The King of Curses

Chapter 56 Past and Future
Cen Dongsheng was very clear that he was dreaming.

He could clearly recall the series of events that occurred in today's haunted house adventure, and his mind was very clear.

The reason why I had such a dream during meditation was because I had fought with the fake Yi Qingyan who was transformed from the phantom ghost?
Because what he was recalling at that moment was what happened on that day.

...No, Cen Dongsheng thought, it was obviously affected by other factors.

Meditation can relieve fatigue and preserve energy in a similar way to sleep; but after all, it is not real sleep, so it is unlikely to fall into a dream.

Meditation is a basic skill in cultivation for a master of restraints. If he doesn't even have this most basic vigilance, he wouldn't have made such boasts in front of the little sister.

...something must have happened.

Cen Dongsheng wanted to wake up, but he couldn't control his actions in his dream, and couldn't even decide what to say.

Everything before my eyes is a reproduction of my memory, and any interference will be of no use.

He was like another soul hidden in his body, looking back at everything that happened that day from this perspective——

*
The city in the distance is dotted with stars, and the artificial lights block the moonlight and starlight in the sky. The city that never sleeps is like a huge bonfire standing on the seashore.

The prosperous scene was no different from before the three "waves" swept the world.

After a brief period of chaos and disorder, under the iron-fisted rule of the ruling bureau, the city restored order and prospered in just a few years, once again becoming the safest and most prosperous international metropolis in the world.

But this is only in areas where humans live and operate.

Outside the city, in the undeveloped wilderness, the endless darkness stretches to the horizon. Countless threats and evils hide in corners that the glory of the philosopher king cannot reach.

Non-humans have not been completely driven out of the world, and the minions of demons and monsters are stirring in the shadows.

The towering mountains, with their undulating outlines under the night sky, are like gigantic monsters entrenched on the earth.

In the night wind, a group of six executive commissioners from the ruling bureau took two jeeps. After receiving an out-of-town investigation mission from their superiors, they hurried to the scene in the middle of the night.

Going up the winding mountain road, they soon arrived at the col.

"We have arrived at Lotus Town, over."

Captain Feng, who was sitting in the passenger seat, reported the situation to the liaison officer regularly. He acted decisively and immediately pushed the door and got out of the car.

The team members of the Exorcism Division of the Governing Bureau who got off the car were all wearing black uniform coats and had guns on their waists.

The things that everyone carries with them, apart from the necessary materials and tools, are mainly talisman paper, rosary beads and bullets.

The first two are used to deal with ghosts, while guns and bullets are used to save true energy to deal with those possessed people who are beyond help and those who have bad intentions at certain times.

Also, everyone has an electronic collar hanging around their neck.

In addition to the emergency contact and positioning functions, there is also one milligram of medicine inside. As long as the true qi is injected, it can trigger the mechanism and inject the medicine into the blood vessels.

Apart from the "Grade A prohibited item" kept by Captain Feng during missions, this potion is the most precious thing on the executive specialists' body.

It is called the "activation drug" and has comprehensive effects. It can effectively enhance the physical fitness, self-healing ability and true energy of the curse master over a period of time, exerting extraordinary strength, which is enough to save a life at a critical moment, and the side effects are weak.

This is just one milligram of the drug, and it is worth a fortune if sold in the "ghost market". But compared to the cost, the worst thing is the risk of being wanted by the ruling bureau.

Compared with the so-called banned drugs and forbidden techniques in the past, activation drugs are just as effective and far superior in safety and reliability, and are very famous around the world.

Its basic principle is a special phenomenon called "overdevelopment": that is, at a certain moment, under the urging of a strong will, the power that exceeds the potential of the curse is exerted. Keeping it within a controllable range is the working principle of the activation drug.

The principle is simple, but anyone who knows a little about it will find this achievement incredible. It is said that the director general of the Governing Bureau, the "philosopher king" An Zhizhen, personally guided the development, and it took more than five years to iterate to this version.

This is a fully armed and well-trained execution team. If the conditions are right, they may even be able to challenge Class A monsters.

But their expressions remained serious.

"No captain is coming for this mission?"

Standing in the middle of the team was a young man with a crew cut.

He looked around. There were two jeeps parked on the road leading to the town, and no other people or vehicles were visible, which made him feel desolate.

Currently, only our team has arrived in the town.

"Yes. The captain of the Seventh Squadron should be about ten kilometers away from us. They are in the core area, and they may have already had a fight with the people of the Nine-Child Ghost Mother."

Captain Feng said, he is a man with a bold personality, bald head, about 45 years old.

It is said that he was a top-class forbidden master in the past, and was in the same class as the current head of the Exorcism Department. Later, he was seriously injured, and although he barely survived, his realm fell. However, he was unwilling to retreat to the rear, and has been fighting on the front line ever since.

"As for this place, according to the intelligence from the headquarters, Lotus Town is a relatively remote place, inhabited by ordinary people, who usually rely on hiring freelance spell-forbidden masters to protect them. The 'Ghost Mother Society' may not necessarily target such a place."

"……Lets see."

Cen Dongsheng said. He is the deputy leader of the team, and his main responsibility is to persuade the captain to act calmly.

"It would be risky if we were to encounter the core members of the 'Ghost Mother Society' with just a few of us."

"You underestimate yourself. We are frontline executive members after all."

Captain Feng patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"With our teamwork, we can beat even the top-level opponents."

Cen Dongsheng is a "B-2", which means a master who has fully mastered two types of B-grade forbidden spells; Captain Feng is a B-3, the strongest and most experienced member of the team.

The general classification of spell masters is "A, B, C, and D". They are in the middle class. Strictly speaking, D is not a formal spell master. In the Tiannan region, only students who are apprentices in the spell department are classified into this level. The ghosts they can deal with are only floating spirits, and the amount of true energy in their bodies is only enough to barely protect themselves, just slightly stronger than ordinary people.

After graduating from the Curse and Taboo Department, they pass the test of the government departments and officially obtain the qualification for assessment. The first time they enter the society, they are classified as Class C. If they work in the front-line departments, they are generally responsible for handling ordinary supernatural events in the city where the haunted ghosts are determined to be lonely souls.

They are not qualified to participate in relatively core and important tasks such as "exorcising the haunted house". They are often just auxiliary work on the periphery.

The B-grade forbidden masters - which is the level that Cen Dongsheng and his colleagues are at - are the backbone of large forces. Possessing a large-scale B-grade forbidden master force is the symbol of the four major districts.

Being rated at this level means that the curse master has the ability to deal with evil spirits alone and is qualified to participate in the exorcism of haunted houses.

The second-class forbidden master himself, including his family, enjoys special treatment provided by the ruling bureau and has certain authority in the ideal country system. It is an enviable job for ordinary citizens.

But in Cen Dongsheng's eyes, this is a mediocre position that is neither up nor down. He cannot fully control his own destiny, and facing the trend of the times, he can only go with the flow.

Only when one reaches the first-class forbidden master can one be considered to have truly entered the "elite" class. In the combat sequence of the ruling bureau, one starts as a detachment leader of the executive force, and then moves up to the captain of each battalion, including the leaders of various departments, all of whom are at this level.

They enjoyed various privileges in the city, and were among the upper class in the forbidden teacher society where strength was everything.

There is another level above——

The ministers of the departments directly under the ruling bureau, as well as the regional governors in charge of different regions, are called "magicians".

Although he is still a Class A forbidden master in terms of level classification, he has a combat power far beyond the former because he has mastered the advanced skill of "supernatural power".

They generally do not participate in the work of exorcising haunted houses. The real enemies they need to face are called "evil spirits".

This is a kind of ghost that has mastered the "evil qi" energy that is opposite to the "true qi" of the forbidden master, and has transformed into another kind of existence.

The evil spirits can be understood as first-class ghosts that can move freely outside the haunted house. The damage they can cause is definitely not comparable to that of the "owner" who is confined to a spiritual space.

As for the special class... the special class is an exception. Special class spell-binding masters do not participate in the grade assessment of the spell-binding master society.

"Is there really a fight? I still hope I don't encounter one."

Cen Dongsheng sighed.

"The core members of the 'Nine-Child Ghost Mother' are very powerful. Their opponents should be the captains and group leaders. We only need to deal with the minions who were dragged along."

"Feeling dissatisfied?" Captain Feng smiled and put his arm around his shoulder. "We are from the ruling bureau. We are already the best. How can we compete with a bunch of roving criminals?"

The Tiannan region is the most powerful and developed of the four regions; in addition to the four major regions, there are also numerous scattered small forces.

Most of them have been incorporated, but some have been missed because of their low value or stubborn resistance.

An experienced front-line member like Cen Dongsheng would be fully qualified to be a leader if he went to a small place like that.

However, there is no such saying as "It is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix" in this world. Only the areas ruled by the "ancestors" are truly safe zones.

Before joining the ruling bureau, Cen Dongsheng had been living the life of an ordinary person, with no relatives or friends, alone, and without any great pursuits or ideals. For a long time, he thought that his life would be like this.

Until the arrival of the "First Wave".

He happened to encounter one of the "Eight Great Disasters", "The Passage of Yin Soldiers". Originally a college student, he was caught up in it. At that time, he and some teachers and students around him were all victims and had to live a displaced life.

Among this group of people, he is lucky——

The lucky thing about him was that he was an orphan from birth, with no relatives or friends to worry about, so he didn't have to feel heartbroken like other people for losing important people after an irresistible disaster swept through their lives.

Anyone who has had such an experience will feel how important it is to be able to control your own destiny.

This is also the reason why he chose to be alone after becoming a member of the ruling bureau and living a stable life for several years.

In fact, a young man like him who has a certain social status and strength, and is single, is naturally very popular in the marriage market. Not to mention ordinary families, marriages between forbidden master families are more common, so there are often people trying to find out and contacting.

But for Cen Dongsheng, unless he is sure that he has the ability to protect the people close to him and his possible family in the future, he will not consider having in-depth interactions with others.

Or maybe the other party is strong enough to protect himself...

A chaotic stream of thoughts flashed through his mind.

These are all very distant things for Cen Dongsheng now.

"Let's go."

They were almost at the entrance of the town, and the small talk came to an end. Captain Feng patted him on the shoulder and asked his colleagues to follow.

……

After walking along the road in the center of the town for a while, people's expressions gradually became serious.

They were all experienced warriors who could smell something strange in the air.

The town was deserted and eerily quiet.

After arriving at the original location, the welcoming group was nowhere to be seen. A radio device and a luggage bag were left behind, and it seemed that they left in a hurry.

From a distance, the light sources in the town seemed to have been swallowed up by something, leaving it pitch black.

A team member wearing black-framed glasses pinched his nose, causing the tip of his nose to twitch slightly, and his face instantly became like a mouse.

He reminded solemnly:
"It smells like corpses. They've been dead for more than two days, almost at the same time, and... there are a huge number of them."

(End of this chapter)