Watching the vehicles disappear into the distance, the director of the Imperial Capital Spiritual Energy Bureau let out a long sigh.
“They’ve all left, haven’t they.”
“Yeah, they’ve all gone.”
“Aside from the necessary espers staying behind to protect the city, every other warrior has departed…”
Beside him, a middle-aged man spoke with a complicated expression.
“I wonder how many of them will make it back this time.”
As if struck by a grim thought, the director shook his head with a faintly bitter smile.
“They’ll come back. Every single one of them will.”
“With Qin Tian and the others’ abilities, the crisis in Haicheng should be resolved fairly easily.”
The middle-aged man said softly.
“But what if it gets involved…”
Thinking of that colossal figure that had emerged from the sea when Haicheng fell, no one spoke.
No matter how much confidence they had in Qin Tian and his team, they couldn’t be absolutely certain of victory.
The most critical issue was that when gods clashed, mortals suffered.
Even the residual shockwaves of such a battle—let alone the direct confrontation—were more than ordinary people could withstand.
And even if Qin Tian and his people held back their power, what about that mutated sea beast?
Don’t forget—they were intelligent creatures too.
So, for those who had departed, all they could do was sigh, and offer their most sincere blessings from the bottom of their hearts.
As time passed, the battle in Haicheng grew ever more brutal.
More and more mutated sea creatures crawled from the ocean onto land, launching fierce assaults against the city.
By now, Haicheng had descended into total chaos. Humans, mutated sea beasts, mutated rats—all were locked in bloody combat.
Take this moment, for example.
“Even if I die, I’m taking you with me!”
A burly man glared viciously at the mutated crab before him. At four or five meters tall, it towered over him, forcing him to look up. If not for the rage drowning out his fear, he would never have said such words—
He would have turned and fled without a second thought.
But remembering his wife and daughter—killed by these beasts, their very bodies devoured—his eyes were stained red with bloodlust. He raised his blade and charged at the mutated crab.
Clang!
The sound was like metal striking metal. The blade left not a single scratch on the crab’s shell—not even a sign of pain.
The mutated crab showed no emotion. With a crisp crack, its claw sliced the man cleanly in two.
Then it picked up his remains and stuffed them into its mouth.
Though it had no visible eyes, it unmistakably wore an expression of pleasure.
“Monster!”
An esper from the Spiritual Energy Bureau nearby saw this and tried to intervene, but was instantly blocked by other mutated sea beasts. One mutant sea snake coiled around his neck, and the surrounding beasts swarmed over him, burying him alive.
The sea snake, having struck first, consumed the largest share of the corpses. Its very aura shifted—surged upward by a noticeable margin.
Between humans and mutated creatures, they were each other’s prey.
Humans could eat the flesh of mutated beasts to accelerate their cultivation and grow stronger.
Mutated creatures, in turn, could consume human corpses to speed up their own evolution and power.
And because humans had received the greatest blessing during the first spiritual energy tide—nearly every individual awakening some form of power, however weak—each human body carried a certain amount of spiritual energy.
So, to the mutated beasts, every human was prime sustenance.
The slaughter in Haicheng was mutual. Humans killed countless mutated sea beasts, and the beasts killed just as many humans.
The only difference was that humans had no time to process the fallen beasts—they needed to kill more and rescue more civilians. But the mutated beasts weren’t in a hurry.
They devoured human corpses on the spot, and when they came across dead mutated beasts, they ate those too.
Thus, as the war dragged on, humans grew weaker for a multitude of reasons, while the sea beasts only grew stronger.
“Hiss~ hiss~ hiss~~~”
A flicker of regret passed through the cold, reptilian eyes of the mutated sea snake.
Just as humans became addicted to the taste of mutated beast meat, mutated beasts grew addicted to human flesh.
Though they rarely got a taste of the truly powerful fighters, the ordinary civilians—frail yet rich in spiritual energy—were their easiest and most plentiful prey.
Numerous, defenseless—perfect.
And it wasn’t just this sea snake and that crab that reaped the benefits. Countless mutated beasts gorged themselves on human bodies and gained tremendous advantages.
One, two—even ten or twenty ordinary humans—made little difference.
But a hundred? Two hundred? A thousand?
And among them were the Spiritual Energy Bureau’s soldiers—whose spiritual energy far exceeded that of regular civilians.
But this war didn’t benefit only the mutated creatures.
Between life and death, there was not only great terror—but also great opportunity.
At this very moment, in a corner of Haicheng—
Thump!
A young man with a cold, handsome face was sent flying by a mutated crab in front of him. His body crashed heavily into a wall, blood surging up his throat.
“Brother!”
Beside him, a girl of fourteen or fifteen cried out in alarm. Gritting her teeth, she stepped in front of him, placing herself between him and the two-meter-tall crab.
“Little sis, get back!”
The boy’s face changed the moment he saw what she was doing. He tried to reach out and pull her behind him, but the pain wracking his body left him with no strength at all.
“Brother, let’s die together.”
The girl forced down her terror and managed a smile at him.
Bang!
As if her smile ignited something within him, a sudden burst of strength sent her flying out of harm’s way.
“Run!”
“Get out of here!”
“Who said I want to die with you?”
Hunched over in pain, the boy said coldly.
He hated it. Hated that he had no talent for espers. Hated that the power he’d awakened was nothing but the weakest, most useless light imaginable.
No offensive capability. No sacred or healing properties.
Just a plain, ordinary beam of light. In broad daylight, no one could even see it.
At night, it barely illuminated anything—slightly more convenient than a flashlight.
This wasn’t the power he wanted. He wanted the strength to protect his sister in this chaotic world.
No matter what this world became, he would protect her.
That was the promise he’d made to her since they were children.
But now, that promise was about to shatter.
“Why… why did I have to get this ability?”
“What good is this worthless light to me?”
In that moment, he wished with all his heart that the legends of demons were real—so he could at least trade his soul for the power to protect his sister.
But there was no such thing.
