The Situation

Chapter Five: The Situation

Lu Yuanming returned home, his heart heavy.

At Building C Tower, he had seen more than a hundred people die. Some had fallen to their deaths, some had been eaten by the Giant Octopus Monster, and some had been flattened in the corridor. Dozens had been infected by the Unknown Item on the rooftop, and others had been blown to pieces by its final, unearthly shriek.

Even worse, the souls of the dead had not fallen into the Dark Matter World. Some had been absorbed and digested by the Octopus Monster, while many more had been swallowed by the Red-clothed Monster and fed to the indescribable horror. It was as if their souls had been annihilated—perhaps suffering an even more terrible fate. Lu Yuanming could hardly imagine what that unknowable horror would do to their souls...

And all of this had happened in the real world!

To Lu Yuanming, the Dark Matter World was a dangerous, terrifying place. But the Material World in 2024 should have been very safe, like a safe zone.

This incident had made him realize that either Alfred and Tang Zhean's knowledge of the past was false, or the timeline had changed. For some unknown reason, the ghosts and curses that should have begun in 2027 had arrived early, in June 2024. They had probably erupted on a massive scale all over the world, which was terrifying. It had completely upended his original plans.

Before Lu Yuanming had awakened from his vegetative state, he had actually had a whole plan in mind. He had discussed it with Alfred and Tang Zhean.

According to the timeline they knew, the first wave of ghostly curses would not appear until the second half of 2027. It was not until December 2027 that governments around the world would confirm the existence of ghostly curses and realize that human civilization was falling into the Dark Matter World. But because of conflicts between countries in the real world, it would not be until 2028 that they secretly formed an alliance to confront the threat of humanity's descent.

So the plan Lu Yuanming had worked out with the two of them was this: once his vegetative body awoke, he would secretly approach the aging billionaires of the world. Using the information Alfred had given him, he would preach to them, describing the horrors and dangers of the Dark Matter World. He would then invent a god and a Lord, especially promoting the coming of the Messiah at the end of the world, and win their trust. With their connections, political influence, and wealth, he could build a church and establish his own organization in the real world.

From Alfred's description, this invented god and Lord—especially the Messiah at the end of the world—sounded an awful lot like Lu Yuanming's Soul Body in the Dark Matter World. Deep down, he really didn't want to promote superstition. But if doing so could earn him a vast amount of Colorless Light Particles and let him save more people in the Dark Matter World, then he would have to be willing.

Everything had been planned out. Then, when his vegetative body awoke, things went wrong. It took him several months to fully recover. After that, his inability to return to the Dark Matter World in 2028 was one unexpected setback, and the outbreak of ghostly curses in the real world was another. His original plan had fallen apart completely.

Lu Yuanming sat at his desk, thinking back over what had happened. He tried to sense his Soul Body again, but with the ghosts destroyed, he could no longer feel it. Its overwhelming power seemed to have vanished entirely. However, he could still sense the two Unknown Items.

The two Unknown Items were merging. After he had absorbed them into his Soul Body, the hatred, terror, and other emotions clinging to them had been dispelled. The aura left behind by the indescribable horror had also faded, replaced by the presence of his Soul Body.

The two Unknown Items were of different sizes. If the smaller one counted as a unit, he now had three units in total.

So far, Lu Yuanming knew that an Unknown Item could be "unfolded."

It was an ability he instinctively understood upon coming into contact with an Unknown Item. He only needed to completely imbue it with the aura of his Soul Body, and then it could unfold at his will, like a domain or a field. Within that field, he could use the power of his Soul Body. He even sensed he could do more, such as partly controlling the space inside it, like the two ghosts had, or changing how living beings perceived things.

He could also "see" the Dark Matter World in 2028 through the Unknown Item. But he had acquired too little so far. If he had enough, he felt he could use the Unknown Item to cross back into the Dark Matter World.

"...It's not enough. Nowhere near enough. Based on how it feels, I'll need at least ten units of the Unknown Item before I can try to cross back."

Lu Yuanming sensed the three units inside him and tried to cross over. He felt cramped and constrained, unable to pass through. That put an end to his plan to return immediately and find Alfred and Tang Zhean.

Now he could only face everything on his own.

"...They should be able to find me, even if I wore a mask. They could track me easily from my height and clothes alone, especially with cameras all over the residential compound."

Lu Yuanming was sure of that. He had never doubted how powerful a country could be. If they wanted to, the authorities probably already had information on him, his family, and even his ancestors going back eight generations spread across their desks.

Though he didn't want to expose himself like this, all kinds of thoughts ran through his mind: secret laboratories, being cut open and dissected, being locked up for the rest of his life. But he couldn't have stood by while the ghosts rampaged and hundreds, even thousands, of people died.

Besides, the situation had already gone far beyond anything he had expected. He had too many questions. Why were ghostly curses already running rampant in 2024? From the conversation between the police and the experts, this didn't seem to be an isolated incident. Similar disasters had broken out all over the country.

He had to understand what was happening, and the country was undoubtedly the largest organization and power around. The fastest and most reliable way to get information was through the government.

While Lu Yuanming fretted, ready at any moment to receive visitors from the government...

In a smoke-filled conference room in a municipal building in CQ City, a group of people were arguing.

"Undisciplined and disorganized! Is this how you people handle things? You just let him walk away right in front of you!?" A middle-aged man in military uniform roared, his eyes bloodshot. "Do you know how many soldiers died in WH? Three domains. We sent in thousands of people and got no response. Every last one of them is gone, and those three domains are still expanding! There's also a domain covering one square kilometer in CD. It's swallowed more than ten thousand people! You found someone with supernatural abilities, so you should have brought him back immediately!"

Captain Wang smoked in silence. When the middle-aged officer had finished shouting, he said quietly, "I was unconscious at the time. There was nothing I could do. If you want to bring him in, the military can send someone."

The middle-aged officer's face stiffened. He slapped the table hard. "How are we supposed to do that? Send in the army? What if this person with supernatural abilities gets the wrong idea? What if he can unfold a domain too? Are we supposed to drive the only person with these abilities we've found over to the other side? Is this how you people handle things?"

Captain Wang flung his cigarette butt to the ground and roared, his eyes bloodshot. "This is how I handle things! So many people went in, and only six came out alive. Five more are still missing. They're alive, but where are they? They were taken away by you people in Biohazard Suits. Where are they!?"

The middle-aged officer was at a loss for words. An elderly man who often appeared on television sighed. "Their bodily tissues have mutated. The research team believes it may be related to some kind of radiation, or perhaps a virus. These mutations are contagious. The cases in BJ have already proved that. They have to be isolated. Captain Wang, rest assured: our country won't disregard human life like those in Europe and America. We won't use them for biological experiments. This is for everyone's safety..."

Captain Wang said nothing. Someone beside him started to speak, but just then there was a knock at the conference room door. Someone quickly went to open it, and Captain Wang saw a woman enter. She was the head of the expert team.

Captain Wang immediately shouted, "She mutated too! Why can she come out, while my team members can't?"

The woman pulled away the gauze covering half her face. "I had all the mutated tissue removed. After examination, they confirmed there were no further mutations in my body. Most of your team members have mutations in their internal organs, and those tissues and organs can't all be removed."

Captain Wang stared blankly at the woman's empty left eye socket, then lowered his head and fell silent.

As soon as the woman entered, she saluted the elderly man at the head of the table, then hurriedly said, "I'll go make contact with this person with supernatural abilities! He probably doesn't think highly of me, but compared with a stranger or a soldier, at least I fought alongside him. There's a good chance he won't attack me outright. Don't worry. I was too impatient in the domain before. I shouldn't have treated him that way. I'll explain in detail the situation our country is facing."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. The middle-aged officer immediately said, "I need to report this to my superiors!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the elderly man said, "Then report to me now... We're out of time. The domain in CD is right in the city center. Xiao Xu, you've never worked at the grassroots level, so you always speak in official jargon. That's no good. We need to stay close to the people and understand their concerns and needs, not use some grand principle or the country to pressure them. That's no good."

The woman lowered her head, but still said, "But so many people have died. So many of us went into the domain, and we tried every kind of weapon, light and heavy, but nothing worked. We even tried launching missiles from outside, but they were useless against these things. At long last, someone has emerged who can fight those monsters. I really..."

The old man stood up. "I've worked in the countryside and gone among the people to talk with them, so..."

"Let's go. I'll meet this young man myself, listen to what he needs, and ask what he's worried about. A Stand User, huh..."

"I read it when I was young too."