44: The curtain falls

Without the obstruction of the Puppet army, the battle once again became one-sided. The spider swarm was not endless either, and under the suppression of the Rapid Response Force, it was already showing signs of decline.

The grotesque ghost playing the role of the "Brother" had already conceived the intention to retreat. Even though it was bound within this twisted "family" role, upon realizing that the defeat was set and there was no room for recovery, it thought, withdrawing temporarily—surely Rui, as the "Brother," would forgive it, right?

Once this thought arose, its movement to turn around held no hesitation. After summoning the last wave of spiders as cover, it crawled toward the depths of the karst cave without hesitation. That was their lair, and it also hid the last path of escape.

Now that the "Brother" was trapped, it was highly likely he would not escape the fate of being killed. But as long as it could escape, there might still be a chance to survive...

Zhong Tao keenly captured this fleeting opportunity. Countless bullets poured onto the back of the grotesque ghost; although they caused no substantial damage, they successfully forced it to only flee in panic—its courage was gone, it was nothing more than a stray dog!

He struck the black armor on his chest heavily, and the combat suit around his body tightened in response, a surging force instantly filling his limbs. Borrowing this momentum, he leaped forward like a cheetah, his black blade slashing directly at the opponent's neck amidst a roar.

"So hard!" The blade only cut in by half a point before being tightly stuck by the hard bones.

"Captain, I'll help you!"

Before the words faded, another black blade whistled in from the opposite direction. Both men gripped the hilts tightly, the black combat suit gloves interlocking perfectly with the mechanisms on the hilts, and the surface of their clothing pulsated violently again like a heartbeat—

"Bang!"

The dual blades crossed and slashed down, leaving the grotesque ghost's head connected by only a sliver of flesh. In its remaining consciousness, only one last sentence flashed: "To think I would die here..."

Rui, who was maneuvering with Tohru, suddenly sensed that the life traces of all his family members had completely dissipated. A trace of coldness flashed in his eyes, and he whispered: "Brother, make one last contribution to this family."

Just as the grotesque ghost's remaining body rapidly expanded and was about to self-destruct—

"Captain, it's going to self-destruct! Retreat quickly!"

A muffled roar came from underground; the broken walls and the shattered cave were splattered with pitch-black bloodstains. The blackened blood was like strong acid, still constantly eroding the surroundings.

At the critical moment, a pale golden light screen unfolded in time, steadily protecting the two men, Zhong Tao and his subordinate. When the shockwave dissipated, they realized they were completely unharmed—needless to say, this was another of Lin Luo's feats.

"Captain, what is he trying to do?" the young team member asked in a low voice, his eyes following Lin Luo's moving figure.

Zhong Tao shook his head, his brows slightly furrowed: "I can't tell... Don't disturb him for now."

Lin Luo completely ignored the movement on their side. He had taken out more than ten Spirit Stones at some point, and his Dao seals changed rapidly between his fingers as he threw the Spirit Stones one by one into every corner of the ghost's lair.

Once the last Spirit Stone settled, his hand seals changed abruptly. Spirit energy surged, and the Spirit Stones embedded in the lair responded, rotating rapidly to form a Spirit Formation—

Boom!

Flames suddenly rose, but they were unusually concentrated. The remaining spiders and unhatched eggs in the lair were silently annihilated in the Spirit fire, not even a wisp of black smoke escaped.

"Alright, the matter here has been completely resolved. Captain Zhong, you can go up now, right?" Lin Luo brushed the dust from his lapels and turned to look at Zhong Tao and his subordinate who were resting against the wall.

Although the two were pale due to the overload of the black armor, they still braced themselves to stand firm. Zhong Tao raised his hand to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead and said hoarsely: "Mr. Lin, please go ahead. The battle on the upper level is not yet decided; we will come to support after resting for a while."

Lin Luo nodded, his toes tapping lightly on the rubble, and with his sleeves fluttering, he leaped back to the first floor of the shopping mall.

His gaze scanned the entire scene like lightning—Yukino Mifuyu was wielding ice shards to clear out the remaining spiders, and the soldiers were reorganizing their formation under her cover. In the distance, Tohru was restraining Rui with fierce offensives, Dragon claws and spider webs colliding to spark blinding sparks.

"Tohru, move aside!"

Amidst the clear shout, a giant golden bell condensed from golden light suddenly appeared above Rui's head. As ancient runes flowed, it crashed down, completely enveloping the shocked Lower Rank ghost in brilliant golden light.

Tohru landed lightly beside Lin Luo, staring at the bronze bell flowing with golden light, and asked curiously: "This move is really amazing, how did you make it appear?"

Lin Luo smiled slightly: "It's just a simple Dao Spell. If it weren't for your excessive consumption earlier, you could have handled this kind of opponent by yourself."

His gaze returned to Rui, who was suppressed by the golden bell; that child-like figure struggled continuously inside the bell. Lin Luo shook his head gently: "Clearly just a child, yet became a man-eating evil ghost, and even became one of the best among them... How many innocent lives must have been lost behind this."

Rui suddenly stopped struggling. He raised that youthful face, but the sound from his throat was a hoarse, mature middle-aged male voice, carrying a touch of madness:

"Family... I just wanted a family that would never abandon me..."

That jarring voice made Tohru instinctively take half a step back. Lin Luo quietly watched the twisted figure inside the golden bell, Spirit energy flowing at his fingertips: "When you treat others' lives as the price to maintain a family, you are destined never to obtain a real family."

The golden bell suddenly emitted a deafening hum, and the ancient runes on it flowed and entangled as if they had life, suddenly tightening!

"No—!" Rui's twisted child voice and hoarse adult male voice mixed as he let out a final wail, "I just wanted to explore what I wanted...!"

The runes instantly lit up with blinding golden light, exploding with a boom, turning into pure and scorching flames. The flames seemed to be able to cleanse all filth, completely swallowing Rui's child-like body, along with the twisted obsession he had clung to for a hundred years, burning them into ashes, finally returning to nothingness.

The flames dispersed, leaving only a few wisps of blue smoke rising, which then completely dissipated in the residual light of the golden bell.

After the dust settled, the special forces began to clean up the scene in an orderly manner.

Tohru became even clingier, her whole body almost nestled into Lin Luo's arms, her nose gently sniffing the reassuring scent on him. Those Dragon horns occasionally poked Lin Luo's chin, making him helplessly reach out and press them down gently: "Don't move around, your horns are poking me."

Yukino Mifuyu walked over slowly, looking at her damaged hem and sighed lightly: "What a pity, these are new clothes I just put on today."

"The new clothes you bought for me too..." Tohru suddenly looked up from Lin Luo's arms, and after receiving a confirming look from Lin Luo, her Dragon tail slapped the ground anxiously, "It's all those annoying spiders' fault!"

Lin Luo looked at the fuming dragon girl in his arms and the regretful Yukino on the side, and couldn't help but chuckle: "Alright, tomorrow I'll take you to a bigger shopping street, my treat."

"Really?" Tohru's eyes lit up instantly, and her Dragon tail swung happily, "I want a shiny maid outfit!"

Yukino also nodded slightly, a trace of expectation flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

Zhong Tao walked over slowly surrounded by his team members; although his face was still pale from blood loss, his eyes were clear and his pace was steady. Lin Luo's gaze swept across this special team, and he found that although they had experienced a fierce battle, they were miraculously unharmed due to that unique black battle armor, and he couldn't help but show an expression of admiration.

"The methods Captain Zhong mentioned earlier are indeed extraordinary."

"You noticed." Zhong Tao tapped the armor on his chest, and the surface of the armor immediately rippled like flowing water, "This set of bio-battle armor can create a symbiotic reaction with the wearer, significantly enhancing physical fitness. It is precisely by relying on this that we ordinary people can participate in the handling of such unconventional events."

He signaled the team member beside him to demonstrate. The surface of the battle armor rose and fell slightly, pulsing rhythmically as if it had life, and faint blue light could be seen flowing under the shell.

"It's just that the energy consumption is too high." The young team member smiled and moved his arm, the joints of the battle armor emitting a slight hum, "Every time after running at full power, the food in the cafeteria is swept clean by us."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this, and even the usually cold Yukino turned her head slightly to hide her smile. Tohru was even more curious, leaning in to observe, her Dragon tail swaying gently and unconsciously.

Zhong Tao's gaze lingered briefly on Tohru's Dragon horns and tail, and then he retracted his gaze with understanding. He knew that other intelligent beings existed in this world; as long as it was reported, it was fine. This one, surely it had been reported, right?!

He swallowed the question, turning instead to scan the mess on the ground with a grave expression: "This incident has caused heavy casualties, and supernatural existences have been exposed to many survivors." His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the bloodstains on his tactical gloves, "The scope of the impact far exceeds the authority of the Rapid Response Force."

Looking up at the dilapidated dome, glass fragments were falling rustlingly. Three helicopters with the Black Bird emblem appeared in the sky, and his voice was low and firm: "Department Headquarters members of the Special Affairs Management Department are on their way—although this incident has come to an end, the real storm has just begun."

Lin Luo looked in the direction of his gaze and gently retracted his peach wood sword into the pendant: "Since the Department Headquarters wants to take over the scene, we will take our leave first."

"You're dead!"

Lin Luo stared at the latest message popping up on his phone screen, scrolling up to see that Kirisu Mafuyu's unread messages had accumulated to dozens during the battle. Only then did he realize belatedly that her angry words last night about canceling his vacation were not a joke at all.

On the way back in the car, he repeatedly opened the reply interface, his fingers hovering over the virtual keyboard:

"Teacher, I'm very sorry for being absent today..." (Text deleted)

"Actually, it was because of an unexpected situation..." (Text deleted again)

"I promise that tomorrow I will definitely..." (Text deleted for the third time)

Finally, he closed his phone in defeat, rubbing his brow wearily, feeling a massive headache. The street scene flying backward outside the car window seemed to have turned into Teacher Kirisu's stern gaze.

Tohru gently tugged at Lin Luo's sleeve, her golden eyes full of concern: "Lin Luo, what's wrong?" Seeing him rubbing his temples with a weary expression, the dragon girl immediately became nervous, "Was the battle just now too draining?"

As she spoke, she reached out to check his forehead temperature, her Dragon tail sweeping uneasily on the floor. Lin Luo smiled bitterly and blocked her hand, turning the phone screen toward her:

"More difficult to deal with than an evil ghost is an angry homeroom teacher."

Tohru tilted her head and looked at the dozens of unread messages sent by Kirisu Mafuyu on the screen, the latest one "You're dead!" was particularly eye-catching. She blinked, half-understanding: "Is that the fierce human who doesn't allow you to be late?"

"Yeah." Lin Luo smiled helplessly and reached out to gently rub Tohru's Dragon horns.

"Then I'll help you get rid of her!" Tohru immediately revealed her sharp little fangs, and her Dragon tail stood up dangerously.

Yukino Mifuyu gently held Lin Luo's other hand, a hint of jealousy in her tone: "Mr. Lin Luo, you are not allowed to do that. After all, Teacher Kirisu occupies a special place in his heart."

Lin Luo smiled awkwardly, his fingertips gently interlocking with Yukino's palm. At this moment, he wisely kept silent—not wishing to say insincere words, and knowing clearly that any explanation would only make things worse.