The Mission Ends... and Calling the Police

Mission complete... and alarm

Deep within the vast ocean, amidst the endless ripples of light and shadow, the towering divine tree takes root, its roots swaying freely as it is washed by the boundless sea, creating a scene of ethereal beauty.

But a tiny, insignificant "ant," having just awakened, leaned against it, quietly gazing at everything.

At the closest point, the dark sea has been illuminated. In a vast ocean of light, clusters of tassels gather into bundles, like dazzling waterfalls cascading down from the branches and leaves.

Azure, golden, and pure white—the interplay of strikingly different lights often stirs up streaks of stardust.

Every moment, every breath, every thought, every fleeting sway, even without deliberate human guidance, immeasurable radiance condenses from the dark void, converging into a vibrant brilliance, like the reflection of a cascading galaxy. This magnificent, ever-flowing stream falls from the heavens, merging into the vast sea of trees.

--Undoubtedly, that belongs to the spirit, and even the sole trace within it called "faith".

It originates from the height of "Divinity" existence, from the various voices gathered among the spirits of the nations, and many of their essences descended from the distant Star Realm, then condensed among the branches and leaves of this vast giant tree.

Objectively speaking, compared to this boundless ocean, such faith is actually just a drop in the ocean.

But the implications reflected in it are quite different.

Within those black pupils, a deep glint illuminated by golden light gazed upwards toward the source of that light.

In that dimension high above the sea, where stars are faintly visible, a certain indifferent will seemed to sense this attention, understand the "question" it contained, and promptly offered a response.

[Yes, the Administrator, related spiritual income, and the scale of faith are expanding rapidly, but there are differences in individual generalization and depth of faith, so it is not yet possible to clearly quantify some information.]

[Currently, starting from the lowest level of believers and moving upwards, the approximate scale involves approximately 26 to 31 million people.]

Goodness!

Although different from the relationship between users and the Main God, this method of "production," along with the continuous increase in the number of believers, will undoubtedly become a relatively stable source in the future.

This is precisely why the Main God has been gradually loosening some of the restrictions on corresponding beliefs.

It quietly leaped out of the sea.

In this vast world, Li Yun gently shook his head, his feet dangling, suspended in mid-air on the invisible sea. Every movement he made carried an indescribable sense of ethereal grace and weight.

The seemingly insignificant act of stepping out of the "water" actually symbolizes the creation of a barrier between the "self" and the Cluster Subconscious Sea beneath one's feet.

Or, to put it another way, it's an act of independence.

All living things and countless complex traces exist within this deep ocean, without distinction between them.

Only by temporarily severing that subtle "connection" in the dark, can one truly escape this boundless abyss that nurtures all living beings, yet also binds them, by existing independently as one's own nature, rather than relying on the vast torrent reflected in countless living beings.

To be honest, it felt like a baby suddenly having its umbilical cord cut.

When the cluster loses its inclusiveness and support, it is like losing its most fundamental "anchor point." The profound loss caused by the sudden break, and even feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and powerlessness, all come rushing in.

It almost makes one instinctively want to "fall" back into the ocean beneath their feet, like an infant returning to its mother's womb.

With a deep breath, a large burst of azure light suddenly erupted from the already somewhat blurred form, quickly stabilizing its transcendent "independence."

A bluish-green sun quietly illuminated the dark, boundless sea.

Even compared to the majestic form of the World Tree, it is still insignificant.

But as if by a gravitational pull from the convergence of massive masses, wherever the Azure Light flowed and shone, the shimmering points of light in the seawater beneath his feet also rose up, like mist and tide, rising and falling, following the silent phantom around him.

"Come."

A clear idea was conveyed.

Then, the brilliant streams of light falling from above suddenly split into a line, like molten liquid gold, and fell into the clear blue sky.

Coiling, colliding, compressing --

With a slight impact, as if an immortal flame of light spontaneously arose from the surface of the phantom.

Some rays of light slowly rotated, separating at the slightest touch, while others, with their bright radiance, splashed ripples on the azure Light Wheel, subtly seeping into the light.

Entering the figures below, with a fleeting sense of reality, it felt like an illusion.

Upon closer examination, Li Yun quickly realized the truth and stopped the attempt. "It's not very meaningful, at least not for me. Doing more might even have a negative impact on me."

It's true that faith can be toxic. Even after being "filtered" and purified, for normal individuals, considering the impact of the mixed spiritual elements, it still seems extremely useless, or even a losing proposition.

Those few actions, taken out of momentary curiosity, were simply abandoned.

The figure, having lost interest, also shook its head and quietly disappeared.

"It's almost time, I'll be going now."

When I woke up again, I had a severe headache.

His spiritual power leaked uncontrollably from his eyes, almost causing everything in the room to lose its color, with only cyan briefly becoming the dominant color.

Realizing something was wrong, the effects of his Subconscious Sea and the brief escape from that "shackle" had clearly not faded in time. Li Yun quickly closed his eyes, and the two blue suns went out.

However, the colors of the objects in the room did not immediately return to their original state; they only gradually faded away over time.

The direct influence of the mind on the properties of matter is thus evident.

Theoretically, the stronger a person's mental power, the more likely they are to alter the mass structure, anchor themselves to reality, and modify the properties of matter with their will.

Well, those all seem a bit far off.

Compared to the more "restrictive" physical body in reality, Li Yun, who is still prioritizing the tempering of his mental strength, simply sat down at the table and calmly made himself a cup of tea.

Since absorbing that fragment of the "Earth Sovereign's" primordial Primordial Spirit and converting it for his own use, his current spiritual power, according to the Main God's rating, is still "between the Sixth Tier and Seventh Tier."

A very strange assessment.

Or rather, it seems to have already possessed certain elements that only come after a "qualitative change," but it is probably missing something, and therefore it is still firmly stuck on this dividing line.

Li Yun himself wasn't too anxious about this, after all, some things can't be rushed, and can only be done slowly and patiently.

He was thinking about something when the phone next to him suddenly rang.

"Boss Li, where are you right now?"

It was Fatty Yuan, but his voice sounded a little off.

"I'm at home, so what?"

"Well, I have something I wanted to ask for your opinion on. Would you mind coming over to the factory area? --- never mind, I'll just drive over and pick you up."

On the phone, the portly boss's voice was muffled, clearly indicating he didn't want to say much. He only exchanged a few simple greetings like an acquaintance before hanging up.

Sure enough, Fatty Yuan arrived in person before long, with Ruan Chenggang in the car as well. However, neither of them looked too happy.

After Li got into the car, Fatty Yuan immediately stepped on the gas, while Old Ruan next to him patiently explained the situation to the acquaintance he had just picked up.

Simply put—they got tricked in the second round of the True Body Mission!

The opposing team was also a small group that entered the True Body Mission. Considering that when the Main God matches mission participants, it often seems to follow a certain pattern of similar or complementary strengths, this is why users in this small group format are placed in the same Mission World.

Even though the opposing team had some foreigners, the main power of discourse seemed to be in the hands of the Chinese. Therefore, after a brief contact, Fatty Yuan and his group decided to join forces to overcome the challenge.

"Our mission requires us to retrieve a ritual artifact from a mountain tribe. The mission itself isn't too difficult, only a low one-star rating, and there's more than one such artifact—"

Ruan Chenggang, standing to the side, clenched his fists, his cheeks visibly stiff, and spoke in a deep voice without turning his head, "Originally, we were supposed to just raid in, seize one item, and get through."

"But one group of people said that the benefits of doing this would not justify the risks everyone took to come here in person."

"They came up with a ridiculous plan: to wipe out the tribe, seize all the ritual artifacts from those sacrificial sites to improve their mission rating, and then leisurely loot the place to see if there was anything good—"

Just listening to it, Li Yun raised his eyebrows slightly.

According to Ruan Chenggang, the group that framed them deliberately conducted guerrilla warfare in the forest near the indigenous tribe, hunting their hunters. They used tactics such as poisoning the flowing water, setting animal traps, and intentionally capturing indigenous children and women, tying them to trees, and using explosives as bait, waiting for rescue.

Not only were their methods insidious and shameless, but they also managed to devour more than half of the able-bodied men of that indigenous tribe.

But in the end, with few people left in the tribe's camp, and many of them poisoned, the tribe was in a desperate situation where it could be overrun by the users. So, a few old tribesmen with colorful bird feathers in their hair, probably priests, performed an extremely bloody ritual. They personally cut open their own chests with stone knives, sacrificing themselves and some other living people from the tribe to the altars at the sacrificial sites.

Then—among those seemingly insignificant sacrificial objects, such as animal skulls, long fangs, and horns, signs resembling "beast souls" emerged, ultimately being bestowed upon a few deliberately selected native warriors!

Based on the recollections of Yuan and Ruan, those natives who received the "blessing" and even exhibited clear bestial reactions posed a threat to them that was at least as great as that to Old Li.

What happened next was rather predictable: these natives, who had almost transformed from ordinary people into extraordinary individuals, then, fueled by extreme anger and hatred, launched a frenzied hunt against these "invaders"!

At this point, with the situation reversed, it's no longer a question of gaining more benefits, but rather of whether or not one can survive.

Unfortunately, these user groups, each with their own ulterior motives and facing a power imbalance that makes them almost vulnerable, are naturally incapable of fighting a battle against the odds!

Left with no other choice, they could only follow the alternative task given by the Main God, which was the [Survive for Three Days] task that replaced the side quest difficulty change after it was triggered!

Three days!

They must survive for three days while being relentlessly pursued by a group of individuals who are at least at the Third Tier rank and have a deep-seated blood feud!

At times like these, the traditional skill of "encountering Tiger in the wild" naturally comes to the fore!

"During our escape, some users triggered traps set by others, temporarily immobilizing them, and were then caught up by the warrior tribesmen behind them--"

At the time, we even thought it was just an accident on his part.

Mentioning this, not only Ruan Chenggang, but even the Fatty Yuan in front of him was clearly furious and cursed a few times in a muffled voice!

"To hell with 'accident'! This kind of thing happened more than once afterward. We're not stupid; everyone knows something's wrong!"

Clearly, someone deliberately withheld some information about the trap, or even intentionally led these temporary "companions" into danger!

So what if you can't outrun Tiger? Just slow it down!

This was a foreseeable situation, but without a doubt, it was a premeditated scheme to harm someone, revealing a sinister motive behind it.

Once the car stopped in front of his company's building, without even bothering to drive into the underground parking lot, Fatty Yuan casually tossed the keys to the greeter next to him and let him handle it, then welcomed Li Yun upstairs.

As soon as the elevator stopped, a group of people on this floor rushed forward upon seeing the three people emerge!

"Boss, Wu Sheng —he's dead!"

The moment he opened his mouth, the man, his eyes already red and swollen, could no longer hold back and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, " --Juanzi is gone too. So close! Just a little bit more time—"

"Those bastards! I saw with my own eyes that her leg was caught in a trap, and then that madman who chased after her snapped her neck."

"Kill them, and those fake foreign devils too! I'll gnaw their bones!"

Crying, hatred, lingering fear, sadness—but even more so, an unquenchable rage!

In their extreme excitement, no one could remain calm; everyone was shouting and yelling, their faces flushed red.

Looking at this group of users who had clearly entered the mission together, and now seeing the frenzied look in their eyes, filled with a shared hatred and a desire to devour someone, blood vessels quickly rose to their eyeballs.

Clearly, what happened in the short three days that followed was far more than Ruan Chenggang simply described.

In any case, if Fatty Yuan doesn't handle this matter well, the morale of the small group will likely crumble.

However, his current move to urgently invite Li Yun to "endorse" him is indeed quite clever.

After all, even if these people weren't entirely certain of Li Yun's status as a "Fourth Tier expert," they were at least certain based on what they had seen and heard before.

From what I've seen, I know he's an extraordinary person.

Therefore, the fact that the three of them came together at this moment gave these emotionally charged individuals a sense of "backbone" or support.

After all, to calm them down, the first thing to do is to give them hope for revenge.

"Calm down, everyone calm down! Listen to me first!"

"Changhe, arrange the manpower here. I'll send you the mission footage recorded with Level 2 clearance in a bit! Go and make a list of everyone who has laid a hand on our people—no! Anyone even suspected!!"

"Boss, what are you going to do?"

How to do it?

Upon hearing this, Fatty Yuan merely sneered, "We live in a society governed by law. No matter what, we should at least call the police first."