Chapter 197: The Poor Soul Trapped in a Time Loop

Scalpel lived up to his name—his bladework was precise and swift, and the blade itself was razor-sharp.

One slash, and the referee in his protective mech-suit was split clean in two, the cut surface smooth and even.

A true expert reveals himself the moment he strikes.

Just from that single slash, Scalpel's attributes and abilities couldn't be anything but top-tier; his strength already surpassed every player Wu Chang had ever seen, and slotted into the top fifty of all Wasteland Realm players without the slightest issue.

Moreover, his blade was excellent—judging by quality it was only a B-grade item, yet it was wrapped in a special energy that dealt massive extra damage, its killing power even surpassing ordinary A-grade items.

Even rarer, despite his great strength, Scalpel lacked the overwhelming aura of a Ritualist or Magna; judging by presence alone, he was a complete nobody, a small fry—and even Lei Hu, who had appeared in Midnight Graveyard, put on a better front than him.

If he wasn't deliberately playing up a nobody persona, then Scalpel's experience couldn't support any accumulated presence—in other words, among players of his tier, he had always been an upper-middle or even middling, dispensable existence.

A nobody character, yet abnormally strong—Scalpel likely wasn't from the Wasteland Realm, but a player from the second layer of the Abyss, the Reason Realm.

Scalpel's blade was fast, and his strikes came without warning; even if Wu Chang faced him, he could only tank the hit with his body's shield and wait for a chance to counter.

But He Yun reacted. There was no panic or anger on her face, as if what Scalpel held weren't illegal weapons but two fruit knives; she simply threw a punch, expressionless.

The mechanical gauntlet on her fist shimmered with cherry-blossom pink light; the light drew a straight line through the air, and before Scalpel's chop reached the peak of its force, it slammed into the cleaver, intercepting it.

It looked like a light jab meant to break his attack, but with the mechanical gauntlet and auxiliary mech-suit boosting it, the punch was anything but light—when fist met cleaver, it was like a dump truck running into an electric wheelchair.

The mechanical gauntlet not only neutralized the force behind the cleaver, it pushed both blades forward and slammed them into Scalpel's face.

When He Yun withdrew her fist, the crowd saw that the backs of both blades had been hammered into Scalpel's skull; if the punch had been any harder, the blade backs would have split his head open on the spot.

After a brief silence, the bar erupted in thunderous cheers.

"He Yun!"

"He Yun!"

"He Yun!"

By the bar counter, the bartender said smugly, "See? This is why I told you not to mess with He Yun. Huh? Where'd he go?"

The bartender turned around and found that Wu Chang, who had just been sitting at the counter, had vanished at some unknown point.

"Hey, you can put the intel fee on my tab, but what about the milk?"

On the ring, He Yun received a transfer from the host, then spoke up to remind him:

"If you keep letting shady characters like this into the fights, it'll come back to bite you eventually."

The host laughed it off, saying with a smile, "Well, we knew you'd be here, didn't we? And the crowd loves watching outsiders fight."

He Yun shook her head, too lazy to deal with these guys who cared nothing for consequences as long as it made good show.

She pushed through the lively crowd, picked up her jacket from the seat, and left through the bar's back door.

The back door opened onto a narrow alley; the moment she shut it, she heard someone beside her say:

"Why did he want to kill you?"

He Yun's eyes narrowed slightly—before the other party spoke, she hadn't even sensed anyone nearby.

"Who knows? Probably just for kicks."

Wu Chang pressed, "Is that how everyone here looks for fun?"

"For that kind of question, you should ask Old Fan—the bartender who just served you milk." He Yun didn't want to get tangled up with Wu Chang; she stepped around him and moved toward the alley's exit.

Wu Chang said, in a slightly delighted tone, "You've been watching me this whole time?"

He Yun said sarcastically, "Hard not to. Since the Broken Bottle Bar opened, you must be the first person to order hot milk in there."

Not a trace of embarrassment on his face, Wu Chang quickened his pace past He Yun, turned around, and said, "Is it possible I did it to get your attention? Nice to meet you—I'm Peace."

"Save it. I'm the type who hates peace the most. It's already half past twelve—time for the unweaned little brat to go home."

He Yun stepped around Wu Chang again, tossed out a taunt, and walked forward without looking back.

He Yun didn't want to get to know Wu Chang, but Wu Chang wanted to know her badly.

Clearly, He Yun was being hunted with purpose by a player from the second layer of the Abyss.

Even a pig, once it made it into the second layer of the Abyss, would grow a brain and make a plan before acting.

Scalpel's assassination attempt on He Yun was absolutely premeditated, with a clear target.

Recalling what Christine had said—someone had already discovered a way to make the Pillar of the Present World lose control, and had succeeded more than once.

Scalpel's attempt on He Yun was likely related to making the Pillar of the Present World lose control.

In other words, He Yun had to be an important figure in Shelter No. 88.

When Christine told him about the second layer of the Abyss and the Pillar of the Present World, a thought had already been planted in his mind.

The Pillar of the Present World was the passage back to reality from the second layer of the Abyss; anyone who entered the second layer would need the Pillar, and because of the four major organizations' monopoly, would end up at their mercy.

The Pillar of the Present World concerned the entire player base—how could it be left for the four major organizations to monopolize?

At the very least, they owed him one.

He planned to let the identity of the mysterious newcomer be revealed before everyone, but didn't intend to expose that the mysterious newcomer was him.

But at his current pace, it wouldn't be long—maybe around the world dungeon—before he entered the second layer of the Abyss.

If he didn't have a Pillar of the Present World by then and ended up vanishing from reality, wouldn't it be easy to expose him just by following the clues?

He needed the Pillar of the Present World himself, and conveniently the four major organizations didn't want it—so he staged a grand drama of his own making and released all thirty-six Pillars.

He had originally been fretting over not finding an entry point to the Pillar of the Present World, but who would have thought Fang Hui would come to him, Pillar in hand.

So on this trip to rescue Fang Hui, he had no intention of saving the man and leaving right away; instead, he planned to take the opportunity to break the deadlock and claim this Pillar of the Present World.

If anyone brought it up again later, it really would be something he just picked up.

The key to breaking the deadlock of Shelter No. 88 clearly lay with He Yun—whether it was stopping the force behind Scalpel from making the dungeon lose control, or finding clues to break the dungeon from He Yun herself, he had to stick close to her.

In front of the bus stop, He Yun frowned, looked at the utterly innocent-faced Wu Chang beside her, and felt a spark of irritation.

She wanted to tell Wu Chang to get lost, but felt that engaging him would play right into his hands.

Tch, it felt like she both wanted to land two solid punches on Wu Chang, and was afraid he'd actually enjoy it.

Soon, the suburban Route 1 bus He Yun was waiting for arrived; to her surprise, Wu Chang hadn't followed her on—seemed this outsider still had the bare minimum sense of boundaries.

By the time the Suburban Route 1 bus started moving, He Yun turned her head, only to find Wu Chang had somehow sat down beside her at some point.

"Do you live in the suburbs? Then why don't you drive? I just checked—this is the last bus of the day. What would you have done if you'd missed it?"

He Yun couldn't hold back any longer and threw a punch at Wu Chang's face, but Wu Chang had predicted her move in advance. After greeting her, he did a backflip and landed in the seat one row behind He Yun.

"If you don't like me sitting next to you, I'll sit in the back. Why throw a punch? Are outsiders not allowed to ride the bus?"

He Yun withdrew her fist and stood up. "Fine, you sit. I'm getting off."

Wu Chang reminded her, "I just told you, this is the last bus. If you get off now, we'll have to run home through the night."

A scalpel pulling out contraband props hadn't been able to shake He Yun's emotions, but a few words from Wu Chang nearly made her explode with anger.

He Yun suppressed her fury and asked, "How long do you plan on following me?"

"I'm not simply following you. The three people sitting in the last row have ill intentions toward you. I'm protecting you," Wu Chang said.

He Yun couldn't even be bothered to glance back. Her cheek twitched slightly as she asked, "Well, thank you so very much."

"It's my duty. Don't mention it."

The space of Underground Shelter No. 88 was larger than Wu Chang had imagined—its scale not much different from a surface city.

The bus drove for forty minutes before finally dropping everyone at the terminal: Suburban Free Station No. 3.

Unlike the shelter center's thoroughly modern, orderly buildings, the suburban Free Station looked far more haphazard. Tents, wooden shacks, and crude trailers could be seen here, with the occasional self-built house full of personality.

Clearly, the people living here weren't in great financial shape.

The three thugs with vicious glares who had been sitting in the last row of the bus also got off with them.

The three shed their jackets, revealing mechs loaded with firearm combat systems inside, their barrels pointed straight at He Yun.

"Hey, don't make any sudden moves. We know that to get on the arena today, the mech you're wearing has no weapons. But the three of us are carrying the real deal. Let me tell you…"

Before the leader could finish speaking, He Yun had already charged forward to stand before the three of them. She threw punches with both fists, blew apart the weapons on their mechs, then ripped the mechs off their bodies and threw them to the ground.

Five minutes later, the three ambushers had their limbs broken and were hung from a streetlamp by the road. He Yun transferred all the money from their accounts, stomped their phones to pieces, and cursed them as broke bums.

Generally speaking, as an assassin, after a failed assassination attempt, having your limbs broken and being hung from a tree—what should you be worried about?

For a normal person, the worry should be their own personal safety—either whether they'd be killed on the spot, or how they'd explain things to their employer when they got back.

Yet the leader on the streetlamp, staring at his smashed phone on the ground, shouted at He Yun:

"Ah! That was the birthday present my mom gave me last year! You bitch actually dared to stomp it to pieces—I won't let you get away with this!"

In response to the leader's furious roar, He Yun didn't take further steps to shut him up. She simply raised her middle finger at him, then turned and walked away.

Wu Chang followed behind He Yun, thoroughly baffled. The residents of the underground shelter all seemed crazy to him—their behavior and thinking were abnormal. There had to be some reason for their condition that he hadn't yet discovered.

He Yun looked down, scrolling through her phone, watching the extra balance in her account. "Alright, those nuisances are dealt with. Aren't you leaving yet?"

Wu Chang said, "Can you tell me why they wanted to kill you?"

He Yun said indifferently, "Who knows? Probably bored out of their minds, looking for some excitement. They've been underground too long—they need to find something to do."

He Yun pointed into the distance. "Just like him."

Following the direction of He Yun's finger, Wu Chang saw a fat man with a buzz cut, a big fat head and big ears, thin round-framed glasses, a chin like a pair of eggs, and a face that looked ninety percent like Pete from Animal House, tiptoeing out of his house.

He leered around furtively, made sure no one was nearby, then crept over to the billboard in front of his neighbor's door.

Being the suburbs, public security here wasn't great. The billboard was riddled with bullet holes, and because the equipment was damaged, the image flickered and tore constantly.

The billboard showed a hot-bodied woman. Though she was a bit older—thick makeup like spackled plaster couldn't hide her wrinkles—one could tell she'd been quite pretty in her youth. A price was clearly marked at the bottom of the billboard; it looked like she was in the flesh trade.

Wu Chang looked at He Yun in confusion. Although this didn't align with real-world values, in an underground shelter, having this kind of business should be perfectly normal.

Then he saw the shelter version of Pete strip off his clothes and poke some indescribable thing into a bullet hole on the billboard.

Immediately after, amid the shrill screams of being electrocuted, the electro-charred shelter Pete and the billboard both turned black and went still.

That was a bit much.

Wu Chang: "Should we call an ambulance?"

He Yun nodded. "You can stay here and take care of him."

"Then forget it."

Wu Chang refused on the spot and quickly caught up with He Yun.

He Yun looked at Wu Chang helplessly and asked, "What exactly do you want?"

Wu Chang activated his Inspiration to the maximum, using spiritual pressure to release as friendly a signal as possible toward He Yun. He put on an innocent, harmless smile and said, "Actually, since I'm an outsider who just got here, I don't know the place, and I'm broke—I need somewhere to crash temporarily."

He Yun looked at Wu Chang with the expression of a subway old man with his phone, as if she couldn't believe her own ears. What was this supposed to mean—was he planning to follow her home?

No way. Before the two of them had left the Broken Bottle Bar, they'd exchanged exactly one glance, and now he was latching onto her?

But what struck her as strange was that she, who had always disliked contact with outsiders, felt no real aversion toward Wu Chang. Instead, she could sense a strange friendliness from him that kept her from hardening her heart, punching him, and hanging him from a streetlamp too.

"Let's get one thing straight first—just one night. You sleep on the couch in the living room. Tomorrow morning, you…"

Wu Chang didn't wait for He Yun to finish before eagerly saying, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's head home."

Watching Wu Chang, who had made himself at home and was walking ahead of her, He Yun got a headache. She felt like she'd picked up a big hassle.

The place where He Yun lived was the most remote part, even by suburban standards.

The geographical location was remote, but the place she lived was no slouch—a two-story small house that looked very exquisite.

This was not only He Yun's residence but also her workshop. The moment one stepped inside, one could see a huge workbench and a mechanical arm suspended above it.

On the workbench was a disassembled mech, which appeared to be undergoing optimization and modification.

Who would have thought—He Yun was a technical talent.

!

"Why did you choose to live here?" Wu Chang looked around and couldn't help asking.

Both the residence, the workshop that looked high-end, and the generous salary earned from fighting in the arena proved He Yun was different from the other people living in the suburbs—she wasn't short on money.

He Yun took an iced beer from the fridge, flicked the cap off with her thumb, and said, "I like quiet. I don't like crowded places."

Wu Chang, acting like he owned the place, sidled over, opened the fridge, and took out a beer too.

"Perfect, I like quiet too. The two of us make just the right pair."

He Yun:...

Compared to Wu Chang's discomfort with the underground shelter's way of doing things, He Yun felt she was even more unaccustomed to Wu Chang.

Are all outsiders these days this shameless?

While they were talking, the two heard a commotion outside the house. The moment Wu Chang poked his head out to look, his gaze met two thick cannon barrels.

The next instant, fire burst from the barrels; armor-piercing rounds shattered the building's glass and struck Wu Chang directly.

At a moment like this, the drawback of his mere 50 points of Agility showed itself.

His eyes could clearly see the shells flying in, but his brain and body couldn't react in time. He could only take the two armor-piercing rounds with his flesh.

Fortunately, the Knight Undead passive's shield was thick enough that he was merely sent flying, not injured.

But before he could get up, he saw two rockets fire from the launcher, streaking in to finish him off.

"Shit!"

He was about to make a move when he saw He Yun already in front of him. A light shield unfurled from the metal gauntlets she wore, steadily blocking the two rockets.

"Are you okay, huh?" He Yun had just turned to check Wu Chang's injuries, but when she looked back, she found Wu Chang had vanished.

Turning again, she saw Wu Chang had somehow appeared behind the two attackers. In his hand was now a massive golden two-handed greatsword.

With a swing of the greatsword, the two attackers—along with the portable mecha suits they wore—were cleaved clean in two.

Beyond seven steps, spatial teleportation is faster.

Within seven steps, he'll choose a backstab ambush.

Wu Chang shook the fresh blood off the golden greatsword, sheathed it, and said:

"Sorry for dirtying your lawn."

He Yun looked at Wu Chang in confusion, pointed at where he'd just been standing, then pointed at where he was now.

"How did you get over there?"

Wu Chang: "You just think about going there, and you go. Can't you do it?"

He Yun:...

Like hell I can.

Wu Chang didn't want to keep the topic on himself; he wanted to discuss He Yun more.

He nudged the halfling corpse at his feet with his foot and asked, "They opened fire the moment they showed up—clearly intent on killing. Three assassination attempts in a single day. Who exactly did you piss off?"

He Yun also showed a puzzled expression. The first two attempts might have been people tired of living, wanting to challenge her, but three in a row was indeed a bit abnormal.

She stripped the mecha suits off the two and found a red rose, still in bud, tattooed on each of their upper bodies.

She frowned and said:

"They're believers of the Bliss Sect."

Wu Chang felt the name sounded familiar, and quickly recalled where he'd heard it.

Within the Xieshen Sect, three organizations were the strongest and most influential. Two of them were the Tranquility Sect and the Apocalypse Sect; the third was the Bliss Sect.

On the Quiet Town instance, the Ganzhi Sect Sect the islanders worshipped was a branch of the Bliss Sect.

He hadn't expected these Xieshen believers to have actually infiltrated the Pillar of Reality.

The appearance of the Bliss Sect also reminded him of Fang Hui, who'd been taken. Fang Hui had once said that the people who took him mentioned wanting to make him some kind of Holy Son.

The Bliss Sect's creed was to indulge desire, to use the flesh to revel in pleasure, and thereby perceive the truth of the perception world.

And Fang Hui had been born with a wisp of Origin Light within him. This Origin Light gave him a fatal attraction to powerful, special women—almost a succubus constitution that specialized in bad women.

Put the two sides together and it actually fits. Honestly, Fang Hui really does have the talent to be the Bliss Sect's Holy Son.

Wu Chang had looked into it before: Bliss Sect believers called their deity the Mother Goddess.

The title "Mother Goddess" satisfied both "powerful" and "bad woman"—a perfect fit for Fang Hui's existence.

He'd originally planned to set Fang Hui aside for now, clear He Yun's instance first—no, clear the Pillar of Reality through He Yun first, then turn back to rescue Fang Hui.

But the intel had delivered itself to his door, so he couldn't just ignore it.

He asked, "Can you tell me more about this Bliss Sect?"

He Yun simply left the two assassins lying in the yard, turned and went back inside, directing the household robot to replace the shattered glass windows while saying to Wu Chang:

"The Bliss Sect has existed in the underground shelter for a very long time—back when we were still completely sealed off and you outsiders couldn't easily get in. Only, the Bliss Sect that originally existed in the underground shelter was very restrained. At most they'd numb themselves with alcohol, or make appointments with friends and family to throw a few punches, stab each other a few times. They wouldn't affect anyone else."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue. He felt He Yun had some misunderstanding of the meaning of "restrained."

He Yun continued, "But a while ago—about a little over a month ago—a batch of outsiders who also worshipped the Bliss Sect entered the underground shelter. With their religious tricks, they quickly took over the underground shelter's Bliss Church."

"From then on, the Bliss believers in the underground shelter started going further overboard. The indulgence of desire and emotion also made people more irritable."

Wu Chang keenly caught a problem with the timing and interrupted, "Wait—you said outsiders who worshipped the Bliss Sect entered the underground shelter over a month ago?"

He Yun nodded. "Roughly. In reality it might be a bit earlier."

Wu Chang showed a thoughtful expression. Then there's a problem. It's only been a few short days since the four major organizations were attacked and the Pillar of Reality became public.

Based on his exchanges with Fang Hui, even if the underground shelter's time flow differed from the outside, it wouldn't be by that much—definitely not to the point that a few days outside meant over a month inside the underground shelter.

Over a month ago, the Pillar of Reality was still in the four major organizations' control. So there's only one possibility: the four organizations deliberately let the Bliss Sect in, as some kind of setup.

All of this was looking more and more like a staged performance.

Wu Chang set his doubts aside for the moment, looked at He Yun, and asked curiously, "Why would the Bliss Sect try to assassinate you? What did you do?"

He Yun said casually, "Probably because I kicked that archbishop's balls in?"

Wu Chang:...

That would be reason enough to make an enemy.

He Yun yawned and said, "You sleep in the workshop tonight. I'm tired—going to rest first."

Wu Chang looked at the two corpses lying on the ground outside and asked, "Don't we need to deal with them?"

"No need, just leave it there. They'll leave on their own tomorrow morning." He Yun waved his hand and headed upstairs with the bottle.

Wu Chang pursed his lips. Could it be that too many people were dying in the underground shelter, and to deal with this situation, there were dedicated automatic robots going around collecting corpses?

The Pillar of the Present World instance was far more difficult than the borderline-out-of-control A-rank instances. Wu Chang didn't rest rashly; instead, he sat cross-legged on the sofa and cultivated the Thunder Art.

With his current physical attributes and 138 points of Will, even if he didn't close his eyes for a month, he could still stay full of energy.

For him now, sleep had become purely a pleasure. Sleep would let his spirit enter a completely dark space for total relaxation, and every time he woke up, it felt like his soul had gotten a full massage.

He controlled the energy within his body, running it continuously along the route of the Thunder Art remnant scroll. In his cultivation, he entered a selfless state, unable to tell how much time had passed.

In a daze, he heard some movement outside the room; the strange sounds pulled him out of his cultivation.

Opening his eyes, he saw the two assassins he had cut in half last night. Their corpses emitted a faint glow, and as the glow faded, the bodies of the two had actually fully recovered.

They climbed up from the ground as if they had just had a dream.

"Gunpowder, how come we're lying here?"

"How would I know? We died together. If you don't remember, how could I possibly remember?"

"Holy shit! This is that jinx's home. We didn't go crazy and piss off that woman, did we!"

"Shit! Stop talking, let's get out of here!"

Watching the two scramble away in a panic, Wu Chang's head was full of question marks.

What was going on?

The dead coming back to life?

But it was a little different from a simple resurrection of the dead. He noticed that when the two had assassinated He Yun last night, their builds were both very burly, their physical fitness far stronger than now.

But after resurrecting, their bodies had clearly weakened, as if they had returned overnight to their pre-gym state.

He had just wanted to grab the two and properly ask them what was going on, when he heard He Yun's voice from behind.

"Catch!"

Wu Chang turned his head and caught the iced beer can He Yun tossed to him.

He Yun's hair was wet, a towel draped around his neck; he looked like he had just finished a shower, his body giving off a faint scent of shower gel.

"Did you see? This is the difference between us and the outsiders."

Wu Chang pointed at the two leaving and asked, "What exactly is different here?"

He Yun popped the pull-tab can, took a sip of beer, his voice a little dry, as if recalling some past he didn't want to remember.

"Everyone in Underground Shelter No. 88 is a bunch of poor bugs trapped in a time loop."

A 7k big chapter, another day of explosive updates. At the start of every instance, and during the slightly dull parts in the middle and late stages, I'll try to update more to speed up the plot progress.

(End of this chapter)