Lu Ding sat on the only clean spot left on the sofa and said, "As the commanding officer, you fled the battlefield, leaving your subordinates to be slaughtered like worthless trash. Tell me, how does that make you feel now?"

Fang Du's body trembled.

His eyes swept across the narrow room once more, now thoroughly stained with blood and flesh.

This was the very place where the human before him had annihilated all his replacement soldiers.

Fang Du looked at Lu Ding, his eyes filled with unwillingness: "What about... inside?"

Lu Ding crossed his legs leisurely, propping his chin on one hand: "All dead. Didn't leave a single one for you. The scene outside was bad, but inside was worse - blown to pieces. Remember that drummer bodyguard of yours who carried a hammer?"

Fang Du already had a suspicion in his heart.

But until he heard the confirmation from this overwhelmingly oppressive man before him, he still clung to a sliver of hope.

Then Lu Ding added with a mocking expression: "He died even worse. Couldn't even leave chunks behind - pulverized into powder."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......"

Lu Ding's laughter was maniacal, his expression arrogant as he stood up and rummaged through a pile of corpses nearby, picking up a spherical object.

"Look, look quickly! This is your son. Screamed so pitifully when he died. I gave him special treatment, you know."

Lu Ding tossed the headless ghost's skull into Fang Du's arms.

Fang Du caught it with trembling hands.

Lu Ding's voice continued: "Everyone else got a quick death - one strike, no pain. But him? First I tore off his arms, then his legs. Saved the head for last - twisted it right off. You heard right, twisted. Ripped it clean off with my bare hands."

His tone was playful, like a mischievous child tearing apart a toy.

Casual and relaxed.

Combined with his exaggerated expressions.

He successfully shattered Fang Du's psyche!!

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Fang Du's scream tore from his throat as ghostly energy erupted around him.

"You monster! Harm shouldn't reach wives and children! He was just a child!!!!!!"

Lu Ding immediately shot back: "Bullshit! Your child is a child, others' children aren't? Your son can't be killed, but you can slaughter entire families?"

"And you pulled that cuckoo bird trick, switching babies. Be grateful I was too angry to torture your little bastard properly. If I'd been calmer, I would've flayed him a thousand cuts."

Perhaps because Lu Ding was emotionally detached, he couldn't fully comprehend a parent's grief at losing a child.

So all he could do was make this creature experience the same loss - let it truly empathize with those who had filed the reports.

Killers must pay with their lives - that was true in the past, and remained true now.

"I'll kill you!!!!"

Yin energy surged as Fang Du raised his hands, condensing it into a massive ghostly palm that slammed down toward Lu Ding.

A vertical slash cut through, instantly splitting the ghost hand in two.

"Worthless. Absolutely worthless. Couldn't protect your son. Couldn't protect your soldiers. Now you want revenge but find you're powerless against me. Does it hurt? Despairing?"

"Die!!! Just die!!!!"

Fang Du, mad with rage, ripped up floorboards and hurled them, but just like before, they were reduced to fragments before reaching Lu Ding.

This creature had replaced living people, slaughtered entire families.

Lu Ding wouldn't let it die so easily.

Physical torture would have little effect on a fierce general turned ghost.

But Lu Ding's words were different - to Fang Du, they were soul-crushing, striking directly at his weakest points.

Son alive then dead. Soldiers gained then lost. Wife returned then gone.

Tsk tsk tsk...

Even Lu Ding felt he might be a bit cruel.

But he quite enjoyed the feeling.

This was exactly how such beasts should be treated.

"I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you! Avenge my soldiers and my child!!!!"

The scattered yin energy began coalescing around Fang Du as he lost all reason, forming heavy armor around him. A massive black warhorse materialized beneath him, its hooves aflame, eye sockets empty except for ghostly fires.

Fang Du mounted the steed.

Yin energy condensed into an eighteen-foot lance in his hands. He leveled it under his arm as spectral images of ancient soldiers materialized behind him, each armed with blades or spears, all pointed at Lu Ding.

The warhorse stamped its hooves, then charged, Fang Du thrusting his lance forward with rolling yin energy.

The next second.

Lu Ding raised his hand and caught the lance blade bare-handed.

Fang Du couldn't believe it.

Which of them was the real monster here?!

Even after becoming a ghost with enhanced power - even when he'd been alive - he'd never encountered anyone who could catch his cavalry lance barehanded on foot.

What kind of monstrous strength was this?

Fang Du strained, but Lu Ding didn't budge an inch, his expression relaxed.

"See? This is your strongest attack, and it's still so weak. With skills like this, you think you can kill me? Couldn't protect your son. Couldn't protect your soldiers. And now - can't kill me either."

With terrifying strength, Lu Ding crushed the lance shaft and yanked hard, pulling both Fang Du and his horse off balance.

Then Lu Ding pivoted, delivering a kick so fast and vicious that the yin energy in the room was blown backward by the force.

In that moment.

Fang Du saw Lu Ding's expression magnified in his vision.

Brutality. Ruthlessness. And the utter indifference of the strong.

BOOM!!!!!!!!!

The kick sent Fang Du flying, smashing through the entire wall behind him. Half his body was pulverized - all from a single kick, demonstrating the terrifying power behind it.

The sensation of death flooded over him again like a tide.

Fang Du clawed desperately at the air as his life flashed before his eyes.

His spectral warhorse, falling alongside him, was torn apart by some immense force, scattering flesh and blood. Lu Ding shot through the debris, planting his foot on what remained of Fang Du's chest.

The combined forces of gravity and Lu Ding's kick merged, launching both man and ghost like a cannonball from the 19th floor straight down to the ground.

At the same time.

Reinforcements from the 749 Bureau had just arrived in the neighborhood.

Six investigators total, drawn from three nearby districts.

"Damn it, damn it! Why are we being sent to handle overlapping yin domains? This is suicide! Baofan District has incidents every day - why can't my district have something happen? Ming Jun and Bei Heguang were useless, always making mistakes. But now Lu Ding and Yan Feifan are even worse!"

"Xiao Xiong, that's not fair to say. They're our colleagues, and this is our duty as 749 investigators."

A girl with twin pigtails, sucking on a lollipop, wearing a baseball jacket and hot pants with combat boots, bounced along ignoring the speaker as she walked beside a black-hoodied youth carrying a rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Brother Xue Ning, don't you agree with me?"

Xue Ning - one of the survivors from the Baiyao Ancient Town incident, nicknamed "Little Tyrant" - had been escorting injured officers to the city for treatment when Lu Ding arrived.

Thus they'd never met.

After news of the Wind-Calming Pearl incident broke, Xue Ning had nursed a grudge.

But faced with Lu Ding's terrifying track record, he'd never dared confront him.

Until recently, when he'd broken through to the ninth level of Zhaoxuan realm, confident he could now defeat even a Spiritual Sea cultivator. Emboldened, he'd volunteered to patrol the district adjacent to Baofan.