This is a chaotic dream, one belonging to a human trapped in utter despair.
In the dream, massive starships glide overhead, casting enormous shadows over the city, and countless humans dissolve in a blinding halo of light. Unnameable deities throw terrifying shadows from the sky, while the grotesque faces of Zerg creatures flash repeatedly in shattered images.
In a montage of chaotic scenes, strange and eerie beings break free from confinement in underground bases built by humans. Inside the Federal Protection Zone, terrifying specters draped in blood, grotesquely stitched-together monsters, and countless ominous butterflies, symbols of the apocalypse, ravage unchecked.
Desperate cries and humanity’s last resistance occur amidst the ruins of a fallen city. The spacecraft carrying the last remnants of human civilization finally takes off, only to be destroyed by a beam fired from an alien ship just as it is about to escape Earth.
In the end, the once-green planet slowly dims and crumbles into dust within the cosmic void.
This is the fate of humanity.
Federal Central Protection Zone, Special Incident Department Headquarters
Kun Deming woke up drenched in sweat, his head throbbing in pain.
He had the dream again—the dream about his previous life.
Sitting up in bed, Kun Deming lit a cigarette, smoking despondently. Through the haze of smoke, his body slouched in exhaustion.
Although he had been reborn for three or four days now, he still couldn’t escape the fate of humanity's ultimate demise. He constantly felt like he should have perished in that planetary catastrophe rather than merely surviving here.
Severe post-traumatic stress had left Kun Deming mentally exhausted in the past few days, his mind replaying the final moments of humanity over and over. Most haunting was the culprit behind their extinction—the Nameless Ancient God, the deepest fear he didn’t even dare to glance at in his dreams.
As the name of the entity surfaced in his mind, Kun Deming slapped himself hard, snapping his foggy consciousness back to reality and forcibly erasing any memory of the ancient deity's form.
Gods were untouchable, indescribable, and unforgettable.
Because once you described what they looked like upon their awakening, they would sense it. That omniscient, terrifying existence might trace the timeline back to this point. As the vessel carrying the memory, Kun Deming could very likely be polluted by the god's essence, eventually becoming a mindless servant of the ancient deity.
His sole purpose for being reborn was to change the fate of humanity’s extinction. He couldn’t let them be discovered prematurely by the ancient god, or else his rebirth would be for nothing.
Kun Deming had been doing his best recently to suppress his memories, erasing much of the information related to the ancient god from his mind. To ensure he wouldn’t be detected, he even made a conscious effort not to piece together the ancient god’s form during his nightmares.
Luckily, Kun Deming’s spiritual power had broken past human limits in his previous life, enabling him to forget the information related to the ancient god. If he were an ordinary person, having faced the awakened form of an ancient god, he would have been permanently trapped in endless terror and madness, never waking again, barely able to maintain any semblance of human consciousness.
This rebirth was humanity’s last desperate gamble before extinction, and Kun Deming would not allow himself to repeat the same mistakes.
It was the middle of the night, and after enduring yet another nightmare, Kun Deming had no desire to return to sleep. He got dressed and prepared to head to the office to review the files.
Since his rebirth, he realized that the current world’s situation differed greatly from his previous life—the rate of deterioration was far faster.
Supernatural entities were more active than ever before, springing up like mushrooms after rain over the past year. All the Federal Protection Zones were overwhelmed, while the Curtis Empire on the other side was equally busy, with both sides losing the will to fight each other.
Originally, this level of crisis wouldn’t have emerged for at least another five years, but now it had come so much sooner. The change left Kun Deming feeling increasingly uncertain about the future. He wasn’t sure how long the advantage of his foreknowledge from his past life would last.
Sitting at his desk, Kun Deming stared at the files in his hand, his bloodshot eyes betraying his exhaustion.
The world was already on the brink of collapse, and the timing of his rebirth was neither good nor bad—he could only do his best to fulfill his mission.
His current priority was to stop the two rival governments on Far Star from continuing their outward exploration, or they would soon encounter the first crisis from his previous life: the alien invaders.
And the greatest enemy, who wouldn’t appear for another twenty years—the untouchable, unnameable ancient god—he wasn’t sure if that being had already begun to awaken.
Thinking of this, Kun Deming massaged his throbbing temples, recalling the hopelessness of humanity’s situation in his past life. The gap between humans and the ancient gods was far greater than the gap between ants and humans.
The ancient gods, descending from the depths of space, protected their Zerg servants and were utterly invincible.
In his previous life, humanity was utterly powerless against this unknown and terrifying ancient god. They couldn’t even learn its true name, calling it only the Nameless Ancient God. Just the silhouette of its form and the presence of its lower-ranking servants were enough to push humanity to the brink of extinction.Kun Deming didn’t think his rebirth alone could defeat it—he could only try to prevent the ancient god from discovering humanity as it did in his previous life and leading its servants to spread shadow and chaos.
Kun Deming believed he could at least bring some light to humanity’s future, preventing them from sinking entirely into darkness. But humanity’s fragile status in this vast universe, where they could be trampled upon by any foreign force, still left him feeling helpless.
Looking out through the glass wall of his office at the neon lights of the ever-busy city, Kun Deming’s expression grew bitter.
------------------------------------------------------------
The Inner World
Flesh crawled up the sides of buildings, grotesque and sinister. Zhou Shi, accompanied by veteran executor Lao Ji and the young agent Xiao Zhang, cautiously walked along the roadside. Their movements were swift, but to avoid the nearby active fleshy growths, they moved slowly, almost at a crawl.
The positioning system had completely malfunctioned, and all around them was a landscape of flesh, blood vessels, and internal organs. This scene of spiritual pollution left them dizzy and disoriented.
Zhou Shi, leading the way, suddenly felt the world spinning, his vision turning blurry and blood-red. He had encountered such mentally overwhelming paranormal events before and knew instantly that his mind was on the verge of collapse. Biting his tongue hard, he forced himself back to clarity.
Looking back at Lao Ji and Xiao Zhang, their faces looked just as wrong. Quickly shaking them awake, Zhou Shi suggested they rest a bit before moving forward. According to his memory, they should be close to the gates of the City of Li University. They couldn’t afford to make a mistake now—they needed to recover before pushing ahead.
Both Lao Ji and Xiao Zhang were nearly at their limits and agreed to Zhou Shi’s suggestion with a nod.
"Just a bit more, and we’ll be out of here!"
Zhou Shi encouraged his companions, though as he looked up at the path ahead—now lost in indistinguishable fleshy roads, all blending into one another—his eyes held deep concern.
If this truly was the Inner World from the Incident at Federal Protection Zone 33, then escape was impossible.
Right now, there aren't many monsters yet, only some grotesque, twisted flesh squirming around. Avoiding them is possible, but once the inner world completely tears away its facade of kindness, their demise will be inevitable.
We have to escape from the City of Li University before the monsters appear.
Zhou Shi was contemplating escape plans when he suddenly heard the young executor, Xiao Zhang, next to him, let out a difficult, choking sound, his voice trembling, "… What is that… above?"
Above?
Zhou Shi’s thoughts were interrupted. He furrowed his brows and instinctively raised his eyes to the blood-red sky above.
What else could there be besides a glaring red color?
Thinking this, Zhou Shi widened his eyes the moment he looked up. Reflected in his pupils was a gigantic black hole, as if he were witnessing the end of the world, his expression blank.
The vast cosmos flickered faintly within the black hole. Countless distant celestial bodies glowing dimly adorned a grand, majestic figure, as if draped in a veil of stars. Merely gazing upon it brought an overwhelming sense of awe and grandeur far beyond human imagination.
Facing the deity directly, Zhou Shi’s mind went blank. It took him a long time to barely recognize, with his remaining human understanding, that this was a humanoid figure.
He saw the figure extend its upper body from the black hole, surrounded by countless stars. The veil of Nameless Mist and chaotic darkness wove into a shroud that obscured its face, making it even more majestic and impossible to gaze upon directly.
Zhou Shi stared blankly at the scene in the sky, watching as the figure slightly bent down and looked in this direction. Though he couldn’t discern any expression on the deity’s face, shrouded by Nameless Mist and chaos, Zhou Shi inexplicably had a gut feeling.
He felt as though he had been "seen."
The sensation of being observed by an unknown, great presence caused Zhou Shi's entire soul to tremble, rendering him immobile. This was only the result of an unintentional glance from that great being, as it soon shifted its gaze elsewhere.
Zhou Shi’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices. Even though the deity's gaze bore no malice, it brought immense mental shock, making him cough up blood—enough to cause excruciating pain but not fatal.
"Cough! Cough!"
Zhou Shi weakly fell to the ground, supported by Lao Ji, who had regained his senses. His eyes still gazed skyward, where he saw the massive figure approaching a blood-soaked academic building.
Then, the great presence halted its gaze, seemingly drawn to something interesting, and did not move its eyes for a long time.
Looking at the building and the colossal figure peering down from the sky, Zhou Shi was struck with an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
For reasons unknown, he felt that the sight of the great being watching the academic building resembled him as a child, squatting by the roadside, curiously watching ants carry food.
Back then, he was mischievous. Sometimes, he’d toss a sugar cube to the ants and watch them diligently carry it away. Other times, in a fit of anger, he’d pour boiling water into their nest and watch their lifeless bodies float around.
In this great being’s perception, are humans merely ants too?
This sudden question in Zhou Shi’s mind made him cough up another mouthful of bloody foam. His fragile mental state couldn’t bear to watch any longer, and he painfully shifted his gaze away.
Though he had no idea why the great figure had appeared, observing the surrounding blood-flesh organisms suddenly calm down, Zhou Shi knew that now was the best time to escape.
"Let’s go! While the flesh organisms haven’t started killing yet!"
With Lao Ji’s help, Zhou Shi stood up, and the three of them began walking in the direction of the gate they remembered.
Behind them, the enormous figure, covering a large portion of the blood-red sky, was still gazing down at the academic building below with great interest.
More precisely, it was watching the few frantic humans fleeing inside the building—familiar faces to Ke Su, targets that the original owner deeply loathed.
"Ah! Ahh! Save me! Ahhhh!!!"
A scream pierced the air as another companion was dragged away by the flesh-like, intestine-like tendrils in the corridor. Wang Yun and Wen Wen covered their mouths, hiding in the corner, trembling and not daring to make a sound.
"…"
Wen Wen’s face was soaked with tears, and even her sobs were muffled deep in her throat.
They had no idea how long they’d been trapped in the academic building. At first, people had hoped they could escape through the stairwell.
However, in this building completely covered in flesh, the nearest stairwell had become a nest for a deformed flesh creature. Twisted intestines and shattered internal organs wriggled along the walls. If anyone got too close, long, blood-soaked intestines would lash out, strangle their necks, and hang them up, leaving them to struggle in agony, unable to break free.
"Wh-What do we do?"
Hiding in a classroom where the walls were covered in blood vessels and organs but no monsters, Wen Wen hugged her head and cried bitterly.
Wang Yun, his face pale, crouched next to her, chilled to the bone.
Only the two of them were left in the classroom now. The others had either disappeared or been captured by the flesh creatures and tortured in unimaginable ways. The two had only escaped because they were quick and ruthless, pushing others as shields without hesitation, narrowly escaping death.
"… I don’t know."
Wang Yun had never seen anything so terrifying. His mind was in disarray, unable to come up with a plan. They both remained in the classroom, too scared to venture out again. Monsters were everywhere outside, and here, at least, it was safe.
Hearing Wang Yun’s words, Wen Wen crouched helplessly, half-hugging herself. Under the intense pressure of despair and her strong will to survive, her strained nerves finally snapped. Unable to hold back anymore, she vented her hatred toward Wang Yun, cursing him venomously.
"… It’s all your fault! No, it’s all your fault! It was your idea! If you hadn’t coaxed Qian Huan into coming here, I wouldn’t be like this! If I die, I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!"
"You’re a scheming idiot! It’s all your fault!"
Wang Yun’s mental state was also unstable. Hearing Wen Wen, who had only survived thanks to him, dare to curse at him, his eyes flared with rage. "You bitch! If it weren’t for me, do you think you could’ve escaped? You worthless woman!"
"I'll spit on you! Who needed you to lead the way?! There was only one path! Do you think I don’t know my way around? Now look at this mess! It’s all because you hated Ke Su and pretended to be innocent, making Qian Huan stand up for you! Otherwise, how would we have ended up here?!"
Wen Wen slapped him without backing down, even scratching Wang Yun’s face with her sharp nails.
Blood seeped from Wang Yun’s face. He almost cried out in pain but held back, fearing it would attract the monsters. Seething with anger, he punched Wen Wen, knocking her to the ground. The disparity in strength between men and women made it easy for him to beat her until her face was bruised and swollen.
"You bitch! You still dared to blame me? Didn’t you spit on Ke Su too? To show off your queen status, you ridiculed him in front of other girls and stuffed a poisonous snake into his backpack! Weren’t those your doing? At least I had a reason. You’re just plain evil!"
Wen Wen, bleeding from the mouth, glared at Wang Yun with venomous eyes. Her hair was disheveled, making her look like a crazed person, no longer the graceful and pretty girl she once was.
In Wen Wen’s mind, her bullying of Ke Su was just her following the crowd. She never thought she was wrong. After all, it was the norm in the school’s atmosphere of isolating Ke Su. Wang Yun, however, was the true instigator behind all of this.
Thinking about it, Wen Wen caressed her swollen cheek, her eyes filled with hatred as she lunged at Wang Yun, not caring if the noise they made would attract the monsters. Her near-insane mental state left her with only one thought: revenge. She wanted to make Wang Yun pay for hitting her!
The fight, born out of emotional release, ended with Wen Wen’s weak cries for help. Wang Yun had wrapped a bloody intestine around Wen Wen’s neck, tightening it as he excitedly watched her life slowly slip away, laughing maniacally.
"Dead! Hahaha! Crazy woman! Serves you right! Hahaha!!"
Wang Yun's eyes were bloodshot as he picked up a stool beside him and repeatedly smashed it into Wen Wen's body. His world was bathed in crimson, his mental state extremely heightened, looking like a madman, his face covered in blood.
He didn't know how long it had been when he suddenly heard a venomous laugh. Terrified, he dropped the stool, now stained with blood, and saw Wen Wen’s twisted corpse rising from the ground. Her shattered face looked grotesque, and in her only remaining eye burned a deep-seated hatred.
"It hurts—It hurts so much!!!"
Her limbs twisted backward, like a beast crawling toward him, letting out a shrill scream that seemed to pierce his eardrums. Her head cracked open, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, drooling, as she lunged at Wang Yun, her murderer.
"No! No! I'm sorry! Please, spare me!!!"
Wang Yun frantically tried to escape, but his arm was torn off. The classroom door wouldn't budge no matter how hard he tried. Despair filled his vision as he glanced at the blood-soaked room. Outside the scarlet windows, he suddenly noticed the dazzling stars.
"...Help me... someone, please save me..."
Clutching his severed arm, Wang Yun limped toward the window, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes. He believed the light from the stars would lead him to salvation. But when he got to the window, all he saw was a swirling mass of chaotic darkness intertwined with the Nameless Mist.
He looked up blankly and suddenly realized that the walls of the classroom, once covered in blood vessels and organs, were now filled with countless eyes. It was a scene more horrifying than any nightmare, far worse than what someone with trypophobia could ever imagine.
Whispers echoed.
The familiar murmuring reappeared as Wang Yun pressed himself against the window, gazing at an awe-inspiring figure. Draped in the veil of the Nameless Mist and chaos, it approached the small school building. The stars Wang Yun had seen? They were nothing more than decorations on this magnificent figure's garment.
In the classroom, those countless eyes blinked, opening and closing one after the other, all fixated on the human pressed against the window.
The incomprehensible entity was clearly watching everything unfold in the classroom with great interest.
Crunch, crunch—
Wen Wen pounced on Wang Yun, completely devoid of reason, only knowing how to bite and tear at the man who had killed her. Under the deity's gaze, she began to transform, her limbs becoming more and more deformed, but also stronger. She eventually lost all semblance of a human form, turning into a terrifying monster.
This was evolution, a gift from the god.
Inside the classroom, Wang Yun’s throat was ripped open. Unable to make a sound, he could only gurgle pathetically, watching himself get devoured piece by piece. His face contorted in agony, memories of the past flashing before him, particularly the moment that led to all of this: the scene of that boy confessing his love to him.
Regret filled his soul.
If he hadn't schemed against Ke Su out of disgust for homosexuality, and if he hadn't led him to this hellish school building today, maybe he wouldn't have met such a tragic end. But now, it was too late.
With deep remorse, Wang Yun fell into eternal darkness, consumed by pain.
The eyes in the classroom blinked, as if bored, disappearing from the walls. Moments later, they reappeared inside an elevator.
The elevator had stopped moving, trapped by the blood and flesh growing inside the shaft, leaving the two people inside to endure an agonizing amount of time in the claustrophobic space.
Whispers echoed again.
The eyes appeared on the ceiling of the elevator, gazing down at everything inside.
Inside the blood-filled elevator, Qian Huan and Li Lanlan had become like startled birds. After hearing the whispers, they looked around nervously, paranoid.
By now, they were no longer as close as they were when they first entered the elevator. Just like Wang Yun and Wen Wen, the oppressive and terrifying environment had caused them to argue and fight. All because Li Lanlan had refused to share the chocolate she had brought with her.
Li Lanlan’s face was bruised from being slapped. She huddled in the corner, her downcast eyes filled with resentment.
The elevator had stopped so suddenly, and the grotesque appearance of the flesh growing around them made everyone uneasy. No one knew how much longer they would be trapped there. She had only wanted to save the chocolate for when they were really starving, planning to share it then. But who would have thought that Qian Huan, who always seemed so generous and dependable, would turn out to be so selfish, greedily eating the entire chocolate in one bite.
Li Lanlan desperately wanted to get out of here and expose this scumbag's true nature to the world!
Qian Huan stood in the elevator, his sleeve torn by Li Lanlan. He no longer had the clean, polished look of a wealthy young man, resembling more of a vagrant now.
His face was still full of anger as he paced around the elevator, trying to dispel his fear.
"Damn it! Did you hear that?!"
Qian Huan's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Li Lanlan like a madman. He had heard the whispering sound, and it was driving him crazy.
Li Lanlan had also heard the whispering. Terrified of Qian Huan after the beating, she quickly agreed, saying that she had heard it too.
The eyes on the ceiling blinked, glancing at the long-haired woman behind Qian Huan before looking toward the closed elevator door.
Ding— At that moment, the elevator doors suddenly opened, revealing the blood-filled corridor outside.
Both Qian Huan and Li Lanlan stared in shock, rushing out of the elevator without a second thought.
They had tried prying open the doors before, but the solid alloy doors wouldn't budge. They had been trapped in the elevator, surrounded by blood-covered walls, with no way out.
Now that the doors were finally open, they couldn't wait to escape.
But as soon as they stepped out, Li Lanlan saw something horrifying— a long-haired woman in white clung to Qian Huan’s back, her reflection staring back at Li Lanlan from her pupils.
Whispers echoed again.
Countless eyes filled the walls of the corridor, squeezed together like curious children watching something interesting. Their collective gaze was focused entirely on Qian Huan.
The elevator woman, now clinging to Qian Huan’s back, trembled.
With shaky hands, the elevator woman followed her rules for killing, revealing her hideous face to Qian Huan. Her jaw split open down to her neck, exposing a pitch-black maw as she let out a raspy roar.
"Ka-ka-ka!"
"Aaaah!!!"
Blood splattered as Qian Huan watched in horror. The strange woman on his back crawled inside his torso, devouring his organs. The unbearable pain forced him to scream uncontrollably, unable even to pass out. He kept screaming until his final breath.
"Ghost! Ahhhh!!!"
Li Lanlan, nearly driven insane by the sudden turn of events, shrieked, abandoning the man she once held dear, and ran away as fast as she could.
The eyes on the walls seemed to curve, as if they were smiling.
Hehehehe—
Hehehehe—
The whispering sound transformed into something like laughter, echoing throughout the entire school building. Eyes began to grow everywhere, curiously turning in different directions. The laughter repeated over and over, creating a deep level of mental pollution, causing all the humans struggling to survive inside the building to wail in agony.
The woman from the elevator, having finished following the murderous rules, trembled as she crawled back into the elevator amid the laughter, tightly closing the door and no longer daring to come out.
Seeing all those hated by the original host receive their due punishment, Ke Su smiled in his sleep. The rare feeling of joy lifted his spirits as he stood up, walking around in a world of flesh and blood. He accidentally crushed a few trembling flesh creatures underfoot, leaving bloody smears on the ground.
But this did not affect his good mood. He looked up at the bloody sky around him and, for once, felt like exploring his dream. He took a few steps out of the school campus, seeing the densely packed buildings of the city in the distance. He recognized it as his hometown, the City of Li.
Why not take a stroll? He had never looked at the City of Li from above before.
With that thought, Ke Su began walking toward the city, wandering through the streets. The Nameless Mist enveloped the city, making it seem like a fog-covered metropolis, twisting time and space.
Thus, the inner world and the outer world briefly overlapped in the dream of a slumbering deity.
"We finally got out!" The young executor, Xiao Zhang, looked at the road no longer filled with flesh, his eyes turning red as he nearly shed tears.
However, Zhou Shi remained on high alert. Despite being supported by two others, his expression was still serious.
If this were the inner space, there was no way they could have escaped so easily. He looked around suspiciously, still believing they were inside the flesh-constructed inner world, with the flesh's spread merely having yet to reach them.
"Let's find a car and head back to the headquarters downtown!" Zhou Shi said heavily. Only by reaching the headquarters could he determine if they were in the real world or merely a false illusion of the inner space.
Old Ji understood Zhou Shi's concerns. With Xiao Zhang's help, they soon found a car, smashed the door open, and drove toward the city.
Zhou Shi sat in the back, breathing weakly as he watched the City of Li University disappear in the distance. His pupils suddenly contracted. He saw the boundless mist quickly spreading, and amidst the thick, gray fog, a massive shadow was approaching.
Whoosh—
The shadow arrived swiftly, and Zhou Shi felt his head roar. Countless mysterious and brilliant stars filled his vision, the vast universe brushing past him, sweeping by the tiny car that carried these insignificant humans.
Never before had Zhou Shi felt so acutely aware of humanity's insignificance and powerlessness. Amidst the countless celestial bodies that passed by, he could barely make out the chaotic darkness and the rolling mist.
In an instant, he understood the identity of the shadow.
It was Him, the great being that had emerged from the black hole.
Zhou Shi, as if entranced, dragged his weak body out of the car, gasping for breath as he leaned against it, straining to see.
In the distance, at the end of the straight highway, the massive shadow loomed faintly in the mist, walking through the deserted wilderness like a god traversing His divine realm, moving among the towering, tech-filled buildings of the city. It was a scene straight out of the most spectacular and imaginative classical romanticist novel.
And it was also the most terrifying scene humanity had faced with all its technological advancement.
All of mankind's science and weaponry seemed pathetically weak before this massive figure, whose full form could not be seen in one glance.
"What a thick mist... The experts say it might be toxic..."
"So annoying, we can't drive anymore..."
In the city center of the City of Li, a mist had inexplicably risen, causing curiosity and concern among the residents.
The dense mist caused several traffic accidents, and no modern technology could explain this sudden and persistent fog.
People going about their morning routines wore gas masks on the streets, not daring to relax after the experts' warnings.
But this mist was not the only strange sight in the City of Li that morning.
The thick fog did more than reduce visibility. Many people claimed to have seen a giant shadow flickering in and out of existence within the mist.
"Huh? What's that? Is something in the fog?"
A career woman on her way to work absentmindedly looked up and saw a vague shadow between two towering buildings amidst the dim, gray mist.
"What? Wow! Look, look! Is this some rare celestial event? Take a picture, quick!"
Several students, heading to school early, laughed as they pointed at the massive shadow in the seemingly endless mist overhead.
Other pedestrians waiting at the crosswalk raised their heads in curiosity. In the next instant, space distorted momentarily, and the inner world appeared, allowing everyone to catch a glimpse of the passing deity.
Countless stars brushed past them, and the deepest, most chaotic darkness of the universe shifted among the buildings, moving with the massive shadow.
"Ahhh!"
"Noooo!"
"It hurts! Why, ahhhh!"
Those who inadvertently glimpsed the scene had no time to react before the whispers among the stars and fragments of cosmic secrets from the chaos exploded in their minds, leaving them writhing in agony, screaming in pain.
The giant shadow paid no attention to the humans' suffering, only wandering curiously through the city. Countless humans it passed screamed in pain, while some weak spirits fled in terror. Those that could not escape in time became mere decorations in the starry mist.
At this moment, the magnetic field of the City of Li displayed a shocking red on the detection screen at the Federal Central Protection Zone.
Ke Su walked through the much smaller City of Li, seeing the towering buildings reduced to miniatures under his palm. The feeling was amusing, prompting him to stroll around twice before looking up and seeing a radiant sun rising on the horizon. It emitted a dazzling halo, reminding him that it was time to wake up.
He had always been an early riser. Though there was nothing to do upon waking, it was still a good habit he needed to maintain.
With that thought, Ke Su closed his eyes. The massive shadow gradually dissipated, and the deep fog enveloping the city vanished, like a fleeting dream, leaving only the screams of countless humans behind.
Before waking, Ke Su's only lingering thought was that the sun he had just seen looked rather tasty.
On the outskirts of the City of Li,
As the mist dispersed, the car Zhou Shi was in reached the end of the road. Several armored vehicles arrived to pick them up, and Zhou Shi, supported by others, stepped out of the car. Before entering the armored vehicle, he couldn't help but glance back at the direction of the City of Li University, the place where the deity had appeared.
Everything felt like a dream—a dream that had come too suddenly, too terrifyingly, and too shockingly.
"This is the full account of the Nameless Mist, now fully documented and accessible online. However, one must never easily attempt to recall His form," Zhou Shi said, glancing at his somewhat monstrous arm, which had undergone repairs but still showed signs of mutation.
After returning to the headquarters, Zhou Shi had tried to recall the Nameless Mist’s appearance to help the City of Li headquarters understand the nature of the incident. However, the attempt led to irreversible mutation in his body. Luckily, he realized the danger in time, stopped recalling, and used tools to restore his body. Despite this, his genes still underwent changes, granting him an ability related to mental pollution.
Zhou Shi couldn't tell if this was a blessing or a curse.
Sitting at his desk, he smiled at the investigator from the headquarters and asked if he could leave now. After receiving confirmation, he left the office.
Walking down the bustling hallway, Zhou Shi suddenly remembered the conclusion of the Nameless Mist incident from a few days ago. The City of Li University had been completely sealed off. It was discovered that the area had become an entrance connecting to the inner world. Entering at night meant being randomly transported inside, with no known way of escaping.
Zhou Shi and his team’s successful escape was a miracle, impossible to replicate.
From the sealed City of Li University, the Special Incident Department rescued several trapped students. Of the original eleven, only eight were saved.
Having spent a day or two in the inner world, the eight survivors were physically unharmed but mentally shattered. They suffered severe psychological trauma and were sent home to recuperate. However, a report had just come in stating that these students were behaving abnormally, exhibiting signs of mental instability, and some even appeared contagious. They were to be brought back soon for further treatment. If they couldn’t be cured, they would be classified as anomalous entities, just like spirits.
After all, lunatics capable of spreading mental pollution were no different from spirits.
As for the remaining three students, one named Wen Wen had disappeared, Deputy Qian Huan's son was killed by the Elevator Woman, and a student named Wang Yun had died with an incomplete corpse, suspected to have been eaten by monsters.
All investigations into the source of the incident came up empty. The higher-ups had decided to seal the Nameless Mist case, halting further exploration to avoid unnecessary losses of personnel due to the incident's highly contagious nature.
Zhou Shi sighed as he looked out the corridor window at the city, as if seeing the giant shadow again.
After experiencing this event, he felt utterly bewildered about humanity's future in this world filled with unknowns and dangers. If that great existence, which had mysteriously vanished, were to reappear in the future, how would humanity respond?
Zhou Shi continued walking forward, leaving the corridor. In the office he had just exited, the investigator sent by the headquarters, also known as Kundemeng, was looking at the file in his hand, his brow furrowed.
Indeed, there are many variables in this era.
Looking at this unfamiliar file, Kun Deming suddenly came up with an absurd guess, thinking that this Nameless Mist resembled that nameless ancient god.
Although he had forgotten what the nameless ancient god looked like, the characteristics of this memory and pollution were truly similar.
☞ Chapter 20(Part 2)
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