Almost at the same moment that Gu Qiancheng was dragged into that eerie space by Mirror Lake, the others scattered across the Dead Realm also stepped into the carefully laid killing traps.
Northeast of the cave exit.
Lin Mo had just led his team out of the underground cave system.
The damp, cold surface air rushed into his lungs.
Before he could get a proper sense of their surroundings, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
Beside him, Chu You’s pupils contracted almost simultaneously.
Her right hand silently pressed against the military dagger at her waist.
“Alert!”
Lin Mo’s low shout was not loud, but it reached the ears of every soldier behind him clearly.
The well‑trained soldiers instantly fanned out, forming a defensive formation centered on Lin Mo and Chu You.
Gun muzzles pointed into the darkness in all directions.
Tactical flashlights sliced through the thick night.
The air was thick with the wetland’s characteristic stench of decay, but beneath that odor, a faint, scalp‑tingling, sweet and fishy smell was quietly spreading.
“They’re here.”
Chu You’s voice was very soft, like a feather landing on the ground.
The darkness ahead writhed.
That was not a metaphor.
The darkness lurking under the dead trees and bushes began to twist and stretch like a living thing.
Finally, two figures “walked” out of the darkness.
No, not “walked.”
The figure on the left was tall and slender, wearing an immaculate black tailcoat, perfectly tailored, even with white gloves.
His face was covered by a pure white mask, no patterns, no holes, only two smooth depressions for the eyes, behind which was an unfathomable blackness.
His steps were as precise as if measured with a ruler, each stride exactly the same length, silent, as if his feet did not touch the ground.
The figure on the right wore a brilliant kimono patterned with cherry blossoms, its vivid colors jarring against the desolate surroundings.
She was a young, beautiful woman with flowing black hair and a smile so bright it seemed almost naive.
The curve of her lips was perfectly unreal.
She wore wooden clogs, yet walked on the muddy ground as if on solid pavement, leaving no footprints.
Neither of them carried the chaotic, insane taint of an Abnormal Being, nor the life fluctuations of a living person, nor the strange magnetic field of the Yao race.
They seemed like two entities that should not exist in this world.
“Good evening, all you hard‑working soldiers.”
The woman in the kimono spoke first, her voice sweet and clear, carrying a strange rhythm that made one involuntarily want to listen closely.
“Out so late, still running around. So dedicated.”
The man in the tailcoat and white mask gave a slight nod, his movements as elegant as an aristocrat from a bygone era.
Lin Mo’s hand slowly moved to the special alloy combat knife at his lower back.
His eyes were sharp as blades.
“Who are you?”
“Us?”
Ayane Hanyu tilted her head, her smile unchanged.
“We’re messengers here to deliver the opening salute for this grand performance.”
The moment her words fell …
Among the eight elite soldiers, two on the flank stiffened without warning.
Their pupils dilated, their guns slipped from their hands.
No movement, no energy fluctuation, not even any wounds on the two soldiers.
Yet the instant they collapsed to the ground, they had completely lost their breath.
“Enemy attack —!”
The vice‑captain’s eyes were about to burst.
Without needing an order from Lin Mo or Chu You, the remaining soldiers raised their guns and fired.
Gunfire exploded instantly.
Muzzles flashed.
Bullets rained down on the two eerie figures like a storm.
Ayane Hanyu gave a light laugh.
With a wave of her wide kimono sleeve, all the bullets stopped abruptly in mid‑air about a meter from her body, as if embedded in invisible amber.
Their kinetic energy vanished in an instant, and the bullets clattered to the ground.
Yan stood motionless, but the bullets aimed at him seemed to encounter some terrifying force, bizarrely changing their trajectories and curving around his body.
“Fall back!” Chu You shouted sharply.
Her figure shot forward like a ghost, her short blade unsheathed, tracing a cold, clear arc.
“Oh? Such a fierce little sister~”
Ayane Hanyu spoke with exaggerated flair, shifting her body slightly to dodge Chu You’s attack.
Seeing that Chu You’s strike had failed, Lin Mo followed closely, flashing forward to launch a second attack on Ayane Hanyu.
“That’s not very gentlemanly.”
Yan spoke calmly, still standing in place.
He merely raised his white‑gloved hand slightly and waved gently.
Lin Mo’s sure‑to‑land strike, just as it was about to slice across Ayane Hanyu’s neck, suddenly veered off course, as if he had lost his grip on the knife handle.
“How is that possible?!”
Lin Mo, having struck nothing but air, stared at the scene in disbelief.
“This current body cannot withstand the battle intent of you two…”
Yan (Smoke) finally spoke.
His voice came through the mask, low, steady, devoid of any emotion, like synthesized speech.
“But this is the direction of my stage’s plot. Fairness or not… has never been decided by the actors.”
For the first time, he took the initiative to attack.
There was no earth‑shattering momentum.
He simply, with his white‑gloved index finger, pointed at Lin Mo’s forehead.
Lin Mo felt the surrounding air instantly solidify.
A cold, dead will, as if capable of freezing the soul, locked onto him firmly.
Not an Oracle, not demonic power, nor the taint of an Abnormal Being.
It was more like — the intervention of a force of a higher order.
Fate, perhaps?
No sound.
Lin Mo reeled as if struck by a heavy blow, sliding backward more than ten meters.
His feet plowed two deep furrows in the ground.
His throat turned sweet, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
He looked down at the combat knife in his hand — the blade forged from special alloy, capable of conducting high‑energy particles — and saw that he had stabbed it into his own abdomen.
“Lin Mo!”
Chu You turned her head just in time to see this.
Ignoring Ayane Hanyu in front of her, she pushed off hard to retreat.
“That’s not very polite, little sister~”
Ayane Hanyu clapped her hands, her smile still sweet.
“I didn’t say you could leave~”
The moment her words fell.
The space in front of Chu You cracked like a shattered mirror.
A wave of ominous energy, corrosive to bone marrow and soul, instantly enveloped her body.
The feeling was like… falling into an abyss.
Blocking Chu You’s path, Ayane Hanyu tilted her head with a grin, her tone cheerful.
“The real show is just beginning.”
“Let’s properly introduce ourselves. My name is Ayane Hanyu, Apostle of the Abyss.”
“This is Yan (Smoke), Apostle of Fate.”
“We are pilgrims of the Primordial God, vessels of humanity…”
“…spreading the divine will.”
…
…
Southwest of the plain, near the logistics department’s pre‑designated evacuation point.
Tie Jiang, Mongoose, and Yu Chan moved in a triangular formation through waist‑high wild grass, searching for any traces left by Lin Mo and the others.
Tie Jiang carried an enormously exaggerated battle‑axe, its blade glinting coldly in the faint moonlight.
Yu Chan kept her eyes closed, her ears twitching slightly, sensing nearby signs of life.
Mongoose stayed low, gliding silently between shadows and grass, scanning for traces left by humans.
“Not a single breath of living people,” Yu Chan said, opening her eyes with a deep frown.
“Only… an unbreakable thick stench of death and blood.”
“Damn. Looks like the logistics guys are in deep trouble.”
Tie Jiang spat, tightening his grip on the axe.
Just then, Mongoose’s urgent warning sounded nearby: “Dead ahead! Something’s coming! Big! Very fast!”
Almost as Mongoose finished speaking, the ground a hundred meters ahead bulged violently and exploded!
A colossal creature burst out of the earth, sending mud and rocks flying.
It raised its head and let out a deafening roar!
It was a giant humanoid Shi Bian Ti, over fifteen meters tall!
Its skin was a rock‑like bluish‑gray, covered with thick, dark red veins like circuit patterns.
Muscles bulged and strained, brimming with explosive power.
Its head resembled an enlarged ape’s, but its mouth held three rows of interlocking sharp teeth.
Saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth, corroding the ground.
Most striking were its eyes — no pupils, only two swirling masses of dark red chaotic light.
The taint it emitted was like a tangible storm: frenzied , chaotic, filled with the desire to destroy everything.
Quasi‑King level!
“Spread out!”
Tie Jiang roared.
Instead of retreating, he charged straight at the Shi Bian Ti!
His battle‑axe, with the force to split mountains and crack rocks, swung toward the creature’s relatively slender ankle — a judgment born of Tie Jiang’s rich combat experience.
However, the Shi Bian Ti, though seemingly bulky, reacted with astonishing speed.
It simply raised its right foot and stomped down hard!
Boom!!!
The ground shook violently.
A ring‑shaped shockwave exploded outward.
Wild grass was ripped from the soil, and mud surged like waves.
Tie Jiang’s axe struck the Shi Bian Ti’s instep, producing a deafening clang of metal on metal, only cutting a shallow gash.
The recoil numbed his arms and split the skin at his thumbs.
At the same moment, Yu Chan’s fingers moved slightly…
Threads almost invisible to the naked eye coiled around her fingertips, extending through the air, their other ends connected to Tie Jiang’s body.
Almost instantly.
The split skin on Tie Jiang’s thumbs inside his arm guard had healed.
Mongoose’s figure was like a ghost.
Taking advantage of the Shi Bian Ti’s attention being drawn by Tie Jiang and Yu Chan, she silently circled behind it.
With two curved blades in her hands, she viciously stabbed at the joints of its knees and the gaps in its spine — typically the weak points of most biological structures.
Clang!
Clang!
Two more crisp sounds.
The daggers seemed to strike the hardest alloy, leaving only two white dots.
The Shi Bian Ti didn’t even turn around.
Its thick tail whipped around like a steel cable, moving so fast it left afterimages!
Mongoose twisted her body to the extreme, narrowly dodging, but the sharp wind still tore open the combat suit at her ribs, leaving a bloody scratch.
“Its hide is too thick!”
Mongoose rolled on landing to dissipate the force, panting heavily.
The Shi Bian Ti seemed angered by the harassment of these tiny insects.
It slammed its fists together.
Dark red energy, like magma, lit up and flowed along the patterns on its body surface.
It looked down at the three insignificant humans below, opened its mouth full of jagged teeth, and instead of a meaningless roar, produced a series of distorted, hoarse, but barely recognizable syllables: “Wo… man… found… her…”
Tie Jiang, Mongoose, and Yu Chan were stunned.
“A woman… possessed of… forbidden power… fascinating…”
The Shi Bian Ti’s voice was intermittent, filled with chaotic, babbling undertones, but the content sent chills down their spines.
“She gave us… direction… power…”
The red light in its eyes locked onto them.
“Here… kill you all… stage… needs blood…”
It said no more.
Its fists, wrapped in boiling dark red energy, like two falling meteors, smashed heavily into the ground!
“So…”
“Just obediently… die!”