Chapter 531: Assault

Darkness twisted.

Consciousness faded.

Unlike the weightlessness felt when entering a dungeon.

At the moment they crossed into the Secret Realm, Lin An and Xiong Hanzi's consciousness seemed to cut off.

Time ceased to exist, and everything fell into the deepest darkness.

After an unknown period, like the moment of rebirth, Lin An abruptly awoke from the void.

His head felt like it would split.

At the instant the faint light appeared.

His thoughts gradually began to turn.

The smell of rotting straw, damp water vapor, and the earthy odor like tiny snakes slithered into his nostrils, feeding back to his rationality.

He..

Had he entered the Secret Realm...?

Just as the thought arose, system notifications came in succession:

"Ding, entered the Secret Realm. Initial stage task completed."

"Current Savior task has been changed."

"Ding, automatically accepted special task: Explore 【Shesha Snake God (shesha) Mobius Mystery】."

"Warning: Other players have entered the current Secret Realm!!"

"Warning: Current task newly added: Death Confrontation!"

"Death Confrontation: Within the current Secret Realm, kill non‑allied players to gain reputation and obtain part of their highest attribute values."

"Ding, map opened, current map: Desolate Village Old Corpse."

The continuous system alerts sounded, and the sudden new information left him momentarily stunned.

It was completely unlike what he had expected.

In his communication with Huang Shaohua, the Secret Realm belonged to a special world; players entering it would explore on their own to trigger tasks or special events.

But this time.

Looking at the altered special task 【Mobius Mystery】, Lin An couldn't help but feel his heart sink.

Automatically accepted, it was a compulsory task.

It seemed the Savior System was up to something.

Not knowing what it meant, from the task name alone he could hardly infer any useful information.

Special task... Mobius?

The former signifies that this task is out of the ordinary, while the latter carries many symbolic meanings.

Mobius, does it refer to the Mobius strip?

∞: represents infinite length, infinite loop, a logical mathematical concept?

He temporarily set aside the doubts in his mind.

The concept of Mobius sounds unrelated to the Secret Realm.

For now, the key is his current environment and the newly appeared Death Confrontation.

Before his eyes was a thatched roof made of mud‑mixed straw; he seemed to be lying on a bed constructed of straw.

Waves of damp smell permeated the air, and a white arc‑shaped shield enveloped the surroundings.

The interior was cramped, containing only a bed and a bundle of dry firewood by the door, nothing else.

Outside seemed to be deep night; dim light mixed with cold air seeped in through the roof cracks.

In his perception.

Zhang Tie lay not far away; he had not yet awakened in another thatched hut, but it was no serious problem.

Somewhat similar to a dungeon, he and Xiong Hanzi should still be under system protection, temporarily unable to act.

In the center of his vision, a 30‑second countdown indicating the end of the protective shield lit up.

Taking advantage of the Secret Realm's safety period at its start, Lin An repeatedly checked the Death Confrontation explanation.

Warning? Other players?

How could the Secret Realm have other players appear?

Could it be that the entrance to this Secret Realm is not only in the Yin Mountain Cave? Other areas might have one too?

He just didn't know which theater's players, but they too had entered the Secret Realm at this time.

Death Confrontation—it seemed the system did not advocate player "cooperation."

The reward for killing an opponent was substantial; the key point was raising one's highest attribute, which in any case resembled raising gu poison.

However...

The threat should not be great.

At this stage, Lin An had absolute confidence that he was absolutely a t0‑level existence among global players, even possibly number one.

Surpassing the timeline's development, coupled with nearly nonstop encounters of numerous events.

By common sense, no one should be stronger than him.

He just didn't know where the other players were or how many there were.

His eyes flickered.

As the countdown gradually wound down, his bodily control also gradually returned.

8...

7...

1..

At the moment the countdown reached zero, the protective shield vanished, and he immediately rolled out of bed.

Whether it was because he had formally entered the Secret Realm or not, Lin An clearly felt his body sink, and the range of his mental power also diminished accordingly.

Gravity and reality are different..

Mental power was suppressed.

Just as he began to think, he suddenly felt a chill at his ankle.

A strong chill penetrated the protection of his equipment, straight to his marrow.

!?

Something dodged the mental probe.. and grabbed his ankle!

In..

Under the bed!

Without hesitation, almost instinctively, Lin An instantly drew backhand the Blood Abyss and unleashed a bursting sword strike!

Mental power impact erupted simultaneously.

「Boom!! 」

Smoke and dust billowed; the already crude bedplanks shattered under the strong airflow impact, and a large amount of laid straw shook into powder under the attack.

The sword blade cut forth without pause, as if the place it cut were nothing but air.

His heart jolted.

In an instant, a strong sense of danger surged up his spine.

His strike missed...

Was it a Supernatural Incident!? Or what!,

「Heavenly Person! 」

「Eye of Judgment! 」

Rich spiritual energy burst forth, dark blue mist rising.

In a faint glow, the cramped, dilapidated thatched hut was instantly illuminated as if it were daytime.

In his locked vision, he saw a woman soaked all over, her hair dripping with water, desperately gripping his ankle.

She seemed to feel his gaze.

Her head, hidden beneath long hair, instantly stiffened and lifted.

Like a machine turning, her raised head, with deathly pale and resentful eyes, locked gazes with him.

His heart pounded.

It's a ghost!

No sooner had he stepped into the Secret Realm than he was attacked by a Supernatural Incident.

Without time to think, Lin An tensed his whole body, and his spiritual energy suddenly exploded to its peak.

Holding nothing back.

「Withering! 」

「Divine Spur! 」

Vast mental power was swiftly mobilized; almost as soon as he sensed the anomaly, Lin An directly unleashed all mental-type attacks, meanwhile drawing out the Mechanical Compass backhand.

He didn't have time to consider the effect.

When the Death God Phantom and mental impact erupted simultaneously, the entire thatched hut was simply blown apart by the aftershock.

「Boom!! 」

Straw flew everywhere.

A deep pit remained in the ground.

In the Heavenly Person form, time seemed to slow down.

As straw after straw, blown up by the airflow, fell back down, Lin An, wary, stared fixedly at the pit beneath his feet, his heart sinking.

Ineffective... or did he repel it!?

That 「woman」 vanished.

The ground was littered with broken stones.

On the ground, aside from the destruction caused by his attack, no other traces remained.

「Lin Dui!? 」

Not far from the thatched hut, a sturdy black shadow burst out roaring, his face full of astonishment:

「What's going on!? 」

「Ran into an enemy? 」

Zhang Tie suddenly rushed to his side and instinctively asked, worried.

After he had just recovered movement, he noticed that Lin An's side had erupted with mental power.

Startled, he burst straight out of the house.

He did not answer Xiong Hanzi's question.

Clad in armor, sword in right hand.

Lin An merely hovered slightly off the ground, the Mechanical Compass he had just taken out floating before him, turning.

The Surveying effect continued to activate.

Inside the deep pit that originally left no trace, a faint trace of water extended all the way south.

On the muddy ground, palm prints walked.