In the real world, somewhere.
The group, looking disheveled, disembarked from the helicopter and, led by soldiers, went directly into the conference room. The transition was so seamless that they didn't even have time to drink a sip of water.
At this moment, there were already dozens of people in the temporary meeting room set up inside the long tent. The professor and his two prodigal students found a corner to sit down and began to listen to the explanation given by the person at the front.
The guy giving the report had thick dark circles under his eyes. The professor recognized him at a glance as the head of a large pasture area, who was currently his peer.
Behind the man, a PowerPoint presentation was projecting an image of a sheep with two heads—no, two, no, one with two heads. Since everyone present was involved in the matter, he didn't even bother to blur it or issue any warnings.
Scenes that could only be seen in science fiction thrillers were brought to life like this, startling the [ Backstabbing Expert ] who was already feeling drowsy from motion sickness.
The current time is not long after the "relics" incident, which had accumulated an overwhelming amount of merit, was dealt with.
The three of them had been flying around the world for some time, and had carried out the containment of multiple " Source of Disorder ". Although it was a publicly funded trip, they were actually extremely exhausted.
Fortunately, these items affected by the other world are generally not very dangerous at present. They can be contained simply by monitoring for any Aberration that occur, and they do not require much effort to manage.
The people in the conference room listened to the report from the person in charge at the front line and quickly understood the cause of this Aberration:
Recently, more than 3,000 ewes in a pastoral area gave birth one after another, and the deformity rate of the lambs exceeded 90%.
There are all sorts of sheep: one body with two heads, two bodies with one head, only a body without a head, and a pure sheep head that only bleats... Even experienced herders have been traumatized and now dare not even go to the sheepfold.
The biggest problem right now is that the person in charge hasn't figured out whether the problem lies with the sheep, the pasture, or even which type of forage.
Investigating this matter would require a significant investment of manpower and resources.
The unresolved Aberration issue was quickly brought into the discussion, and the next person began their report.
The professor glanced at the order on the tablet and knew he was next.
However, just as the man was halfway through his report, a middle-aged man in black, accompanied by a deputy, suddenly entered the tent.
The three professors were familiar with the newcomers, after all, they were the ones who led the recruitment team and got their current jobs.
The middle-aged man walked straight to the front and addressed the silent professionals:
"Sorry to interrupt your internal communication, but I have an urgent message to send--"
He cleared his throat and said:
"Our previous appeal for help received a response from the other side."
The moment the phrase "the response from the other side" was uttered, the experts present understood his meaning, and they all held their breath, waiting for what followed.
The man in black said seriously:
"They agreed, but it wasn't what we expected..."
"The benevolent existence of another world explains our current situation: the various anomalies in our world are caused by the erosion of the Demonic Tide."
According to them, the Demonic Tide also did not originate from their world; to them, the Demonic Tide was also an invader.
"The increasing frequency of Aberration events in our world indicates that the Demonic Tide is infiltrating our world. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, this infiltration and Aberration will become increasingly severe until the barriers between worlds collapse. At that time, the Demonic Tide will launch a full-scale invasion, just like..."
"Did the flood breach the dam?"
A person in the meeting room asked a question.
"That's right, exactly."
So, can we understand our current situation as a dam seepage?
That person was perhaps an expert in the relevant field, and at this moment, it seemed as if they were talking to themselves or asking a question:
"They are upstream, we are downstream, and the dam in the middle is on the verge of collapse?"
That's about it.
Having received a response from the man in black, the man nodded and pressed on:
"So, about asking for help?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to say now."
The man in black cleared his throat:
What I said before was just to give you some idea of what to expect.
"So now everyone should understand that we want help from another world, just like the upstream of a dam wants to send something used to reinforce the dam to the downstream."
"The only possible way is to let those tools pass through the dam itself, which would very likely hasten its collapse."
After the words were spoken, the experts in the conference room either whispered among themselves or remained silent in deep thought.
"But you just said that the other party agreed to provide assistance?"
Another person asked:
"And what about the methods and means?"
The man in black nodded and said:
"Yes, taking into account the issues we just discussed, they offered an alternative form of assistance."
"We'll continue using the dam analogy from before; they're not sending repair tools, but rather trying to teach us repair techniques by communicating with us."
"This sounds much more reliable than sending tools over."
An elderly man with gray hair commented.
"So what they mean is that we need to provide some truly willing volunteers and designate a specific area, and they will use Psionic Energy to achieve a similar effect to shouting, giving them power similar to that of another world."
"But one thing they made clear beforehand was that because our 'homemade tools' are different from their 'professional tools,' we can't completely replicate the power of another world."
"However, with this kind of help, finding the ' Source of Disorder ' will be much easier."
"That's roughly the situation. Each of your groups should have several members qualified for the game. Let's tentatively select three from each group. The venue is currently being set up, and we'll have the results soon."
The professor, sitting in the corner of the conference room, wanted to raise his hand to ask something, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his two prodigal students were already shining with excitement.
He wanted to say something critical, but considering their age and the suffering they had endured with him, coupled with their yearning for superpowers, the professor ultimately refrained from uttering a word. Instead, he raised his hand and asked the man in black:
There's something I want to know.
"May I ask you something?"
"In another world, it's not just humans who Aberration; power is systematically divided, and it also depends on certain things."
I understand what you mean.
The man in black nodded and said to the crowd:
"Therefore, this project involves not only humans, but also many plant samples—compared to animals and machines, plants are currently the most controllable of the three types of Aberration."
"Therefore, this recruitment of volunteers not only requires voluntariness, but also specifies the mode of origin of the other world—preferably Psionic Energy or plant-based."