More than five thousand patients who had been indoctrinated as 'students' formed eighteen circles, inside and outside, surrounding Yi Chen's infected primary host at the very center.
The thought network formed by linking everyone's brains began operating under Yi Chen's control like a giant drilling machine, constantly boring deeper.
The speed was not fast. The process had to be measured in days.
As the drilling depth increased, the mental burden gradually doubled.
Smack! A patient sitting in the Outer Ring suddenly exploded in the head, his bursting brain instantly vanishing. It meant his mental adaptation had reached its limit.
When the surrounding patients saw this scene, none of them wavered. They continued providing Yi Chen with mental support at full strength.
Smack, smack, smack!
The frequency of the head explosions continued to rise.
Yi Chen also realized this. The 'depth' he was exploring here was not a true descent into the real Old World. Otherwise, it would not have been so simple.
If he encountered the Source Plague Zone along the way, this mental penetration would be crushed instantly. He might even provoke some big shot and bring about his own death.
The Old World Yi Chen was currently in was merely the hypothetical world recorded and created by the relic—Box of the Mad. More than anything, it was a world meant to guide Yi Chen into familiarizing himself with the origin of disease, allowing this primary host to achieve a Limit Break.
The mental descent currently underway should be understood as the penetration process of breaking through the "membrane."
However, as a triple-attribute Breakthrough User, his membrane was much thicker. He had to drill especially deep to pierce it completely.
After who knew how long,
when the number of indoctrinated patients had fallen below a hundred, the mental drill