Chapter 304 The Mess

Some strange entities can discern the bonds between people and thus are less likely to act ruthlessly against those they've bonded with.

Of course, this didn't apply to Fang Yue, as he wasn't familiar with the warden.

Fang Yue rushed forward and with one strike, split the warden's belly open, revealing a mass of white worms that he instantly crushed into bloody froth with his internal force.

The warden, or rather the [Co-worm Ghoul]'s head, wore an expression of utter bewilderment before Fang Yue finished him off with a few more strikes.

The remaining worms burrowed into the ground, leaving only a few small holes as evidence.

Everyone trembled at the sight of Fang Yue covered in blood.

Fortunately, Fang Yue wasn't indiscriminately killing everyone. After using internal force resonance to confirm that their organs hadn't been replaced by the symbiotic ghoul and that they could still be saved, he would toss them onto the rooftop after killing the [Co-worm Ghoul].

As for those whose organs had already been removed and were beyond saving, they naturally died from organ failure after the ghoul was killed.

Fang Yue was helpless in these situations unless Yang Hongxia was willing to spend a fortune to hire a physician to treat them.

But given the current state of Dayang Prefecture, even physicians might be afraid to come.

While Fang Yue was busy dealing with the [Co-worm Ghouls], similar events were occurring in other parts of Chunuan City.

A monkey-like ghoul wearing a bamboo hat wandered the streets of Chunuan City, indiscriminately killing passersby.

It was quickly discovered and surrounded by the Qing Si patrol, who killed it.

Not only the Qing Si, but also the teams from the Heaven's Merchant Alliance gradually noticed that the number of ghouls infiltrating Chunuan City had suddenly increased significantly tonight.

When dawn broke and the matter was dealt with, the Heaven's Merchant Alliance Leader immediately convened a meeting to inspect the formation.

The result, however, was... the formation was completely fine, with no signs of damage.

This meant that each of these ghouls had somehow found a way to bypass the formation's detection.

"What other places had incidents last night?"

"Sanqiu Prefecture, Dayang Prefecture..."

The list went on for over a dozen prefectures, most of which suffered heavy casualties, with only Dayang Prefecture managing to preserve its personnel relatively well.

"So many... what exactly is going on? What are your thoughts?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Someone suggested strengthening the formation, but the detection formation had been set up by formation experts who had been invited, and it was impossible to find better formation masters to reinforce it in such a short time.

As for the local formation masters in Chunuan City, their skills weren't as impressive.

Only by spending a lot of money could they hire those capable formation masters who could truly strengthen the formation.

Tian Wangchuan rubbed his forehead in frustration.

The [Nuomian Ghoul] hadn't been found yet, and now Chunuan City was facing another incident. It was an ominous sign...

...

Phoenix Organization.

In a pure white room, Niu Zuo revealed a ferocious and painful expression.

"Ugh!"

With a loud roar, the table in front of him immediately seemed to cave in with a fist-sized indentation, as if someone had punched it, causing cracks to spread.

But in the next moment, a fist-shaped mark appeared on his chest as well. With a gasp, he spat out blood as if struck by a heavy blow and staggered back two steps, causing the warning lights in the room to flash red immediately.

Researchers quickly entered and helped Niu Zuo out, while behind them, the tables in the room were covered in fist-shaped dents, uneven and horrifying.

"It's no good... I can't control it..."

Niu Zuo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression grim.

"Lord Niu Zuo, this is not a problem that can be solved in a short time..."

"No! If I can't control the [Yin Void], with my current strength, returning to the capital will be meaningless!"

After a moment of silence, Niu Zuo said in a deep voice, "Begin the human modification plan. Modify my body to be more suitable for the Yin Void to reside in. Even if I take on the risks, I will take a gamble!"

What?!

Hearing Niu Zuo's words, the surrounding researchers were alarmed.

"Impossible!"

"Lord Niu Zuo, don't be impulsive!"

"The technology is not yet mature. Such a rash modification may kill Lord Niu Zuo on the operating table!"

Niu Zuo shook his head. "I can't worry about that anymore. The Celestial Devourment is imminent, and there's a high possibility of great chaos breaking out in the world. We don't have much time left."

Seeing Niu Zuo's persistence, the crowd had no choice but to agree.

Niu Zuo calmed himself down and then asked, "By the way, how are the experimental ghouls that were released earlier?"

"Many data have been reported back, but Lord Tu Zuo seems to have some discrepancies and is very dissatisfied with our actions."

"They are just pawns. Don't worry about them."

Like the [Nuomian Ghoul], they were using ghouls as the main body to test the [Pseudo-Ghoul Spiritual Root].

Although the results didn't have the same bizarre effect as the [Nuomian Ghoul], they achieved the same level of concealment.

That is... the formation that detects ghouls couldn't accurately detect the movements of these types of ghouls.

Because, in a sense, these experimental ghouls were considered half-human in those detection formations!

With the effect greatly reduced, traditional ghoul detection formations naturally had difficulty detecting these ghouls' situations.

Coupled with the concealment of the ghoul-hosting object, they believed that [Chunuan City] would become an excellent experimental site.

What had emerged now was only a part of it. More ghouls were still lurking and dormant.

Data always needed to be collected step by step.

If too many ghouls emerged at once, they would miss many due to a lack of manpower on their side.

"By the way, how is the real [Ghoul Spiritual Root] doing now?"

"Still in Dayang Prefecture, mostly staying put."

"Well, after the [Martial Duel], after testing the limits of his abilities, capture him and bring him to the capital together."

Ghoul Spiritual Roots were rare, only appearing once every few eras, so even Niu Zuo was extremely curious about how far this Ghoul Spiritual Root's limit could go.

...

Chunuan City became filled with unease.

It wasn't until the Heaven's Merchant Alliance Leader, Tian Wangchuan, personally stepped forward that the situation stabilized.

They strengthened patrols, suppressed ghouls, and except for the [Nuomian Ghoul], which had yet to be caught, most of the other ghouls had been suppressed.

Although these ghouls were quite powerful, they didn't have much resistance against the patrol teams.

After all, most of the experts in Chunuan City were gathered in the patrol teams. Since discovering the frequent appearance of ghouls, the three major forces had jointly funded and invited more people to temporarily join the patrol teams, strengthening their forces.

Now it seemed that the effect was indeed good.

As the ghouls were suppressed, the day of the [Martial Duel] quietly approached.

Special festivals always bring people joy, and even the frequent appearance of ghouls in Chunuan City was temporarily forgotten by people. The streets and alleys were filled with a joyous atmosphere and festive decorations.

The [Martial Duel] begins!

...