CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER 70: SINISTER SHADOW

Compared to that terrifying aura, the appearance of this mysterious entity was silent and quiet.

The black shadow appeared like a liquid, slowly "seeping" out from beneath the manhole cover on the street—although it seemed to move slowly, in reality, it took less than half a second to spread onto the buildings by the street and started climbing up along the walls.

"This thing has infiltrated the city from the underground pipelines... it might be a phenomenon-type or spirit body-type mysterious creature. In this form, its actual size could be enormous." Ye Jiu also jumped to a higher position, frowning as he spoke to Sun Hang, "I even have a feeling that once this thing fully spreads out, it might engulf the entire city."

Sun Hang drew his pistol and pulled the trigger at the shadow on the ground.

"Bang!"

The bullet shot out from the muzzle, hitting the asphalt road surface and creating a fist-sized shallow pit—yet the shadowy entity seemed unaffected.

From the sound analysis, this shot hit nothing but the layer of asphalt.

"Preliminary judgment, it has no physical form," Ye Jiu said again, "So my thought was correct..."

Sun Hang noticed that wherever this shadow covered, whether it was the ground, buildings, or other objects, everything was rapidly "aging"—the paving tiles on the sidewalk weathered and cracked, the metal lamp post became rusty, and the once-vibrant billboard seemed as if a black-and-white filter had been applied, stripping away all its colors, the stickers on it brittle and peeling, dissolving into dust with a slight breeze.

Directly beneath Sun Hang’s position, the Gold Arches mascot figurine pierced by the helicopter rotor blades was reduced to its internal metallic skeleton—made of lightweight aluminum alloy, it didn’t rust, but a thick layer of oxidation covered it.

Sun Hang shifted his gaze towards the helicopter wreckage. As expected, the deformed cockpit could no longer contain the African American pilot—his flesh had disappeared, leaving only a stark white skeleton, which rolled out from the gaps in the cockpit’s framework.

This scene inevitably reminded Sun Hang of those images he saw on the TV screen when the time-space anomaly first occurred.

"There are no historical records of this mysterious entity’s appearance," Ye Jiu said, "At least in all the literature I’ve read, there’s never been a similar description."

"Of course there wouldn’t be a record," Sun Hang sighed deeply, "Because it’s the culprit of the time-space anomaly."

"What?!" Ye Jiu raised an eyebrow, "How can you be sure?"

"Instinct," Sun Hang didn’t elaborate further and directly tossed Tang Saber to Ye Jiu, "Try your strongest attack method. If it doesn’t work, request support."

"You want me to go all out right away?" Ye Jiu caught the Tang Saber and once again put on his helmet and mask.

"Use your strongest attack while you still can. If you die before even deploying it, wouldn’t that be more frustrating?" Sun Hang said.

"Heh... if you’re scared, then stay back."

Sun Hang didn’t continue bickering and instead, leaped to a farther and higher building with the mycelium.

The Golden Arches Restaurant by the street was almost completely engulfed by the shadow, even the "M" sign, which stood high above the roof, had nearly a third covered by the shadow, the yellow paint peeling away to reveal the rusted metal beneath.

"Using time-space displacement to throw other mysterious entities into the southern cemetery to draw most of the Federation’s attention, then infiltrating the city through the underground pipeline network... Is this mysterious creature’s battle plan?" Sun Hang pondered, "No, no, you shouldn’t apply conventional logic to mysterious entities... Yet, from any angle, the goal of this mysterious entity seems to be devouring the entire city of Tianfu..."

Is it to obtain something in the city? Or to kill a specific target? Or... simply to expand territory, squeezing human living space?

"Here, take this!" Sun Hang was still contemplating the matter when Ye Jiu tossed him something.

Sun Hang caught it and found it was a hefty metal box. When he opened it, he found a set of Bluetooth earphones inside.

"These earphones are connected to the military communication channel, which is currently the only operational communication channel in the Shuzhou Region!" Ye Jiu explained.

Sun Hang put on the earphones and immediately, a cacophony of noises filled his ears.

Military communication channels usually consist of several frequencies, but since all institutions can only communicate through these channels now, each frequency is burdened with multiple tasks. What should have been one-on-one channels now sound as bustling as a marketplace.

Through the chaotic reports from various military units, Sun Hang quickly realized that the earphones Ye Jiu gave him were specifically to handle mysterious entities intruding into the city. Meanwhile, every district of the city was under attacks from various mysterious creatures. Even though the first few groups of reinforcements had already arrived, compared to the number of invading mysterious creatures, the number of Hunters was stretched thin.

Moreover, you can’t directly measure the power balance between mysterious entities and Hunters by numbers.

For example, a Hunter like Wang Xiyi, who uses pure physical attacks, would find it meaningless even if there were a hundred of her against a spirit body-type creature like "Mysterious Infant."

However, the only bit of good news is that the attack intentions of these invading mysterious entities are not apparent. They have merely "appeared" in the city, with very few taking destructive actions—over 90% are in a "standby" state at their locations.

As for the public shelters and densely populated residential areas across Tianfu City, they haven’t been attacked yet.

"Hello? Can you hear me? I’m Hunter Sun Hang. I’m currently—" Sun Hang glanced at a street sign, "I’m currently at Jinjiang CBD. A suspected BOSS-level mysterious entity has appeared here, and I need..."

Before he could finish, someone interrupted him: "Mysterious entities have appeared in every district, and we have no resources to spare to support you! If you can’t eliminate the entity independently, please immediately report the information you have on the mysterious entity. We will record it and decide the priority of assistance based on the severity of the situation!"

"Forget it, just tell me if the Mysterious Creature Research Institute has been attacked... I fear the mysterious entities are targeting something in the institute!" Sun Hang glanced at Ye Jiu, who was now holding a spear in one hand and a saber in the other, seemingly in a state of power accumulation—regarding combat strength, there shouldn’t be many in Tianfu City stronger than him. If he couldn’t defeat the shadow, the support sent might not be very effective either.

"The Mysterious Creature Research Institute in Tianfu City?" the person said, "According to current intelligence, it has not been attacked. The nearest mysterious entity is seven kilometers away and shows no signs of moving towards it."