Chapter 23: Nothing

Luo Yajun chased after the conference room through the back door and arrived at the underground parking garage. With a single shot, he shattered the lock and kicked open the heavy iron door, instantly hit by a strange odor.

The damp air carried the scent of blood, giving him an unsettling premonition.

As he pushed the door and entered the basement, a chill immediately seemed to surge into his body from the floor, as if stepping into another world.

A cold wind blew from an unknown source, as if carrying the whispers of ghosts and deities. All the lights in the underground space flickered and dimmed, with a pale white light flashing rapidly.

Long, slender shadows were cast on the walls and floor, constantly changing with the flickering of the lights, resembling menacing ghosts with bared fangs and claws.

Luo Yajun took two steps and quickly felt the sticky sensation on the soles of his shoes.

When he lowered his head, he realized that the crimson blood had already seeped over his boots without him noticing. A mixture of blood and mire from within the human body was spreading, and he found himself standing in the center of the quagmire.

Lifting his boot from the blood pool, he followed the direction indicated by the cast shadows.

Then he saw Tomohiko Nagase, along with several other bosses he was looking for.

It seemed like they couldn't go anywhere.

Their intestines were hanging from the ceiling.

These people, who had all been prominent figures in the underworld, met a gruesome end. Blood-soaked straps extended from their ruptured abdomens, suspending them from the ceiling, like dead pigs hanging on hooks in a slaughterhouse.

The lights continued to flicker, casting a ghastly white glow over the pool of blood, like pale lightning tearing through the sky.

In the fleeting moment when the light illuminated, Luo Yajun caught a glimpse of a slender shadow standing beside him in the corner of his eye.

A disheveled figure with unkempt hair covering half of the face, but the mouth revealed a horrifying smile, twisted unnaturally up to the ears.

Without hesitation, Luo Yajun swiftly turned his gun, and before anyone could fully see, a barrage of bullets swept past. The muzzle flash illuminated the darkness between the flickering lights, shattering the convex mirror hanging on a load-bearing pillar ahead with a clang.

But there was no one in that direction anymore.

Luo Yajun furrowed his brows slightly.

An illusion?

Then he caught another glimpse of the eerie figure in the rearview mirror of the parked sports car. From the reflective surface, he saw that menacing image again, grinning and laughing in the pool of blood.

Without hesitation, Luo Yajun turned his head and fired the gun once more. The bullets exploded in the pool of blood, splattering it with fresh crimson, but once again, there was nothing in that direction.

The sound of gunfire ceased, and the parking garage returned to silence, with only the steady drip-drip sound of blood falling from the suspended corpses.

Luo Yajun held his breath, his gaze continuing to scan slowly.

Without any warning, his pupils contracted as he sensed something. He abruptly turned his head, and that horrifying face was now just inches away. The man stood beside Luo Yajun, his cracked mouth twisting into a mocking smile.

Luo Yajun immediately attempted to turn his gun, but he realized that the barrel was already grasped by the other person. Thinking quickly, he abandoned the gun and swiftly drew his handgun, aiming it at the man's forehead.

The impact ignited the gunpowder, and the metal bullet propelled by the explosion tore through flesh, carrying fragments of tissue and bone as it pierced through the man's skull from the back.

But the man remained completely unfazed, extending his hand with all five fingers reaching towards Luo Yajun. His entire hand was soaked in blood, a disturbingly vivid shade of crimson.

Luo Yajun was slightly taken aback.

Even highly infected individuals, despite their lack of pain perception and strong vitality, would typically die from a fatal headshot or a shot through the heart. Yet, a headshot seemed ineffective against the man standing before him.

He evaded the man's grasp, seizing the offered arm and forcefully attempting to twist it off. However, his exerted force encountered tremendous resistance; the arm seemed as immovable as if it were forged from steel.

The man's physical abilities surpassed his own.

In the moment of realizing this, the man's arm suddenly swung out with tremendous force. Just this single swipe sent Luo Yajun flying, his entire body propelled backward, and his back "clang" hitting the rear window of the Chevrolet behind him, shattering it into cracks.

The strength was astonishing.

Luo Yajun quickly got up as fast as he could, only to see the man closing in on him once again, gripping his throat. The incredible grip strength made him feel as if his throat was about to be crushed, and his hands instinctively clung desperately to the man's wrist.

"Are you... Guan Ye?" Luo Yajun asked through gritted teeth.

He had already figured it out.

The man before him, with his deranged laughter, was likely none other than Guan Ye, who had inadvertently witnessed the gang's transaction, been encased in a cement pile, and mysteriously disappeared from within.

He was an infected individual, and not just any infected individual, but one with an extremely high level of infection. Perhaps the experience of being beaten and buried in the pile of cement had intensified his infection. The formidable vitality of an infected individual had kept him alive.

The loneliness of being alone, the frustration of losing his job, being evicted by the landlord, and then encountering the thugs who beat and killed him... All these experiences bestowed upon him immense negative emotions and rapidly deepened his infection, granting him tremendous power.

"No, I am not," "Guan Ye," with his cracked grin, spoke up, his voice seemingly filled with amusement. "I am not Guan Ye, and I am not anyone.

I am 'Wu'."

"What?" Luo Yajun continued to struggle in an attempt to pry the man's arm open, but that hand was just too strong and powerful. He seemed helpless in the face of it.

"The thing that people fear the most, Detective Luo, is 'nothingness,' the uncertainty of the future. You force them to confront this, to stare at the void called life and seek meaning, but in the end, there is only one outcome."

He leaned in close to Luo Yajun, so close that the detective could even smell a putrid odor of blood and decay emanating from his cracked grin.

"They will go insane."

He let out a string of peculiar laughter, and the flickering lights sporadically illuminated that bloody grin.

"So, this is the purpose of my existence. I am the embodiment of that 'nothingness,' the thing that everyone fears. What I have done, all of this..."

He glanced back at the pitiful creatures hanging from the ceiling.

"...is just a preliminary test I conducted to validate my abilities. Among all the dull people, you should be the one who understands this the most, Officer Luo, isn't that right?"

Luo Yajun didn't have time to ponder the meaning behind his words. His brain had already ceased to function, unable to continue thinking. His throat was in excruciating pain, his breath felt constricted, and his strength to struggle was diminishing.

As his vision gradually blurred, he caught a glimpse of a bat in a trance.

A gigantic bat, spreading its wings wide, glided towards their direction, accompanied by the swooshing sound of flapping wings.

"Guan Ye" was taken by surprise as the diving bat kicked him forcefully, sending his entire body flying away.