Yama Rising

The source of the light came from countless shanties.

Everything was immediately clear to them - these were the temporary residences of the refugees that had been evacuated from the nearby three eastern provinces. Naturally, it was obvious what lay right in the heart of the shanty town.

There was no doubt that the city’s law enforcement agencies would be based right in the heart of the shanty town. Their existence would serve two purposes. Firstly, their presence was needed to regulate the safety and order around these parts. Secondly, evil spirits are naturally repulsed by the existence of the army. In other words, their existence would elevate the conduciveness of the shanty town as a temporary shelter for the refugees.

They finally drove up to the main gate, and that was when they saw the first signs of life for a long time. A row of soldiers stood guard at the entrance, each of whom wore a cap with the words “Unit 43151” embroidered across it in bright red lettering. There were already soldiers eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Qin Ye could tell that the two men were only Operative-class experts. According to the reports he had received, Hale Province had always boasted of an extremely low Yin energy level, and it was practically impossible to see the appearance of a large hunting zone in the vicinity. Naturally, the law enforcement agents garrisoned in this locality wouldn’t need a high level of cultivation to begin with.

The policeman’s eyes promptly lit up, and he walked over to greet them with great enthusiasm, “Greetings, dear instructors and students. My name is Gao Hua, and I’m the bureau chief of New Hale City. It must have been a long, arduous journey to these remote parts around here. We’ve already prepared dinner and arranged lodging for you. Shall we take you there? I can brief you all on the situation at the D-72 hunting zone tomorrow morning.”

Qin Ye smiled and walked forward to receive Gao Hua’s warm handshake with a faint smile on his face, “Pleased to meet you. I’m the lead instructor, Qin Ye, and this is Professor Li Jixi. Sorry for imposing on you.”

Qin Ye grew taciturn.

Qin Ye’s heart was suddenly filled with an earnest expectancy - If only Hell’s development would occur more quickly… Any amount would do - as long as we could bring forward the end to the hundred-year calamity that has befallen Cathay.

“Consider it done!” Gao Hua was overjoyed.

They could tell that the meeting room was frequently used. There were bits and pieces of rubbish littered all over the ground, while the ashtrays on the table were still full of cigarette butts. Gao Hua chuckled in a slightly self-deprecating manner, “Pardon the mess. We just had a meeting before you guys arrived…”

Everything was caused by the negligence of Hell!

If not for Hell’s negligence, how could so many people have been made homeless overnight?

It was strange that the human heart was most easily moved by the hearts of other human beings.

And carry it he would! If this had occurred a year ago, when he had been his previous self, he would most certainly have rolled his eyes and labelled himself insane.

“Certainly.” Gao Hua sat at the head of the table and switched on the LED screen. Instantly, countless images and words appeared on the screen, and his expression turned grave, “Gentlemen, an unknown incident has occurred in the three eastern provinces, and refugees are pouring into the surrounding provinces. New Hale City has taken in 84,000 refugees, and we have hit our limit.”

“But… that’s about as much as we can do for now.” He sighed and continued with a deep voice, “The population size of New Hale City is 7.2 million. Most of our military forces are gathered over here, but that necessarily also means it is impossible to keep a close watch over the rest of the city. Then, just a week ago, a large number of supernatural incidents were reported to have occurred in New Hale City.”

“Hale Province is located along the ‘spine’ of Cathay, while New Hale City is located on the easternmost part of Hale Province. In other words, we are located directly adjacent to the three eastern provinces and the Yan Capital and Jin province regions. Everyone, please take a look…”

The three eastern provinces were so intensely red that they appeared to be tainted with black. Yan Capital and Jin Province had clearly set up an impenetrable wall around their borders, and the dense Yin energy was completely unable to breach these walls. Unfortunately, the flow diagram also showed how an orange shade of Yin energy had just begun to flow into New Hale City.

Nobody said a single word.

A single misstep… might very well cause New Hale City to end up just like Skytribute City.

His voice quivered softly, “Five days ago, a bizarre murder case was reported in the Jadecloud neighbourhood in the eastern part of the city. A male worker was reported to have died of panic in his room. There were no trace of injuries on his body. Forensics reports confirmed that he had died of cardiac arrest, most likely as a result of being intensely frightened by something.”

He took a deep breath, “Here’s the video footage from the morgue. Everyone… please take a look for yourselves.”

The perspective of the footage also revealed a clock that hung on the wall.

Tick… tick… tick… It was almost as though they could hear each and every tick of the second hand. And then, right when it struck midnight, there was suddenly a loud groan from the otherwise empty morgue!

And then… a white cloth was lifted off the bed.

The footage went on to show the corpse stiffly lifting the white cloth, before getting to his feet robotically, almost as though he were slowly adapting to his new body. Following that, he began to trudge out to the main door with a peculiar gait.

Qin Ye immediately understood what he had just witnessed.

“Four days ago, a female student passed by an abandoned building at 7.00 p.m. She went home late, just past the time of the supernatural broadcasts. At that very moment, she felt as though someone… was watching her from the shadows of the abandoned building…”

“Three days ago, an elderly couple died inexplicably in their house. Nothing was moved, yet all of their joints were twisted together. All of the doors and windows were found to be tightly locked.” “Also three days ago, a male teacher was reported to have died of shock in the very same neighbourhood.”

And all of these incidents had been concentrated on the east side of the city!

He bowed deeply, and his voice choked up, “I’ve never witnessed a phenomenon so terrifying and treacherous over the last thirty-seven years of my service to the nation! This isn’t something that we can handle on our own. So…”

Li Jixi stood up with an equally grave expression. This was the first time he had decided to speak up of his own volition, “Don’t worry. Leave it to us.”

Ah… the passion of youth…

“Rest well tonight, and prepare the artifacts that you will be using.”

“YES!!!”