[Level 1 Alert]: In the past week, a suspected ghost creature—Gu Huo Niao—has appeared in Jing Province. They like to kidnap infants. There have already been thirteen unexplained disappearances of infants.
The method of disappearance is extremely bizarre; even though the child hasn't left the house all day, they just vanish without a trace! No evidence at all!
[The investigation team suspects that an extreme group is secretly cultivating Gu Huo Niao to disrupt order. However, because of the group's mysterious and high-level methods, the containment personnel have yet to find any trace of them.
Parents with children, please ensure you take good care of your kids, make sure they stay in safe areas, do not let them be alone, and do not let them out of your sight.]
Hearing the news broadcast.
Mom anxiously put down her bowl.
"What? A ghost creature in Jing Province? Gu Huo Niao that kidnaps infants... how terrifying!"
Mom shivered.
"Baby, we have to be extra careful these days!"
Xu Ran slightly squinted, immediately becoming alert.
Could it be that the first time I encountered it, it was the vengeful creature Gu Huo Niao?
Probably so.
I must thoroughly understand its habits and methods!
[Currently, containment personnel know very little about Gu Huo Niao, but cultivators have been dispatched to all areas of Jing Province. They will do their utmost to ensure the safety of the citizens.]
"Does this mean the containment personnel do not yet know about Gu Huo Niao's intel? Too scary!"
"Baby, how about we don't go out to play for a while?"
Lin Qian shivered uncontrollably.
The phone rang.
Tiger Girl's mom was shocked: "Xu Ran's mom, did you watch the news? Recently, the Gu Huo Niao rumors are widespread..."
Lin Qian sipped water to calm her nerves: "I just saw it; it's a bit terrifying!"
Tiger Girl's mom: "Yeah, if someone deliberately released or controlled Gu Huo Niao, then places with lots of children, like amusement areas, are the most dangerous places."
Lin Qian: "Only when the group behind Gu Huo Niao is completely captured will I dare to take Xu Ran out to play..."
Tiger Girl's mom sighed: "Our two families should visit each other. Zhuangzhuang's mom and Tongtong's mom live close together, they visit each other. Our two families are neighbors, we visit each other."
Lin Qian was somewhat on edge: "Could visiting each other not be safe either? Now many criminals are using vengeful creatures to cause trouble, and now there's another ghost creature, sigh..."
Tiger Girl's mom: "Nothing we can do about it, there are more and more malicious people."
Xu Ran sat on the sofa, listening intently to the intel.
"I fear the first abduction case is probably connected to Gu Huo Niao. Regardless, I'll keep disciplining myself. Only strength can overcome everything."
Thinking this,
Xu Ran threw out his arrow.
Shot in one.
But got no experience.
With the advancement of [Little Xu's Flying Knife], he found that no matter how many times he threw the pot, his experience didn't increase anymore.
"Maybe I need to play with real darts to gain experience. I have to ask my mom for a new toy."
Xu Ran walked towards his mom: "Mom~ Mom~ Fly~ Fly~"
As he spoke,
he picked up the arrow, threw it on the ground, stomped on it twice, and then mimicked throwing darts while making monosyllabic sounds.
Mom was puzzled.
Xu Ran seriously repeated the actions several times, doing his best to mimic them vividly.
"Do you mean you no longer want to play pitching pot and want to play with darts?"
Xu Ran nodded repeatedly and looked to grab his mom's phone to select a wooden target and real flying knife.
"No problem, Mom will order them online for you. They'll arrive in two days."
Thus.
In the following two days,
Mom stayed home with Xu Ran, occasionally visiting Tiger Girl's mom.
The news broadcasts daily updates about Gu Huo Niao—the missing infants jumped from thirteen to fifty-seven.
The speed of increase is very fast.
The number of disappearances in one day exceeded twice the total of the previous week!
This suggests that Gu Huo Niao is becoming rampant, and it's producing more ghost creatures—Gu Huo Niao.
However,
the containment personnel still have not found Gu Huo Niao's hiding place.
The citizens are shivering.
"Will they breed a Gu Huo Niao army, playing out a city-destroying disaster?"
Xu Ran was somewhat worried.
But he was also powerless.
After all, he's just a little guy at day 500 of infancy.
...
Two days later.
On the 502nd day after birth.
In the evening, the courier message arrived.
Mom carried Xu Ran to the community gate to pick up the parcel.
The dart toy was a bit heavy, Mom carried the target on her shoulder, and Xu Ran held the dart bag in one hand and his mom's hand in the other.
"Walk a little faster, baby; it's not safe outside these days."
Mom was still worried about the Gu Huo Niao matter.
But sometimes, the more you worry... the more likely bad things will happen.
Though the sun hadn't set yet.
The shadows under the tall buildings suddenly grew chillingly cold, as if someone placed an ice block on her back, an intense chill causing Lin Qian to stumble; she nearly fell, but managed to steady herself after a couple of steps forward.
"Baby."
Lin Qian quickly turned back, grabbing Xu Ran's little hand tightly.
Xu Ran: "…Hmm?"
It feels like something is amiss, but I can't pinpoint it.
In the next second.
Suddenly, eerie faces darted out from the shadows, accompanied by ghostly wails that made Lin Qian gasp in fright. She dropped the target from her shoulder at once, picked up Xu Ran, and dashed forward.
"Baby, close your eyes, we need to run, run fast!"
Mom covered Xu Ran's eyes.
Xu Ran: "…Hmm? Why does it always feel off somehow? There's a slight stench."
"Besides, is mom this fast?"
Something's wrong.
This is not the direction home!
The person holding him is not mom!
Xu Ran suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, he quickly calmed down.
With a thought, the Substitute Paperman appeared, and with a Mysterious Footwork, he silently slipped into 'mom's' shadow, then swiftly used Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill to climb up to the third floor, crouching on the wall like a cursed child, overlooking the fake mom who was running wildly.
Meanwhile,
An assassin mantis darted out from behind him, chasing the fake mom with great speed.
Its sharp blade gleamed with a bloody light, cutting through Gu Huo Niao's body in a crimson arc as the evening descended.
"Caw—"
A piercing sound spread, and the paper mantis frantically absorbed the energy emanating from Gu Huo Niao's 'corpse'.
Before long,
Gu Huo Niao was completely devoured, and a green pattern appeared on the paper mantis, as if sketching a detail on the mantis's body.
This is Paper Spirit Communication.
A Mysterious Element ability.
Just the right counter to Ghost Element's Gu Huo Niao, killing the ghost creature, while also absorbing their corpse's energy. Once enough energy is absorbed, the paper mantis can become a lifelike mantis.
"Heh, so this is Gu Huo Niao? Aside from slightly eerie Illusion Skill, their strength is utterly weak."
Xu Ran chuckled coldly, a bat flew out behind him, hovering thirty meters above to monitor a five-hundred-meter radius.
As for his main body, it swam swiftly along the wall, heading homeward.
From below,
he saw his 'mom' who was carrying 'Xu Ran' frantically running away.
However.
She hadn't realized that the child she was holding was a weird Gu Huo Niao transformed into…