My Apocalypse Territory

But now, these twenty or thirty people were split into several teams, some with as few as two or three, others with as many as four or five, scattered across various floors and directions. Even if there was just one person, they could easily be taken care of.

Infiltration was effortless.

In just one minute, they had dealt with all the Awakeners stationed in the classroom building, and the few people in the playground were knocked unconscious without any resistance under their stealth attack... violent entry; they didn't even get a clear look at the masks worn by the West Heaven quintet.

Sun Yu and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking around, some bodies had been taken away, but traces of the events weren't cleaned up. The playground had several cracked grounds, and the dried blood had stained the weeds a brownish-red.

It was vaguely possible to identify what had happened on the night of the cult's attack.

"It seems... it was a one-sided battle," Cai Jiajia said.

Nian Chengwei nodded, "It's precisely because the cult had overwhelming power that night, they left behind no traces, making the investigation very difficult. Modern technology has nearly failed to find any clues."

"Isn't there any ability user? With tens of thousands of Awakeners in Pingliang, there must be some who are good at tracking or investigating," Sun Yu posited.

"There is indeed... Pingliang brought in a Retrospection Ability User, who recreated the scene from that night."

Nian Chengwei gazed at the dark red blood stains on the ground, sweeping his gaze from one end of the playground to the other, then shook his head, "The scene, and what has been speculated, aren't much different. A group of cult members dressed in black robes, in less than a minute, dealt with the orphanage's guards and teachers without causing a big commotion. By the time the patrolling members of the Security Bureau nearby noticed, they had already gone far."

"Retrospection isn't omnipotent; it's costly and was disrupted by the powerful abilities of the cult members making it hard to track their departure... Three days have passed, and the cult members have probably already returned to their hideout."

Nian Chengwei shook his head, looking at the apprentices, "So, do you have any insights?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

After a while, Cai Jiajia walked to a spot on the playground near the classroom building where a body that hadn't been taken away was lying.

This body, surrounded by caution tape, was not approached blindly by Cai Jiajia, who only stood nearby to observe.

The body was riddled with holes, as if punctured by numerous needle-like objects, its original appearance long distorted, the death an extremely gruesome sight. Perhaps for that reason, the body was preserved— the Security Bureau wanted to identify the killer ability user through the deceased—if the cult member was hiding in the Sanctuary under a public identity, with advanced Awakening, and a special ability, it would be easy to pinpoint them.

Yet three days passed.

No word... Either the Pingliang Security Bureau had hidden the information too well, or the ability user who acted was a master hidden in the shadows, unknown to all.

"Can you perform Spirit Communication?" Sun Yu asked as he walked over.

Cai Jiajia shook her head, "He's completely dead. If it was within a few hours, and the spirit hadn't completely dissipated, I might have gotten some information, but now..."

She walked around the entire playground, pausing at each body that had not been taken away:

"Three days have passed, all the bodies have lost their spirits... but this was expected."

Cai Jiajia wasn't discouraged.

Her ability was Spirit Communication, very special and extremely rare.

She could communicate with "spirits," garner information, and even control "spirits" for her own use.

Humans have spirits.

Plants have spirits.

Everything has a spirit.

However, in the early days of the apocalypse, a human's spirit would vanish within minutes of death, and the spirits within plants, mountains, and rivers were so weak they were nearly imperceptible. At that time, Spirit Communication was nothing more than a useless ability.

As the concentration of Source Qi increased between heaven and earth, after the recent change in the weather, Cai Jiajia was delighted to find that the "spirits" in all things had strengthened considerably.

Her ability to communicate with "spirits" could finally be put to good use.

Cai Jiajia looked around, eventually settling her gaze near the flag-raising platform on a huge banyan tree.

The trunk of the banyan tree was so thick that it would take two or three people holding hands to encircle it. Nearly as tall as the classroom building, its dense branches and leaves covered nearly half of the playground.

—There was no doubt that, after the apocalypse, the banyan tree had grown so lush as if it had been fed hormones.

Cai Jiajia stepped forward, placing her hand on the trunk.

Eyes closed, her eyelashes trembling gently.

Several minutes later, just as others were starting to get anxious, Cai Jiajia opened her bright eyes, which shone enough to light up the surroundings.

"The direction the cult members left in, is this way."

Spirit Communication was complete.

Meanwhile, Nian Chengwei took out numerous Reconnaissance Crystals and Image Retention Crystals to record the scene.

Seeing no more clues inside the orphanage, they followed the lead obtained from the "Spirit of the Banyan Tree" and left in the direction indicated by Cai Jiajia.

Only the members of the Security Bureau remained, strewn haphazardly on the ground.

Some were entangled in pairs, embracing each other, one on top of the other.

Minutes later, another team of Security Bureau members came to change shifts, entering the orphanage's gate, saw the scene of hugs and embraces...

Their faces filled with shock.

...

"This world is going to the dogs."

"People's hearts are not what they used to be."

"No one is taking care of the flowers and plants anymore."

Along the way, Cai Jiajia sought out ancient trees, flowers, or historic buildings and stones, relying on Spirit Communication, to determine the direction in which the cult members had left, detail by detail.

Before a roughly cut large tree, Cai Jiajia frowned, "The cult members split up here, heading in three different directions. The 'Spirit' is not expressing it very clearly, but the directions they left in all have orphans being taken away."

"What do we do then?"

"We can only start searching slowly along each direction."

It was a big task, but fortunately, they were all determined... to be precise, Cai Jiajia was able to persist in her continuous Spirit Communication.

The Source Power consumption of Spirit Communication was not great, it just took time.

They alternated between avoiding the night patrol and seeking out objects for Spirit Communication.

Cai Jiajia communicated with 'Spirits.'

Sun Yu and the others kept watch.

Nian Chengwei, bored out of his mind, pondered over the cult's purpose and Pingliang's countermeasures.

Pingliang, having a Retrospection Ability User, certainly attempted the method of capturing fragments for search.

But the cult's 'anti-ability tracking' methods were exquisite. The dozens of cult members split apart and joined together, complicating the retrospection.

'Retrospection' and 'Spirit Communication' were different; the former consumed much Source Power and could not be continuously used... According to Nian Chengwei's estimation, retrospecting a cult member with Ninth Layer Peak abilities would cost the ability user two-thirds of their Source Power each time—having a Retrospection Ability User in the Intelligence Department made him very clear about the characteristics, and durability of the abilities.

And the cult members did not follow the usual paths; they might leap from the rooftops or wind through the alleys—limited retrospection range, which also increased the difficulty of tracking.

Methods like tracing by scent and aura, I'm afraid, won't work... The 'Doomsday Cult' really was professional.

During Nian Chengwei's contemplation, a few hours passed.

Cai Jiajia was extremely exhausted, after countless times of Spirit Communication, even with small amounts of consumption, her Source Power had already been depleted three times.

In Pingliang's Sanctuary, with 'Spirit Communication' ability users, they too could only do it in three shifts, each shift separated by several hours for Source Power recovery before slowly tracking again.

But the investigating trainee group was prepared with the plan of powering through with potions.

Cai Jiajia took out a small bottle containing blue liquid, a Source Power Recovery Potion, unscrewed the cap, and downed it in one gulp.

As soon as the potion entered her mouth, it dissolved, and the potent medicine burst forth, transforming into raging Source Qi, traveling through her body's meridians and converging three inches below her navel, forming a bulging ball of Source Qi.

Her Source Power swiftly filled up inside her.

In three minutes, she would be back at full capacity.

Cai Jiajia was reinvigorated, pointing her hand, "They passed through this courtyard, let's continue the chase, even if we have to pursue them out of the Sanctuary and into the depths of the wilderness, I won't let them get away."

She lightly leapt from the tips of her toes, landing on the courtyard wall.

The courtyard was pitch-black, seemingly uninhabited. Cai Jiajia did not care, prepared to step along the side eaves of the courtyard roof to leap across—the back of the courtyard just happened to have a large tree four stories high.

She lightly stepped on the roof tiles, her expression suddenly changed, and she leaped upwards forcefully.

At that moment,

The ancient rooftop exploded with a bang, tiles scattered everywhere, and a bright flash of blade light shot out, as though it could light up the pitch-black night.

Following one step behind, Sun Yu, leaping from the wall to the eaves, found himself in mid-air, unable to exert any force.

Seeing this, the figure inside the house changed the angle of the blade, swinging a bright flash like a whiplash toward Sun Yu.

The unstoppable momentum was sharp enough to sting one's face!

With no way to dodge, Sun Yu threw a punch.

In that instant, the fist that shot out from under his cloak became as translucent and lustrous as white jade!