Chapter 1 Changes in the Alley

The changes in the alleyway couldn't be hidden from others. Although Wei Yuan stopped the man's transformation and prevented the children behind him from seeing it, the process of the man walking towards them and being stopped was still clear.

Wei Yuan flicked his hand and pulled out the document given to him by Zhou Yi, facing away from the kindergarten, and said:

"Police, take the children back."

"Oh, okay, okay."

The kindergarten teacher was a young woman of twenty-one or two. She quickly reacted, her face pale, and pushed the remaining children back into the kindergarten one by one. Wei Yuan closed his eyes. He had originally wanted to follow this *huapi nu* (painted skin slave) that had blended into the crowd to see what it was planning to do, and then call Zhou Yi to notify her that there was a problem here.

But he didn't expect its target to be the kindergarten.

Wei Yuan exhaled and threw the pork belly and the bag next to him.

He didn't bring the Eight-Faced Han Sword, but the broken sword, the object to which the spirit of the Qi Family Army was attached, was always with him. He held the broken sword in his backhand, clenched his left fist, and guarded it next to his temple. The *huapi nu* roared in a low voice and pounced. Wei Yuan didn't move his fist or his sword, but directly gathered his strength and kicked the opponent's face head-on.

The face of the refined man was kicked in, collapsing a small half, and his body staggered to the side.

But his eyes were still twisted as they looked at Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan held the sword in his backhand and quickly moved left and right to close the distance.

The *huapi nu* roared, stomped his left foot hard on the ground, stabilized himself, and then twisted his waist.

His right arm swung like a whip, hitting Wei Yuan with a cracking sound.

Wei Yuan's face remained unchanged. He rolled forward, avoiding this move with a huge opening.

Taking advantage of the momentum to get up, he stabbed the broken sword in his hand into 'Fang Cheng's' armpit and twisted it violently.

This was one of the extremely sinister and vicious moves in the Qi Family Army's military spirit experience.

But the *huapi nu* didn't seem to be hurt at all, and his arm joints struck Wei Yuan backwards.

The speed was too fast, the power too great, and wrinkles even appeared strangely on the skin.

Wei Yuan raised his hand, the broken sword slanted upwards in an arc, blocking the attack. After getting up, he stepped directly on 'Fang Cheng's' leg bend with his right foot. After he was able to [Inject Spirit], his physical fitness had also improved. This kick was powerful and heavy, causing 'Fang Cheng' to stagger and fall to the ground.

Wei Yuan directly knelt on Fang Cheng's back, his knees suppressing his arms.

His fingers quickly stroked the blade.

The words on the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌) lit up.

Great Han, Commandant Wei.

Finally, a layer of light gold lit up on the blade, as bright as the sun.

He slashed horizontally with his backhand.

The neck of 'Fang Cheng', who was struggling, roaring, and raising his head, was cut open.

There was nothing inside.

But under the blade of the Spirit Injected Sword, it was as if something had been shattered. Fang Cheng gave Wei Yuan a resentful look, opened his mouth, and then directly shriveled, turning into a complete human skin, lying on the ground in clothes, with eyes, hair, mouth, and nose intact, making one's back feel cold.

Wei Yuan silently got up, wiped the dirt off his clothes, and put away the broken sword.

He took out his cell phone and flipped through it.

Zhou Yi.

He didn't expect that he would need this phone number so soon.

He looked up and saw that the police had already arrived.

Wei Yuan dialed the number.

"Officer Zhou? Yes, this is Wei Yuan."

"The situation here is a bit special. Can you come over?"

…………………

Wei Yuan's unnamed special investigation team certificate was very useful.

Although the police were still a little hesitant, they dispersed the pedestrians around the alley and sealed it off. Wei Yuan sat on the stone steps next to him, watching the children of the kindergarten being picked up by the adults who had come, most of them crying.

Only one little girl with a pale face sat quietly.

She was the last one left.

Wei Yuan leaned against the wall and took out a paper towel to wipe the broken sword.

Accompanied by the roar of a motorcycle engine, a steel beast stopped next to Wei Yuan. Zhou Yi walked over quickly, glanced at the human skin, and then looked at Wei Yuan, her face solemn: "What happened?"

Wei Yuan roughly explained what happened.

Pointing to the pile of human skin, he said, "*Huapi nu* (painted skin slave)."

"Man-made ghost devouring, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, even the bones are gone."

"Only a human skin remains, and one soul and one魄 (po) remain of the three souls and seven魄 (po), hidden in this human skin."

Zhou Yi squatted down, reached out and touched the human skin that the surrounding police didn't dare to touch, opened the face part to take a look, her expression changed abruptly, and she blurted out:

"Fang Cheng?!"

"You know him?!"

Zhou Yi's face was ugly: "Yes, one of the survivors of the previous mountain climbing accident."

Wei Yuan reacted, his face also a little wrong:

"One of?"

Zhou Yi nodded with a stiff face: "The other one is called Wu Shan, the initiator of that mountain climbing."

She took out her cell phone directly and quickly dialed out, straightforwardly saying:

"Xuan Yi, immediately check Wu Shan's current location."

She put away her cell phone, sat directly on the motorcycle, the engine roared, bringing a cloud of dust, and stopped directly in front of Wei Yuan. Zhou Yi threw a helmet to Wei Yuan and said, "Get in the car."

Wei Yuan also knew the threat of another *huapi nu* in the city.

He nodded and sat behind Zhou Yi.

The motorcycle left quickly. As it left, Wei Yuan glanced at the last little girl being picked up. The person who picked her up was the thin man surnamed Zhang. The man ran quickly to the little girl, hugged her tightly, his shoulders shaking, obviously frightened, but the little girl gently stroked her father's back to comfort him.

Seeming to notice Wei Yuan.

She turned her head, a clean smile on her pale face, and waved her hand.

Her lips moved.

"Thank you, police uncle."

Wei Yuan smiled and nodded in response.

The motorcycle had quickly driven past this road.

He retracted his gaze and finally knew why the little girl had waited until the end.

It seemed that the man had done something else before.

What suffering…

………………

Zhou Yi and Wei Yuan arrived at the police station.

Along the way, Wei Yuan also learned about this so-called missing person case.

More than thirty people had already disappeared. This time, Fang Cheng and Wu Shan were the first survivors to be discovered. They were found by the local police and sent to Quan City. Because of the *huapi* (painted skin) covering them, ordinary means of surveying spiritual bodies were unable to detect them immediately.

When they went in, Xuan Yi and the local police had already used all their strength to mobilize surveillance.

Finally, Wu Shan was found.

However, it was already an empty human skin.

………………

On the surveillance.

In an unmanned blind spot.

The man named Wu Shan took off his clothes, turned his head, showed a smile to the surveillance, and carefully took off the second layer of 'clothing', revealing his森森 (sen sen) white bones, and finally, with a tear, even the skin of his face was torn off.

The movements were delicate and gentle.

A police officer next to him couldn't help but gag, covering his mouth and running out.

Wu Shan threw down the human skin and quickly disappeared.

This wasn't a *huapi nu* (painted skin slave).

Underneath the *huapi nu*'s human skin was only a layer of soul.

This was *huapi* (painted skin).

Wei Yuan looked at the surveillance area map next to him. Quan City, five municipal districts, with more than seven million permanent residents. A demon ghost that could easily change its appearance and identity and create *huapi nu*, had mixed into this modern city with a huge population flow. The consequences were far greater than when they were in ancient legends.

In the most terrifying situation, the entire Quan City could become a ghost-filled city of human skin.

Unlike ancient times, when a city might only have tens of thousands of people, now there were millions.

Old people, children, young people.

And possessing a high degree of mobility that ancient times couldn't match even with flattery.

Especially the glance it gave at the surveillance, these demons at least had some understanding of modern technology.

A demon ghost that could quickly move with the help of modern transportation?

Zhou Yi looked at Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan exhaled. He couldn't stand idly by in this situation. He nodded readily and said:

"I know."

"I will do my best to help with this matter."