Night in Beitian was quieter than the places Thuong Sinh had traveled through.
There was no sound of Zombies howling outside the window.
There were no sporadic gunshots in the middle of the night.
There were only pale yellow lights stretching across clean roads, along with the sound of wind sweeping over the camp's high steel fences.
Thuong Sinh stood on the balcony.
In the room, Lam Thanh Moc was already asleep.
Thuong An lay in the cradle, his breathing steady, his small hands clutching the edge of the blanket as if afraid something might be taken away.
He looked at the two of them for a long time.
Only then did he slowly close his eyes.
The "Swamp Blood Corrupting Heart Technique" circulated very slowly.
The dark-purple blood qi within his body no longer surged violently as before.
After a day of absorbing foul qi clean from the wounded soldiers, it became heavier, thicker, like an underground stream flowing quietly beneath ice.
Thuong Sinh opened his eyes.
Far away, to the east of Beitian City, a strand of aura as thin as silk suddenly quivered.
He knitted his brows.
That aura felt remarkably similar to the black slime clinging to the soldiers today.
Except this time, it was not weak.
It was moving.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of knocking on the door echoed very softly.
Thuong Sinh gathered the blood qi back into his body, then stepped forward to open the door.
In front of him stood Tran Tinh Gia.
He was not wearing his military uniform like during the day, only draped in a dark outer coat.
Yet his heavy expression instantly made Thuong Sinh know that something had happened.
"What is it, Uncle Tran?" Thuong Sinh asked in a low voice.
Tran Tinh Gia glanced through the room, his voice also lowering.
"Apologies for disturbing you this late."
"Something happened in the eastern part of the city."
Thuong Sinh's gaze darkened slightly.
"Come inside and talk, Uncle."
"No need." Tran Tinh Gia shook his head.
"Thanh Moc and the boy are resting."
"It is fine if I speak quickly here."
He paused for a moment, as if weighing how to phrase his words.
"The guard team at the eastern wall section just lost contact."
"Lost contact for how long?"
"Thirteen minutes." Tran Tinh Gia replied.
"Before that, they only had time to send back an audio recording."
He took out his communication device and pressed play.
In the quiet night, an interrupted male voice rang out.
"...Not normal Zombies... black fluid... bullets cannot penetrate... it is crawling toward—"
The audio recording cut off abruptly.
Only the sound of corroding metal remained, drawing out ear-piercingly.
Thuong Sinh said nothing.
He already knew what that thing was.
The black slime from the wounded soldiers today was no ordinary toxin.
It carried a surge of foul qi closely resembling blood poison, yet more chaotic, dirtier, as though formed from countless rotting things mixed together.
"It is not dead yet." Thuong Sinh said.
Tran Tinh Gia paused.
"You know it?"
"Never met it directly." Thuong Sinh looked toward the east.
"But the thing that injured the patrol team today was likely it."
Right at that moment, a soft rustling sound of a blanket rang out behind his back.
Lam Thanh Moc had woken up.
She stood at the doorway, draped in a thin robe, her hair still slightly disheveled.
Her gaze swept over Thuong Sinh then rested on Tran Tinh Gia.
"Is something wrong, Uncle Tran?"
Tran Tinh Gia looked at her, his voice softening slightly.
"Just a small matter in the east."
"Thuong Sinh is only going out to check the situation, nothing serious."
Lam Thanh Moc did not answer right away.
She understood Tran Tinh Gia was reassuring her.
She also understood that if it were merely a trivial matter, he would not come all the way here in the middle of the night.
She looked over at Thuong Sinh.
"You have to go?"
"Yes."
"Is it dangerous?"
Thuong Sinh was silent for a beat.
"I do not know yet."
That straightforward answer made Lam Thanh Moc tighten her hands slightly.
He stepped up in front of her, his voice even lower.
"I am only going to take a look."
"If anything is wrong, I will retreat."
Lam Thanh Moc looked straight into his eyes.
She knew he was not someone who made meaningless promises.
Yet she also knew that once people outside the city were in danger, it was difficult for him to stand by and watch.
In the end, she merely nodded gently.
"Then be careful."
"Yes."
Thuong Sinh reached out his hand to adjust the hair hanging over her forehead.
Afterward, he turned to look at Thuong An still sleeping peacefully in the cradle.
"I will return before the boy wakes up."
Lam Thanh Moc pressed her lips together, saying nothing more.
Tran Tinh Gia stood nearby, waiting quietly.
A moment later, Thuong Sinh finally turned to him.
"Uncle Tran, how many people are left in the eastern team?"
"About thirty." He replied.
"The rapid response team has assembled, but I have not allowed them to advance deep."
"If it really is the thing that caused the casualties this morning, sending more people in will only increase casualties."
Thuong Sinh nodded, taking the Swamp Blood Sword from the wooden rack beside the door.
The white cloth bandage wrapped around the sword hilt remained intact.
He did not unwrap it, merely wearing it across his waist.
"Let us go."
—
The military vehicle drove through the quiet streets of Beitian.
The further east they went, the sparser the streetlights became.
The air outside was colder than usual.
A thin layer of mist clung close to the ground, silently overflowing across flower beds and steel fences.
Inside the vehicle, no one spoke.
Tran Tinh Gia sat beside Thuong Sinh, his hands resting on his knees.
He was accustomed to the battlefield, accustomed to watching soldiers die, yet tonight brought an unspeakable sense of unease.
Not because of that entity.
Rather, because when Thuong Sinh sat beside him, he could feel a strange tranquility.
As though facing danger, this young man felt no fear whatsoever.
The vehicle stopped before the eastern guard post.
A few soldiers stood outside, their complexions pale.
A captain stepped forward quickly, raising his hand in salute upon seeing Tran Tinh Gia, but as his gaze touched Thuong Sinh, his movement slowed by a beat.
"Report the situation." Tran Tinh Gia said.
"Five people have lost contact, sir." The captain replied.
"We found dragging marks outside the fence."
"But... there is no blood."
"No blood?"
"There is black fluid." He swallowed hard.
"It corroded even the concrete floor."
Thuong Sinh stepped through the guard post gate.
Not far away, a prolonged black streak lay on the ground.
It resembled spilled dirty water, yet tiny air bubbles continuously burst open within it.
He stood before that fluid streak.
"Foul qi."
Thuong Sinh raised his hand wearing the Black Star Glove.
A strand of dark-purple black qi as thin as silk slowly touched the surface of the black fluid from his fingertip.
Instantly, the fluid streak trembled.
Like a living object being touched on the skin.
It did not splash up to attack.
On the contrary, it began retreating toward the outside of the city, slipping through a crack at the foot of the steel fence.
Tran Tinh Gia, who had been watching closely, clenched his hands in astonishment.
"It is afraid of you?"
"No." Thuong Sinh shook his head.
He looked toward the black mist outside the city.
"It knows I can absorb this thing."
"So it retreats?"
"Not that either."
Thuong Sinh slowly drew the Swamp Blood Sword.
The white cloth bandage slipped down slightly, revealing the pitch-black blade reflecting the cold light.
"It is leading the way."
Right as the words left his mouth, a deep, low noise suddenly echoed from deep within the mist outside the city.
Unlike the howl of a Zombie.
Nor like the sound of a mutated beast.
It sounded like the breathing of something immense and heavy, slowly crawling across damp soil.
All soldiers at the guard post involuntarily tightened their grip on their weapons.
Thuong Sinh stepped forward.
"Uncle Tran."
"Yes?"
"Do not let anyone follow me outside."
Tran Tinh Gia frowned.
"You plan to go alone?"
"There might not be just one of this thing." Thuong Sinh's eyes remained fixed on the darkness.
"If something happens, your people will not have time to retreat."
"But—"
"I am not saying you must stay behind."
Tran Tinh Gia paused.
Thuong Sinh turned his head to look at him.
"You hold the men here, close the gates, prepare firepower."
"If I do not return in half an hour, report to Lord Lam immediately."
Tran Tinh Gia remained silent.
He knew these words were not an order.
Yet he also understood it was the most reasonable arrangement.
In the end, he merely nodded.
Thuong Sinh nodded faintly.
Then he stepped through the steel gate.
His figure was gradually swallowed by the eastern mist.
Behind him, the heavy city gate clanked shut.
Meanwhile, in the darkness, that breathing sound echoed once more.
This time, it was much closer.
Outside Beitian City, the mist was so thick that the lights behind became a faint blur.
Thuong Sinh walked without speed.
Every step was very light, the toes of his boots making almost no sound upon touching the damp earth.
The Swamp Blood Sword rested in his right hand, its blade wrapped in white cloth bandage, yet a thin dark qi quietly crept along the hilt onto his fingertips.
Ahead lay the streak of black fluid.
It stretched across the wasteland, rounded a collapsed wall section, then led deep into an old factory area at the city's eastern edge.
Thuong Sinh stopped.
The air here was entirely different from inside Beitian.
The smell of damp earth, rust, and rotting corpses mixed together.
Among them was a faint sickly-sweet scent, causing the blood qi in his body to quiver slightly.
The footprints on the ground were very chaotic.
There were military boot prints.
There were dragging marks.
There were also deep, long grooves as if gouged by something with claws.
Yet there were no corpses.
That made Thuong Sinh all the more alert.
Had the patrol team been killed, there should at least be blood or bodies remaining.
Yet this place was unnaturally clean, as if everything had been carried away by something.
He walked onward.
Past the collapsed wall, an old factory appeared amidst the mist.
The iron gate had long been broken, half of its leaf leaning tilted on the ground.
Inside was pitch-black, save for the sound of water dripping rhythmically from a hole in the roof.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Thuong Sinh stood outside the door.
Spiritual perception spread out slowly.
One.
Two.
Three.
Five faint life aura strands.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
They were the soldiers who had lost contact.
They were still alive.
Thuong Sinh did not enter immediately.
Inside resided another aura, much heavier.
It radiated no killing intent, nor did it possess the frantic feel of a mutated zombie.
It merely lay silently in the dark, as if fully aware he had arrived.
"Come out."
Thuong Sinh's voice was not loud.
Yet very clear.
For a long while, there was no reaction inside.
Afterward, the sound of slime sliding across the ground echoed slowly.
Rustle.
From deep within the factory, a massive black shadow crawled out.
It was nearly two meters tall when supporting all four limbs on the ground.
Its entire body was covered in a layer of thick black slime; the skin beneath was unclear whether animal hide or human flesh, continuously contracting with each breath.
Its head resembled a reptile, yet its jaws were unnaturally long.
Its two eyes had no pupils.
Only two murky white patches staring intently at Thuong Sinh.
Along its back, lumps of flesh swelled and deflated as if breathing.
Thuong Sinh saw the five soldiers suspended behind its back.
Strands of black slime pierced through their military uniforms, wrapping around their limbs, pulling them suspended in mid-air.
Every single one was still breathing, yet their faces were deathly pale, the wounds on their bodies constantly spewing foul qi.
Thuong Sinh tightened his grip on the sword hilt.
"Release them."
The monster tilted its head.
It did not roar.
It merely opened its mouth.
A stream of black fluid instantly spat straight toward him.
"Ghost Shadow Phantasm"
Thuong Sinh's figure blurred.
The black fluid passed through where he had just stood, falling onto the cement floor.
In an instant, the ground hissed, corroded into a small crater.
Thuong Sinh appeared at the monster's flank.
The Swamp Blood Sword was drawn.
"Sword Edge"
A thin line of sword qi slashed down onto its shoulder.
The sound of collision rang out dryly.
The outer slime layer was sliced open, yet beneath lay a layer of black scales hard as metal.
Sword Edge merely left a faint white mark on the scales.
The monster turned extremely fast.
Its long tail swept across horizontally.
Thuong Sinh stepped back half a pace, the tip of the tail grazing past his chest.
With just one sweep, the concrete wall beside cracked wide open.
"Faster than an intermediate Zombie."
Yet what caught his attention was not its speed.
Rather, it was how it protected the five people behind.
It did not use them as shields.
On the contrary, every time the black fluid on its body was sliced open, a portion of the fluid immediately flowed back toward the soldiers, as though it were absorbing something from their bodies.
Foul qi.
It was using the foul qi of living humans to grow.
Thuong Sinh stared intently at those black fluid strands.
A thought flashed across his mind.
If he killed it outright at this moment, the toxic fluid would likely splash onto the five soldiers.
In their current state, just one more wave of corrosion would kill them instantly.
He could not strike carelessly.
The monster charged forward again.
This time it spat no fluid, but opened its mouth wide, revealing rows of jet-black sharp teeth.
Thuong Sinh did not retreat.
The blood qi in his body circulated slowly.
Not erupting.
Merely concentrating into his left hand.
"Swamp Blood Corrupting Heart Technique"
As the giant mouth was about to bite down, Thuong Sinh raised his hand and grabbed directly at the monster's neck.
Dark-purple black qi flooded out from the Black Star Glove.
The moment it touched the black slime, the monster let out a howl for the first time.
An ear-piercing sound pierced through the entire factory.
The slime on its neck trembled violently, as if encountering its natural enemy.
It began being sucked into Thuong Sinh's palm, turning into thin strands of black smoke.
Thuong Sinh felt the blood qi in his body rising very rapidly.
Yet simultaneously, countless chaotic impurities flooded into his meridians.
He knitted his brows.
This thing was unlike the foul qi from the wounded soldiers.
It contained a very faint consciousness.
Hunger.
Madness.
Along with a chilling sensation, as though someone were watching him from far away.
Thuong Sinh withdrew his hand immediately.
The monster staggered back, a large patch of black slime sucked away from its neck.
The scales beneath were exposed, corroded by blood poison until cracked.
It did not attack further.
It merely stared fixedly at Thuong Sinh.
Then it suddenly turned around, charging straight toward the five soldiers suspended behind its back.
"Want to flee?"
Thuong Sinh stepped forward.
"Ghost Shadow Phantasm"
In just a breath's time, he appeared above the old steel frame.
The sword in hand slashed down.
"Sword Edge · Slash"
The line of sword qi did not target the monster.
Rather, it slashed at the black fluid strands suspending the soldiers.
Shhh—!
Three fluid strands were severed.
Three soldiers fell.
Thuong Sinh glided past, catching two with one arm, lightly tapping his foot against a steel pillar to change direction, then lowering all three onto the ground.
The monster roared.
It wanted to turn back, but Thuong Sinh already stood blocking between it and the remaining soldiers.
He looked at the monster; the monster paused, black fluid still dripping drop by drop from its neck.
Yet it showed no fear whatsoever.
Its two murky white eyes suddenly moved slowly, looking toward behind Thuong Sinh's back.
Outside the factory, the black mist began to thicken.
From within the mist, more sounds of crawling on the ground echoed.
Not just one.
Nor just ten.
Thuong Sinh looked outside.
Finally, he understood why this monster had not fled.
It had not led him here to kill him.
It was pinning him down.
Meanwhile, the thing that truly intended to attack was outside Beitian City.