Beep, beep, beep—!!
Piercing warning alarms echoed through the medical research institute. Red lights flashed, and everyone inside froze for a moment before the entire institute erupted into frantic activity.
"Abnormal patient brainwave activity detected!"
"Abnormal patient heart rate and blood pressure detected!"
"Forbidden Ruin energy readings are rising sharply!"
"Large-scale Mental Power fluctuations detected!"
"...He's waking up!"
Dr. Li strode quickly to the central screen and stared at the young man bound to a chair in the footage. His eyelids fluttered rapidly, and his brow furrowed slightly, as though he would open his eyes at any moment.
"He's finally waking up..." Delight appeared in Dr. Li's eyes.
The alarms were shut off, and the flashing lights stabilized. All the researchers gathered in front of the screen, watching the footage nervously.
On the screen, the young man's bowed head slowly lifted, and his rapidly trembling eyelids suddenly went still.
The next moment, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened...
Buzz—!
The image on the screen rippled like an old television suffering from signal interference. After flickering for a moment, it returned to normal.
"He can actually barely break through the Town Ruin Stele's suppression and allow the Mortal Divine Domain to affect the outside world... Is this the extremely dangerous Divine Forbidden Zone of Sequence 003?"
Dr. Li turned to the researcher beside him. "How is he doing?"
"His heart rate, blood pressure, brainwaves, and Mental Power fluctuations have all returned to normal. His condition is stable, with no abnormalities, except..."
"Except what?"
"His Mental Power is considerably stronger than before. At the moment he woke up, he should have taken a single step from the 'Pool' realm into the 'River' realm."
Dr. Li nodded. "He's maintained the Mortal Divine Domain in his mind for the past year. After such