Northern Hills.
The battle here lacked earth-shattering collisions or bloody carnage, yet it carried a deeper, more hopeless eeriness.
The 23rd Squad Leader, the Vice Squad Leader, and Su Tao, the vice captain of the Provincial Capital Action Team, were like insects trapped in amber, struggling desperately within an invisible but immensely powerful force field.
Centered on the thin, small Abnormal Being, the space within a fifty-meter radius had become completely abnormal.
Light distorted and refracted here, forming grotesque illusions.
Gravity fluctuated, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, and even its direction shifted subtly, making it hard to maintain balance.
Even the flow of time seemed uneven, sometimes viscous and slow, sometimes skipping and accelerating.
Most terrifying was the direct mental and spiritual oppression.
The darkness that opened in the gap on the Abnormal Being’s face seemed to connect to some unspeakable entity, continuously emitting chaotic, insane mental whispers that could shatter an ordinary person’s mind instantly.
These whispers penetrated everywhere, trying to break their will to fight, distort their perception, and drag their sanity into the abyss of madness.
The 23rd Squad Leader’s forehead veins bulged, sweat pouring down like rain.
He strained to concentrate, trying to lock onto the Shi Bian Ti’s figure flickering in and out of the twisted light with his modified pistol.
But the target in the scope was always overlapping, blurry, flickering.
The energy beams he fired by activating his divine oracle either veered off inexplicably or were devoured or refracted by the disturbed space halfway.
The Vice Squad Leader was in an even worse state.
She tried to control throwing knives for multi-point harassing attacks, but the moment they left her hand, their trajectories became completely unpredictable, sometimes even turning back toward herself or her teammates, forcing her to divert energy to deflect them.
Most of her energy was spent resisting the omnipresent mental erosion.
Her face was deathly pale, and her eyes alternated between clarity and vacancy.
Su Tao had the strongest frontal resistance among the three.
The faint golden light around her body was a manifestation of her special ability, greatly enhancing physical strength, speed, and mental resistance.
She had tried several times to forcefully break through the viscous force field and get close to the Shi Bian Ti for melee combat.
But each time, she felt like she wasn’t moving but wading through some high-density non-Newtonian fluid.
The closer she got to the center, the stronger the space’s “resistance” and “chaos” became.
Her movements were infinitely slowed and distorted; her attacks became soft and weak, like slow-motion replays.
And the continuous mental whispers tried to drill holes into her resilient spiritual barriers, making her restless and disrupting her energy flow.
“At this rate… we’ll be worn down to death!” the Squad Leader roared hoarsely, his temples throbbing.
Double images already started appearing before his eyes.
“We have to… break this force field!” the Vice Squad Leader gritted her teeth and threw a few more throwing knives, which collided mid-air, making their trajectories even more bizarre and unpredictable, but still failing to touch the Abnormal Being at all.
Su Tao didn’t answer. She took a deep breath, a flash of determination in her eyes.
The faint golden light suddenly contracted inward, then condensed and compressed on her body surface, forming a thin, yet seemingly energy-packed, virtual golden armor.
She abandoned all defense, focusing all her power into her legs and the straight saber in her hand! “Open–!”
She let out a clear, sharp cry.
The ground beneath her feet exploded with a bang.
She transformed into a burning golden meteor, smashing straight into the viscous, bizarre force field with speed and momentum several times greater than before, her saber tip aimed at the center of the Abnormal Being’s face!
This strike contained all her spirit, energy, and essence—the strongest blow she could unleash at this moment!
Where the golden light passed, the disturbed space seemed briefly smoothed for a line!
The gigantic head of the Abnormal Being made its first obvious reaction.
The gap in the center of its face opened again.
This time, instead of silent staring, it aimed at Su Tao, charging toward it.
An intangible, yet stronger and more refined denial intention than any before, like the sharpest awl, stabbed fiercely into Su Tao’s spiritual core.
At the same time, the space structure in front of her began to fluctuate violently and fold, trying to banish or twist her and her attack together!
Su Tao felt as if her brain had been hit hard by an icy hammer.
Agony instantly swept through her body.
Her vision went black, and only a sharp ringing remained in her ears.
Her forward momentum faltered.
The condensed golden light flickered violently, brightening and dimming erratically.
Worse, she felt her very existence was about to be “erased” or “reconstructed” by the undulating space ahead!
“Su Tao! Watch out!” the Squad Leader and Vice Squad Leader cried out in terror, but were powerless to help.
Just as Su Tao’s consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by that terrifying mental attack and spatial anomaly, a small, unremarkable jade pendant engraved with complex runes on her waist suddenly snapped with a crack.
A layer of soft yet resilient milky-white light instantly spread out, enveloping her body.
This layer of light seemed to carry some stabilizing and protective properties, barely blocking the core parts of the lethal mental assault and spatial erosion.
Bang!
Su Tao still crashed into some invisible barrier.
The golden light shattered with a bang.
She flew back faster than she had charged, spitting a mouthful of blood.
The straight saber flew from her hand.
She was already unconscious in the air, caught barely by the Squad Leader, and both rolled to the ground.
The Vice Squad Leader screamed and rushed over.
As for the Abnormal Being, it seemed somewhat surprised by the power of that jade pendant. Its huge head tilted slightly.
But it didn’t pursue.
It just slowly closed the gap on its face.
The twisted force field around it didn’t dissipate; instead, it seemed to have become more solid and impenetrable due to the earlier outburst.
Its dry, ancient thought echoed in the minds of the three for the last time: “Pathetic resistance…”
…..
Death Realm Fissure, Gray Mist Space.
Mirror Lake’s form flickered in and out of the surging gray mist, like a ghost controlling everything.
His attacks grew faster and heavier, each one carrying the gray mist’s property of eroding space and grinding away will.
Gu Qiancheng was covered in wounds.
His divine oracle was suppressed to the limit, only maintaining the most basic movement and defense.
Every collision with Mirror Lake made his already sluggish energy flow even harder.
Worse, this gray mist space seemed to continuously absorb and assimilate his dissipated energy and fighting will, making him feel a bone-deep weariness and helplessness.
He saw, through the images Mirror Lake deliberately showed, his companions fighting bloodily on various battlefields, then falling seriously injured one by one, trapped in desperate situations.
Qing Luan’s arm bone was broken.
Hua Yao was invaded by ghostly flames. Shadow suffered mental trauma.
Tie Jiang collapsed from exhaustion.
Yu Chan’s survival was unknown. Mongoose was buried under rubble. Su Tao was unconscious and vomiting blood.
The 23rd Squad Leader and Vice Squad Leader were trapped in a hopeless situation…
Each image was like a red-hot knife stabbing into his heart, stirring up the deepest resentment and anger in him.
“Angry? Resentful? Want to save them?”
Mirror Lake’s voice whispered in his ear like a bone-dwelling maggot, filled with temptation and mockery.
“Pity, here, you can’t even protect yourself.”
“Look, your moves are getting slower. Because you’re distracted? Because you’re desperate?”
Gu Qiancheng gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed his surging emotions.
He couldn’t be flustered!
He had to find a way to break the situation. He had to!
He stopped trying to fight Mirror Lake head-on and instead devoted more of his mind to perceiving the gray mist space itself, searching for any possible flaw or rule in the rules Mirror Lake controlled—even the slightest hint.
At the same time, he no longer used his suppressed divine oracle for attack or large-scale defense, but instead concentrated it extremely, making it introverted, like the most sensitive tentacles, sensing the energy flow and spatial fluctuations of each of Mirror Lake’s attacks.
He was waiting, enduring, looking for the only possible chance that theoretically existed.
However, Mirror Lake seemed to see through his intentions.
“Junior, still struggling? Still looking for that nonexistent chance?”
Mirror Lake’s form suddenly solidified to Gu Qiancheng’s left.
A knife-hand strike, tearing through the gray mist with a screech, chopped toward his neck.
Gu Qiancheng barely twisted sideways, blocking with his arm. Bang!
His arm ached sharply, and a faint bone crack sounded.
“Useless.”
Mirror Lake’s voice came from his right, and a kick aimed at his knee.
Gu Qiancheng staggered backward.
The gray mist coiled around him, trying to slow his movements.
“The threads of fate have already been woven.”
Mirror Lake appeared behind him like a ghost, a palm strike aimed at his back.
Gu Qiancheng twisted his body, barely dodging the vital point.
The palm wind scraped his ribs, burning hot and painful, stirring his energy and blood.
“All your efforts, all your persistence, all your searching for opportunities…”
Mirror Lake’s attacks came like a storm from all directions, but his voice was terrifyingly calm. “…are just the part of the script already written.”
“And now…”
Mirror Lake’s attacks abruptly stopped.
Gu Qiancheng gasped, watching the gray mist ahead warily.
Mirror Lake’s form slowly walked out of the mist, only five steps away from him.
On Mirror Lake’s face—the stern countenance of Zhao Zhenwu—wore a complicated expression mixing pity, mockery, and a touch of indescribable complexity.
“…it’s time for this stubborn act to temporarily close the curtain.”
Mirror Lake raised his right hand and formed a fist.
This time, there was no lightning-fast assault, no bizarre displacement.
He simply drew his fist back to his side, then slowly, steadily, thrust it forward. The motion was not fast, even somewhat heavy.
But the moment he punched, Gu Qiancheng felt all the surrounding gray mist suddenly press down on him!
Space solidified!
Time seemed to slow down!
His proud speed and reaction seemed utterly powerless before this solid space and the slow but unstoppable fist!
What shocked him even more was that the few strands of divine oracle power he had dispersed to sense space and Mirror Lake’s energy now suffered strong interference and attraction from a source of the same origin, causing extremely subtle, uncontrollable fluctuations!
This almost negligible disturbance—caused by his own power being restrained—became a fatal flaw in this life-and-death moment!
He tried to mobilize all his power to dodge or defend, but his body’s reaction in the solidified space was a negligible fraction too slow.
And Mirror Lake’s seemingly slow fist seemed to cross spatial distance, ignore temporal delay, and precisely, solidly, land squarely on the center of Gu Qiancheng’s chest!
No earth-shattering sound.
Only a muffled, extreme thump, as if both flesh and soul were struck at the same time.
Gu Qiancheng’s entire body shook violently. His pupils instantly dilated.
He felt an indescribable terror force—a mix of physical impact, spatial tearing, and will erosion—pierce through his body, shatter all his hastily gathered defenses, and slam into his heart, his energy core, his soul!
“Wah–!”
He spat out a mouthful of blood, which even contained tiny golden particles of divine oracle origin light.
The world spun, blurred, and darkened before his eyes.
All sounds faded away.
All perception stripped away.
Boundless pain and cold engulfed him.
His body, like a dead tree losing all support, slowly fell backward and finally crashed heavily onto this viscous, cold, endless gray mist earth, stirring up a few faint wisps of vapor.
Consciousness seemed to sink into darkness.
Mirror Lake slowly withdrew his fist and stood there, looking down at Gu Qiancheng, who lay on the ground, his breath fading.
The gray mist stirred silently, as if wanting to wrap around and devour him too.
The pitch-black turmoil in Mirror Lake’s eyes calmed somewhat.
The complex expression on his face eventually turned into a nearly inaudible, ambiguous sigh.
“Fate…”
“is absolutely not something humans can resist.”
The gray mist rolled silently, covering everything in a haze of despair.
The curtain seemed to be slowly closing.