Gazing

He smashed the computer screen in the office, then locked the door from the inside, and then quickly let go to prevent Mei's already weak body from being harmed by his cold aura.

"It's here earlier than I expected." Mei shook off the ice crystals from her clothes, shivered, and walked to her desk, taking out her communicator.

Like Lin, she had foreseen the current situation and that the instigator was a member of the Fire Moth, so she had Vill-V make this special communicator in advance.

Unlike ordinary communicators, this communicator has no screen and can only contact a few people via a special channel to prevent eavesdropping.

"Dr. Vill-V, are you alright?" The first person she contacted after turning on her communicator was Vill-V.

"Um... I don't know how to interpret the word 'good' you're talking about." Even the usually eccentric Vill-V said with a wry smile, "If you're talking about me personally, it's fine for me to hide in the secret room, but if you're asking about Spiral Workshop, and a bunch of people rush in laughing like they're having a bonfire party, drunk and crazy, then I don't think it's going to be any better."

"But I think Dr. Vill-V will always have a backup plan, right?"

"If that's your question... well, you're not wrong. Great Magician always keep a needle for themselves to use for picking locks."

As soon as she finished speaking, Vill-V pressed a button.

"Squeak--"

Inside the Spiral Workshop, the corrupted individuals frantically searching for Vill-V all looked up. On a nearby wall covered with blueprints, some hidden clips turned, storing the blueprints inside. Then, some flintlock muskets that looked like they were from the Middle Ages emerged and automatically aimed at the "people" present.

Then, a shot rang out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

What was fired from the flintlock musket were not gunpowder bullets, but syringes.

These syringes precisely pierced each person's body, and then the sedative inside was automatically injected. In less than a minute, everyone collapsed to the ground.

Vill-V always leaves herself a back door. For example, this secret room was secretly built by Moth of the Flame without anyone knowing. She modified the surrounding structure in secret, and even May couldn't find it.

"Well, the Great Magician doesn't like audiences who disrupt the stage like this." Vill-V, hearing the commotion outside subside, continued her conversation with May. "Weren't you working on the drug with Spasi? How's it going?"

"The good news is that we've found our direction."

"The bad news is that it's not finished yet, right?"

Mei chuckled softly, "But we've reached the final stage, wouldn't it be good to give Doctor Spacy some encouragement?"

"I don't need encouragement."

Spasi's voice suddenly appeared in their conversation. He said to them with a helpless tone, "Besides, this is not a medicine to save those people. It is only a medicine to resist mental attacks. It cannot save those who are immersed in dreams as an antidote."

"Vill-V, how's the preparation for that device going?"

"Everything is ready, and we can start work at any time. Bring Dessidobia over."

May nodded. "Did you hear that, Kosma?"

"Boom!"

Before the sparks from the broken door, an "abnormal" figure stood, looking coldly at the contaminated people. To be honest, he was already quite surprised when he learned that the headquarters had been infiltrated, but seeing so many people disguised as normal people around him from the very beginning still gave him a chill.

"He looks... more like a monster than I do."

Kosma stood coldly in place, casually tearing off the remaining half of the iron gate and sending the person in front of him flying like a dandelion seed.

"Stop showing off, let's go!" Dessidobia's pupils shone with a strange light. With a wave of her hand, the person in front of her was pinned against the wall as if grabbed by an invisible giant hand. "Didn't you only have horns on your head? How are you a monster?"

"And hands."

"Whether it's your hands or your feet! Hurry up and get going!"

Kosma and Dessidobia's Hypervariable Surgery was completed three days ago. May did not report or make it public. She kept the two hidden, waiting for the impending crisis, as a "surprise weapon" to deal with the disaster.

After undergoing the Hypervariable Surgery, Kosma gained incredible physical explosive power. The side effects were similar to Sakura's, with an inconspicuous little horn growing on his head, and his hands transforming into claws when using his abilities.

Dessidobia, on the other hand, gained unprecedented abilities. Similar to Aponia, she experienced a boost in her mental consciousness and was able to use "telekinesis".

Therefore, after discarding Aponia, who stated from the beginning that she would not participate in the battle, the key figure in this crisis is Dessidobia.

The Flame-Chaser's abilities are beyond the reach of ordinary people. These out-of-control corrupted beings could not stop them. Along the way, all the screens that might display corrupted recordings were destroyed by Dessidobia using telekinesis before they even appeared.

They soon arrived at their destination, the Spiral Workshop.

They were shocked by the scene inside as soon as they entered: people were lying all over the floor, scattered on the table like a jumble of playing cards.

"Oh, you've finally arrived. This is troublesome. The only way to find out who is exerting mind control is when He is manipulating the corrupted on a large scale." Vill-V stood in front of a device that looked like a hibernation pod, adjusting the data. Without turning her head, she said to the two of them, "Sorry, wait a moment. Someone has messed up. We need to meet some conditions before we can begin invading the controller's consciousness world."

"What about Mobius?" Rime asked into her communicator. "She's the only one we haven't been able to contact."

"I'm sorry, Doctor Mei," Einstein said in a slightly languid tone, "But it seems that Doctor Mobius has already been infected, based on the detection of the Armed Puppet."

"...Her?" May felt something was off about this. Logically speaking, Mobius should be the least likely one.

"It's alright, I'll let the Armed Puppet handle the rest."

"Alright, I'll leave it to you, Doctor Einstein."

Mei sat in her chair, deep in thought. She had tried to get Prometheus Unit 2 to block the contaminated recordings, but Prometheus Unit 2's system had now been shut down, likely by Qianqi, who was probably already contaminated as well.

Is the next step a counterattack?

Will things go so smoothly?

Chapter 108 The Gaze

Aponia knelt in the serene darkness, as if she had merged into that unseen world, her senses extending outward, across the deep blue ocean, to some distant place.

If someone were to venture into the Deepest Place of the prison, where the prisoners were kept under surveillance, they would find everyone lying unconscious on the floor.

These corrupted individuals wanted to release the prisoners, but the moment they opened the cell, they were taken down by Aponia.

Even after the cells were opened, these prisoners did not dare to step out, suppressing their breath and fearing the Nun with her eyes closed in the deepest part.

Compared to the overwhelming disaster of consciousness pollution, the gentle and beautiful Nun seemed more terrifying.

"Are you... calling me...?"

The cold, bright moonlight shone directly in front of the Nun, making half of her gentle face appear even whiter under the moonlight. She quietly opened her eyes, the bloodshot veins in them disappearing. She stretched out her slender hand, her fingers clearly visible in the cold light.

She looked at the only moonlight in the darkness, and her eyes softened.

"I will not... participate in the battle..."

The branch was quiet, with messy corridors and rooms, and shattered screen fragments everywhere, but the familiar piercing alarm did not sound.

Some figures walked sparsely down the corridor, as if weightless and without making a sound, and silently entered the control room.

Their faces were blank and devoid of any emotion, and their synchronized movements were as if they had been carved from the same mold.

Pardo stood in front of the central control console. She tried to operate it, but to no avail. Several error messages appeared in succession, making her hesitate for a few seconds.

Pardo had no experience controlling anything, so even after being corrupted, she couldn't use the console.

So she stepped back, and another person with experience in operating the device stepped forward, quickly pressed a few buttons on the panel, and soon found the media screen in the area with the highest foot traffic in Changkong City.

He then uploaded the pollution video; with just a click, most of the city's population would be instantly contaminated with consciousness.

Only fire-chasing moths possess such power, but now, the privilege exercised to protect humanity has become an accomplice in wreaking havoc on humankind.

"Bang!"

A bullet struck the control panel precisely, and the resulting sparks extinguished the screen instantly.

Everyone turned their heads in unison, their faces filled with horror, to look at the man standing at the door, clutching his chest and panting heavily. His clothes were soaked in blood, and he looked like a straw about to collapse.

Erwin felt all the heat draining from his chest wound, and everything in front of him seemed about to collapse. Even though the bullet hadn't hit a vital spot due to Pardo's poor shooting skills, it had still taken away most of his strength.

We can't... let them... distribute the video...

Erwin knew that these people would definitely want to corrupt the consciousness of most people through recordings, and using the Firemoth's access was the most convenient way.

"Huff... huff..."

Erwin knelt helplessly on the ground, feeling the merciless gazes, each one a mockery of his incompetence.

Weak and powerless, a useless piece of trash who can't do anything.

If it were Lin instead of him here, that would be better.

Lin would have been able to sense the crisis much earlier and easily stop them.

They even found out who was behind it all long ago, nipping the crisis in the bud.

If it were him...

He collapsed to the ground, coughing and limp, looking resentfully at those "people" who ignored him.

It's no different from usual...

No one would pay attention to him, after all, he was just a lucky private who survived several large-scale Honkai. Compared to him, Kosma and Dessidobia from the same period were much more dazzling.

Erwin doesn't even have the right to chase after someone else's back.

How annoying... People like him always just watch others sacrifice themselves and then feel lucky to have survived...

Every time... every time... that heroic act was so admirable and praiseworthy, yet he still felt fortunate that it wasn't him who died...

He was utterly rotten... Compared to Lin... Compared to any of them... Erwin felt he was utterly rotten.

"Drop--"

A soft sound reached Erwin's ears with his eyes closed, and it exploded like a thunderclap!

He suddenly opened his eyes wide, strained to lift his neck, and saw that the person was operating another backup control panel.

His mind went blank; at that moment, Erwin wasn't thinking about anything.

He didn't think about his own incompetence, the sacrifice of his comrades, or the respected predecessors.

He instinctively, without a single extra thought, propped himself up and shot out like a cannonball.

"Boom!"

"Bang!"

The bullet struck his right shoulder, but he ignored it, his facial muscles contorted, and he viciously grabbed the man operating the device and shoved him away.

Then he slammed his fist on the control panel, the sound of his hand breaking and the control panel shattering exploded at the same time!

Finally, Erwin's face was burning red. He smashed open the safety device of an emergency button and then used his last bit of strength to slam his head against it.

"Bang!"

The emergency protective doors of the entire branch slammed shut in an instant, completely sealing off the branch into an airtight cage!

This emergency button can lock down the branch base for 72 hours, during which time no one can leave or enter.

The hot blood streaming down his forehead flowed into Erwin's eyes.

He slid off the control panel in a daze and fell to the ground, his bloodshot eyes, unable to close, staring intently at the motionless, contaminated people.

Keep your eyes on them—

"Smack."

"Tsk, useless guy."

Chrono looked at Immer, who had been knocked unconscious against the wall, with dissatisfaction. Imer was as vulnerable as a piece of paper.

He is very angry now.

But he wasn't angry because Immer attacked him.

"Who on earth is playing such a pointless trick!" Chrono, enraged, grabbed Immer by the back of his collar, tossed him into the room next door, closed the door, and walked down the dilapidated corridor.

These people are acting like madmen, clearly under someone's control. Chrono is most indignant that Immer has also been controlled.

"Da, da, da, da..."

A hurried footstep rapidly approached from afar. Chrono glared angrily, but their eyes met.

"It's you?!"

"... What are you doing here?"

Sakura frowned, looking at Chrono standing amidst the chaotic ruins. She hadn't expected to encounter him here.

"I also want to ask you! What exactly happened! Who was it—"