The Unfathomable Gaze

Chapter Four: The Unfathomable Gaze

Lu Yuanming could sense that another monster was still in the building. The feeling was like detecting a heat source.

He could also sense that this remaining monster was far stronger than the Octopus Monster.

He couldn't explain how he knew. He could instinctively gauge these monsters' power and strength. By his assessment, if the Octopus Monster were compared to monsters from the Dark Matter World, it would be only a little stronger than a Man-faced Dog at most—nowhere near as powerful as the Super Giant Monsters.

The other monster he sensed was also slightly weaker than a Super Giant Monster.

These monsters in the real world displayed such formidable abilities—possibly including Spatial Transfer, Mind Control, and the shock waves produced by their roars—perhaps all because of that Unknown Item.

As Lu Yuanming sensed it, the Unknown Item could be expanded by his will, though he didn't yet know how far it could reach. It was also consumable. Once expanded into the Material World, it would be continually eroded and worn away by that world. When it was depleted, the Unknown Item would disappear completely. But until then, the area it covered became a mixture of the Material World and the Dark Matter World. Lu Yuanming's Soul Body could manifest within that field, and he could use Colorless Light Particles there as well.

Those were the abilities Lu Yuanming could use while the Unknown Item was expanded. Since these monsters were the Unknown Item's original holders, it made sense that they could use even more abilities within it.

But Lu Yuanming didn't think this was the whole truth about the Unknown Item. First, it carried an indescribable aura of terror. Though faint, it was unmistakable. He had once faced the indescribable beings directly, so he was certain the Unknown Item was connected to them.

Second, he could see the Dark Matter World through the Unknown Item—and the Dark Matter World he saw was the ruined New York City.

It was June 2024. At that point in time, New York City in the Dark Matter World had yet to fully take shape. So Lu Yuanming suspected that the view through the Unknown Item was of New York City in the Dark Matter World in Year 2028—the timeline in which he had founded his organization.

Unfortunately, the Unknown Item was far too small. Even sensing it with his mind and spirit, he could only make out the buildings on the other side. He felt that his Soul Body couldn't squeeze through such a tiny Unknown Item to travel back to Year 2028.

Even so, Lu Yuanming was encouraged.

Before, he'd had no way forward and no idea how to return. At least now, he had some hope.

If he could seize more Unknown Items and combine them, perhaps they could form a passage large enough for him to travel back and forth!

And even without the Unknown Item, Lu Yuanming could never stand by and watch these monsters run rampant. As he'd said before, when everyone was trapped in darkness and he happened to have a torch to light the way, then...

Why shouldn't he become a light for them all?

Lu Yuanming was running up the stairwell. Behind him followed the expert team led by the Woman, along with more than ten police officers who had joined them.

Lu Yuanming glanced back at the Woman who claimed to be an expert. He really had seen her approach him with a thin needle. It was hollow inside and so fine that an ordinary person probably wouldn't even feel it piercing their skin. But if it pierced flesh, it would immediately collect some tissue, DNA, or something of the sort. That had clearly been her intention.

The thought left Lu Yuanming feeling disgusted.

But from the Woman's conversation with the police, he knew she worked for the government. She seemed to belong to a government organization formed to deal with curses, monsters, and other strange incidents. Considering how helpless and vulnerable ordinary people were against monsters with special abilities, Lu Yuanming couldn't bring himself to stay angry.

They were all just unfortunate people struggling to survive through the catastrophe. The experts and police alike were risking their lives so that more people could live...

Lu Yuanming ran up the stairwell. Then, without warning, he stopped so abruptly that the people behind him, already gasping for breath, nearly fell over each other. They all looked at him in confusion. Lu Yuanming said nothing. Instead, he turned and charged at the wall beside the stairs—then disappeared into it before their eyes.

From the perspective of his physical body, Lu Yuanming saw only a stairwell leading upward. But through his Soul Body's eyes, there was no way forward. The stairs ended at a pitch-black drop, and anyone who stepped ahead would fall dozens of meters. By contrast, there was an open entrance in the wall beside the stairwell.

With both views overlapping, Lu Yuanming chose to trust his spiritual vision. He turned and walked into the wall. Sure enough, the wall was hollow to the naked eye, and beyond it lay a passage strewn with bloody remains.

The moment he stepped into the passage, Lu Yuanming nearly threw up. Then fury surged through him.

The flesh scattered along the passage wasn't made up of separate, torn-apart chunks. The people had been sliced open but not cut apart, spread out flat like sheets. The sight alone was enough to terrify most people into fainting.

Even worse, Lu Yuanming's keen eyes spotted scratches and gouges on the walls. They were positioned beside the hands and feet of the flattened bodies. It was entirely possible that the victims had still been alive as they were spread out...

Lu Yuanming silently walked deeper into the passage. The experts and police led by the Woman came rushing in behind him. They all froze when they saw what lay ahead. Then people in both the police group and the expert team began vomiting. Only the oldest police officers and the Woman, though pale, hurried after Lu Yuanming.

"Sir, we're in a critical situation. On behalf of the National Paranormal Security Department, I'm asking for your assistance. This concerns the safety of countless people, and—"

Lu Yuanming didn't answer or even acknowledge her. He simply ran faster.

The Woman clenched her teeth and reached into her clothes for her identification card, ready to say something harsher. Just then, Captain Wang rushed forward from behind her and slapped her across the face. "Don't be stupid! He's human, and he's helping us. What are you trying to do?!"

The Woman stared at Captain Wang in disbelief. He turned directly to Lu Yuanming and said, "Stand User, do what you need to do. There may still be survivors in this building, but they won't last long."

Without turning around, Lu Yuanming gave a slight nod. Everyone then saw the Golden Red Armored Figure behind him spread its arms, as if grabbing hold of something and tearing it apart. A vast, empty platform appeared before their eyes. When they stepped out of the passage, they found themselves on the roof of Building C Tower.

In the middle of the rooftop, a Woman in a Red Gauze Dress hummed a strangely terrifying tune as she arranged the people strewn across the ground into bizarre shapes.

They were still alive, but their limbs had been twisted and torn off. As the Red Gauze Dress Woman rearranged them, even the slightest touch caused their flesh to spread flat, becoming part of the strange patterns on the ground.

As Lu Yuanming's Soul Body tore through some kind of spatial veil and brought the police and the expert team onto the roof, the Red Gauze Dress Woman turned to look at them. Only then did everyone see that she had no face. Her face was a Pitch Black Void. As she turned toward them, something within that darkness looked back at them too: an enormous pupil gazing from a distant place beyond the void.

"Close your eyes!"

Lu Yuanming immediately shut the eyes of his physical body and shouted. But the police and experts behind him didn't react in time. Only a few closed their eyes at once. The rest stared blankly at the pupil—and then couldn't look away. The flesh on their bodies began to writhe and boil. Some of them watched their flesh slide off their bones, leaving skeletons behind. Eyeballs and tiny tentacles sprouted from the flesh of others. Two people screamed as their bodies abruptly swelled and exploded, spraying flesh across an area of more than ten square meters.

Lu Yuanming's Soul Body could just barely look directly at the pupil. As he watched it, he faintly heard terrifying voices and words. At that moment, his Soul Body unleashed its full power, even lifting his physical body into the air. Carrying his physical body with it, his Soul Body lunged forward and reached the Red Gauze Dress Woman in less than a second. His arms hammered forward in a frenzy, easily crushing her body. Only the Void that served as her head remained. After nearly a hundred punches, it finally began to crack apart like glass.

Before the Void head could shatter completely, a terrifying roar came from the pupil. The bodies scattered across the ground immediately exploded. Then the Void head shattered, and the roar vanished.

At the same time, another Unknown Item emerged from the Void head. Before it could flee, Lu Yuanming's Soul Body reached out and caught it, stuffing it into himself. This Unknown Item was more than twice the size of the one inside the Octopus Monster.

As soon as the Unknown Item was absorbed, Building C Tower seemed to shudder. The doors and windows that had been twisted out of place disappeared, as did the passages strewn with flesh. The entire building returned to normal in less than a second. The Soul Body behind Lu Yuanming faded away, and he could no longer sense the aura of the Dark Matter World.

But the dead didn't come back to life.

The rooftop was covered in bloody scraps, and people with missing limbs screamed in pain. Several experts and police officers had also mutated. Their new tissues began to reject their original bodies, and they all fainted, blood spurting from their bodies.

Lu Yuanming silently looked at it all. He tried to draw Colorless Light Particles to himself with his Soul Body, but once the field of the Dark Matter World had receded, he could no longer summon it. Aside from his eyesight, hearing, and reaction speed, he was no different from an ordinary person.

After a few seconds of silence, Lu Yuanming could only walk over to the unconscious Captain Wang and take the walkie-talkie from his clothes. He spoke into it. "Send an ambulance. Call the police."

"...Hello? Hello? Do you copy? We're the police..."

Lu Yuanming dropped the walkie-talkie and turned toward the Iron Door at the rooftop entrance.