"Greyhounds!"

A shadowy figure on the abandoned warehouse spoke.

"I didn't expect you to catch up so quickly, but unfortunately, you still can't catch me. You'll never catch me, hahahahahaha."

His figure gradually faded.

"Hahaha! Chase me, come on, chase me, you bunch of greyhounds don't understand what a real illusion charm is."

His figure disappeared and then reappeared in front of Lauren's iron staff, laughing wildly.

The laughter abruptly stopped, like a wild dog being choked.

"Uh... what's going on?"

Lauren calmly said, "Nice charm, but next time, remember not to use it in front of high-level combat personnel with the spark of a puppet master."

The man's face turned ashen, "Are you the overseer or the adjudicator?"

"Doesn't matter to you." Lauren pointed the iron staff at his throat, "Now answer my questions honestly, and I can send you to Stone City."

Upon hearing the words Stone City, his face turned complex, and after a moment of silence, he replied, "Alright."

"Name."

"Bas."

"Place of birth."

"Gem Town."

"Occupation."

"Stonemason, later became a priest at the Blessing Chapel."

"Which Doomsday Cult do you follow?"

"The Corruptors."

"Ideology."

"Corrupt the fire, turn the Guardian Fire into a black fire that spreads distortion, mutation, and pollution."

"Why do this?"

"We believe fire is hypocritical, burning people to ashes as fuel, cruel and inhumane. The black mist is merciful and kind; humans immersed in it can remain uncorrupted for millennia. That's why it can envelop the world, because mercy and kindness are the world's truth. We are merely resisting, trying to stop the unstoppable tide of history. Coexistence with the black mist is the right path. If we achieve this goal early, we can hold high positions in the future dark era, immortal forever."

"Don't you know that all who are polluted by the black mist eventually go mad?"

"Our understanding is limited. Rationality is just a cage that confines thought. When we reach a higher level, we will gain greater freedom, though we can't imagine it now and see it as madness."

Lauren's expression remained unchanged, calm and serene, as he continued to ask in a low voice.

"Do you know him?"

Bas shifted his gaze to Rode, whose long, gray-white face showed no expression, and his small eyes were filled with indifference.

Rode felt a bit nervous.

He looked for a few seconds and then turned his head.

"I don't know him."

Lauren took out a picture from his pocket, the person on it vividly lifelike, almost like a photograph.

"Do you know this person?"

Bas replied, "Yes, Gray Cat Alai."

"How do you know him?"

"He often comes to the Blessing Chapel to beg for leftover cans and does odd jobs for us in exchange."

"Is he one of your members?"

"I'm not sure, maybe he's on another line."

"On the seventh of Mist Month, why did he come to the Blessing Chapel?"

"I can't remember, maybe it was no different from usual."

"Why did you run away on the sixteenth?"

Bas gave him a surprised look, "I was discovered as a doomsday cultist, why not run?"

Lauren calmly said, "In fact, we only confirmed you were a doomsday cultist on the seventeenth, the day after you ran."

A trace of mockery appeared on Bas's pale face but quickly disappeared.

"If I didn't run early, by the time you confirmed it, I wouldn't have been able to escape. Of course, I didn't escape now either. I really don't understand, I was already hidden enough, Outer City District One is so big and chaotic, nearly a million people live here, how could you confirm so quickly that I was on Fire Hammer Street? If I had another hour, I could have boarded the convoy to Iron Furnace City."

Lauren shook his head slightly.

"You wouldn't have passed the detection, you wouldn't have gone anywhere."

Bas sneered, "Go check my house, your royal city's defenses are not worth mentioning."

Lauren nodded, "Let's go."

Rode was stunned.

Really?

You just agreed like that? Isn't this too suspicious? Aren't you going to call for reinforcements? And aren't you a high-ranking official of the Internal Affairs Tribunal? Why are you handling the case alone?

But he couldn't voice these questions, so he could only follow them to a nearby large abandoned warehouse.

Maybe he's really strong, he subdued this guy with just one move earlier, there's nothing to fear. I just need to stick close to him, hold onto this big thigh. Rode thought to himself.

Soon, they arrived in front of the warehouse.

This huge warehouse looked very dilapidated, the blue walls full of cracks and damage, the spirit lamp hanging on the door long extinguished, the brass grille rusted, the inner wall had a big hole, revealing the jade lamp wick inside.

All the surrounding houses were dark, none were lit.

Bas pushed the door open, inside was pitch black, not a bit of light.

"Go in."

Lauren took out a lamp, hung it on Rode's waist, and walked in.

Rode could only follow.

Inside the warehouse, it was so dark that the little light couldn't illuminate much.

Rode felt a bit nervous, gripping his gun tightly.

Just as he was about to remind Lauren, Bas rolled out of the light's range.

"Hahahaha! You fell for it! How stupid! Greyhounds of the Internal Affairs Tribunal!"

Whoosh!

A huge sound of something breaking through the air!

Lauren swung the iron staff with lightning speed.

Bang!

A long, giant arrow was broken in half.

"Heh, nice combat skills, but what about this?"

The broken giant arrow spewed a large amount of purple mist, clearly poisonous.

Rode quickly held his breath, but a flash of light appeared in Lauren's hand, a strong wind rose from his feet, and the poisonous mist was instantly blown away without a trace.

"You're lucky to have wind abilities, but I've already set a spiritual energy trap here, without lighting up the whole space, you'll never get out, the victor is still me, hahahaha..."

Lauren snapped his fingers.

The spirit lamp on Rode's waist suddenly burst into bright light, the intense radiance blooming like a flower, illuminating the entire warehouse in detail.

And it lit up Bas.

He was on a wooden shed to the right, his pale face stunned, mouth agape.

A strange sound echoed in the air, like something shattering.

Bas let out a strange cry, rolled off the wooden shed, black blood streaming from his eyes and mouth, a large mass of sludge-like substance vomited from his mouth, falling to the ground.

"You... you dare... ugh... corpse flies, kill them!"

The sludge quickly spread, countless flies emerged from it, with huge green heads and pus-filled yellow tails, covered in black short hair, swarming towards them like a black cloud.

But Lauren's forehead lit up, a crimson beam shot out, piercing through the black cloud in an instant.

He gently shook his head, the red light sweeping across the room, precisely burning all the giant flies to ash.

Rode was dumbfounded, especially by the final laser, reminiscent of Erlang God and Ultraman.

So this is what the spark's abilities are like?

He felt both excited and a bit scared, wanting to make a sarcastic comment.

But Bas wasn't in such a good mood, seeing Lauren aim his forehead at him, he screamed in panic, raising his hands and shouting, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I'll tell you everything, I'll tell you everything! Gray Cat Alai brought me a box on the last day, said it was from the Black Priest, I didn't know anything, just placed the box at the designated spot and left."

"And, and, on the sixteenth, my superior Black Corpse told me to run, he arranged everything for me, the illusion charm was also given by him..."

He babbled on, suddenly seeing Lauren tilt his head as if to speak to the boy beside him, he jumped up immediately, slapping his chest.

With a loud bang, he split into dozens of shadows running in all directions, his laughter echoing from all around.

"Hahaha! Foolish greyhounds! You still let me escape? You're ultimately lacking in intelligence, if it were me, I wouldn't waste so much time talking..."

Rode saw Lauren frown slightly, he gently tapped his temple, a flash of spiritual light seemed to pass through his eyes.

He scanned the room, but seemed unable to find the real body.

"Hahaha, this is a high-level spiritual energy charm, your spiritual vision isn't enough! You can't possibly see me!"

Poof!

A crimson beam hit the phantom, but instead of being destroyed, the phantom split into two.

"Hahahahaha, it's useless, greyhound, your arrogance has doomed you, after I kill you and that brat here, I'll board the convoy and leave the royal city, your Sacred Fire will extinguish! Light is fleeting! Darkness is eternal! How can your flashy light understand the depth of black?"

A black skull was thrown from somewhere, as it hit the ground, mist covered Rode's eyes.

He seemed to enter a pure white space, surrounded by flowing mist, Lauren was nowhere to be seen, he could only hear Bas's curses.

"Dog bastard, wasting so many Forbidden Objects, I'll make up for it from you! Hehe, I can taste that brat's brain first, it must be very tender..."

The curses continued, and shadows of various kinds flew past in the mist.

Rode knew something was wrong, he immediately focused on his eyes, simultaneously awakening his spiritual energy.

When that strange energy was awakened deep in his soul, Rode felt a slight chill, like thin ice in summer.

The chill quickly gathered at his brow, gently tapping three times, the Eye of the Spirit opened.

In an instant, the world was no longer obscure, it became bizarre and colorful, countless ribbons, light spots, and colorful patches piled together, dazzling to the eye.

But if carefully distinguished, there seemed to be a pattern.

Although Rode didn't have the ability to fully read it, he could roughly discern the anomalies within.

Soon, he noticed a mass of black mist light rising from a ribbon.

Unlike the surrounding colors, it was a complete entity, somewhat isolated from the external world, like an independent soul.

But humans don't have black souls.

This must not be anything good.

Rode raised his gun, aiming at the black mist light, taking a deep breath, multitasking.

A new spiritual energy gathered in his palm, under Rode's control, it was pressed into the gunstock, the spiritual pressure gauge on the back of the gun barrel quickly rising.

When it reached the top, a huge spiritual light flashed, a pure white beam shot out like a laser, instantly hitting the black mist light.

A strange screeching sound echoed, the black light deflated like a burst balloon, black light spots scattered, merging into this colorful world.

But some black spots flew towards him, entering his body.

Before he could figure out what was happening, he heard two simultaneous "huh" sounds, Rode felt as if two gazes turned towards him.

But he couldn't see them.

"Brat, you're lucky, in a moment I'll skin you, tear your flesh, drink your blood..."

The curses suddenly turned towards him.

"Rode, can you see those dead souls?" Lauren's voice also sounded in his ear.

Rode nervously replied, "I saw one... where are you? I can't see you."

"Don't panic, we've been dragged into the Spirit World, he has some Forbidden Objects' help, I can't catch him for now."

"Then what should we do? Is there anything I can do?"

Lauren's voice remained calm and indifferent, with a rich tone, reassuring him.

"I'll continue to distract him, you can try to find the spiritual lock, if you can break it, we'll return to the normal world."

"Be careful, don't attack the large spiritual bodies, the Raven can't harm them, instead it will provoke them."

"I understand, what does the spiritual lock look like?" Rode asked loudly, but Lauren didn't reply.

Rode felt a bit uneasy, sensing the situation might not be as good as he said.

He needed to find the spiritual lock quickly, otherwise, if things went wrong, it would be bad.

Rode felt a bit resentful towards Lauren, clearly having a huge advantage, why take risks? Wouldn't it be better to subdue him and call some companions to search his hiding place, and be done with it?

Really not steady.

Unlike me, I never mess up.

Though he was complaining inwardly, Rode quickly focused on searching.

Through the Eye of the Spirit, this strange world was dazzling, he seemed to float in the void, with no sense of footing, no up, down, left, or right, no distance.

The chaotic colors piled together, making it impossible to see if there was a lock.

However, during the search, Rode discovered several dead souls emitting black light.

These things were particularly conspicuous, often emerging from various colored ribbons, slow and dumb, easily burst with a shot, like popping balloons, very satisfying.

Rode burst four dead souls in a row, and also saw a giant made of stained glass like a church.

He wisely didn't disturb it, bypassing the giant.

—It was angrily stomping, colorful light spots flying from its feet.

Suddenly, a void shadow passed before his eyes, the curses suddenly became very clear.

"Overconfident brat, you think you can find your grandpa? Let me tell you, I've seen many like you, with a bit of spiritual vision and arrogance, their proud heads eventually trampled in the mud..."

The curses seemed to have a direction, Rode followed the feeling, soon finding a spiritual body behind a mass of cotton candy-like fluff.

It was a glowing humanoid mist, half of it turned into deep black, countless black dots flowing through the mist's veins.

"If you can find my real body, I'll eat all the sewage in the royal city's sewers..."

The curses continued, the mist boiling, showing his agitated emotions.

But he didn't seem to see himself, his attention not focused on him.

Is this his real body?

Rode aimed his gun at him, spiritual energy quickly infused into it, the spiritual pressure gauge surged to the top, a huge flash exploded, the white line shot through his head instantly.

The curses abruptly stopped.

In the next moment, Rode felt his vision clear, in a blink, he saw Lauren.

He was not far away, fighting four glass giants, his whole body enveloped in mist, powerful spiritual light flashing around him.

But as the humanoid mist dissipated, the glass giants quickly crumbled into countless colorful fragments.

Lauren looked up in shock, immediately seeing Rode.

At this moment, the world underwent a strange change, the chaotic light spots diminished, the outlines of physical objects appeared.

Rode closed the Eye of the Spirit, finding himself back in the warehouse, standing in place.

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Bas was in front of him, half-kneeling on the ground, his head half gone, blood and brain matter scattered.

A thicker black line with other colors flew from the corpse, entering Rode's body.

At the same time, a line of small text flashed in his eyes.

With his limited literacy, he could barely recognize it.

[Polluted Soul of Sotir Red]

Before he could figure out what was happening, he saw Lauren leap over, raising his staff, pointing it at his throat, his tone still calm and indifferent, but with a slight chill.

"Why did you kill him?"