PD -Chapter 121 The Ghostly Self-Service Canteen

My heart skipped a beat. I carefully looked at the exterior of the entire tube-shaped apartment building and realized something was wrong.

The fresh paint from the earlier renovation was completely gone. The walls had somehow reverted to their original decayed state—cracked, worn, and filthy, almost identical to what I had seen inside Liu Xiaopeng’s Liu Xiaopeng subconscious before. In fact, it looked even more dilapidated than it had back then.

I quickly stepped back a few paces and returned to the car, glancing at Shen Tu beside me.

“This whole building is off,” I said.

Before I even finished speaking, a chilling gust of wind swept past. The temperature in the entire space seemed to drop several degrees, and my breath turned into visible white mist.

Panic rose in my chest. I instinctively shouted, “Bad—Liu Xiaopeng!”

But at that moment, the entire building was suddenly enveloped in a strange red glow.

Under that eerie red light, I saw countless wisps of black smoke emerging from nowhere, slipping through the cracks of residents’ windows and seeping into their homes.

“What is this…” I stood frozen, stunned. The entire building now looked like hell itself—its dense yin energy and malevolent aura so heavy it made my body shiver uncontrollably.

“Heh…” Shen Tu, who had been standing nearby with her arms folded, let out a cold laugh.

“So it’s a self-service canteen, huh? Not bad. I have to admit—they really came up with something creative.”

I paused, then immediately understood.

It wasn’t just something inside unit 903. The entire building had been targeted by these supernatural entities. The black smoke entering the rooms were formless spirits—various types of ghosts and malevolent beings.

Their actions were precise and practiced, as if this wasn’t their first time doing it. Just as Shen Tu said, the whole building had become a “self-service restaurant” where they continuously consumed human life force.

Suddenly, I remembered the elderly neighbors standing outside the big sister’s room at night. They were all old people, and each of them looked thin, pale, and unhealthy.

Could it be… they had been “eaten” like this?

I stared at the nearest apartment on the ground floor. Inside, the black smoke condensed into a shadowy figure, circling the window before standing beside the bed and beginning to absorb the owner’s life energy.

“This is absolutely lawless!”

I cursed and rushed toward the room.

“You’ve got quite the sense of justice, don’t you?” Shen Tu teased from behind.

Ignoring her, I reached the door and was about to smash it open—

When suddenly, a blood-red figure appeared in front of me out of nowhere.

With lightning speed, it struck at me with a palm.

I cursed inwardly and immediately retreated. The figure pursued relentlessly, letting out a piercing shriek. Its voice sounded like grinding gears as it spoke:

“You reckless brat… you dare ruin our brothers’ good meal?”

My protective Golden Light Spell erupted instinctively around my body. At the last moment before impact, the strange weapon in its hand was knocked away by my defensive aura.

I steadied myself and finally got a clear look at it.

The creature looked bizarre—like something out of Journey to the West, wearing a strange long robe and holding a whip-like weapon.

“A cultivator, huh…” the entity sneered, still bathed in red light. “Today I’m going to feast well!”

It charged again.

I silently activated the Spirit Sword Spell. A glowing golden sword appeared in my hand as I prepared to strike—

But then Shen Tu’s voice rang out again from beside the car.

“Even if you’re technically a ghost officer, you’ve really fallen far. Living like bandits now?”

At those words, the attacking entity suddenly froze mid-air, as if something had struck a nerve.

I seized the opportunity.

My golden sword burst with light as I turned into a blur and shot forward.

In an instant, the sword pierced its chest.

A scream echoed as its body collapsed, slowly dissolving into black smoke.

“Who… are you…?” the dying entity screamed, staring at Shen Tu with hatred.

At that moment, the other spirit inside the room sensed its companion’s death and rushed out in fury.

And it wasn’t alone.

One after another, dark figures surged from the building. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen shadows surrounded Shen Tu and me in midair.

My expression tightened.

This was bad.

I had no idea what Liu Xiaopeng was dealing with alone inside unit 903.

I needed to end this quickly and go help him.

With a thought, my Golden Light Spell intensified. My left hand quietly moved toward the hidden talisman in my pocket. If things went south, I would have to summon Marshal Wen Qiong for backup.

But then I felt something strange.

My protective golden light was being suppressed by an overwhelming surge of malevolent energy—and its strength was rapidly weakening.

The strange thing was, those spirits hadn’t even attacked yet.

I turned quickly to look.

Shen Tu—who had been standing casually by the car with folded arms—was now floating in mid-air, her toes off the ground.

The terrifying yin energy was coming from her.

Her pupils had turned a deep red-black. A glowing seal of crimson-black spiritual power formed in front of her chest, slowly solidifying into a massive, incomplete stamp-like imprint.

Only one character remained clearly visible on it:

“Emperor.”

“G… Ghost Emperor Seal!” a voice cried out from the sky.

Instantly, all the black smoke spirits began trembling violently.

They dropped to the ground one after another, transforming into grotesque entities before kneeling in a row in front of her, shaking uncontrollably.

“You… you are the only female Ghost Emperor among the Five Directions Ghost Emperors… Lady Shen Tu!” one of the decayed skeleton-like spirits stammered.

Hearing this, all the other spirits bowed deeply in unison:

“Ghost Emperor, my lord!”

The broken Ghost Emperor Seal merged back into Shen Tu’s body.

She stood above them like a queen, scanning the kneeling monsters coldly.

“Who is your leader?”

Her voice carried immense pressure, thick with killing intent.

The spirits trembled violently. After a long silence, one of them finally spoke in a hoarse, shaking voice:

“It… it is a Rakshasa Lord.”