Diffusive Anomaly

The more brilliant the sunset glow, the deeper the twilight.

As Ji Zijun asked this question, the last trace of radiance on the horizon sank completely below the skyline.

Darkness ruled the world.

Only a single candle flame stood watch over the dawn in solitude.

"He? He's dead."

"Huh?" Ji Zijun abruptly stopped. She had expected silence once again, so she looked at Ning Xiuyuan in disbelief. "D-dead?"

Those two words were transmitted in an instant through the electronic device on Ji Zijun to the ears of the frontline commander, then recorded and relayed to the Foundation's higher-ups.

Everyone was left numb with shock.

The Foundation had firsthand experience with the Plague Doctor's power.

Touch it and die. Even death brought no rest.

When the Foundation first encountered the Plague Doctor incident, it had not even noticed his existence. It had assumed the reanimated corpses were the result of an anomalous situation (corpses controlled by the Plague Doctor).

Only after suffering heavy casualties did it gradually discover his existence and finally suppress him with firepower!

In fact, if the Plague Doctor had not displayed a certain degree of communicability, and if it had not been discovered by accident that lavender had a calming effect on him, his containment level would absolutely never have been lowered to Euclid.

In other words, his actual containment level was the same as that of the Crystal Lantern: Keter class.

And yet something like that had actually died at Arthur's hands?

How could the Foundation not be shocked?

Didn't that mean that Arthur, who wielded the Crystal Lantern, posed a threat far beyond the Foundation's estimates?

Although the news had yet to be verified, the Foundation had already urgently raised Arthur's threat index.

Numerous contingency plans were overturned one after another, while even stricter unconventional containment plans were pushed forward for implementation.

While the Foundation urgently supplemented Arthur's file, it took Ji Zijun a long while to recover. She asked her final question.

"Mr. Arthur, may I ask where you're going?"

Ning Xiuyuan's eyes suddenly lit up at those words.

"I'm going to pay my respects to the great God of Abundance!"

Ning Xiuyuan split his mouth into a grotesque smile, struggling within his fanaticism and growing fanatical within his struggle!

Pay his respects?

Ji Zijun froze!

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

"Are you trying to stop me?"

Ning Xiuyuan turned his head of his own accord and looked at Ji Zijun.

In a daze, Ji Zijun seemed to see a giant formed from countless insects lowering its head and looking down at her. Flickering flames of mockery burned within its pitch-black skull cavity.

Her blood seemed to freeze, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She abruptly halted, unable to utter a single word.

Ning Xiuyuan expressionlessly turned his head away, carried the lantern, and walked off alone.

The murky yellow candlelight drifted along the country path like a wisp of ghostly flame from the netherworld.

The Foundation erupted!

--·--

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

"Pay his respects? Could he be a believer of the God of Abundance? Or has he already been infected by the God of Abundance's memetic infection?"

"I suggest we immediately initiate containment procedures on him!"

"Impossible. The risk is too great. We don't know whether Arthur is the primary entity or the lantern is the primary entity. If Arthur is the primary entity, our conventional methods might not be able to destroy him for quite some time. If the lantern is the primary entity and he dies, the lantern will run wild, making it even harder for us to contain. Don't forget—he's too close to the God of Abundance."

"Time is pressing. I propose that we contain the God of Abundance. The unconventional containment plan submitted by Willard fully meets the conditions for immediate execution!"

"For now, this is the only option!"

"Notify Willard. Execute the Dream Containment Plan immediately."

--·--

"Clang!"

The rear door of a prisoner transport vehicle that had been parked outside the villa for some time suddenly opened. A thin man in his thirties, dressed in an orange uniform, was shoved out.

"What... what kind of mission is it this time?"

The man jumped out of the vehicle and narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the surroundings. His gaze abruptly locked onto the villa in the distance.

"784368. Standard mission. Enter the villa and kill every living thing inside—in a dream."

Under the protection of a Mobile Task Force unit, a containment agent in a completely sealed protective suit issued the order while handing a rectangular wooden box to the man.

The man's eyes suddenly lit up, and an excited flame of slaughter flashed across his face.

He grabbed the box with both hands, but it did not budge.

He abruptly looked at the containment agent. A cold warning came from behind the agent's airtight mask.

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

"I understand, sir!"

The man grinned. The expression should have been respectful, but on his face, it looked utterly deranged!

The containment agent remained silent for three seconds before releasing his grip.

"Ow!"

The man suddenly cried out as if he had failed to catch the box. In an instant, the sound of weapons scraping and shifting rang out all around them.

"Hahaha, easy there, sweetheart. Uncle's got you nice and secure!"

After successfully teasing the Foundation personnel, the man burst into hearty laughter. He casually tucked the wooden box under his arm and strode toward the villa.

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

The man did not joke around again on the way. He walked with a wide-legged gait, whistling as he went, and reached the villa's entrance with easy steps.

He first turned sideways and pushed open half the door, peering inside. After confirming that nothing seemed wrong, he turned and blew a kiss to the armed personnel outside the villa before slipping inside.

Only then did everyone let out a faint sigh of relief.

The containment agent responsible for personally guarding the wooden box in particular had long since soaked his clothes in cold sweat.

The wooden box contained a containment object.

It was a military saber.

Its name was the Nightmare Blade.

Anyone who came into direct contact with it would immediately fall into sleep. In the dream, they would face a close-quarters battle and be forced to slaughter wildly until every enemy had died.

The content of the dream changed according to the contactee's personal experiences.

Every enemy killed in the nightmare would be reflected onto every living organism within a five-hundred-meter radius in reality, causing their deaths.

Because everyone affected by the reflection had died, the Foundation could not determine whether those people had known the content of the dream.

This was Willard's Dream Containment Plan!

Through more than a dozen D-class personnel, he had already confirmed that an unknown, mysterious life-form existed inside the villa. It was formless and intangible, much like the earthbound spirits of myth.

But regardless of what kind of entity it was, within the Nightmare Blade's dream, it would transform into a member of the contactee's own species. Facing the saber's wielder, it would be reduced completely to a soul beneath the blade.

No exceptions!

Willard eagerly anticipated the cries of those oddities as they transformed into ordinary humans in the dream and were slaughtered.

His only regret was that he could not witness the scene with his own eyes.

Time passed in silent waiting.

The villa remained deathly quiet.

No movement—perhaps that was the best movement of all.

Willard gradually relaxed.

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

"Ah—"

The scream, full of panic and terror, startled countless birds into flying out of the treetops.

The forces stationed at the scene looked toward the sound in astonishment, and each of them turned pale with horror.

A tactical operative in uniform was suddenly hoisted upside down and flown into the sky, like a fleshy worm lifted by spider silk.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

He struggled desperately, frantically pulling the trigger and firing toward the area by his feet, but it had no effect.

He could only empty his magazine in vain and claw frantically at his legs, unable to touch anything at all.

Only after he reached the sky above the villa did his violent struggling abruptly cease, as if he had fallen into a dream. His weapon slipped from the air at the same time.

This sight made every armed operative outside the villa tremble all over.

"First defensive line, everyone fall back! Now!"

A furious and alarmed retreat order came through the earpieces in time.

But it was too late!

"Rat-a-tat-tat—"

Rapid gunfire erupted through the woods. Submachine guns spat dazzling flashes, and scorching bullets tore through the air in an attempt to stop the unknown entity.

But none of it could stop the indescribable thing from frantically capturing the soldiers!

"Get away—"

"Ah—"

Screams rose one after another through the greenery around the villa. One figure after another hung upside down from the woods, shooting out through the treetops and flying into the sky.

The area continued to expand.

Countless terrified soldiers retreated, but they could not outrun the indescribable entity's grasp.

The earth had lost its gravity.

No!

It was countless soldiers hanging upside down in the sky, as though weightless, densely packed together like the countless fleshy worms dangling through a summer forest.

It was utterly horrifying!

"No..."

Inside the satellite vehicle, Willard watched the surveillance screens and let out a horrified roar. In a daze, he realized something.

"The God of Abundance Project has run out of control! Reclassify it as a diffusive anomaly!"

He ground his teeth to pieces and issued his final warning. All the strength drained from his body, and he collapsed limply into his seat.

Affliction, self-reproach, dejection, confusion, despair, terror...

Countless negative emotions filled his heart!

So much so that he overlooked a message sent down by the higher-ups.

--The Lord of the Lantern, Arthur, had arrived.

"What is that..."

Just then, his colleague suddenly shifted his gaze from the monitor and looked out the window in horror...