CHAPTER 84: CHAPTER 83 MAJOR CLEANUP (PART 1)

In the memory of the vengeful spirit, Lu Yan clearly saw the cause and effect of the incident.

Although Scott was a powerful Spiritual Ability User, the Spiritual Ability System focused more on physical modifications, and its use of spiritual energy leaned towards technological means, making it difficult to combat the formless vengeful spirits.

Scott quickly found it hard to withstand the vengeful spirit’s attack and began to use his Personal Intelligent Brain to lock onto the battlefield and call for fire support.

At the moment Scott’s Intelligent Brain locked onto the battlefield, the vengeful spirit instinctively sensed traces of soul waves within the Intelligent Brain.

Thanks to the instinct formed from harvesting a hundred thousand souls during the apocalypse, the vengeful spirit, despite the coverage of fire from the Spiritual Energy Cannon, charged forward and clawed at the Intelligent Brain in front of Scott.

The scene was like the vengeful spirit stripping away a zombie’s soul, as it clearly extracted a Spirit Body from the technological creation of the Personal Intelligent Brain.

Subsequently, the vengeful spirits decisively phased through the walls to escape, avoiding most of the cannon fire and successfully brought back the Spirit Body.

Watching the vengeful spirit, whose half head was blown off, appear dazed in the Soul Banner, Lu Yan’s expression became a bit peculiar.

"Could these vengeful spirits have developed some special talent in extracting souls?"

There was no time to think deeply, so Lu Yan immediately focused on the fragile Spirit Body shimmering with a faint white light.

...

In a pitch-black underground passage, Lu Yan and two others were swiftly leaving through the tunnel.

This used to be the sewer of a shelter, but since most of the shelter’s internal facilities had been destroyed, the sewers had been abandoned for many years.

Shaq, who was leading the way at the front, occasionally glanced back towards the direction they came from, with a touch of apprehension on his face.

Though Lu Yan’s strength was indeed mysterious and unfathomable, Shaq couldn’t see vengeful spirits and naturally didn’t notice any sign of Lu Yan making a move.

In his imagination, it should have been Lu Yan personally intervening to buy time for the escape by obstructing Scott.

But the anticipated scene didn’t occur, causing Shaq to worry that Scott would catch up.

The only thing that consoled him was that, a few minutes ago, the lock from the Intelligent Brain suddenly disappeared, and his personal terminal returned to its normal state.

Without the Intelligent Brain lock, as long as they accelerated through this sewer, they would soon escape the Law Enforcement Officer’s pursuit.

After bypassing another curve, the exit was already just ahead.

And at that moment, Lu Yan’s voice suddenly sounded.

"Stop."

Quentin and Shaq halted their steps, instinctively complying with Lu Yan’s command.

The three of them stood still and looked ahead, only to see several figures slowly emerge from the other end of the pitch-black and empty underground passage.

"I didn’t expect you to escape, it seems like the City’s Tax Bureau’s rising star Scott isn’t all that great!"

Hearing this voice, Shaq’s pupils suddenly contracted, his expression turning to shock and anger:

"It’s you!"

"Were you the one who led the Law Enforcement Officer here?"

At the forefront of the group of figures, a man with a broad build like a mountain of flesh, clad in a jacket, chuckled lightly:

"Not completely foolish, I see."

Quentin appropriately asked, "Who is he?"

"Johnson, the sheriff of Central City District, the USB was given to me by him."

Quentin naturally knew the USB Shaq referred to, which contained detailed information about the Upper City District’s operations against the Lower City District, and now the USB had been handed to Lu Yan by Shaq.

"Did you actually hand over the USB?"

Johnson, the sheriff, looked somewhat surprised, glancing up and down at Quentin.

Upon seeing Quentin’s robust "Kirin Arm," a trace of blatant contempt appeared in his eyes.

"To think you’ve let a non-Spiritual Ability User know such secrets, Shaq, you’re really backtracking in your endeavors."

With a grim expression, Shaq questioned, "First trading the USB, then leading Scott here, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Johnson heard this, and his face full of fat slightly trembled, as he wore an exaggerated smile.

"To be honest, Heaven Computation Center severely lacks computational power, so this time several cities’ Upper City Districts have united in a decision to launch a grand cleansing operation.

Whether it’s the wilderness, uninhabited areas, or caves, they’re all within the scope of the grand cleansing. The Number One Main City has already issued an ultimatum to capture enough people to compensate for the soul computation power deficit of Heaven Computation Center."

"Lower City District may be a massive dump, but many big players’ core industries are located there, and they need the Lower City District to supply vast amounts of credit points to pay for expensive luxury taxes.

Even if the grand cleansing can’t be avoided, they must ensure their cultivated forces can at least gain some benefit.

Thus, they decided to covertly spread information about the grand cleansing, allowing forces in the Lower City District to respond in advance, creating minor obstacles to the grand cleansing, thus gaining negotiation chips for exchanging benefits."

While speaking, a glow flashed across Johnson’s personal terminal, and then a massive amount of liquid metal oozed out from beneath his massive belly.

This liquid metal seemed to possess some astonishing vitality, spreading over Johnson’s entire body and forming into a solid set of heavy armor.

On his shoulders, a massive Spiritual Sniper Rifle, resembling two small cannons, was perched.

Equipped like this, combined with Johnson’s enormous build, he resembled a humanoid tank.

And behind Sheriff Johnson, more than ten soldiers wearing black exosuits and wielding spiritual firearms aimed at Shaq and Quentin, ready to fire if there was any sudden movement.

With absolute firepower to control the situation, Sheriff Johnson said regretfully:

"It’s unfortunate that the City’s Tax Bureau’s enforcement team seems to have intercepted the information long ago.

They focused on intercepting the USB I wanted to intercept and traced it back to the source of the leak."

"To extricate myself, I could only first deliver the USB to you in the form of a transaction and intentionally lure the Law Enforcement Officer Scott here to investigate.

The original plan was for Scott to easily capture you and retrieve the USB, then lose it during an attack by other forces in the Lower City District on his way back to the surface, spreading the detailed information of the grand cleansing quickly throughout the Lower City District.

But unfortunately, for the so-called rising star Scott, who proved to be all name and no substance, you managed to escape successfully, forcing me to personally intervene for such trivial matters."

With his words, the Spiritual Sniper Rifle on his heavy armor was already aimed at Shaq and Quentin, with high-energy beams poised to fire.

Johnson smiled recklessly:

"Don’t worry! Your death will mark the beginning of the Lower City District’s rebellion against the grand cleansing. Perhaps decades or even a hundred years later, a batch of people at Heaven Computation Center will still remember your name, at which point you can say you haven’t lived in vain."

"You’re talking a bit too much."

A calm voice sounded near Johnson’s ear, and a sudden, uncontrollable fear emerged in his mind.

"Why did the terminal only lock onto two people? Aren’t there supposed to be three of them?"

The next moment, a hand gently pressed on the heavy armor helmet, and a dazzling golden flame devoured everything!