The Lord of Nothingness Is Still Chasing Me

Su Yuehe ignored his complaint. At An Changqing’s signal, she projected a virtual screen onto Chen Guan’s desk, and a dense task list immediately spread out before them.

Chen Guan shifted his gaze from the barrage of comments to the screen. With just one glance, he sensed something was off.

Su Yuehe’s fingers flew across the screen, scrolling rapidly. As the list rolled on, her expression darkened bit by bit.

“What’s wrong?” An Changqing asked.

“It’s worse than I thought.”

Su Yuehe stopped her operation and looked up at the others, her brow furrowed.

“The Supernatural Association has cleared out all the D-rank and E-rank tasks meant for freshmen to practice on.”

She pointed to the task filter bar at the very top of the screen.

“Right now, the lowest-level tasks available in the system start at C-rank.”

Long Ao leaned in to take a look and let out a snort.

“Starting at C-rank is supposed to be bad?”

He jabbed a finger at one of the task briefs, his tone dripping with disdain. “Clearing out the mutated rats in the west district sewers—this kind of task is at most annoying for someone with a cleanliness obsession.”

“Don’t underestimate it.”

Su Yuehe shot back with a serious expression. “The old C-rank tasks and the current C-rank tasks have completely different evaluation standards.”

“Dean Situ made it very clear earlier. The academy’s curriculum has undergone a full overhaul. That means the criteria for rating task difficulty and danger levels must have been adjusted upward as well.”

An Changqing took over, analyzing further. “Yuehe is right.”

“If C-rank tasks have become the new baseline, then their actual difficulty is likely already close to the lower limit of the old B-rank tasks.”

“Which means all the first-year students in the entire school will be fighting tooth and nail over what looks like the easiest C-rank tasks.”

An Changqing’s gaze swept across Chen Guan and Long Ao.

“There’s no need for us to scrap over those leftovers.”

Long Ao’s eyes lit up; he instantly caught the implication behind An Changqing’s words.

“You mean...”

“We’ll take on a B-rank task directly.”

An Changqing stated his decision.

“Since bloodshed is inevitable, let’s find an opponent worth going all out against and fire our first shot.”

There was something else An Changqing left unsaid.

Namely, since their squad could be considered the strongest among their grade level, there was no reason for them to take on C-rank tasks. They could leave the easier ones for others.

An Changqing figured that even a B-rank task would be challenging but manageable for them—nothing they couldn’t handle.

No... He glanced at his teammates beside him. Maybe not even challenging.

Long Ao cracked his knuckles, brimming with excitement. “I agree. Now this is interesting.”

He felt he’d been slacking off and craved a real fight!

He turned to Chen Guan, who had remained silent.

“Chen Guan, what do you say?”

Chen Guan simply nodded. “I have no objections.”

To him, the difference between C-rank and B-rank was minimal.

Besides, for protagonists like them, did ranks really matter?

He had a feeling this would escalate into A-rank, maybe even S-rank.

Protagonists, you know how it is. If nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is bound to happen.

Su Yuehe refocused her attention on the screen, her fingers gliding over the B-rank tasks as she murmured to herself.

“Eliminate the B-rank demon beast known as the Three-Headed Hound, holed up in an abandoned factory on the city outskirts... No, the firepower up front is too intense.”

"Escorting important supplies to the northern front line is too far, with too many variables."

She quickly filtered through the options, her finger finally stopping on a less troublesome mission.

"This one... maybe worth a try."

In the center of the screen, a mission briefing was enlarged.

"B-rank Investigation and Capture Mission."

An Changqing read out the mission title: "Target: a minor cult leader codenamed Preacher."

"Where's the location?" Long Ao pressed.

"Right here in the old district of North City."

Su Yuehe’s expression turned odd: "The mission briefing says the target is extremely cunning and highly skilled at verbal psychological manipulation."

She paused, then added a crucial piece of information.

"Three junior operative teams from the Supernatural Association have already gone missing while tracking him."

"Hiding in a brightly lit city. Now that’s interesting."

Long Ao stroked his chin, his fighting spirit high. "Let’s smoke him out and make him our opening victory."

An Changqing nodded as well: "Investigation-type missions test our overall abilities more than simply hunting monsters."

"Let me see the detailed files."

Chen Guan, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. He felt this mission had all the red flags.

He still needed to check the situation—maybe the bullet comments would spoil something for him.

Su Yuehe gave him a slightly surprised look but nevertheless brought up the attached files for the mission.

A stack of blurry photos from the crime scene and survey reports popped up.

Chen Guan’s eyes swept over the documents, finally settling on a corner of one photo.

It was a wall stained with blood, and in the gap between the bricks, a barely noticeable mark had been carved with a sharp tool.

It was a pattern made of irregular geometric lines, looking at first glance like a random scratch.

But the moment he saw that mark, a image flashed through Chen Guan’s mind.

It was from his training in the northern border—the ancient boundary marker.

This mark...

A chill ran up his spine, and goosebumps spread across his skin.

Damn. We really hit the jackpot.

The Lord of Nothingness...

He thought he had escaped that being’s sight, but the appearance of this mark was a silent warning in itself.

The Lord of Nothingness was still chasing him!

...

When night had completely swallowed the last trace of light on the horizon, four figures appeared silently at the entrance to the old district of North City.

This was a corner forgotten by the modern metropolis—the towering buildings cast enormous shadows over the entire area, so deep even the moonlight seemed reluctant to fall.

"The urban planning here stopped fifty years ago. Many of the sewer pipes are in a state of semi-abandonment."

An Changqing lowered his voice, warily scanning the dilapidated low-rise buildings around them: "Stay alert. There’s no surveillance coverage here. It’s a natural lawless zone."

Chen Guan still carried the huge coffin on his back, silently following at the rear of the group, his eyes darting through the dark, deep alleyways.

[Holy crap, the atmosphere is lit, way scarier than that offline haunted house I went to last time.]

[Don’t be scared, bro. Just wrap yourself in a blanket.]

[What if I’m still scared even in a blanket?]

[Then scrunch up in the middle of the bed, and whatever you do, don’t let your feet hang off the edge.]

Chen Guan glanced at the barrage of comments—all just chatter like this. It seemed the bullet comments were useless again.

“Yuehe, I’ll trouble you to investigate.”

An Changqing stopped walking and spoke to Su Yuehe, who was beside him.

“Alright.”

Su Yuehe nodded. Closing her eyes, her gentle spiritual power silently spread outward like rippling water.