The situation Chen Ling was most worried about still happened.
Although this Calamity looked terrifying, as long as one hid behind a door and made no sound, there was still a high probability of surviving. He was just afraid that everyone would be so frightened that they would all run out of their houses at once, and just like Zhao Yi earlier, be possessed in their shadows while unconscious.
This way, the more people there were, the harder it would be to control. When the time came, once these Calamities hiding in the shadows struck simultaneously, it would be a bloody slaughter.
"Next, whoever I point to, walk behind me."
Chen Ling raised his hand and successively pointed at the people at the very front of the crowd. They breathed a slight sigh of relief and hurriedly ran behind Chen Ling. It seemed only that black windbreaker could make them feel at ease.
More and more people walked behind Chen Ling. As screams and crawling sounds continued to come from the Dense Fog behind them, the people standing in place couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Chen Ling! As an Enforcer, instead of solving those Calamities, what time are you wasting here with us?!" Guo Nan asked through gritted teeth.
Perhaps because there were too many people, Chen Ling hadn't noticed him before he spoke. At this moment, he looked towards the sound, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"You, a Law Enforcer, instead of maintaining order and protecting the residents, why are you running away with them instead?"
"He didn't just run, he also bumped into my dad!" Zhao Yi clutched his stomach with one hand, trickling blood seeping through his fingers. That was the knife wound Guo Nan had left him during the struggle just now. (Note: MTL uses Guo Hai, but it's Guo Nan in this chapter, maintaining Guo Nan for consistency).
Seeing Zhao Yi's appearance and the bloodstained Short Blade in Guo Nan's hand, Chen Ling's gaze grew even colder. Expressionless, he pointed at a few more residents to hide behind him. Right now, there were only five people left in front, and Guo Nan was among them.
Chen Ling swapped the magazine. Under the astonished gazes of everyone, he suddenly raised the muzzle and abruptly pulled the trigger at the shadows of those few people!
Bang bang bang—!
The ear-piercing gunshots made those residents cover their ears and exclaim. Four massive black centipede shadows suddenly darted out, rushing towards Chen Ling who had fired the shots!
This scene directly scared the surrounding residents silly. Before they could recover their senses, Chen Ling accurately stabbed his knife onto the head of the closest centipede. With a forceful slash, he sliced it completely open from the center!
The pungent smell of blood drilled into everyone's nasal cavities. A centipede went limp on the ground just like that. At the same time, the other three swarmed up, engaging in a bloody fight with that black-clothed figure covered in blood.
"Chen Ling suffered such heavy injuries just now... can he still fight?" Seeing this, the watching Frost Street residents couldn't help but worry about his condition.
"Yeah, looking at him, his body is almost mangled from being pierced... he's covered in blood."
"He has already killed almost ten of them in a row. I feel like he's already reached his limit."
"...Is that so? But looking at him, why does he seem to be getting more and more excited..."
Holding the Dagger, Chen Ling only attacked and didn't defend, allowing the attacks of those three broiler chickens to land on him. He madly counterattacked with stronger power and faster speed. Within a short half a minute, he killed the three broiler chickens on the spot, even more fluidly than before!
Witnessing the battle at such close range, the residents of Snow Street were frightened ghastly pale, even Guo Nan's legs were trembling... He looked at Chen Ling, who was full of holes and seemed like he was about to drop dead on the spot, his eyes filled with unprecedented fear.
Seeing Chen Ling walking slowly towards him after finishing killing the Shadow Centipedes, as if he had thought of something, he spoke nervously:
"Is... is there a monster in my shadow too?!"
The Calamities hadn't appeared in the shadows of the Snow Street residents who had been pointed out by Chen Ling and were hiding behind him. Only the six of them were still standing in front of Chen Ling, and there were things in the shadows of the other five people. Guo Nan suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
"No."
Chen Ling shook his head calmly. "You're standing here, just because you deserve to die."
In Guo Nan's astonished and bewildered gaze, Chen Ling raised his gun and pressed it against Guo Nan's glabella. Before the latter could react, he pulled the trigger!
Bang——!
The bullet pierced through Guo Nan's head. Staring with eyes full of disbelief, he fell stiffly backwards!
The surroundings fell into a dead silence.
Whether it was the residents of Frost Street or Snow Street, none of them had expected that Chen Ling would actually kill a Law Enforcer under the watchful eyes of the public... At this moment, some were shocked, some didn't understand, but not a single person felt it was a pity that Guo Nan died. Instead, they all felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
"Law Enforcer Guo Nan, oppressing civilians, extorting money, abandoning his duties, intentionally harming people..." Without even glancing at Guo Nan's corpse, Chen Ling holstered his gun at his waist.
"Executed by firing squad."
Chen Ling turned and walked into the Dense Fog.
As an Enforcer, Chen Ling had the right to manage all Law Enforcers, and also possessed absolute Enforcement Power. As long as he had a reason, killing Guo Nan on the spot wouldn't have any repercussions. Guo Nan (Guo Hai in raw) had indeed offended him before, and Chen Ling hadn't thought about how to retaliate, but the things Guo Nan did today aroused Chen Ling's killing intent.
The survivors from the two streets stared blankly at Chen Ling's gradually departing back figure.
In their minds, they were still recalling the scene of Chen Ling picking out the hidden shadows just now, single-handedly killing four Calamities, and then blowing Guo Nan's brains out with a single shot...
A moment later, it was unknown who suddenly muttered softly:
"Why do I suddenly feel... he doesn't seem that scary anymore?"
...
"Several streets have already completely lost control." From the Walkie-talkie, Xi Renjie's voice was full of exhaustion. "The residents were so frightened they fled blindly, allowing Calamities to mix among them. I just saw Wind Street almost completely slaughtered... There are corpses everywhere."
"Your voice doesn't sound too good."
"I can still hold on, it's just that I've cleared three or four streets consecutively and have been fighting constantly, so I'm a bit tired..." Xi Renjie gave a bitter smile. "I guess I finally know how the casualty numbers in District 5 and District 6 came about... Under this situation, our District Three won't be much better."
Chen Ling walked onto the roof of a small building and looked around. In the pitch-black Dense Fog, he couldn't see much clearly. He could only faintly see a few beams of firelight flickering on distant streets, along with those continuous shouts and miserable screams.
"Is there still no news from Han Meng's side?"
"...No, can't contact him."
Chen Ling sighed helplessly and shook his head. Now that Han Meng wasn't here, the entire District Three only had him and Xi Renjie as the two Enforcers. Wanting to clear all the streets was truly too difficult... The casualties in District 5 and District 6 were still based on the premise that they had a sufficient number of Enforcers. Right now, the situation in District Three was far more severe than theirs.
"I'm heading north next." Chen Ling glanced at the direction where the firelight was the most chaotic. "If I can find the weaknesses of these Calamities... maybe things will be a bit simpler."
"Chen Ling, you are still First-Tier. If you are tired, don't push yourself too hard." Xi Renjie reminded. "I heard Brother Meng say it, your talent is very good. You have a chance to enter Aurora City... It would be too much of a loss to die here."
Chen Ling's eyebrows slightly raised, and he gave a faint 'mm'.
Although he hadn't had much contact with this Xi Renjie, from the looks of it so far, the other party wasn't a bad person... Thinking about it carefully, it made sense. Someone who could be highly regarded by Han Meng probably wouldn't have any bad intentions either.
Of course, except for himself.