The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, her brow furrowing involuntarily.

"What's wrong?"

An Changqing immediately noticed her unusual behavior.

"I...I can't hear anyone here. I can sense vital signs, there are many, but...I can't hear any emotional fluctuations."

She tried to describe her feelings more accurately.

There was no peace, no joy or sorrow, only emptiness, like a stagnant pool, nothing at all.

Long Ao suppressed his impatience, his expression turning serious: "What do you mean? They're all in a vegetative state?"

"No, this is more terrifying than a person in a vegetative state."

An Changqing frowned deeply. Combining this with the background information from the previous mission, he made a guess: "This means that their spiritual world may already be dead."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a series of ear-piercing sounds of wood cracking rang out simultaneously from the alleys around them.

"Bang."

"Bang bang".

One by one, the dilapidated wooden doors were violently smashed open from the inside, and dozens of figures staggered out of the darkness, surrounding the four of them.

Their eyes were empty and numb, and they held all sorts of things in their hands, including rusty kitchen knives, broken iron bars, and even bricks.

Clearly, this is not a regular army.

"What's going on? Is this a new kind of welcoming ceremony?"

Long Ao assumed a fighting stance, only to find himself unsure where to throw his fists.

"Don't do it."

An Changqing immediately spoke up to stop them: "They are ordinary people. Look at their movements, they have no method whatsoever."

A middle-aged man who was closest to An Changqing was holding a chipped kitchen knife and was slashing at An Changqing's shoulder with an extremely slow and clumsy motion.

An Changqing dodged to the side, and with a gentle flick of his sword sheath, he deflected the kitchen knife into empty space. But another resident behind him had already raised an iron pipe and smashed it into his back.

Long Ao's situation was even worse. He was surrounded by four or five people at the same time. He had to dodge their chaotic attacks and couldn't fight back. He could only use his arms to block, making muffled thuds. He was in a sorry state.

"This is so frustrating."

Long Ao took the brick head-on with his arm, and instead of being injured, the brick shattered, but he didn't look well.

There is a tacit rule that it is strictly forbidden to cause any harm to civilians who are unable to resist.

Even if he didn't care about the rule, Long Ao couldn't bring himself to lay a hand on a group of civilians. Making someone incapable of resisting is much harder than killing someone.

Long Ao could fight a group of thugs single-handedly without changing his expression, but he was helpless when facing these people in front of him.

A woman held up a wine bottle, and just as Long Ao was about to step aside, the entire noisy and chaotic alley suddenly fell silent.

All the residents who were besieging them stopped in their tracks, frozen in place, maintaining their attacking posture from a moment ago, without moving an inch.

The woman holding the wine bottle aloft still had a blank expression on her face, with only a hint of bewilderment in the depths of her pupils.

"What... what's going on?"

Long Ao looked at the wine bottle that was less than half an inch from his forehead and glanced around.

"Let them calm down a bit."

Chen Guan strode through the still crowd. For him now, creating a public illusion for a group of ordinary people was too easy. If he wanted, he could control it forever.

A moment of spiritual charm.

Seeing Chen Guan approach, Long Ao was about to pat him on the shoulder when he saw Chen Guan walk straight to a man who had fallen to the ground.

Without uttering a word, Chen Guan used the tip of his giant scythe to gently pry open the man's stained collar.

The collar was lifted, revealing a scene to the moonlight that sent chills down everyone's spine.

On the man's dirty nape, there was a black swirl mark the size of a coin.

The mark didn't look like an inanimate object.

Because at this moment, that black vortex is slowly writhing at an eerie frequency.

"This thing is alive."

Long Ao stared at the writhing black vortex, feeling like he had nowhere to put his fist.

He prided himself on not being a germaphobe, but at that moment he also felt nauseous.

"It is drawing life force."

An Changqing's face darkened.

He pointed to the man's bloodless face: "Look at his complexion, he looks like he's been drained dry."

"I see."

Su Yuehe seemed to be deep in thought, then, with her encyclopedic knowledge remaining consistent, she said, "The deathly silence in this area is not due to spiritual death."

"Their life essence is being extracted, and their emotions are stagnant in their senses. All the residents here are being treated like livestock."

Before she could finish speaking, several hidden weapons glowing green shot towards Su Yuehe from the rooftops on both sides.

The real enemy has made its move.

"court death."

Long Ao roared, reacting the fastest. He moved sideways and stood in front of Su Yuehe.

He didn't try to block the hidden weapon, because two dark figures, taking advantage of the cover, silently pounced on him, their sharp short blades aimed straight for Su Yuehe's neck.

The assassin's objective was clear: kill the support first.

As for why it wasn't Chen Guan? Who wants to fight someone who carries an iron block around?

Long Ao's bare arms were bulging with muscles and veins, exuding an astonishing sense of power. Ignoring the attack from above, he turned to face the black-clad assassin falling to his left and delivered a simple straight punch.

As the fist passed, the air emitted a series of muffled sonic booms.

The fourth-tier peak assassin looked horrified.

He had no idea that the other party was so fast.

In his haste, he could only cross his arms to protect his chest.

"Click."

The sound of bones breaking was clearly audible.

Long Ao's fist shattered the opponent's block and landed heavily on the assassin's chest.

The black-clad assassin's chest caved in, and he was sent flying backward, crashing into the old brick wall behind him with a loud bang.

Sold out instantly.

Seeing his companion fall, the other assassin showed no fear, but instead displayed a fanatical will to die.

His body swelled abnormally in mid-air, and spiritual energy dissipated from his body.

He wanted to take everyone down with him by self-destructing.

"Don't even think about it."

An Changqing snorted coldly and was about to draw his sword.

"silence."

Su Yuehe's voice rang out first.

The power of invisible rules descends.

The assassin froze, and the rampaging spiritual energy within him subsided.

He fell from mid-air in shock.

A flash of sword light appeared.

An Changqing appeared beside the assassin, and with the tip of his longsword, he severed the tendons in the assassin's hands and legs, which were gripping the short blade.

The process was smooth and fluid, without a single unnecessary movement.

The assassin collapsed to the ground, letting out a suppressed groan of pain.

"Our principle is not to fight with civilians."

An Changqing stood up, his voice no longer as gentle as before.

"But there's no need to be soft-hearted when dealing with people like you."

He sheathed his sword and looked at Long Ao.

"How's the other side?"

"Completely dead."

Long Ao emerged from the ruins, pursing his lips.

"It's not easy to take a hit."

Having seen many formidable opponents, Long Ao held nothing back and unexpectedly killed one of them.

Sure enough, it didn't rain outside after we left Huaqing.