Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 178 A sudden turn of events
Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, and Mom, please bless me! Your daughter may not be able to take care of you in your old age!

Jiang Siqi shouted in her heart.

They had just been loitering in the new product display area, waiting for their team leader's orders. Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Through the glass wall, they saw the reception staff attacking customers like zombies, instantly covering the clean glass walls with bloodstains!
Wang Baihu ordered everyone to rush to the lobby immediately to protect innocent citizens.

Jiang Siqi had never encountered such a scene before. Seeing the flowing blood and the screaming crowd, she felt her legs trembling.

"Don't panic, everyone! We are agents from the Security Agency. The main gate is safe. Come this way!" Wang Baihu directed the panicked crowd while reminding his team members, "Don't stand still either. If you're confident, go and deal with the enemy. If not, stay outside and help the civilians!"

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm confident!" Han Yuhao's mouth remained as defiant as before. He took a deep breath, rushed to one side of the hall, and shouted at the company employees who were clinging to the customers' necks, "Hey, you bunch of idiots, look over here! Believe me or not, I'll chop you all up!?"

His voice, like thunder, boomed across the hall, making the surrounding floor-to-ceiling windows vibrate.

The seven or eight employees in the lobby actually stopped gnawing and turned to look at him.

Seriously? This works?!

The next second, they abandoned the dead man and rushed straight towards the man with the earring.

Jiang Siqi stared in disbelief at the swarming mutants, almost screaming out loud.

These people really do look like zombies, with their eyes rolled back, their ears becoming pointed and long, and they always stretch their arms out in front when they run, with fingernails as sharp as if they haven't been cut in ten years.

The problem is that they run incredibly fast, almost like normal people, making them much harder to deal with than zombies!
"I've drawn the enemy over for you guys, now it's your turn to perform!" the man with the earring roared.

Who gave you permission to help? Jiang Siqi really wanted to slap him hard. Couldn't she have taken advantage of the chaos to sneak over and eliminate them one by one?
"That's too reckless! You didn't even consider whether we could handle it!" Li Xing raised both hands, pointing to the open space between the man with the earring and the employees.

The marble floor instantly became incredibly shiny, as if coated with a transparent oil film, reflecting even the ceiling lights clearly.

The moment the mutated employees rushed in, a large number of them slipped and fell.

"What kind of ability is this, an ice rink?" Han Yuhao said disdainfully. "Couldn't you just take them all out in one go?"

This person is so ungrateful! He saved your life!
Li Xing ignored him and turned to look at Jiang Siqi. "I've watched your live stream. You can control fire, right?"

"Fire magic? That might not be powerful enough..."

"It's okay, just put it on the ground, it'll catch fire!"

So... it can burn? Jiang Siqi instinctively gathered a ball of flame in her hand and flung it to the ground. A bright red flame erupted from the floor like a small volcano, accompanied by a series of explosions!
The floor-to-ceiling windows in the lobby finally gave way and shattered.

After the flames disappeared, the ground turned pitch black. All the company employees who had rushed over lay on the ground, their bodies emitting blue smoke, their clothes tattered, their fate unknown, and a foul burnt smell filled the air.

"That teamwork...not bad," Han Yuhao said with some reluctance. "But why didn't you prepare a lighter?"

"The flame from a lighter is not the same as the flame from a superpower," Li Xing said, adjusting his glasses. "I've done many tests. Even with a windproof lighter that can be thrown out of the hand, there's a 50% chance it won't ignite the embers. Cost is also a problem. Windproof lighters average over twenty yuan each. If you have to throw four or five lighters every time you use your power, it adds up to a considerable amount..."

"Alright, alright, I was just saying it offhand." Han Yuhao nodded to Jiang Siqi and said, "As expected of No. 1, you can still react so quickly in this kind of situation."

“Indeed.” Li Xing said with some admiration, “Most young girls would have cried in this situation.”

Jiang Siqi remained expressionless—a self-protective mechanism she had developed during her live streams. No matter what setbacks she faced, she shouldn't let her expression falter, lest viewers capture unflattering photos that even beauty filters couldn't salvage. But inside, a tidal wave of emotions was churning!
—Oh no, oh no, oh no… I killed someone! Seven or eight of them!

For a crime of this severity, shouldn't it be punishable by immediate execution?

Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, I'm so sorry! Your daughter can't be there to take care of you anymore!
Meanwhile, Wang Baihu also cooperated with Elori to take care of several mutated employees who were chasing civilians, finally allowing the survivors in the hall to escape safely.

"Hey, Honglian, what exactly happened in the park? The other task forces have also been attacked without warning!" Wang Baihu shouted into the communicator in his collar.

But there was no reply from the other end. "I'm going to find her. You guys stay here and keep watch, and check if there are any injured people who can be treated." A hint of worry appeared on his face as he rushed out of the hall without looking back.

Elori tried to call out to him, but she was too late.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment for a moment.

"There are no wounded left, they're all dead." Han Yuhao said, somewhat annoyed. "Can anyone tell me what's going on? First they said they were going to capture the Wanderer, but before they even saw him, the team leader changed the mission, going off to investigate some White-Clad Immortal. Now... it's turned into fighting zombies?"

“These people can’t really be considered zombies,” Li Xing said, squatting down in front of a smoking corpse and examining it carefully. “Their facial structures are slightly deformed, and their finger joints have grown abnormally, which doesn’t seem to be caused by a viral infection.”

"Were you a doctor before?"

“No,” he replied calmly. “Before I awakened my abilities, I was a food delivery worker.”

Elori was extremely anxious at this moment.

She knew what was going on. Shortly after entering the hall, she sensed the demon's presence, indicating that it was quite close. Judging from the size of the building, the demon was likely hiding in one of the rooms upstairs.

These humans who suddenly began attacking their own kind were actually soulless puppets created by demons—their souls no longer belonged to them. The moment their souls were extracted, they would immediately become servants of the demons, and their bodies would change, making them more lethal.

This is an ability that most demons possess, but she hadn't expected there to be so many. Soul-lost puppets need to be bound by contracts, and the number of contracts a demon can create in a day is also an important measure of its strength.

Elori was certain that the demon hadn't been in this world for very long, at most about a month. The fact that it could create so many soulless puppets in such a short time was enough to demonstrate its power.

When she tracked the enemy to Jiangcheng, her decision not to immediately attack was undoubtedly the right one. With her current strength, she simply couldn't kill such a powerful demon in one blow.

With the help of their companions from the Limitless Organization, they might be able to accomplish this, but unfortunately, the strongest members of the group, Honglian and Wang Baihu, are not present. If the demon suddenly rushes downstairs while only a few of them are guarding this place, the situation will be dire.

Her concerns were by no means unfounded.

Because the other side had obviously also noticed the encirclement by the authorities.

Otherwise, why would a demon suddenly awaken all the soulless puppets when they were so well hidden? Doing so would undoubtedly expose his identity, but at the same time, reclaiming the souls would greatly enhance his power.

Should we tell everyone to evacuate the building first?
This would be safer, but once she leaves, she will lose her connection to the demon. If the demon transforms into a mist of insects and escapes, or simply returns to its original world, all her efforts will be in vain.

This is a dilemma.

Elori couldn't help but recall the question Shawcanon had asked her before—"When carrying out a mission, do you think the result is more important or your teammates?"

Her response at the time was that she didn't want to sacrifice any teammates to achieve the mission objective.

Although the situation is not yet so dire that someone has to make a sacrifice.

Thinking of this, Elori sighed. She decided to tell everyone the enemy's details, "I know what's going on, but we'd better get out of here first—"

Before she could finish speaking, two more mutated employees suddenly emerged from the hallway. They had hunched backs, sickle-shaped arms, skin pulled back on their faces, and long, thin eyes.

"Tsk, it seems there are still some who slipped through the net..." Han Yuhao stepped forward and said, "The same method as before, I'll lure them together before you make your move."

When Elori saw the two soulless puppets, she was startled. "No, get out of the way!"

The moment she spoke, the enemy's scythe-like arm flashed through the earring-wearing man's position, sending him spinning. Two jets of blood gushed out like fountains, instantly covering the ground.

(End of this chapter)