Chapter 137: Non-Compliant Training

"A Meme-type urban legend called the Woman in the Rain has suddenly appeared in Shanghai City. It spreads incredibly fast. Coupled with the negligence of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau's intelligence department, it went unnoticed in the early stages, breeding and surging in the shadows for a long time before finally being observed recently.

"These Fierce Ghosts that spread through sight, sound, and concepts are collectively known as Memes. They have already spread widely across Japan, Southeast Asia, and the southern United States, where local ghost hunters have developed a mature mechanism for tracing, isolating, and reversing them. Our comrades in the Shanghai City Supernatural Disaster Bureau, however, still lack understanding and practical combat experience with this type of Fierce Ghost.

"First, we will review the Woman in the Rain's transmission mechanism and Killing Rule. Moving forward, the primary task for all departments will be to handle this urban legend to prevent a full-scale outbreak, lest it become the next S-Level urban legend like the Gap Woman in Japan."

The ghost hunters in the audience began to whisper among themselves.

Woman in the Rain? Many people recognized the name. The Special Containment Department had gone to handle it and submitted a detailed report upon their return, proving that the Meme-type urban legend had already been contained.

To think that this thing hadn't been contained at all. Had the Special Containment Department submitted a fake report?

If the report's conclusions were ultimately proven false, it would be a felony warranting a court-martial.

So much time had passed, and the Woman in the Rain was highly contagious to begin with. It was no wonder the higher-ups of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau had forcefully summoned all ghost hunters currently out on missions.

Sitting in the back row, Ai Ning felt a little more at ease. With this explanation, the various anomalies from earlier made much more sense.

"Next, we will play a video that is about five minutes long. With the explanation included, this class will take around ten minutes in total. It won't take up too much of everyone's time.

"Please turn off your mobile phones and any other communication devices to prevent light pollution from affecting the viewing experience.

"For those in the back row, please lock the back door. While watching the video, do not leave the classroom."

As the middle-aged man spoke, the young woman in the black suit had already begun fiddling with the projector. A patch of light and shadow hit the blackboard at the front. Through the blurry image quality, before the background could even be made out, the rustling sound of rain mixed with static rolled out from the speakers.

It seemed this video had been shot quite a long time ago; the image resolution did not look like a product of this era.

The "student in the back row" the middle-aged man mentioned was Ai Ning, who had entered the classroom last and was sitting right next to the door handle.

Following the instructor's request, she should have locked the door. But having rushed over from the training grounds in such a hurry, her bladder had long since filled up. Now that she was sitting down and relaxing, Ai Ning felt an agonizing cramp in her abdomen, the pain becoming almost unbearable.

She was too embarrassed to raise her hand and ask to use the restroom. The instructor had just told them not to leave; raising her hand now would show terrible discipline. As a newcomer, she didn't want to leave a bad impression on her colleagues and superiors on her first day at headquarters.

She would just have to find a way to hold it in for now.

Ai Ning tried to distract herself. After all, the training class was only ten minutes long.

In the light projected onto the blackboard, the camera lens wobbled constantly. From time to time, raindrops hit the lens, making the already blurry video even more unwatchable.

In the center of the frame was a country dirt road; the exact nation was indistinguishable.

The sky hung heavy and low, an endless, oppressive gray. Threads of rain slanted into the mud, carving the road into countless rippling, dark puddles.

In the middle of the frame, a woman in gray clothes stood in the rain. She held a pure white umbrella, standing motionless in the distance. Rainwater gathered into thin threads along the umbrella's ribs, splashing into murky ripples around her feet.

Her figure was unnaturally tall, yet this towering height was paired with a set of disproportionately short legs. The umbrella was angled very low, obscuring most of her face and revealing only a section of red lips that looked like dripping blood.

As the screen flickered, the figure of the Woman in the Rain jumped between near and far. Sometimes she suddenly flashed right in front of the lens, and then, without moving her feet at all, she slowly receded far down the country road.

The scene was honestly quite terrifying.

As the video progressed, the entire frame remained filled with the gloomy sky, the rain, and the Woman in the Rain. There were no substantial changes to the scene, nor was there any professional narration explaining her Killing Rule.

The ghost hunters watching in the classroom gradually realized something was wrong and began to whisper among themselves.

Some could no longer hold back. "Hey, did you play the wrong video?"

"Are you sure this recording isn't contaminated by a Meme? Did you grab the wrong tape?"

"Showing the trainees a video with a risk of contamination without taking any protective measures—doesn't this violate Article 313 of the Safety Regulations?"

"I demand you stop playing this video immediately. This does not comply with regulations."

"Which batch of instructors are you from? Your professionalism is terrible. Have you even been trained?"

In the center of the classroom, the suited woman guarding the projector remained motionless, completely turning a blind eye to the complaints. It didn't look like she had played the wrong video at all.

Ai Ning felt her patience had reached its limit.

Taking advantage of the chaotic atmosphere in the classroom, she quietly opened the door and prepared to slip out to relieve herself in the restroom at the end of the hallway.

She was wearing a Supernatural Item called the Mist Necklace. As long as the wearer had no killing intent or desire to attack, their presence would be reduced to the absolute minimum.

Now, Ai Ning was going to use the effect of this Supernatural Item to slip out of the classroom for a moment without disturbing anyone. After relieving herself, she would return completely unnoticed.

Anyway, who knew how much longer this pointless video would play, and she only needed three minutes.

Hearing the classroom door click shut behind her, Ai Ning quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, no one in the entire classroom had noticed her slipping out.

Let's see, the restroom should be in that direction, right?

Four minutes later, Ai Ning walked out of the restroom, feeling refreshed.

She followed her original path, ready to return to Classroom 103.

—

While strolling down the hallway, Ai Ning felt that something wasn't quite right.

When she had come over earlier, every classroom on the first floor had been packed, filled with ghost hunters summoned by the Level 3 alarm.

How come after she just went to the restroom and came out, every single classroom was completely empty? All the figures inside had vanished.

Was it because the training class had ended while she was in the restroom, and everyone had been permitted to leave headquarters?

It all felt somewhat baffling.

Ai Ning was already on high alert. Placing her hand on the custom silver pistol at her waist, she slowed her pace considerably.

However, it would be utterly ridiculous to say that this building had been attacked by some sort of supernatural force.

This entire floor was full of ghost hunters. If a ghost could sweep away everyone on this floor, just how absurd would that have to be—

Wait. If there was a ghost capable of taking away an entire floor of ghost hunters...

Ai Ning's heart skipped a beat.

Just now during the training class, when the video of the Woman in the Rain was playing, someone had asked: Did directly playing a video carrying mental contamination comply with the Safety Regulations?

Could it be that when the "training instructors" played the video, everyone present watching that strange woman holding an umbrella in the rain had already been infected?

The more Ai Ning thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. With a heart full of apprehension, she returned to her own Classroom 103.

Sure enough, it was completely empty here as well. Everyone had vanished together.

On the floor, Ai Ning saw some severed limbs, severed fingers, eyeballs, and other human organs.

The floor was stained with blood, as if it had seen chaos and fighting.

Bending down, she picked up a severed, bloody finger. As she felt its lingering warmth and the texture of flesh and skin, Ai Ning's mind exploded with a buzz.

Her worst prediction had come true.

While she was in the restroom, everyone in the classroom had suffered from Meme contamination from watching the Woman in the Rain video. A whole classroom of people had been wiped out in one fell swoop.

Because Ai Ning had suddenly needed to use the restroom, and because of her special Supernatural Item, she had somehow managed to escape this calamity.

Ai Ning's heartbeat had grown so loud that even she could hear it.

What on earth was going on?

What exactly were the two "instructors" who played the video disguised as?

Why hadn't any of the ghost hunters in the class fought back?

No, looking at this classroom, many of them had fought back. But it was still useless; the growth rate of this Woman in the Rain was simply too fast.

If this was a trap from the very beginning, then who sent the Level 3 alarm and gathered all the nearby ghost hunters together?

The most terrifying possibility was that some sort of dirty thing had infiltrated the higher-ups of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau. It possessed extremely high authority, able to issue Level 3 intelligence and command the ghost hunters. It had gathered everyone at headquarters, played the Woman in the Rain video for them all at once, and then, in an instant, wiped out everyone who had seen the Meme.

She left the classroom and walked down the empty hallway on the first floor of headquarters.

Ai Ning's mind was in utter turmoil. She was the only survivor at headquarters, yet she didn't know what to do next.

This incident alone had eliminated at least several hundred ghost hunters in Shanghai City. To what extent had those "things" infiltrated the higher-ups of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, and what exactly were they trying to do?

And what was she supposed to do now?

Right, she needed to go to the Abyss Echo camp. A professionalized unit dedicated to fighting Fierce Ghosts was still stationed there. With the ghost hunters at headquarters nearly wiped out, they were the last garrison force left in Shanghai City.

As if grasping at hope in a desperate situation, Ai Ning forced herself to rally. Leaning against the sticky, blood-red wall, she managed to leave the Supernatural Disaster Bureau headquarters. When she stepped out onto the main street, she saw that the city she was once so familiar with had drastically changed.

The traffic lights at the intersection were all shattered, and there were no longer any pedestrians crossing the street. Cars had collided, thick smoke billowed into the air, and sirens wailed incessantly.

On the massive LED screen of a large shopping mall in the distance, a certain actress's cosmetics advertisement had long been replaced by the image of the Woman in the Rain walking down a muddy path with her umbrella. All of the city's public outdoor screens were endlessly looping this meaningless Meme.

In the sky above, countless black meteors streaked across, flying toward the distant skyscrapers. That area was a sea of fire and ruins; thick smoke occasionally billowed from a tall building, and sporadic gunshots could be heard from time to time before quickly fading into nothingness.

It was as if overnight, it had become the prelude to the apocalypse.