Volume One, Chapter Four: The Strongest in History

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Downtown, Jackton International Hotel.
"Hoo... hoo..."
In the vast, empty hotel corridor, a girl in a white dress was running relentlessly toward the fire exit ahead. Every breath she drew into her lungs felt like fuel, searing her throat, her gasping sounding like a bellows in disrepair.
The wind stirred by her running lifted the lace-trimmed hem of her white dress, exposing her round, fair legs, with the faint outline of blue and white stripes visible beneath.
Yet, the girl could no longer care about the accidental exposure. She ran on without looking back, not daring to pause for even a second.
In the deathly silent corridor, a wordless terror lurked in the darkness behind her. One by one, the flickering chandeliers went dark, as if something were chasing her, swallowing all the light in its wake.
Just a little longer. She was almost at the fire exit.
By the time the chandeliers behind her had all gone out, plunging the entire corridor into darkness, the girl reached the fire exit. Before a look of relief could even grace her face, she collapsed to the ground.
A hole the size of a finger appeared on her smooth, full forehead. The light in her eyes faded bit by bit, and her unblinking pupils reflected a shriveled, yellowish finger.
...
On the twentieth floor of the hotel, inside a brightly lit presidential suite, a group of survivors in various attire sat huddled in the living room.
"Young Master Wang, what do we do? People are dying more and more!" A tall, beautiful woman in a sexy nightgown clung tightly to a young man's arm, her pretty face filled with panic and terror.
"I told you to be quiet! Are you trying to lure that thing over here?" Wang Defa glared viciously at the woman beside him. He wished he knew what to do himself.
"I'll be quiet, I'll be quiet..." As soon as the woman heard she might attract that ghostly thing, her tears fell even faster, but she clamped her mouth shut tight.
"Young man, didn't you say you were from the Supernatural Control Bureau? Can't you just contain that anomaly outside?" A pot-bellied, middle-aged bald man grumbled. He had only been following this guy's orders because he claimed to be from the Bureau.
"You make it sound so easy. The anomaly outside is codenamed 'Fairy's Finger.' If it points at you face-to-face, even a deity would meet their end. Until we find its weakness, even a full division of soldiers would be useless." Wang Defa knew all too well the lethality of that anomaly; after all, it was his boss Chu Xinghe's signature technique.
"So, are we just going to sit here and wait to die?" The bald man's eyes began to dart around, his mind clearly plotting something.
"I'm warning you, if you want to die, don't drag us with you. The whole hotel is already enveloped by a 'Spectral Domain.' Any disturbance will be sensed by that anomaly. You'd better behave." Wang Defa had spent time working under Chu Xinghe and had seen plenty of people who thought they were clever.
"I know, I know. I don't want to die either." The bald man agreed, seemingly sitting honestly in a corner.
Wang Defa couldn't be sure of the man's intentions and kept a close eye on him, feeling anxious. Trapped in the Spectral Domain, he couldn't reach the outside world.
Although he had sent a distress signal to Chu Xinghe the moment he was reborn, no one knew if Chu Xinghe had received it, or how long it would take for him to arrive.

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...
"Yueh~~"
Chu Xinghe, the man in whom so much hope was placed, was leaning over a toilet, retching bile. Wei Hongying patted his back gently while keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
Ten minutes ago, she and Chu Xinghe had arrived at the cordoned-off Jackton International Hotel. They had to contain the anomaly before the Spectral Domain expanded further.
But after entering the hotel, they hadn't seen the anomaly yet; instead, they were met with a sea of corpses—men, women, the elderly, children...
Though the Chu Xinghe of his past life had seen mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the Chu Xinghe of this life was still a novice who hadn't even killed a chicken. Even with Wei Hongying's psychological preparation, he couldn't overcome the physiological reaction immediately.
"Are you feeling better?" Wei Hongying asked, her tone filled with guilt. This wasn't a burden he should have had to bear; she had forced him into it.
Chu Xinghe didn't answer but struggled to stand up. Wei Hongying quickly steadied his swaying frame, waiting for him to compose himself.
"Is the future... really like this?"
Chu Xinghe’s voice was soft and hollow. It wasn't that he hadn't imagined the brutality of the apocalypse, but when it was laid out so bloodily before him, he realized how naive he had been.
"Yes..."
Wei Hongying nodded in silence. She truly didn't know how to tell Chu Xinghe that the real future... was a thousand, ten thousand times more despairing than the present.
"Is that so?"
Chu Xinghe muttered to himself, his gaze unfocused, sinking into silence. It was unclear if he was processing this shocking news or simply feeling unwell.
Wei Hongying didn't rush him, standing quietly by his side. There is great terror between life and death; if Chu Xinghe chose to retreat now, she wouldn't blame him.
At this moment, the entire hotel was terrifyingly quiet. Outside the windows lay an endless night; no one knew when dawn would come. Outside the door, it was a deathly stillness that seemed to stretch on forever.
...
After a long while, a heavy sigh broke the stalemate.
The idea that "if the sky falls, the tall will hold it up" was merely self-deception. When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact. He understood this simple truth, yet people always harbor luck when not forced to the brink.
But those corpses were like a sudden blow, sounding an alarm for him. Death never follows human will; it is always so sudden and so cruel.
"Hongying, thank you." Chu Xinghe straightened up and patted Wei Hongying’s arm, signaling that he had recovered.

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Wei Hongying paused, withdrawing the hand that had been stroking Chu Xinghe’s back, and then offered a bitter smile. "Don't you blame me?"
"I was a little resentful before," Chu Xinghe said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "But I thought about it carefully. If one day it was my family or friends trapped in a Spectral Domain, wouldn't I regret not taking the chance to become a 'Spirit Controller'?"
Although he used a question, both knew the answer. If he had previously felt somewhat coerced by Wei Hongying, now his resolve came from his own volition.
"Hoo~" Chu Xinghe exhaled a long breath, clenching his fists as if to drive all cowardice from his body. His shoulders stopped trembling, and his eyes regained their luster. "Let's go."
When he finished, Wei Hongying didn't follow immediately. She gazed dotingly at Chu Xinghe; the brave young man before her gradually merged with the resolute figure in her memories.
"What’s wrong?" Chu Xinghe felt flustered by her gaze. Had the anomaly appeared?
"No... nothing." Wei Hongying turned away to wipe the corner of her eye, then followed Chu Xinghe’s pace as usual. Now was not the time for such thoughts.
Chu Xinghe found it strange but didn't press. He walked straight toward the door, and soon, their figures appeared once again in the deathly silent hotel corridor.
The lights in the corridor were clearly on, yet they gave off a sickly, pale hue. The surroundings were enclosed, yet gusts of cold, spectral wind blew through.
The courage Chu Xinghe had just mustered vanished by a third. It wasn't that he regretted his decision, but he truly lacked confidence in containing an anomaly.
"By the way, will I really become a very powerful Spirit Controller in the future?" Chu Xinghe asked in a low voice, hoping to borrow some courage from his future self.
He expected Wei Hongying to affirm this, but to his surprise, she shook her head.
"Huh? I won't?" Chu Xinghe was dumbfounded. Half the reason he dared to come here with her was the image of an omnipotent, heaven-defying version of himself described by his dorm mates.
Now that he was already in the Spectral Domain, she was telling him it was false advertising? Uh... he wondered if it was too late to run.
Wei Hongying saw the comical expression on Chu Xinghe’s face and realized he had misunderstood. She gave a faint smile, cupped his panicked face in her hands, and said, word by word:
"Not 'very powerful'."
"You are the strongest."