Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 314: Chapter 271: The Model

After addressing several questions from the four people, Nalan Shuo stood up intending to leave, as the chief commander, he had many things to arrange, "Yang Xiao, Beibei, come out for a moment."

Following Nalan Shuo out of the meeting room, the three of them came to the corridor outside. Nalan Shuo took out a cigarette case, drew one from it, and put it in his mouth, while simultaneously extending the case forward, "Smoke?" he asked Yang Xiao.

"I don’t." Yang Xiao shook his head.

Beibei naturally reached out to take one, but before she could touch it, Nalan Shuo withdrew the case and took out a lighter to ignite his cigarette. He took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke, "I’ve been briefed on your ordeal at Qingfeng by Beibei. Is there anything else you’d like to add?"

"For now, no. After the mission is completed, I’ll write a detailed report and submit it to you," Yang Xiao replied with utmost propriety.

"Um," Nalan Shuo glanced at Yang Xiao and then looked away, his demeanor unusually a bit warmer, "There were outsiders in the meeting room just now, so I couldn’t speak freely. This mission is very difficult; it’s fraught with danger and uncertainty. Although the Evil Cultivator has hostages, I don’t want the two of you to worry and get hurt because of this."

"What I want to tell you is that no matter what happens, you must protect yourselves. Even if the worst we dread happens, I won’t blame you. If the sky falls, I, Nalan Shuo, will support it."

"Thank you, Director." Yang Xiao and Beibei were well aware of the pressures Nalan Shuo was facing.

"Alright, we set off precisely at 3 AM. Until then, you two stay in the meeting room and don’t go anywhere. That’s an order."

"Understood."

The meeting room was considerately equipped with several folding beds, but aside from Yang Xiao, none of the others were in the mood to sleep. After a series of events, Yang Xiao was indeed exhausted. He lay down and quickly fell asleep, fortunately without any more bizarre nightmares this time.

Time flew by, and at 3 AM, several black off-road vehicles quietly left the underground parking lot of the Patrol Defense Bureau, heading toward the target location.

Ordinary people are no match for an Evil Cultivator, especially one in full possession of Resentful Eye, as their involvement would only lead to increased casualties. Hence, the strike team had only four members: Yang Xiao, Beibei, the middle-aged man Wu Zhengwu, and Sun Qiya.

All four held the rank of captain. Besides them, the Luming Bureau’s deputy captain and a specialist from the technical department were part of a reserve team.

All four, including Yang Xiao, possessed Resentful Eye capabilities suitable for combat. Having known Beibei for quite some time now, he still had no idea what her Resentful Eye was, which piqued his curiosity.

Among the four, Sun Qiya specialized in marksmanship, similar to Yu Shu’s role in the team, while Beibei was adept at close combat. As for Wu Zhengwu, one didn’t need to guess; the black Broad-back Hunting Knife hidden in its sheath appeared very sinister.

"Captain Yang, where’s your weapon?" Wu Zhengwu looked at Yang Xiao, having heard that the Lin’an Patrol Bureau had recently acquired a very young captain who, in a short span of time, had earned multiple commendations and rewards, becoming a trusted lieutenant under Director Nalan.

Yang Xiao pulled out his pistol from his waist, and upon seeing it, Wu Zhengwu couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed, "Just one gun—the firepower isn’t enough."

Yang Xiao suddenly laughed, raised his hand, and pointed at his head, boasting confidently, "Captain Wu, you’re mistaken there. The gun is just for emergencies. Our minds should be our strongest weapons. People like us rely on our brains more than swords and guns."

Wu Zhengwu could not quite grasp Yang Xiao’s depth and only hoped the man had the ability to match his peculiar appearance.

Yang Xiao knew Wu Zhengwu meant no harm; it was merely a minor tactic to vie for authority within the team. Being captains, whose orders would they follow inside?

Sun Qiya had suggested splitting into two groups once on the scene, but this was jointly vetoed by Yang Xiao and Wu Zhengwu. With the situation inside unclear, and potentially facing a Venerable Level Great Heretic Cultivator, even four of them might not stand a chance; splitting up would be a death sentence.

Yang Xiao felt the terror of a Venerable Level Evil Cultivator more acutely than the others. Qilong from yesterday was troublesome enough. Had it not been for the abundance of magic artifacts on him, he never would have gotten the best of him. And from the information disclosed by Qilong, this Venerable One was far stronger.

The good news was the Venerable One was seriously injured. They must strike while the iron was hot. If he had the chance, Yang Xiao planned to pull her into the Mirror World, then imprison her like he did with Qilong, gradually extracting every secret she knew.

The shadow in the Soul-Capturing Mirror remained a constant worry in Yang Xiao’s heart; he had to deal with it as soon as possible. This Venerable One from the Yu Yuan Sect might just have the information he needed.

There was another cause for concern—keeping his Resentful Eye abilities a secret from the Patrol Defense Office comrades. Once the fight began, it would be best to let Wu Zhengwu and the others wear down the Great Heretic Cultivator first, then take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, pulling her into the Mirror World, which would then allow him to fight freely.

That was the plan, however, the actual approach would need to adapt based on the situation on-site. After all, if his or Beibei’s life was threatened, risk of exposure be damned, he would have to use his Resentful Eyes.

Soon, they arrived. To avoid startling the quarry, they stopped their vehicles a few hundred meters away from the target building and proceeded on foot.

There were already plenty of people on the scene, hidden within nearby buildings. According to one person on-site, the group of Evil Cultivators was holed up in a nearby shopping mall. The mall had been doing poorly over recent years, and most of the businesses had vacated, leaving it almost half empty.

According to intelligence reports, the evil cultivator was hiding inside a children’s amusement park on the third floor of the mall, disguised as staff members during the day, with a considerable number of people, and holding about 20 children who could be used as hostages at any time.

After speaking, he also took out several diagrams of the mall’s structure and photos and floor plans of the amusement park for Yang Xiao and his team to familiarize themselves with.

From the photos, brothers from the Bureau had already infiltrated and conducted reconnaissance during the day. The photos showed several workers wearing uniform overalls playing with children, and the overalls had the name of a certain children’s entertainment company printed on the back.

At first glance, the photos looked very harmonious, but the longer one looked, the more strangely chilling they became. These children’s smiling faces were too uniform, the size of their mouths as they grinned and the curve of their eyes as they squinted were as if they had been strictly trained. They weren’t truly smiling because they were happy, but because they were forced to, and had no choice but to smile, like a group of brainwashed puppets.

"Captain Yang, you should get moving now," urged a person in charge on the scene, apparently somewhat anxious.

Yang Xiao frowned. "It’s not yet the agreed time, and Director Nalan hasn’t issued an attack order yet."

The person in charge’s expression turned bitter. Yang Xiao sensed that something was amiss and immediately pressed, "What happened? Has something gone wrong?"

"I’m asking you!" Wu Zhengwu didn’t have Yang Xiao’s patience and grabbed the clothing of the person in charge.

"It... it’s like this, just now our tailing team noticed a child running out of the back door of the mall. The kid seemed injured, hobbling, and covered in blood. We worried about the kid and... also feared that our brothers in hiding outside might be exposed, so we wanted to bring the kid over. But who would have thought that upon seeing our team, the child ran back again, even running into a nearby alley. Our guys, concerned that the child’s running around and shouting might expose the ambush outside, had to chase, but in the pursuit, the person... just disappeared somehow, and the child too, hasn’t been seen since, and we can’t get in touch now,"

Yang Xiao’s heart skipped a beat, "How long ago did this happen?"

"Just now, before you arrived, no more than 15 minutes." The person in charge realized they had stirred up trouble and tried to make amends, "We have already contacted Director Nalan, but he has not replied yet."

Yang Xiao immediately realized they were exposed. The original plan to sneak attack could now only be changed to a frontal assault, and there was an evil cultivator of Venerable Level inside who had probably laid a perfect trap.

"Go contact Nalan Shuo now!" Wu Zhengwu pushed away the person in charge; he also understood that today’s situation was likely beyond salvation.

"We can’t wait any longer, take action immediately!" Yang Xiao weighed the pros and cons and decided to strike first to gain the upper hand, as waiting further would only give the evil cultivator more time to prepare.

"No! We must wait for orders!" Wu Zhengwu was uncompromising, "We have already lost the element of surprise, I will suggest to the higher-ups that we abandon a frontal assault."

Yang Xiao ignored him, checking all the preparations for the attack with the person in charge on the scene. Right after he confirmed everything, the order from Nalan Shuo arrived—stick to the original plan except change sneak attack to frontal assault, with the reserve team serving as a decoy to make some noise at the front, covering for Yang Xiao and his four-man team to sneak in from the back. Furthermore, they were explicitly instructed not to separate unless absolutely necessary.

"Where did the missing personnel disappear?" Yang Xiao inquired. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Right at...just at the back door of the mall; it’s pretty secluded." The person in charge quickly managed their emotions, knowing that one big demerit was inevitable, but the mission had to continue. They had to try to make up for the mistake by accomplishing the task at hand. "I’ll lead you there."

With someone to guide them, Yang Xiao and the other three quickly arrived at the back of the mall. It was filthy there, just a few connected alleys surrounded by low-rise houses that seemed mostly uninhabited, likely only left with some elderly people who found it inconvenient to move.

According to this person in charge, the two team members had disappeared after running into the alleys. Yang Xiao shook his head. "Let’s not worry about them for now. Have someone guard the entrance to the alleys, but do not go in. We’ll take a detour around the alleys and enter the mall directly from the back."

In fact, there was something Yang Xiao did not want to say at the moment—he knew that the two missing team members were more likely dead than alive; there was no point wasting time on the dead.

Upon receiving the key to the back door of the mall, the four men sprang into action. The back of the mall was right next to the freight elevator and there was also an emergency passage.

The rear was a large glass door framed in old aluminum alloy. Arriving at the door, they looked inside through the dirty glass, where it was rather dark, but not pitch black. There was a faint, gloomy green light enveloping the space—the emergency lights of the mall were on.

After inserting the key, Beibei, startled, twisted the key in the lock to discover that the door wasn’t locked at all. With a light push from Yang Xiao, the door opened.

The next second, the four smelled a strong scent of blood. Sun Qiya instantly drew her gun, pointing it at the corner behind the door. In the dim emergency passage, there stood a person completely covered in blood.

The person was motionless, with their hat brim pulled down low and still wearing the uniform of the Patrol Defense Bureau. But upon moving closer, they realized it was a mannequin used for store displays, dressed up in their clothes. From the clothing to the shoes, it was fully equipped and at first glance, looked like a real person. freewebnoveℓ.com

Beibei swiftly searched the mannequin all over, until finding an internal pass from the Bureau pocket with a photo and name printed on it.

"Fuck..." Beibei clenched the ID, "It’s one of our own!"