Chapter 201: Excuse Me

Jiang Yuan stepped out of Saint John Hospital's gate.

Buzz.

The iron gate behind him closed silently, completely sealing off that twisted, mad, rule‑filled Weird Domain.

Outside the gate, it was still Chicago.

Or rather, Chicago's wasteland.

The sky was a Weird lead‑gray, heavy radiation dust clouds obscuring the sun, casting the whole world in an eternal dusk.

The air reeked of burnt char, mixed with metallic rust, and a faint whiff of decay.

All that could be seen were ruins and broken walls.

The skyscrapers that once symbolized human civilization and prosperity now stood only as black, twisted skeletons, silently stabbing into the sky like rows of mute tombstones.

Jiang Yuan stood still, quietly feeling it all.

Unlike the cold, ever‑watchful, rule‑bound gloom inside the hospital, this wasteland, though desolate, possessed a… free deathly silence.

He lowered his head and looked at his own hands.

His skin remained its original color, but Jiang Yuan could clearly feel that beneath it no longer flowed warm blood.

In strict terms he was already dead; had he not been using the power of a Shadow Ghost to command his body, he would now be just a corpse.

His shadow was no longer a mere optical phenomenon.

It lingered beneath his feet, obedient yet brimming with destructive power.

Just a single thought from him—

—and this shadow could become the most terrifying weapon, devouring everything.

"Is this… the Weird world?"

Jiang Yuan whispered to himself.

Not parasitism, not Symbiosis.

But total consumption and domination.

He forced his will to seize the Weird power, turning it into a part of his own body.

But he does not regret it.

Because he still remembers who he is.

He is an agent of the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau, Jiang Yuan.

That's enough.

Jiang Yuan checked his bearings, lifted his foot, and headed toward Chicago's fringe.

He must leave quickly, rendezvous with Wang Dui and the others, and report the Intelligence from the hospital and his own Mutation to headquarters.

Rustle...

A sour‑tingling scraping sound came from the ruins of a collapsed building beside him.

Jiang Yuan halted, turned his head to look.

He saw a Spider Humanoid slowly crawling out of the shadows.

Its mouth opened and closed, oozing foul, fishy slime that dripped onto the ground, corroding into sizzling white smoke.

Its eyes locked onto Jiang Yuan, the sole living thing.

Spider Humanoid.

A monster that once required special‑tactics squads equipped with custom silver bullets to barely handle.

Jiang Yuan stared at it, his gaze showing no ripple.

Just as the Spider Humanoid's hind limbs powered up, ready to lunge like a black lightning.

Jiang Yuan was already a short distance behind it and said, "Excuse me."

Puff.

A faint, muffled pop as if a balloon had been punctured.

The imposing Spider Humanoid, mid‑leap, suddenly froze.

The next second.

Its massive body, like a weathered sand sculpture, shattered and disintegrated silently from within, turning into black dust that drifted away with the wind.

Not even a drop of blood remained.

Instant kill.

Not even Jiang Yuan's coat hem was touched.

Jiang Yuan kept moving, as if he had merely crushed a passing ant.

But his "living" aura in this dead city was far too conspicuous.

Like a torch in the night.

Rustle rustle rustle rustle rust—

From all directions, more scraping sounds rose.

One.

Two.

Ten.

Hundreds!

From collapsed building ruins, from deep subway entrances, from abandoned vehicle wreckage...

Countless Spider Humanoids emerged from every corner of the city.

They gathered into black streams, then swiftly merged into a black tide that surged madly toward Jiang Yuan, the focal point.

The ground began to tremble slightly.

In the air, the fetid, rotting stench was so intense it seemed almost solid.

Looking out.

On the streets and between the buildings, everything within sight was that kind of grotesque, terrifying monster.

Dense and countless, under the dim sky they merged into a sea of despair.

This is a natural disaster.

It could devour any flesh-and-blood body in an instant, leaving no residue.

Jiang Yuan finally halted.

He stood in the middle of the street, watching the wave of monsters surging from all directions like a landslide and tsunami, his expression remaining calm.

He slowly raised one hand.

"Isn't it just because they rely on sheer numbers?"

He said softly.

The next instant.

Centered on his body, the Shadow beneath his feet boiled up violently!

Like cold water poured into hot oil, the darkness expanded and spread wildly, instantly turning the surrounding several hundred meters into a pure, pitch‑black domain where one could not see a hand.

"Stand up."

A king‑like command echoed within the domain.

On the ground, within that ink‑black sea of shadow.

Individual outlines began to appear.

Pure‑dark, variably shaped Shadow creatures rose slowly from the darkness!

Some retained humanoid forms, others twisted into bizarre shapes.

Their only commonality was that the hollow sockets of their eyes burned with a cold black flame sharing Jiang Yuan's origin!

At the forefront stood the terrifying figure, three meters tall, wielding a massive axe.

The Butcher!

A massive, silent Shadow legion born solely for slaughter assembled within a few seconds!

"Go."

Jiang Yuan uttered a word.

Boom!

The Shadow legion brazenly collided with the black monster wave!

It was a raw, savage blood‑and‑flesh mill with no tactics at all.

Shadow minions tore frantically at the Spider Humanoid's carapace and flesh.

The Spider Humanoids pierced the Shadow minions' bodies with their sharp limbs.

But the difference is.

When a Shadow minion is shredded, it turns into a wisp of black smoke, returns to Jiang Yuan's Shadow, coalesces briefly, and can reenter the battle.

When those Spider Humanoids are killed, their corpses are swiftly corroded and assimilated by shadow energy!

Then…

After a weird writhing, they staggered to their feet, black flames igniting in their eye sockets, turned, and lunged at their former kind!

One perishes, the other grows!

The battle, from the beginning, became a one‑sided slaughter and transformation!

Jiang Yuan's Shadow legion, in this war, was not depleted; instead it grew larger and larger like a rolling snowball!

The outcome had long been decided.

Meanwhile.

Outside the Chicago quarantine zone, NAU's hastily erected supreme defensive line.

Harsh alarm sounds rang throughout the steel fortifications built from containers and high‑strength alloy.

Countless soldiers, guns loaded, ran anxiously along the line, hauling crates of specially made ammunition that glimmered silver to each firing point.

Dozens of heavy armored vehicles equipped with electromagnetic railguns stood ready, their barrels aligned toward the dead, barren wasteland ahead.

The atmosphere was oppressively tense.

Every soldier's face bore solemn resolve.

"God... did you see the satellite images? What the hell is that?" a young soldier clutched his rifle, his palms slick with cold sweat.

"Shut up! Are you trying to shake morale?" the veteran beside him whispered harshly, but his trembling mouth corner also revealed his fear, "Our mission is to hold it here! With everything we have!"

At the center of the line, in the temporary command post.

Mi Lei, the liaison who had once received Wang Zhangzhi's party, stared intently at the massive electronic screen before him.

On the screen was the real‑time footage transmitted by drones from high altitude.

At the center of the image, a tiny black dot moved slowly.

Behind him, the once‑vast sea of black monsters had vanished.

In its place was a dead silence.

It was as if all the monsters had been devoured by that single black dot.

"Thermal signal response has vanished... all Spider Humanoid activity in Chicago's Core has disappeared..." a technical officer reported in a tone as if seeing a ghost.

"Target... the target is moving toward our A-3 Defense Line! Estimated contact time, seven minutes!"

Mi Lei's forehead bulged with blue veins.

He snatched the Communicator in one hand, and his voice grew hoarse from the exertion.

"All units, attention!"

"This is not a drill!"

"What we face is an unknown entity capable of single‑handedly wiping out the entire Chicago Monster Nest...!"

"I don't care what it is! Devil or Satan!"

"Before the Federation Investigation Bureau's support arrives, even if we fill the entire defensive line, you must still hold it back for me!"

"All heavy fire, fire at will! Repeat, fire at will!"

"For the families behind us!"

Mi Lei's roar, broadcast over the speakers, swept across the entire defensive line.

Every soldier's gaze turned fierce and fearless.

They gripped their weapons tightly, aiming at the black spot growing nearer in the distance.

Six minutes.

Five minutes.

The black spot gradually took on a human silhouette.

Mi Lei raised the highest‑magnification military telescope, locking onto that figure with unwavering focus.

His body couldn't help but tremble, cold sweat streaming down his cheeks.

The camera zooms in.

A young figure clad in a tattered Patient Gown appeared in view.

He walked step by step, neither hurried nor slow, toward the defensive line.

His stride was steady, his face showed no expression, and his black eyes were as calm as a deep pool.

The moment Mi Lei saw that face clearly.

His entire motion froze.

The hand poised to issue the final assault order hung stiffly in midair.

The telescope slipped from his powerless hand and crashed to the ground.

"General? What's wrong, General?!"

The Adjunct Officer beside him urged anxiously, "Give the order! A little closer and we'll be within its attack range!"

Mi Lei gave no reply.

He simply stared rigidly at the approaching figure, his lips trembling as if he had exhausted all his strength before forcing a name out of his throat.

A name that should have perished long ago in Chicago, heroically sacrificed to buy retreat time for the others.

"Jiang... Yuan...?"