Chapter 59 You Can Go Die Now

The mass death of the mercenaries did not cause much of a stir in the residential complex. Or rather, within Shen Lin's Ghost Domain, they were hardly capable of making any waves.

Shen Lin could not remember how many he had killed; there might still be a few who slipped through the net, but he did not care, and he believed that these people would never again have the guts to come looking for trouble with him.

After finishing off Laura, the bright street lamps around suddenly began to flicker, and a pair of rotting hands reached out from the darkness, pointing straight at Shen Lin.

Standing still, Shen Lin did not make any movement, watching as that hand pierced right through him and tore him to shreds.

"Hah, a Ghost Domain, huh? A tricky ability."

Amidst the flickering of the street lamps, the owner of the voice could vaguely be seen. It was a young man in his early twenties, around Shen Lin's age, with a cigarette dangling carelessly from his mouth. Finding that the target of the attack was merely an illusion, he spat fiercely.

"A Controller." Shen Lin's expression flickered slightly.

It was well within expectations. Since they had made up their minds to deal with him, naturally it wouldn't be a fight akin to a child's game like the one just now.

"People from the Circle?" Shen Lin asked with a cold laugh.

He had not offended many people. His conflict with Jiang Shangbai could be considered one. Given the other party's petty nature and the Circle's overbearing style of operation—if you can't get it, destroy it—it was a very straightforward logic.

"You know quite a bit, kid. You've been quite popular in the Controllers' circle lately. Not bad." The young man spoke with disdain, holding a deep-rooted contempt for Shen Lin.

Backed by the Circle, Zou Chao and the others knew far more than ordinary people.

The Shen Lin before him indeed had some skills, having resolved an A-class incident right after his debut, and subsequently navigating through complex incidents multiple times. Although the inside story was unknown, it indirectly proved that this kid's strength was indeed extraordinary.

So what if he was? Having offended the Circle, he would die sooner or later, and the current scenario of being ambushed on all sides was his destined end.

"Who sent you? Jiang Shangbai? Or..."

Shen Lin's eyes narrowed slightly. Depending on the person behind it, his current predicament would also change.

If it were Jiang Shangbai's unilateral revenge, everything would be somewhat simpler; if it were the Circle represented by Fang Shiming making a move, then everything would become much more complicated.

"Is knowing this meaningful? You're going to die today anyway. No one who has ever offended the Circle has survived, and you won't be an exception," Zou Chao said.

"Sometimes arrogance is dominance, and sometimes arrogance is just a petty villain getting ahead. Since you guys also know I've gained some fame recently, yet you dare to make a move on me so openly, aren't you afraid of offending Headquarters?"

Strictly speaking, Shen Lin was currently the temporary head of Dachang City under the Asian Branch and a member of International Interpol. Moving against him was no different from provoking Headquarters.

"Don't always take yourself too high. To those big shots, what are we even? Do you even know what kind of things you've offended? Some words might as well be said outright; since we've come today, you won't have a chance to leave alive."

"A newcomer should have a newcomer's self-awareness and rules. You offended someone you couldn't afford to offend, and death is simply the quickest way for you to find relief," Zou Chao said very casually.

"So?" Shen Lin smiled faintly.

"So I can give you a chance. Do it yourself, save me the trouble, and I'll leave your corpse intact. People like us prefer to minimize physical labor whenever possible."

"And then?" Shen Lin kept asking.

"And then you can go die," Zou Chao replied.

"And after that?" Shen Lin's smile grew even wider.

"Huh?"

"Have you ever heard a saying?" Shen Lin asked with a smile.

"What saying?"

"A barking dog doesn't bite," Shen Lin said.

"What do you mean?" Zou Chao's face turned cold.

"It means you fucking aren't a good dog!"

Shen Lin, who had been smiling all along, produced a gun from somewhere and fired several shots in Zou Chao's direction.

Under the influence of the Ghost Domain, pulling the trigger was merely a habit; the specially made bullets instantly appeared right in front of Zou Chao's forehead the moment they left the muzzle.

Fast, extremely fast. Everything was so fast that Zou Chao could not even react.

By the time he realized something, it was already too late.

The golden bullets specially made by Headquarters were infallible when dealing with Controllers.

A volley of gunfire rang out in the dark night. With a savage grin, Shen Lin emptied all the bullets in his hand. Zou Chao in front of him no longer looked human at all; his skull had burst open, blood splattered everywhere, and a rotting stench began to spread.

The moment the gunfire ceased, the endlessly chattering Zou Chao drew his last breath.

"Come on, keep going! Where's your arrogance? Where's your swagger? I don't mind letting you make a move, but since you dared to make a move, you should have prepared yourself to die." With a savage grin, Shen Lin casually tossed a folding box to seal Zou Chao's corpse.

Afterwards, he looked around, scratching his head with the golden special-issue pistol as if it were a back-scratcher, a cold smile spreading from the corner of his mouth.

"What about you lot? Have you prepared yourselves mentally?"

"Come on, make a move! Today, either you kill me, or I kill you!"

A fucking lunatic! How could there be such a lunatic!

The three lurking nearby inwardly roared in fury. Zou Chao had acted impatiently and struck first, and they were quite happy to sit back and reap the rewards, but they hadn't expected the gap in strength to be this vast. Zou Chao had been taken down almost in a split second.

The nature of the Ghost Domain determined Shen Lin's absolute superiority in confrontations between Controllers at the current stage.

No matter how flawed the ability of the Ghost Face to transform and invert ghosts was, it was more than enough to deal with this bunch.

That was a terrifying ghost that existed only in concept; the horror of it was unimaginable in itself.

The special nature of the Ghost Face destined Shen Lin to be at the absolute top tier among single-ghost Controllers. If utilized well, he could even contend with some who had harnessed a second ghost. This was his source of confidence.

"Attack!"

Wu Hai shouted. His teeth visibly lengthened and sharpened, and a foul, fishy stench permeated the surroundings.

At the exact same moment, a dark red brilliance instantly flashed across his vicinity.

Wu Hai's body trembled slightly. The mouth he had just opened was forcibly closed by a pair of rotting hands with overwhelming force, and a bone-chilling coldness began to rise from within his heart.

The Ghost Mouth was suppressed. This was simply incredible.

"Next time you plan to do something, don't yell!"

The voice came and went quickly. Soon, a burnt, foul odor began to fill the air. Wu Hai wanted to say something, but he felt his mouth refuse to obey him. A rotting stench began to spread from his mouth; the Ghost Mouth struggled to emit an eerie glow, but it was all to no avail.

In the end, he let out a despairing whimper and collapsed to the ground. More than half of his head turned into rotting flesh, writhing incessantly on the ground, leaving only a mouthful of dark cyan, sharp teeth glowing with an eerie light.

Then, a compact golden box covered it all.

"If it's only to this extent, none of you are leaving here alive today."

Facing the surroundings, Shen Lin muttered to himself.

"What is this supposed to be? Didn't intelligence say he only controlled one ghost with a Ghost Domain? What the hell is this now? Has he controlled a second ghost?"

Lu Wei and Xie Feng were somewhat terrified. In their eyes, the deaths of their teammates were their own death warrants.

The gap was too vast—so vast that it left them with no desire to fight.

"Let's go! We can't fight this head-on!"

The two immediately made their decision, only to feel that everything around them was somewhat wrong the moment they took a step.

A Ghost Domain!

"Wait, Shen Lin, we admit we miscalculated this time. We won't interfere in this operation anymore. Please let us leave."

All the hustle and bustle of the world is for the sake of profit; all the commotion is for the pursuit of gain.

Before becoming Controllers, they were merely ordinary folk, and this operation was solely for the pursuit of profit. It wasn't worth throwing their lives away.

"How old are you guys? Still thinking so naively? When you thought you had the advantage, you wanted to carve up the spoils by weight, and now that you can't win, you start begging for mercy?"

While speaking, Shen Lin raised the special-issue pistol in his hand. Headquarters had been quite generous and given him plenty of magazines, allowing him to squander them to his heart's content.

The moment he raised the gun, Lu Wei in front of him suddenly opened his mouth, spitting out a bizarre fog accompanied by a foul stench. That fog enveloped Shen Lin as if it had a mind of its own.

It worked! Lu Wei felt a surge of joy in his heart.

"It seems you guys aren't as spineless as I imagined."

The voice sounded from behind, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot. Lu Wei's forehead looked like a watermelon that had been smashed, with blood and gore splashing everywhere.

This scene turned Xie Feng's face pale with fright, his entire body trembling incessantly.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Two more gunshots rang out. The bullets did not pierce the opponent's head as imagined.

Shen Lin's previously expanding Ghost Domain flickered like a snowflake television set experiencing a sudden short circuit, pausing slightly.

For the first time, the entire dark red space appeared in everyone's sight, expanding outwards with Shen Lin as the source, resembling a dark red box.

"Huh?"

Shen Lin was slightly startled. The sudden change made him quickly withdraw his gun and step back.

The peculiar state of the surrounding Ghost Domain left him no time to properly assess everything. He attempted to retract the Ghost Domain, but as the ability of the Ghost Face was activated, the dark red space before him showed no movement whatsoever.

Unable to retract the Ghost Domain! Shen Lin was slightly stunned, his thoughts racing at lightning speed.

His Ghost Domain was restricted; the opponent had come prepared.

Finally, at the edge of the expanding Ghost Domain, Shen Lin saw a person. He looked disheveled and slovenly, with a cigarette dangling carelessly from his mouth.

What caught Shen Lin's attention the most was the thing in the other party's hand. It appeared to be a door handle, ancient and worn, exuding an ominous aura amidst its rust-covered surface.

A supernatural item—some extremely special supernatural item. It was this damn thing that restricted his Ghost Domain.

That door handle seemed to be embedded in the Ghost Domain, locking down all space. Shen Lin could feel the drag on his Ghost Domain.

It was like a room that had been bolted shut from the outside.

"There are accomplices. Quite a big setup." Shen Lin's eyes narrowed, but his hand didn't stop moving. He raised his gun and fired fiercely in the direction of Qian Boyun.

The Ghost Domain was his primary reliance at the moment; he had to take this fellow down first.