The Yellow Springs Road was very long. It seemed as if it stretched endlessly into the distance.
Granny Xia walked on the Yellow Springs Road, surrounded by deathly silence.
If it weren't for the familiar surroundings—ones she had walked through many times before—providing her with a bit of spiritual comfort, she might have thought she had mistakenly entered the legendary No Man's Land in the deepest part of the underworld. That was the most ancient underworld, said to have existed since the time when Hou Tu incarnated into reincarnation, a place where no living beings existed.
To find out the cause as soon as possible, she couldn't help but quicken her pace.
Then—
After some time had passed, she finally saw that the endless Yellow Springs Road before her no longer stretched on forever. The drifting ghostly flames and the dead silence were replaced by light.
There was a faint light ahead, as if it was the only illumination within the underworld. The light was not blinding but bright enough.
Besides the light of the underworld, there was also a pressure that seemed to strike directly at the depths of her soul—an awe-inspiring, solemn force that commanded deep reverence.
Feeling all this, Granny Xia's face lit up with joy. She knew exactly what this meant.
She was finally here.
Fengdu City!
But before she could take another step forward, she instinctively looked ahead, and in that instant, the joy on her face vanished, replaced by endless horror.
"My heavens!" She let out a scream of uncontainable terror.
Even in her intense emotional shock, her legs gave out beneath her, and she stumbled backward, falling onto the Yellow Springs Road.
Ahead, the Fengdu City in her memories was majestic and vast, exuding an aura of unstoppable might.
But the Fengdu City before her now was ruined.
The great plaque above the city gate was shattered, barely hanging on. Ghostly flames raged across the ruins, dust and debris filled the air, and the remains of the underworld's soldiers—broken spears and severed halberds—were scattered everywhere.
Where was the grandeur and majesty?
There was only devastation.
The scene before her was like the aftermath of a brutal ancient battlefield.
Half of the towering city walls of Fengdu had collapsed. And upon closer inspection, it wasn't just due to age and decay, it looked like a gigantic hand had smashed down upon it, flattening the city walls and leaving behind an enormous handprint.
The sight of this destruction was burned deeply into Granny Xia's very soul.
And the horror wasn't over yet.
What truly engraved itself into her mind—forming an unerasable nightmare—was… the corpses.
The shattered city of Fengdu was filled with too many corpses, dead ghost guards, lifeless underworld soldiers.
If the city had only been damaged, she might have comforted herself, thinking it was just under renovation.
But these corpses, the broken weapons, they made it clear—this was not some reconstruction.
A battle had taken place here. A battle of unimaginable scale and brutality.
Granny Xia, an eighty-year-old woman, had witnessed countless storms in her lifetime. Yet now, the calm and resilience she had gained through eight decades of hardship utterly failed her.
She was horrified. Her aged face was drained of all color, twisted in absolute shock.
Even her mind felt blank, as if she had fallen into a stupor. She couldn't comprehend what had happened to Fengdu City to reduce it to this state.
And even more inconceivable, who could have flattened Fengdu City with a single strike?
Staring at the scene before her, she finally understood.
She finally understood why the Ghost Queen Yan Zhi had insisted on making the 749 Bureau personally send someone to walk the underworld.
Indeed, just as the Ghost Queen had said, without witnessing it firsthand, no one would believe it.
At this moment, Granny Xia only wanted to scream out one thing—HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THIS?!?!
Even though she had personally ventured into the underworld, Granny Xia still refused to believe that this was reality.
———
Meanwhile.
749 Bureau Headquarters, Conference Room, connected to the 749 Bureau's Fujian-Southern Branch Conference Room.
"Granny Xia still hasn't responded?"
Director Lin De of the 749 Bureau stared at the screen, watching Granny Xia remain completely motionless.
If not for the faint rise and fall of her breathing, he would have thought she was dead.
A girl standing beside Granny Xia responded. She was Granny Xia's successor.
"Usually, walking the underworld takes only a short time, but entering the underworld proper takes longer. She also needs to talk to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face of the underworld to find out what's going on, so it will take some time. I think Granny Xia should wake up soon."
Director Lin De nodded. "Then let's wait a little longer. If she stays longer, that's even better—we can get a detailed report on the situation. Uh…"
Just as he was speaking, he noticed something on the screen.
Granny Xia had moved.
Then she lifted her head.
She was awake.
Immediately, everyone turned their attention toward her. Director Lin De couldn't wait to ask, but before he could even open his mouth, Granny Xia suddenly screamed in horror.
"The underworld is— is— IS IN HUGE TROUBLE!!"
Her emotions were so shaken that she stuttered uncontrollably. Director Lin De quickly tried to calm her down.
"Granny Xia, what exactly happened in the underworld? Here, have some water and speak slowly."
However, the next moment, his attempt to calm her failed completely. Because, everyone saw Granny Xia's terrified, ashen face, and they heard her next words.
"FENGDU CITY HAS COLLAPSED!!"
Just these few words. Yet it was like a nuclear bomb had exploded in the minds of everyone present.
At that moment, terror spread like a contagious plague, infecting everyone in the room, even through the screen, infecting Director Lin De and the others.
Every single person felt their scalp go numb.
"Granny Xia… what did you just say? Fengdu City… collapsed? Are you sure?! This isn't a joke, right?"
Director Lin De bombarded her with questions. By the end, his voice unintentionally rose several octaves.
At this moment, how much he wished, how much he prayed, that Granny Xia would suddenly burst out laughing—"Hehe, don't worry, everyone, I was just joking!"
But he never got the answer he wanted.
What he heard instead was, "Collapsed! Fengdu City collapsed! I'm not joking! Director Lin, I saw it with my own eyes—
"Half of Fengdu City is destroyed! And… and… There are corpses everywhere— the underworld soldiers, the ghost officers— they're all dead!"
Just like it felt unbearable not to say it. She then frantically recounted, only by telling everything she had seen and heard could she calm her emotions.
"Fengdu City must have experienced some kind of battle, really, it must have been a battle, too tragic, there are corpses everywhere."
"The Yellow Springs Road in front of the city has been soaked in ghost blood, stained blood-red, not a single ghost on Yellow Springs Road, no underworld officers either."
"I am not lying, you must believe me, if you don't believe, you can find someone else to walk the underworld and take a look."
"Really."
"Yellow Springs Road has no wandering souls, Fengdu City also has no spirits— no, I am not sure if Fengdu City still has spirits, I don't dare to get close, I am too afraid, I fear I will die there too."
"That place has experienced a great battle, filled with murderous aura everywhere, if I get close, I will definitely be shattered into pieces by that murderous energy, my three souls and seven spirits will be torn apart."
"Director Lin, this is absolutely not some small accident in the underworld, this is a major event, an earth-shattering major event!!"
As she spoke to the end, Granny Xia was almost shouting. Even she herself could not imagine that, after living for so many decades, she would one day shout so hysterically.
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