Chapter 209: Embracing the Darkness

—The Special Forces Captain stared intently at the man pushing the wheelchair.

Not only because of his completely inhuman left eye, but also because of the detector in his hand.

The readings were jumping.

It wasn't a gradual, step‑by‑step rise, but like an Electrocardiogram just before the heart stops, wildly erratic with no pattern.

"All units, activate the Anchor Point suppressor!"

The Captain bellowed, simultaneously pulling the trigger safety with his finger.

Almost at the same moment, Chen Shao smiled.

That smile hung on his face, exuding an indescribable awkwardness, like a painted‑on Mask.

"Kneel."

He moved his lips; his voice was low, yet it carried a hair‑raising echo.

The crimson left eye snapped shut, and the vortex deep within the pupil spun up dramatically.

Buzz—

An invisible ripple, centered on Chen Shao, burst outward without warning.

The feeling was disgusting.

It was as if someone forced an icy hand into your skull, stirring the soft, mushy brain matter, trying to grip the nerve that controls the body.

"Ugh!"

The two Special Forces operatives at the front row let out a muffled hum, their knees suddenly giving way as they straightened and knelt to the ground.

But at the instant their knees were about to touch the ground.

Zzzla!

A sharp electric crackle burst from the ear‑mic in the operatives' tactical helmets.

At the same time, the custom metal badge on their chests emitted a faint blue glow.

It was the newly developed mental protection device— the Anchor Point— of the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau.

Based on the Weird‑against‑Weird principle, the Anchor Point can to some extent resist the Weird's effects on humans.

Including mental intrusion, cognitive contamination, and the like.

The operatives, who were about to kneel, trembled violently, abruptly halting their descent.

Although their movements became extremely sluggish, like rusted gears forced to turn, they ultimately retained control over their bodies.

At that moment, Chen Shao's perpetually composed smile finally showed a crack.

His intact right eye narrowed slightly, and surprise flickered in his gaze for the first time.

"Interesting."

He looked at the group of humans who, under that terrifying mental pressure, could barely stay on their feet.

"So this is the organization that the Jiang‑surname individual mentioned... the one he belongs to, specialized in handling this sort of thing?"

Chen Shao muttered to himself.

"Open fire! Aim for non‑lethal areas!"

The Captain felt his brain pulsing, gritted his teeth, and gave the order.

The sensation of a foreign object invading the brain did not vanish, but the Anchor Point forcibly isolated it beyond the surface consciousness.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A few gunshots echoed through the narrow Corridor.

Several bullets skimmed Chen Shao's coat edge, punching smoky holes into the wall behind him.

The Demon Eye's effect caused the operatives to lose their aim.

"Trouble."

Chen Shao frowned.

He didn't want to waste time here.

His sister was still in the wheelchair, frail, unable to endure such a fright.

Moreover, since the guns fired, it proved these people truly dared to kill.

They might even harm his own sister.

"Yao Yao, close your eyes, cover your ears."

He lowered his head and whispered gently to the girl in the wheelchair, his tone as tender as when coaxing a baby to sleep.

Chen Yao trembled like a sieve, yet obediently clamped both hands over her ears, burying her head in her knees.

The next second.

Chen Shao lifted his head.

That tenderness vanished completely.

In its place was a suffocating brutality and resolve.

"Since you won't listen..."

He raised his hand, covering his right eye, while the left eye's glow intensified.

"Then go die."

This time, he held nothing back.

He forcibly activated the Evil Ghost lodged in his eye socket, urging it to awaken further!

Pfft!

It was the sound of a ruptured blood vessel.

Fresh blood gushed wildly through Chen Shao's fingertips, instantly staining half his face and the pristine collar of his shirt.

But he simply didn't care.

Within the view of that crimson left eye, the world turned blood‑red.

Everyone's movements froze.

Those so‑called "anchor point" protections, under that tsunami‑like violent mental shock, were like a candle in a gale, extinguished instantly.

Snap.

Snap.

Two crisp cracking sounds.

It was two Special Forces members at the front, whose chest insignias exploded outright.

Their gazes instantly scattered, the once resolute pupils turning a dull gray‑white, losing all focus.

Immediately after.

Under the terrified stare of everyone.

The two soldiers slowly lifted the assault rifles in their hands.

Not aimed at Chen Shao.

But instead, slowly, mechanically, they turned the muzzles.

The pitch‑black barrels pressed against their own lower jaws.

"No! Stop! Xiao Zhou! Lao Zhang!"

Captain's eyes bulged to the brink of bursting, desperately trying to rush forward to stop them, but his legs felt as if poured with cement, too heavy to lift.

He could only watch, eyes wide open.

Watching those two comrades who had shared day and night, a bizarre smile of release spread across their faces.

"This is… punishment."

Chen Shao's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding.

Bang! Bang!

Two clumps of Blood Mist detonated in the Corridor.

Red‑white matter splattered onto the ceiling, then dripped tick‑tock down.

Two corpses collapsed listlessly.

A death‑like silence.

The remaining Special Forces members were all stunned.

They had seen monsters' claws, had witnessed Weird curses, but had never encountered this… this Terror Force that directly manipulates people into suicide!

This is B Ji… no, this has definitely brushed the threshold of A Ji!

It is extremely similar to Dongdao's Laughing Demon!

"Aaaah—"

At that moment, a horribly mournful scream shattered the deathly silence.

It wasn't a Special Forces member.

It was Chen Shao.

He clutched his left hand, his whole body convulsing violently as if struck by electricity.

That left eye, which had only emitted a red glow, now seemed to come alive!

Pfft!

A few thick, slime‑coated violet‑red vessels pierced the edge of his eye socket, like living tentacles, wildly writhing outward.

They were not attacking outward.

Instead, they reversed direction and plunged straight into his temple!

This is a backlash!

This is the price of wielding Anomalous Power!

That desire‑fed "Eye Demon", after tasting the pleasure of slaughter, was no longer satisfied with being a borrowed tool.

It was hungry.

It wants to devour the host's brain and fully seize this body!

"Get… get back!"

Chen Shao's features twisted in pain, the blue veins on his neck bulging like winding earthworms.

He clutched those vessels trying to burrow into his brain with his right hand, desperately pulling them outward.

Fresh blood spurted everywhere.

That pain was a hundred times more intense than having a red‑hot iron pick stirring one's brain.

But he could not fall.

At least not now.

His younger sister was still behind him.

"Opportunity! It's now!"

Captain truly was a battle‑hardened veteran, seizing the chance in an instant.

At this moment, Chen Shao was battling the Anomalous within his body for control, his defense nearly zero!

"Fire! Cut off his leg!"

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Flames spewed forth.

Bullets rained down like raindrops.

This time, Chen Shao couldn't dodge.

Puff! Puff!

Two blood flowers bloomed on his left shoulder and thigh.

The massive impact knocked him off balance, nearly making him kneel on the ground.

But the weird thing is.

That piercing gunshot agony, instead, cleared his consciousness—about to be devoured by the "Eye Ghost"—by a few degrees.

Pain.

Sometimes it's the best sobering agent.

"Uh..."

Chen Shao was about to bite his teeth off, using that intense pain to forcibly suppress the frantic, writhing vessels in his left eye.

He jerked his head up, his blood‑splattered face like an Evil Ghost crawling out of hell.

"Want to catch me... in the next life!"

He swung his left hand violently.

The Investigation Bureau agents shrieked in agony, stumbling in all directions.

Chen Shao couldn't even tend to his wound; he grabbed Chen Yao from the wheelchair in one hand, discarding the wheelchair itself.

He dragged his bullet‑riddled leg, staggered and slammed open the adjacent fire‑escape door, and plunged into the dark Stairwell.

On the ground, a shocking trail of blood was left behind.

Half an hour later.

Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters, Director's Office.

On the massive display screen, the image froze on that blood‑smeared, yet still fiercely protecting the girl in her arms.

Behind the desk, an elderly man in a Zhongshan suit held a teacup, gently blowing the tea leaves floating on the surface.

Wei Gong.

The head of the Investigation Bureau, looking at the man named Chen Shao on the screen, showed no trace of joy or anger.

"Director, the field report is ready."

The secretary standing nearby looked pale, holding a freshly printed File.

"Two Special Forces members were sacrificed, four severely injured. Target Chen Shao, confirmed Symbiosis high‑grade spiritual‑control Weird, code‑named 'Demon Eye' for now."

"Additionally..."

The secretary hesitated, lowering his voice further.

"Analysis of the biological samples left at the scene shows his body undergoing an irreversible Mutation. Though that power is immense, it is devouring his life force at a rapid pace."

"This is a typical... failure product."

Wei Gong said nothing.

He set down the teacup, his fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

One tap.

Two taps.

"Failure product?"

Wei Gong finally spoke, his voice even, yet carrying undeniable authority.

"Xiao Li, you're still looking at the problem too superficially."

He stood up and walked to the floor‑to‑ceiling window.

"Jiang Yuan is a miracle, an unrepeatable special case."

"But this Chen Shao..."

Wei Gong turned, a glint of sharp light flashing in his seemingly cloudy old eyes.

"He is the norm."

"He is a normal case driven by desire, attempting to command forbidden power, inevitably marching toward destruction."

"However..."

Wei Gong's tone shifted.

"To retain a sliver of clarity through sheer will under that level of backlash, even using pain to strike back and escape."

"That temperament, however, makes a fine blade."

"What a pity."

He shook his head and sat back down.

"Issue a wanted notice."

"Since he chose this path, this is the consequence he must bear."

"No need to hold back; if necessary, don't even have to capture him alive."

"Such a volatile living bomb can't be left among crowds."

"Either contain it."

"Or... eliminate it completely."

Tai Tao City, the unfinished‑building district.

The night was as dark as ink.

A torrential downpour hammered the city, washing away its filth.

A pitch‑black figure, carrying something on its back, trudged laboriously through the muddy ruins.

Chen Shao felt his body was about to fall apart.

The gunshot wounds on his shoulder and thigh kept bleeding, rainwater mixed with mud poured in, burning hot with pain.

But the most deadly part was still his left eye.

That eye has now quieted, but this is only temporary.

He can feel that thing lurking in his eye socket, greedily draining the little stamina he has left, waiting for the next eruption.

Each heartbeat is accompanied by a needle‑like sting.

His vision began to blur.

It wasn't because of the rain.

It was because of his right eye... the eye that had been normal now also began to show double images.

The streetlights stretched into twisted ribbons of light.

In the puddles on the ground, the reflection showed not only his disheveled figure but also countless grinning ghost faces.

The world in his eyes was gradually collapsing, becoming bizarre and surreal.

This is a prelude to cognitive distortion.

He was not far from completely losing his mind.

"Brother..."

From his back came a faint call.

Chen Shao shivered all over.

He bit his tongue, using the pain to force away the hallucination before his eyes.

"I'm here, brother."

He tried to make his voice sound steady, though the heavy breathing had already betrayed him.

"Where... where are we going?"

Chen Yao's voice was tinged with sobbing.

Where to go?

Chen Shao lifted his head, staring blankly at the pitch‑black ruins around him.

He can't go home.

The hospital is unreachable as well.

The whole city is issuing a warrant for him.

Even if he only wants to rescue his sister, only wants to claim justice.

But in this Weird revived world, weakness is the original sin.

"To a place... where no one can bully us."

Chen Shao tightened his grip on his sister's hand.

He saw not far ahead a ruined Air-raid Shelter entrance.

It was as black as the mouth of a giant beast.

But he had no other choice.

One step, two steps.

Carrying the only attachment he had in this world, he stepped into that bottomless darkness.

Since the light cannot contain us.

Then... let's fully embrace the darkness.