Chapter 162: Grandmaster

On the headquarters' end of the communicator, no one answered Old Man Sun.

Whether it was the fake headquarters on East Gan Third Road or the Shadow Headquarters a hundred meters underground, Xu Yuan had slaughtered everyone. Every member of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau was dead. In the communications room, there would be no more dispatchers to speak with Old Man Sun or send anyone to support him.

He knew this, of course.

He did it purely out of a habit forged over his sixty-year career as a ghost hunter, carved deep into his bones. Even knowing the Supernatural Disaster Bureau no longer existed, he couldn't help himself. He still subconsciously reported his progress to the communicator.

Old Man Sun slowly stood up, standing at the highest point in Shanghai City.

The past flashed before Old Man Sun's blind eyes like a spinning lantern. Joining the Supernatural Disaster Bureau at nineteen, starting as an errand boy intern, meeting his mentor, his superiors, his dispatchers, his best brother, and his future wife.

Earning his formal qualifications as a ghost hunter for the first time. Handling his first solo supernatural event. Facing the terror of an S-Level incident for the first time. Going abroad for the first time to spar and exchange insights with peers from various countries in Europe.

The brothers, comrades, mentors, and friends around him grew fewer and fewer.

Most perished in supernatural events.

That was just how this world worked. Those who tangled with ghosts did not live long.

Back then, the young Old Man Sun could only comfort himself with those words.

Even at his wedding, his beloved wife was murdered in a retaliatory attack by a supernatural entity.

The few remaining friends, relatives, and colleagues Old Man Sun had left in this world were all slaughtered.

After that night, it was as if Old Man Sun had grown up instantly, aging decades in a single evening.

He never remarried after that, instead pouring his entire heart and soul into his work.

Before he knew it, he looked back and found he had become the number one ghost hunter in Xia Country.

Before he knew it, he—somehow—had grown so old. He was already eighty-nine, walking toward the end of his life.

Every S-Level Fierce Ghost he had suppressed in his life, every opponent he had faced, and every perilous situation he had encountered flashed rapidly before his eyes like a slideshow.

At the end of his life, to be able to fight such a fierce battle against a powerful foe like Xu Yuan... Old Man Sun felt that his life as a ghost hunter was complete. He had no major regrets left.

"Thank you, Gao Tian my boy," Old Man Sun said.

"If you hadn't drawn the Artist away at that critical moment, I might have really been taken out by that wave.

"Xu Yuan was right. I am old. I underestimated the enemy.

"Surely no one would blame a clumsy, slow, completely useless old man like me for that, right?"

"Is Xu Yuan strong?" Gao Tian asked.

"Very strong," Old Man Sun replied.

"Absurdly strong.

"Among the S-Level Fierce Ghosts I've fought, he easily ranks in the top three.

"But old ginger is still the spiciest. Hahahaha."

The two of them, one old and one young, chatted idly under the golden sunlight slowly emerging over the distant horizon.

They looked like students walking to school after pulling an all-nighter at an internet cafe, excitedly discussing how a careless misstep during a boss fight had almost gotten them one-shot.

Somewhere in the unseen depths of his soul, Old Man Sun had already sensed something.

He was very old now, eighty-nine years old.

It had been a long time since he had fought such a massive battle. Now, Old Man Sun was just very tired. He only wanted to close his eyes, find a quiet place with no one around, and get a good sleep.

"Gao Tian, my boy.

"In the future, you will definitely be stronger than me.

"I really want to see what kind of path you walk down. Unfortunately, that might be ten or twenty years from now. I'll be over a hundred years old by then, and I won't live that long."

As Old Man Sun spoke, he let out a raspy chuckle.

It started as a soft chuckle, gradually growing louder until it became deafening, uproarious laughter.

He laughed heartily into the dawn's sky-filling golden light. Within that laughter lay pride, triumph, relief, and boundless ambition, but also regret, sorrow, reluctance, and a profound sense of apology.

Old Man Sun had suddenly become uncharacteristically talkative. Gao Tian roughly sensed what was happening.

Looking at this old man who had burned himself out and was walking toward the very end of his life, Gao Tian couldn't bear to criticize him no matter what.

"Rest assured.

"In the future, I will definitely be stronger than you, stronger than Xu Yuan. I'll surpass the limitations of all of you.

"I will walk my own path, a perfect path that is completely different from anyone else's."

Gao Tian tried his best to offer words of comfort to Old Man Sun.

Atop the Oriental Pearl, Old Man Sun's laughter came to a sudden halt.

Behind the white film in his eyes, the last remaining trace of light dissipated.

Old Man Sun's head slowly drooped down.

The strength in his hand, which had tightly gripped his Tobacco Pipe for a lifetime, slowly vanished. The Tobacco Pipe slipped through his fingers and fell away.

"Old Man Sun.

"Old Man Sun?

"Old Man Sun!

"Wake up, Old Man Sun—!"

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Gao Tian still lost control of his emotions when he saw this scene. He couldn't accept it.

Old Man Sun was an eighty-nine-year-old elder.

Having gone through immense joy and profound sorrow multiple times tonight, he had reached his absolute physical and psychological limits.

Several times, Old Man Sun's lamp had run dry of oil. But he had held on to one last breath in his heart—driven by his promise to Gao Tian and his guilt toward the thousand-plus fallen ghost hunters of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau. That single breath had kept him struggling on until the very last moment without collapsing.

Once he confirmed that the King of All Ghosts, Xu Yuan, was imprisoned, that breath in Old Man Sun's heart completely dissipated.

The string that had supported him until now suddenly snapped.

Old Man Sun passed away peacefully of old age.

He was 89 years old.

Gao Tian gazed at the shriveled old man's corpse before him. That rustic yet slightly cunning face would never move again.

Aside from being overwhelmed by endless sorrow, Gao Tian's heart was also filled with deep fear and despair.

He knew one thing very clearly. The Artist had not been imprisoned yet.

After fighting Xu Yuan, Old Man Sun had immediately passed away, washing his hands of everything. Who was going to deal with the Artist?

When Xu Yuan was around, he could still command and control it somewhat. Now that Xu Yuan was gone, was the Artist in a completely masterless state? Was it going to go on a rampage?

If this Super S-Level Fierce Ghost—which possessed tens of thousands of Killing Rules—went berserk, its destructive power would likely be no less than Xu Yuan's.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

A massive shadow slowly emerged, casting itself over the entire Oriental Pearl and completely blotting out the meager golden light of the distant dawn.

Gao Tian slowly looked up. Towering before his eyes was a colossal mountain of flesh made entirely of countless human heads.

The Artist had arrived, clinging to the Oriental Pearl.

Strangely enough, even though this calamity clearly weighed dozens of tons, as it rested on the slender Oriental Pearl, it was as light as a swallow, like a gargantuan, mountainous gecko. It didn't crush the architecture beneath it in the slightest.

The Artist extended an arm made of countless heads, reaching forward to gingerly pick up Old Man Sun's corpse. The size difference between the two made it look like a giant picking up an ant.

The Artist placed Old Man Sun's corpse in front of itself. It was apparent that it was observing him, checking to see if Old Man Sun was one hundred percent dead.

Watching this scene unfold, Gao Tian did not move, nor did he turn and run.

A remarkably bizarre feeling rose within him.

The Artist's... movements had become much more fluid.

It was a world of difference compared to the stuttering, lagging mountain of spaghetti code they had encountered earlier in the Mirror World.

Gao Tian had been floating in front of this fleshy mountain of heads for a while now. Logically speaking, at least several hundred Killing Rules should have triggered upon him, brutally murdering Gao Tian a thousand times over.

Yet not a single Killing Rule had activated. Gao Tian was perfectly fine, still hovering in place.

This meant the Artist had completely mastered its own Killing Rules. It could choose to restrain itself and not activate them.

Half a minute passed. Only after checking Old Man Sun's corpse and confirming that this grandmaster was completely dead did the Artist slowly turn its giant "head"—composed of countless individual skulls—to look in Gao Tian's direction.

"To be honest, I really have to thank Old Man Sun.

"If it weren't for him, I absolutely wouldn't have dared take this risk and awaken inside the Artist's body ahead of schedule.

"It was his overwhelming suppression that forced me to gamble everything and activate my backup, bringing the world salvation plan forward.

"Looking at it now, it was completely the right move. It's just simultaneously controlling a mere tens of thousands of Killing Rules. It's not difficult at all. See? Aren't I handling them perfectly now?"

As it spoke, the Artist casually tossed Old Man Sun's corpse into its fleshy mountain of heads. Innumerable heads swarmed forward, instantly swallowing Old Man Sun's corpse.

The Artist had "eaten" Old Man Sun. It was about to acquire the Killing Rules Old Man Sun gained after death.

What an absurd, terrifying reality this was.

Gao Tian understood.

The one controlling the Artist's body and talking to him right now was Xu Yuan.

After being defeated by Old Man Sun, he had abandoned his original ghost body. Inside the Artist was a head from his original body, and now, he had used that very head within the Artist to seize control of the Artist itself.