Chapter 224: Against Wang

A few days later.

Hongzhi Xingwei Jiaozheng Zhongxin.

The air was thick with a heavy scent of blood that even disinfectant couldn't mask, mingled with a putrid sweetness that prickled the temples.

Several beams from powerful flashlights swung through the dead silence of the building, illuminating the splattered blood stains on the walls that had long since dried and blackened.

"Ugh..."

A newly recruited young agent could no longer hold it in, rushed to a corner of the Corridor, and leaned against the wall to retch violently.

No one laughed at him.

A veteran agent with over ten years of service leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, but the hand holding it trembled uncontrollably.

"We checked: a total of 137 corpses, including the principal, the Instructor, and almost every student."

A team member in investigation gear walked over, his voice hushed and hoarse.

"You could say none survived..."

"Cause of death?" the veteran inhaled sharply, the exhaled smoke trembling.

"The skulls and hearts exploded," the investigator said, his face as white as paper. "The forensic preliminary assessment: each victim's skull or heart was shattered from within in an instant by an incomprehensible force. Moreover... they all experienced extreme terror before dying."

The veteran fell silent, crushing the cigarette butt hard on the floor as if to crush the maddening weirdness.

"Any findings from the surveillance room?"

"There is, but... you'd better see for yourself."

A few minutes later, inside the instrument-laden surveillance vehicle, the veteran watched the footage classified as top secret.

On the screen, there were no ghostly silhouettes, no monsters.

Only a cold, emotionless synthetic voice announced a new "School Rule".

Then, the execution.

A silent execution.

A student's skull burst without warning, red and white matter splattering across the screen.

An Instructor's chest collapsed inward violently, despite having no external wounds.

That wasn't a massacre.

At the end of the video, a gaunt youth, barefoot, his mouth stitched with a strange black line, carrying a Red Wood Ruler on his back, stepped out of the correction center's gate.

He walked slowly, as if strolling under moonlight.

Behind him lay a human hell strewn with corpses.

The veteran turned off the screen, closed his eyes, leaned against the chair back, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.

He had spent half his life handling cases, having seen the most brutal murderers and the most perverse criminals.

Yet none compared to the departing silhouette of that youth in the footage, which chilled him to the bone.

It was a malice that transcended human comprehension—absolute, irrational.

Federal Weird Investigation Bureau Headquarters, Director's Office.

Wei Gong set down his brush; on the rice paper, the characters "Stop War" were rendered with sharp strokes, the ink still wet.

In front of him lay a top‑secret file just transmitted from the front line.

The file's cover bore the youth's face, his lips sewn with a black line, eyes hollow yet burning with hatred that would consume everything.

Wang Zhangzhi stood nearby, his expression as still as water.

"Another... Yugui Zhe."

Wei Gong lifted his teacup, gently blew the floating tea leaves, and gazed calmly at the photograph.

In his gaze there was no anger, no pity, not even a ripple of emotion.

Only an absolute, surgeon‑like calm and scrutiny, as if dissecting a specimen.

After a long pause, he retrieved a seal from the drawer.

It was neither the "Wei" denoting wanted nor the "Jue" signifying eradication.

It was a Bronze Seal, never before used publicly, engraved with a special inscription.

He lifted the seal, soaked it fully in scarlet ink.

Then, he pressed it heavily onto the youth's photograph in the file.

"Dong!"

The muffled sound echoed through the quiet office.

Two blood‑red characters were stamped onto the youth's face.

【Yugui Zhe】

"Confirmed for inclusion in the Yugui Zhe Project."

Wei Gong set the seal down and announced in an emotionless tone.

"Codename 'Silent One', classified as B Ji."

He paused, his fingers lightly tapping the analysis report on Rule Murder atop the desk.

"It possesses potential to grow into A Ji."

Wang Zhangzhi said:

"Director, this rule‑type weirdness, when faced by regular Special Forces..."

"They can only be sent to their deaths."

Wei Gong cut him off, "Naturally, you can't pile it up with lives."

He stood and walked to the massive floor‑to‑ceiling window, overlooking the bustling city below.

"Zhangzhi, remember."

The only thing that can counter magic is magic.

The only thing that can deal with Weird is… an equal force.

Wang Zhangzhi felt a jolt in his heart; he instantly understood Lord Wei's meaning.

In his mind, the figure of another young man flashed.

The young man who, atop the Zhijiage Feixu, alone transformed into the Shadow King and eradicated all the city's monsters.

B-07, Special Isolation Training Room.

On the cold alloy floor, Jiang Yuan half‑knelt, his sweat soaking the black combat suit.

In front of him stood a Military-grade Combat Robot worth tens of millions, its alloy chest armor torn open by force, exposing intricate circuitry that still flickered with blue electric sparks.

This was not caused by external damage.

It was blown apart by something… that grew from within.

Jiang Yuan lifted his head and looked at his Shadow.

The Shadow twisted and writhed violently under the light, like a living pool of expanding darkness, within which countless eyes seemed to peer at the real world.

"Huh..."

Jiang Yuan closed his eyes.

He was becoming more accustomed to this power.

At that moment, the heavy isolation door of the training room opened.

A clerk in an administrative uniform walked in, looking at Jiang Yuan with an unmistakable awe in his eyes.

He handed over a sealed Cowhide Paper File Bag.

"Agent Jiang Yuan, A Ji directive."

"Lord Wei personally approved."

Jiang Yuan took the file bag; it was ice‑cold to the touch.

He tore off the seal and pulled out the File inside.

At first glance, he saw that photograph.

The boy whose mouth was sewn shut, his gaze filled with deathly stillness and hatred.

【Code Name: Silent One】

【Target Level: B Ji (High-risk Growth Type)】

【Mission Objective: Containment.】

Below the word "Containment" there was a line of small red‑inked text.

【If necessary, authorized... elimination.】

Jiang Yuan stared at the eyes in the photograph.

From those eyes, he saw the same thing he saw in himself.

Two monsters.

He touched the ice‑cold, hard Poker Card in his pocket.

He took it out: a pair of Kings.