Atop a distant skyscraper, Director Xia and Director Fu watched from afar as the masked man was surrounded by a group of law enforcers and three Secret Keepers.
"The newcomer bears ill intent."
"This Wang Miaoyin actually has an accomplice? What surprises me even more is that he actually dares to attempt a rescue."
"The waters of Yongan City run too deep. Fortunately, the Secret Keepers Bureau has intervened — otherwise, even with the Two Departments working together, it would have been difficult to close this case cleanly today."
"Indeed. From the very beginning — the bewildering student disappearance case, then the mutated spider killing its master, the appearance of the animal-flesh-mountain hybrid, the strange sounds and giant crater in the East District, and now the desiccated corpse victims in the South District..."
"Behind every single incident, there are eerie, Transcendent forces at play — far beyond what we are capable of handling."
Over here, Xia Xiyang and Fu Yang were sighing in lament,
while on the rooftop opposite, the situation had already plunged into an extremely tense, hair-trigger state.
...
"Lord Bai... Zhi?"
"Who is this person you speak of? And who are you?" Sword Heart asked dubiously.
Beneath his mask, the corner of Lin Binbin's mouth lifted slightly. "She is the world's one true savior who will deliver it from anomalous transformation — the most noble, most beautiful, and most powerful existence in this world. For you mere mortals to even hear her name is already the greatest of fortunes."
"As for me — I am merely a fortunate and loyal retainer under Lord Bai Zhi's command..."
Hearing this, Sword Heart sighed. "Alright, another lunatic."
Zichen said expressionlessly: "Contaminated by anomalies quite severely."
"Bah!"
King of Strength spat, sneering: "Brat, don't be so ungrateful. I've seen plenty of people like you who, with a tiny bit of Transcendent power, think they can do whatever they want. Trying to go against the Federal Secret Keepers Bureau — you'll be in for a world of pain."
As he spoke, Sword Heart had already shaken off all the silk threads from his blade.
"Since you want to take her away, then let me see what you've got."
Just as Sword Heart's entire body flickered with green fluorescence and his blade aura was ready to erupt,
Lin Binbin had already directly pressed himself against Wang Miaoyin's back. Both arms wrapped around her, embracing her waist. With a spin, her feet immediately left the ground, swinging through the air like a tossed flower.
Wang Miaoyin's expression changed slightly, about to react.
At that moment, Lin Binbin whispered in Wang Miaoyin's ear: "If you want to live, don't resist."
Though Wang Miaoyin's expression grew unnatural, she still allowed Lin Binbin to hold her.
And behind Lin Binbin, an extremely fine, snow-white thread was attached, lifting him and Wang Miaoyin together like fishing, carrying them away into the air.
Without a second thought, King of Strength and Zichen prepared to step forward and leap after them. But the momentum drained from their bodies with frightening speed.
Both felt themselves suddenly restrained by an unknown force, and this force grew stronger and stronger. Its point of origin rapidly spread from a single spot across half their bodies, until finally their entire bodies could not move at all.
Focusing their gazes on themselves, they were stunned to discover that their entire bodies had been wrapped in densely packed, fine spider silk, swaddling them like silk cocoons.
They had absolutely no idea when these silk threads had gotten onto them!
"Where do you think you're going!"
Sword Heart bellowed, abruptly hurling the long blade in his hand. It shot forth like a green meteor, streaking rapidly toward the figures of Lin Binbin and Wang Miaoyin.
Crack!
In that instant, everyone saw lightning flash in the sky, and then a blue-violet pillar of light about 3 meters long descended vertically, directly colliding with the green meteor. A blinding burst of sparks and electric light erupted.
Only then did they hear that sharp, crisp tearing sound.
Crackle-pop!
Amid the explosion of lightning fire, the dark green long blade disintegrated violently, shattering into dozens of metal fragments that fell like snowflakes.
"How is this possible?!"
"My sword has never broken before! Even lightning shouldn't be able to shatter it!"
Though Sword Heart's face was covered by his metal helmet, his horrified, desperate scream made it easy to imagine the exaggerated expression beneath.
Bang bang bang!
A row of muzzle flashes lit up all around. Every law enforcer raised their palms, firing over a hundred bullets like brilliant fireworks, crowding and surging toward Lin Binbin.
Just as it seemed the two figures drifting through the air could not possibly outpace the bullets and were about to be riddled into sieves,
and Wang Miaoyin herself was facing imminent peril, preparing to activate her ability to stop some of the bullets' motion...
Bzzz... bzzz bzzz...
Blue-violet strands of electric light gathered and in an instant coalesced into four-sided square grids of lightning, enveloping the two airborne figures and absorbing the metallic storm of gunfire entirely. Large numbers of bullets melted under the extreme heat, dripping down as liquid metal like clusters of scalding raindrops.
"What on earth is happening?!"
Dozens of meters away, Xia Xiyang and Fu Yang's eyes were stretched to their widest as each stared in shock through their binoculars at this scene.
"Is this still a level of power achievable by humans?"
"No — this should not be that masked man's doing... And besides, I feel like I've seen something like this before..."
The hundred-plus law enforcer mechanical beings were also baffled, not understanding why a four-sided lightning grid had suddenly appeared, intercepting all their bullets.
"..."
King of Strength's mouth gaped so wide he could have stuffed three duck eggs into it.
Zichen wore an expression of having "seen a ghost" and murmured: "This is probably an ability only possessed by A-Rank Secret Keepers, isn't it?"
Sword Heart said decisively: "Impossible. How could a tiny place like Yongan City produce a human comparable to an A-Rank Secret Keeper? Therefore, this is absolutely not a human targeting us..."
Before his words had even finished, everyone suddenly simultaneously felt a sensation — that the sky had darkened.
That's right. Even though it was currently nighttime, everyone somehow felt that the sky's color had grown even deeper!
"What's happening? I feel like I can barely see clearly anymore."
"The moon... the moon seems to have dimmed..."
"Do you guys... smell something? A very fragrant scent."
"Yeah, I've never smelled a fragrance like this before. It's full of danger, yet harbors a strange sensation — it's like... temptation."
The three were no longer able to continue fighting, yet they remained in full combat readiness, vigilantly monitoring the changes around them.
King of Strength and Zichen were bound by spider webs. Sword Heart's weapon had been destroyed. Even if they forcibly continued pursuit, they would most likely end up restrained by those eerie spider webs just the same.
And the law enforcers, even as they kept pouring out bullets, were merely firing what looked like farewell salutes and celebratory fireworks, watching helplessly as Lin Binbin and Wang Miaoyin drew further and further away.
"Look! What's that?" Zichen suddenly shouted.
In that moment, Sword Heart and King of Strength, the two Directors, and the group of mechanical beings all saw it too —
Lin Binbin and Wang Miaoyin, suspended by an eerie thread, were pulled to the top of a skyscraper.
The four-sided lightning grids surrounding the two vanished. A figure of terrifying size yet eerily enchanting appearance — a spider — slowly emerged from the darkness.
"That's..."
"It actually showed up? Why is it that one?"
King of Strength stared blankly at the spider figure.
"That's right."
Sword Heart nodded, his tone more solemn than ever before. He felt a bitter taste spread in his mouth.
"Quasi-Calamity Rank anomaly — file codename 'Nyx'..."
"Yongan City's most fearsome anomalous creature, also believed to be the source of the entire series of anomalous events in Yongan City."