Gathering

After a moment's hesitation, Lu Yuan made his decision.

"I'm going to grab something, I'll be right back."

Lu Yuan offered no explanation and turned to run away.

"As soon as possible!" Old Morgan said in a deep voice.

The Clinic is not far from the base.

Lu Yuan crossed two streets, and the red vein became increasingly clear in his field of vision.

I pushed open that familiar door.

The Clinic is still relatively intact; the Flesh Tree hasn't spread here yet.

The room was dark, and rainwater seeped in through the window cracks, forming small puddles on the floor.

Lu Yuan cautiously approached the drawer.

The end of the red vein connects to the inside of the drawer.

He opened the drawer.

The Parchment Scroll lay quietly inside, weighed down by several medical books.

Exactly the same as when I first saw it.

Blood vessels hung from the sky, their ends disappearing into the surface of the scroll, like some kind of eerie umbilical cord.

Lu Yuan stared at the scroll, his brows furrowed.

He remembered the first time he touched her.

My rationality plummeted, and the frenzied whispers around me nearly made me lose control.

That feeling of being on the verge of madness is still vivid in my memory.

But his intuition told him that this thing was important.

Very important.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally.

It should be fine if you don't look at it.

It's just taking it.

He gritted his teeth, reached out, and his fingertips touched the sheepskin.

Nothing happened.

There was no Contamination, no irrational shock, and no mutation.

It's like an ordinary roll of sheepskin.

At the same time, the red blood vessel began to disappear.

Starting from the end, it seemed to be pulled away by some force, rapidly retreating towards the sky.

In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace.

Lu Yuan was taken aback when he saw this.

Is this scroll waiting for him to come and collect it?

There was no time to investigate further.

Lu Yuan put the scroll into his pocket, then rummaged through the drawer and took out the envelope and Gold Shield that Lausen had sent him earlier, grabbing a handful and stuffing them into his pocket.

He turned and ran out of the Clinic.

When they returned to the base entrance, Hans was coming from the inner city.

Blood seeped through the bandage on his left arm, and several Night Watcher followed behind him.

"The people in the inner city have been evacuated," Hans reported quickly, his tone grave. "Xi Wading and the Holy Armor Army are heading to the back gate to assemble."

He paused, then added:

"The situation is terrible; the inner city is spreading towards the Outer City."

Old Morgan nodded, his gaze sweeping over Lu Yuan as he returned, without asking any further questions.

"Set off."

The group began to head towards the back gate of the inner city.

Allen walked at the very front.

The golden longsword seemed alive in his hands, each strike carrying a scorching light.

The Flesh branches couldn't even last a single round against him.

Cut off.

Burning.

Open circuit.

Lu Yuan followed in the middle of the group, witnessing firsthand the combat power of this peak Fourth Order expert.

Single-handedly, he carved a bloody path through the Flesh Tree.

The branches lunged at him frantically, trying to entangle and devour him.

But wherever the golden sword light passed, everything turned to ashes.

The streets of the Outer City have been completely transformed.

The branches, made of Flesh, were intertwined and twisted together.

It blotted out the sky and blocked out the sun.

The originally gray sky was now shrouded in a layer of red.

Those branches are still growing.

It's still spreading.

Lu Yuan could even hear a deep, rhythmic sound.

It's like a heartbeat.

Along the roadside, the unburned corpses were slowly enveloped by roots of Flesh.

The skin cracked, the muscles melted, and the bones were absorbed.

The Flesh Tree is devouring them.

Then, something strange happened.

Those who should have died have been "resurrected" in a distorted way.

Their heads were hanging from the branches of the Flesh Tree, their eyes open and mouths agape.

These bodies included not only ordinary residents.

There were also members of the Deep Sea Church who died in the previous battle.

Their corpses were devoured and fused by the Fecundity Flesh Tree, and in this way they were "reborn".

"Haha! It worked!"

A hanging head emitted a hoarse laugh, its face contorted in fanaticism.

"We did it! Mother! My dearest mother! I will see you soon!"

The sound echoed in the rain, carrying a frenzied devotion.

The other "resurrected" heads also began to respond, with sounds rising and falling.

"Mother..."

"Mother..."

"Dedicated to my mother..."

Their voices created an eerie resonance that spread outwards.

Even more terrifying, the heads of ordinary residents who were devoured by the Flesh Tree were also hanging from the branches and began to be affected.

The initial expression of fear and pain gradually turned into confusion.

Then came... fanaticism.

"Mother..."

The head of a woman who had been crying out for help began to open and close mechanically, murmuring along with the believers of the Deep Sea Church.

The Flesh Tree's expansion rate visibly increased.

Those "resurrected" members of the Deep Sea Church are accelerating this process in some way.

"Speed up!"

Allen's voice came from ahead, filled with suppressed anger.

Don't linger!

The group quickened their pace.

Some civilians couldn't keep up and were left behind.

A scream rang out.

No one looked back.

The group finally arrived at the back gate of the inner city.

From afar, Lu Yuan could see the crowd gathered there.

Much more than I imagined.

Sivadin and Coleman, the captain of the Night's Watch in the inner city, stood at the forefront, followed by the remaining Night's Watch warriors, covered in blood.

The people next to him are from the Ascension Society.

The Great Ascendant stood there, his expression solemn. Beside him, two machines resembling Judge were relentlessly attacking the void ahead, their intricate Gear spinning at high speed, and the weapons on their metal arms unleashing a furious barrage of attacks.

There was also a squad of the Holy Armor Army —the one sent by the Ascension Society —their golden armor stained with blood, yet they still maintained a disciplined formation.

The Viscount was also there.

He stood at the edge of the crowd, his face ashen, staring blankly ahead.

Everyone is attacking the same spot.

At the entrance.

That place was blocked by a transparent barrier.

Cannot be seen.

But I could feel it.

The Ascension Society's machinery roared as energy weapons bombarded the area relentlessly.

The Holy Light of the Holy Armor Army condensed into a pillar of light and slammed down.

The Great Ascendant personally intervened, deploying his mechanical arm and releasing a high-temperature ray.

None of it worked.

The barrier remained completely still.

Lu Yuan approached and subconsciously looked at the barrier.

At the edge of my field of vision, grayish-white text began to flicker:

[Environmental Perception: A spatial blockade formed by an unknown force has been detected]

[Analyzing...]

[Error: Information is largely obscured and cannot be identified]

Lu Yuan frowned deeply. The translation error had occurred again. Damn it! Could that being already envelop Grim Port before it even got close?

"Get out of the way."

Allen's voice came from behind.

The crowd automatically parted to make way.

Allen stepped forward, raising his golden longsword high.

The aura of a peak Fourth Order sword was fully unleashed at this moment, and scorching light enveloped the entire sword, causing the air to distort.

A single sword strike.

Boom!

The sword struck the barrier, and golden light exploded, illuminating half the sky.

Then...

Nothing happened.

The barrier remained unmoved.