The First to Oppose the Mysterious Source (Six Thousand Words)

Holy crap...

They ran away?

Xiao Xiao had made all the preparations and was even prepared to risk everything to fight the other side to the death, was completely stunned when he saw the mysterious creature abandoning the city and fleeing.

That was Mysterious Source had been entrenched in City of Rest for forty years and was regarded as God by people like Old Man An.

But at this very moment, he actually abandoned this spiritual sea?

Words could hardly describe the astonishment and bewilderment Xiao Xiao felt at that moment. However, in his state of Mind Burst, this astonishment quickly dissipated, and with a thought, he suddenly realized:

Yes!

Running away was the right thing to do.

It was never God, or even a deity. It was simply a spiritual being, naturally existing in a spiritual realm deeper than that of humans. To ordinary people, it seemed to possess innate authority and a mysterious will, leading the people of City of Rest to perceive it as a god. But the concept of "god" was bestowed upon it by humans; it was merely a creature. Therefore, it naturally reacted by running away. Sensing a threat, its first reaction was to retaliate, and its second was to flee.

Running away is what aligns with its nature and its intended purpose.

If it were truly as I imagined, and instead of fleeing, it fought me to the death, that would be abnormal.

Knowing that they are at a disadvantage, they still choose to fight desperately. This is a characteristic unique to humans. Living things, on the contrary, follow their instincts more often.

Not only did the mysterious creature from City of Rest escape, but upon closer reflection, the secondary Mysterious Source that I hunted back then, Mister Du, was also thinking of escaping at a certain stage.

I was just blocked by myself.

Only...

Xiao Xiao suddenly found it both funny and intriguing: the Mysterious Source of a city has escaped, so what is this city now?

Not only was Xiao Xiao shocked and then rebuilding his understanding, but in that instant, the escape of the Mysterious Source of City of Rest triggered countless tsunamis.

"Doesn't his mother even have this much courage?"

The leaders of the Hell Organization and the Dante Organization felt the immense aura instantly withdraw from the city. Their expressions turned incredibly astonished, and their lips even twitched slightly.

The first city since the singularity spread to be driven from its Mysterious Source by humanity.

Or, it is the largest city.

For a moment, they couldn't imagine what kind of reactions would be triggered by the sudden appearance of such a huge empty city in a world where major cities had been parasitized by Mysterious Source.

Another huge change occurred among all the strangers in City of Rest, including Old Man An.

Currently, the Grand Knight and thirty-six lesser knights of City of Rest are all embroiled in a fierce and arduous battle. On Red Eyes Ling Ping Ling Ping has received help from Mr. Taylor, and the scales of victory have tilted slightly. However, for him, this battle is still difficult. Facing the ten lesser knights of City of Rest, the two of them have struggled to hold on and have already killed four of the ten. But they are not faring well either. Ling Ping is covered in blood, and one of his swords even grazed his nose, almost destroying his most prized eye.

Even the chubby Orange Cat was now perched on the telephone pole, looking at the desperate Red Eyes Ling Ping with a touch of pity.

On the other side, Old Zhou Under the Bridge went on a killing spree, but the trash he had been hiding had fallen off in countless quantities, and could no longer protect him from external attacks. He was beginning to be truly injured.

The two Serpent Sisters argued for a long time about who should make the wish, but they still couldn't reach a conclusion.

When they finally decided that the older sister would make a wish, they suddenly encountered an unexpected problem, staring blankly at each other. "There are too many people making wishes... we have to wait in line..."

Old Man An had been feeling powerless and angry about the situation in City of Rest. Now, he roared, staring at Ruan Ruan, his fists clenched so Ruan Ruan they cracked, and unimaginable mental fluctuations surged around him as he was about to grab Ruan Ruan and lift her up.

But in that instant, the Mysterious Source of City of Rest escaped from City of Rest.

Then, an unimaginable and strange phenomenon suddenly appeared from them. The young knights of City of Rest, who had been besieging the Red Eyes Ling Ping, finally managed to get close to Ling Ping after suffering countless hardships and paying the price of another life. Their hands transformed into two silver hooks, which they viciously hooked towards Ling Ping's blood-red eyes. As long as they destroyed Ling Ping's Red Eyes, it would mean winning this battle. Even the hypnotized Mr. Taylor would immediately wake up and turn against them and stand on their side again.

However, they Mingming saw an opportunity, Mingming saw that pair of silver hooks were about to pierce Ling Ping's eye sockets.

Even the Orange Cat on the telephone pole couldn't resist jumping down to help.

But at that very moment, crackling sounds of bones vibrating suddenly emanated from the bodies of all the knights of City of Rest, as if an infinite force had instantly drained them from their bodies, almost hollowing them out.

The pair of silver hooks instantly became powerless, and even disappeared.

Red Eyes Ling Ping, broke out in a cold sweat. He mustered his strength and kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying four or five meters away before crashing heavily into the wall.

What's going on?

Even Red Eyes Ling Ping was stunned. How could his kick have such power?

But in the blink of an eye, he realized: it wasn't that his own power had increased, but rather that the opponent's power had weakened?

No, it's not just getting weaker, it's losing all power at all?

Old Zhou Under the Bridge confronted the group of City of Rest knights who had gone down the Lost Ones Path. These opponents, who could blend into any environment, were extremely difficult to deal with.

For a long time, I was fighting against an unseen adversary.

But no one expected that, as if an invisible hand had suddenly swept across the entire space, Old Zhou Under the Bridge rubbed his eyes and a strange scene appeared before him. There were three or four people, some standing in front of him, four or five meters away, holding a pistol in their hands, one hanging from the eaves of a nearby building, preparing to slash his neck, and another crouching behind him, his hands clasped together in a sword-like shape, a sinister look on his face, aimed at the back of his eye...

... The scene was even somewhat comical!

The Lost Ones Path can blend into their surroundings and launch bizarre and unsolvable attacks, but once their ability to blend into the environment is removed, they are no different from ordinary people.

"You brought this on yourselves..."

Old Zhou Under the Bridge, had no idea what was happening, nor did the young knights from City of Rest around him.

But Old Zhou Under the Bridge suddenly burst into laughter. Through the mingled raindrops, his eyes were sinister and cold as he said in a low voice, "You asked for this, didn't you?"

On the Serpent Sisters' side, the one under the most pressure is not the Serpent Sisters, but Cerberus.

They felt they had performed exceptionally well, but with so many opponents and immense pressure, at least one of their three heads was thinking, "This won't do, let's run away quickly..."

The other two were still hesitating, after all, there were so many concubines watching...

If we escape, won't it damage our image?

However, they also sensed the withdrawal of each other's spiritual power in time. In fact, because they were originally fantasy creatures, this perception was even more acute, and they all became energetic immediately.

"Awoooooo..."

Before the other two heads could react, the Erha's head barked excitedly and gave the order to charge at the other head.

"Smack!"

Faced with Old Man An's fist, which he swung in a fit of rage, Ruan Ruan was about to raise her metal wrench to fight back, but suddenly realized something.

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Old Man An's fist with all her might, exclaiming "Eh!" in surprise, before her face lit up with delight.

"Old man, are you running out of energy?"

Old Man An was indeed exhausted. As the president, he could clearly feel the immense spiritual power being drawn from his body. His previous punch, under the influence of certain Enhancement Element, could force a person's spiritual power out of their body, or transform it into a monstrous force that could blast a tall building through. His punches could be as sharp as knives, collapsing the physical world, or stirring up the spiritual field, forming a massive vortex of spiritual power that swept across half the city.

But now, this punch of his is just a punch.

A punch thrown by an old man nearing ninety years old, as weak as a candle flickering in the wind.

He could feel that the power within his body, which he had taken for granted and which seemed to be bound to his soul, vanished instantly.

Even around him, the split-person, the melting flesh and blood, the waving tentacles that appeared during the confrontation between the outsiders and the outsiders had completely disappeared.

He simply sat down at his favorite round table, with a girl standing on a stool in front of him, grinning at him, the air around her already blurred.

In my presence, she suddenly seemed to exude an air of mystery.

Old Man An couldn't even accurately describe this temperament, but he vaguely sensed that it was like...

... It seems like how those indigenous people viewed themselves before?

"Bang!"

At the same instant all this happened, the young knight beside him realized something was wrong, and suddenly took a step forward, rushing towards the wall.

He wanted to escape.

However, he didn't expect that he, who could usually pass through walls, would suddenly crash into one so hard that he saw stars and bumped his head.

"What the hell?"

"..."

"So that's how it is..."

When Xiao Xiao abandoned the city at the Mysterious Source, he had already parasitized more than 50% of the city with ease and without any hindrance.

As an observer, the moment the threshold of 50% was reached, he instantly sensed the entire city. He saw the army mobilized in the city, and he also saw Ruan Ruan. An being lifted up by the back of the neck and slapped by Old Man An Ruan. He could even clearly feel the fear, unease, and despair in Old Man An's heart. He couldn't help but feel a complex emotion, and after a long, long time, he could only let out a soft sigh.

Old Man An and his Grand Knight, thirty-six young knights, and even veterans and novices who have not yet become knights.

They are all very powerful, otherwise City of Rest would not be recognized as the number one city.

But none of them actually possessed true power.

Their power was bestowed upon them by the Mysterious Source of City of Rest, but it was merely an illusion given to them by that Mysterious Source. Therefore, when City of Rest fled, they revealed their true forms.

Not only did they lose their extraordinary strength, but they were also stripped of their status as strangers in a foreign land.

Perhaps, it's not just City of Rest?

Perhaps it should be said that all the strangers living in cities in this world fall into this category.

The only uncertainty is whether this includes the Hell Organization, which usually only roams the Mist Sea, and the Dante Organization, which has influence in various cities and has been conducting certain forbidden research.

In reality, strangers may possess all sorts of incredible abilities, even giving them the illusion that they represent divine authority.

But in reality, once the Mysterious Source leaves, they will have nothing left.

The only way to solve this problem is through the Fourth Element.

Only by obtaining the Fourth Element and entering the forbidden realm can one possess a power that truly belongs to oneself and cannot be arbitrarily taken away by others.

Of course, this is probably why the Mysterious Source doesn't like outsiders venturing into forbidden territory.

City of Rest is powerful; in every aspect, their strength far surpasses that of Black Gate City. However, they possess a fatal weakness: no one in their ranks has ever ventured into the forbidden realm.

This led to their defeat, which was even silent and sudden.

Once the Mysterious Source left, they were left with nothing in an instant. From this perspective, they were even worse off than these separatists.

At least the Enhancement Element on the split man's body were forcibly bestowed by that Mysterious Source before it escaped, so he didn't have time to take them back and could only let others harvest them.

As for the Enhancement Element on the strangers in City of Rest, it could take them back whenever it wanted, without even a word of warning.

This realization stirred a powerful wave of emotion within Xiao Xiao. His trip to City of Rest seemed to have yielded far more than he had anticipated: he had come to understand the essence of the Mysterious Source and the relationship between the Mysterious Source and the strangers.

He even acquired an empty city, devoid of any Mysterious Source of parasites...

... So, it's time to end all of this.

As he pondered this, he turned his gaze to several other places.

What happened?

Mr. Taylor looked at the people of City of Rest with a start, unable to understand why they seemed to have suddenly become so weak, panting heavily.

"Regardless, we won."

Actually, even the Red Eyes Ling Ping didn't know what had happened, but when he saw that the Orange Cat had jumped down from the telephone pole and perched on his shoulder, he realized that the crisis had truly passed.

Despite his severe injuries, he forced himself to stand, looking at Mr. Taylor, who had betrayed him. His expression turned cold, and he said arrogantly, "You saw the fate of those knights from City of Rest. And if I'm not mistaken, if you were paying attention to City of Rest now, their fate would likely be even worse. This is the consequence of offending Black Gate City. I knew long ago that City of Rest taking in our guild leader would be a fatal mistake..."

"As for now..."

"The Nightmare Anchor, I think you should hand it over."

"..."

"..."

Looking at the few young knights from City of Rest who had completely lost their strength and were shivering in the bitter wind and rain, Old Zhou Under the Bridge showed a look of sympathy.

Then, he still killed them one by one.

Where is the Eternal Helmsman?

As he grabbed the last person by the neck and whispered his question, a crisp, thumping sound suddenly rang out not far away.

Looking up, I saw a bewildered man leading a blind man with a guide cane, walking over nervously. Old Zhou Under the Bridge just watched them indifferently, and then, bit by bit, cut the neck of the last little knight in his hand.

He knew that the Eternal Helmsman had appeared.

"You won? You just won like that?"

The Serpent Sisters watched as Cerberus suddenly unleashed its power, tearing the remaining enemies to shreds before they even had a chance to make a wish.

He was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to do, but the more he looked at the three-headed hellhound, the more he looked at it with admiration.

Of course, it wasn't just them who were admired, but also the harem dogs who sat on the ground, looking up at Cerberus with eyes that were not just adoration, but full of love.

At that moment, Cerberus felt immense vanity.

"The enemy has finally been dealt with."

They thought with delight, "If we apply to the guild leader for another 200,000 points, we can buy the Barren Sail..."

The most peaceful place was Black Gate City, where Little Four spent a night that felt like a nightmare.

After killing Grand Knight Yin Qing, he was relentlessly pursued by Grand Knight Spade and Grand Knight Clover. Those two were truly terrifying; even though he hid in Ghost Princess's palace, they managed to uncover his secrets layer by layer and find him.

So he could only run away again and again, until he could no longer escape, at which point he turned back and fought them to the death.

In this desperate act, he killed the Grand Knight Clover and was then pursued by the even more enraged Grand Knight Spade.

A city-wide chase ensued...

Little Four felt he had never been so miserable in his life. The Grand Knight Spade was simply the most terrifying person he had ever met since Chairman Xiao.

So when he was finally cornered again and had no way to escape, he had no choice but to turn around and kill the Grand Knight Spade.

He threw all three heads into a trash can on the street. Little Four squatted under a streetlamp, panting heavily. Still shaken, the only thing that could make him feel a little better was the three information cards in his hand.

"It's alright, it's alright. Although I'm very tired after a long night, I found a few cards, which should be enough to help the princess with a few small cakes..."

"..."

He smiled with some relief, but suddenly felt something being pulled away.

Startled, Little Four stared at the information card in his hand, his expression gradually turning horrified and incredulous: these three dark red information cards, which seemed to possess some mysterious power, had actually changed.

One card became an ordinary bank card, another became a supermarket shopping card, and yet another became a VIP bathhouse card.

Why would something so terrifying happen?

"Old Man An, is it hard to understand?"

When Xiao Xiao returned to Ruan Ruan's side with deep emotion, Old Man An had been thrown onto a chair and was sitting there Ruan Ruan, while Ruan Ruan was still standing on the young knight, who had a big bump on his forehead.

She was beaming with excitement, frantically typing something on the computer.

Suddenly hearing Xiao Xiao's voice, he immediately slammed the laptop lid shut.

Xiao Xiao ignored her and calmly appeared in the room, looking at Old Man An with gentle, even sympathetic eyes.

The old man seemed to have all his energy drained away in an instant, and compared to when I first met him, he seemed to have become a completely different person.

He even seemed somewhat confused, his reactions to the outside world becoming sluggish; he merely moved his lips and mumbled to himself:

Why is this happening?

"City of Rest shouldn't be this weak; we are Mingming much stronger than them..."

Why did it all suddenly turn out like this?

"..."

"This is probably the fate of choosing to become a slave..."

Seeing his reaction, Xiao Xiao softened his tone and sighed softly, "You seem to have everything, but you actually have nothing."

"Look, even the God you serve looks quite pathetic as he flees..."

"..."

"I..."

Whether provoked by the words "God" or "slave," the Old Man An suddenly jolted and cried out, "We... we, City of Rest..."

"There is none left."

Xiao Xiao said calmly, "At least the City of Rest you understand no longer exists."

As he uttered these words, the three Eye of the Seer beside him also turned towards Old Man An. The special spiritual power represented by these three eyes affected Old Man An, and thus, the old man saw once again the perspective that only strangers could see. He saw that this City of Rest had now become a paradise for revelers, with countless strangers flocking in to reap the Enhancement Element from the split people. He also saw huge, mysterious creatures wandering in the air above City of Rest.

This celebration has only just reached its climax.

All the strangers, like piranhas, were enjoying and sharing the pleasure of this city.

At that moment, Old Man An's body trembled, and he slowly curled up into a ball. He felt fear, fear of those strange creatures and this crazy scene.

This is his most primal fear as a human being.

"Don't despair too much, sir..."

Seeing him like this, Xiao Xiao couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted, and sighed softly as he comforted him, "At least you did something remarkable..."

"You, who are most loyal to the Mysterious Source, have become the first to confront Mysterious Source..."

"... by sacrificing himself!"