Midnight.

The city slept, but not every heart was at rest.

In the stillness, something stirred—a whisper of breath, a ripple of movement beneath the moonlight.

"So, you're hiding here again?"

The voice was low, rasping with amusement.

The strange ghost stood at the edge of the forest, a strand of pink hair caught between his fingers. His sharp, pale eyes gleamed faintly in the dark as he lifted his head toward the massive form before him—the ancient savage beast known as the Black Tortoise, now lying dormant.

He had followed the scent all the way here. The trace was faint but unmistakable.

His tracking ability was absolute. Defectors could flee for days, weave illusions, lay traps, even fake their deaths—but he always found them in the end.

And yet, those two girls...

They were not ordinary fugitives.

Everything they had learned from Shengyang City—their tactics, their misdirection, their ability to exploit weaknesses even in monsters like him—had been used flawlessly.

"Heh," he grinned, flexing his pale claws. "So good at running away. I wonder how long you can keep it up."

He was in no hurry.

Unlike humans, the strange ghost never tired. He didn't need rest or food, and his resilience was monstrous—his defenses several times that of any human at the same level.

A normal pursuer would have collapsed long ago. But he wasn't human.

If you weren't trained in Shengyang City, if you didn't know how to face a ghost like him, you wouldn't even last the night. One wrong step, and you'd vanish without a trace.

"Hey, friend! You going up there too?"

A human voice broke the silence.

The strange ghost turned his head slightly. A middle-aged man in a travel cloak was approaching cautiously, the gleam of a dagger half-hidden at his waist.

"Why don't we… cooperate?" the man suggested.

"Cooperate?"

The strange ghost's lips twisted into a sneer. Under his hood, his eyes glowed faintly blue. "A mere human? You think you're worthy to speak of cooperation with me?"

The man's face darkened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He was Tier Five—a mid-level enhancer named Taigen, known among hunters and treasure seekers. It was the first time anyone had looked down on him like this.

"Kill you," hissed the ghost.

The air grew thick with murderous energy. His ghostly aura flared, violent and sharp, his gaze filled with wild hunger.

"You—madman!" Taigen stumbled back, hands raised. "Fine, forget it! Don't want to cooperate? I'll pass!"

He turned on his heel, retreating fast.

All he had wanted was a pawn—a fool to test the dangers ahead—but instead, he had run into a monster.

Cursing under his breath, Taigen slipped behind a large boulder where a few of his companions were waiting.

They were treasure hunters, part-time thieves by trade.

Hunters of rare things, diggers of forbidden relics—they sold what they found to the highest bidder. And if they couldn't obtain a treasure, they sold information about it instead, wrapped in rumors and mystery, to make the price higher.

"Well?" one of them asked. "Did you find someone to scout ahead?"

Taigen spat to the side. "No. Just ran into a lunatic."

He described the encounter quickly, and the others exchanged uneasy glances.

"So, what now?" asked another. "Do we sneak in ourselves?"

"No," Taigen said immediately, shaking his head. "The people up there—they're not to be messed with. The so-called city lords of the Tenth Floor are paranoid and dangerous. If we go up carelessly, we'll lose our lives."

"But we can't just walk away," another argued. "That glowing tree… there's no way it's ordinary."

His eyes glittered with excitement. "Even if we can't take it, we can at least get information. That alone would sell for a fortune."

He was right. In all their years of wandering through ruins and wastelands, they had seen mutated beasts, floating stones, even living shadows—but never a tree that shone like a star.

"Alright," Taigen finally said. "We'll follow that lunatic. Stay back, don't make a sound. If anything feels wrong—we retreat immediately."

"Got it."

They nodded as one. Survival instincts ran deep in them; caution had kept them alive through a dozen close calls.

Creeping through the shadows, they followed the hooded figure once more.

"There," whispered one. "That's him, right?"

Ahead, a lone figure stood motionless at the feet of the slumbering beast, shrouded in darkness.

"Yeah," Taigen muttered. "We wait here."

They didn't need to guess why he wasn't moving yet. Everyone was waiting for the deepest part of night—the hour when even the stars seemed to sleep. That was when walls were weakest, when guards yawned, and the mind grew slow.

Perfect time to slip in.

---

The night deepened.

Finally, the strange ghost moved.

He climbed the massive rock that formed the beast's foreleg, his body moving with eerie grace.

"The lunatic's climbing," Taigen murmured. He kept his voice low, watching from behind the stones.

"Do we follow?"

"Keep up. Quietly."

They crept forward, ten meters behind. The darkness hid their shapes, and they could just make out his faint, shifting silhouette ahead.

The strange ghost felt the presence behind him—several, faint and untrained—but ignored them. Not worth the effort.

His purpose was higher: to find the defectors and erase every trace of the Shengyang City's taboo experiments.

"They really do know how to hide," he thought. "Coming all the way here—to a beast's back."

He almost laughed. Of all the places, they chose this.

At last, he reached the top of the colossal creature and stood before a wall of dark stone.

"Black Tortoise City," he murmured. "So this is what they call it."

He touched the wall, then crouched and leapt. With ghostly strength, he vaulted up the four-meter height in a single bound.

His boots landed lightly on the parapet. Before him stretched a dim street, dotted with silent houses. Farther away, the faint glow of the Starlight Tea Tree flickered on the horizon.

"No guards?" he muttered, frowning. "Impossible."

Even in a lax settlement, someone should have been patrolling.

Something wasn't right.

He sniffed the air, his senses sharpening. A faint scent—familiar. The defectors were near.

He turned toward the direction of the smell, muscles tense. But no one was there.

"A trick?" His brows furrowed. "Another illusion?"

He hesitated. If he entered the city and encountered a real master, even he might not escape easily.

But what he didn't know—was that two figures stood less than three meters away.

Invisible.

Alina flexed her hands, testing the weight of the armor Luciel had given her. Her movements were awkward, but when she realized the ghost hadn't sensed her at all, she nearly laughed.

It was perfect.

This armor—this spiritual weapon—completely hid her presence, even from a being that could track souls.

Beside her, Liyue stood silent, silver eyes wide with disbelief.

She understood far more than the pink-haired girl did.

To forge an intermediate magic weapon in one day… and two high-grade armors in ten? It was unthinkable. And Luciel had done it casually, adjusting their fit as if it were nothing.

Now, they were going to test them—on a real target.

Seeing Liyue pause, Alina gently tugged her sleeve. Then she pointed.

There—the ghost.

Liyue nodded.

Without a sound, Alina crept forward. Then she clenched her fist.

Boom!

The blow landed squarely in the ghost's abdomen. His body folded instantly, flung backward like a broken doll.

Crash!

He slammed into the battlement, the impact ringing across the wall.

"Who—?!"

The ghost snarled, leaping up, his face twisting. His stomach burned, a stabbing pain he hadn't felt in years. His vaunted defenses—shattered.

Before he could react—

Boom!

Another punch struck the same spot. The sound echoed like thunder.

Boom—boom—

He rolled several meters before collapsing, coughing blood. The strange ghost clutched his stomach, wheezing in disbelief.

He had been hurt. Seriously hurt.

Impossible.

Alina stared down at her own fist, wide-eyed. The armor's power was beyond anything she imagined.

Before, she could barely scratch a ghost like him. Now—two hits, and he was half-dead.

Then—

Whsssh!

Two arrows sliced through the night. Mother-and-child arrows, one following the other, streaked straight into the ghost's eyes.

"—?!"

He barely had time to gasp before the second arrow pierced through the first, driving deep into his skull.

The strange ghost collapsed. Motionless.

He never even saw his attackers.

"Did… did we get him?" Alina whispered.

She brushed her armor, canceling its invisibility.

Liyue appeared beside her, eyes calm. "We're wearing high-level spiritual weapons," she said softly.

They approached the fallen ghost. He was still breathing—barely.

Alina frowned, disappointed. "That's it? After chasing us for ten days, he dies like this? I didn't even get to vent properly."

The ghost coughed blood, one eye half-shut. "So… it's you. You've found shelter under someone powerful."

"Tell me," Liyue said coldly. "What do you know about Shengyang City's ghost experiments?"

He laughed weakly, blood spilling over his lips. "Even if I knew… I'd never tell you. You can't escape. There will always be more of us."

Alina's temper flared. "You—!" She raised her foot, but Liyue stopped her.

"He's already dead."

The ghost twitched once, then fell still.

"Too easy," Alina muttered, kicking at the ground. "After all that chasing, he dies like a bug."

"Come on," said Liyue, turning invisible again. "There are more of them out there."

Alina grinned, confidence glowing in her pink eyes. "With this armor, even Tier Fives don't scare me."

---

Far below, five shadowy figures were still clinging to the outer wall.

Taigen and his team had seen everything—the ghost crushed, arrows striking from nowhere, invisible figures on the battlements.

"What… what do we do?" one whispered, trembling.

Taigen's skin was slick with cold sweat. "Retreat," he mouthed. "Now."

They began to climb down, as silently as possible.

As long as they didn't step foot on that wall, they'd be safe.

Or so they thought.

When they reached the ground, they turned to leave—

And froze.

A massive beast head loomed from the shadows.

A tricolored lizard—fangs bared, eyes glinting with predatory light.

It had followed them quietly, under Luciel's command, ordered not to kill—just to trap.

But the moment they turned to flee, the creature lunged, blocking their path.

Taigen's breath caught in his throat.

They knew then—

It was already too late.

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