His eyes had completely inverted—the whites were pitch black, and his irises were deathly pale.
Within his eyes, blazing fire and bone-chilling Yin Thunder flickered.
His killing intent had solidified completely. In his eyes, two overlapping realms began to merge and interfere with each other.
He snapped back to reality—inside a shiny, spotless light rail carriage, jammed full of folks from every walk of life. Oddly enough, not a soul seemed to notice Jack Young’s freaky inverted eyes. Everyone wore that classic Shanghai commuter look: anxious, worried, but pretending they had everything under control. You know, just another day in the city—except for the supernatural meltdown brewing under the surface.
But flip to the other channel, and it’s a total horror show.
The subway looked like it’d been through a zombie apocalypse—paint peeling, steel rusted, glass cracked all over. And the passengers? Oh, they’d leveled up in the freak department too! Black lines crawled across their faces, some just doodles, some full-on tattoos. The worst of the bunch? Jack Young spotted a straight-up mutated monster.
In one world, that passenger was just catching some Z’s, brow all scrunched up like he was having a nightmare about his mortgage. But in the other world? Yikes. There was this thing—skin black-brown, like a cocoon suffering from a bad case of meatball acne, writhing, screeching, dying to break free. Disgusting and nightmare fuel. Clearly, while Jack Young was spaced out, things had gotten way weirder.
But—Jack Young suddenly cracked up, laughing like a maniac—seriously, what’s any of this got to do with me?!
That monster’s screech could shatter eardrums, so Jack Young bulldozed through the crowd. People stared, jaws on the floor, as he loomed over the guy. Cold light shot from those freaky eyes. Jack just reached out and grabbed the guy by the throat, lifting him like a misbehaving puppy. The poor dude clawed at Jack’s hand, legs flailing, face turning red as a tomato, shrieking in full panic mode.
Jack just barked, "Noisy!" and gave his iron grip a good shake—crack! Everyone heard it, and the crowd lost their collective minds, shrieking and scrambling for the exits. Jack let go, and the guy hit the floor with a satisfying thud.
But the guy wasn’t dead—he frantically patted his neck, realized it was still in one piece, and bolted like he was auditioning for a soap opera, bawling and scrambling for safety.
Jack Young snorted, “Still trying to block me? Hopeless moral leftovers.” He glanced at his palm, flashed a creepy grin. The passenger survived, but in the other realm, the monster had been squashed—literally. Black smoke poured out, and Jack slurped it all up. He clenched his fist, eyes gleaming with wicked excitement: “Yep, this is energy. Premium stuff. And I can steal it!”
He grinned wide, sending chills down spines as he scanned the whole carriage. No matter how far folks tried to run, his gaze tracked them—men, women, kids, the works. And those shadowy, smoke-wrapped humanoid creeps? He was watching them too.
There were plenty more of those monster wannabes lurking around.
Jack Young licked his lips, eyeing the monsters like a hungry kid at a buffet.
"Citizens, I am—fzzzt—Colonel Jasper Xiao of the Army. Here’s my officer’s ID. Now, with absolute seriousness, I must tell you all—fzzzt—one thing."
"Huh?" A familiar voice piped up, and Jack Young turned to look out the window. On the street outside, a giant LED screen was showing cable TV—Jasper Xiao’s stern mug was front and center. He stared straight out, voice booming: "Citizens, evacuate the city ASAP, get to—fzzzt—shelter! I repeat, please—fzzzt—take refuge outside the Mist Zone!"
Jack Young had sharp ears and caught someone muttering, "Ugh, it’s that guy again—second time today! Hey, is this nutjob for real? Why’s the TV showing this stuff?"
Meanwhile, over at the Oriental Pearl Tower’s broadcast HQ, a bunch of goons in black had the control room surrounded. Bobby Brooks looked downright fierce, waving his pistol around and barking in full pro-mode: "Yep, it’s us again. We’re back! You think the cops can stop us? Get your act together—this segment’s going on repeat, no breaks!"
The broadcasters nodded so hard they nearly rattled their teeth, nervously keeping Jasper Xiao’s speech rolling.