Ineffective Deterrence and Ineffective Common Sense

The cracks on the beast-tooth pendant spread. That ancient, desolate aura was no longer merely seeping out; it was like a primordial beast awakening, its tranquil slumber disturbed by an ant, stirring a faint, indifferent displeasure.

This aura was incredibly faint, yet it seemed to contain the supreme laws from the universe's inception, transcending everything. It ignored the hotel walls, disregarded spatial distances, and like an invisible ripple, precisely... swept over the "Shadow" members downstairs who were in disguise, attempting to pinpoint Ling Ye's room.

Downstairs, inside a command vehicle disguised as a delivery van.

Several "Shadow" members, clad in black combat suits and well-equipped, were staring intently at the monitoring screens, trying to analyze the heat source signal from Ling Ye's room. Their leader, codenamed "Scorpion," had eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

Suddenly—

Without any warning!

The screens of all the sophisticated electronic instruments in the vehicle erupted with blinding static! All data streams instantly became chaotic and crashed!

"What's going on?! Equipment malfunction?!" Scorpion barked.

"Report, Captain! It's not a malfunction! It's... it's some kind of unknown, ultra-high-intensity energy interference! It instantly burned out the core chips of all our detectors! We... we're blind now!" the technician's voice was filled with shock.

Scorpion's expression changed. "Energy interference? Source?!"

"Unable to lock on! The interference source... seems... to be everywhere?! Or perhaps... from the target's room?!" The technician's voice trembled with disbelief.

Just as chaos erupted inside the vehicle—

Scorpion suddenly felt an indescribable tremor and chill originating from the depths of his soul!

It was as if he had been casually... "glanced" at by some incomprehensible, supreme existence!

In that "glance," there were no emotions, no anger, no killing intent, only a... indifference and disregard, like a human looking at ants fighting at their feet.

But it was precisely this extreme "disregard" that made Scorpion feel a sense of insignificance and suffocation more terrifying than death!

The blood in his entire body seemed to freeze instantly, his muscles went rigid, and he couldn't move even a finger! Cold sweat poured out like an opened sluice gate, instantly soaking his combat suit!

The other team members also froze simultaneously, their faces filled with extreme fear and bewilderment, as if they had collectively witnessed some great terror!

This state lasted for about three seconds.

Then, the suffocating pressure receded like a tide.

The instrument screens in the vehicle were still filled with static, but the soul-level terrifying pressure had vanished.

"Thump!" A team member with weaker psychological resilience collapsed directly onto the ground, unconscious.

Scorpion gasped for air, his face as pale as paper, his eyes filled with the terror and disbelief of a narrow escape!

Just now... what was that?!

Was it the target's power?!

Impossible! Intelligence indicated the target was powerful, but he could never possess this kind of... this kind of terrifying pressure that seemed like the rules themselves!

"Withdraw... Retreat immediately!!!" Scorpion commanded with all his might, his voice hoarse and trembling. "Target threat level... infinitely upgraded! Classified as 'Do Not Engage'! Evacuate immediately! Hurry!!"

The van, like a startled rabbit, let out a hoarse roar from its engine and fled the block without looking back, not even bothering to clean up the mess.

In the room upstairs.

Ling Ye was unaware of everything happening downstairs. He only felt that the pendant around his neck had "activated" again, and then that heart-pounding, desolate aura slowly receded.

The Black-hearted Landlord outside the door was still nagging, holding his phone, his face conveying an anxious "You need to do something!"

Ling Ye was annoyed by the noise and worried that the "Shadow" people would really break in. Although he didn't know why they hadn't made a move yet, this place was definitely not suitable for staying long!

He snatched the landlord's phone, glanced at the screen showing his own foolish appearance, his old face darkened, and he applied force with his hand—

"Crack!"

The phone instantly crumpled into a pile of scrap metal.

Landlord: "!!!" My latest Pineapple phone!

"Money! Pay up!" the landlord screamed instinctively.

Ling Ye didn't bother with pleasantries. He reached into his cloth bag again, pulled out a larger Gold Nugget, and stuffed it into the landlord's hand, growling, "This is enough for you to buy a hundred! Now, immediately, right away, find me a safer, more hidden place that absolutely no one can find! Quickly!"

The landlord looked at the heavy gold in his hand, then at Ling Ye's menacing demeanor, and instantly forgot about the phone, his face blooming into a smile. "Yes, yes! Boss! Absolutely! I have an old house in the countryside with a cellar dug extra deep. It wasn't discovered even when hiding from the Japanese during the war! Guaranteed safe!"

"Lead the way!" Ling Ye didn't want to waste another second.

He turned back into the room, scooped up Ling Xiaoye, who was still whimpering in Su Wanqing's arms, and without bothering with milk powder or diapers, simply wrapped him in a bedsheet. He yelled at Su Wanqing, "Let's go!"

Su Wanqing was already beside herself with panic and could only follow mechanically.

With the landlord leading the way, the three of them, like refugees, hastily left this place of trouble.

Several hours later.

On the outskirts of the city, deep within a dilapidated, abandoned farmhouse courtyard.

Ling Ye stood in a dark, damp cellar that reeked of mold and damp earth, his face ashen.

This place was certainly hidden enough and dilapidated enough, meeting the standards of a "safe house." But...

He glanced at Ling Xiaoye in his arms, who had started crying again due to the unfamiliar environment and hunger, then looked at the pile of moldy straw and rat droppings in the corner. A great sense of powerlessness and rage surged within him again.

He, Ling Ye, who had roamed the Primordial world, when had he ever suffered such indignity?! Hiding in this godforsaken place, holding a "trouble" that needed feeding in his arms!

And the culprit behind all this...

His gaze fell again on the beast-tooth pendant around his neck and the tattered cloth bag in his hand.

It was all because of these "found" pieces of junk!

Must get rid of them! Must!

He remembered the suggestion on that tear-stained note: dig a hole and bury them!

Yes! Bury them right here! This cellar is deep enough!

No sooner said than done! Ling Ye handed the crying Ling Xiaoye to Su Wanqing and, not caring about the dirt, began frantically digging a hole in the corner of the cellar with his bare hands!

He worked with extreme speed, quickly digging a deep pit.

Then, without hesitation, he began to pull things out of the cloth bag--

First was the Chaos Green Lotus basin, which was still slightly warm (along with the pebbles and bellyband inside)!

He picked up the basin, ready to throw it into the pit!

However, the moment the basin was about to slip from his grasp--

"Waaah--!!! No!!!"

Ling Xiaoye, in his arms, seemed to sense something and let out an unprecedented, heart-wrenching cry! His little hands and feet struggled desperately!

And the bellyband on his chest (though covered by clothes) erupted with a dazzling red light, conveying extreme fear, sorrow, and a plea of "Don't abandon us!" It even tried to control the basin to fly back!

The other items in the cloth bag also seemed to be affected, vibrating slightly and emitting uneasy fluctuations.

Ling Ye's movements abruptly halted.

Looking at the deep pit, the struggling basin in his hand, and the wailing child, while also feeling those intense pleas and fearful intentions...

He found that he... actually... couldn't bring himself to do it?!

A very strange emotion, akin to "guilt," quietly sprouted.

Especially the despairing cry from the bellyband, like being abandoned by parents, actually caused his iron heart, which had been dormant for billions of years, to sting slightly?

"Damn it!" Ling Ye cursed under his breath, irritably pulling the Chaos Green Lotus basin back. He snapped at the bellyband, "What are you crying for?! I'm not throwing it away! Alright?!"

The red light from the bellyband instantly became docile, conveying immense joy and attachment, even nuzzling his wrist in a fawning manner (though it didn't touch him).

Ling Xiaoye's crying also miraculously subsided, turning into aggrieved sobs.

Ling Ye looked at this scene, his emotions incredibly complex.

These things... have really become sentient! And they know how to play the victim to gain sympathy!

He sighed and, as if resigning himself to fate, stuffed the Chaos Green Lotus basin back to the very bottom of the cloth bag.

Then, his gaze fell once more on the beast-tooth pendant around his neck.

This one... he could throw away, right? He had no emotional attachment to it!

He reached out to untie the pendant's leather cord.

However, the instant his fingertips were about to touch the pendant--

The beast-tooth pendant seemed to foresee its fate. The ancient, desolate aura within its cracks became active again, but this time, it didn't emit displeasure or deterrence...

Instead...

It conveyed a segment of... extremely blurry, intermittent... incomplete... images that seemed to have traversed endless time... and... emotional imprints...?

Ling Ye's consciousness was violently pulled into an illusion!

[...Endless darkness and cold...]

[...Shattered stars annihilated beneath its feet...]

[...A blurry, colossal, indescribable figure... walking... alone...]

[...Its body was covered in scars... some old... some still flowing with golden blood...]

[...It seemed to be... searching for something... calling out for something...]

[...Then... it suddenly turned its head... as if looking at Ling Ye...]

[...Those eyes... filled with endless... fatigue... sorrow... and... a trace of... faint... joy... like seeing a fellow being...?]

[...It seemed to... want to say something...]

[...But in the next moment... the illusion violently shook... shattering...]

[...Only a final, extremely faint... fragment of emotion, filled with attachment and reluctance... was transmitted... like a candle flickering in the wind...]

The illusion vanished.

Ling Ye suddenly snapped back to reality, finding himself still standing in the cellar, his finger frozen before the pendant, his heart pounding wildly!

Just now... what was that?!

Who was that figure?!

Was it the pendant's "owner"?!

It... seemed to... see him as... one of its own?! And even showed... affection towards him?!

How could this be?!

Ling Ye felt his understanding of the world being overturned once again!

And just then, the beast-tooth pendant on his neck transmitted a faint fluctuation again. This time, it wasn't desolate and ancient, but carried a... cautious, probing... closeness? As if confirming if the previous "communication" was effective?

Ling Ye looked at the cracked, seemingly unremarkable pendant, then recalled the soul-shaking, incomplete illusion and emotional imprint from before...

He realized that he... had actually developed a trace of extremely subtle... reluctance and... curiosity towards this "found" piece of junk...?

Especially the final wave of "affection" and feeling of "kinship," which actually gave him a sense of... absurd... responsibility?

"Damn it..." Ling Ye cursed under his breath, loosening his grip on the leather cord with extreme annoyance.

"You win!"

In the end, he still couldn't bring himself to do it.

He resigned himself to fate and slumped onto the dirty ground. Looking at Ling Xiaoye, who was sobbing in his arms, he touched the now quiet pendant on his neck and patted the cloth bag at his waist.

He felt like he had inexplicably... picked up a whole bunch of... troublemakers?

And at the same time.

In an extremely distant, extremely hidden dimensional rift within the multiverse.

The larger "Origin Core" fragment, which had resonated with the pebbles in Ling Ye's basin earlier and was sealed deep within the Cosmic Graveyard.

It seemed that upon sensing the intense emotional fluctuations from its "brother" and the risk of "being abandoned"...

Its mournful and pleading fluctuations... abruptly... intensified several times!!!

And... they began to become more... penetrating and... directional!

It was no longer emitting fluctuations unconsciously, but... as if condensing its last strength... towards a specific direction, the only one it remembered as potentially existing... towards "hope"...

It sent out... an extremely faint, yet incredibly stubborn... [----] signal!

This signal, like a wisp of spider silk in the darkness, pierced through countless dimensional barriers, struggling... to drift towards... a place... that even Primordial Saints would find difficult to locate... [----].

In the cellar.

Ling Ye was worrying about a pile of "troublemakers" and thinking about what to do next.

Suddenly--

He abruptly raised his head, as if sensing something, and looked towards a certain direction in the void with a look of shocked uncertainty!

"Again... it's here again?!"