There's Such a Thing?

Jason, what are you most afraid of?

Upon hearing this, Russell's thoughts returned slightly. He had considered this question before: people's fears change with time and environment.

He couldn't give a definite answer, so he said, "When we were at the pyramids, I was most afraid of Anubis; at the ruins of the monster civilization, I was most afraid of Godzilla evolving into its complete form; just now, I was also afraid of Candle Dragon and Supergirl. If you ask me to name the thing or person I'm most afraid of, I'm sorry, I might change my mind later."

After saying that, Russell shrugged. It wasn't that he was a fickle man if he couldn't give a precise answer. Humans aren't computers; the subconscious isn't under conscious control. Who knows what you'll think or fear next?

Thinking of computers, Russell suddenly remembered that he had a Skill Card that might come in handy at a crucial moment.

[Skill Card: Mechanical Heart (A near-ruthless rationality, always making the most self-serving judgment)]

Russell's words were irrefutable, and the girls felt the same way. In the ruins of the monster civilization, they thought Godzilla was a world-destroying, terrifying creature. But a fleeting encounter with the Candle Dragon instantly changed their minds, and they realized Godzilla wasn't so bad after all.

"This is a headache. Now that you mention it, we can't even come up with a solution!" Ying Yingying blurted out, focusing on piloting the Flying Carpet upwards.

Is it possible that someone who has already experienced inner terror will not experience it a second time?

After Guan Yin finished speaking, without waiting for anyone else to answer, she continued her analysis, "The things that the vice-captain, Sister Xinlan, and Shaoxin feared have all appeared. If my guess is correct, at least three potential problems can be eliminated."

"That makes sense. After all, the main god won't issue missions that are guaranteed to kill you. It's already difficult enough for one person to do it once. Any more and the missions will become unsolvable." The others echoed, not wanting to encounter Supergirl again.

"Don't get too excited yet..." Russell habitually poured cold water on us. "Besides us, there are other Reincarnator here. Jason, Kayako, and Toshio, whom we encountered at the beginning, were not the ghosts we feared, but they still attacked us."

"You mean, materialized objects or people can launch indiscriminate attacks?"

"That's right, Supergirl has attacked other Reincarnator!" Russell nodded.

"This is getting more and more troublesome!"

"We can't worry about that now, Guan Yin, you guys tell me what you're most afraid of?"

Guan Yin: I'm worried the mecha will run out of energy.

Fei Jiehe: Ultraman.

Russell: I'm afraid of everything!

Kang Xi: I'm afraid of bad luck!

The four of them tried their best to answer, but their answers were full of flaws, and they couldn't find any solutions.

"Xiao hope, I personally think you don't need to worry about bad luck."

"Why?"

"Because it can't get any worse."

After flying for five or six hours, the powerful spotlights on Guan Yin's Iron Man Suit were pointed upwards, but it was pitch black and impossible to see anything. She had no idea when they would reach the end. Below, the light from the ever-burning lamps had long since disappeared, and the bottomless abyss sent chills down her spine.

Exhausted, Ying Yingying stopped the Flying Carpet. Russell replenished her Magic Power, but maneuvering the Flying Carpet carefully, avoiding the dense branches of the trees, was physically demanding. To conserve energy, she stopped using her Illumination Spell halfway through, relying entirely on the lights from her Iron Man Suit to find her way.

The group rested on tree branches, took out food and water, and took a break. Ying Yingying needed to recover, as she was exhausted, had used up too much mental energy, felt dizzy, and her legs were trembling. She was leaning against a bronze pillar and closing her eyes for a short rest.

Stranded between heaven and earth, the group felt uneasy sitting on the tree branches. Apart from Ying Yingying, who was extremely exhausted, the others couldn't get a proper rest.

How long have we been flying?

"I don't know, but judging by the time, it must have already flown out of the underground world."

"Could the bronze pillar lead straight to the surface?" Jian Shaoxin exclaimed. This was indeed very close to the original story, where the Bronze Divine Tree led straight to the underground, as if connecting to hell.

Russell didn't join the conversation of the thousands of ducks. He raised his hand and brushed it across the bronze pillar, where the exquisite and beautiful relief carvings resembled a kind of script. Assuming that all these characters recorded history, how long would that history be? Probably tens of thousands of years—a truly astonishing thought.

In his mind, he had already confirmed that this was probably a relic of the Bronze Age, and that it was the correct way for him to escape and ascend to the World Quest. Once he reached the top, he could successfully complete the mission.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh————

The whooshing sound of something cutting through the air rang out again, followed by a series of clattering sounds as the mangled corpse of Reincarnator plummeted from above.

The group was used to it; they had seen it many times along the way and were already used to it.

Two hours later, Ying Yingying opened her eyes, rubbed her still throbbing temples, took out some water to apply to her face, refreshed herself, took out the Flying Carpet, and continued to fly upwards.

They walked and stopped, stopped and walked, until they finally caught up with the other Reincarnator.

Rumble!!

An orange-red fireball exploded in the sky, but the Bronze Divine Tree, with its hard texture, didn't even flinch. Its lush branches remained motionless, as if no amount of noise could shake them.

The group removed their light source and looked up using the firelight from the explosion. There was still some distance they couldn't see very clearly, but they were certain that two groups of people were fighting.

"There's a fight up there. I wonder if it's infighting among the Reincarnator or a battle with materialized monsters. Should we go up and take a look?" Jian Shaoxin suggested, a little excited to have caught up with the Reincarnator who had gone ahead.

But the others were uninterested, and no one echoed Jian Shaoxin; their unspoken thoughts were written all over their faces.

Ying Yingying: Huh?

Guan Yin: What's it to me?

Kang Xi: What's it to you?

Fei Jiehe: Is that so?

Duan Xinlan: I'm just a bystander!

Russell: Is it my fault?

Jian Shaoxin: "..."

Realizing she had said something wrong, she buried her head in her chest and shut her mouth.

"Shaoxin, the more people exploring the other ruins, the better, but this place is different. Cooperating with other teams will only cause trouble," Ying Yingying explained. The Bronze Divine Tree has the ability to materialize, and the more people there are, the greater the danger. Rescuing people rashly is tantamount to courting death.

In the cycle of reincarnation, there's no such thing as shouting when you see injustice, then continuing on your way after shouting; crouching in the bushes and waiting to pick off enemies is the normal course of action.

"Get ready, we'll sneak around. Hold your breath and don't let them spot us."

Ying Yingying spoke, she focused intently on maneuvering the Flying Carpet, flying upwards close to the edge of the terrain. After completing the mission and returning to the Main God Space, everyone was back to being competitors. Not picking up kills was already a sign of high moral character; offering a helping hand was absolutely out of the question.

The battle above had reached a fever pitch, with a dozen or so figures fighting tooth and nail, their heads bleeding profusely, as if possessed by a demon. Due to the strange abilities of the Bronze Divine Tree, the Reincarnator could no longer distinguish between friend and foe, and in their desperate need to save their own lives, they no longer trusted even their teammates, attacking with deadly ferocity, creating utter chaos.

Russell glanced around and, not seeing anyone he was worried about, breathed a slight sigh of relief.