Chapter 207: Reappearance and Reenactment

In the sudden change, it almost destroyed everyone's sanity.

「Combat instinct! 」

「Divine Stab! 」

A brief moment of dazedness, Lin An's expression turned stern, he suddenly activated his skill and then flashed behind the female corpse.

Courting death!

「Crack! 」

The spine shattered.

He exerted force with his arm, under overwhelming power directly twisting the female corpse's skull 360 degrees backward.

The sharp whistle stopped, and the girl, under the blows of Divine Stab and physical force, turned back into a quiet corpse.

Without hesitation, Lin An grasped the female corpse's neck, then violently thrust his arm into her throat.

Slimy, icy cold.

After a moment, an infant's skull was pinched in his palm.

「Lin An! 」

「Someone disappeared! 」

Wen Ya had not yet recovered from the female corpse's startling change, only seeing the members beside her disappear one after another.

The speed of disappearance seemed as if an invisible giant mouth was frantically devouring.

What... on earth is going on?

Shocked, at a loss.

In her consciousness there were no disappearance events; each personnel disappearance was a strong, brief shock to her.

「I know! 」

Without turning his head, Lin An noticed that the disappearance speed was rapidly increasing.

3.. 4.. 9!

In less than two short seconds, more than half of the members outside the door disappeared.

Among the Awakened Ones, only the Yun siblings and Wen Ya remained.

「Lord Lin An?! 」

「Dis... disappeared! 」

Extreme fear.

The male student standing at the doorframe watched in disbelief as his companion beside him vanished into thin air, as if he had never existed.

No time to think, Lin An instantly used psychic power to pull the headless infant's corpse before him, then swiftly sewed it together with both hands.

Faster... even faster!

It must work!

「Lord! Zhang Teng disappeared! 」

「Fang Guoqiang! 」

「Huang Boyong! 」

「Wang Zhi... 」

In psychic perception, that invisible maw ceaselessly devoured one survivor after another.

Even some hadn't spoken their last words before instantly disappearing.

In the blink of an eye, the disappearance speed increased again.

11..

13!

Lin An's hands almost moved as a blur, each suture was extremely precise.

There were too many needle holes; he feared tearing the skin, making it impossible to sew.

With full concentration, he finally did it when the thirteenth person disappeared.

The final stitch!

「Hiss! 」

The sharp needle tip pierced the corpse's skin, firmly suturing the skull to the body.

Fine needle holes and white thread covered the infant corpse's neck, making it look like a mended terrifying doll.

「Ho--ho」

Lin An couldn't help but gasp heavily, his tense gaze fixed on the last three people.

Wen Ya, Yun Tian, Yun Lin.

They three were the last survivors...

Will the disappearances continue?

In the silence, it seemed even the thunderstorm outside the window had vanished.

One second.

Two seconds.

The four recovered from their shock, gasping heavily.

Lin An, has the disappearance... ended?

Wen Ya's fingertips turned blue from gripping; this time she seemed not to have had her memory erased.

Lin An forced a smile, then looked at the infant in his hands.

Disappearance? Has it stopped?

But where are the people who were supposed to return to reality?

A moment later.

Wa--

With a baby's wail, the child who was originally dead beyond revival seemed to have regained life, wriggling in Lin An's palm.

In mid-air inside the room, the transparent air undulated, sending out ripples.

Under the violent shaking of space, countless black shadows were spat out.

Dong-dong-dong-dong

Heavy objects fell one after another to the ground.

Holy shit, where the hell am I?

Who stepped on my head?

I'm about to be crushed to death by your butt! Get up already...

On the pile of people, Xiong Hanzi rubbed his shiny, gleaming forehead, full of doubt.

Lin Dui, why are you looking at me like that?

He wiped his forehead, but it felt like he had gotten a handful of slime.

Ugh..

What the hell ate me...?

Why does this thing still sting my mouth..

Their eyes met.

Lin An looked at the shouting Xiong Hanzi with a complex gaze, the corners of his mouth turning up.

Memory restored.

He remembered who that person was—the one whose disappearance made his heart feel like it was being cut.

Besides this idiot, who else could it be...

Brother, welcome back.

???

Zhang Tie stared at him in surprise; this was the first time he had seen Lin An like this.

He grinned, looking extraordinarily ugly.

Lin Dui, what's come back?

I've been here all along, haven't I?

And besides, what the hell is going on with this?

Everyone's memory was restored, and under Lin An's explanation, they also learned what had happened.

Zhang Tie stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Lin Dui, so we're supposed to do what with this little brat...

Stuff it back into its mother's womb and be born again?

Or does it have to come out headfirst?

Would that even work?

Lin An stopped the motion of twisting the female corpse's head back in his hand, furrowing his brow slightly.

This time, he wasn't entirely sure either:

It should be effective.

Although it makes no logical sense, this sort of Supernatural Incident can't be judged by ordinary reasoning.

Just like that thing beside your foot.

In my perception, this thing has always been dead.

Upon hearing the sound, everyone's faces grew grave, some fearfully looking at the child on the ground.

Zhang Tie didn't care at all, picking up the crawling baby all over the ground with a look of disgust; this thing would wail loudly at the slightest touch.

Its neck was covered in dense stitches, its eyes tightly shut.

Moreover, its cry seemed to carry some kind of power, making people feel chilled to the bone.

Good grief, if this thing were thrown into any base, it could scare a whole bunch of people to death.

Xiong Hanzi smacked his lips:

Lin Dui, this thing is truly badass. Even dead to this extent, it can still have its head sewn on and run around wildly.

Just like you said earlier.

This thing, because when it was born, its head fell into its mother's belly?

So it feels like the whole world is just... as big as a mother's belly?

So it wants to throw us into its belly, just like itself?

Lin An's expression stalled; he hadn't expected Zhang Tie's explanation to be so thorough.

Yeah, roughly speaking, that's how to understand it.

For it, it's replicating onto us the things that have happened to its own body.

Because it died at birth and turned into a Supernatural Incident.

So, for it, this 'world' contains only the concept of death, and thus it will bring death to everyone, making you die in the way it understands.

Zhang Tie let out a cold snort upon hearing that, and glared at the baby in his hand:

Damn, it's just a... bear... ghost kid, huh?

It just died, yet it still pulls all these tricks.

Huang Haitao, who had been silent beside them, suddenly spoke up and asked:

"Lord Lin An, haven't we returned to normal now?"

"Your idea of reenacting this child's birth is to deceive it: 'You' are already dead, and it's a normal way of death."

"In order to break its understanding of the sequence of death, right?"

Lin An slowly nodded, signaling him to continue.

Huang Haitao hesitated for a moment:

"But, isn't it 'alive' now? Do we need to remove its head and stuff it back in?"

"After all, we have to tell it that it's dead..."

Lin An listened, then fell silent for a moment, and gave his understanding:

"That's right. I plan to wait until it is born, then remove its head, burn paper money, and bury it."

"Removing the head after birth corresponds to physical death."

"Burning paper money corresponds to holding a funeral for it, simulating forgetting."

"Burial represents severing its connection to this world, simulating the erasure of traces in the world."

"Only in this way can it experience a normal sequence of death."

"Thus breaking the foundation of its existence: 【Reversed Death】."

Lin An held a piece of yellow paper money between his fingertips, lost in thought.

His speculation should be correct.

The personnel of the Military Region stationed at the outpost must have thought of this as well; it's very likely that when they were thoroughly solving this problem, they happened to encounter a mutant attack.

Therefore, during the final burial stage, the skull was lost.

The yellow paper in the classroom, the opening in the abdomen, and the sutures on the child's neck all prove his inference.

All steps, clues, and information match.

Besides not knowing why the skull returned to the woman's throat, but supernatural incidents don't conform to logic...

Suppressing the trivial doubts in his heart, Lin An solemnly placed the wriggling child back into the abdominal cavity.

Just as he was about to suture the wound.

In the corner behind him.

A soldier like a dried corpse slowly rose to his feet.

"If you want to die, then please continue."

His voice was hoarse, like an old cassette tape.

Hearing the voice, Lin An turned sharply, his heart startled.

"Who are you!?"

He stared fixedly at the soldier before him, his heart filled with astonishment.

No perception, no reaction!

His mental power frantically probed the man in the corner, but it was like air.

Before Lin An could continue speaking.

Only to see the man's face, originally like a dried corpse, quickly recover, eventually becoming a young man in his early twenties, appearing refined and gentle.

He looked calmly at Lin An, habitually pushing up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, and spoke softly:

"Your reasoning is completely wrong."

"Moreover."

"Utterly foolish."

His voice was icy, devoid of emotion.

As if stating a fact.