The Dead World / Prototype

The Countess turned around and saw Kevin rushing over in a panic. She pointed down the cliff, her face deathly pale.

Kevin was furious at Lara for putting herself in danger, but before he could even open his mouth to question her, his pupils shrank to the size of pinholes the instant he climbed onto the totem pole altar and looked out.

He saw it...

Beneath the desolate plains, shrouded in Gray Fog, twisted human skeletons, entangled and torn apart in bizarre ways, piled up wherever the eye could see.

As the wind-elemental power pulsed, the wasteland was completely covered by this pale color, with countless, densely packed, swathes of ghostly blue phosphorescent flames slowly rising.

Chapter 848, Section 886: The Dead World

Based on the pattern on the totem pole, this piece of stone should be placed... here...

Lara snapped out of her daze, observed and tapped the stones for a while, then placed the stone in her hand among the array of suspended runes, and picked up the other stones that had fallen onto the altar, placing them carefully in their proper places.

In an instant, light flowed within the totem pole, and the array of runes, covered with cracks, slowly rotated, enveloping Kevin and Lara.

The fluttering, flashing characters entered their minds one by one, and blurry, intricate images flashed haphazardly through their thoughts.

"Beneath the universe, runes are the source of creation and civilization..."

"What is the ultimate truth above the void?"

A bald, purple-skinned figure, carrying scrolls on his back and holding an ancient book, left his footprints of exploration in every corner of the continent.

Temples, shrines, natural phenomena, ancient ruins... He yearned to uncover the mysterious power of this world, while simultaneously questioning the void under the starry night.

The void seemed to respond.

After the wizards offered their supreme runic power to the void, a mist spread from the Shadow Isle, the origin of the ritual, plunging the entire world into chaos.

Countless city-states and nations shrouded in mist are seeing a constant stream of delirious, insane, and mad individuals...

They're acting strangely and irrationally...

They gradually made sacrifices to that unknown being, yearning for something from the void to descend. The deeper their faith, the more their physical appearance changed.

In an effort to eradicate the spreading virus, the civilization created by the runes clashed fiercely with the terror descended from the void on the wasteland, ultimately annihilating each other into dust.

Rune Lands... it's over!

The bald, purple-skinned man watched as the brilliance of the last rune tower on the continent was completely swallowed by the mist. He closed the book sadly and shut his eyes in Affliction.

It turns out that the end of knowledge is chaos and ignorance...

I failed to take good care of this world; since the world is a creation, it can also be destroyed...

Summoning the Nameless Mist is an act of desperation... or a sign of madness!

The scroll on its back witnessed the wanderer of the runic civilization take one last look at the gray world before stepping into the altar of the totem pole, disappearing as the light flowed.

Boom! A violent tremor shook Kevin and Lara's mental world. The chaotic images gradually faded and dissipated, and a look of horror bloomed in their eyes.

This world is dead!

"Hey, have you guys finished your archaeological expedition yet?"

Just as the two were still processing the massive amount of information in their minds, Ada stepped out gracefully from the rift formed by the purplish-red light patterns behind them, arms crossed, unable to help but frown and snort coldly.

In fact, the moment she saw that the two were safe, Ada felt a great sense of relief and slowly let go of the fingernails that were stuck in her palm.

"Why are you here? Didn't you say you were waiting outside?"

Kevin glanced at Ada, who had caught up, then his gaze fell on Lara, who seemed to be enjoying herself, and he felt a throbbing pain between his eyebrows.

At this moment, the gray-black mist that Kevin had just swept away surged violently like boiling water.

The void tore open simultaneously, and something seemed to be crossing the barrier, descending upon this dead world.

For some reason, the runes on the surrounding totem poles flickered rapidly until they disintegrated. Kevin glanced at the sky through the narrow crack and felt a chill run down his spine.

"Snap!"

Amidst the strange noise, Lara glanced down at the cracks spreading from the altar. Seeing that they had spread in a spiderweb pattern, her pupils contracted, and she immediately swung out her grappling hook, traversing the crack behind her and securing it.

It's doomed, it's going to collapse!

The Countess, pulling Kevin along—whose forehead veins were bulging and face was pale—struck long legs and ran forward, stepping on falling rocks as the cliff continued to collapse.

"Walk!"

At the same time, Lara warned Ada, female agent expression changed. Without hesitation, she fired her Rope Gun and dodged and leaped away at top speed.

As the terrifying shockwave spread, the three leaped into the crevice and tumbled into the corridor.

In that fleeting glimpse, Kevin seemed to see a polymer of a sphere as radiant as billions of stars squeezing through a rift in the void and descending upon that dead world!

"Original solution! Seal the breach! Quickly!"

The man's expression changed drastically. Without bothering to sort through the items, he grabbed Ada's backpack and threw it directly into the dimensional rift.

As the two sides made contact, Kevin picked up the shotgun that Alex had dropped and, without hesitation, blasted the backpack and the space-generating fluid inside to pieces.

As the liquid evaporated and vaporized, the cosmic Rubik's Cube spatial energy, like blue mist, seeped into the crack, causing the wound, which was originally like a shattered mirror panel, to gradually stick together and even heal.

Although Ada and Lara were a step behind, they quickly followed suit, throwing the remaining spatial elixir into the dimensional rift and completely sealing the gap.

The three of them let out a long breath; the inexplicable, thorn-like feeling made them break out in a cold sweat.

"Bang!"

After taking a few quick breaths to calm himself down, Kevin gave Lara a sharp rap on the head.

"Would it kill you to be so curious?!"

Seeing Kevin's gloomy face, the Countess dared not provoke him and offered a half-hearted apology.

Serves you right!

Ada's lips moved, a silent mockery directed at the Countess.

However, before the female agent could even rejoice for long, she suffered the same treatment as Lara on her head.

"What are you laughing at! You're not much better! We agreed to stay outside! Why did you go in and join the fun!"

Kevin gritted his teeth, recalling the lingering fear he had just experienced.

"I'll settle accounts with you when we get back!"

But Ada rolled her eyes at the threat, clearly unfazed.

Lara, meanwhile, flicked her pink tongue, lightly licked her cherry lips, and patted her pert buttocks, seemingly eager to try and seduce the so-called pursuer, clearly trying to tempt the commander.

Kevin, who was no longer intimidated, was speechless upon seeing this, but before he could teach the three men a lesson, lime began to fall from their heads.

Looking up, I saw spiderweb-like cracks spreading everywhere, and the creaking and cracking sounds of building materials constantly reached my ears.

You two are a jinx! You'll never let us have a moment's peace, even in death!

Kevin closed his eyes in Affliction, and without saying a word, he pulled the two of them up and ran away as fast as he could, bracing himself against the falling rocks.

Meanwhile, at the Cosmic Rubik's Cube research base, Dr. Erik was constantly monitoring the numerical responses, was delighted to see the Cosmic Rubik's Cube inside the machine finally stop operating.

Success! Separation can proceed!

Dr. Erik unloaded it without hesitation and then placed it in a specially made briefcase, with multiple layers of isolation.

"Boom..."

The base where everyone was located shook violently. The blue spatial barrier that had originally sealed off the surroundings gradually faded and thinned, and began to show signs of disintegration.

"PhD?"

One-armed General Randall stumbled into the research institute, his face grim.

"This is a sign that the energy leaking from the Cosmic Rubik's Cube is dissipating. It will start here and continue until the spatial energy enveloping the entire town shatters. Then we can truly go home!"

Erik explained excitedly, his chubby face beaming with anticipation and satisfaction.

"What I meant was, without the protection of the spatial barrier, Hydra is about to launch a full-scale attack..."

Randall's voice was hoarse. After discerning the sounds of explosions and gunfire mixed in with the tremors, he glanced at the wounded soldiers beside him, his face ashen.

Chapter 849, Section 887: The True Form of Torture

Inside the supermarket with its shattered glass doors, several disemboweled corpses lay across the entrance, their bodies swollen, with bulging tumors bursting open.

Countless spider-like insects emerged from the human Mother Nest and swarmed towards the survivors inside the supermarket.

The dozen or so pterosaur-like birds that had been attracted to the area began to abandon the smaller, less fleshy mosquito-like and spider-like insects and started to take an interest in the humans inside.

Their flapping wings struck the shelves with a sound like clashing steel, nearly dragging the painter David's son off several times, eliciting screams of resistance from the survivors.

Fortunately, the shelves inside were all arranged in a staggered pattern, forming a second line of defense, and everyone huddled behind them.

Furthermore, they managed to withstand repeated attacks from the small monsters by means of Motolov cocktails, firearms, and insecticides left behind by the Wolf Pack Squad.

But shrouded in uncertainty, almost no one held any hope for the future, and a pessimistic atmosphere spread through the group.

If it weren't for a member of the Wolf Pack Squad responsible for suppressing and organizing the situation, some desperate survivors would probably have already turned their guns on themselves and fired a shot.

When three large, spider-like monsters squeezed through the glass door, the crowd's expressions were numb, their eyes showing both despair and a hint of relief.

Finally, it's almost over...

However, just as they were about to resign themselves to their fate, the three monsters that had broken into the supermarket, as if sensing some unknown terror, screeched and squeaked, flailing their six legs, and turned to flee frantically into the mist.

Similarly, the little insects that had already crawled into the safe zone behind the shelves also retreated like a tide, so fast that it caught everyone off guard.

"Look, the fog has lifted!"

The trembling crowd watched as the fog outside began to thin, and several severed purplish-red tentacles, under the sunlight, emitted a "squeaking" sound as they gradually vaporized.

The survivors realized the situation was changing and were stunned for a long time before they embraced each other in celebration, weeping with joy.

At this moment, the spatial barrier enveloping the town gradually thinned, and the pervasive weapons began to dissipate, completely erasing the hazy feeling at the edge Earth Realm the town.

Several mosquito-like creatures that escaped the fog circled a few times before crashing to the ground, first turning into a pool of blood, then vaporizing and merging into the fog.

These white mists, as if alive, kept shrinking into the depths of the mountains.

Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack Squad, who had stolen the Mini-nuke and detonated it far from the base, also encountered trouble upon their return.

A returning monster tide!

These monsters seem to have a natural affinity for the fog. After visibility improved in the town, all sorts of mutated creatures flocked to the source of the still-thick fog—the deep mountains.

Therefore, the Wolf Pack Squad responsible for detonating the Mini-nuke, while creating a commotion, also attracted a massive number of monsters that were flowing back from the fog.

As the fog vibrated, its sound-absorbing effect seemed to diminish significantly, and muffled, continuous gunfire echoed from the Blackwatch base.

Alice, who was in charge of command, made a decisive move and split the team into two.

"Wolf Mom, Hank, you two lead the first team and hold off the vanguard of these monsters for twenty minutes!"

"Leon, Chris, take the Second Team and come with me into the Blackwatch base! Something's definitely wrong there!"

Under the instructor's command, the wolves split up and, each led by its alpha, began their work.

Inside the Cosmic Rubik's Cube Research Institute, gunshots rang out in the corridors, the dull thud of bullets piercing flesh echoing intermittently, accompanied by groans of Affliction —some unfamiliar, but many more familiar.

Randall, along with several wounded soldiers and dozens of researchers familiar with firearms, held a tight block at the turning point.

However, the one-armed general and the elderly, weak, and disabled around him were unable to mount an effective counterattack and were quickly driven into a desperate situation by two Blackwatch units that had infiltrated the area.

Just as the remaining few were preparing to fight to the death, several figures with red and black blood vessels all over their bodies and swollen bodies suddenly rushed forward, catching them completely off guard.

The gleaming claws ripped through the abdomens of the two researchers, and as they were pulled out, the still-wriggling pink intestines were dragged out by the spikes on the claws.

The colorful internal organs of the body slid out of the chest cavity one after another through the gaping hole in the abdomen, falling into the pool of blood.

"What are you standing there for? Shoot! Shoot now!"