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

In an inconspicuous small county town within Dongjiang Province.

The streets should be bustling in the afternoon, with vegetable vendors, elderly people taking a stroll after lunch, and delivery drivers riding electric bikes through the streets and alleys, filling the main street to capacity on weekdays.

But the streets were deserted at that moment. Most of the shops had their shutters down, and the shop owners who should have been inside were nowhere to be seen. Only a few bicycles that hadn't been moved yet were leaning crookedly against the lampposts.

Clearly, the small county town was now under control.

On the rooftop of a six-story building, a slender figure wearing a white vest stood on the edge of the rooftop.

The vest was slightly faded from washing, with the hem loosely draped over the waistband of the pants, and on her feet were a pair of equally ordinary dark slippers.

He had his hands in his pockets, tilted his head slightly, and his gaze slowly swept across the empty street.

"Humans," He began, his voice soft, as if speaking to himself yet also to others, "so frail, yet possessing such extraordinary talent."

"I'm becoming more and more curious about this world."

Not long after he finished speaking, several figures in black trench coats appeared from the street corner.

They are the torchbearers responsible for patrolling this area and ensuring the safety of residents. You can see their conspicuous white vests on the roof from a distance.

The lead torchbearer paused, his brow furrowing immediately. He shouted, "Citizen, please calm down! Don't do anything foolish!"

As he shouted, he gestured to the person next to him. Another person in a black trench coat had already begun climbing up the drainpipe on one side of the building. His movements were quick and steady, and the soles of his shoes made a slight rubbing sound on the wall.

The slender figure on the rooftop seemed not to hear anything, not even turning his head in that direction.

He looked up at the sky, his gaze fixed on some unseen distance, his lips moved slightly, and his voice was as soft as if he were speaking to the wind: "You don't need to be so agitated; I have no interest in them."

Then, He paused for a moment.

"and--"

"Now, there are more important things to do."

As the last word fell, a visible dark energy fluctuation suddenly spread out from where he stood, like a silent ripple with fine black threads curling at the edges.

Several torchbearers who were approaching also felt the fluctuation, but when they realized what was happening and looked up, all that was left on the rooftop was an empty concrete floor and a half-broken clothesline.

The slender figure in the white vest had long since vanished without a trace.

The leader's expression changed drastically, and his finger was already pressing the button on his headset: "Report! Suspicious individuals with dark energy fluctuations have been detected in area C-6-3!"

. . .

At the same moment, in a place where there is no sky, no ground, only endless thick fog.

A palace floats in the air.

The main body of the palace is built of a black stone that does not reflect any light. The surface is without any carvings or patterns, only a pure black color without any impurities.

The palace's interior floor was made of smooth black stone slabs, the walls were black, and the dome was also black.

At the far end of this pure black palace, there lies a tall, imposing chair.

A figure wearing a black cloak sat on top, with the hood pulled low, obscuring his face.

Then, it seemed to sense something.

The blurry face under the hood lifted slightly, revealing a pale, bloodless chin.

Then, a cold voice echoed through the empty hall: "The time has come. Begin the operation."

The group of people in black cloaks standing in the hall simultaneously bent down, their movements so synchronized as if they were being pulled by the same thread.

Their robes brushed against the black stone floor, making a soft rustling sound.

"As you command!"

The sounds overlapped and were reflected back by the empty hall, forming a faint echo.

But while these echoes were still swirling on the equally black walls of the hall, the figures in black cloaks had all vanished.

The palace, which had been half full, was now completely empty, with only the tall, empty chair in the center remaining.

. . .

Yunshang Province, Dayun City.

Huhu——

Huhu——

The rotors of several helicopters churned the afternoon air as they approached their destination, known as the "Fireworks Organization Outpost."

A row of people in black trench coats sat in the cabin, their seats close together, knees touching, and everyone's headsets were tuned to the same channel.

Hua Linlin sat by the window, tilting her head to watch the scenery rushing past, her mind churning: "Although this support operation is a cross-provincial mission, it seems relatively easy so far."

"It seems that the situation regarding this incident is still under the control of the bureau."

"Then he should be fine, since he's so strong."

But at that moment, something unexpected happened!

Boom—!

A deafening roar erupted, and the helicopter seemed to be hit by some kind of impact, suddenly lurching violently.

Everyone in the cabin was jolted to the side by half an inch by the sudden jolt, their shoulders buckled by the seatbelts and bounced back.

Hua Linlin grabbed the armrest next to her seat with one hand and pressed her other hand against the psionic pistol at her waist, her gaze immediately sweeping in the direction from which the vibration came.

Then she froze.

Beneath the building emblazoned with the two large silver characters for "Fireworks," a massive beam of light, estimated to be at least tens of meters in diameter, shot skyward from the ground.

The beam of light was extremely bright, its color close to the incandescent white of the midday sun, and its edges trembled slightly due to airflow and energy disturbances.

It pierced the ground from some depth below the earth, penetrated the bottom of the building, and shot straight into the sky. Even the clouds at the top of the sky were carved out of a circular gap by the beam of light, and the edges were still slowly expanding outward.

But after staring at it for a moment or two, Hua Linlin discovered something more: it wasn't a beam of light at all!

It was a collection of countless tiny beams of light that converged together!

It is only because there are so many of them and the spacing is so close that they look like a single, smooth giant pillar from a distance!

Each of those tiny beams of light was barely thicker than a strand of hair, and they rose almost parallel to each other, like a bundle of light beams that were tightly bound together!

The helicopter adjusted its direction and made a turn, changing the angle of the window, and Hua Linlin's gaze followed.

She saw that around the huge beam of light, several smaller beams of light appeared simultaneously at several nearby points.

Some pierced out from the street surface, some emerged from the walls of the nearby construction site, and some appeared from the rooftops of distant residential buildings.

Each one was slowly rising, and each one was different in direction and distance, but there seemed to be some kind of invisible connection between them.

Moreover, the number of those tiny beams of light is increasing.

Hua Linlin's pupils dilated slightly, her gaze fixed on the direction in which the largest beam of light was rising. Her lips moved slightly: "What...is that?"