137 The Daughter of Calamity

“Clang!”

No response came from the disembodied head, as a dense swarm of black sword slashes rapidly filled the entire chamber.

Slashes! Intense heat! Explosions!

The blazing power of the fiery ring permeated almost every corner of the space.

A remote corner of the cathedral suddenly exploded with a thunderous roar, a shockwave of dust and bricks billowing outward.

Xiu Nan brushed away the heavy floorboard that had fallen onto his head with one hand and bent down to pick up something.

The moment his fingers touched it, his brow twitched sharply.

“This…”

A strange, surging energy continuously flowed into his palm, its intensity growing faster and faster. In a short time, Xiu Nan gained fifty evolution points.

He lifted his hand to reveal a shard resembling a tile, adorned with a series of bronze patterns that seemed to depict ancient symbols. Yet, due to the passage of time, the designs had become utterly blurred.

Even now, the tile continued to emit a seemingly endless flow of evolution points, filling Xiu Nan’s insatiable hunger. By rough estimation, fifty points were barely a quarter of the tile’s total capacity.

In other words, this time he was set to acquire over two hundred evolution points—the largest gain yet.

That alone made the trip worthwhile.

“I wonder if this is something from the Bicarun era, like the Death Mask…” Xiu Nan pocketed the tile and then slammed his fist into the ground.

Boom! The central portion of the building collapsed uniformly downward.

A web-like network of cracks spread out in all directions.

At the center of the fissure, a pitch-black hole revealed a space below. The missing members of the Golden Spiral Organization had not been immediately slain by the enemy!

Xiu Nan observed the hole for a moment.

After confirming there was no immediate danger, he leapt down.

Moments later, one by one, unconscious combatants were tossed out. The force was controlled expertly; they tumbled once on the ground before settling smoothly. Teams One through Three hurriedly tended to the injured.

Swish.

A figure in a black suit was also thrown up—a somewhat disheveled Black Jazz. His hat was missing, and strange slime coated his hair.

He bore some wounds, though none severe.

Apart from the initial group led by Wen Lun, no casualties were reported among the second wave of Golden Spiral Organization members. Xiu Nan suspected the strange one-headed little girl was stockpiling resources.

After emerging from the pit, he thoroughly re-examined the entire cathedral. This time, no strange occurrences arose; the root cause appeared resolved.

Half an hour later.

On the way back to headquarters, Xiu Nan pondered over the series of events. The little girl’s head and power source seemed connected to the tile, yet it was evidently more complex than that. He sensed something amiss but couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

“Sir Knight, we’ve arrived.”

*************

Niloido, a bustling and prosperous city.

Its most famous event was naturally the Beer Carnival; beyond that, the vibrant night markets were a close second.

Bars, discos, KTV, singing and dancing, barbecues, cinemas.

Of course, there were other hidden, thrilling entertainments—but none concerned Damon.

An ordinary office worker.

After work each day, his main considerations were social obligations and stress relief—not frivolous diversions.

Damon was a peculiar sort—he disliked hopping between places, instead always choosing the same footbath. Over time he grew accustomed to it, nearly treating it like home.

That night, Damon finished his footbath and lay comfortably on his bed, drowsily turning to one side as sleep crept upon him.

He could sleep anywhere; after all, he had no girlfriend—just a rented room.

“Oh, right, there’s a meeting in the morning. Better set an alarm…” Damon groggily reached for his phone but accidentally touched something sticky.

He glanced at the bedside table.

The phone was further back on the surface.

Grabbing it quickly, he set the alarm. Rubbing the transparent liquid from his hand, he lay back down.

The night grew dark and silent; time slipped by unnoticed.

Just as he was drifting between wakefulness and sleep, Damon suddenly heard the door creak behind him, as if someone had entered.

“What’s wrong, Lei? Did you forget something?”

He mumbled indistinctly.

But no one answered.

“Maybe I forgot to close the door?” he sighed, stretching a long yawn, lazily turning over.

Opening his eyes, a hideous monstrous face suddenly loomed close.

A cold shiver ran through him.

Before he could scream, a bloodthirsty maw lunged swiftly.

***

The next morning.

Police quickly sealed off the accident scene.

Detectives arrived.

After hours of investigation and interrogation, no breakthrough emerged. This was no ordinary homicide.

The chief in charge compiled a summary report, which was immediately forwarded to a special department in Niloido.

Not only the Niloido authorities but also the Holy Flame Society and the three major factions received detailed information.

Just last night, hundreds of bizarre incidents struck this metropolis of millions, leaving countless innocents dead.

The most perilous among them was a factory on the outskirts, where two employee dormitories were completely slaughtered.

Blood and chunks of flesh stained the entire hallway.

Of course, this “most dangerous” label was only superficial.

Undoubtedly, supernatural forces were intertwined in these strange events, and disappearances and casualties were highly likely.

The four factions closely monitoring Niloido would surely dispatch personnel to investigate.

Given the heavy price paid by the Golden Spiral Organization in the cathedral incident, the other factions had likely suffered grievous losses as well.

Those in the supernatural realm speculated that these eerie occurrences might be linked to the impending revival of the miraculous creature known as the Nightshade Raven.

In ancient legends, the Nightshade Raven symbolized evil and slaughter, its ebony wings intertwined with death.

Kevin of the Holy Flame Society stared gravely at the report in his hands, his left hand rhythmically tapping the desk.

“Is the information reliable?”

He looked toward the man before him.

Across the desk stood a gaunt middle-aged scholar, dressed plainly. Gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, dark circles under his eyes pronounced.

“It can only be considered a hypothesis… there’s no absolute certainty,” the scholar said thoughtfully.

“May I sit while I explain?” he inquired.

“Of course,” Kevin gestured to the right.

The scholar took a seat and produced a notebook.

“Minister Kevin, you should know that the experts from the Ancient Hall base their information on excavations from ancient ruins combined with fragments of legend. The assembled data is fragmented and incomplete. For instance, about the miraculous creature called Nightshade Raven, we only know it’s an evil species that brings slaughter. As for its abilities or the phenomena accompanying its birth… frankly, we are largely in the dark…”

The scholar flipped a page gently and continued.

“The only thing we know for sure is that the appearance of the Nightshade Raven causes a widespread impact. It temporarily inhabits a human host, identifiable by a raven-shaped black mark on the left shoulder…”

“That is certain.”

He glanced up at Kevin, who nodded approvingly.

This information was recorded in ancient murals—more reliable than distorted oral traditions passed down through generations.

“Last night, strange phenomena occurred throughout Niloido. Our combat unit encountered some situations and retrieved key information…”

The scholar drew three words on paper.

“Absurd fantasy, reality-shift, spatial conversion…”

He spoke each term slowly.

Kevin’s brow furrowed deeper with each word.

“Minister, you must have realized by now that these phenomena are unlikely to be linked to the imminent arrival of the Nightshade Raven. Instead, they point to another strange miraculous creature…”

The scholar adjusted his glasses, his eyes seeming to gleam.

“So… this other creature appeared last night?”

Kevin had already accepted the scholar’s theory—the events were unrelated to the Nightshade Raven.

“Yes! But there is still hope.”

The scholar’s expression turned serious.

“I specifically reviewed the miraculous creature compendium released by the Ancient Hall and made a discovery…”

“Oh?” Kevin’s interest peaked.

Not wishing to tease, the scholar promptly handed over printed documents and images.

“The Daughter of Calamity? A humanoid miraculous creature?”

Kevin read through line by line, stopping at an image. It was a mural from ancient ruins, remarkably clear.

The image combined several murals into a simple narrative, easy for anyone to understand.

It depicted a vast plain with grass and rivers.

***

Many tribes prospered there, living generation after generation. Until one day, a tribe discovered a large pit at the center of the grassland. At the pit’s bottom lay the head of a sleeping girl.

At first, the tribe was terrified, attempting various ways to destroy the girl’s head, but none succeeded. Later, whether from ignorance or an accident, they began to venerate the head as a terrifying deity.

Sometimes they would prostrate themselves at the pit’s edge in prayer, other times offering the blood of captured cattle and sheep. Life went on as usual.

Until one day, conflict arose with another tribe. They captured many prisoners but lacked extra food, so they sacrificed them all in blood offerings to the deity.

During that tribe’s victory feast that night, the girl’s head awoke—the Daughter of Calamity was born.

Under the cover of night, snake-headed humanoid monsters launched a frenzied assault on the tribe. Terrifying demons, feared by the primitive people, slaughtered indiscriminately, hauling blood and flesh back to the pit.

The Daughter of Calamity rapidly grew.

After monsters massacred four tribes in succession, she slowly emerged from the pit.

Wherever she passed, monsters roamed and terror followed.

The mural abruptly ends here, with no account of the Daughter of Calamity’s ultimate fate.

Yet the clues were enough: last night’s strange events in Niloido might be connected to this. The Daughter of Calamity had quietly awakened.

Kevin suddenly raised his head and locked eyes with the scholar, whose gaze was resolute.

“Minister, I believe we must mobilize forces for a wide-range search. The Daughter of Calamity has not fully revived—there isn’t enough blood and flesh. She cannot move freely yet, but she will strike again tonight…”

The scholar closed his notebook.

Ten minutes later, the middle-aged man left the office.

Seated, Kevin silently pondered.

The more he thought, the more a pleased smile crept across his face.

The deep frown he had since losing that chaotic battle relaxed, a hint of ease replacing it.

What was his painstaking goal in contesting the three major factions of Niloido? To seize the miraculous creature Nightshade Raven, of course.

Yet now, another unexpected choice had appeared within Niloido’s bounds.

The Daughter of Calamity! Also a miraculous creature.

Her value would not be inferior to the Nightshade Raven.

Moreover, only the Holy Flame Society knew this intelligence—no chance of leaks to the other three factions! Kevin had already sealed the scholar’s lips; only the two of them were aware.

As for whether the Golden Spiral Organization and other factions might guess another miraculous creature’s existence, Kevin doubted it. Their information and evidence from the ruins group were incomparable.

To put it plainly, the Daughter of Calamity was already in their grasp.

With a miraculous creature secured as a fallback, even if Kevin failed to claim the Nightshade Raven, his long-awaited promotion request would sail through effortlessly.

Crackling!

Excited, Kevin barely contained the surge of power within him as blue electric arcs danced across his skin.

After a moment’s thought, he made a call.

Immediately, the Holy Flame Society’s forces began covert widespread searches throughout Niloido.

***

Elsewhere, in Xiu Nan’s pale laboratory.

Snap!

A newly formed humanoid head was crushed.

Xiu Nan washed his hands, then tossed the bronze tile back into the culture dish, watching it with keen interest.

Last night, he had absorbed all the strange energy from the tile, gaining a total of 220 evolution points.

This morning’s experiment revealed a peculiar property of the tile.

Placed amid flesh and blood, it would automatically absorb them, gradually forming a girl’s head.

As the supply of flesh grew, the girl’s body slowly took shape. Xiu Nan experimented with different types of blood, finding human blood to be the most stimulating.

The head would revive, eyes opening.

Only to be smashed by a prepared Xiu Nan’s fist.

That punch also revealed another function of the bronze tile and the girl’s head: the generation of evolution points!

Indeed, even after Xiu Nan had drained the tile’s strange energy, it continued to produce energy.

This was an ancient artifact capable of manufacturing evolution points!