40: Chapter 40 Dream, Death Rehearsed in Advance

Soon, dozens of armored vehicles emblazoned with the black giant snake totem rapidly surrounded the entire City of Ultimate Bliss.

The doors opened, and a group of guards in special uniforms stepped out, clutching steel rifles.

At their head was a middle-aged man in his early forties.

A cheap cigarette dangled from his mouth, and a glint of shrewdness and ruthlessness flickered in his narrow eyes.

The middle-aged man's name was Zhang Yang, one of the Captain-level Ghost Controllers of the Black Snake Society.

"Captain, it seems like there's no more movement inside."

Looking at the smoking Zhang Yang, one of his subordinates reported cautiously.

"No movement?"

Zhang Yang exhaled a ring of smoke, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Over the phone just now, the commotion I heard was anything but small..."

"Could everyone inside be dead?"

"Heh!!"

"It seems the Feng Shui of this City of Ultimate Bliss is poor; the dirty thing it attracted is no simple matter!!"

Zhang Yang's tone was lazy, and his entire demeanor appeared nonchalant.

However, he was actually feeling very solemn inside!

Because the moment he approached the City of Ultimate Bliss, he instinctively felt that something was wrong.

"You few, take the Golden Body Bags and go in to take a look."

"Remember, don't touch things randomly. Signal immediately if anything happens."

Zhang Yang did not rush into the City of Ultimate Bliss himself. Instead, in a semi-coercive tone, he ordered his subordinates to scout the way first.

"Yes!"

Though his subordinates were reluctant, they dared not disobey Zhang Yang's orders and could only walk tremblingly toward the gates of the City of Ultimate Bliss.

A few moments after the subordinates entered the City of Ultimate Bliss, a trembling voice suddenly erupted from the walkie-talkie in Zhang Yang's hand.

"Cap... Captain! Come in and see for yourself!!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yang frowned, stubbed out his cigarette, and strode inside.

He could tell that his subordinates were unharmed, which also meant that the interior of the City of Ultimate Bliss was basically safe.

After entering the first floor of the City of Ultimate Bliss...

Zhang Yang looked around and found the entire hall in a state of utter mess.

Tables and chairs were shattered across the floor, and the walls were covered in blade marks and bloodstains.

And in the center of the hall...

Two corpses that had died miserable deaths were particularly conspicuous.

"Is this... Old Hei and Old Bai?"

Zhang Yang's pupils constricted.

He knew these two; both were C-rank Ghost Controllers of the Black Snake Society, and he usually had a decent relationship with them.

The abnormalities inside their bodies weren't weak. If the two joined forces, they even had the ability to handle an ordinary B-Ranked Anomaly!

But he never expected that the two would actually die here.

And from the looks of it, it even seemed like they had killed each other?

Zhang Yang crouched down, carefully examining their wounds.

Whether it was the hacking marks from the bone blade or the puncture wounds from the Ghost Hair... they were indeed caused by the two attacking each other.

"Were they influenced by the rules of an abnormality?"

While pondering, Zhang Yang reached out and slowly closed their eyelids.

Then, he turned his gaze to the ordinary people huddled in the corners, shivering in fear.

"This abnormality doesn't seem to have attacked any ordinary people."

"Its target seems to be only Ghost Controllers."

"And the abnormalities inside their bodies seem to have been gouged out..."

Upon reaching this conclusion, Zhang Yang's heart suddenly tightened!

An inexplicable sense of unease began to shroud him!

Realizing something was wrong, he didn't dwell on it further but stood up immediately and decisively ordered his subordinates:

"Seal the scene!"

"Dispose of the bodies and take all witnesses back... for isolated investigation."

"Captain, aren't we going to track down the abnormality behind this?" a subordinate asked.

"Track my ass!"

Zhang Yang cursed under his breath.

"To be able to silently kill two C-rank Ghost Controllers, the opponent is at least a top-tier B-Ranked Anomaly, or even... A-rank!"

"Is this level of trouble something we can touch?"

"Write the report. Say... the abnormality has escaped, possibly leaving the Black Snake Society base city, whereabouts unknown."

"Yes!"

Zhang Yang's subordinates also knew his personality.

After Zhang Yang made the call, they didn't dare ask any more questions.

Zhang Yang, meanwhile, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and turned to leave.

Ever since arriving here, he found that the feeling of being watched was growing stronger, making his whole body feel uneasy.

"This place is not to be stayed in for long."

Zhang Yang quickened his pace to leave, but he did not know...

That in the shadows not far behind him...

The hunched figure of an old man was quietly watching him.

In those cloudy eyes, a flicker of playful light shimmered.

"Want to leave?"

"The horror has only just begun..."

Lin Chuan controlled the Coughing Ghoul and did not stop Zhang Yang from leaving.

Instead, he left an extremely subtle rule-based mark on Zhang Yang and his Ghost Controller subordinates... Several hours later.

Night fell.

Zhang Yang returned to his villa in the wealthy district.

He took a hot bath, attempting to wash away the bad luck and unease he had picked up during the day.

But during the bath, he vaguely sensed that the feeling of being watched... seemed to have intensified!

"Damn it, I've really been hexed."

He came out grumbling, wrapped in a bath towel, poured a large glass of strong liquor, and downed it in one go.

The numbing effect of the alcohol allowed him to relax slightly.

Soon...

Drowsiness hit him.

Reasonably speaking, after becoming a Ghost Controller, a living person's sleep would gradually shorten or even disappear entirely... but Zhang Yang now felt inexplicably drowsy and exhausted.

In just two or three minutes, he fell into a deep sleep.

And he quickly entered a dream.

In the dream...

He saw a vast expanse of grey mist.

He also found himself standing in a plaza.

The plaza was silent all around; not a soul was in sight.

"Is anyone there?"

For some reason, he suddenly couldn't help but shout.

In the empty plaza, his voice echoed repeatedly, sounding exceptionally eerie.

Suddenly...

A gust of ghostly wind blew by.

The mist dissipated slightly.

He saw a tall flagpole standing not far ahead.

Hanging from the flagpole was a person.

The person was wearing a C-rank Ghost Controller uniform, their tongue sticking out long, their eyeballs nearly bulging out of their sockets.

That was... his subordinate, Wu Ming!

Wu Ming was one of his core subordinates, a cruel and perverted man whose two favorite things were torturing young girls and stealing other men's wives.

But now, Wu Ming, a C-rank Ghost Controller, hung there like a dead dog, his body swaying gently with the ghostly wind.

"Wu Ming?!"

Zhang Yang was shocked and wanted to run over to save him.

But before he could even take a step...

Thud!

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground came from behind him.

He whipped his head around.

He saw another subordinate falling from a tall building, smashing into a pile of pulp.

Immediately following...

Thud! Thud!

More and more subordinates fell from the sky, were torn apart by unknown forces, or were burned to ashes by eerie flames.

Every manner of death was incomparably miserable and bizarre.

"This... this..."

Zhang Yang backed away in terror.

He wanted to flee, but found that no matter how he ran, he was just spinning in place.

Finally...

He found himself trapped in a circle formed by corpses.

Those dead teammates raised their heads one by one, staring at him with deathly grey eyes.

"Captain... save me..."

"Captain... why did you abandon us..."

"Captain... come down and join us too..."

Countless pale arms reached out toward him, dragging him into an endless dark abyss.

"Ah!!!"

Zhang Yang jerked upright in bed, his body already soaked in cold sweat.

He panted heavily, his heart racing uncontrollably.

"It was a dream... just a dream..."

With a trembling hand, he lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, trying to calm his nerves.

"Have I been too tired lately..."

He comforted himself.

Although that dream was terrifyingly realistic, as a B-Rank Ghost Controller, he didn't take it too much to heart.

But just then...

Ring, ring, ring!!!

The satellite phone by the bedside suddenly rang.

In this silent dead of night, it sounded exceptionally piercing.

Zhang Yang was startled, the cigarette in his hand falling onto the quilt and burning a black hole.

He swallowed hard and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Cap... Captain! Something happened!!"

From the other end of the phone, the terrified voice of one of his subordinates came through.

"Wu Ming... Wu Ming is dead!!"

"What?!"

The phone nearly slipped from Zhang Yang's hand as the image from his dream instantly flashed in his mind.

"How did he die?!"

"He... he hung himself from a flagpole..."

"And... the abnormality inside his body... is gone..."

Boom!!

Zhang Yang felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Hanged... it was exactly the same as in the dream!!

An unprecedented chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight to his skull.

"A Prophetic Dream? Or... a curse?!"

He didn't dare stay at home any longer.

He quickly dressed and scrambled out of the villa, heading straight for the Black Snake Society headquarters... Half an hour later.

In the top-floor conference room.

Zhang Yang, pale-faced and incoherent, reported the situation to a man sitting in the head seat.

The man was about fifty years old, wearing a Tang suit, and rolling two walnuts in his hand.

Though he looked somewhat portly, his gaze was as cold as a venomous snake.

The man's name was Liu Tiesheng, one of the Vice Presidents of the Black Snake Society and an A-Rank Ghost Controller!

"You're saying... you had a dream where your subordinates all died, and then you woke up and one actually died?"

After hearing Zhang Yang's report, Liu Tiesheng stopped his hand movements and asked flatly.

"Yes... yes! Vice President!"

Zhang Yang said with a trembling voice:

"And... and in the dream, I died in the end too..."

"I suspect... some kind of terrifying abnormality has targeted us!"

"Haha! Old Zhang, aren't you being too cowardly?"

A nearby Ghost Controller captain with a buzz cut couldn't help but laugh:

"Just a coincidence, and it scares you this much?"

"Exactly. That kid Wu Ming liked to mess around and offended many people; it's not surprising someone killed him."

Another female captain chimed in.

"No! It's not a coincidence!!"

Zhang Yang grew anxious and argued loudly:

"That feeling... was too real! It definitely wasn't an ordinary dream!!"

"Enough."

Liu Tiesheng raised his hand, cutting off the group's argument.

He stared at Zhang Yang with those cold eyes for a moment, then spoke slowly:

"Better to believe it than not."

"Things have indeed been a bit unsettled lately."

He pondered for a moment before making a decision.

"How about this."

"Zhang Yang, and those subordinates who died miserably in your dream."

"From now on, all of you move to the headquarters plaza to live."

"Stay right under the statue of the Great One."

"With the Great One's protection, even an A-rank Abnormality won't be able to touch you."

Hearing this, Zhang Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Black Snake Taboo statue on the headquarters plaza was a medium for the taboo!

Before the great taboo, he didn't believe anything would still happen to him.

"Vice President, I'll go to the Great One's statue right away."

Zhang Yang spoke quickly; he felt very insecure now, fearing he truly would die a miserable death as in his dream.

Liu Tiesheng watched his departing back, a flash of coldness in his eyes.

"Investigate."

He said to the buzz-cut captain beside him.

"Go find out the cause of Wu Ming's death."

"Also, everything that happened at the 'City of Ultimate Bliss' must be re-examined in detail!!"

"I want to see exactly what kind of thing dares to play tricks on the territory of our Black Snake Society."

Liu Tiesheng's voice was frigid, echoing in the empty conference room.