Deep in the Living
Chapter 266 - 254: Torrential Rain, Flames, Murderer

Chapter 266: Chapter 254: Torrential Rain, Flames, Murderer

[Eclipse Project] is constructed by the General Administration in collaboration with multiple world companies,

it is capable of implementing a comprehensive lockdown of Moon City in a short amount of time, with a blockade intensity nearing the world’s limit, meaning that even Monster Avatars would have great difficulty breaking through.

The only passage that remains is the Earth-Moon Orbital.

Once an eclipse occurs,

a "Suppression Squad" will be dispatched directly to Moon City on a train to carry out a forceful suppression.

Such was the case this time, as a fully armed Suppression Squad quickly assembled at the boarding gate of the Earth-Moon Orbital (Capital Station).

But the situation before them was quite astonishing.

The orbit, which never had problems, experienced a violent explosion due to several equipment shorts, leading to a degree of tunnel collapse.

This is the Earth-Moon Orbital track, key infrastructure constructed at great expense by the World Bureau and maintained daily by professional teams.

The likelihood of such an incident happening is less than one in ten million.

Given the timing coincides with the eclipse, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that this tunnel explosion was deliberately caused.

However, this is not the task of the Suppression Squad; their target is solely Moon City.

One of the squad members simply placed his palm on the collapsed tunnel rock, and the massive stones began to move out of the way, revealing the deep and lengthy train tunnel before them.

Without the use of any vehicles,

the Suppression Squad directly sprinted across the "Earth-Moon Orbital", and the sealed track gates along the way reopened at their arrival.

...

[The eclipse has begun, all residents of Moon City please cease all work and current tasks immediately, quickly return to your homes and close all doors and windows, and wait for the eclipse to end. If going home takes more than five minutes, please head to the nearest public area available for refuge.]

All residents of Moon City received the message instantly,

every shop closed down,

employees at work in companies directly hid within, sealing every entrance and exit.

Night-shift taxi drivers also stopped work and quickly returned home or to the nearest shelter.

In just a few minutes, Moon City entered a state of refuge.

Logically, not a single ordinary person should be on the streets, but tonight was an exception.

A well-dressed middle-aged man with blond hair and gold-rimmed glasses first appeared around the train station. He did not adhere to the broadcast’s instructions to take refuge in the nearest area, since the train station had a shelter.

He seemed more like a passenger who had just arrived in Moon City,

with his taut face twitching slightly, full of anxiety.

He had never encountered such a situation from a young age, circumstances that were unexpected and beyond his control.

[Benjamin Stewart]

Born in Great Britain London, he had been intellectually superior since childhood, far exceeding his peers. But unnoticed by others, there was always a small group in his class that would do whatever he commanded.

At eighteen, he started pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology at Cambridge University,

also becoming the youngest deputy chairman of the school’s student union.

Due to a serious campus incident, he was forced to leave the university.

A week after his expulsion, Benjamin no longer clung to his hometown, setting his sights on a special country far to the east, full of opportunities yet perilous—one that was built atop a [Corner]: the United Nations.

He decisively enrolled in the Elite Immigration Program, achieved excellent results, and secured a chance to further his studies at Luo University in Capital City.

Just when Benjamin thought he could breeze through as before, relying on his intellect to prosper in school,

he discovered that this university was entirely different, to the point it couldn’t even be called a school... Every peer was a monster, and he barely ranked mediocre.

Even with his full effort, he couldn’t stand out. Even the slightest intention of forming a small group was seen through, leading to ostracization on campus.

Thus,

Benjamin remained silent for twenty years, unable to make a name for himself in the Capital.

Finally, at the age of forty, he received an opportunity.

Leveraging his still sharp intellect and the psychological control associated with the [Corner] attributes, he won the at-the-time overlooked position of [Moon Supervisor].

Coming to Moon City, riddled with pus-filled wounds, felt like coming home to Benjamin.

The confidence he had lost in the Capital quickly returned, and he soon realized that Moon City was the most suitable place for him in the whole world.

In just five short years.

The Moon Supervision Group developed under his stewardship, delivering pituitary samples multiple times over to the Capital every year.

Under his management, Moon City’s security assessment parameter also increased, even surpassing previous highs, and it had been several years since an eclipse occurred.

The entire Moon City on the surface looked glamorous, like a mine filled with gold and silver, depending on the Capital.

He had been enjoying these achievements over the years, reveling in the taste of dominating the entire city, with any voices of opposition within the city quashed at the first sign.

Everything was smooth sailing.

Until on the 4hs website he created, a young man by the account name "Mr. Di" came to the city.

...

"Not a single car?"

Benjamin’s physical body wasn’t much different from an ordinary person’s. He ran out of the train station, looking around to find a passing car.

As long as he could see one, his spiritual power could reach out and control the driver.

Because he had wasted time on the city wall, there were no cars on the street anymore.

He was well aware that his own body had been marked with a strange gray sign, difficult to remove in a short period, and now the only place he could go was the safest area in the city - [Mercury Hotel]

To run there from the train station, relying on his physical condition was impossible.

In this critical moment.

Benjamin took out a syringe laden with white lotion from the wardrobe and injected it directly into his carotid artery. As an essence related to the brain flowed into his artery, his spiritual power expanded to three times its size.

A light flashed before his eyes!

"It seems my luck isn’t too bad after all!"

An untouched car was parked on the next street.

He simultaneously used his psychic powers to enhance his physical body, sprinting swiftly towards the vehicle, and kept scanning the surroundings, trying to find Luo Di who might show up any time to continue the pursuit.

As he got into the car and used his spiritual power to start it, he didn’t notice anyone approaching from around.

That is to be expected.

The supervision team he had put so much effort into building, its members each possessing standards close to, or even equivalent to that of a City Investigator.

Plus, each of them had undergone extensive Seed Demon enhancement throughout their bodies, significantly improving their physical fitness and mastering a variety of abilities. Even if every single one of them had been killed, they must have inflicted considerable injury on Luo Di, who might even have died from those wounds afterward.

The vehicle started.

With the city deserted and the streets empty, it would take less than fifteen minutes’ drive to reach the center.

Once he arrived at the Mercury Hotel, Benjamin would activate his membership to request the highest level of security protection until the suppression squad dealing with the eclipse incident arrived.

Tick-tock tick-tock!

Raindrops the size of beans pattered against the car window.

[Eclipse Rain]

Artificial rain from the canopy device lurking over Moon City during the eclipse, mixed with pheromones that help the suppression squad locate sources of danger more quickly.

Benjamin maintained a high level of focus with his psychic powers, and despite the torrential downpour, he could always scan the specific road conditions a hundred meters ahead.

The largest and lit-up Mercury Hotel was now within view, and he would reach it in less than three minutes.

It was at that moment.

Suddenly, his psychic perception detected something on the otherwise empty street... Someone was ahead!

Leaning forward, Benjamin peered into the distance guided by the high-beams, and he could vaguely make out someone’s silhouette through the heavy rain.

But a silhouette was enough,

"Luo Di!"

The Mercury Hotel was on this route. If he turned around and diverted now, he would be more easily caught.

Or perhaps...

Benjamin floored the accelerator, aiming for Luo Di at top speed.

If the opponent was still within human limits, he couldn’t possibly withstand a collision with a car at 180km/h.

He also extended fine threads of psychic power ahead, trying to interfere at the brain level to simplify the process of the collision.

Oddly enough,

Any psychic thread that neared the target was first seared by high heat, then severed by an invisible Killing Intent, suggesting Luo Di had changed from before.

100m,

50m,

20m,

At this short distance, Luo Di could be seen standing at the Crossroad, shrouded in a heavy overcoat, with thick-soled boots standing in puddles.

Oddly enough.

The face of the person opposite was still unclear as if obscured by something, seemingly covered by an imperceptible color.

Luo Di’s hands were already raised high, holding a knife in each.

Under the metallic construct granted by the torture device, the knife became heavy and Huge, three times the size of the former Pig Slaughter Knife, reinforced with all sorts of iron wires.

This knife seemed to no longer be for slicing people...

But Benjamin no longer cared about that, full-speed collision!

The car’s front struck,

The blade slashed down!

The sound of metal colliding echoed through the rainy night streets.

The car, sliced into two segments, rolled wildly down the street,

The passenger side crashed into a lamppost causing a violent explosion, flames billowing into the sky.

The half of the car containing the driver’s seat, where Benjamin was, after over a dozen rolls, finally landed upside down in the middle of the road.

Because he was buckled up and due to the emergency stress protection offered by his brain, he suffered only a few fractures and minor concussion.

Luckily, the knife that split the vehicle open didn’t harm him.

Using secretions from his pituitary, he forcefully suppressed the dizziness from the concussion.

From the crushed and deformed window, Benjamin’s gaze shifted to the front, towards the lit Mercury Hotel, just a street away at less than three hundred meters.

Driven by the desire to survive, he started to move, pulling at the jammed seatbelt.

He wanted to crawl out of the completely destroyed car body, to head towards the Mercury Hotel.

At that moment,

a sound reached his ears,

a voice that could overpower the storm.

Thump thump thump!

Heavy footsteps were approaching, each step seeming to land on the surface of his heart.

This soul-crushing oppressiveness forced him to twist his head and look back.

The burning flames,

The pelting rain,

And that "Murderer" walking step by step along the road’s center.

There was no running, no quickening of steps,

Just a very ordinary walk,

completely devoid of any haste, simply continuing the most primal Hunting.

Lit by the burning fire, Benjamin finally saw the person’s face clearly – it was a mask... and it was upon seeing this mask that fear appeared on Benjamin’s face for the first time.