Chapter 230: Chapter 230: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Chen Ke and Ying Baiyi followed Sam to a small supermarket at the street corner, where the remaining survivors were all hiding behind the shelves. A trail of blood was on the floor, dragging all the way to the beverage cooler in the store.

Diana was leaning against the cooler, her abdomen and chest wrapped in bandages that had been stained red with blood. Her face was pale, her lips bloodless, frowning from the throbbing pain of her wounds.

Two anxious children crouched beside her, tightly holding her right hand.

When the survivors saw Chen Ke and Ying Baiyi enter the store, they suddenly lit up, as if a fire of hope that had been extinguished was burning again.

“We thought you had failed, died down there,” Sam explained.

He twisted open a bottle of mineral water and poured it on Diana’s abdomen. The cold water could prevent infection in the wound and slightly alleviate the burning pain.

Drenched, Diana was still wearing Chen Ke’s dark blue suit jacket. Chen Ke approached Diana and took her hand, which was very cold.

“Stop pouring water, her body temperature is too low… and her pulse is very weak,” Chen Ke told Sam.

“That’s the only way to relieve the pain. We don’t have any medicine left, we need to get her treated fast, otherwise, she really will die,” Sam replied.

“I know…” Chen Ke stood up, ready to open the door and take everyone back home.

He looked at Ying Baiyi and the two survivors he had brought with him; these three were originally from this world. Would entering Chen Ke’s world cause any irreversible effects?

Forget it, it’s none of his business, if there were issues in that world, let the Administration Bureau deal with it.

“Take out the Blasphemous Dagger,” Chen Ke said.

Ying Baiyi instantly summoned the dagger, then looked at Chen Ke, asking, “What should we do? You better not say we need to kill someone first…”

“Make a wish to go home with it,” Chen Ke said with a smile.

Ying Baiyi’s face showed a puzzled expression, unsure if Chen Ke was just joking with him.

“Hurry, make a wish, and we can go home,” Chen Ke urged.

Ying Baiyi stared at the Blasphemous Dagger for a few seconds, then looked at Chen Ke, asking, “Is it done after I make the wish?”

But he noticed that something was off with Chen Ke’s expression. Moreover, frost began appearing around them again, and a “ding, ding, ding” bell sound echoed in his mind…

Chen Ke frowned, because he had just chosen a small mutated soul and silently wished “go back… go back…” in his mind, yet the door did not open.

Could his ability have failed…?

No, he had just seen the soul that was supposed to be used for opening the door, turn into wisps of white dust at the moment of disintegration, flying out of his body and toward the window of the supermarket…

Something was absorbing his soul! The soul that was meant to open the door had been taken away!

“Something is interfering with us…” Chen Ke said.

“Ding… ding… ding…”

Everyone in the supermarket knew what had arrived.

“Chen Ke… it’s that thing…” Ying Baiyi warned, pulling out a gun, his body shivering from the cold.

That thing was nearby, Chen Ke’s Spiritual Vision could see it wandering within a range of less than 100 meters.

Everyone present tried to clear their minds, trying their best not to think about the ringing bells. Diana had warned Sam, who had also witnessed the creature instant teleporting up close.

“I can’t… I can’t bear it… I can’t resist…” the girl with black-framed glasses cried, clutching her head.

“Hold on… Use your willpower to resist it!” Chen Ke yelled.

“I can’t… that thing keeps ringing in my head…” the girl with black-framed glasses lost control, screaming with a piercing voice.

“Spurt…”

A large dagger plunged from right to left into her neck, dark red blood squirting from the wound like a fountain.

The girl’s face froze, her eyeballs straining to turn to the left, the whites of her eyes quickly filling with blood vessels. Before she could see who had acted, she was dead.

Chen Ke took a deep breath, the one who had acted was Diana…

With her left hand covering her abdomen and her right hand holding the dagger in reverse, Diana was leaning against the cooler, having stabbed the girl with black-framed glasses to death with that dagger, which was a Rambo knife Sam had given Diana for self-defense.

“She left me no choice… Chen Ke… If I didn’t do it, more people would have died,” Diana said before she passed out.

Only 8 survivors were left.

No one blamed Diana; when the girl with the black-framed glasses started to lose control, her death was inevitable. Even if nobody acted, she would have been the first target for the monsters that instant teleported.

It was just that Diana chose to step forward and bear this burden.

The medium for the monster’s instant teleportation was removed, but others still had to resist the ringing, and the wailing of the girl with black-framed glasses had already informed the monster of the survivors’ location–it was rapidly approaching.

“Chen Ke, Sam, protect Diana and the others,” Ying Baiyi said.

“You’re going to…” Sam said.

“I’m going to do what agents are supposed to do…” Ying Baiyi glanced at Diana, pulled out his Spiritual Ability Pistol, and walked out of the convenience store.

The white-robed ghost stood 50 meters outside the door; it moved seemingly slowly but actually very quickly. It did not rely on its legs to move, but instead glided across the ground.

It constantly muttered “Where is the sun…” and nobody knew what that meant.

With it around, Chen Ke couldn’t use his soul abilities because they would be sucked away by it, revealing that this evil creature was indeed more sinister than the mutated entities–if mutated individuals were turned into monsters by infection with Spiritual Energy, what then was this evil creature…

“Perhaps you could be considered an S-level monster, but unfortunately for you, you met me, a Level 9 agent! A man who wields Lightning as a weapon!” Ying Baiyi declared.

His Spiritual Energy was almost depleted before, but after resting for a long time, he could still summon a Lightning Spear if he tried hard enough.

Ying Baiyi didn’t fire the Spiritual Ability Pistol first; he wanted to ensure a killing blow, leaving no chance for the female ghost.

He held his breath, stirred up the Spiritual Energy within him, and tried to condense Lightning in his right hand…

Ying Baiyi’s face turned red from exerting himself to stir up the Spiritual Energy, his blood apparently flowing twice as fast through his body.

Finally, sparks emerged from the palm of his hand, crackling and condensing into a ball of electricity that flickered in the dark world.

“Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” Ying Baiyi laughed out loud, he had succeeded. He raised his right fist–electricity sprouting long sharp tips from both ends, turning into a spear.

“Quick! Throw it! Kill it!” Sam said anxiously from behind the display window.

“Bad…” Chen Ke saw something, his tone deepened.

Ying Baiyi made a throwing motion, and suddenly, the female ghost began spinning, her body completely retracting into the white robe, turning into a ball under the high-speed rotation and dragging the surrounding fog downward.

“Don’t think about escaping!” Ying Baiyi roared, aimed with his left hand and pulled the trigger, his Punishment bullet roared out of the gun barrel, hitting the white ball directly and causing the white liquid to splatter.

“Aaaahhhhh!!!” The female ghost screamed as she fell to the ground, her slim limbs stretching out of the white robe.

“That’s how you do it!” Sam said excitedly.

Ying Baiyi forcefully threw the Lightning at the female ghost, his eyes filled with a victorious glow. However, Chen Ke, regrettably shook his head.

The Lightning had not been thrown yet; it disappeared in Ying Baiyi’s hand.

“How could this…?” Ying Baiyi wondered. At that moment, his M1911A1 fell to the ground.

Looking down, he saw his left sleeve was empty, and red dust was slowly drifting down.

“No… not now… Dammit…” Ying Baiyi muttered, turning his head towards Chen Ke with an apologetic look on his face; his right arm also turned to red dust, scattering into the boundless darkness.

Ying Baiyi had always feared the moment when he would turn to ashes, but as he slowly turned to ashes now, the strongest emotion in his heart was not fear but regret.

He had thrown many Lightning Spears, but the most crucial one, he could not throw…

“Ying Baiyi… My God…” Diana murmured, she knew well, without Ying Baiyi, none of the remaining 7 people could deal with the monster.

Sam knelt in front of the display window, crying inconsolably–his last hope had also been shattered…

All the people in the convenience store had hit rock bottom; without a Spiritual Ability User, even if they knew how to open the door, no one could operate it, let alone that a monster was blocking the entrance.

“We did our best… Chen Ke, this is… our ending… Chen Ke, I can’t bring myself to pull the trigger, can you help me…” Sam murmured.

He heard the sound of a gun being cocked, then closed his eyes, awaiting the decisive shot.

“Squeak, squeak…” someone pushed open the door and left.

“Chen Ke… Chen Ke? Chen Ke? What are you doing?” Sam opened his eyes to find Chen Ke walking out of the small shop.