Dachangshi?"

Zhao Jianguo asked with a dark face.

"Currently there are about eight people, but aside from Ghost Fire Li Jun, the others have no Ghost Realm, and the police officer Li Jun tried to force entry but failed."

Someone below answered.

……

(End of chapter)