Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 129 The Laws of the Apocalypse
"Thirty-second countdown begins!"

Lancer's fingers danced across the control panel, and as the last Enter key fell, the entire safe house's lighting system instantly switched to a blinding blood red. The alarm was no longer a monotonous buzzing, but a frantic, death-defying cacophony.

Boom!

The half-meter-thick alloy ceiling above finally gave way, emitting a grotesque, groaning wail. A gigantic fist, composed of countless pale, intertwined arms, carrying debris and dust, crashed down like a meteorite.

The fist was the size of a truck cab, every finger was writhing wildly, the nails were sharp as knives, and it emitted a nauseating stench.

"Get the hell back here!"

Mo Fei roared, his voice booming in the confined space, drowning out the alarm.

The newly donned "Night Owl" exoskeleton emitted a high-pitched hydraulic pump roar, and the powered spine on his back glowed with a dazzling blue light. Instead of retreating, he charged forward to meet the descending giant fist. The new battle axe in his hand—the high-frequency heavy axe named "Earthbreaker"—radiated visible high-frequency vibrations from its blade.

"Gravity Overload - Upward Slash!"

Mo Fei stomped his feet on the ground, the immense force creating two deep craters in the alloy floor. He transformed into a black whirlwind, his battle axe drawing a perfect inverted crescent moon from bottom to top.

Sizzle—Pfft!

A chilling cutting sound rang out.

That seemingly indestructible, fleshy giant fist was cleanly sliced ​​apart the moment it touched the battle axe, as if a hot knife through butter. Countless severed arms flew through the air, and black, foul blood poured down like a torrential downpour.

"Roar--!"

The Thousand-Handed Corpse Demon above let out a painful roar, a sound that sounded like thousands of people screaming at the same time, making people's eardrums ache.

"Well done!" Lan Ce shouted, but his hands didn't stop. He quickly attached several high-explosive detonators to the core processor of the control panel. "Twenty seconds left! The drain gate is opening!"

Although Mo Fei landed a successful blow, the immense impact caused his legs to buckle, almost causing him to kneel on the ground. A plume of white steam emanated from the joints of the exoskeleton.

"This thing is really powerful!" Mo Fei wiped the blood off his face; it was the blood of the Corpse Demon, highly corrosive, but he didn't care. "Old Bai, is the road clear?"

"pass."

Bai Yu was standing in the corner of the room in front of a round metal cover. He had already used "Ember" to cut the locked hydraulic rod, and with one hand gripping the edge of the cover, he suddenly lifted it open.

A stench even stronger than the stench of a corpse instantly surged up from the sewer.

It was a black hole less than a meter in diameter, with the sound of rushing, murky water below.

"Lan Ce, go down first!" Bai Yu commanded.

"Understood." Without the slightest hesitation, Lan Ce grabbed his data terminal and jumped directly into the black hole.

"Mo Fei, retreat!"

"They're here!" Mo Fei glanced at the rapidly healing wound on his head and the many arms reaching down, then spat. "I'll play with you again next time!"

He turned and ran, the exoskeleton's power assist allowing him to take three or four meters with each step.

Just as Mo Fei jumped into the cave entrance, Bai Yu took one last look at this temporary haven. A flash of white light appeared in his left eye, and he threw a high-explosive grenade with pinpoint accuracy into the gap that Mo Fei had cleaved open.

"A parting gift for you."

After saying that, Bai Yu hugged Lu Yueqi and jumped into the darkness.

boom! boom! boom!
Just as his body disappeared into the sewer, a series of explosions rang out overhead.

That was the self-destruct program set by Lan Ce, combined with the grenade thrown by Bai Yu. The intense flames engulfed everything and temporarily halted the Thousand-Handed Corpse Demon's pursuit. A massive shockwave surged through the pipes, propelling them like they were sliding down a slippery slide.

……

This is a long-abandoned industrial sewage pipe.

The surroundings were pitch black, with only the spotlights on Mo Fei and Bai Yu's tactical helmets casting two swaying beams of light.

The sewage underfoot was up to my calves, viscous, cold, and full of unknown suspended matter. The walls were covered with glowing moss, and occasionally I could see rats, bigger than cats, scurrying across the top of the pipes, their red eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"Cough cough... This smell is even stronger than Old Mo's stinky socks." Lan Ce steadied himself against the wall, gagged twice, and quickly took out three simple breathing filters from his backpack and distributed them to everyone.

"Stop talking nonsense, we're lucky we could even run away." Mo Fei took the filter and put it on, saying in a deep voice, "That last wave was really close. That monster's strength is at least five tons. If it weren't for this new equipment, my arm would have been ruined."

Bai Yu didn't speak; he was looking down to check on Lu Yueqi's condition.

The girl's eyes remained closed, but her brows were furrowed, as if she were enduring some kind of pain. Her hands gripped Bai Yu's collar tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"There is something ahead..."

Lu Yueqi suddenly spoke, her voice trembling but unusually clear.

Bai Yu's eyes sharpened: "How far? What direction?"

“One hundred meters… right in the water… so many… they are very hungry.” Lu Yueqi buried her head in Bai Yu’s arms, her body trembling.

"Stop!" Bai Yu immediately raised her hand.

The three stopped instantly, forming a triangular defensive formation back to back.

The water ahead appeared calm, with only black sewage flowing slowly. But in Bai Yu's "Eye of Truth," beneath that calm surface lurked a dense array of heat sources.

"Lanze, sonar detection."

“Scanning… Damn it!” Lan Ce gasped as he looked at the image on the terminal. “It’s a swarm of ‘corpse leeches’! More than five hundred of them! Once these things attach to your body, they can burrow into your blood vessels in three seconds!”

Before he finished speaking, the water in front of him suddenly boiled.

Countless black, fleshy worms, as thick as fingers and covered in barbs, shot out of the water and rained down on the three of them like a dense barrage of arrows.

"Fire attack!" Bai Yu calmly gave the order.

Mo Fei was prepared. He pressed a switch on the handle of his battle axe, and a fan-shaped flame instantly shot out from under the axe blade.

call--!
Flames raged through the narrow pipe. Although the leeches were ferocious, they were still living beings. When they encountered the high temperature, they were instantly burned and crackled, emitting a burning smell.

"Don't linger, charge!" Bai Yu swung his sword with one hand, the black blade precisely slicing down several stragglers. "We can't kill all of these things; they were awakened by the commotion above."

"Stay close to me!" Mo Fei became the trailblazer, continuously spitting flames from his flamethrower, burning a path through the swarm of insects.

The three of them ran wildly through the pipes, stepping on the charred insect corpses scattered on the ground.

Lu Yueqi's early warning ability demonstrated its astonishing value at this moment.

"Don't go down the left fork in the road, there's a big guy sleeping there!"

"Watch out above! Watch your head!"

"Turn right! The wind is blowing on the right!"

Guided by her, the three avoided several deadly ambushes and navigated around a few dead ends. The underground pipe network, which was originally like a maze, seemed to Lu Yueqi to be a transparent map.

"Amazing!" Mo Fei exclaimed as he ran. "This girl is like a human radar! Much more useful than that crappy machine, Lan Ce!"

"Shut up and focus on running away." Although Lan Ce was stubborn, the way he looked at Lu Yueqi had changed. This wasn't ordinary perception; it was the natural suppression and sensing of a lower-level being by a higher-level nightmare.

Finally, a glimmer of light appeared ahead.

That's the exit!

"rush out!"

Mo Fei roared and smashed open the rusty iron fence at the exit.

Wow!

The three of them tumbled and crawled out of the pipe, landing on the soft muddy riverbank.

The long-awaited sunshine—though it was a pale, grayish-white sunlight—sunshine upon me, giving me a dazed feeling of being reborn.

This is the edge of a dried-up riverbed, above which lies an abandoned highway viaduct. All around is quiet, save for the rustling of the wind through the withered grass.

"I...I survived." Lan Ce collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, and took off his glasses to wipe off the mud.

Mo Fei plopped down, unfastened the exoskeleton mask, and greedily inhaled the fresh air: "Damn, that was exhilarating. If there had been more of those bugs, we would have become fertilizer."

Bai Yu didn't rest. He immediately checked the surroundings and, after confirming it was temporarily safe, put Lu Yueqi down. The girl's face was still pale, but her eyes were clearer than before.

"Thank you," she said softly, looking at Bai Yu.

"You saved us." Bai Yu rarely showed a very faint smile, and reached out to pat her head. "Well done."

Lu Yueqi was stunned for a moment, a blush rose on her pale face, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at him.

"Alright, stop acting out this idol drama," Mo Fei snapped, ruining the mood. "Where are we now? How far are we from Linjiang City?"

Lan Ce put his glasses back on and pulled up the offline map: "We're below National Highway G302. Heading north along this road, it'll be about 300 kilometers to Linjiang City. However..."

He pointed to the overpass above: "It would take at least four days to walk there. And the whole area is unknown. We need transportation."

Just then, the roar of an engine came from the overpass.

It was a heavily modified off-road vehicle, with a heavy machine gun mounted on its roof, its body welded with steel plates and spikes, and covered in graffiti of various skull patterns. A cloud of dust billowed behind it as it sped towards them.

"Luckily, the delivery guy is here." Mo Fei grinned, grabbed his battle axe, and was about to stand up.

"Wait," Bai Yu stopped him. "Let's check the situation first."

The SUV screeched to a stop fifty meters from them. The door opened, and four burly men jumped out.

The four men were dressed in a motley collection of camouflage uniforms and carried a variety of weapons—from standard assault rifles to homemade shotguns. The leader, a bald man with a muscular face, wore a necklace made of some kind of animal bone and carried a double-barreled shotgun with its barrel sawed off.

They are clearly not benevolent people. In this world where order has collapsed, such people are often called "hyenas"—opportunists who take advantage of others' misfortunes and commit all sorts of evil deeds.

"Hey, look what we found!" The bald man whistled, his gaze sweeping greedily over the high-tech terminal in Lan Ce's hand and the exoskeleton on Mo Fei's body, before finally fixing his gaze on Lu Yueqi.

"High-tech equipment, and a delicate-skinned young lady." The bald man licked his lips, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Brothers, we're really lucky today!"

The other three burly men also burst into laughter, pointing their guns at the three of them intentionally or unintentionally, and slowly surrounded them.

"Leave your stuff and get out of here. Oh, wait, the girl has to stay and keep us old men entertained." The bald man arrogantly raised his chin. "Be smart and don't make me waste my bullets."

Mo Fei narrowed his eyes, his muscles tensing up little by little. He looked at Bai Yu, awaiting instructions.

Bai Yu slowly stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes. His expression was calm, as calm as if he were looking at a few dead people.

"Nice car," Bai Yu said casually.

"That's right, this is..." the bald man blurted out instinctively, then realized what he'd said and his face darkened. "Damn it, can't you understand human language? You're asking for it!"

He raised his shotgun, ready to pull the trigger.

But before his fingers could move, Bai Yu moved.

No nonsense, no warnings.

In this world without laws, violence is the only universal language.

"Mo Fei, clear out the minions. Lan Ce, control the vehicle."

The moment the command was given, Bai Yu's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

The bald man felt a blur before his eyes, followed by a sharp pain in his wrist. The hunting rifle was now in Bai Yu's hands.

boom!
There was a gunshot.

The bald man clutched his thigh in disbelief, screaming as he collapsed to his knees. His kneecap had been shattered by a close-range shot.

"Ah—! Kill him! Kill him for me!" The bald man rolled around on the ground frantically.

Just as the remaining three burly men were about to open fire, a black whirlwind rushed into their midst.

Hey, what are you looking at?

Mo Fei grinned maliciously, and instead of using the blade, he swept the battle axe out horizontally with its broad axe face.

boom!boom!
Two muffled sounds.

The two burly men were sent flying more than ten meters, as if hit by a speeding truck, before crashing into the guardrail and losing consciousness. The strength enhanced by the exoskeleton was simply beyond the resistance of ordinary people.

The last burly man was so frightened that he could barely hold his gun and turned to run back to his car.

Nourishes—

A blue electric current struck him precisely in the back. Lan Ce adjusted his glasses, the stun gun in his hand emitting blue smoke.

"Sorry, this road is blocked."

Less than ten seconds.

The gang of robbers who were just moments ago so arrogant and domineering were now all lying on the ground groaning in pain.

Bai Yu walked up to the bald man and looked down at him. There was not a trace of pity in his deep eyes, only a chilling coldness.

"Car keys." Bai Yu held out her hand.

"Who...who are you people..." The bald man was in pain, his face covered in cold sweat, his eyes filled with fear. He realized he had kicked a steel plate, and a barbed one at that.

"Nightmare Investigation Bureau," Bai Yu replied calmly. "It's requisition time now."

The bald man trembled as he pulled the keys from his pocket and threw them on the ground.

Bai Yu picked up the key and tossed it to Mo Fei.

"Throw them away, it's bad luck if they die next to the car."

"Alright!" Mo Fei grabbed one of the burly men in each hand and tossed them into the ditch by the roadside like he was picking up chicks.

Lance quickly checked the vehicle's condition: "The modifications are fairly professional. The fuel tank is full, and there are two cans of food and several buckets of water in the trunk. These guys probably robbed a lot of survivors."

“Then it’s ours.” Bai Yu opened the car door and let Lu Yueqi sit in the back seat. “Get in, let’s go.”

With the roar of the engine, the SUV sped away, leaving only the robbers groaning in the ditch.

In the car.

Mo Fei hummed an unknown tune as he drove, clearly in a good mood: "Driving is still the best. These bastards may be awful, but they've modified the car really well."

Lancer, sitting in the passenger seat, was trying to connect to the car radio: "Don't get too excited. There's an unsent distress signal in this car's communication system, which seems to have been intercepted by them from another convoy."

"A distress signal?" Bai Yu was sitting in the back seat, tending to the scrapes on Lu Yueqi's hands.

"Sizzle... This is... the third line of defense in Linjiang City... Sizzle... We need reinforcements... a large-scale... zombie horde... Sizzle... Repeat... Don't come any closer... Sizzle..."

Intermittent sounds emanated from the speaker, carrying a desperate, static-like hum.

The atmosphere in the carriage froze instantly.

"A third line of defense?" Mo Fei's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "The captain and the others wouldn't..."

“That’s the outer defense line,” Bai Yu calmly analyzed. “If even a distress signal can be sent out, it means the command system is still functioning. Captain An Mu won’t fall so easily.”

He turned to look out the window at the rapidly receding wilderness. The enormous, phantom eye in the sky still hung there, as if coldly watching the car, which was as tiny as an ant.

“However, this also means that the road ahead will not be easy,” Bai Yu said in a low voice. “Be prepared for battle. From now on, we may enter the battlefield at any time.”

Lu Yueqi suddenly grabbed Bai Yu's hand.

"What's wrong?" Bai Yu asked, looking down.

“Ahead…” Lu Yueqi looked at the distant horizon, a deep fear in her eyes, “There is a wall. An invisible wall. Behind the wall… there is only crying.”

Bai Yu gripped her hand tightly, conveying warmth and strength to her.

"Don't be afraid."

His gaze pierced through the windshield, looking towards the unknown distance.

(End of this chapter)