Chapter 157: His Gaze

Standing on the podium, facing the heads of state and envoys from nations around the world below, Yang Yi held a thank-you speech filled with official platitudes, wore a formal smile, and read while her mind wandered.

Suddenly, she felt that familiar sensation again: What am I doing?

Why am I here? Why am I doing these nonsensical things? Do these have anything to do with me? Do I know these unfamiliar faces?

What is the meaning of all this I do?

Then she mocked herself inwardly: "Oh, it's starting again; the 'Meaning Monster' is acting up again!"

She forced herself to snap back to reality and bring her attention back to the hall.

Suddenly, a chilling dread crawled up her spine from the base of her tailbone to the back of her head, making every hair on her body stand on end.

In some vague way, she felt a gaze cast upon her from beyond the ancient universe, as if a little white rabbit were being watched by a starving beast—no, not a starving beast, but an unknown existence on a cosmic scale, deeper still, and it was not looking at her on purpose; it was merely a glance from half-closed eyes in its slumber.

An ominous premonition from the depths of her life made her entire body go rigid.

She immediately realized where that gaze came from, and from whom.

Her speech stopped.

In the hall, the crowd's gaze was already fixed on Yang Yi; leaders from nations around the world, whether sincere or insincere, or with ulterior motives, all maintained an attitude of respect and attention toward her.

This abnormal pause drew the attention of everyone present.

Global viewers watching the live broadcast also noticed this unusual pause.

Questions quickly flooded the bullet screen:

"Network lag?"

"That's not right; everyone else in the hall looks normal!"

"Look, the expressions of the other national leaders present don't look right either; what happened?"

"What's wrong with Yiyi? Why did she suddenly stop speaking?"

And at this moment, Yang Yi was enduring pressure and torment unimaginable to the human race on Earth.

That gaze was separated by ancient, distant cosmic light-years; what truly landed on her was merely a trace of residual power weakened layer by layer by time and space, yet the feeling of being watched by a higher level of life remained a weight ordinary Earth life could not bear.

If she had not fused with a fragment of the Evil God, if her body had not been modified by the Colonization Race, that single glance alone would have turned her to ash on the spot, with all her life source instantly drained.

Even though she held on, her insides felt as if they had undergone a cosmic big bang, with bones, flesh, and meridians snapping apart inch by inch.

Worse still, that gaze had "frozen" her brain; her thoughts remained trapped in the afterglow of being gazed upon, unable to escape.

Her whole body was ice-cold, unable to breathe, like a desperate winter swimmer struggling to carve out an escape route beneath the ice, yet the air in her chest was already exhausted.

Everyone waited for over ten seconds for her to continue speaking, only to find her state seemed different from before.

People looked at one another, and a low hum arose in the hall.

Thomas frowned, looking up at the podium with concern. Behind the podium, Yang Yi hung her head, as if pondering something.

The host hurried forward, bent down, and asked her a concerned question; seeing no answer, she grabbed Yang Yi's arm in her urgency.

Yang Yi shuddered all over, as if suddenly realizing where she was.

"I'm sorry, everyone," she said to the crowd below, offering a calm smile: "I just suddenly remembered a super S-class alien creature from another world; it possesses intelligence—until this very moment did I understand the meaning of its cry; if we had figured it out earlier, we might not have fought that battle... Is it a bit late to realize this now?"

Finally, she even made a joke.

Everyone played along with an understanding smile, and the tense atmosphere in the hall dissipated into nothingness.

"In any case, thank you all for traveling thousands of miles to the Xia Nation to attend this bestow the insignia ceremony; I will do my utmost to fight the alien creatures and contribute my share to the safety of all humanity."

Amidst the applause of the crowd, she smiled and exited.

Upon reaching her private lounge, the moment the door closed, the body she had been forcibly maintaining with mental power suddenly collapsed onto the carpet, piled up like a soft-bodied animal, barely recognizable as human, with countless streams of blood mixed with chunks of flesh and even bone fragments seeping out from this mass...

##

While Yang Yi suffered the gaze of the Evil God, something strange also occurred at the Palace of Nations in the United Nations of Europe, far away.

In the basement of the International Criminal Court, there was a temporary morgue used to store the bodies of criminals executed by injection; one of the freezers held the corpse of Wade Davis.

Due to the interdimensional portal incident orchestrated by Wade Davis before his death, his body was under strict guard, with surveillance and traps set up outside the morgue, waiting specifically for members of the Divine Punishment Organization to walk into the trap.

The morgue was well-cooled, with not a soul inside; only the surveillance cameras and the indicator lights on the walls emitted a ghostly green glow, making the room look eerie.

Suddenly, from the distant sky, a faint wisp of black smoke pierced through layers of walls, passed through the protective net, went through the freezer storing the corpse, and precisely entered the body of Wade Davis.

After more than ten seconds, the freezer silently opened by itself; the zipper of the black body bag was slowly pulled open from the inside, and a pale hand reached out.

In the ghostly green dim light, the corpse of Wade Davis sat up stiffly and got off the ground on its own.

As if not yet accustomed to this body, he looked at his hands and legs, then twisted his neck, and the bones in his body emitted a creaking sound as if rusted.

His ears suddenly twitched; hearing rustling noises outside, he turned his head to look at the surveillance camera in the corner; the camera was pointed directly at him, its red light blinking on and off.

A gentle yet eerie smile appeared on his face.