The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Meanwhile, in a building of the Dongling Investigation Bureau.

Night had fallen, and the lights in the stairwells and corridors had automatically switched to energy-saving mode, dimming by half. Only the incandescent bulbs spaced a few meters apart remained lit, casting cold white streaks of light on the smooth floor tiles.

In a small office, a researcher in a white lab coat with dark circles under his eyes sat at his workstation, staring at the task notification that had just popped up on his mobile device, and let out a long sigh.

"Another week of overtime."

"When will the research institute be able to recruit more staff?"

He leaned back and rubbed his temples with both hands.

The next moment, he seemed to remember something.

"Oh right, there's still one email I haven't checked."

He straightened up slightly and then opened the mobile terminal again.

He opened his email, squinted at the sender's name, and then paused, stunned.

"Liu Musheng..."

His finger hovered above the screen, not in a hurry to tap, but instead, the corner of his mouth turned down slightly: "This guy, he must be having a great time as a bureau chief outside."

His old friend, who was the top official in Dayun City, came to mind.

"But he was looking for me..."

With that in mind, he clicked on the message.

There wasn't much text on the screen. He glanced at it, and the gist of it was: there was a one-time-use weapon that could unleash the power of a strong seventh-tier weapon, usable in both the Dark Realm and the real world. A sample had already been sent, and they wanted his help in studying its principles.

He stared at the words for two seconds, then his lips twitched.

A powerful seventh-tier weapon? One-time use? Can it be used in both the Dark Realm and the real world?

"Damn it, this guy is awful!"

"What a joke!"

"I have no idea how hard researchers work!"

He picked up the teacup on his workstation, took a sip, glanced at the message again, and finally sighed.

"Never mind. Since it's already been sent, let's go take a look."

He stood up from his workstation, dragged his feet down the corridor, passed through a key card access control, and found a palm-sized parcel box in the parcel collection room on the first floor.

A moment later, he opened the package, and with some confusion, took the palm-sized wooden box back to his workstation.

He placed the wooden box on the table, but instead of opening it immediately, he sat down, crossed his arms, and stared at the box for a long time.

"A single-use weapon with the power of a level 7 strong weapon, and it's this small?"

He stretched his hand over the wooden box and gestured; the box was smaller than his palm, and could be completely held in one hand.

He's worked at the research institute for so many years and has seen quite a lot.

They have also developed high-powered disposable weapons: some can produce sixth-level power, some can produce seventh-level power, and some are even theoretically designed to produce eighth-level power.

However, ultimately, due to reasons such as excessive manufacturing costs, large size making them difficult to carry, and the risk of accidentally injuring their own people, it was impossible to produce a high-powered standard weapon suitable for torchbearers.

The White Ball, a standard weapon developed recently that can be used in the Dark Domain and is also portable in size, can only unleash about fourth-tier power.

It's not that they don't want to or can't enhance the power of the White Pill, but if they do, its size will become unsuitable for carrying in battle!

But the message from Liu Musheng told him that the small box in front of him contained a one-time weapon that could unleash the power of a strong seventh-level weapon.

His eyes, with their deep bags, were full of doubt.

"Is Liu Musheng just messing with me for no reason?"

"Is the city police chief really that free?"

He imagined Liu Musheng sitting in the director's office, legs crossed, drinking tea, reviewing documents while thinking about how to prank his old friend, and thought it wasn't entirely impossible.

With this thought in mind, he reached out and opened the wooden box.

The moment the lid was opened, the office lights fell into the box, illuminating its contents.

On the reddish-brown velvet lining, lay a small, pure white sword with cloud patterns, only two or three inches long, resembling a work of art.

The small sword is entirely warm and pure white, with fine cloud patterns flowing across its blade.

He stared at the small sword, the smile on his lips shifting from doubt to certainty.

He shook his head: "I knew it—".

But he didn't finish his sentence.

The next moment, he stopped.

"Wait, something's not right."

His voice softened, as if he were talking to himself: "There are tiny traces of energy flow on it."

He extended his index finger and touched the blade very lightly.

The touch from my fingertips was cool, but not the metallic kind of coolness; rather, it was a softer, more like touching a piece of warm, smooth jade.

At the same time, his senses captured those fine, almost invisible energy lines.

They are densely distributed inside the sword blade, like some kind of miniaturized circuit board.

"Moreover, this energy loop has never been seen before..."

His voice grew softer and softer.

"Interlocking links, the core energy is completely compressed and locked in the middle."

"hiss--!"

He gasped, then his eyes lit up.

"Interesting, interesting..."

His lips moved slightly as he muttered something to himself.

"This design..."

"The energy cycle flows continuously, but with very little loss, and only a tiny amount of energy is needed to break its balance and trigger it."

"Genius! Absolutely a genius!"

He leaned down, bringing his face close to the top of the wooden box, his nose less than ten centimeters from the small sword.

His gaze moved from the tip of the small sword to its tail, scrutinizing every single detail.

"Hmm? What's this structure for?"

"It's a bit complicated."

"Let me see... let me see..."

Time slipped away quietly under his focused gaze.

The deep blue night sky outside the window slowly moved from the center to the west, the starlight dimming one by one, and on the distant horizon, a very faint pale white light was slowly spreading.

By the time he put down the pure white sword, more than two hours had passed.

He straightened up, his cervical spine cracking as if in protest.

His eye bags were deeper and his dark circles were heavier than before, but his eyes were bright.

He glanced at his watch; it was already four in the morning.

The sky outside the window has turned from pitch black to dark gray, and soon the birds will be singing.

"No, no, I can't watch anymore."

He shook his head vigorously, as if trying to shake off the thoughts that were still swirling in his mind.

"Unfortunately, there are still urgent tasks this week..."

He let out a long sigh.

Next, he carefully put the small sword back into the wooden box, and then pulled out a folding bed from beside his workstation and unfolded it.

He lay down without even taking off his white coat.

Almost the instant he lay down on the folding bed, he fell into a deep sleep.

It was clear that he was truly exhausted.

At that moment, a researcher in a white coat, who had just woken up and was ready to get to work early, walked into the office.

His hair was neater than the researcher on the folding bed, and his white lab coat was cleaner, but there were two obvious bluish patches under his eyes.

When he pushed the door open, he paused for a moment, his gaze falling on the figure who was already fast asleep on the folding bed, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

He smiled and shook his head, then tiptoed around the folding bed and headed to his workstation.

As he passed the table piled high with documents and various instruments, his gaze inadvertently fell on the unclosed wooden box on the table.

The lid of the wooden box was half open, revealing a reddish-brown velvet lining inside.

In the very center of the lining lay a small, pure white sword with ever-flowing cloud patterns on it.

His smile deepened, thinking it was some kind of small craft, and he muttered casually, "Old Tang really hasn't lost his childlike heart."

He glanced at it and was about to walk away.

But the next moment, he stopped moving.

He caught something in his peripheral vision.

It wasn't the shape of the small sword, nor its color, but the way the cloud patterns flowed.

"Hiss, the way these cloud patterns flow seems to follow a pattern."

He stopped and moved his face closer, his gaze following the direction of the cloud patterns.

"It's somewhat like an energy flow node in some kind of ritual?"

His curiosity was immediately piqued.

But seeing the man sleeping soundly on the folding bed, he couldn't bear to wake him.

But at the same time, after discovering the unique way the cloud patterns flowed, he felt as if a cat was scratching at his heart.

It's so itchy.

This is a common problem among researchers in research institutes.

He hesitated for a moment, his lips pursing and relaxing repeatedly.

After a moment he murmured:

"Old Tang, oh Old Tang."

"We've been best buddies for at least twenty meals together."

"You'll understand me, won't you?"

"And I only glanced at it, just once."

Then, having made a certain decision, he reached for the small wooden box.

. . .

Meanwhile, Wu You, who was sleeping peacefully in the Jiuli base in Yunshang Province, turned over, his breathing still calm and long.

His long white hair was scattered on the pillow like undulating moonlight, while the silver sword mark between his brows glowed faintly in the darkness, its light flickering in perfect sync with the rhythm of his breathing.