Chapter Twelve: A Significant Rise in Strength

Lu Li hadn’t expected Feng Tianlin to agree so readily, but she still went on, “We’re members of the Combat Division of the Bureau of Anomalous Creature Investigation.”

“What’s the Bureau of Anomalous Investigation?” Feng Tianlin narrowed his eyes in puzzlement.

“It’s an official organization in Huaxia established to deal with your kind—anomalous creatures.”

Now Feng Tianlin understood. It turned out that humans weren’t as helpless against anomalous beings as he had thought; there were still some who could stand up to them.

“Are all the people in your Anomalous Creature Investigation Bureau as weak as you?” Feng Tianlin looked at Lu Li, a hint of mockery in his tone.

“Of course not! We’re just the lowest rank, F-class. In Tianjing City’s Bureau, there’s a D-class. If he came, you wouldn’t even qualify to fight him!” Lu Li, clearly provoked by Feng Tianlin’s taunt, retorted loudly in defense of her organization.

The D-class she referred to was, of course, Li Juetian, the strongest in Tianjing City.

In truth, Feng Tianlin had only used a simple goading tactic, and to his amusement, this foolish woman had revealed everything the moment she was baited.

“Oh? How many D-classes does your Bureau have?” Feng Tianlin pressed on.

“Hmph! For you, one is more than enough!” Lu Li boasted arrogantly, as if she herself were Li Juetian.

Her words made it obvious that Tianjing City’s Bureau had only one D-class. Feng Tianlin quickly absorbed the information and waved his hand dismissively, “Alright, I have nothing more to ask. You can go.”

Lu Li turned away, shooting Feng Tianlin a fierce glare. As she mulled over how to report this doll-like being to her superiors, a searing pain shot through her waist. Looking down, she saw a thick arm piercing her side, blood pouring out relentlessly.

It was Long Mengting’s Piercing Claw. She withdrew her arm, flicked off the blood, and stood by, awaiting Feng Tianlin’s next order.

Lu Li clutched the gaping wound, but her small hands could never staunch such bleeding. Blood gushed without end, her face grew deathly pale, and before long she collapsed from blood loss. Gazing at the doll, she used her final breath to speak.

“You... you have no sense of honor!”

Feng Tianlin looked at her and waved his hand, “I said I’d spare you; I never said she would. How is that dishonorable?”

At his words, Lu Li coughed up a spurt of blood and grew completely still.

Feng Tianlin shook his head at her lifeless body. “Still too young, in the end.”

With the spatial lockdown withdrawn, Feng Tianlin and Long Mengting vanished into the clamor of the city.

In a certain corner of the sewers, Feng Tianlin had found a “secret base.” The quiet atmosphere, coupled with the flickering light overhead, suited his peculiar nature perfectly.

At this moment, he began a frenzy of skill upgrades.

The first thing he upgraded was Nightmare Physique, since it was a foundational skill—the higher the level, the better. The more he leveled up, the more euphoric the sensation of power became. Soon, he had reached Level 10, burning through a total of 884,500 fear points.

But it was all worth it. His strength, speed, and physical resilience had multiplied several times over. If he were to encounter someone like Feng He, the lighter-wielding type, he was confident he could stand there and let the man try to burn him without suffering any harm.

A prompt from the system appeared.

“Congratulations, host, on completing the first stage of Nightmare Physique. Further upgrades are currently locked due to strength limitations. As a reward, you may evolve one part of your body. Please select: left eye, right eye, head, arm...”

Feng Tianlin was overjoyed—he hadn’t expected this kind of bonus! Though he couldn’t upgrade any further for now, the option to enhance a body part was certainly tempting.

He noticed that the available parts could be specified down to individual fingers.

After some thought, he was curious what an evolved eye would do—and in terms of style, eyes were always the most impressive. Think of all those legendary evil eyes, the infernal king’s gaze—weren’t they all the stuff of legend?

“I choose to evolve my left eye!” After only a moment’s hesitation, Feng Tianlin made his choice.

“Left eye evolution in progress... Congratulations, host, your left eye has evolved. You have gained the Eye of the Phantom Void.

Eye of the Phantom Void: Can only be used on sentient beings. When activated, the target experiences hallucinations (the illusion is controlled by the user).”

Phantom Void Eye? Ridiculous name, but what a powerful effect! Inducing hallucinations in others—wouldn’t that make scaring people a trivial task?

He still had 210,000 fear points left—enough for more upgrades!

Turning his attention to his Spectral Projection skill, Feng Tianlin pondered. The skill was unexpectedly useful, especially for frightening people, so he decided to level it up.

He spent 1,600 points to reach Level 2, then channeled power to activate it.

Excellent—now he could summon four projections to terrify people.

Not satisfied, he upgraded again to Level 3—sure enough, he could now create six projections.

It seemed that leveling this skill simply increased the number of projections. Still, Feng Tianlin had a thought: if one day the skill reached a high enough level, he could place a projection in every corner of the world—imagine the whole world engulfed in terror at his hand.

The thought excited him, and he upgraded the skill two more levels, reaching Level 5. Now he could summon ten projections.

Not wanting to dwell on it, he moved on to other skills. The only one left to upgrade was Disguiser. Feng Tianlin was curious about what changes would come with higher levels.

He raised Disguiser to Level 2... but nothing seemed to change. Up to Level 3... still nothing, or perhaps his disguises were just more convincing?

Honestly, he couldn’t tell.

What Feng Tianlin didn’t know was that as the skill leveled up, it could eventually control people’s thoughts. In other words, if the skill was high enough, even if everyone knew he wasn’t who he appeared to be, they would still believe he was.

For example, if Feng Tianlin disguised himself as the Director of the Anomalous Creature Investigation Bureau, and his skill was high enough, everyone would naturally believe he was the true Director, and the real one would be seen as an impostor...

With 200,000 fear points remaining, he furiously upgraded Ghostly Movement, spending 185,000 points to reach Level 7. His current speed was now terrifyingly fast—an undeniable advantage in battle.

Looking at a distant spot, he reached it in a flash, his own reflexes unable to keep up. His path shifted countless times along the way, making him truly elusive.

Opening the team screen, his attributes now read:

“Host: Feng Tianlin
Strength: F-class
Skills: Commander (passive, no level), Ghostly Movement LV7, Freezing Frost LV6, Soul Interrogation LV3, Spatial Lockdown LV3, Disguiser LV3.
Physique: Nightmare Physique, Eye of the Phantom Void.”

Glancing beneath his own stats, Feng Tianlin saw Long Mengting’s attributes and was struck by a bold idea: to upgrade Long Mengting’s Piercing Claw.

He opened her status panel, selected Piercing Claw (currently Level 2), and spent 3,000 points to upgrade it to Level 3—successfully.

It worked!

Without further hesitation, Feng Tianlin immediately upgraded Long Mengting’s Piercing Claw to Level 4. He was now left with only 7,000 points—not enough for another upgrade.