The alarm blared shrilly.
The control room descended into chaos.
"Mental fluctuations have exceeded the upper limit!"
"The instruments are locked up! We can't stop them!"
"The array patterns have activated in reverse! Someone altered the program!"
Song Zhixia looked grim.
She shoved aside the researcher next to her and took over the main console. "Cut the power."
"We can't!"
"The backup circuits are locked too!"
Inside the testing chamber, Lu Wenchuan immediately stepped in front of Xu Zhihan.
The instruments around them had gone completely out of control. Their probes aimed at Xu Zhihan, forcibly extracting his mental fluctuations. The metal devices emitted a piercing hum, as though they meant to tear his very soul apart.
Xu Zhihan sat in the chair, his face growing paler.
But his eyes were cold.
There was no pain, no panic.
Only annoyance.
Lu Wenchuan glanced back at him. "Can you hold on?"
Xu Zhihan's voice was cool. "You really ask that a lot."
Lu Wenchuan couldn't muster a smile.
"Fine, different question. Can I smash them?"
Xu Zhihan glanced at him. "They're your equipment."
"Not anymore."
The moment he finished speaking, Lu Wenchuan raised his blade and slashed at the nearest instrument.
Thunderlight erupted, and sparks instantly burst from the instrument.
But a moment later, the array patterns on the walls flared even brighter. Black vapor coiled around the shattered fragments of the instrument, lifting its probe once more.
Lu Wenchuan's gaze darkened.
"This isn't an ordinary intrusion."
Song Zhixia saw it from the control room too.
"Someone connected something from the Old Gods Society to the system."
The Old Gods Society.
At those words, Lu Wenchuan's expression turned utterly cold.
Xu Zhihan lifted his eyes.
He didn't yet know what the Old Gods Society was, but he recognized this aura.
It came from the same sort of thing as the black-robed evil spirit in the Xu Family's basement.
Filthy, all of them.
Xu Zhihan raised his hand slightly. The red mark was still on his wrist. His gaze turned colder as he looked at it.
Sensing the change in his mood, Lu Wenchuan immediately said, "Xu Zhihan, don't do anything reckless. Your body can't take it."
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Then you handle it?"
Lu Wenchuan paused.
"I can cut it down."
"You can't get rid of it all."
Lu Wenchuan's lips tightened.
That was true.
He could destroy the equipment, but he couldn't suppress the invading force at its source.
Xu Zhihan could.
But he would bear the cost himself.
Lu Wenchuan rarely hesitated like this.
He was used to weighing his options.
Saving people, resolving crises, protecting as many as possible. He had always known when to act and when to let something go.
But now, he realized he didn't really want Xu Zhihan to act.
The man was clearly powerful.
Yet his body was too weak.
So weak that every time he acted, it was as though he paid with his life.
Seeing his hesitation, Xu Zhihan suddenly felt annoyed.
"Lu Wenchuan."
Lu Wenchuan looked at him.
Xu Zhihan's tone was cool. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm about to die."
Lu Wenchuan couldn't help himself. "You don't exactly look like you'll live a long life."
Xu Zhihan stared coldly at him.
Lu Wenchuan coughed. "My mistake."
Xu Zhihan looked away.
The surrounding array patterns shone with blinding intensity. Black vapor crawled out of the cracks in the walls, gradually forming a blurred human face. It had no eyes, only a split-open mouth.
It fixed its attention on Xu Zhihan and let out a low, hoarse laugh.
"Found you."
Everyone in the control room froze.
The voice hadn't come from the equipment.
It seemed to ring inside everyone's heads.
Thunderlight flashed along Lu Wenchuan's blade, and his tone was unusually cold. "What the hell are you?"
The face ignored him, keeping its attention on Xu Zhihan.
"Divine bone, divine soul, divinity fragments..."
Xu Zhihan's gaze shifted.
Divinity fragments.
Those words finally stirred a flicker of interest in him.
Ever since waking up, his memories of his past life had remained incomplete. What had happened before his divine throne collapsed, why he had crossed into this world, where his divine spark had gone-all of it broke off into darkness.
The thing before him knew something.
Xu Zhihan lifted his eyes. "Who sent you?"
The black face's grin widened.
"An awakened god belongs on the altar."
As its words fell, the surrounding array patterns abruptly contracted and shot straight toward Xu Zhihan.
Lu Wenchuan reacted instantly, sweeping his blade through them with lightning and fire, forcibly blocking a portion.
But still more black threads passed through Thunderlight and lunged at Xu Zhihan.
Xu Zhihan finally stood.
The broken metal ring on his wrist fell to the floor with a clear clink.
Every sound in the testing chamber seemed to stop for an instant.
Xu Zhihan raised his hand.
His movement was slow.
But as he raised his hand, the array patterns on the floor dimmed inch by inch.
The black face's laughter stopped.
It seemed to finally realize that what it had provoked was no ordinary vessel.
Xu Zhihan's face was pale, but his voice remained calm.
"The altar?"
He looked at the face, his eyes utterly devoid of warmth.
"You aren't worthy."
The black face began to struggle.
It wanted to escape.
The black vapor on the walls frantically recoiled. The equipment began humming again, as though trying to forcibly sever the connection.
Xu Zhihan gave it no chance.
He pressed his fingertips down lightly.
Every black thread in the testing chamber instantly pulled taut.
All the screens in the control room burst into static.
Song Zhixia snapped her head up. "Everyone, get back!"
A moment later, every pane of glass in the testing chamber cracked at once.
Lu Wenchuan's expression changed.
Rather than retreating, he stepped forward to shield Xu Zhihan's side. Lightning and fire surged from his palm, forcibly forming a barrier to protect the control room.
Xu Zhihan turned his head and glanced at him.
Lu Wenchuan gritted his teeth. "What are you looking at? Keep going."
Xu Zhihan said nothing.
He looked away and turned his gaze back to the black face.
"Kneel."
A single word fell.
The black face seemed to be nailed in midair, twisting as it plunged downward.
It had no legs, yet it was forced into a kneeling posture. A scream burst from its split-open mouth, piercing everyone's ears.
Xu Zhihan frowned.
"Noisy."
He curled his fingertips inward.
The black face shattered on the spot.
At the same moment, the array patterns in the testing chamber collapsed completely.
Unable to withstand the backlash, the instruments exploded one after another.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Sparks flew, and thick smoke billowed.
Lu Wenchuan raised an arm to shield Xu Zhihan and pulled him a step back.
Xu Zhihan had meant to shake him off, but his body had already reached its limit. His vision went black, and his knees buckled slightly.
Lu Wenchuan immediately caught him.
This time, Xu Zhihan had no strength to push him away.
Lu Wenchuan looked down at him, his voice growing grave. "Xu Zhihan?"
Xu Zhihan closed his eyes for a moment as the taste of blood rose in his throat.
He tried to suppress it, but couldn't.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Lu Wenchuan's expression changed.
"Song Zhixia!"
The control room door burst open, and Song Zhixia rushed in with the medical team. Her expression changed too when she saw the ruined instruments strewn across the floor and Xu Zhihan supported by Lu Wenchuan.
"Get him to the medical room."
Xu Zhihan raised his hand and caught Lu Wenchuan's sleeve.
His grip was faint.
Lu Wenchuan looked down. "What is it?"
Xu Zhihan's face was deathly pale, his voice so low it was barely audible.
"That thing just now..."
Lu Wenchuan leaned closer. "What?"
Xu Zhihan coughed, but his eyes remained clear.
"It knew about my divine spark."
Lu Wenchuan's pupils contracted slightly.
Divine spark.
He had heard those words clearly.
After saying that, Xu Zhihan finally reached his limit and passed out.
Lu Wenchuan lifted him into his arms with steady movements, his usual smile nowhere to be seen.
Song Zhixia followed beside him, her tone urgent. "What exactly is going on with him?"
Lu Wenchuan carried Xu Zhihan toward the medical room, his voice heavy and low.
"I don't know."
Song Zhixia frowned. "There's something even you don't know?"
Lu Wenchuan glanced down at the man in his arms.
Xu Zhihan's eyes were closed, his face frighteningly pale, blood still staining the corner of his mouth. Yet he was also the one who had made that thing kneel moments ago.
Absurdly powerful.
And absurdly frail.
For the first time, Lu Wenchuan found that combination jarring.
"I don't know."
He repeated it, his voice even lower.
"That's what makes this troublesome."
Behind them, the testing room was completely ruined.
The last working screen on the control console flickered twice, then displayed a line of garbled text.
Song Zhixia stopped and looked at the text. Her expression suddenly changed.
The garbled text gradually stabilized into four black characters.
[The God Has Returned]
The screen went dark with a snap.
The entire third basement level fell briefly into deathly silence.
Lu Wenchuan kept walking with Xu Zhihan in his arms, but his gaze turned utterly cold.
"Investigate."
His voice was very low.
"Investigate everyone in the Special Investigation Bureau, one by one. Leave nothing unchecked."