Chapter 493: Obstruction

When a dozen or so Fierce Ghosts lunged forward, Ji Bai's pupils contracted to tiny dots.

Ajie's half‑body had already been drained of blood lines; her two hands crossed, blood lines pierced from her wrist bones, coiling around Su Ming's wrist, forcibly pulling the neural severing shard half an inch off‑center.

"Ji Bai."

Ajie gritted her teeth and smiled, looking uglier than crying.

"Don't stall."

"If you don't leave now, I'll just pity you."

Su Ming lowered his gaze and glanced at her.

No anger.

No pity.

Only the most standard battlefield judgment.

Obstruction.

Elimination.

Silver‑gray patterns spread from his palm, and a Containment Object the size of a copper coin adhered to his fingertip.

The thing was thin; its edges bore dense runes, and its center held a closed eye.

Liang Wen glanced over and cursed, "Damn, you really pulled out this thing?"

Su Ming answered briefly.

"No time."

The closed eye opened.

A gray‑white halo expanded outward.

The three Fierce Ghosts at the front had no chance to dodge; their forms were instantly torn apart, fragmented arms, long hair, half a face scattering in the air, then ground into finer resentful residue by the gray‑white halo.

Screams ricocheted back and forth in the passage.

Xiao Li clutched a cloth doll, and her whole body shivered.

Meng Wan's Black Water paused for half a beat.

Ji Bai's eye sockets reddened.

Not from crying.

It was anger that made his blood surge backward.

Su Ming lifted his eyes, "I gave you a choice."

The red‑cloaked totem on Ji Bai's chest burned hotter; blood poured from the wound split in his abdomen, mixing with rainwater, forming a dark‑red stream at his feet.

"You killed them."

"They've already died once; they're already dead."

Su Ming raised his hand, preparing a second gray‑white halo to press down.

"I'm only responsible for letting more people live."

The words were cold.

Cold enough to leave no room for explanation.

Ajie scolded, "Stop flattering yourself! When you kill people, are you this righteous?"

The smug grin on Liang Wen's face vanished.

The Black Flame Knife lay horizontally before him.

"Since you still have human consciousness, retreat now. There's no Weird‑capture mission today; I don't feel like cutting you."

The one‑armed Fierce Ghost pushed his wheelchair forward, baring teeth soaked in black blood.

"Damn your leg."

He raised his remaining arm; his spirit body suddenly swelled, and he lunged at Liang Wen's knife.

Black Flame coiled onto his chest.

Zila—

The spirit body was burned, leaving a huge void.

The one‑armed Fierce Ghost convulsed in pain, yet clung tightly to the blade, the remaining arm tightening around it.

"Ji Bai!"

He turned his head and roared.

"Don't worry about us!"

"Go save Red Sister!"

Liang Wen tried to draw his knife, but couldn't move it.

Black Flame is a heavenly counter to Fierce Ghosts.

Normally, a single touch from a Fierce Ghost would cause it to disperse.

Yet the one‑armed Fierce Ghost stubbornly held on, half his shoulder burned through, still biting the knife's back with his teeth.

"Are you crazy?"

A vein pulsed at the corner of Liang Wen's forehead.

Beside him, a female ghost covered in burns lunged forward.

She had no name.

At least Ji Bai had never managed to ask it.

She used to hide in the far corner of the Ferry Port, clutching a torn blanket, shrinking into a ball the moment anyone approached half a step.

Now, she clutched the tip of Liang Wen's knife.

Two tattered hands were devoured by black flame, and the spirit body scattered in large patches.

She, however, lifted her face and squeezed out an ugly expression toward Ji Bai.

"Ji Bai."

"Behind the door...... she is there."

Ji Bai clenched his jaws until they bled.

"What I promised was to take you all back together."

Older Sister kicked open the oncoming special agent, half of her body grazed by Su Ming's gray-white light ring, leaving a chunk missing from her waist and abdomen.

She bent over from the pain, yet propped herself up on a bloodline and stood.

"Go back?"

"Go back my ass."

"The rule at the ferry port: don't abandon companions."

She lifted her head to look at Ji Bai.

"Red Sister is also a companion."

That sentence was harsher than a blade.

Ji Bai's chest heaved violently.

Su Ming didn't give them time for dramatics.

The third light ring pressed down.

Meng Wan turned into a black water torrent, desperately covering the ground runes; Xiao Li's sobbing disrupted the surveillance and lighting, fluorescent tubes on the ceiling burst in rows, and the sparks were swallowed by rain.

But the gray-white light ring still fell down.

Another two fierce ghosts were swept in.

One old ghost had only half a face left, still smiling even as it was about to dissipate.

"Ferryman, run fast."

Another little ghost didn't have time to speak, clutching half a candy wrapper, and was crushed into nothing.

Ji Bai felt a string snap in his mind.

He loosened his grip on the umbrella.

The old black umbrella spun halfway in the air, held up by the red-clad resentment.

Ji Bai lowered his whole body.

Liang Wen reacted extremely quickly.

"Don't let him rush the door!"

The Black Flame Knife was seized by the one-armed old ghost and the burned female ghost; he simply let go, extended his right hand's index and middle fingers, the blade's black flame detached, forming a crescent arc that slashed toward Ji Bai's right shoulder.

Su Ming also moved.

The Time Marrow Worm's power spread out, slowing the rain lines within three meters around Ji Bai.

A nerve-severing patch came from the side rear.

This is a dead end.

Anyone else who was a spellbreaker would be pressed to death on the spot.

Ji Bai, however, raised his right arm.

He actively moved to meet Liang Wen's black flame arc slash.

Pfft.

Black flame sliced into the shoulder.

The bones emitted a grating sound that made one's teeth ache.

The entire right arm went limp on the spot, the flesh scorched black, the fingers twitching uncontrollably.

Liang Wen's pupils contracted.

"You don't want your life anymore?"

Ji Bai used this impact to fly backward.

He wasn't knocked back.

He was borrowing force.

Su Ming's severing patch stuck in midair, the gray-white inscriptions brushing past Ji Bai's collar.

Ji Bai was midair, his left leg lifted.

The crimson totem on his chest poured entirely into his left leg, dark red patterns crawling from waist to ankle, every inch of muscle emitting a faint sound on the verge of collapse.

He looked toward the inner door.

That door was half a meter thick, made of super-alloy, embedded with three layers of rule locks, and outside bore the Investigation Bureau's engraved sealing inscriptions.

The toughest gate of the No. 3 secret passage.

Ji Bai gave it only one kick.

Boom!

The whole passage shuddered.

The super-alloy door panel dented from the frame, then bulged out, finally the whole piece came off its tracks, dragging the broken chains as it flew inward.

The door panel slammed into the deep corridor, successively toppling two defensive barriers, kicking up large amounts of dust and debris.

The shockwave air current rolled back.

Su Ming was forced to retreat half a step.

Liang Wen raised his sleeve to block the flying metal fragments, cursing lowly: "Holy shit, even a shonen manga protagonist wouldn't dare kick a door like that."

When Ji Bai hit the ground, his left knee bent slightly.

His right arm was useless.

His abdomen was bleeding.

His left leg also began to go out of control.

But the door opened.

Behind the door was a dark passage leading deeper underground.

Ajie saw the door open and smiled.

"Run!"

She turned, her blood lines turning into a net, blocking the charging special forces and the two Master of Deception.

Meng Wan lifted the gravely wounded female ghost, turning into Black Water that slid along the ground.

Su Xiaoya burst out of the corner, her severed arm wrapped in containment cloth, and with her other hand she supported Ji Bai.

"Can you still walk?"

Ji Bai grabbed the Old Black Umbrella back into his hand.

"Can."

In fact, he shouldn't be able to.

Each step was crushing his bones.

But he didn't look back.

The one‑armed old ghost clutched the Black Flame Knife, its spirit remaining only a small fragment.

Liang Wen looked at him, gritting his teeth, "Let go, I can spare you a breath of life."

The one‑armed old ghost chuckled.

"You really talk a lot,"

The burned female ghost clung to the knife tip, her form so thin it was about to dissipate.

She looked toward Ji Bai's silhouette.

"Let's go."

"Don't look back."

Ji Bai did not look back.

He feared that if he turned, he would never be able to continue.

Su Ming raised his hand, a gray‑white aura attempting to chase after.

Ajie suddenly lunged in front of him, half of her resentment turning into a blood lock that bound his hand.

"Core Captain."

She pressed against Su Ming, whispering, "You live too tiredly."

"Today, sister will give you some trouble."

The blood lock tightened.

Su Ming frowned, the aura in his palm shifting direction, piercing straight through Ajie's chest.

Ajie's body became insubstantial, yet the blood lines struck even harder.

Su Ming's hand was held for three seconds.

Three seconds.

Enough for Ji Bai.

He led Su Xiaoya, Meng Wan, and several still‑mobile Fierce Ghosts into the doorway, smoke and dust swallowing their figures.

Liang Wen roared, "Even if you go in, you can't change anything!"

From deep within the darkness came a boy's low response.

"If you don't try, you can't change anything."

Liang Wen was stunned for half a breath.

"That line... is kind of cool."

Su Ming stared at him with a cold face.

Liang Wen cleared his throat.

"Fight, fight."

The remaining Fierce Ghosts went mad.

They lacked Ji Bai's physique and the high‑level resentment left by Sister Hong.

They were left with only the most primitive methods.

Pounce.

Grab.

Bite.

Drag.

Ajie used blood lines to hold Su Ming.

The one‑armed old ghost and the burned female ghost used their spirits to jam the Black Flame Knife.

Xiao Li sat on the ground, hugging a cloth doll, crying until her throat bled, her mental interference repeatedly striking the special forces' communication channel.

"Don't chase him."

"Please, don't chase him."

No one answered.

Battle continues.

When Liang Wen finally reclaimed the Black Flame Knife, the one-armed old ghost had nothing left but a shattered skull.

That skull rolled to the wall, still laughing.

"Dark-Blooded King......"

"Your swordsmanship is rather ordinary."

Liang Wen's face twitched, but fire pressed in his eyes.

"Old thing, your mouth is tougher than your life."

Black flame fell.

The one-armed old ghost dissipated.

The burned female ghost couldn't stay either.

She finally raised her hand to touch her face; her fingertips passed through the scorched black spirit body, and she whispered softly.

"Rain is really nice."

"You can't tell it hurts."

Afterwards, she turned into a thin ash, mixing into the rain.

Liang Wen's hand gripping the knife paused for half a beat.

Su Ming broke free from the blood lock; the older sister was blasted away, her body slamming into the wall before sliding down to the ground.

She still wanted to get up.

She couldn't move.

Su Ming stepped over her and walked toward the door.

The older sister reached out and grabbed his pant leg.

"Don't chase."

Su Ming lowered his head.

"Let go."

The older sister lifted her face, covered in blood, yet she smiled with a hint of spunk.

"You're in a hurry."

"You're afraid he'll really open the door."

Su Ming's eyes finally showed a flicker.

The older sister guessed right.

The third underground level is not an ordinary containment area.

There lies something that truly cannot see the light.

Not just Red Sister.

There is also the original material storehouse of the Dragon Raising Plan.

There is a batch that still retains self-awareness, yet has been judged as consumable material—fierce ghosts.

The Federation doesn't want Ji Bai to see it.

Neither does Eden Garden.

Su Ming raised his hand; a gray-white light ring pressed against the older sister's forehead.

"Sorry."

The older sister closed her eyes.

"Save apologies for the living."

The gray-white light ring fell.

The blood line snapped.

Su Ming stepped over her, about to chase into the door, when a piercing alarm suddenly sounded from deep in the passage.

All the red lights turned white.

A mechanical broadcast echoed from the speaker.

"Anomaly sealed in the first containment area of the third underground level."

Third underground level.

Ji Bai walked forward leaning on the wall, each step leaving a bloody print.

The air was so cold it made his bones ache.

Su Xiaoya supported him, Meng Wan guarded his rear; the remaining few fierce ghosts were battered all over, yet no one called a halt.

At the end of the passage stood a white metal door.

A few words were written on the doorplate.

First Containment Area.

Ji Bai raised his left hand and pushed open the door.

The interior blazed blindingly bright.

Row after row of transparent containment pods stretched from the floor into the distance.

Ji Bai stopped.