In the underground “black clinic” beneath the old bookstore.

Jie Ming stood at his workbench. Before him were twelve neatly arranged sealed metal test tubes.

The liquid inside the tubes displayed a deep amber color, glowing faintly under the light like highly purified essence. Each tube’s label was marked with a serial number, date, and a rune symbol of Jie Ming’s own design.

That was his “signature,” indicating this batch of agents had undergone his improvements.

Harding stood across the workbench, hands behind his back. His gaze swept over the test tubes with a calm expression, though a trace of satisfaction flickered deep in his eyes. Dirk stood slightly behind him, holding a portable scanner and performing a spot check on one of the tubes. Green data streams flowed across the scanner’s screen. All indicators were within safe ranges and significantly higher than similar products on the market.

“I’ve optimized all twelve according to your requirements,” Jie Ming said, placing the tubes one by one into a specially made metal transport case. He closed the lid and pushed it toward Harding. “The success rate improvement is slightly higher than the previous batch, around six percent. I’ve also reduced the side effects of failure, concentrating them into fever and drowsiness within twenty-four hours after injection. No signs of organ damage were observed.”

“Impressive. Your technical skill far exceeds our expectations.”

Harding nodded and took out a flat metal box from inside his uniform, pushing it toward Jie Ming.

The box was slightly larger than a palm and bore no markings, but Jie Ming immediately sensed the faint energy fluctuations coming from within.

“There are fewer materials this time,” Harding said with a hint of apology. “The Prophet sent by headquarters will arrive in a couple of days. The association’s current focus is entirely on internal investigation and preparing for potential incidents. Most resources have been redirected to support key areas, so the quota available for cooperating researchers has been temporarily reduced.”

Jie Ming opened the box. Inside were several Strange fragments neatly sealed in resin and a sealed container wrapped in velvet cloth. He hadn’t activated his All-Purpose Eye, yet merely by touching them with his fingers, he could roughly judge the grade and quality of the materials. Two Hazard Grade fragments, five Threat Grade fragments, and inside that sealed container… a complete Threat Grade Strange.

Though the quantity was smaller than the previous two deliveries, the quality was excellent.

Especially that complete Threat Grade Strange—it was an extremely rare commodity on the black market, one that could not be bought even with money.

Truly worthy of an official organization. Even in a state of shortage, they far surpassed the so-called underground black market.

“Understood,” Jie Ming closed the box and set it aside on the workbench, his tone calm. “At a time like this, the association’s resources should naturally prioritize internal operations. I can wait.”

Harding studied his expression, a trace of scrutiny appearing in his eyes.

He had seen many collaborators. When resources were cut, some would complain, some would haggle, and some would threaten to terminate the partnership. Yet Jie Ming said nothing extra. He simply accepted it calmly and continued with his work.

Such an attitude meant he either truly did not care, or he had absolute confidence in his own skills.

Harding felt it was likely both.

“Once this matter is over,” he said, lowering his voice as though afraid of being overheard, “the association will reassess resource allocation for cooperating researchers. At that time, large quantities of materials and data can be approved. I will also help you fight for those internal research files you previously requested.”

“Then I’ll thank you in advance.” The corners of Jie Ming’s mouth curved slightly, revealing a faint smile.

Dirk put away the scanner, turned around, and let his gaze linger on Jie Ming’s face for a moment before looking away.

His feelings toward Jie Ming had always been complicated.

After all, this person’s origins were unknown, yet his skills were outrageously high. Moreover, interacting with him always gave Dirk a vague sense that he was forgetting something important.

But Harding trusted him, and the association’s legal department had approved the cooperation agreement. As a field operative, he had no grounds to object.

“You should be careful during this period as well,” Harding said at the stairwell, glancing back at Jie Ming. “If the traitor doesn’t want to be exposed, they will definitely cause trouble before the Prophet arrives. We’ve already received reports from several regions. The frequency of various Strange incidents has risen noticeably in recent days. It’s not impossible that someone is deliberately creating chaos to divert the association’s attention.”

Jie Ming nodded. “Understood.”

Harding and Dirk went up the stairs.

Their footsteps echoed briefly in the bookstore on the first floor, followed by the sound of the wooden door opening and closing.

Jie Ming stood in the underground “black clinic,” looking down at the metal box containing the materials on the workbench. He tapped the lid lightly with his fingers twice.

Suddenly, his eyes shifted imperceptibly.

His gaze pierced through the ceiling, toward the distant sky.

That direction was… the harbor.

Jie Ming’s spiritual perception detected a powerful energy fluctuation. It seemed something had forcefully “intruded” into the area from outside. Then, explosive booms came from afar.

Rumble…

Continuous dull explosions sounded from the harbor direction. Even after traveling several kilometers through thick fog and buildings, the noise reached the old city district muffled and unclear.

Yet within that muffled sound lingered a frequency that instinctively unsettled people.

Immediately after, Jie Ming’s sharp senses caught faint screams.

It was the sound of countless individuals mixed together. Those screams surged from the harbor like a tidal wave, rising and falling. Many were cut short the moment they began, drowned out by even louder noises.

Blended together, they formed a scalp-tingling background noise.

Harding and Dirk had not gone far and also heard the explosions on the street.

Dirk’s communicator exploded with noise the instant the booms sounded. A sharp buzzing came from the device at his waist.

He grabbed the communicator and pressed the answer button.

“Harbor under attack! Harbor under attack!” The voice on the other end was practically shouting.

The background was filled with explosions, shattering glass, and a deep rumbling like massive objects moving.

“It’s a Ghost Ship Strange! It appeared from the sea! Enormous size, like a cruise ship! Requesting reinforcements! Repeat, requesting reinforcements!”

Harding’s expression changed the moment he heard the words “Ghost Ship Strange.”

After all, Ghost Ship Stranges were among the most troublesome types in this plane.

This kind of Strange was rare in that it did not remain fixed in one location. Instead, it could move and actively hunt humans, making it a highly aggressive type. Moreover, due to the special nature of Ghost Ship Stranges, their appearances were often not isolated incidents and usually involved manipulation by someone behind the scenes.

“Location!” Harding was already running toward the harbor, with Dirk close behind.

“Pier 3! It’s ramming the dock buildings! It’s too fast—ordinary firepower can’t hit it at all… Rumble!!!”

Listening to the explosions coming from the other side, Harding ended the call.

“Be careful. There’s a Strange attack. Stay safe!”

Harding shouted toward the bookstore behind him, then turned the corner with Dirk and disappeared at the end of the stone-paved road.

Jie Ming expanded his spiritual perception once more. His consciousness became like an invisible giant eye, hovering above the harbor and overlooking everything happening below.

Pier 3 had already fallen into complete chaos.

Jie Ming’s spiritual force now captured the full appearance of the Ghost Ship that had suddenly emerged from the thick fog.

Its size was larger than any cruise ship Jie Ming had seen before crossing over. The black hull emerged from the fog like a giant beast rising from the deep sea.

The ship’s surface was covered in rust stains, as if someone had used rust to paint distorted, screaming human faces across the hull. Its movement completely defied physical laws.

Such a massive vessel, after ramming the dock, turned with unbelievable agility. The prow swayed like a snake and smashed a cargo crane in half.

The broken steel frame collapsed with a crash, smashing into the dock and sending up a cloud of debris and dust.

Then it charged straight onto land without hesitation.

The ship’s keel dragged across the ground, producing ear-piercing metallic scraping. Gravel beneath the hull was crushed into powder.

It was clearly a ship, yet its speed on land showed no reduction as it barreled toward the harbor warehouse district.

Anyone who approached it—or rather, anyone it approached—was sucked onto the ship.

Jie Ming’s spiritual perception clearly “saw” the process.

A dock worker hiding behind a container, at least fifty meters away from the Ghost Ship, merely poked his head out for a glance. His body was immediately grabbed by an invisible force. His feet left the ground as he was dragged flying toward the black cruise ship.

He struggled and screamed in mid-air, clawing desperately at empty space.

The moment he was sucked onto the hull, his scream stopped abruptly.

The man’s life signs vanished completely from Jie Ming’s perception, as if he had never existed.

Similar scenes played out simultaneously in every corner of the dock.

It was daytime, when the harbor had the highest number of workers.

Facing this sudden assault, large numbers of victims were sucked away.

Many tried to flee, but the Ghost Ship was too fast. Its movement speed on land was even faster than a car.

Like a black giant bird flying low over the ground, it swept from east to west and south to north. Wherever it passed, only empty docks and scattered cargo remained.

Harding and Dirk rushed to an open area on the edge of the old district.

They were still about five kilometers from the Ghost Ship, but they could already clearly see the enormous black silhouette moving through the thick fog.

Harding stopped, took a deep breath, and pulled his hands from his pockets.

Storm Eye.

He no longer suppressed the power of his Strange.

Gale winds surged from around his body within seconds, spreading outward with him at the center.

Dirk was pushed back a step by the wind but quickly stabilized himself, grabbing Harding’s shoulders with both hands.

The storm enveloped the two of them, lifting them from the ground and shooting toward the Ghost Ship at extremely high speed.

The several-kilometer distance was covered in mere tens of seconds under the storm’s propulsion.

Jie Ming’s spiritual perception followed them the entire time.

He saw Harding continuously adjusting the angle and intensity of the storm during flight to ensure they would arrive directly above the Ghost Ship in the optimal attack position. This person’s combat experience was indeed rich, and his control over the Storm Eye far surpassed what he had displayed in the abandoned factory before.

At the harbor, Harding collided head-on with the Ghost Ship.

The Storm Eye unleashed at full power in an instant.

Dark clouds poured out from Harding’s body, covering a several-hundred-meter area above the Ghost Ship in the blink of an eye.

Lightning churned within the clouds and then poured down like a violent rain. Every bolt struck the Ghost Ship’s deck with precision.

Cracks appeared on the Ghost Ship’s surface under the lightning strikes.

Rusty metal plates were blasted open, revealing inner walls that wriggled like living flesh.

After failing to capture the two men into its body, the Ghost Ship released a spreading energy shockwave from within.

The shockwave pushed aside the surrounding air, creating a brief vacuum zone. Harding’s storm experienced a momentary disruption within that vacuum.

Dirk released his grip on Harding’s shoulders. Threads of shadow snake shot from his palms and wrapped around one of the Ghost Ship’s broken masts.

The moment the threads touched the mast, they began to corrode it. Black patterns spread downward, and fine cracks appeared on the metal surface wherever they passed.

The Ghost Ship reacted quickly.

Its hull whipped violently, flinging the mast and Dirk’s threads away.

Dirk tumbled several times in the air but was steadily caught by Harding’s storm.

In just a few brief exchanges, more than half the buildings near Pier 3 had already been destroyed.

Warehouses collapsed, cranes snapped, and containers lay scattered like building blocks.

Further away, at the edge of the dock in an inconspicuous shadow, a man crouched behind a container.

He was dressed ordinarily, his cap brim pulled low, obscuring his face.

His breathing was somewhat rapid, as if he had expended a lot of energy.

To others, he looked like an ordinary person who had just escaped the chaos, but his eyes were not directed at the Ghost Ship. Instead, they looked toward the Spirit Medium Association’s direction.

Jie Ming’s spiritual perception instantly locked onto the man.

The man spat, his saliva landing on the gravel and quickly covered by dust.

He pressed a small communicator behind his ear and spoke in a lowered voice.

“The Spirit Medium Association arrived faster than expected. Storm Eye has already engaged the Ghost Ship. I’m on the east side of Pier 3. Position is temporarily safe. Requesting support.”

The other end of the communicator was silent for a few seconds before a deep voice replied:

“…Retreat… We’ve collected enough.”

The man said nothing more. He turned off the communicator, silently slipped out from behind the container, and moved along the base of the wall toward the direction away from the battlefield. His movements were light and swift. He stayed constantly within the shadows cast by buildings, never stepping into lighted areas.

Jie Ming’s spiritual perception followed him the entire time, watching as he crossed three streets, climbed over a wall, and slipped into the back seat of a black sedan parked in a dark corner.

The sedan started silently and disappeared at the edge of the harbor.