Chapter 218: Panic and the Bureau's Underground Deep Layer

Wu Chang looked at the darkness that had suddenly blocked his vision. Darkness was a type of magic, belonging to the occult framework, and under the effect of his Law-Breaking Eyes, he quickly saw through the darkness's true form.

Blocking his view was a palm-wide black cloud, small in area, yet enough to obstruct his sight.

Simple, practical, low cost—if converted into a skill, it would be at least a D-rank skill.

More importantly, this black cloud had some special energy added to it, allowing it to bypass attribute checks to a certain extent and take effect directly.

This energy, Wu Chang happened to be able to see through as well.

It was the power of emotion, and that emotion was panic.

Wu Chang had only seen emotion converted into power on Lehmann and in Quiet Town—was the one who acted a follower of Lehmann?

When he used his Law-Breaking Eyes to see through the black cloud, the cloud could no longer block his vision, and he could now see the scene inside the bank clearly.

Every bank employee, security guard, and customer handling business had a black cloud shrouding their eyes.

Affected by the emotion within the black clouds, each of them fell into panic. Without needing ropes or zip ties, everyone curled up on the ground, shivering uncontrollably, utterly unable to muster any will to resist.

Wu Chang noticed that these people had not been harmed, and their belongings had not been lost either; an old lady was wearing a conspicuous gold necklace around her neck, still perfectly in place.

The controlled tellers behind the counter had not been coerced either, nor did they take out cash and put it into a travel bag the robber had prepared, like in the movies.

Clearly, the one who acted was not after money.

If not after money in a bank, then what did he want?

"Can't you understand? Get down and cover your head!" The speaker's emotions were very unstable, and he shouted again loudly.

Wu Chang pursed his lips. He could sense that the guy behind him was not a player, but a wild supernatural.

Because the other party was very weak—apart from the supernatural ability to block vision, his physical fitness was no different from an ordinary person's, and what he held in his hand was just an ordinary handgun, from which Wu Chang could sense no energy at all.

That little toy alone couldn't hurt him.

Ling Fox's voice came through Wu Chang's earpiece, asking if he had run into danger.

"Don't move yet." Wu Chang told Ling Fox in a low voice, ordering Ling Fox to stay put.

The guy behind him was strange; he'd see what was going on first.

The wild supernatural thought Wu Chang was talking about him, tightened his grip on the gun, and shouted: "What did you say!"

Wu Chang said: "I said I'll cover my head and squat right now, please don't hurt me."

As he spoke, Wu Chang jogged to a corner and squatted down, watching the wild supernatural's next performance.

The person sitting on the ground beside him, shivering, was a police officer; the gun in the wild supernatural's hand had likely been taken from this officer.

Wu Chang grabbed the officer's hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Pleased to meet you, have you eaten?"

Taking advantage of the handshake, Wu Chang channeled a wisp of thunder spiritual power into the officer's body. The evil-dispelling effect within the thunder spiritual power instantly drove away the panic in the officer's heart and calmed him down.

Then Wu Chang used his Occult Mastery talent, grabbed the black cloud over the officer's eyes with his hand, and shifted it up two centimeters, restoring half of the officer's vision.

Then he placed his left index finger against his lips, making a shushing gesture, signaling the other party not to act rashly.

To ensure the other party's cooperation, he held the officer's hand the entire time; if the officer made any rash move, he would use thunder spiritual power to knock him out.

The officer was, after all, professionally trained; having just broken free from panic, he was able to quickly calm himself down.

He looked at Wu Chang in surprise, with a hundred questions in his belly, but Wu Chang had no intention of answering him.

Wu Chang lowered his finger, dragged the officer behind a seat, took out his phone and switched it to night mode, and typed on it.

"I ask, you answer. If you know, type it; if you don't, shake your head."

The officer cooperatively nodded.

Wu Chang asked the first question. "When did he arrive?"

The officer took the phone and typed in 1:55.

Wu Chang glanced at the time—it was already 2:50 now, meaning the wild supernatural had controlled this bank for nearly an hour without doing anything.

No robbery, no killing.

Did he come specifically to test his abilities?

Wu Chang typed the question, "Do you know what he did?"

The officer shook his head, then typed, "Before you came, I was in a daze, I don't remember what happened."

Wu Chang frowned; the emotional power within the black cloud had affected the hostages' minds.

Sensing he couldn't get any information from the officer, and to prevent the officer from being a liability, he withdrew the thunder spiritual power and pulled the black cloud back down over the officer's eyes.

The black cloud shrouded his vision, and the officer, affected by the emotion, returned to his curled-up, shivering state.

Wu Chang activated Social Anxiety Disorder and Elite Stealth, stood up from the ground, and searched for the wild supernatural's tracks.

He grew more and more curious about what that guy actually wanted to do.

Following the wild supernatural's aura, he came to the second floor of the bank, and saw the wild supernatural in the second-floor hall.

That wild supernatural, at this moment, held a knife in one hand, the other hand stained with fresh blood, and was wantonly smearing his own fresh blood on the walls of the second-floor hall.

What was on the wall could only be called smears.

It was not a painting, nor could any shape or outline be discerned; all that could be seen were chaotic lines of varying thickness, as if a madman were painting the world he saw in his eyes.

Let a baby who just learned to crawl hold a crayon in its hand, then give it a white wall—what it draws might well look better than the pattern before one's eyes.

The wild supernatural's eyes were wide, his spirit exhilarated as he smeared himself with fresh blood; whenever he felt the bloodstains weren't thick enough, he would cut another slash on his palm with the knife.

All the smears on the wall were done with the wild supernatural's own fresh blood.

Wu Chang felt that even if he didn't act, it wouldn't be long before the other party lost too much blood and lost the ability to resist on his own.

The more frantic the wild supernatural became, the more curious Wu Chang was about his actions; he simply moved a chair over and sat down, observing the other party up close.

During the smearing process, the wild supernatural kept watching the nearby surveillance room; every time he noticed someone else coming in, he would use his ability to control them, throw them to the first-floor hall, then come back up to continue smearing.

Every time he controlled a person, Wu Chang could sense the wild supernatural recovering a portion of blood.

Another five or six minutes passed, and the wild supernatural finally stopped.

After finishing the last line, the entire wall of incomprehensible scribbles suddenly generated an inexplicable power, linking together the black clouds over every hostage's eyes in the bank.

A massive aura of panic radiated from the wall scribbles.

The intensity of this emotion was so great that any ordinary person who glanced at it would suffer severe mental trauma and collapse.

Not only ordinary people—even the wild transcendent who created the scribbles himself—his will was rapidly crumbling; the collapse of his will caused his body to visibly turn into a mass of black cloud.

Wu Chang frowned and stood up; he had merely been curious about the wild transcendent's ability and observed further, never expecting this guy could actually pull off something so brutal.

If the wild transcendent fully transformed into black cloud and merged with the wall scribbles, everyone in the entire building, even the whole street, would be affected by this panic force.

At this point, anyone else might not have been able to handle it—but luckily, it was Wu Chang who appeared, and the wild transcendent's ability was tied to mysticism.

Wu Chang rose and walked to the corner of the lobby, picked up the mop stuck in the spin dryer, and swept it across the wall scribbles.

Under the control of mystic power, two streaks of blood were wiped clean by the mop.

The integrity of the wall's contents was broken; its connection to the other black clouds instantly severed, and the wild transcendent's transformation halted.

The wild transcendent stared at the mop fallen beside the wall, frozen in place; in his view, the mop standing not far away suddenly flew up and destroyed his painstaking masterpiece. What happened?

Before the wild transcendent could make sense of it, he saw an elbow hurtling toward him.

"Mang!"

That was the last sound he heard; after that, he lost consciousness.

Wu Chang dragged the unconscious wild transcendent down to the first floor; once he was unconscious, the black clouds over the hostages' eyes vanished, but the lingering panic left them temporarily unable to move.

Wu Chang waved at the Linghu, who was peeking from the doorway, telling her to call for personnel to seal off the second floor and prevent anyone from going up, and to summon an ambulance to transport all the hostages for medical treatment.

Linghu requested nearby reinforcements while staying behind to clean up.

Wu Chang sent photos of the second-floor scribbles, the wild transcendent's appearance, and the first-floor situation to Director Gao, and soon received a message from him: bring the wild transcendent back to the Bureau.

What happened in the bank had exceeded ordinary transcendent crime; even those who couldn't perceive emotional forces could sense that the perpetrator's ability was abnormal.

Once reinforcements arrived, Wu Chang emphasized strongly that everyone must be extremely cautious of the things on the second-floor wall, then returned to the martial arts club with the wild transcendent.

When Wu Chang arrived, he saw Director Gao and Lei Huo already waiting in the lobby, but Meng Yawen was absent.

!

Since Meng Yawen left the Pillar of the Present World with Fang Hui, the two had not returned.

Publicly, Meng Yawen claimed she had taken an extended leave to return home and recuperate; Fang Hui, who had already planned to travel and film videos, had previously applied for off-campus internship and needed no additional leave.

Director Gao, seeing the wild transcendent in Wu Chang's hands, took Wu Chang down to the basement level one and threw the wild transcendent into a special device for preliminary examination.

During the examination, Lei Huo transmitted the information they had gathered to Wu Chang.

The wild transcendent's real name was Xie Wei, forty years old, a native of Wanghai City, holding a master's degree, married, with two children.

Xie Wei graduated from a prestigious university, returned to Wanghai City for employment, and originally worked at a company in Donghu District, earning far above the city's average salary.

But three years ago, due to excessive overtime, his health deteriorated; he underwent a cardiac angiogram and received three stents.

After his body could no longer withstand overtime, he was quickly laid off by the company.

Due to his health, he could no longer handle high-intensity work and turned his attention to small companies.

But the drastic drop in income made it extremely difficult to pay his high mortgage and car loan, while his two children—the eldest at school age, and the younger one, born the same year he was laid off, now at preschool age—were both in expensive stages of life.

The crushing pressure left him gasping, forcing him to work relentlessly.

But misfortune never comes alone; at the end of April, he felt unwell, initially thinking it was his heart, but tests revealed his heart was fine—yet a malignant tumor was found in his liver.

On the day he received the diagnosis, as he walked out of Wanghai City First Hospital in Heping District, he encountered an Erosion instance.

In the Erosion instance, he was among those most severely affected by the Miracle Committee; after the Erosion instance ended, he continued babbling prayers like a madman daily, only barely recovering after nearly half a month in the hospital.

The Bureau covered his hospital treatment costs, but as expected, he lost his job again.

Since then, Xie Wei had become silent and withdrawn, saying not a word even at home, as if he had lost his soul.

Three days ago, the Donghu District Police Department received a report from Xie Wei's wife, claiming that after leaving home during the day, he had not returned; she feared he might harm himself and asked the police to help locate him.

But Donghu District officers searched for two consecutive days and found no trace of Xie Wei.

Unexpectedly, on the third day, Xie Wei appeared at the bank.

Lei Huo, seeing Wu Chang finish reading the file, said: "Based on our speculation, Xie Wei's transcendent ability is likely tied to his experience in the Erosion instance."

"But we cannot rule out that during his three days missing, he encountered other circumstances that awakened his current ability."

Wu Chang looked at the sleeping Xie Wei inside the detection device, feeling a pang of emotion, unsure what to say.

They say a person's collapse only takes one terrible day.

But Xie Wei endured three terrible years—progressively worse, each year worse than the last.

Every family has its hard-to-recite scripture; Xie Wei's must have been split into three volumes: upper, middle, and lower.

Not long after, the detection device produced results.

Xie Wei carried no dangerous energy, no suspicious items; aside from his own ability, there was nothing more dangerous on him.

But one detail in the detection caught their attention: Xie Wei's liver tumor had vanished.

It was unclear whether this was due to the Erosion instance's influence or some other factor.

After confirming Xie Wei's safety, the three of them took him and took the elevator further down.

The Bureau's basement level three connects directly to the Bureau's Red Wave Space, but this time they were heading to basement level five.

Though called basement level five, its actual depth was far deeper; the elevator descended for a long while before slowly stopping.

Upon entering basement level five, Wu Chang saw the space filled with traces of mystical rituals; through his Law-Breaking Eye, he saw the mystical rituals here were designed to suppress the target's energy.

This was high-end stuff; if the ritual setup method were sold, its price would not be lower than an A-class artifact.

He quickly glanced again, using his Law-Breaking Eye to record the key points of the mystical ritual.

Learning it was profit.

After clearly seeing everything, Wu Chang asked: "What is this place?"

Director Gao explained: "As a Wanghai City explorer, you're considered mid-level within the Bureau—you should have had clearance to know this place, but you joined too recently, and we haven't had time to brief you yet."

"The fifth basement level of the Management Bureau is a place specifically for detaining and interrogating extraordinary criminals. It lies deep underground and is the most tightly secured area of the Management Bureau. Every entry requires more than two Explorers to be present at the same time before the deep underground space can be opened."

"After detention and interrogation, sentencing will be carried out according to the prisoner's crimes. The extremely wicked will be executed directly; those whose situations are slightly lighter will be allowed to atone for their crimes by joining high-difficulty dungeon exploration squads for pioneering work; those whose cases are lighter still may take part in less dangerous missions and become special assistants."

Director Gao said this as he opened an empty cell and tossed Xie Wei inside.

"For someone like Xie Wei, who has no record of harming others, didn't have time to create a terrible impact, and isn't bad by nature, we will treat and observe them. If their condition stabilizes, we will allow them to leave and resume a normal life under our surveillance."

"If their talent is outstanding enough, we will also allow them to join the Management Bureau and become one of us."

Director Gao said this and closed the cell door.

"From my personal standpoint, I do quite want to give him a hand, but the prerequisite for everything is to wait until he's sober, clarify the source of his power, and find out what he did during the three days he was missing."

The three of them talked as they returned to the elevator.

Wu Chang noticed that below the button for the fifth basement level, there was another button for the sixth basement level, and took the opportunity to ask:

"Director Gao, what's on the sixth basement level?"

Director Gao said, "The sixth basement level is where special extraordinary items are stored. Once you've seen more in the future, you'll find that there aren't only wild extraordinary people, but also wild extraordinary items. Those things can't be brought into the Abyss Game and can only be stored at the various regional Management Bureaus."

"Besides these special extraordinary items, the signature props of the various regional Management Bureaus are also stored there."

Wu Chang asked, "Can't they be stored in the Red Wave Space?"

Director Gao shook his head:

"Of course they can be stored in the Red Wave Space, but actually storing them in the Red Wave Space isn't very likely."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue. When Director Gao said that sentence, how did the top of his head become pointed?

Director Gao explained, "Those kinds of valuable props are the foundation of each region's income. Other regional branches have to pay to use them. If they were placed in the Red Wave Space, they would definitely be freeloaded on at will by guys with high authority."

Just as the few of them were talking and entering the elevator.

Xie Wei, who had been unconscious in the cell, suddenly opened his eyes.

(End of this chapter)