Zzzzz—

A series of sharp noises came from the Bluetooth earphone, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, or blades cutting glass.

Wang Congshan’s pupils suddenly expanded,

not because the noise was piercing, or because communications were cut off and she couldn’t hear Li Ang’s voice,

but because more putrid corpse oil dripped above her head.

Drip, drip.

Corpse oil trickled from a certain piece of void close to the ceiling,

a saliva-covered rotting head was slowly squeezed out of the void.

Plop.

The head fell onto the stairs, rolling down slowly and finally stopping at Wang Congshan’s feet.

With peripheral vision, she could clearly see the skin of the face on the head, black-red, full of holes formed by muscle decay, clearly rotten for quite some time and covered with a layer of corpse oil.

Its eyeballs were shriveled and sunken, like cloudy milky white glass beads embedded in the eye sockets,

its lips were broken and beyond recognition, seemingly gnawed by something, unevenly covering the ghastly white teeth.

Wang Congshan did not retreat, glaring at the void above her head—when the head was squeezed out, its skin showed a clear sense of pulling and dragging.

The source of the anomaly was not this rotting head, but something invisible that devoured it.

————

"Hello, hey." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Inside the tactical command vehicle outside the abandoned building, Li Ang listened to the chaotic noises coming from the earphones, his gaze darkening as he scanned the large screen composed of dozens of different surveillance feeds.

"Wait a moment, it should be fine for now."

Xing Hechou said quickly: "Standard earphones have anti-interference capabilities,

however, to prevent increasing mission difficulty, no extraordinary elemental technology was used inside, so their anti-interference ability is limited.

Sometimes signal can be lost due to special circumstances."

On the large screen, the footage shot by the drone, clearly showing the staircase entrance on the east side of the second floor of the abandoned building.

Wang Congshan lightly bit her left tooth, the Bluetooth earphone detected the muscle movement and, following the preset rules, actively lowered the sound, suppressing the noise.

She gripped the assault rifle, raised her head, staring at the void above, moving the gun’s muzzle very slowly.

The wristwatch on her right hand didn’t detect any hostile targets, emitting a red warning,

but the faint tingling sensation from the back of her neck indicated that something alive was above her.

Step!

Wang Congshan stepped forward with her left foot, the tactical boots with enhanced bouncing capability stomped heavily on the edge of the stairs, her sole providing sudden backward force, catapulting her backward.

Simultaneously, the muzzle of the assault rifle was suddenly raised, aiming at the spot where the head had fallen, pulling the trigger.

Ratatatatat—

Bullets shot out, hitting the cracked ceiling.

The dark bricks crumbled instantly under the bullet impact, debris flying everywhere,

Wang Congshan leapt backward, and as she was about to slam into the wall, she pushed off with her right foot, leaping to the left, stepping onto the wall,

her entire body parallel to the ground—the magnetic enhancement function of the tactical boots automatically activated, attaching her to the steel rebar through the wall, allowing her to hang mid-air.

Ratatatatat—

The assault rifle continued firing continuously, and every fifth brass shell was followed by a silver enchanted bullet head—this minimal specification special bullet head could hit invisible and abstract spirits and penetrate energy shields, causing additional damage to creatures of negative energy.

The bullet chain swept across the ceiling, creating a series of bullet holes in the loose wall opposite, yet no blood splattered from the void.

No hit?

Wang Congshan furrowed her eyebrows slightly, relaxing her grip on the trigger,

the flashlight mounted on top of the rifle illuminated the stairwell bright as day, allowing her to clearly see the floating powder dusts in the air.

The Bluetooth earphone still buzzed with noisy static,

Wang Congshan thought rapidly, her mind quickly recalling the previous scene.

After seeing the corpse oil, earphone communication was cut off, the rotting head fell from the void, as if spat out by some entirely invisible creature.

Firstly, that creature may possess some domain-like power that could affect communication within a nearby range, this power was probably actively triggered right at the moment Wang Congshan reached the staircase.

Secondly, that creature is capable of flying, hovering, phasing, or climbing, able to fixate on the ceiling without causing obvious damage to it.

Additionally, judging by the head’s size, the invisible creature’s mouth and overall size may be very large,

though it could also be something like a snake, where its mouth extends far beyond real-world creatures.

If that’s the case, then...

Wang Congshan swiftly pulled a can-sized alloy compression bottle from the tactical belt on her waist with her left hand,

twisting the bottle’s nozzle with her fingertips and pressing down hard,

immediately a large amount of fluffy powdered extinguishing agent sprayed out from the nozzle, filling the stairwell.

The Mobile Detachment’s standard tactical suit featured a variety of equipment with diverse functionalities,

this can-like extinguisher could spray extinguishing agents, differing in direction, extent, concentration, intensity, depending on the rotation angle of the nozzle.

The powdered extinguishing agent not only had extremely high efficiency in inhibiting combustion but could also lower the surrounding temperature, create smoke, and obscure vision.

Under the full-coverage mask’s goggles,

Wang Congshan released the extinguisher button, suspending silently on the wall, her gaze quietly sweeping the environment.

The powdered extinguishing agent drifted slowly in the air like smoke and mist.

The stairwell was dead silent, a pin drop could be heard.

Wang Congshan furrowed her brows slightly,

If there truly exists an invisible monster, it should be ’revealed’ by the extinguisher—the space should appear as an area where the extinguishing agent wouldn’t occupy.

But currently, the powdered extinguisher quickly dispersed, filling the surrounding space, with no signs of disturbance.

Vanished?

Or perhaps...

Swish!!!

A fierce gust came from above the right shoulder armor,

without any warning, Wang Congshan’s right shoulder armor suddenly exploded, blood splattering everywhere,

deep scars, deep enough to see the bone, appeared on her shoulder, as if struck by sharp blades.

She’s been attacked!

Wang Congshan instantly canceled the tactical boots’ wall absorption, her body plummeting downward,

her right arm, assailed by severe pain, barely raising the gun, firing in the direction from which the gust came.

Ratatatatat.

The bullets slanted upward sweeping through the ceiling, carving out round tunnels in the powdered extinguishing agent floating in the air.

No target hit.

In truth, Wang Congshan didn’t manage to see what the target was or what it looked like.

Stomp.

No time to hesitate, Wang Congshan stomped the ground sharply, the tactical boots provided propulsion, hurling her out of the stairwell onto the third-floor corridor, she swiftly darted into a room,

holding the gun with her right hand, aiming at the door, her left hand reached for the hemostatic gel on her waist spraying it on the injured right shoulder.