INHA Chapter 68

Another ten minutes passed.

Xu Dongyou and his companions were still holding on with great difficulty. The other handlers had sped up their efforts to collect the phones, not only to prevent Xu Dongyou and the others from getting hurt but also to stop the evil ghost from continuing to endanger the human world.

“Only three phones left,” the chief said, frowning as he looked at the information collected by the handlers.

He couldn’t shake the bad feeling gnawing at him.

Similarly, the director of the Fengnian Street branch had an uneasy feeling. He immediately called the chief to his office.

Without exchanging a single word, the two understood each other’s concerns.

The director had no choice but to contact the headquarters, asking them to reach out to Elder Bai. The impact of the phone situation was too significant, leaving everyone feeling unsettled.

Within minutes, a message came from headquarters, specifically relayed by Elder Bai: “Let things take their course.”

The chief remained silent, only after a long pause did he say to the director, “Director, I request to go personally and assist Xu Dongyou.”

Otherwise, those people wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer.

The entire Anomaly Handling Bureau was now left with only a few clerks who were not skilled in combat. The only ones with any fighting capability were the director and himself.

However, the director needed to oversee the overall situation and couldn’t leave easily. More importantly, the director’s abilities were crucial and couldn’t be used lightly.

The director pondered for a few seconds before nodding solemnly. “Although the demon clan suggests letting things take their course, we humans must still assist. At the very least, we can’t allow the young demon to be in real danger.”

The chief nodded and immediately stood up to leave. Time was of the essence. He needed to reach the scene as quickly as possible to help.

It was broad daylight, and the streets were crowded. The chief got into a police car with sirens blaring, clearing the way as civilian vehicles moved aside. In just eight minutes, he reached the destination.

When Xu Dongyou and the others saw the chief, they couldn’t hide their shock. The chief’s gaze swept over Xu Dongyou and then over the others who were still fighting. All of these handlers were injured.

Kuang Zhannu, in particular, had suffered the most injuries as the main force of the battle. Xu Dongyou had originally wanted to get closer to help, but he had no practical weapons in hand. Moreover, Tian Ze and Kuang Zhannu needed Xu Dongyou to use an immobilizing talisman to reveal the human-faced spider’s form.

Without that, they wouldn’t be able to launch effective attacks against an unseen enemy.

As a result, Xu Dongyou was the least injured so far. As for Xu Wan, it seemed that being a fellow evil ghost connected to the phone gave her the ability to absorb the human-faced spider’s power, allowing her to continuously heal her injuries.

The human-faced spider, relying solely on its own strength, had managed to hold its ground against Xu Dongyou and the others up until now, maintaining a stalemate.

However, this balance was about to be broken with the chief’s arrival.

Evil ghosts do not feel anger or fear; they only follow their set rules. Therefore, when the chief arrived, the human-faced spider man showed no sign of anger. It was indifferent to who came, attacking anyone it encountered.

The chief slowly stepped into the bedroom, raising his hand slightly. In his palm, a shape resembling a closing book began to form. The chief opened a page, quickly tore out a still-glowing sheet from the book, and threw it out.

The book instantly transformed into countless characters for “Strike¹击” in mid-air, rapidly descending onto the evil ghost. Each strike caused the gray mist on the ghost’s body to ripple.

Although those present couldn’t see the gray mist, they could feel the force of the human-faced spider’s attacks weakening. This realization invigorated everyone, prompting them to unleash their full power without holding back.

The reason they had been holding back wasn’t due to selfishness but rather the fear that overexerting themselves early on could leave them vulnerable if the evil ghost had any tricks left.

After the chief’s first successful strike, he tore another page from the book, this time releasing the character “Suppress²镇“, which had an even greater impact than the previous one.

However, everyone could sense that the chief’s strength was rapidly diminishing, as this power clearly required a substantial amount of spiritual energy.

Xu Dongyou, meanwhile, took out a bottle of mineral water from the backpack he always carried, splashing it onto the human-faced spider. He then used his demonic power to force the water droplets into the spider’s mouth, where they exploded.

Although he knew this wouldn’t damage the ghost’s internal organs, it could weaken the gray mist to some extent.

The live stream viewers were thrilled by the dazzling special effects, shouting “666” repeatedly. The barrage of comments was so intense that it nearly obscured the screen, forcing some viewers to block part of the chat to improve their viewing experience.

Otherwise, it would significantly affect their enjoyment.

【666666666. I can only shout ‘666’ now. I’m speechless; these special effects are incredible. My whole family is drawn in. My sister even asked me what kind of stream this is and if it was a movie.】

【Hahaha, my family asked the same thing. They usually scold me for watching these ghostly things, but this time, they’re all hooked. My mom doesn’t believe it’s a live stream, saying it looks just like a movie!】

【I usually watch streams while eating because otherwise, the food tastes bland. But now I’m so tense I can’t even eat.】

【This is insane. I’m once again blown away by these special effects. It’s a shame they’re not working in the film industry.】

【I’m new here. I just want to ask, is this really a live stream? Not something pre-recorded? As far as I know, current live streaming technology can’t produce these kinds of special effects, right?】

【You’re so behind the times. You can’t see this kind of stuff in other streams, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see it here. This stream loves to hype things up with a super realistic yet overly dramatic setting. They’ve got all this ‘Anomaly Handling Bureau’ and ‘Handlers’ stuff going on. Feels like watching a novel from hundreds of years ago. Hahaha.】

【What would this stream team think if they saw these comments? I bet they’ve spent all their money on special effects and didn’t bother much with the storyline.】

【If this really is live, how come there’s no sign of post-production? Especially that girl acting as a fighter—how did she manage a backflip and then a double kick in mid-air? That’s not scientifically possible!】

【Maybe she’s using wires.】

【But look at the clothes she’s wearing; you can clearly see she’s not in a wire harness. And if you look closely, there’s no sign of any wires.】

【I have no idea then. Maybe this team has some trick up their sleeve. Anyway, the fighting is pretty awesome. That girl might have a future as an action star. She’s got great explosiveness—definitely has some training.】

【I won’t watch next year’s action films without you.】

【I won’t watch any big-budget special effects movies next year without this team!】

Meanwhile, the handlers had already found two more phones, but there was still one phone they couldn’t locate. They quickly compared the registered information and eventually identified the true owner of the missing phone.

The problem was, the address listed for the owner was completely deserted. After questioning the neighbors, they received some bad news.

It turned out that the owner hadn’t been seen for almost four months. Even the landlord confirmed that while the young man used to pay rent monthly, about four months ago, he suddenly stopped, and the landlord couldn’t get in touch with him. Eventually, the landlord had to reclaim the property.

The landlord had collected all the tenant’s belongings and stored them in a utility room. The handlers immediately rushed to the utility room and conducted a thorough search, but they still couldn’t find the phone.

The expert responsible for network analysis at the Anomaly Handling Bureau began an extensive review of the surrounding surveillance footage to trace the person’s movements before they disappeared four months ago.

On that day, the individual was seen descending the stairs slowly, with an unusual and unsettling demeanor. There was a strange, almost twisted quality to their limbs as if they might contort at any moment.

They continued walking forward until they vanished into an unfinished building and were never seen coming out again.

The handlers exchanged uneasy glances and immediately headed to the abandoned building. As a precaution, other nearby handlers also rushed to the site.

After gathering together, they cautiously ascended to the second floor via the stairs. The abandoned building was eerie and foreboding, and everyone remained on high alert, scanning their surroundings. Suddenly, one of them pointed towards a shadow in the distance. Everyone immediately turned to look, and their faces changed at what they saw.

The shadow was clearly a mummified corpse. Although the building lacked any odor of decay, the unsettling fact was that this corpse was still operating a smartphone.

The team moved slowly and silently, forming a circle around the corpse as they approached. Finally, they all struck at once. The mummified corpse remained motionless, as if completely unaware of its surroundings, with its hands deftly sliding across the phone screen, seemingly controlling a character in the “Monster Town” game.

They quickly restrained and sealed the corpse. However, even without the corpse’s manipulation, the character in the game continued to move, which shocked the handlers.

Could it be that the mummified corpse wasn’t controlling the game character?

It made sense upon reflection; after all, a corpse shouldn’t be able to operate a smartphone.

After some deliberation, they decided not to exit the game for the time being and swiftly brought both the phone and the corpse back to headquarters.

They suspected that the soul of the mummified corpse had been absorbed into the game world, continuing to exist in “Monster Town” in a different form. The body, likely influenced by some evil characteristics, continued its pre-death actions even after death.

The more they thought about it, the more unnerving it seemed.

Although they had retrieved the last phone, the character was still active in the game, which meant that the human-faced spider could continue drawing power from two of the phones.

It was only then that the handlers realized why players were being absorbed into the game—doing so maintained the evil ghost’s strength.

However, the bureau chief dismissed the handlers’ assumptions. “It’s not just that. The characters absorbed into the game serve a larger purpose—they’re meant to be killed. The fact that the evil ghost chose this game as its vessel indicates that the game’s content and mechanics align with its killing rule.”

“Because the game doesn’t prohibit players from killing each other?” one of the handlers murmured in realization.

“Right now, there are only two players online in the game. One is already dead, and the other is unconscious. To break the evil ghost’s killing cycle, we need to get both characters offline,” another handler said, troubled by the situation.

But the problem was that if the dead player were to log off, would it mean they would truly die?

And as for the unconscious player, how could they bring his soul back to reality?

These were critical issues that needed to be resolved as quickly as possible.

But it was incredibly difficult.

Unless there was some way to instantly overpower and seal the evil ghost.

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