Chapter 055: The Eight Gates, One Life!

GOC Council.

"According to the latest intelligence, the containment zone in Asia has completely lost control."

"What about North America?"

"The situation in North America is equally bad. One 008 has caused quite a stir."

"Moreover, there has been a church appearing locally in North America, calling themselves the Church of Light. They claim to possess a holy water that can deal with vampires, thus accumulating wealth in large quantities."

"Does that holy water actually work?"

"It has no effect whatsoever. It's just plain water with added salt."

"Even at a time like this, there are people profiting from national calamities?"

"Because human nature is dark. Even if we are facing a crisis that requires collective efforts to overcome, it will eventually degenerate into a chain reaction triggered by the despair of a few individuals."

"Now, the whereabouts of 001, the Raven Mimic, are unknown."

"002, the Deep Diver, seems to have entered the ocean with some Fishmen, and the exact coordinates cannot be confirmed at the moment."

"003, the Invisible Man, like the Raven Mimic, is also untraceable."

"004, the Queen Bee, has occupied the original Nine-Tailed Fox base, which is easily defensible and difficult to attack. It's a natural barrier, and she also controls a large number of derivatives of 009 Splitters."

"005, the Rat in the Wall, whereabouts unknown."

"006, the Weaver of Fate, is confirmed dead according to the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"007, the Sea Monster, according to observation, may be in the Atlantic Ocean. It is suggested not to make contact with it for the time being."

"008, the True Ancestor, dominates North America. According to our observations, 008 often appears in a female form. According to an Asian who has been living in Chinatown for many years, he has seen 008."

"And he said that many Asians have seen 008, and miraculously survived."

"Only Asians?"

"Why?"

"It seems so. 008 doesn't understand any language other than Chinese."

"And once 008 is unable to communicate with people, it resorts to violence."

"Can't we just give him an English patch?"

"My report is not finished yet, it's rude of you to interrupt me like this."

"Sorry, please continue."

"All those Asians uniformly refer to 008 as the 'Three Corpses Goddess,' but when asked about the origin of the name, they all say they heard it from 'others.'"

"Anything else?"

"According to our observations, 008's form is not confined to one type. It can be both female and male, not fixed to a certain form."

"Wait a minute, why are we researching 008 now? Shouldn't we focus on handling the containment anomalies in Asia first?"

"Asian Councilor, please understand, dealing with 008 is obviously more important."

"But there's only one containment anomaly in North America, what's the rush?!"

"No, no, no. Dealing with it is much more difficult than dealing with all the containment anomalies in Asia combined!"

"Fuck your bullshit, have you ever seen the containment anomalies in Asia?!"

"Both Councilors, please calm down."

The Asian Councilor and the North American Councilor were at odds, obviously with a slight difference of opinion.

In the end, neither of them convinced each other. The Chairman of the GOC Council proposed a joint inspection action.

First, separately investigate the situation in both areas to see which one is more urgent, and prioritize handling the more urgent situation first.

...

Several days later.

North Ridge City, a certain park.

An old man was practicing Tai Chi, and three GOC investigators suddenly passed by.

"Grandpa, do you live around North Ridge often?"

The old man stopped in his tracks, "Yes, I've lived here since I was a child."

"Do you know that North Ridge City has been restless lately?"

Upon hearing the words of the GOC investigators, the old man shook his head, "No, North Ridge City has been very peaceful."

The investigators exchanged glances, "Have you seen any unusual phenomena or encountered any ghosts or monsters?"

The old man folded his hands behind his back, "There are no monsters. It's just things people make up to scare themselves."

"Instead of thinking about those nonsense, why not learn Tai Chi Eight Diagrams from me, Grandpa?"

The old man said, demonstrating a few vigorous movements.

The investigators shrugged at each other. It seemed that the situation in North Ridge wasn't that bad.

"Are you sure you haven't seen any monsters, Grandpa?"

The old man continued to practice Tai Chi Eight Diagrams, "There are no monsters, but there are still terrorists."

"Terrorists, where?"

As soon as the man spoke, the old man suddenly struck out with his palm, and a burst of qi engulfed the three people, swallowing them in an instant!

The shadows of the three disappeared in an instant, and the old man sighed deeply.

"Right in front of you."

"Chaos Splitter, Eighth Seat, I Ching."

...

In a dark space, three GOC investigators suddenly appeared.

For them, it was only a blink of an eye.

"Where is this?"

The three looked at each other. Under their feet was a huge Tai Chi diagram, with eight passages outside, each with a different pattern.

"What's going on here? Weren't we just..."

One of them seemed to remember something, "That old man!"

Just as they were thinking about the old man, a voice suddenly came from the space.

"Among the Eight Gates, only one is the Gate of Life. If you take the wrong path, you die. If you don't, you die the same."

"The Tai Chi evolves, and the Gate of Life will change over time. If you can get out, I'll count you as formidable."

"So, what are the Eight Diagrams?"

One of them scratched his head, looking confused. He was not Asian and didn't understand this culture.

"You motherf*cker, are you starting from here?!"

One person looked up at the patterns on the eight gates, "Heaven Three Connects, Earth Six Divides, Thunder Rises and Earth Fills, Mountain Overturns and Bowl Covers, Fire Center Vacancy, Water Full in the Abyss, Marsh on Top Empty, Wind Under Divides. If it's about tomb robbing, the Gate of Life usually points to the Marsh position."

"Marsh belongs to the wind, with wind..."

"Wait, are you going to scold or not? I feel like I'm suffocating..."

While they were talking, the air began to thin.

The only one who could understand the Eight Diagrams clenched his teeth, "I don't understand what this

 means either. Let's go, let's try the Wind position!"

"Where's the Wind position?"

"Over here!"

The man said, charging towards the gate corresponding to the Wind position.

Then, in an instant, he was torn apart by a gust of wind.

Seeing this scene, the other two stomped their feet.

"...He guessed wrong."

"We can't go this way."

"There are two paths left, and there are still seven exits. Let's each take one, at least there's a one in seven chance!"

"Okay, let's go together!"

Saying that, the last person rushed into the Gate corresponding to Earth.

The next second, countless spikes emerged and directly pierced his body like a sieve.

"Now... it's one in six!"

The last person laughed as he gasped for breath.

Although they said they would go together, the situation clearly indicated that the highest chance of survival was for the last one to go!

Now, with two gates confirmed as Gates of Death, the man had a one in six chance left!

He walked directly into the Fire Gate corresponding to the Li hexagram!

But it seemed that Lady Luck did not favor him.

As the man's brain stopped due to lack of oxygen, flames erupted, directly incinerating his body.

Seeing this, the old man sighed, "So, young people, instead of looking for monsters, why not learn Tai Chi Bagua from me, the old man?"