580: Chapter 580 A chilling aura, suppressing the container.

Chapter 580: A Grim Evil Aura, Suppressing the Vessel

"Click, click, click!"

Almost at the same time, the dozens of seemingly relaxed soldiers nearby instantly entered a combat-ready state.

The metallic clatter of gun bolts being pulled echoed all around, and the dark, hollow muzzles quickly turned to lock onto Fang Cheng and the surrounding cars.

The female officer, who had been about to let them pass, suddenly trembled, her face turning pale.

Almost instinctively, she leaped back two steps, her right hand reaching frantically for the quick-draw holster at her waist.

The kindness in her eyes was replaced by terror; she even nearly collided with a nearby traffic barrier due to her abrupt movements.

The male soldier guarding her gripped his trigger even tighter, his muzzle wavering wildly at the vehicles in front of him as he barked out a stern command:

"Don't move! Put your hands on your heads, and stay in your cars!"

The alarms from the walkie-talkie continued to blare.

With a heavy clack, the checkpoint barrier dropped, completely sealing off the roadblock once again.

The atmosphere on the scene instantly tightened to a hair-trigger breaking point.

Just then, a dull rumble echoed from the sky, approaching like distant thunder.

Fang Cheng looked up.

Three black dots appeared beneath the distant clouds, gradually growing larger.

They were three gunmetal-gray attack helicopters.

The 30mm autocannons mounted beneath their bellies gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the rocket pods on both sides were as dense as honeycombs.

They swept in low in a V-formation, clearly the military's mobile support force.

The citizens trapped on the road shrank back into their seats, not daring to make a sound or complain any longer, terrified of being caught in the crossfire of stray bullets.

Fang Cheng kept his hands on the steering wheel, his face displaying just the right amount of shock and anxiety.

Just like everyone else, he acted like an ordinary citizen stunned by the grand display.

But beneath his seemingly panicked expression, his mind was calmly working at high speed.

The pupil test had clearly passed without a hitch.

The device hadn't sounded an alarm, and the female officer had confirmed he was a "normal human."

Under these circumstances, why was the "Hound's" reaction even more violent than before?

After all, although his body was incredibly powerful, it had grown entirely through rigorous training.

He was neither a vampire nor some mutated monster, nor had he been injected with drugs or undergone physical enhancement modification.

Even the officially defined concept of "Aberrants" was hard to apply to a Cultivator like him.

Strictly speaking, Fang Cheng and the murderer White Owl in the official files were not the same kind of person at all.

How could that monster smell his scent from so far away?

Unless... what it smelled was not a "human."

Fang Cheng's eyes flickered slightly as he discreetly glanced at the blue sports duffel bag on the passenger seat.

Resting quietly inside the inner compartment of the bag was that blood-red ghost mask.

In an instant, a flash of realization struck him.

It was the mask!

The monster trained as a "Search Hound" hadn't caught his own scent.

Instead, it had sensed the heavy, bloody stench of countless slaughtered lives lingering on the mask.

Perhaps... it had even sensed the terrifying aura that had lingered ever since the fierce battle in the Inner Scene World that night.

It was the aura of the Lord of Slaughter.

Only this could explain why that monster had reacted so crazily.

Now that he had found the root of the problem, the rest would be easy.

Fang Cheng glanced at the heavily armed forces gathering outside, then leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes slightly.

The clamor of the real world receded rapidly like an ebbing tide, replaced by a vast, boundless light.

His consciousness instantly descended into the Inner Scene World.

Beneath him was the familiar isolated island, where a golden palace towered majestically, surrounded by a rolling sea of clouds.

Normally, a blazing sun hung here eternally, illuminating all things with its sacred and solemn light.

But now, beneath this incredibly sacred golden glow, there was a faint, sickening smell of rust.

It was the scent of fermented slaughter and blood, trying to seep out from the dark corners of the isolated island and quietly taint this pure Domain.

Floating in mid-air, Fang Cheng frowned slightly and spoke in a deep voice:

"Come out!"

With a wave of his hand, the brilliant golden sun behind him suddenly vanished.

In its place, a massive, eerie, blood-red full moon appeared.

It leaped out from the sea of clouds without warning, hanging high in the heavens.

In an instant, the entire Inner Scene World seemed to be splashed with a layer of thick red paint.

The golden palace turned dark red, and the once-peaceful sea of clouds churned into a sea of blood.

A violent, bloodthirsty mental wave faintly permeated the air.

This was the true face of that "ghost mask."

It had never been a mere inanimate object, but a vessel carrying countless grudges and killing intent.

Even when Fang Cheng was not wearing it, the mental radiation it emitted was still like a lighthouse in the dark.

Amidst the vast crowd of people, it was simply too glaring for those naturally sensitive anomalies to ignore.

Fang Cheng landed on the obsidian-paved plaza and looked up at the blood moon that was trying to usurp control.

"I was busy dealing with the mess in reality and didn't have time for you, yet you went ahead and caused trouble for me first."

He cold-snorted, his figure flickered, and he instantly appeared upon the golden throne deep within the palace.

He then sat down majestically, resting his hands on the armrests, and with a single thought...

Rumble!

In an instant, the entire Inner Scene World seemed to come alive.

Endless waves of golden light surged from all directions.

They then transformed into countless solid chains, binding the blood moon in the sky.

A scorching fire burned in Fang Cheng's eyes as he made his decision.

Since you can't be hidden, I will thoroughly suppress you, crushing you until you don't dare leak even a sliver of your aura.

Or even destroy you outright!

A creaking sound, like glass under immense pressure, echoed from the sky.

The overbearing blood moon began to tremble slightly.

It resisted, releasing an even more violent red light in an attempt to break the golden chains.

But before Fang Cheng's absolute Dominator's will, this resistance was incredibly futile.

The originally full moon was forced to collapse inward, compressing.

It was like an artificially controlled lunar eclipse.

The full moon became a half-moon, and the half-moon became a crescent.

Finally, it was compressed into a thread-thin crimson arc, shivering at the very edge of this world.

Its light dimmed to the extreme, clearly suppressed to the brink of destruction.

A trembling thought of pleading and submission entered Fang Cheng's mind.

It was utterly terrified, fearing this man who was completely impervious to temptation, and even more afraid of being completely erased, reduced to nothingness.

"Remember this."

Fang Cheng sat high upon his throne, his voice echoing like thunder through the entire space, carrying an unquestionable authority:

"From this day forth, you are a weapon in my hands."

"If I do not allow you to move, you must remain as obediently inanimate as a dead object. If you dare leak your aura again..."

At this point, golden light flared in his eyes as his voice rang out between heaven and earth:

"I will grind you completely into dust!"

The crimson crescent trembled violently and instantly withdrew all of its light.

Its submissive appearance was just like a tamed hound.

Fang Cheng nodded in satisfaction, waving his hand to disperse the blood-red color filling the sky.

The blazing sun reappeared, showering the land with golden light.

By now, the ghost mask's aura had been compressed to the limit, sealed tight within the deepest prison of his consciousness.

Let alone that brain-damaged Hound, even if a true Vampire Prince came, they wouldn't smell a single trace of it through the car door.

Done.

With a slight shift of his thoughts, Fang Cheng's consciousness instantly withdrew from the Inner Scene World.

In reality, fierce winds howled, and dust swirled.

The three attack helicopters were already hovering less than a hundred meters overhead.

The massive rotors sliced through the air, sending fallen leaves and trash on the ground dancing wildly through the air.

The green belts' trees shook violently, their branches pressed down so hard they were on the verge of snapping.

The male soldier nervously held his gun, staring at Fang Cheng and the others.

Cold sweat rolled down his forehead along the edge of his helmet; he didn't even dare blink when it dripped into his eyes.

Beside him, the female officer gripped her pistol tightly with both hands, her cheeks pale and bloodless.

It was as if a bloodthirsty monster would burst out of these cars in the next second and start a massacre.

The atmosphere on the scene was tense to the absolute extreme.

At this critical juncture, a puzzled exclamation suddenly came through the earpieces of all the soldiers:

"Huh?"

This was immediately followed by an incredulous question:

"What's going on... the Hound stopped reacting?"

At the same time, inside the armored personnel carrier behind the roadblock...

The monster that had been slamming against the floor and roaring like a mad dog just moments ago now seemed to have its spine suddenly removed.

It lay flat on the cold iron plate, whimpering softly as it buried its hideous head deep between its paws.

Its body curled into a ball, shivering violently; there was no longer any trace of its fierce aura, replaced instead by a bizarrely quiet and submissive demeanor.

A dead silence filled the vehicle's compartment.

Old Xie and Little Wu stared at each other in bewilderment, their expressions quite awkward.

"This..."

Little Wu swallowed hard and pointed at the monster curled into a cowardly ball on the floor:

"Old Xie, is it... out of battery?"

Old Xie's mouth twitched slightly as he reached out and kicked the monster's rear.

The creature only whimpered, not even bothering to move.

"Damn it, what the hell!"

Old Xie scratched his messy hair, his face looking like he was severely constipated:

"Did it just have a brain cramp? Or was it starving and throwing a tantrum?"

This was fucking ridiculous.

Just because of this beast's howling, attack helicopters had been scrambled, and backup forces were even rushing over.

And yet, this damn thing was now just playing dead?

"This is the Inspection Team, confirm the situation immediately."

The female officer's exasperated voice came through the earpiece:

"Xie Daguo! What on earth are you doing? Military matters are not a joke, speak up!"

Old Xie made a bitter face, pressed his communicator, and stammered out an explanation:

"Uh... Group Leader Liu, the situation is... a bit complicated. The Hound... it seems to have fallen asleep."

"Fallen asleep?!"

The female officer's voice instantly went up an octave.

...

Inside the Land Rover SUV.

Sitting in his car, Fang Cheng watched the female officer pressing her earpiece, her face turning red and white as she seemed to argue heatedly with the person on the other end.

He rolled up his window slightly, watching this farce quietly with a hint of innocence and confusion in his eyes.

The helicopters overhead were still buzzing, blowing everyone's hair into messy bird nests.

With such a grand display, if they ended up empty-handed and made a fool of themselves, these people would have nowhere to hide their embarrassment.

Just then...

The male soldier who had been pointing his gun at Fang Cheng suddenly turned his muzzle and roared toward the back:

"Hey! You in the black jacket, what are you doing? Come back!"

Feeling somewhat surprised, Fang Cheng looked back.

Four or five cars away, a man wearing a peaked cap and a black jacket was quietly pushing open his car door.

With his head lowered, he walked quickly toward the overpass guardrail.

He had a sturdy build and moved swiftly, every movement dripping with suspicion.

"Stop! Don't run, or I'll shoot!"

The male soldier's shout drew everyone's attention.

The man in the black jacket stiffened, then suddenly snapped his head up, revealing a pair of sinister, violent eyes.

In the next second, instead of showing any intention of surrendering, he suddenly exerted force with his legs.

Bang!

A cloud of dust exploded from the ground.

He transformed into a black hurricane, moving at an astonishing speed with explosive power that no ordinary human could possibly possess.

With just two leaps through the congested traffic, he instantly reached the guardrail.

He then leaped into the air, jumping straight off the twenty-meter-high bridge, and upon landing, swiftly darted into the labyrinth of alleys below.

"Holy crap, that's an Aberrant!"

"After him! There's definitely something wrong with that guy!"

"I knew the Hound wouldn't bark for no reason, the target is over there!"

The male soldier roared excitedly, as if grasping at a lifesaver.

The dozens of soldiers who had been surrounding Fang Cheng instantly shifted their target, swarming after the fleeing figure.

The three hovering attack helicopters overhead also dipped their noses immediately, changing direction to lock onto the target from the air.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Fang Cheng watched this unfold, slightly stunned.

Well, well.

So there really was a big fish hidden in this gridlocked traffic?

Judging by those moves, he was at least a speed-type Aberrant.

The guy probably had a criminal record and a guilty conscience.

Seeing the helicopters fly over, he must have thought they were coming for him and couldn't help but flee.

Fang Cheng stared in the direction where the man had vanished, silently wishing this anonymous fellow good luck.

I hope you run fast and don't get caught.

With the main force gone, the pressure at the intersection dropped dramatically.

The female officer also let out a visible sigh of relief; though she was a bit disheveled, they had at least found the real culprit.

Adjusting her wind-blown military cap, she waved to the remaining soldiers to clear the roadblocks:

"Let them through, clear the traffic!"

The checkpoint barrier subsequently rose.

Fang Cheng started his car and slowly crawled forward behind the vehicle in front.

Just as he was about to pass the checkpoint, someone suddenly tapped on his car.

"Wait a moment!"

Fang Cheng stepped on the brakes, rolled down the window, and looked over.

He saw the female officer running over, slightly out of breath.

She handed two pieces of ID through the window, her face filled with clear apology and embarrassment.

"Sir, I'm so sorry. It was too chaotic just now, and I forgot to return your IDs."

Looking at Fang Cheng's refined, Yingjun face, and remembering how everyone had pointed guns at him so roughly, the female officer's cheeks flushed slightly:

"Were you... frightened just now? I'm truly sorry. It's a special period, and we were just doing our duty."

Fang Cheng took his ID card and Driving license, slipping them into his pocket.

Then, pushing up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, he gave the female officer a warm, understanding smile and spoke in a clear voice:

"It's fine, officer. Catching the bad guys is more important. Stay safe."

With that, he rolled up the window and tapped the accelerator.

The black Land Rover drove smoothly through the intersection ahead, leaving the clamor behind completely in the wind.