Chapter 84: The Great Purge (First Update)

From the wraiths’ memories, Lu Yan clearly saw what had happened.

Though Scott was a powerful Spirit Energy user, his system emphasized bodily augmentation and relied more on technological applications. That made him ill-equipped to deal with incorporeal enemies like wraiths.

Under their relentless assault, Scott quickly found himself overwhelmed and used his A.I. brain to lock down the battlefield and request fire support.

The moment the A.I. brain executed the lock, one of the wraiths instinctively sensed traces of a soul fluctuation hidden within it.

Thanks to their innate instinct honed through harvesting over a hundred thousand souls in the apocalypse, the wraiths braved the barrage of Spirit Energy cannons. One of them lunged at Scott and swiped its claws across his A.I. brain.

The scene resembled the way they once tore the souls out of zombies—except this time, what should’ve been a purely technological construct actually yielded a soul-like spirit from within.

With their prize in hand, the wraiths phased through the walls, dodging most of the bombardment, and safely brought the spiritual remnant back.

Looking at the tattered wraith inside the Soul Banner—half of its head blown off and its expression muddled—Lu Yan’s expression turned a little strange.

“Did these wraiths develop some sort of… soul-extracting talent?”

He didn’t have time to dwell on it. He immediately shifted his attention to the weak, softly glowing spirit nestled in the Soul Banner.

The underground passage was pitch-black. Lu Yan, Quentin, and Shack moved swiftly through the abandoned sewer system.

This had once been part of a shelter’s drainage network, but the shelter had long since been destroyed, and the sewers left to rot for years.

Leading the way, Shack guided them through the twists and turns, occasionally glancing nervously behind.

Though Lu Yan’s strength was clearly mysterious and formidable, Shack couldn’t see ghosts, and thus hadn’t noticed Lu Yan making any visible move.

In his mind, Lu Yan must’ve personally gone head-to-head with Scott to buy them time to escape.

But the imagined showdown never happened. That uncertainty gnawed at Shack—he worried that Scott might still be chasing them.

The only silver lining was that, a few minutes ago, the A.I. lock on his personal terminal had suddenly vanished, and everything had returned to normal.

Without A.I. surveillance, if they kept moving through the sewer at this pace, they would soon escape from Zone 33 entirely.

Rounding one last bend, the exit came into view.

Just then, Lu Yan’s voice rang out.

“Stop.”

Quentin and Shack froze instinctively, immediately obeying the command.

The three of them looked ahead. From the shadows of the dim tunnel, several figures slowly emerged.

“Well, well… you actually made it out alive. Looks like that rising star of the City Tax Bureau, Scott, isn’t so impressive after all.”

Shack’s pupils shrank. His face twisted in fury.

“It’s you!”

“You’re the one who led the Enforcement Officer here?!”

At the forefront of the group stood a man so rotund he resembled a walking meat mountain. He wore a plain jacket and chuckled lightly.

“Not completely brain-dead, I see.”

Quentin asked in confusion, “Who is he?”

“Chief Johnson from the Midtown Police Department. He’s the one who gave me the USB drive.”

Quentin instantly understood. That USB contained critical data—detailed records of the Upper City’s impending operation against the Lower City. Shack had already handed it over to Lu Yan.

“You seriously gave that USB away?”

Chief Johnson looked a little surprised, scanning Quentin from head to toe.

When his gaze landed on Quentin’s thick, muscular arms, a look of undisguised contempt flickered in his eyes.

“You actually let a guy with no Spirit Energy know something this sensitive? Shack, you’ve really hit rock bottom.”

Shack scowled. “You handed me that USB on purpose, and now you lured in the Enforcement Officer. What the hell are you playing at?”

Chief Johnson’s bloated face trembled with suppressed laughter, his grin widening grotesquely.

“I suppose I can give you the truth.”

“The Heavenly Computation Center is starving for processing power. That’s why multiple Upper City authorities have voted to launch a massive ‘Great Purge.’”

“Wilderness zones, abandoned sectors, and underground cities—all of it will be swept clean. Capital City One has issued a death order: enough bodies must be captured to supply the soul power needed by the Computation Center.”

“The Lower City may be a trash heap, but many elites have their core industries rooted here. They rely on the Lower City to generate massive credit streams just to pay their own luxury taxes.”

“So even though the purge is unavoidable, they want to protect the interests of their proxy forces.”

“To do that, they’ve decided to leak information about the purge ahead of time—just a little—so Lower City factions can prepare resistance. That way, the elites gain leverage to negotiate better terms.”

As he spoke, a flash appeared on Johnson’s personal terminal, and a wave of liquid metal began oozing from under his massive gut.

The silvery fluid crawled over his flesh, transforming into a solid suit of heavy armor.

Mounted on his shoulders were two comically oversized Spirit Energy sniper rifles—more like miniature cannons.

Coupled with his immense body, Johnson now looked like a humanoid tank.

Behind him, over a dozen black-armored soldiers with Spirit Energy rifles had their weapons trained on Shack and Quentin. One wrong move and they’d be riddled with bullets.

With complete firepower superiority, Chief Johnson grinned with mock regret.

“Unfortunately, the City Tax Bureau Enforcement Team got wind of the leak too early. They targeted me, trying to intercept that USB and trace the source of the breach.”

“To escape suspicion, I gave the USB to you and lured Scott into chasing it down.”

“According to the plan, Scott should’ve easily captured you and recovered the USB, only to be ambushed on his way back to the surface by other Lower City factions.”

“The data would’ve spread through the Lower City like wildfire, forcing the Upper City to negotiate.”

“But alas… that so-called rising star turned out to be all talk. You managed to slip away, and now I’ve gotta clean up the mess personally.”

As he finished speaking, the massive barrels of the Spirit Energy sniper rifles locked onto Shack and Quentin. The charged beams were already humming with lethal energy.

Johnson cackled arrogantly.

“Don’t worry! Your deaths will be the spark that ignites the Lower City’s resistance against the purge. Who knows, maybe decades or centuries from now, someone at the Computation Center will still remember your names. You’ll die with meaning.”

“You talk too much.”

The flat voice whispered in Johnson’s ear—and a wave of terror surged up from the depths of his mind.

“Why did the terminal only lock onto two people? Weren’t there three of them?”

A hand came down softly on his armored helmet—and brilliant golden fire engulfed everything.

(End of Chapter)