Chapter Forty-Six: Assassination

The next day.

Lin Lei continued to wander about with the Source Energy Radar in hand. With the Strange Creatures Compendium, he felt much more confident hunting these anomalies. Of course, while his main goal remained to find another ghoul nest, he wouldn’t ignore any ordinary monsters he came across.

Whenever he spotted a solitary red dot, he would make a point of investigating it. Sure enough, he encountered a lone anomaly. In a long-abandoned bungalow, he discovered a large rat with a human face and astonishing biting power. Though the creature was not particularly big, its speed and strength were remarkable. However, compared to Lin Lei’s current abilities, it was still lacking.

The rat quickly fell prey to his “Plunder.” Unfortunately, apart from its human-like appearance and slightly higher source energy, it possessed no special abilities. It merely gave Lin Lei a modest boost in physical strength. Moreover, this human-faced rat was not a social anomaly—there was only one.

By afternoon, after wandering for most of the day, Lin Lei finally spotted another dense cluster of light points near a hospital on the outskirts.

In the sewers, Lin Lei hid in the shadows, following the Source Energy Radar’s directions to the cluster. Even from some distance away, he heard faint, low sobbing from within the dark tunnels.

Ghouls!

“My main focus has always been on tombs and the like, but who would have thought I’d find another nest of ghouls here…” This place was not far from the Uptown District. He wondered if this was part of Gao Yue’s scheme; the fact that this nest hid near the hospital and remained unnoticed was suspicious.

Shaking his head, Lin Lei carefully moved through the pipes with the Nightwalker ability, making no sound and slipping past the guards. Soon, he blended into the location of the ghoul nest. The darkness of the sewer gave full play to Nightwalker’s advantages.

This batch of ghouls was not as numerous as the nest he’d found previously—even during the day, there were only about a hundred and fifty or sixty.

With his current strength and stamina, Lin Lei had little fear of these creatures. The problem was that while he could defeat them, the ghouls wouldn’t just sit around and wait to be slaughtered.

“I still have a few grenades, but if I toss them, I likely won’t kill many before the rest scatter in terror. Tracking them down afterward would be too time-consuming…” Grenades were powerful, but the noise was excessive. He had no intention of calling the Investigation Bureau for help.

After some consideration, he decided assassination was the best approach. “If I attack, I’ll break Nightwalker’s stealth and will need time to reactivate it…”

Lin Lei licked his lips, his eyes suddenly gleaming. “I forgot I had this ability…”

His body began to shift rapidly as he activated the Shapeshift skill, transforming in the blink of an eye into the likeness of a ghoul. He already possessed the ghoul’s abilities; now, his form matched theirs as well. Even in front of any ghoul, he would be seen as kin.

Taking advantage of their slumber, he slipped quietly into the nest, covered the mouth of a ghoul, and finished it off with a swipe of his claws before activating Devour.

“Mm… mm…”

His initial actions were somewhat clumsy, and the dying ghoul’s struggle alerted the nearby ones. Yet, after waking, they detected nothing amiss and soon drifted back to sleep.

Devour was exceptionally effective for destroying evidence. These creatures were simply not intelligent enough to notice the problem. Lin Lei crept along in darkness, targeting the next ghoul.

With each kill, his movements became more fluid and swift. His strength far surpassed the ghouls, and most were asleep and unguarded, making them easy prey.

In just half an hour, Lin Lei had slain more than half the nest. As their numbers dwindled, some sentries finally noticed something was wrong, letting out startled cries and rousing the rest.

Lin Lei no longer concealed his actions; he hurled two grenades and drew his blade.

With his current power, there was no need for caution. The nest originally housed about one hundred and fifty or sixty ghouls; Lin Lei had ambushed eighty or ninety, and the remaining fifty or sixty were struck by the grenades, killing at least a dozen more and injuring many.

The survivors could not withstand Lin Lei’s onslaught. After he dispatched another twenty, the remaining thirty or so began to flee in all directions.

With the Source Energy Radar, Lin Lei was in no hurry. He cleared out the rest within the nest, devouring them as he went. Then, using the radar, he hunted down the escaping ghouls.

Once the nest was nearly eradicated, his Devour energy surged to two hundred and thirty units.

At that moment, he realized he could now investigate the consumption required to “feed” the Source Energy Radar. It would cost almost two hundred units of Devour energy.

“The Source Energy Radar is just a low-grade source artifact. No matter how powerful, it shouldn’t require so much energy. This is illogical—it’s almost certainly due to the Sealing effect…”

Lin Lei was wary of the Investigation Bureau’s power and wouldn’t dare consume the Source Energy Radar; even if he dared, the cost was beyond his tolerance. The low-grade Calm Pendant, by contrast, had only required a bit over twenty units.

…

For the remaining day and a half, Lin Lei continued to scour Biyang, visiting all places suspected to host ghoul nests. Aside from the one near the hospital, he found two more nests in other districts, infiltrating them with Shapeshift and slaughtering their inhabitants in the same fashion.

After wiping out both nests, his Devour energy reached five hundred units.

Interestingly, neither of these nests was located in cemeteries or similar places—they were right in the bustling city. Frankly, with the Investigation Bureau in existence, the fact that so many ghoul nests could hide in the city was highly unusual.

Lin Lei suspected these two nests might also be connected to the false Gao Yue. The implications behind this were likely significant.

“But there’s no need for me to worry too much. The Freedom Alliance is not a native force in Biyang. If experts show up, the Prefecture Investigation Bureau won’t stand by and do nothing!”

As the saying goes, when soldiers come, the general will resist; when water arrives, the earth will block. The Freedom Alliance may be strong, but the Investigation Bureau is stronger. Since the Bureau has already uncovered the fake Gao Yue, they will naturally take precautions against the Freedom Alliance.