Chapter Seventy-Three: Obstruction

An unremarkable floral dress had very nearly been the end of Qi Chen in this place. Gasping for breath, he pushed himself up from the ground, feeling the strange, lingering presence in the morgue slowly dissipate. Qi Chen was fairly certain that the uncanny force bound to the dress had been dealt with. Yet, surveying the chaos strewn across the floor, his expression was far from pleased.

If that anomaly had truly spiraled out of control, the havoc it could have unleashed would be unimaginable. Though he didn't fully understand how those humanoid, clothing-like offshoots had come into being, he knew that if such things appeared en masse within the Security Bureau, the consequences would be disastrous. The standard-issue firearms of the officers would be utterly useless against these bizarre, haunted garments.

“The Vertical Eye Society… the hand behind the curtain,” Qi Chen muttered, face hard as he turned to the shaken precinct chief. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine…” the chief replied, still pale with lingering dread. Instinctively, he kept his distance from the morgue lockers, eyeing the battered metal cabinet that now looked more like a heap of scrap.

The supernatural had been terrifying enough, but Qi Chen’s display of power had surpassed anything the chief had ever imagined.

“Chief, I need you to go upstairs and organize all the officers. There may well be other incidents in the district before long. If anything similar occurs, seal off the streets immediately and wait for our arrival!” Qi Chen instructed.

He knew that even if they managed to clear out every single cursed weapon, the mastermind would surely find other ways to throw City Three into chaos. He refused to believe that these well-hidden rats had only this one card to play.

Now that it was safe to leave the morgue, Qi Chen and the precinct chief supported each other back to the main hall of the Security Bureau. Yet, inside, everything seemed as normal as ever—the routine hum of daily operations, as if none of them had noticed the turmoil that had just taken place below. The contrast left both men with a feeling as if they’d stepped out of one world and into another.

“I’ll be taking my leave. Oh, and one more thing, Chief.” At the entrance, Qi Chen suddenly turned, his expression grave. “Please don’t tell anyone that I was here. As for what happened in the morgue, our department will send someone to follow up with you. There’s no need to report this to your superiors for now.”

Such precautions were taken to guard against traitors within City Three. Though he knew the secret could not be kept for long, even a small head start might give them a critical advantage down the line.

The chief considered this for a moment, then nodded his agreement. Without further delay, Qi Chen left the precinct behind.

There were still two more locations where cursed weapons awaited him.

...

“Warmheart, Prism—what’s your status?” After putting some distance between himself and the precinct, Qi Chen pressed his earpiece, attempting to contact his teammates. The Department of Anomaly Response had its own dedicated communications system, capable of covering the entire city—provided there was no interference from supernatural forces.

“I’ve dealt with two of them. How about you?” Warmheart’s voice came through, but Prism remained silent—presumably still engaged with another cursed weapon.

“I just took care of one. They’ve set up some real trouble this time,” Qi Chen replied, briefly recounting his own encounter, especially how the ‘Overlord’ ability had proven ineffective against those haunted garments.

“Take it as a lesson,” Warmheart’s voice was somber on the other end. “I’ve told you before, don’t place blind faith in brute force alone. The key to resolving supernatural incidents is seeing through the anomalies’ true nature. But for you, even just tracking down the source can sometimes be enough.”

“That’s all for now. I’m heading to the next location. Be careful—don’t act too recklessly.”

The line went dead. Qi Chen glanced at his watch. He needed to pick up the pace as well. Vaguely, he recalled that at this very hour, the Department of Anomaly Response would be carrying out operations of their own—those that were officially sanctioned and public.

...

“One squad ready!”

“Second squad ready!”

Inside the command vehicle, Fu Ying wore a headset as the voices of the special operations teams reported in. Her gaze was fixed on the monitors, each one displaying footage streamed from the bodycams of operatives at the front lines.

While Qi Chen and his two companions conducted their covert ‘Scalpel’ operation in secret, the Department of Anomaly Response was simultaneously launching a sweeping purge of Vertical Eye Society infiltrators within City Three.

According to intelligence, the Society’s main force had gathered in the city’s most exclusive district. Unlike the typical apartment blocks where ordinary people lived, Shangfu Estate was a community of villas, home to the city’s elite—commercial magnates and old families whose roots stretched back to the city’s founding. The history of Shangfu itself could be traced to the earliest days of City Three.

The city’s chief administrator, Elder Li, had tried repeatedly to redevelop Shangfu into a residential area for more common citizens, but even he had struggled to untangle the entrenched interests there.

With the Society entrenched in Shangfu, the operations of the Department would face no small number of obstacles.

“Captain Fu, shouldn’t we be more mindful of the fallout?” Minister Qiu of the Oversight Division, also in the command vehicle, spoke in a strangely suggestive tone. “If the special ops teams accidentally injure any of Shangfu’s residents, the repercussions could be worse than anything those mist-crazed lunatics might cause.”

“There are quite a few people here connected to the cross-city trade guilds of the Union. You can’t ignore the economic implications,” he added.

Fu Ying’s expression remained icy, as if she hadn’t heard Qiu’s incessant prattling at all. Eyes locked on the screens, she issued the order.

“Commence the operation!”

Instantly, the special ops teams within Shangfu moved in perfect unison. Trained to the highest standard, they breached the designated targets with swift, practiced efficiency. Thanks to the wide spacing between villas and the use of suppressors on every weapon, the entire operation began with barely a whisper.

On the screen, the bodycams relayed images of Vertical Eye Society members caught completely off guard—bewildered, helpless before the storm. Compared to the elite special operatives, these crazed cultists were amateurs. Under a sudden assault, they didn’t even have a chance to fight back.

One villa after another was swiftly cleared of the Society’s remnants—a textbook example of a flawless operation.

But the smooth progress didn’t last.

At the front lines, Old Sovereign, leading the charge, suddenly spoke to Fu Ying over the comms.

“Captain Fu, I sense an anomaly.”

...