Chapter 823 - 751: Ghost Demon’s Trickery

Chapter 823: Chapter 751: Ghost Demon’s Trickery

"Why hasn’t there been any movement from them?" he wondered. This was something worth Tu Xiao’an’s consideration. However, he really didn’t enjoy racking his brain—it was too much effort, too exhausting. Especially when it involved guessing. "Whatever, I’ll ignore that for now," he decided.

"If the Ghost Demon went to Building Three, it should have run into Du Jun and the others," he pondered. "But why is it so quiet? There hasn’t been a single sound from Building Three. And what is Ling Yihang doing over in Building Two? Did the idiot get lost?"

If Tu Xiao’an knew that Ling Yihang and Shao Qiu were currently doing unspeakable things, he would have been furious. They hadn’t been bewitched or manipulated by the enemy; they were simply a shameless, adulterous pair.

After a brief moment of thought, Tu Xiao’an’s figure shot toward Building Three. He couldn’t count on those bosses to catch the Ghost Demon anymore. It seemed he had to take matters into his own hands.

.......

As soon as Tu Xiao’an arrived at Building Three and prepared to take the stairs, he faintly sensed the Ghost Demon’s location. It was right above him, seemingly waiting for him. "You ghost trash, watch this Snake Emperor capture you," he muttered.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...!

Suddenly, a severed human head rolled down the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt right at Tu Xiao’an’s feet.

"Qu Ping?"

With a single glance, Tu Xiao’an recognized the head’s owner: Qu Ping, the boss of Q City, who had come to help. His eyes were wide open in a gruesome, unyielding glare—he had died with a grievance.

"Holy crap, a city boss just died like this?" Tu Xiao’an thought, staring blankly at the head by his feet, thoroughly shocked. "This isn’t just some ordinary Martial Cultivator; this is a majestic High Rank War God, the overlord of an entire city! His status and position are incredibly noble. If someone like that dies, the human authorities will mourn the loss for a long time. Yet now, he’s dead just like that."

"Did the Ghost Demon kill him?" Tu Xiao’an picked up Qu Ping’s head. It looked as if he had been decapitated by a sharp weapon. "But that isn’t how the Ghost Demon usually kills its victims," he reasoned. "It normally controls their minds, forcing them to end their own lives. That black shadow exists between the ethereal and the corporeal, just like a ghost. Why would it use a sharp weapon to chop off Qu Ping’s head?"

"Careful... careful..."

Qu Ping’s severed head spoke. The sheer terror of the moment seemed to make the very air ripple and distort. Fortunately, Tu Xiao’an was no ordinary person, or he would have been scared out of his wits and punted the head to the ends of the earth. However, a High Rank War God was incredibly tenacious; even with just a severed head, they didn’t perish so easily.

"Careful of what? Were you killed by the Ghost Demon?" Tu Xiao’an asked. The fact that the head hadn’t completely drawn its last breath was actually good news for him.

"No, I... was... killed by..." As Qu Ping spoke, his complexion rapidly cycled from a deathly gray to a sickly, waxy yellow. His life force was plummeting.

"Not killed by the Ghost Demon?" Tu Xiao’an pressed. "Then who killed you?"

"It... it... it was..."

CROAK!

"..." Tu Xiao’an was utterly speechless. "Bro, are you kidding me? Does it have to be like this? Can we skip the cliché soap opera tropes and not drop the ball at the most critical moment?" he mentally complained.

The head rapidly shriveled up, ending up as a ghastly, mummified husk. Tu Xiao’an placed Qu Ping’s shrunken head in a corner, glanced up at the floors above, and shot upward like a bullet.

.........

"Boss Du, this is bad! Qu Ping was killed by the Ghost Demon!" Yan Guan found Du Jun on the sixth floor, his voice trembling with terrified dread.

"What? What did you just say?!" Du Jun’s eyes bulged like brass bells. Not long ago, he had assigned Yan Guan to the fourth floor, Qu Ping to the fifth, and himself to the sixth, intending to sweep for the Ghost Demon’s hiding spot floor by floor. As soon as anyone found it, they were supposed to shout for help to surround and annihilate it together. How could Qu Ping be dead in the blink of an eye? "Where is he?"

"Boss Du, follow me."

Yan Guan led Du Jun down to the fourth floor. There, lying horizontally in the corridor, was a headless, desiccated corpse. Du Jun took one look and swayed on his feet. It was Qu Ping; even without the head, his clothing made his identity unmistakable.

"It’s over. I’m completely screwed," Du Jun thought. A profound sense of impending doom washed over him—the chilling realization that he would become the scapegoat now that disaster had struck. The boss of Q City had died right inside his own Demon Management Bureau? And in such a gruesome manner? There was absolutely no way Du Jun could evade implication. The blame resting on his shoulders would be astronomical.

After staring blankly for a long time, Du Jun asked in a grim voice, cursing his rotten luck, "How did he die? Where is his head?"

Yan Guan shook his head. "I don’t know. He was already like this when I arrived." As he spoke, a terrifying, ghostly face faintly flickered across his forehead. However, Du Jun’s eyes were glued to Qu Ping’s corpse, so he completely failed to notice it.

"What a ruthless Ghost Demon... to kill Qu Ping and drain him of his blood," Du Jun said through gritted teeth. The headless corpse lacked even a single drop of blood, which perfectly matched the Ghost Demon’s modus operandi. A High Rank War God’s blood was undoubtedly a highly nutritious feast for the creature.

"Boss Du, what do we do now?" Yan Guan asked, looking panic-stricken.

"I will catch that Ghost Demon and tear it into ten thousand pieces!" Du Jun roared. A terrifying aura typical of a War God erupted from him, making the entire building sway precariously. Under the sheer might of his crushing presence, it felt as if the structure could collapse at any second.

As Du Jun’s aura surged violently, Ling Yihang, who was acting intimately with Shao Qiu over in Building Two, suddenly sharpened his gaze.

"Did Boss Du encounter the Ghost Demon over there?" Shao Qiu asked, adjusting her clothes and looking in that direction.

"It’s possible. Otherwise, Boss Du wouldn’t have fully unleashed his aura," Ling Yihang replied casually.

"Shouldn’t we go over?"

"Why should we? Who do you think Boss Du is? If he encountered the Ghost Demon, all the better. This is his territory, so isn’t it perfectly reasonable for him to catch it himself? Why would we rush over and steal his credit?" Compared to the Ghost Demon, Ling Yihang was currently far more interested in that Super Great Demon. But first, he had to finish his current business.

"That doesn’t seem right. After all, we came here to help, not to..." Shao Qiu trailed off. She wanted to say they hadn’t come here to hook up in the wild. They were at someone else’s Demon Management Bureau, doing absolutely zero official business and engaging in highly improper behavior instead!

"Sister Shao, I know what I’m doing. Whether you lift a finger to help or not, the boss of E City will still get her share of the credit for dealing with this Ghost Demon," he reassured her.

At his words, Shao Qiu’s eyes sparkled with delight. The top boss of S City held far more weight with the authorities than she did. As long as he put in a few good words for her, the higher-ups would believe whatever he said. Of course, this was assuming the Ghost Demon was caught. But now that the creature had broken in, could it possibly escape?

"Shao Qiu, let’s continue," Ling Yihang said with a wicked grin, filling the air once again with an ambiguous, lustful tension.

......

"Boss Du, I think Qu Ping might not have been killed by the Ghost Demon. When has it ever killed like this?" Yan Guan suddenly remarked to the enraged Du Jun.

"What do you mean?"

Yan Guan looked at him. "Boss, don’t forget—besides the Ghost Demon, there is also a Super Great Demon here."

"The Super Great Demon?" Du Jun was taken aback. "You’re saying he was killed by that X City representative? That’s impossible, right?"

"Boss Du, look at the severed stump of Qu Ping’s neck. It was clearly chopped off cleanly by a sharp weapon." It was a world of difference from the Ghost Demon’s usual methods.

"This..." Du Jun was bewildered, but upon further thought, Yan Guan’s words seemed to make sense. "Is that Great Demon from X City really powerful enough to kill Qu Ping without anyone noticing?"

"After all, we were merely a floor apart from Qu Ping. At the slightest sign of trouble, we could have reached him in the blink of an eye. Yet Qu Ping died silently, without a single sound. It just doesn’t add up," Du Jun reasoned. His head throbbed with a massive headache. Initially, he thought the Ghost Demon had killed Qu Ping, but now it turned out to be the Super Great Demon? Things were becoming increasingly complicated.

"Boss Du! Demon Qi! The Super Great Demon from X City is right below us!" Yan Guan suddenly exclaimed, having sensed something.

Du Jun sensed it too. He was right; the Super Great Demon was indeed in Building Three! "Dammit! That cursed Demon actually struck first and made a move against us! Qu Ping died such a tragic death!" he thought angrily.

"Come at me, Super Great Demon! I will skin you alive!"

The moment Tu Xiao’an stepped onto the floor, he was greeted by the sight of Du Jun charging toward him with a terrifying, murderous aura. The man looked as if he harbored an absolutely irreconcilable blood feud against him.

"You damned Demon, hand over your life!"

A Level 39 Peak Battle God, the boss of a Tier-1 city—even Tu Xiao’an had to take him seriously.

But...!

"Could you explain what the hell is going on before you attack?!" Tu Xiao’an thought in exasperation. He still hadn’t figured out the situation.

Off to the side, when no one was looking, Yan Guan revealed a sinister, mocking expression. "These humans are truly foolish. So easy to toy with," he thought.