Chapter 105: Nest

A few minutes later, Chen Ling decapitated the last centipede, utterly extinguishing its life.

"Hoo..." Chen Ling slowly rose from the pool of blood. In the deathly silent, thick fog, he stood alone.

Chen Ling's gaze swept over his surroundings. Residents peeking from behind windows were startled, immediately dropping to the ground, terrified of meeting the gaze of this living Yama... Having dealt with all the troubles on this street, Chen Ling had now become the greatest trouble himself.

As Chen Ling walked further down the street, faint sobs emerged from the ruins of one of the buildings.

Through the shattered remnants of the doorway, a woman cradled a child, kneeling before a corpse whose face was unrecognizable from bites. She was weeping profusely, her tears flowing like rain.

Chen Ling recognized this family. In previous years, during the Chinese New Year, he had even brought Chen Yan to their home to share candy and oranges.

Witnessing this scene, Chen Ling felt surprisingly little reaction. Perhaps due to the influence of the Divine Path on his mind, his capacity for empathy had been almost entirely erased. Even though this family before him had once been close, at that moment, he felt as if he were watching a film or a play, completely unmoved.

"Did the monster knock on the door just now?" Chen Ling asked.

The woman paused, then nodded frantically.

"Did you respond?"

"...We... we did," the woman stammered, her body trembling uncontrollably. She looked at the corpse before her. "I wanted him to stay silent... but he insisted on asking who was at the door. Then the monster outside said it was looking for... someone called 'Wang'?"

"And then?"

"Then we realized something was wrong and stopped speaking, but it still forced its way in, and then..." The woman's voice became increasingly choked.

"...Officer Chen Ling, we also had a knock at our door, but we didn't answer..." Just then, Boss Xu from next door cautiously opened his door. "I heard that calamities each have their own domains and methods of killing. That monster... it couldn't be killing based on answering knocks, could it?"

Chen Ling looked at Boss Xu with surprise. Although the man was timid, his mind was remarkably quick.

"It seems very likely at the moment," Chen Ling nodded.

Chen Ling had previously heard of "Calamity Domains," but so far, he hadn't fully deduced this particular calamity's domain abilities. It appeared to control human bodies through shadows and kill by knocking.

Chen Ling didn't linger and continued walking forward.

A total of eight families on Cold Frost Street had been attacked by the calamity, and almost none were spared. The previous family, where only one person died, was relatively fortunate. In contrast, two other households had been completely devoured, leaving behind only fragmented remains.

This was even with Zhao Yi escaping earlier to alert Chen Ling... If the warning had come any later, the casualty count likely would have doubled.

"Calamity invasion on Cold Moon Street! Five detected so far!"

"Cold Wind Street has four invaders!"

"Several here on Cold Snow Street as well... Damn it, they're charging!"

The terrified shouts of the enforcers crackled through the walkie-talkie, followed by a series of static noises...

"So it's not just Cold Frost Street..." Chen Ling's expression grew grim.

"This is Xi Renjie. I've cleared Cold Wind Street and am now en route to Cold Snow Street." The walkie-talkie crackled again. This was finally good news, as Xi Renjie, a two-stripe enforcer, possessed considerable combat power.

"How is Chen Ling's situation?" Han Meng's voice came through.

Chen Ling raised the walkie-talkie and replied calmly,

"Cold Frost Street has been cleared."

"You've finished already?" Xi Renjie's voice barely concealed his surprise.

Having fought these calamities himself, he knew their strength. It was truly astonishing that Chen Ling, a newcomer who had just embarked on the Path of the God of War, could clear an entire street in such a short time.

Chen Ling simply hummed in affirmation.

"By the way, where are you?" Chen Ling seemed to recall something.

"I'm on my way to the steel factory."

Within the dense fog, a black silhouette streaked swiftly across the sky above Sector Three!

The strong winds made his trench coat, emblazoned with four stripes, flap loudly. Han Meng's calm eyes fixed on the distant factory district, and he slowly spoke:

"This is a reproductive calamity. Unless the parent body is destroyed, its offspring will be endless... You clear the streets first; I'll handle the parent."

Han Meng put away the walkie-talkie. His form, like a black meteor, streaked across the night sky and landed steadily before the factory complex.

The wind whipped up by his coat stirred gravel from the ground, carving a vacuum out of the thick fog. Han Meng observed the dark, writhing factory before him, his eyes narrowing into a dangerous glint.

"...Trouble."

Han Meng's arrival seemed to disturb the shadows within the dense fog. The entirely black factory surged violently. A closer look revealed countless slender centipedes crawling across its surface, coiling like a tide towards Han Meng, who stood beyond the iron gate!

This entire factory complex had, at some unknown point, been transformed into a calamity's nest. Now, a dangerous intruder had appeared within it.

"To breed such a terrifying number of offspring in just one day indicates the parent body is at least a Tier Five..." Han Meng held his gun in one hand, while with the other, he pulled a rolled cigarette from his pocket, placed it between his lips, and lit it with a lighter.

He took a deep drag, the orange glow burning a small spot in the dense fog. Simultaneously, an invisible domain unfurled beneath his feet.

He raised his gun, aimed it at the swarming wave of shadows, and murmured to himself.

"Judgment... begins."

*Bang—!!*

An invisible bullet shot from the barrel, instantly ripping a several-meter-wide vacuum through the black tide. All shadow centipedes in its path were simultaneously deconstructed to a molecular level, utterly dissolving into nothingness...

A dense swarm of shadows burst from the iron gate, first expanding outwards in all directions, then contracting inwards to completely encircle Han Meng. There were, by rough estimate, hundreds of them!

Han Meng repeatedly pulled the trigger, and the power of judgment tore open gap after gap in the surging tide. Yet, with enemies pressing in from all sides, Han Meng's active area rapidly shrank. It was difficult to protect himself against such a vast number of foes with only this single-shot destructive force.

From an aerial view, Han Meng appeared like a solitary island about to be engulfed by shadows. As the "water level" gradually rose, it seemed he would soon be swept away.

Han Meng's brow furrowed slightly. Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, he suddenly raised a hand.

An iron rod, broken by the impact of the shadow centipedes, vibrated and flew automatically into his grasp!

Han Meng held his gun in one hand and the iron rod in the other. He spun the rod rapidly in his palm a few times, then abruptly plunged it into the ground!

*Thud—!!*

Visible ripples swept outwards in all directions, and the ground cracked inch by inch!

Deconstructive power, intertwined with this ripple, swept through. Dozens of shadow centipedes closest to Han Meng shattered instantly. The area covered by the domain once again became a vacuum, as if an invisible giant hand had forcibly erased all matter from existence. The terrifying destructive power of the Judgment Path was showcased in its entirety at this moment!

Han Meng's gaze locked onto the factory. He forcefully pulled the iron rod from the ground, then flung it like a javelin. A black lightning bolt instantly streaked across the sky!

*Boom—!!!*

A hole, more than ten meters wide, was blasted into the front of the tall steel factory. The thick walls seemed to have evaporated. Through the gaping hole, a colossal centipede could be seen coiled within, its face, featuring only a dark red mouth, slowly turning in his direction.

Han Meng stood on the shattered ground, his gaze piercing through the surging black tide, locking onto the colossal creature inside the factory.

"Found you."