The police car reeked of cheap leather and the damp, metallic scent of rain.
How could a man who had been dead for twelve hours, with rigor mortis fully set in, be playing a video game and screaming over voice chat just half an hour ago?
A deliberate, dry cough broke Jason's train of thought. The veteran detective in the passenger seat handed him a tissue, his voice gentle. "How are you holding up, kid? Soul back in your body?"
"Don't call me 'Senior,' it sounds too distant," the detective said with a warm smile. "I'm a few years older than you. If you don't mind, just call me Brother Song. Now, take a deep breath and walk me through everything you know, from the top."
Jason kept it brief. He explained how he had reconnected with Duan Kun through gaming, how Duan Kun had missed their scheduled match tonight, how he had called him, and how the other party had eventually raged and logged off voice chat.
Song listened, his brow furrowing into a deep "V." He jotted notes quickly, the tip of his pen scratching rhythmically against the paper.
"Are you absolutely certain the person gaming and chatting with you was Duan Kun himself?" Song stopped writing, his eyes fixed on Jason like a hawk.
"Interesting," Song said, shaking his head imperceptibly. He pressed on. "Did you notice any abnormal behavior over the voice chat? Think carefully. Any detail matters."
"Abnormal..." Jason's mind instantly flashed back to the basement—to the female vampire, her face burned beyond recognition by holy water. Yet, outwardly, he maintained a perfectly neutral expression as he recalled the game. "If I had to say... his skills were way worse than usual tonight. Plus, he was unusually quiet, and his temper was extremely volatile."
"Oh?"
Pausing for a moment, Jason asked in a probing, almost terrified tone, "Song... the guy I was playing with tonight, it couldn't have been Duan Kun, right?"
Song patted Jason on the shoulder, speaking as if imparting a universal truth. "With the right vocal techniques and deliberate voice training, mimicking someone else's tone and timbre isn't that difficult. Haven't you seen those variety shows where people imitate celebrities flawlessly? From this angle, whoever was chatting with you tonight must know the deceased intimately, and even intentionally studied his speech patterns. This proves the killer is someone in his inner circle. Furthermore... he was doing this to deliberately delay the time of the crime's discovery, fabricating an alibi!"
Hearing this flawless, airtight "mortal logic," Jason sneered inwardly. But outwardly, he played along, feigning sudden realization. "So, this impersonator is highly suspicious! Song, he must be the killer, right?"
"Insufficient evidence. Don't make wild guesses. A wrong direction will waste the crucial golden forty-eight hours," Song shook his head and pushed the car door open. "Alright, you don't know much about the deceased's social circle anyway. We'll end the statement here. You've had a shock—go home and rest. Captain Su thinks so, too."
"Thank you, Song." Jason watched Song's back as he hurried toward the crime scene, Jason's gaze gradually darkening.
If it truly were a normal human impersonator, it would indeed be a brilliant alibi trick.It was a pity Song didn't know—and could never believe—that the thing controlling Duan Kun's character behind the computer screen was a shape-shifting vampire, a monster wearing human skin and feeding on blood.
And that very monster was currently locked away somewhere deep within Jason's own mind.
Go home and rest? Jason looked down at his palm. The freezing sensation of summoning the black gauntlet seemed to linger on his skin. He shoved the car door open and plunged into the cold rain.
"Excuse me, coming through! Police business!"Pulling his cap down low, he squeezed through the crowd of onlookers once more. Ducking under the yellow caution tape, he expertly slipped past the half-open aluminum roller door.
The convenience store smelled strongly of blood mixed with the artificial preservatives of instant noodles. Jason found Song taking photographs. "Song, where's Captain Su?"
Song turned around in surprise. "Hey? Why are you back? Didn't I tell you to go home and rest?"
"I'm fine. I can handle it," Jason waved his hand, his eyes burning with an unnatural determination. "My friend died here. I can't just leave. Song, can I take another look around the perimeter?"
Song looked into the rookie's eyes and saw a stubbornness that didn't belong to a greenhorn. He nodded silently. "Alright. Look around, but watch your step. Do not contaminate any evidence."
"Understood. They taught us the rules at the academy," Jason promised.
He turned and walked toward the deepest, darkest corner of the store—the doorway to the storage room where Duan Kun's body had been found.Jason stopped, turning his back to the bustling police officers. He slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and completely tuned out the sound of the rain, the camera shutters, and the chatter of the cops.
When his consciousness sank into the abyss and his eyes opened once more, he was no longer in that cramped convenience store.
Dead silence. Oppression. And a grand solemnity that dared not speak above a whisper.
This was the [Hellfire Asylum].Even though Jason's consciousness had wandered this space a few times before, standing here now with the full authority of a "Calamity Warden," he was still awestruck by the crushing weight of its ancient, desolate presence.
The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if time had been frozen here for centuries.
"Let me out! You damned inferior creature! Let me out!!"A piercing shriek came from his left. Jason turned his head to see the female vampire—the one he had stuffed with garlic not long ago—securely locked inside a five-meter-square cage of dark gold metal. Faint blue electrical currents coursed through the bars; every time she tried to touch them, a foul stench of burnt flesh erupted.
Above the cage hovered a holographic designation: [Calamity-0001].
"Save your breath. This is a place you will never leave," Jason smirked coldly. Ignoring her impotent rage, he walked straight toward the innermost core of the Asylum.
Level One: The Calamity Ward.Stretching out before him into the boundless darkness was a colossal architectural complex. Tens of thousands of empty cells were arranged in an impossibly complex geometric matrix, resembling a slumbering metallic honeycomb at the bottom of an abyss.
As he approached, a pair of bronze doors, tens of meters high, let out a deep, rumbling groan and slowly slid open.Stepping through, Jason was met with a massive, domed circular hall. Hovering in the dead center was a gigantic sphere made of countless silver metal particles. It flowed and restructured itself in mid-air, as if alive, refracting a cold, divine light.
"Hiss... This thing was definitely not built by Earth Federation tech, was it?" Jason looked up. Even as a sci-fi fan with twenty years of reading under his belt, he couldn't help but feel a flutter in his chest.
Sensing his gaze, the massive silver sphere instantly disintegrated. Countless particles cascaded down like a waterfall, rapidly reassembling and taking shape two meters in front of him.In the blink of an eye, a "man" dressed in a crisp black suit appeared. His face was as flawless and expressionless as a marble statue.
"Welcome to the Hellfire Asylum. The 72,580th Calamity Warden, Mr. Jason," the metal man bowed slightly, his voice a perfect, synthesized baritone devoid of any inflection.
"You can shapeshift too? Interesting." Jason raised an eyebrow, trying to mask his internal shock with nonchalance. "Since you're so polite, care to tell me what the hell this Asylum actually is?"
"To discover threats. To control threats. To contain threats. To mitigate dimensional disasters, imprison supernatural entities that pose a danger to the world, and maintain the physical balance between the outer and inner worlds. This is the highest directive of the Hellfire Asylum," the metal man articulated slowly.
"I ask a simple question, and you spill everything?" Jason narrowed his eyes. He had expected to have to coax information out of this AI, just like in the novels.
"This basic information is within the maximum clearance level of a Calamity Warden. If you ask, I must answer."
"Alright. In that case, dump everything you know that falls within my clearance level." Jason unceremoniously walked over to the steps of the central hall and sat down, legs spread wide. "I inexplicably became a Warden; the least I should know is whose payroll I'm on."
...
The next hour was spent in an incredibly dense exchange of information.This metal man was essentially a highly anthropomorphic super-Wikipedia. Although core secrets like "Why was Jason chosen?" and "Who built the Asylum?" were met with [Insufficient Clearance], Jason managed to grasp the basics.
This was a cross-dimensional prison built to combat supernatural forces. Eons ago, it had completely ceased operation, falling into dead silence. It wasn't until Jason stumbled into capturing his first vampire that the energy flowed back, rebooting the prison.A "Calamity Warden" was originally just the lowest-level employee (colloquially known as "expendables") responsible for capturing monsters in the field.But now, because everyone else was dead, Jason—the bottom-tier grunt—was automatically promoted to the absolute highest authority of the entire Asylum.
"What a morbidly hilarious promotion system."Having sorted out the situation, Jason stood up and accepted his "Rookie Welcome Kit" from the metal man—a silver metal briefcase.
Inside lay a pure black trench coat made of a highly unusual material; it felt as cold and fluid as water, yet incredibly tough. Beside it was a silver pentagram badge the size of a duck egg, attached to a thin silver chain.
"A black trench coat, a star badge... paired with my monster-absorbing black sludge gauntlets. Not bad, if a bit edgy," Jason muttered as he casually hung the badge around his neck and slipped into the coat.The moment the fabric settled on his shoulders, a hidden power seemed to wire directly into his mind.
"You have received your basic equipment. Please strive to capture more anomalous entities and restore the Hellfire Asylum to its former glory as soon as possible." A flicker of mechanical anticipation flashed in the metal man's eyes.
"That depends entirely on my mood."Jason waved a hand. He didn't exit the space immediately; instead, he turned and walked toward the back of the central hall. He wanted to see what else was hidden in the depths of this massive city.
After walking for an unknown amount of time through a desolate, empty metallic residential sector, Jason's footsteps abruptly stopped.
Before him lay a breathtakingly monumental sight—one enough to make anyone's heart stop.It was a plain that stretched further than the eye could see. And upon this plain stood countless pale-grey stone monuments, packed densely together. They stood like a silent army arrayed beneath the dark dome, stretching to the very horizon.
This was the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Hellfire Asylum.The final resting place of the previous 72,579 Wardens.
Jason subconsciously softened his footsteps, walking slowly into the forest of stone.As his gaze rested on a tombstone, his brain suddenly buzzed. A fragment of memory—one that did not belong to him—was forcefully projected onto his retinas like a movie clip.
[Dan Xiazi. Captured 27 monsters, contained 48 dangerous artifacts. Fought to the death on the Night of the Blood Moon, saving one hundred and twelve civilians...][William Aaron. Captured 74 monsters. Detonated his own supernatural core to stop the descent of an Evil God, saving the town of Ashwood from annihilation... No remains found.]
With every tombstone he looked at, a tragically epic, brutal vision of death flashed through Jason's mind.Beneath every stone here lay buried a soul who had been torn to shreds by monsters in the dark, all to protect the "logical" mortal world.
Tens of thousands of tombstones. Tens of thousands of nameless heroes with no bodies to bury.
Even someone like Jason, who was used to protecting himself with apathy and a fake persona, was struck by this palpable, tragic emotion that transcended time and space. His chest felt as if a water-logged sponge had been shoved inside it—heavy, making every breath ache with sorrow.
"D*mn this empathetic environment..." Jason wiped his face and took a deep breath. He didn't want to admit he was moved, but his legs carried him involuntarily toward the deepest part of the cemetery.
In the farthest corner stood a crudely cut headstone, its edges rough and unpolished.In front of the stone lay an empty coffin, covered in dust.
There were no memory flashes here. Because there was no one left to collect his body.Jason looked down and read the epitaph, carved with crude, desperate strokes:
"This is my own d*mn tombstone!My name is Jing Du, the last Warden of the Hellfire Asylum. I am seventy-eight years old this year. My last old partner was torn apart by werewolves seventeen winters ago.To this day, I have captured 124 monsters and contained 54 dangerous artifacts.I can feel my life slipping away. I'm probably going to die soon. Since there's no one left to bury me, I made this headstone myself.Facing those twisted monsters, facing the most terrifying dangers, I have never backed down, and I have never been afraid.But... when the whole world is left with only me to remember all of this, I am truly terrified.I don't want to be the last one..."
Looking at these words, Jason stood frozen in place for a full five minutes.
The howling wind swept through the empty graveyard, sounding like a quiet sob.Jason sighed. He materialized a carving knife from the void, walked up to Jing Du's tombstone, crouched down, and carved one word fiercely next to that desperate message: [Jason].
"Rest in peace, old man," Jason dusted the stone fragments off his hands and looked at the tombstone, his eyes burning with an unprecedented, razor-sharp clarity. "At the very least... you are not the last one anymore."
The exact moment he finished carving the last letter, Jason's consciousness was violently yanked out of the Asylum.
"Bzzzt—"The white noise of the rain instantly flooded back into his ears.He snapped his eyes open. He was still standing by the back door of the blood-soaked convenience store in the Beitong district. The torrential rain was still pouring, and Song was still taking pictures outside. It felt as if only a single second had passed in the real world.
But Jason knew everything had changed.He lifted his head. Those eyes, previously disguised as timid and confused, were now as calm and profound as an awakened apex predator.
Since ordinary police logic couldn't find the answer, he would use the eyes of a Warden to see exactly what "illogical" supernatural traces were hidden in this crime scene!