Act 6: A Dream

Foreword:

Humans are social animals by nature.

--Aristotle

Ten hours later, Samaranchio and Donna arrived at the access ramp to Spinach Heights. Following the rugged, rocky mountain path, they could return to the winding, complex mountain road and caves.

The couple in the transport team were both excellent pathfinders in the hunting party, but what happened before their eyes was completely beyond their expectations—the road had disappeared.

To be precise, the steel-framed bridge, over 120 meters long, had its foundation, constructed from hundreds of tons of reinforced concrete, completely vanished. The biting mountain wind chilled them to the bone. Standing on the edge of the cliff, Samaranchio was utterly perplexed.

"--Donna, why? Why can't I remember this road at all? Where did we come from?"

Donna clung to her husband's arm, looking utterly dejected.

These two pathfinders with exceptional memories could no longer recall what the ramp originally looked like. Before them lay only the side ridges of Spinach Heights and the distant mountain ranges of Black Chicken Mountain, with a fault line stretching for a hundred meters exposed in between, showing no trace of any man-made road.

At this moment, the nameless protagonist John'D slumped in the warm cargo container of a large truck. He had woken up and used his Soul Power to complete this "great undertaking"—his fighting spirit had not been extinguished, and he was determined to fight the nameless gunsmith to the end.

He had lost three limbs, and could only move his right arm a few times with difficulty. He climbed more than 300 meters back and forth across the bridge approach to Spinach Heights on an icy road at minus 15 degrees Celsius.

He had almost become a crippled peacock-man, completely beast-like, driven mad by hunger, and his life seemed to be coming to an end.

"Judas."

"I am returning to oneness; this is the last gift I will give you."

"I can't find the Chaos Egg, I don't have any elixirs, and I can't even get a piece of human flesh. There are some food additives from hybrid monsters here, but without hot water to dissolve them, my beak can't even chew through these tough foods."

"I'm so weak now that I can't even kill a child."

"I lost, but not to the gunsmith."

"The ones who fatally wounded me were those blood-suppliing units. Why were these beasts so fearless, jumping from the lighthouse to drag me down with them? What deep-seated hatred do I have for them? This is wrong."

"Why? Why does it seem like everyone is helping the gunsmith?"

"Even that stupid Havana is going to turn against me at the last minute and try to put me on her dinner table—didn't she consider that she could gain even more by helping me? Can't she even understand that simple logic?"

He propped himself up on his right arm, looking at his festering, foul-smelling lower body, while mouthfuls of pus and blood kept gushing from his beak.

"It's so cold, Judas!"

Can you hear me?

When his prayers went unanswered, Jody decided to save himself; he was unwilling to die.

The power of returning to simplicity is incredibly strong; it can make the roads between Spinach Heights and the outside world disappear for twenty hours. He intends to use this divine power to intimidate the ordinary people in the transport team. Under these circumstances, the gunsmith will inevitably have to leave the warm canteen and activity room, so that Jody can drag his weak body and muster his courage to return to the house.

His target is Jamie and Benni, the hybrid of the calamity beasts. The primal structure of these two bird demons is very similar to that of his bloodline. If he can obtain their flesh, he might be saved.

"It's here. The opportunity has arrived."

Samaranchio and Donna relayed the bad news to the transport team, and almost everyone immediately rushed out to check the road conditions on Spinach Heights —after all, this kind of Spirit Calamity was too unsettling and too incomprehensible.

Jiang Xueming hadn't expected that the heavily wounded enemy could still unleash such powerful psionic magic, turning a road over a hundred meters long into thin air. When he arrived at the bridge approach platform with his fellow workers from the transport team, he was also filled with disbelief upon seeing the hundred-meter-long cliff.

Wolf, as the team's VIP, repeatedly tested the "sky road" with his fellow workers. But no one noticed that Jody had tumbled out of the truck's cargo container and was wriggling in the cold, sharp rocks like an ugly worm, heading towards the base's canteen.

The four Zhan Gang brothers lay in the dining hall, all of them seriously injured.

Andro and Big B fell from the lighthouse, a height of about twelve meters, equivalent to four stories, and landed straight on Jody.

The Tyrannosaurus Warrior was thrown out of his original form and, like Jody, suffered a severe case of bestiality. His face was completely deformed, and the holy blood within him was out of balance, causing him to degenerate into a hybrid of calamity beasts— Andro now looked like a sharp-beaked lizard. His face was covered in scales, and blood was still oozing from his mouth and nose.

The medical station was simply too small to accommodate these burly criminals, Andro could only slump over the long table in the cafeteria.

Big B's situation was slightly better Andro's; he landed on his buttocks first, unlike Andro, whose ribs and facial bones were cracked and shattered, and whose skin was burned over 30 percent of his body.

Schopenhauer had fallen into a near-death coma. He was the most seriously injured of the four children. His chin was gone, and there wasn't a single good piece of flesh on his body. After being smeared with kerosene, the flames had almost burned him into a "breathing corpse." If he didn't receive treatment, the bestial disease and bacterial infection caused by the imbalance of his holy blood would kill him in just five hours.

Although A Jie did not participate in the battle, while he was de-icing the signal tower, the psionic turbulence erupting from the lighthouse knocked him off balance. In particular, the gunsmith's terrifying spiritual pressure caused him to fall into a brief state of convulsion and dementia. He tumbled down from the more than eight-meter-high telephone pole and broke his leg.

There were no spare White Lady products in the base, Universal Elixir couldn't be used on blood donors—the moment the Vita Imprint in their bodies healed was also the moment the beast disease broke out.

This is the limitation of blood-granting units. The moment they relinquish their Homo sapiens identity, they say goodbye to the Universal Elixir. To receive the cultivation of holy blood, to gain transcendent power, and to obtain incredible natural healing power, they must abandon the grace of Ming De.

Lapis lazuli is also known as a blood donor, but the blood donation process does not involve the Vita Imprint. This bloodline fusion is more like a genetic re-chimerism between the mother and the infant when the mother is pregnant with a new life. That's why the wolves never have an allergic reaction to the Universal Elixir.

If there is a skilled physician, the White Lady's products can be used to treat the monsters' external injuries, but the medicine must never be allowed to enter their bloodstream.

The Universal Elixir is a deadly poison to the holy blood of the Madness Butterfly. The insect nest in their bellies is destroyed by the Universal Elixir, and then their immune system has to deal with the various Holy Blood Formula in their bodies. The madness caused by the beastification disease is extremely deadly - very few people survive, and even if they do, they are very likely to become demented.

Little Benni and her father looked after these criminals in the canteen. While these Blood-giving Monster suffered from illness, she would also experience auditory and phantom pain due to Inspiration.

After the priest returned from the tower and explained the whole story, two opinions emerged within the transport team.

One group, represented by Oscar, is the believer group, who believe in an invisible and intangible enemy that fought against the priests and criminals.

Another group, led by Commander Havana, consisted of the opposition. The workers believed it was merely a Spirit Calamity, and that the pistol found in the tower was stolen by the ghost. They argued that the entire incident had nothing to do with Commander Havana.

Jiang Xueming couldn't persuade these people. The criminals from the Zhan Gang were all incoherent, unable to speak, and unable to defend themselves.

Benni could do nothing but hold Andro's hand, hoping the soldiers could pull through.

At that very moment, the cannibal pushed open the cafeteria door.

Jody used her head to push open the door, then summoned her soul power for assistance—the tattered peacock spirit weakly stroked Jody's head, hiding its true form.

Just as Jody had predicted, after losing part of his physical body, he didn't even have the strength to kill Benni. He could only crawl slowly to the long table and wait quietly.

This little girl will definitely feed the wounded. By then, Jody might be able to eat some scraps. As long as he can eat something, the holy blood in his body can start to function normally again and he can regain some strength. Even if he grows back two healthy arms, he will have the confidence to turn the tide.

Benni saw the door open and went to close it, completely unaware of Jody's presence.

Jamie's father still looked worried. Being locked up in such a closed and remote border settlement, the strange things that had happened in the past few days made him miss the days in the Hot Spring Market.

Jamie couldn't understand why his daughter seemed to have so much sympathy for these criminals, especially since his wife had been killed by the Madness Butterfly gang.

"So hungry!" Andro groaned in pain, a round hole now appearing on his forehead—a characteristic of diurnal lizards, which have a third eye besides their regular eyes to sense light.

Benni hurriedly prepared the condiments, soaking the hard artificial liver blocks. These waste materials from White Lady's factory, after being processed, dried, and compressed into blocks with preservatives, had become vitamins from a hybrid of disaster beasts.

When Benni brought the soup bowl to Andro's lips, Andro suddenly opened his beastly eyes. The lizardman, supporting himself, stared sharply at a blurry shadow beside the long table.

"He's here!"

Jody was almost scared out of her wits.

He never expected that Andro would be able to discover his true identity.

Was the damage to the body too severe? Did the effects of Soul Power diminish?

Can this guy see me?

In reality, what Andro saw was just a blurry, unseen image.

The animalistic disease caused irreversible changes to his brain, optic nerve, and visual organs.

In the world of diurnal lizards, UVA (ultraviolet) coloration is crucial. This differs from the trichromatic vision of Homo sapiens. In strong sunlight, they can see more, including the aperture-shaped photosensitive eye on the top of their heads. This third eye allows diurnal lizards to live in another bizarre and wonderful world.

Many creatures see things that are completely different from what humans see. The previous use of Spuantong to track Jody relied on the insect's predator detection mechanism.

Jody's presence was erased, but in Andro's eyes, there was still a hazy, undulating mist that distorted some of the light and lay beside the table. This thick mist stretched its neck, waiting for a little bit of life-saving food to leak from the soup bowl in Benni's hand!

Although I can't see it clearly.

Andro was quite certain--

"--This guy still smells of kerosene."

He could smell strong pheromones and sense the extreme fear in Jody.

Benni immediately moved away from the long table, while Jamie's dad had already retrieved a cleaver from the kitchen, ready to dismember the monster.

"Where is he? Where is he?! Dude? I can't see him!" Jamie asked frantically.

Andro could no longer pinpoint Jody's location; his concentration had reached its limit. Vision is a very expensive form of perception; in cases of blood loss and brain hypoxia, the eyes are the first organ to betray the body.

He strained his upper body, but the excruciating pain in his abdomen, caused by the bone fractures and flesh shattering, forced him back onto the bed by his survival instinct. He couldn't even bear to look at anything else!

"I don't know Jamie, I don't know! Don't let Benni feed me! He wants food! He wants to live!"

Andro was quite certain that Jody wanted to get a little something out of him, even just a tiny bit.

For Blood-giving Monster possessing soul power, the Holy Blood Formula within their bodies is far superior to that of the henchmen and thugs of the War Gang. Their resilience, muscle healing ability, nerve toughness, and willpower also far surpass those of Andro and others.

If Jody were to eat even a small amount of human flesh, she would probably regain more strength.

"I'll feed you," Benni said anxiously. "If you don't eat, you're going to die!"

Andro pointed at Benni's nose and threatened fiercely, "You can't feel it! You can't see it! You can't touch it! You don't understand! Little girl!"

Jody's way of erasing her presence isn't just about being "invisible" --

--The power of returning to simplicity can directly affect all the senses of Homo sapiens.

If it weren't for the slight function of Andro's lizard eyes, even if Jody danced on his chest, he wouldn't have felt any touch or weight; his brain would have automatically ignored Jody's presence.

The stench of kerosene grew stronger and stronger, Andro knew—this monster had never intended to leave; it was openly hiding right in front of people.

Waking up again was not a good thing for Andro. He couldn't control his heartbeat. In the extremely tense environment, the unbalanced holy blood surged wildly in his body, repeatedly rewriting the structure of his cells and brutally altering his consciousness and genes.

He was breathing heavily, but couldn't think of a useful solution and couldn't fall asleep anymore.

Perhaps he could live a little longer while asleep, maintaining a steady heart rate of thirty beats per minute, and he could live for a few more hours. But now, it seems he has no way to continue living.

The scales on his arms grew larger and larger, his skull made a terrifying popping sound, and the food was right in front of him, but he couldn't move his mouth or stick out his tongue.

Little Benni held her rice bowl high, fearing that the "invisible monster" might suddenly attack and snatch away this precious source of life.

Jody stared at the scene with a fierce look, but had no idea what to do. He dangled his chin over the edge of the long table, reaching this far with all his might. He leaned against Andro's head, hoping that the lizard would cough up some blood or choke on some scraps of food while eating.

His still-mobile right arm was weak and limp, resting on Andro's throat. If Benni were to feed him, he could grab a handful of condiments and swallow them, but he couldn't! This girl really wanted to watch Andro go mad and starve to death!

"Benni, Benni, you can't do this!"

Jody murmured to herself.

"You're killing someone. You're killing someone."

But Benni couldn't hear, and to save her own life, she remained loyal and hid Jody.

This painful and protracted torment is finally coming to an end.

--Andro's throat is deformed; the beast disease is reshaping his spine, forcing him to grow a strong tail. This process requires a tremendous amount of energy; he is so hungry that his eyes are turning blue and he is losing his mind.

A terrifying roar escaped his throat as he continued to emphasize to Benni, shaking his head vigorously.

"No! Don't feed me! No!"

"Benni, stop doing this. Wake up!"

"Have your father go and call for the priest to come here. No."

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

Andro's eyes have once again succumbed to hemorrhagic blindness.

Benni was almost paralyzed with fear. She was not even eighteen years old, and she had to witness a living person disappear before her eyes. Jamie was also panicked. He couldn't care about anything else and tried to pull his daughter away and put her in the crowd of the transport team, as if hiding in the crowd would give him some sense of security.

The little girl, holding the bowl, first walked a few steps with her father. Then, suddenly realizing what she had done, she left her father behind and rushed back to Andro's side.

"No! Father! I have to save them! If someone had helped Mother back then, she wouldn't have died! I have to do something! Humans are social animals! I can't just stand by and watch them die!"

Jody was overjoyed; her heart, which had sunk to the bottom, saw hope again.

That's it, just feed him a bite, just one bite is enough.

"Andro!" Benni took off her hood, revealing a face covered in bird feathers.

Schopenhauer was in a daze, heard his sister's voice and suddenly struggled to regain some consciousness.

He saw the bird demon girl's true face and finally understood why this little girl cared so much about the criminals of the War Gang—they were the same kind of people.

"I have a way, don't move," Benni said, taking a sip of soup from her bowl before helping the large lizard to its feet.

She held Andro's head and kissed the lizard's mouth hard, covering Andro's cheeks to prevent even a drop of his precious food from leaking out.

"Oh! Oh! Wow!" Schopenhauer, without his jaw, could only let out strange howls.

Jody watched this scene in despair. He no longer had the strength to stop Benni from feeding him, nor could he snatch even a drop of food from this tightly guarded display of affection.

"Is it my turn?! Isn't it my turn?" Schopenhauer's tongue had barely grown out, and his vocal cords emitted indistinct, lisping words.

Jamie's dad did the same thing, taking the soup bowl and spitting it all over his older brother, who was the most seriously injured.

Jody, lurking in the shadows, watched with utter despair, just as Schopenhauer had.

"--Why did it turn out like this?!"