Chapter 1051

"Lin Dui, how do you feel?"

Outside the instance, Zhang Tie stared eagerly at Lin An, and for Lin An's figure that would suddenly disappear and then reappear, he was really curious.

That's a set, after all, and I don't even know what the set skill is like.

"Not bad."

With a smile, Lin An replied lightly.

The Death God's Aura is equivalent to a group AoE; although he hasn't tested it, Lin An can roughly estimate how much damage it would cause.

Barring any surprises, the effect should be similar to Soul Shriek.

With his terrifying life recovery speed now, an ordinary third-rank would likely have his life force drained completely within a few seconds, dying en masse within the domain.

Moreover, the range is larger and the consumption lower.

For single-target, he has Destruction and Flash Strike, Judgment; for group, he has Death God's Aura, Collapse Stomp, and Void Walk.

With a series of self-created skills, his combat power can be said to be perfectly complemented, with hardly any weaknesses.

What he needs to do next is basically to grind levels frantically and push into high third-rank.

As for advancing to fourth-rank later, Lin An also has many options.

One is to figure it out himself; the other is to follow the usual procedure, using the entire war zone's strength to complete his card quest for him, directly promoting him to the title of fourth-rank!

The fourth-rank that took the strongest human of his past life three years to achieve might, for him, take only a year!

Seeing Lin An's good mood, Xiong Hanzi also gave a hehe smile and glanced at the blade of his left hand.

"Then, Captain Lin, should we stay here or go back?"

"Should we drop a hint to that kid Tayel?"

His eyes darting about, he, who was used to scooping up benefits with Lin An everywhere, felt that if he didn't grab some benefit on this trip and go back, his heart would feel as uncomfortable as a cat's scratch.

He gave a light chuckle, looking at Xiong Hanzi's furtive, bear-like eyes, and shook his head slightly:

"No need."

"If I contact Tayel using my identity, the effect would be worse."

"Tell him we're already in the Soviet war zone, and he'll think that since we've come, we've come, the price for him to help will definitely not be generous."

"Let's see if he'll take the initiative to contact us."

"But, using another identity, I could step forward."

His eyes flickered, and a smile appeared at the corner of Lin An's mouth.

If Tayel were to come to his true self, he would naturally have excuses to demand reasonable compensation. After all, it's so far away; asking him to act, the "travel expenses" should be reimbursed, right?

If Tayel were to find his Rayen identity, that goes without saying.

In the eyes of the Soviet war zone, Rayen is one of their own no matter what, and they will likely try every means to win him over, perhaps even hoping to have "Rayen" counterbalance him.

That way, the Soviet war zone will only be more generous toward Rayen!

Having thought this through, Lin An directly opened the Soviet war zone's chat channel and quickly checked the current situation.

As soon as he opened it, a flood of messages poured down like a waterfall, making the entire war zone channel extremely lively.

At a glance, most of them were discussing his other identity.

"Has anyone found the identity of that mysterious person? The finder will receive a great thanks from the Brown Bear Safe Zone!"

"A piece of blue equipment, selling the information of the Daywalker Killer at an ultra-low price, only once!"

"The Soviet ground forces of Suo E Tuo Fu Lai Ye Bao, offering a high bounty for the Daywalker Killer's information! Those who provide valid intel will receive regimental-level treatment!"

Bounties, scammers, pleas, self-sellers, impostors—the vast Soviet war zone almost entirely revolves around him in discussion.

However, among the many similar messages, a few caught Lin An's attention.

One batch consisted of scattered dozens of Awakened Ones reporting the appearance of a brand-new zombie, and a massive zombie tide had attacked their base; another part was someone encountering an unprecedented third-rank mutant attack in the Chita wilderness; the last part was a large number of survivors claiming to have been separated from the main force and seeking rescue.

These three completely different kinds of information did not stir up much of a wave within the Soviet war zone.

But in Lin An's view, he instantly realized that this was the omen of the Chita disaster beginning to erupt.

Although the Soviet military was desperately trying to suppress this, not daring to let other-region survivors know they had lost control of the disaster. But under the large-scale spread of zombies in Chita, the information could not be completely covered up. Without surprise, in another three or four days, once the Chita disaster spreads to other areas, even slow-reacting survivors will instantly realize that some region must have encountered a major problem!

While watching Lin An check the messages, Zhang Tie idly paced back and forth at the instance entrance.

Just while pacing, he looked at the frightening painting on the wall and couldn't help but ask Lin An:

"Captain Lin, although this trip went smoothly, I always feel it might be too simple."

After glancing at the little Mo Ling who had fallen asleep right after leaving the instance, Zhang Tie rubbed his head, feeling that something wasn't quite right.

Accustomed to each time going into instances with Lin An being a narrow escape from death, this first time being so easily resolved made him a little worried that some problem might have been left behind.

He lifted his head and glanced at the thoughtfully pondering Zhang Tie; Lin An fell silent for a moment, then smiled and shook his head:

"There shouldn't be any."

"Actually, this instance isn't simple either. It's just that our strength is far above the standard, making it seem easy."

Pointing at the Virgin Mary painting hanging on the wall, Lin An's eyes flickered as he lightly explained:

"Following the normal procedure, upon entering this instance named 【God】 with insufficient strength, we would first contact the townspeople to learn about the cult's information, then through disguise and completing some noble figures, make contact with the cultists."

"Finally, either we infiltrate the cultists, or we sneak secretly into the temple to discover some secrets."

"Putting ourselves in their shoes, if our strength were insufficient, after mixing into the cult and hearing many rumors about the god, plus that thing in the instance indeed having extremely strong combat power,"

"after much consideration, we would surely talk ourselves into believing that a powerful deity truly exists within the instance."

"In that situation, the instance's difficulty would rise to extremely high, and most Awakened Ones would be afraid to act."

"Think about it: if those cultists couldn't resurrect due to the zombie virus, and even if they could resurrect infinitely, they'd already be in a dead end, let alone the final 【God】."

"As for the normal way to break the situation.."

"Do you still remember the Son on the painting who suddenly turned his head? If there's no surprise, this is the clue to breaking the situation. The system is telling us that the Son has been swapped out, and the God is being impersonated."

"Only when we are certain it is not a true god can we consider weakening the 'God's' power by destroying faith."

Stroking his chin, Lin An reversed the events that should have happened:

"Do you still remember that we entered the instance without any quest?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be that thing inside the instance that altered the original quest. He's been arranging things here for many years; surely he hasn't made few changes to the clues and information inside the instance. All so that entrants would truly regard him as a god."

Having said that, Xiong Hanzi nodded dumbly; after Lin An said that, he felt much more at ease.

Stroking his head, he rather feelingly touched the portrait:

"This guy claims he's lived for several hundred years; isn't he just been hiding in the instance pretending to be a god?"

Lin An casually nodded, recalling the information he had seen before setting out.

"That's right; if it's several hundred years, the time is roughly the seventeenth century. He might have even fabricated werewolves and witches... just as the instance description says."

Mid-sentence, Lin An's smile suddenly froze, and a thought struck his mind like a bolt from the blue.

Wait!?

Where in the instance are there werewolves and witches? Those legends aren't from the real world a few hundred years ago, are they?

Several hundred years!? Eastern Orthodoxy... the replaced god!?

In an instant, several unrelated pieces of information instantly linked in his thoughts into an unbelievable fact.

Staring fixedly at the infant in the Holy Mother's embrace, Lin An recalled how that thing in the instance possessed humans.

After a while, a crazy idea was born in his mind.

He and Chu An had previously speculated that the Apocalypse had erupted many times in this world, with many Awakened Ones surviving as remnants, hiding in unknown corners.

Those mythological legends in human history are very likely fabricated by these people.

But, now thinking about it...

No!

Perhaps starting from some distant era, supernatural beings from other worlds that had faced the Apocalypse disaster entered the human world to escape it!

They disguised themselves as humans, proclaiming themselves... to be gods?!

Stiff on the spot, after Lin An thought of this, a series of unbelievable absurd speculations uncontrollably surfaced.

So, why hide in the human world? Why would hiding in the human world be safe!?

(I'm trapped in the punishment instance...)

Recalling the gray ball's words, Lin An swallowed dryly, and the most plausible guess flashed through his mind.

Earth, is the punishment instance.

His rebirth, is the instance having been reset!?