Chapter 205 Invasion

The fragments of the divine seal, which were the core lifeline of this place, are no longer there, and the power of restarting has become like water without roots, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

In my perception, this secret hideout building crumbled and vanished like the moon's reflection in water; even the laboratory shattered, and a void of darkness surged in from the cracks, engulfing everything. I turned to look at the girl, Lu Chan, who was also silently watching me. Neither of us spoke.

The independent reality space has come to an end, yet some mysteries remain unsolved in my heart.

Why is the young girl Lu Chan appearing here? Even though this independent reality space seems like a dream to Dr. Silver Mask, Chenlong, and myself, it is undeniably reality for everyone, including Lu Chan. Even with the National First-Class Demon Hunter Medal as its source, and as the embodiment of a dream, Lu Chan shouldn't be in reality. The obsessions left behind by the past Lu Chan shouldn't manifest in physical form.

In any case, I probably won't have the chance to explore the answer anymore; the truth will be buried in darkness along with this space.

Darkness overwhelmed my vision and consciousness.

Then, my consciousness automatically returned to the real world, back to the "clinic" of the monster maker. Lu Youxun, Zhu Shi, and Ma Zao were standing beside me, while the demon hunter team brought by Shen Qiang waited silently outside the door.

What happened there truly felt like a dream. Upon waking, I was filled with an indescribable emptiness and melancholy. Yet, I could still confirm the enormous "slag" hidden within the flames after killing Chenlong. This was irrefutable proof that those experiences were not fabricated.

Even now, I still don't understand the purpose of "slag." However, perhaps because I'm obtaining more and more "slag," my vague premonition is becoming clearer. It's definitely a valuable item, a treasure that greatly enhances superpowers, its value far surpassing that of the Outer Path Impermanence Sword.

"--The independent reality space has been destroyed."

That was the first thing I said.

Lu Youxun immediately perked up and announced, "The operation begins!"

Immediately afterward, Ma Zao made a move. In her left hand, she held a skull carved from brown wood, the tool that Lu Youxun had given her to bear the burden of the soul in place of the user; while her right palm was pointed towards the center of the front hall, activating the power of the Blessing of Return.

"All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows—"

She recited the sentence as if chanting a spell.

A dark and eerie mist appeared out of thin air, forming a portal. Because she was in poor condition last time, the recreated portal was only a cave that could barely be crawled through; now, she didn't need to worry about her soul's burden, and the recreated portal was the same size as the one opened by the monster creator in the past, with a diameter of more than two meters, large enough to drive a car through.

The wooden skull prop's eyes glowed red, and its mouth opened and closed rapidly, clearly bearing the burden of her soul. She turned to look at the demon hunter team, who moved in unison, incredibly swiftly and in perfect order, rushing into the vortex of black mist one after another.

We eventually found ourselves on the other side of the black fog vortex.

Using some "fireflies" previously stationed at the old Humanitarian Division's outpost, I sensed the changes happening on the other side even before passing through the portal. As the independent reality space was completely destroyed, the space surrounding the old outpost became blurred like ripples on water, quickly returning to normal a second later. The people and objects that had existed in the independent reality space reappeared at the old outpost, such as the guards and researchers, as well as the equipment and materials that had been taken from there.

Chang'an has definitely returned to the real world and may have appeared in this vicinity. Once I retrieve him, my mission will be accomplished.

Furthermore, because I had focused almost all my attention on killing Dr. Silver Mask, I allowed the guards and researchers to be resurrected by the power of reactivation. After passing through the portal, the Witcher team moved deeper into the old stronghold and soon engaged in battle with the guards who had transformed into monsters. Hearing the sounds of battle in the distance, Zhu Shi changed into a straw hat and raincoat without saying a word, drew his sword, and joined the battle.

Those researchers are one thing, but I have no intention of keeping those guards alive. It doesn't matter if I forgot to kill them before; I can still kill them now. I was about to summon a sea of ​​fire to kill all the guards inside the old stronghold. Lu Youxun seemed to sense my intention and quickly stopped me.

“Wait…don’t kill the strange people here yet,” he said.

"What's wrong?" I stopped what I was doing.

“Based on the information you provided earlier, the monster's original form shouldn't be in the base. This means that after the guards die, their Heart Seeds should leave the base and go to the original form's location. The base's resurrection mechanism requires all the components of the deceased for a complete resurrection, which would prevent the guards from continuing to exist as monsters after resurrection,” he said. “However, this isn't the case. Each time they resurrect, they can unleash monster power, which means…”

"Their seed of the heart might not leave their bodies automatically?" I asked.

“That’s a possibility. So maybe even if we capture them alive, they won’t self-destruct. We always have to try,” he said. “You don’t need to bother with this capture operation. In fact, all the demon hunters that Sharpshooter brought are looking to make a name for themselves on the battlefield. If you make a move, they’ll have come for nothing.”

"To perform meritorious service..."

Unlike me, a heretic and unorthodox individual, those legitimate unorthodox individuals are probably more concerned with their achievements in Luoshan and the status they gain as a result. Regardless of these considerations, Luoshan records contribution points for those who perform meritorious service, which can be exchanged for various items and resources in the future. I've already achieved enough this time, so there's no need for me to continue earning points.

Besides, I probably won't need scores anymore in the future.

It's not that the items and resources I can exchange for with points are useless to me, but I've already made up my mind to kill the Divine Spear. I don't believe that after killing the less than twenty Great Completion level Impermanences in Luoshan, I can continue to use Luoshan's point exchange system normally.

Zhu Shi didn't seem interested in making contributions, but objectively speaking, battlefield achievements would definitely be useful to her. I glanced at her through the "Firefly." Within the realm of powerful beings, her strength was practically invincible; the monsters in this place posed no threat to her. Even if some enemies possessed absurd supernatural abilities, they couldn't possibly achieve a so-called "first-encounter kill" against the power of "Mount Buzhou." Seeing this, I decided to remain on the sidelines for the time being.

The guards didn't use Shadow Teleportation to escape; instead, they stayed to protect the researchers and fought desperately against the invading demon hunters. I don't believe these strange individuals are absolutely loyal to the Humanitarian Division. It's more likely that the Humanitarian Division has methods to control them, just as Chenlong said, that they have "backdoors" left by the modification surgery inside their bodies.

They all seemed unable to teleport the researchers through the shadows. Based on my previous knowledge of monsters, while they could open portals to the shadow world, the shadow world was a realm where life was forbidden, and there wasn't even a concept of time or space. This aligns with my bizarre experiences entering the shadow world before. Perhaps it's a place where only those with the relevant powers can pass through safely.

Chenlong has done something similar before, involving teleporting others through the shadows, like when he kidnapped Chang'an. Perhaps Chenlong has a way to protect Chang'an in the shadow world with his own power. Ordinary monsters can't enhance shadow teleportation into a "teleportation portal armor," so Chenlong's "comprehensive enhancement" might even upgrade shadow teleportation from "only able to teleport himself" to a skill that "can teleport anything."

While watching these scenes, I entered fire elemental form, merging my spirit with the ambient heat and rapidly expanding it throughout the old stronghold to confirm the location of Chang'an.

At the same time, Lu Youxun turned to Ma Zao and asked, "Can you take over maintaining this teleportation portal?"

"Disengage?" Mazao quickly understood what he meant. "...No, I have to stand by and maintain control at close range."

Lu Youxun said in a tactful tone, "Then, could you please stay here and maintain the portal? Although we currently have an overwhelming advantage in the battle, anything can happen on a battlefield ravaged by strange forces. I hope you can keep your escape route safe."

“Okay.” Ma Zao nodded without any doubt.

However, Lu Youxun's true intention was probably not to let her risk going to the battlefield. There was not only me here, but also the Divine Spear who should be arriving at the battlefield soon, while the only Great Completion level combatant on the other side, Chenlong, was already dead. It was practically a power imbalance between a lion and a tiger and a mouse, so there was no way anything unexpected would happen.

Asahi had never demonstrated any fighting prowess in front of Lu Youxun, and was often seen swaying due to her soul trauma, probably because she was mistaken for an "investigator" who wasn't good at combat. I didn't intend to put Asahi in unnecessary danger, so I readily agreed with Lu Youxun's opinion.

It seems that Shenqiang is really going to have made a wasted trip this time. He once told me that "you can't do anything to Chenlong" and even said something like "I will kill Chenlong". I really want to know how he will react after he finds out about the current situation.

As I pondered, I used my senses to search for the old stronghold and quickly located Chang'an. Sure enough, he was in a dark room deep within the old stronghold's manager's office, still submerged in a transparent container.

In addition, I also found a familiar girl's figure in another laboratory belonging to Dr. Silver Mask.

(End of this chapter)