The blazing radiance gradually faded after its brief flare.
The entire ritual was like a skateboard that had lost its power and was coasting on inertia, slowly coming to a stop.
"Jason? An Lin?"
Job realized that something was wrong. The ritual had been interrupted. He raised his gun and looked ahead warily.
Vaguely, he seemed to have heard the sound of the metal wires of the restraint device snapping. What terrifying willpower that was!
The pain inflicted by the restraint device increased geometrically with the magnitude of one's movements. Job had experienced that feeling before. The pain levels caused by the restraint device were divided into several grades; he had passed out from pain at merely Level Four. To snap the restraint device outright, one would have to endure the highest, Level Thirteen pain.
That was almost impossible, unless the restraint device had malfunctioned!
As the hazy radiance disappeared, Job vaguely saw that his six teammates were still standing ahead, seemingly uninjured.
Yet upon seeing this, he did not hesitate at all and immediately charged toward Selina.
Had he been discovered? What a pity. The disguise had not been convincing enough. If they were alive, they should have been holding their guns on guard and calling out to confirm each other's survival, not standing there blankly.
He Ao sighed inwardly. His body was somewhat stiff and trembling at the moment. The metal wires that had pierced his body did hurt a little, but the pain was still within his tolerance.
By then, Job had already grabbed Selina's hand and was about to remove her Electronic Shackles.
He knew very well that Selina was the only one who could save him now. At worst, he could go back to prison.
But the instant he touched the Electronic Shackles, his entire body froze in place.
Selina stared at the man who had been swaggering around only moments ago. A huge, slick tentacle pierced straight through his body. This terrifying weapon of flesh entered through the gap between the ribs in his back, accurately pierced Job's heart, and emerged from his chest.
Bright red blood splattered across Selina's fair skin and long golden hair.
Then, the enormous tentacle drew back slightly and lifted Job's body like a slab of hanging cured meat. Job was still conscious. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only blood, forced into his windpipe from his chest cavity, kept pouring from his mouth.
By then, all the radiance had dissipated. Selina took two steps back and turned to look toward where the six teammates had originally been standing.
They were not "alive." They were "standing."
Their bodies had all been pierced by sharp tentacles. The tentacles supported them like pillars, making them appear to be "living people."
When Selina looked at them, the tips of those tiny tentacles controlled the corpses' heads, turning them toward her and pulling open their eyelids so that they stared directly at Selina.
Even Selina, with all her experience, had her sanity struck by this scene, leaving her mind blank for a moment.
In that instant of distraction, two tentacles shot forward and wrapped around her body.
By the time she reacted, she had been tightly bound and suspended in the air.
At that moment, certain "action films" she had watched began replaying uncontrollably in her mind.
Although most of her body had been converted into a Mechanical Prosthetic Body, prosthetic companies installed tiny sensors beneath the skin to ensure comfort, giving users senses like those of flesh-and-blood bodies—perhaps even more sensitive.
Tentacle after tentacle began withdrawing from the dead teammates and Job, coiling once more beneath He Ao's body.
From Selina's perspective, He Ao's body was now as huge as a small mountain. Countless tentacles formed its foundation, supporting the mountain, while a long neck stretched out from above it, bearing a skull-like head.
Thud—thud—thud—
Those were the sounds of the teammates' corpses hitting the ground.
Selina looked at He Ao with a mixture of fear and puzzlement and cautiously asked, "Are you still sane?"
Most Evil God priests had no sanity left. After seeking power from an Evil God, they would suffer the Evil God's "gaze." Under that gaze, both their minds and bodies would gradually become twisted and insane. Though they possessed immense power, they used it like children wildly swinging hammers.
Thus, although Evil God priests were powerful, they were easy to deal with. As long as one used an item to shatter the last remnants of their sanity and send them completely into madness, they could be easily killed or imprisoned like targets standing still.
Selina had used this very method against the God of Knowledge priest named Yezuola. Yet during the recent battle, "Yezuola" had displayed obvious intelligence.
That made Selina feel that "Yezuola" had been pretending all along. In reality, "Yezuola" was a high-ranking priest capable of retaining his sanity beneath an Evil God's gaze. That was why she tried to communicate with "Yezuola."
The other party had not killed her, so he must have some purpose.
Perhaps she could make use of him...
Just as Selina was thinking this, the tentacles binding her tightened further and lifted her a little higher.
This was a warning not to entertain any clever ideas.
At the same time, He Ao began flipping through the book on the ground.
There was only one book on the ground. It was the offering prepared by Job and the others. It was filled with the weight of age, and He Ao had no idea where Job's group had dug it up.
He Ao roughly flipped through it. Through this body's instincts, he could recognize the writing of this world. It was merely a simple elementary school mathematics textbook, with no real value.
Suspended in the air, Selina seemed to sense his disappointment and carefully said, "If you need books, there are many in the room we just explored. Were those collected by you before?"
As she spoke, she began reinstalling her prosthetic operating system. She had rebooted it several times already, but she could not remove the virus. The entire operating system was nearly completely paralyzed. She could only try reinstalling it, wiping all data and restoring the system to its original state.
But reinstalling the system meant that she would lose all combat capability for an hour, and after the reinstallation, most of her previously loaded combat modules would be lost. Still, no situation could be worse than this one.
What she needed to do now was stabilize this Evil God priest and buy herself more time.
Hearing her speak, He Ao raised his head and glanced at her, but said nothing. Still suspending her in the air, he shifted his body toward the passage they had just emerged from. As he moved, he pulled out the metal stakes embedded around him.
Before you continue