Diffused Anomaly

The more brilliant the sunset, the deeper the dusk.

As Ji Zijun asked this question, the last sliver of afterglow on the horizon sank completely below the horizon.

Darkness ruled the world.

Only a single candlelight kept lonely vigil for the dawn.

"Him? Dead."

"Huh?" Ji Zijun stopped abruptly. She had expected silence, but instead, she looked at Ning Xiuyuan with disbelief. "D-dead?"

These two words, in an instant, were transmitted through the electronic equipment on Ji Zijun to the ears of the frontline commander, and then re-recorded to the higher echelons of the Foundation.

Everyone was so shocked by this news that their scalps tingled.

The Foundation knew firsthand how powerful the Plague Doctor was.

One touch meant death, and death offered no peace.

The first time the Foundation encountered the Plague Doctor incident, they hadn't even realized its presence. They had initially mistaken the corpse transformations (caused by the Plague Doctor controlling living corpses) as a result of anomalous phenomena.

It was only after suffering heavy casualties that they gradually discovered its existence and were finally able to suppress it with firepower!

In fact, if the Plague Doctor hadn't shown a degree of communicability and if lavender hadn't unexpectedly been found to have a calming effect on it, its containment class would absolutely not have been lowered to Euclid.

In other words, its actual containment class, like that of the crystal lantern, was Keter.

And now, such an entity had died at Arthur's hands?

How could the Foundation not be shocked?

Didn't this mean that Arthur, who wielded the crystal lantern, possessed a threat index far exceeding the Foundation's estimations?

Although this news had not yet been verified, the Foundation had already urgently raised Arthur's threat index.

Numerous backup contingency plans were overturned, and more rigorous, unconventional containment plans were put into motion.

As the Foundation urgently updated Arthur's files, Ji Zijun finally came back to her senses after a long while. She asked the final question.

"Mr. Arthur, where are you going?"

Hearing this, Ning Xiuyuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

"I'm going to meet the great God of Abundance!"

Ning Xiuyuan grinned, revealing a grotesque smile, struggling in fervor, fervent in struggle!

Meet?

Ji Zijun was stunned!

Could it be that the God of Abundance was even more powerful than they had imagined?

"You want to stop me?"

Ning Xiuyuan deliberately turned his head to look at Ji Zijun.

In a daze, Ji Zijun seemed to see a colossal statue made of countless insects lowering its head, gazing down at her. Within its dark skull cavity, a playful flame flickered.

This caused her blood to run cold, her heart skipped a beat, and she stopped abruptly, unable to utter a word.

Ning Xiuyuan turned his head back expressionlessly, carrying the lantern, and walked away alone.

The dim yellow candlelight, like a wisp of ghostly fire, drifted along the country road.

The Foundation was in an uproar!

"Damn it, he's actually heading for the God of Abundance."

"Meet? Could he be a believer of the God of Abundance? Or has he been infected by the God of Abundance memetic agent?"

"I suggest we immediately carry out containment procedures on him!"

"No, the risk is too great. We don't know if Arthur is the main entity or if the lantern is. If Arthur is the main entity, our conventional methods might not be able to destroy him for a while. If the lantern is the main entity, and he dies, the lantern will go out of control, making containment even harder. Don't forget, he's too close to the God of Abundance."

"Time is pressing. I propose we contain the God of Abundance. Willard's unconventional containment plan is fully ready for immediate execution!"

"For now, that's the only way!"

"Notify Willard to immediately execute the Dream Containment Plan."

"Clang!"

The rear door of a transport vehicle that had been parked outside the villa suddenly opened, and a thin man in his thirties, wearing an orange uniform, was pushed out.

"This... what mission is it this time?"

The man jumped out of the car, squinting as he surveyed his surroundings. His gaze suddenly locked onto the villa not far away.

"784368, routine mission. Enter the villa and kill all living things, within the dream."

Under the protection of a Mobile Task Force, a containment personnel member wearing a sealed protective suit issued the order while handing a rectangular wooden box to the man.

The man's eyes lit up, and a glint of excited murderous intent flashed across his face.

He grabbed the box with both hands, but it didn't budge.

He suddenly looked at the containment personnel, and a cold warning came from the airtight mask.

"Open it after you enter the villa. We have snipers two kilometers away. If you want to die, we'll oblige you."

"Understood, sir!"

The man grinned. The expression that should have been humble looked utterly deranged on his face!

The containment personnel remained silent for three seconds before releasing his hands.

"Ouch!"

The man suddenly cried out as if he hadn't caught the box properly. Instantly, the sound of firearms being cocked erupted all around.

"Hahaha, don't worry, my dear, Uncle's got a firm grip on you!"

The man, having successfully pranked the Foundation member, let out a hearty laugh. He casually tucked the wooden box under his arm and walked towards the villa.

At that moment, countless red light spots lit up on his back, especially on the back of his head.

On the way, the man stopped joking. He walked with a swagger, whistling a tune, and easily reached the villa's entrance.

He first sidestepped and pushed open half of the door, peeking inside. After confirming there were no issues, he turned and blew a kiss to the armed personnel outside the villa before slipping inside.

At this, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Especially the containment personnel responsible for closely guarding the wooden box, their clothes were already soaked with cold sweat.

Inside the wooden box was an anomaly.

It was a military knife.

Its name: Nightmare Blade.

Anyone who made direct contact would immediately fall into a deep sleep, where they would face a white-knuckle battle and uncontrollable, frenzied slaughter until all enemies were dead.

The content of this dream would change based on the contact person's personal experiences.

Furthermore, all enemies killed in the nightmare would be mirrored as living beings within a five-hundred-meter radius in reality, causing their deaths.

Due to the complete death of all mirrored individuals, the Foundation was unable to ascertain whether the mirrored individuals were aware of the dream's content.

This was Willard's Dream Containment Plan!

He had already confirmed the presence of an unknown mysterious creature within the villa through over a dozen Class D Personnel. It was formless and intangible, like an earthbound spirit from mythology.

However, regardless of what this entity was, in the dream of the Nightmare Blade, it would transform into beings of the same race as the contact person, facing the knife wielder and ultimately perishing under the blade.

No exceptions!

Willard eagerly anticipated the screams of those anomalies as they transformed into ordinary humans in their dreams and were brutally slaughtered.

The only regret was that he couldn't witness this scene firsthand.

Time passed in silent anticipation.

The villa remained eerily quiet.

No movement was perhaps the best movement.

Willard's mood gradually relaxed.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a scream abruptly tore through the quiet outside the villa.

"Ah—"

The scream, filled with panic and terror, startled countless birds, causing them to fly out of the treetops.

The stationed forces on-site looked towards the source in stunned silence, their faces draining of color.

A tactical member in uniform was seen, like a grub suspended by a spider's silk, suddenly hanging upside down and being pulled towards the sky.

"Dada-da..."

He struggled desperately, madly pulling the trigger and firing at the area around his feet, but to no avail.

He could only futilely empty his magazine, frantically scratching at his legs, unable to touch anything.

His violent struggles ceased only when he reached the sky above the villa, as if falling into a deep sleep, and the firearm slipped from his grasp.

This scene sent shivers down the spines of all the armed personnel outside the villa.

[First defensive line, all personnel, fall back, move!]

A panicked and furious evacuation order came through the earpiece in time.

But it was too late!

"Dada-da—"

Rapid gunfire erupted in the woods, the submachine gun spewing dazzling flames as hot bullets tore through the air, attempting to stop the unknown entity.

But all of this still couldn't stop the unnamable from madly capturing the soldier!

"Get off—"

"Ah—"

Screams rose and fell, echoing through the woods surrounding the villa. One by one, figures shot out from the trees, bursting through the canopy and soaring into the sky.

The scope was widening.

Countless warriors retreated in terror, but they couldn't outrun the unnamable entity's grasp.

The ground had lost its gravity.

No!

It was countless warriors suspended in the air, as if weightless, densely packed like the myriad flesh-worms hanging in a dense summer forest.

It was horrifying!

"No..."

Inside the satellite vehicle, Willard watched the monitor, roaring in shock. In a daze, he realized something.

"The God of Abundance Project is out of control, reclassified as a diffusion-type anomaly!"

He gritted his teeth, issuing a final warning, all his strength gone, slumping into his seat.

Pain, self-blame, frustration, confusion, despair, terror...

Countless negative emotions filled his heart!

So much so that he missed a piece of information relayed from higher command.

—The Lord of the Lantern, Arthur, has arrived.

"What is that..."

Just then, his colleague's gaze snapped away from the monitor, and he looked out the window in horror