Chapter 207: Joining Forces to Break the Deadlock

Huo En shook his head:

"I don't want to leave the Ark. I feel that the Ark... is a viable solution."

"Wen Xishu, you aren't someone from the Ark, right?"

Wen Xishu did not deny it.

If he were Huo En, he would also be able to sense that "Wen Xishu" was extraordinary.

Huo En smiled: "It seems you come from some correct answer."

"Perhaps there really is some way I could leave with you, but for me, that would be choosing the easy way, not the correct way."

Wen Xishu was slightly startled.

This sentence was too familiar; he had not expected that outside the bunker, on this Ark which was supposedly a failure in the future world...

There would be someone with the same thoughts as himself and the Principal.

"I will do my utmost to make the Ark another correct answer."

Wen Xishu rolled up his sleeves, clearly prepared for a big fight. Because above the clouds, the massive black fog had descended once again.

Wen Xishu and Huo En, and even Mia and Zhu Di—were all bugs.

If the bugs of this world were not eliminated, the Beast of the Sea of Sin would descend every so often.

And it would be stronger each time.

Huo En had also thought of a counter-strategy, which was to amplify the bugs until the whole world was a bug.

Wen Xishu had also thought of this point:

"Our scenario this time is a modernized city, so next, after defeating the Beast of the Sea of Sin, we have a way to use modern equipment to let everyone hear those two words."

"But Huo En, what if there's no way to let everyone hear it? What if our scenario this time is more primitive?"

Huo En had naturally considered this problem, but he hadn't thought of an answer:

"I don't know. You seem to have an idea?"

A murderous intent appeared on Wen Xishu's face:

"If there's no way to let everyone know about the bug, then let me alone be equal to everyone—oh no, let the two of us be equal to everyone."

Huo En fell silent.

The dark clouds in the sky were somewhat like the darkness in Wen Xishu's heart.

He understood what Wen Xishu meant by this—kill them all.

"If you can kill everyone, then theoretically, passing the message to them would be easier than killing them." Huo En did not seem to have such a great desire to kill.

Wen Xishu, however, said:

"Not necessarily... Perhaps one day, you will find yourself in such a dilemma."

The conversation between the two ended there. Because in the dark sky, massive tentacles had already pierced through the clouds.

Huo En sighed:

"I am very curious about your experiences. Once we get through this crisis, please tell me all about them."

His fingers had already begun to press the controller, but Huo En still subconsciously added:

"My friend."

The great battle began once again.

Linked by the controller, Wen Xishu once again displayed the strength of a War God.

Under Huo En's increasingly proficient operation, Wen Xishu's Ultimate Kick could turn more precisely, and the arcs achieved by the Murderous Soccer Ball were even more bizarre and unpredictable.

With the Scorpion Blade in hand, the Murderous Soccer Ball at his feet, combined with his own explosive power and Huo En's god-like operation.

Even with the Beast of the Sea of Sin strengthened by more than double, Wen Xishu still kept moving up along the tentacles.

The tentacles' downward stabbing speed was even more ferocious, and the body in the sky was even more massive.

But Wen Xishu was still able to sever the tentacles time and again, and use the Murderous Soccer Ball to blast those octopus monsters to pieces time and again.

Finally, Wen Xishu and Huo En once again joined forces to reach the node for slaying the monster.

Under the super attack of the Ultimate Kick fully driving the Murderous Soccer Ball...

The Beast of the Sea of Sin was defeated once again.

Only this time, both Huo En and Wen Xishu felt that...

The improvement brought by their synergy and operation had reached its limit. This slaying process was extremely difficult; several times Huo En had felt that the tentacles' attacks had reached the limit of his neural response.

Wen Xishu had also been injured several times, but fortunately, they were all minor injuries. With the controller's enhancement, Wen Xishu was still able to perform the terrifying feat of self-healing.

But this was the limit.

It would be very difficult for Wen Xishu and Huo En to deal with the next descent of the beast. So the two did not enjoy the joy of victory.

The two did not exchange any pleasantries either, and had already begun running toward the building in the city center.

Even after defeating the Beast of the Sea of Sin, Huo En did not stop operating the controller, all to get Wen Xishu to the city's largest media building as quickly as possible.

Along the way, in the city center area, everyone saw a very bizarre scene.

Wen Xishu could probably imagine... the absurdity of this image.

In his past life, he had seen a group of old men racing electronic wheelchairs in the Jiulongpo district of Chongqing.

Now, the scene he and Huo En were presenting was probably even more bizarre.

He had pushed this wheelchair to feel like it had nitrogen acceleration. Especially since he and Huo En were each carrying a person.

"What the hell am I seeing? A wheelchair running faster than a sports car?"

Although there was a speed limit in the city center, when wheelchairs appeared in the windows of one sports car after another... all the drivers began to doubt their lives.

Wen Xishu and Huo En reached the media building at light speed. Their goal was simple: to propagate a certain concept.

At this moment, black clouds gathered in the sky above their heads again.

That damned error-correction mechanism—the Beast of the Sea of Sin had actually come again!

Huo En said:

"Based on the previous two times, we have less than five minutes."

Wen Xishu looked at the sky, wondering whether to activate his Ghost Groom form.

Before concluding that this was a mental world, Wen Xishu wouldn't have minded activating the Ghost Groom form.

But now, he had started to care.

Because Wen Xishu couldn't help but think... whether there might be some peeper inside the Ark.

Could there be an observer watching everything?

What state was his body in right now? If the observer knew he had a Ghost Groom personality, would they forcibly destroy his body?

However, these questions did not affect Wen Xishu's actions.

The two raced against time, constantly running toward the upper floors of the building.

Here, there was equipment capable of controlling many electronic display boards in the city center.

At this moment, Huo En operated the controller with one hand, while gently patting Zhu Di's face with the other.

"Zhu Di, wake up!"

Zhu Di needed to wake up. Although Mia's voice could continuously spread that bug-like information.

But Mia could not provide the details.

And Huo En guessed that Zhu Di might be able to provide the details about the woman.

Inside the Ark.

The location area.

A middle-aged man wearing a suit with his blonde hair slicked back, his face carrying a smile that could conquer everything—though he was called a middle-aged man, he was actually only in his early thirties.

The man looked at the person in the cage—under the confinement of eight pillars, the mysterious existence like a wild beast in the cage had fallen into a deep sleep.

This mysterious room could only be entered by the Captain and his confidants.

This middle-aged man was the ruler of this Ark.

Among the many gifted ones, he was the first to awaken his ability. His ability sequence number was extremely high, yet he possessed no combat power whatsoever.

However, because he possessed a special power of rules, he quickly attained a transcendent status. Even among the many gifted ones, he was the supreme emperor.

Beside the Captain was his confidant, a female officer from the former Free Nation Marine Corps. There was a scar on the female officer's face, making her image appear cold-blooded and cruel.

"Captain, the old man, the child, the woman... these things he yearns for are gradually being lost. As long as this process goes smoothly, in the next step, we can completely control him, right?"

The Captain shook his head:

"Often, the human inner world has layers of defenses. People are very complex."

"He always misses the past, and he is the guy who can trigger tremors in space-time. Hidden in his past are some guys far more terrifying than all of us combined."

"Fortunately, we erased the concept of the 'old man,' so that those terrifying things will no longer appear during the process of landing on the island."

Recalling the existence that had once appeared in a certain Sea of Sin...

The Captain still felt a lingering fear.

He had seen an archer. When the Ark's ability users entered that mental island, the archer locked onto them. The Captain had a feeling that if that arrow were shot... it could pierce the Ark itself.

The most terrifying one was the person with the lion emblem, who incited half of the ability users on the ship to rebel.

The Captain himself had almost fallen for it; just seeing that person made him feel as if he were about to kneel down.

But he had escaped.

He realized that he must bypass the prisoner's memories and find more hidden imagery to slowly eliminate the imagery.

In the end, he found a new path to the island.

"The erasure of the old man means the past no longer exists."

"The erasure of the child means he has lost his belief in the future."

Seeing the Captain suddenly pause, the female officer asked in cooperation:

"Then... what about the woman?"

The Captain said with great satisfaction:

"The woman, well, she represents his love. In his memories, there was once a lover, and this lover was called Lyra. After losing this concept, he will no longer possess any associated memories."

"Although I wanted to hunt Lyra after hunting him, if Lyra is still in his memories, it would be very difficult for me to hunt him."

The female officer, however, said:

"Given his current situation, it is actually just a matter of time for you. But he has absolutely no possibility of escaping now, right?"

The Captain thought for a moment:

"Yes. Absolutely no possibility. The next 'island' is the most important imagery; as long as he also falls on this island... he will be my puppet."

"That is an island of my ideals, and I truly hope the Ark is just like that island."

The female officer was very good at reading the room:

"Congratulations in advance on mastering this power comparable to a god."

The Captain shook his head, wearing an expression of reminiscing about the past:

"Comparable to a god? Heh, a bit late. I still envy that Mr. Jin from Longxia more; he must be just like me, still alive."

"I once invited him to the Ark, but he firmly believed that the Ark was not the path to salvation. This makes me feel very regretful. After all, I have always believed... he was the man who truly mastered the power of gods. I have always wanted to take away what he possesses."

The female officer did not know who this Mr. Jin was, but she felt that outside the Ark, there shouldn't be any humans left alive; there should only be all kinds of monsters on the land.

"Captain, the modification has reached the most critical stage... will there be any problems?"

The Captain still shook his head:

"Even if problems arise, we cannot go to investigate. After all—entering that place, we would also bear the risk of losing concepts. I certainly don't want to lose any concepts yet."

"Every concept is linked to many images. I wish to remain a complete self."

"I also cannot bear to let you go, so we can only test on those who have successfully awakened."

The officer understood.

That was how it was tested before; if the concept of the old man was lost—then even if they arrived at the Ark, or to be more precise, even if their consciousness returned to the Ark, they would have completely lost the concept of the old man.

At this time, just bring the old man to interact with them and observe their reactions.

The Captain said:

"This world seems very gentle; I think among these eight people, more than half will likely choose to stay in this world."

"For those who cannot wake up, throw them into the fuel chamber. You know what to do, right?"

Claiming to the outside world that those people had stayed on the island—Lilith was, of course, very clear about this.

The Captain said:

"As for those who wake up, arrange a group of young and beautiful ones to test them."

"And induce them as much as possible; if they can say the two words 'woman'... then they must be killed."

Lilith nodded, revealing a ferocious grin:

"I understand, rest assured."

Wen Xishu was overthinking.

Indeed, all of this was happening inside the mental world. But he was not being observed.

Because the one who sets the rules must also follow the rules. This is the Trick Tower.

When the black clouds in the sky pressed down, Wen Xishu was currently standing on the other side of the Media Building, atop a towering skyscraper that served as a city landmark.

Through parkour, he had transferred from the Media Building to the other side.

For everything that followed, he could only trust that the wheelchair-bound Horn could solve it.

At this moment, Horn was inside the Media Building, operating various pieces of equipment.

All security and staff in the entire building had been scared away by the massive black shadow in the sky.

For the third battle against the Sin Sea Giant Beast, what Horn had to do—while explaining everything to the awakened Zhu Di, was to operate Wen Xishu, prepare the equipment, and allow Mia's repeated words to be played back in this city.

Horn was very busy.

But Wen Xishu was by no means a "carried" player.

At this moment, Wen Xishu and Horn were like Zoe and Mio in the Dual Shadow Wonderland.

It was hard to say whose job was more complex, after all—Wen Xishu now had to face the twice-evolved Sin Sea Giant Beast.

He had to attract the Sin Sea Giant Beast's attention to buy time for Horn.

The Scorpion Blade emitted a cold glint, and the Killer Soccer Ball also flickered with a golden luster.

When the figure of the behemoth appeared once again in the clouds in the sky—

The entire city fell into panic.

The city center was the area with the densest flow of people.

The massive tentacles descended like thunder.

After the second evolution, the power of the tentacles was already five times the speed of sound. Wen Xishu, who had not entered the Ghost Groom form... even with the controller's boost, even with Horn's god-like operation—

Facing such an attack, it was simply impossible to parry.

Fortunately, the Scorpion Blade was truly, truly sharp.

The Killer Soccer Ball also seemed to ignore defense; relying on its powerful offensive attributes, Wen Xishu attracted the attention of all the tentacles, buying time for Horn.

The tentacles summoned the Octo-Monsters again. This time, the Octo-Monsters were massive in size, like individual humanoid Cthulhus, dense and swarming in.

The black tide instantly covered the building where Wen Xishu was located. The building began to collapse and tilt, twisting and deforming like melting chocolate.

And Wen Xishu, covered by the monster tide, kept swinging his blade to kill.

On the other side, Horn also began to continuously operate Wen Xishu, while arranging for Zhu Di to constantly link various devices.

Zhu Di's body was injured, and her movements were not very agile, but she also possessed a conviction.

Humans are truly strange creatures.

At the beginning, what Zhu Di actually thought about was—leaving the Ark, leaving that place without human warmth, where there were only class barriers.

Here, even if she couldn't be a woman... being a man wasn't bad either.

But after experiencing life and death, she suddenly had the courage to return to the Ark.

Of course, all of this had a lot to do with Horn's precise persuasion.

"I will reform the rules of the Ark, and I will do everything in my power to make the Ark a paradise for civilization, not a hell for civilization."

"Or are you saying you want to stay in this fake place? Living in fear?"

The leadership charisma Horn possessed actually made Zhu Di feel she could trust him.

Thus, Zhu Di began to help Horn.

Having once again fought his way out of the Octo-Monster tide, Wen Xishu looked at the tentacles leaning toward the Media Building... and launched another extreme kick.

Although Wen Xishu was controlled by the controller and had powerful physical stamina, he also felt...

His feet were going numb, as if he were about to lose all sensation.

His body had also reached its limit.

The Sin Sea Giant Beast was truly not something he could deal with.

If it were normal tower climbing, he believed that by the time he climbed to the sixtieth floor or so, his stats in all aspects would be very powerful...

But he had come up through "Three Highs."

At high-level tiers, even if the strategy is completely correct, one must have the corresponding "minimum attributes."

If these attributes are not up to standard... then it is very difficult to clear the level.

The tentacles of the Octo-Monsters once again wrapped around Wen Xishu, piercing through his knees and ankles.

Just when Wen Xishu thought he would have to use the Transpiring Blood Mist to summon the Ghost Groom persona...

Just when the giant sea beast in the sky was about to erase everything—

Suddenly, a massive electronic synthesized voice appeared in the city. All broadcasting equipment in the city center area received an order at this moment!

Those two forbidden words quickly resounded across the sky of this city.

At the critical moment, Horn had actually succeeded. This man without legs, at a time of crisis, relied on his hands and brain to complete the impossible task.

Wen Xishu was actually still thinking that perhaps Horn had guessed wrong, and perhaps this move wouldn't work.

But eerily, when the two words "woman" truly appeared—

The entire world stopped as if it had dropped frames.

The giant sea beast in the sky actually displayed a mosaic-like pattern.

Mia's voice, as if possessing some kind of demonic quality, caused everyone to fall into a stupor.

Every local NPC who heard Mia's voice suddenly stopped, yet they were murmuring the two words "woman" in their mouths.

Their voices were not loud, but they were numerous, and they began to spread like a virus.

Originally, black clouds had only appeared in the city center area, but next, as more and more people began to murmur the two words "woman"...

More than half of the entire city was shrouded in black clouds.

But Wen Xishu discovered that the sea beasts in the sky that were originally going to attack him had truly stopped.

Although the black clouds were spreading, the sea beasts were like a mass of garbled code.

When all the nerves were affected by bugs, when all the underlying code was tampered with by viruses...

Then how could the antivirus software, which was also driven by the system, still operate normally?

This city had suddenly been implanted with a concept, but because of this concept, it had fallen into a special state of "system crash."

Except for the unconscious Mia, only seven people were still able to move.

In an instant, Wen Xishu arrived at the building where Huo En was.

Although he was exhausted, covered in wounds and blood, he was ultimately still able to traverse this city.

Seeing that Wen Xishu was so heavily injured, Huo En felt a bit of self-reproach:

"Sorry, I was slow... I let you get seriously injured."

Wen Xishu said:

"No, you were truly amazing. If I were to play your role, I wouldn't be as good as you."

Huo En still felt a bit apologetic:

"Fortunately, we won. Next, we just need to clean up a few loose ends. Sigh."

Wen Xishu knew what he was talking about.

"You mean the remaining few people will likely expose problems on the Ark. But it shouldn't... include her, right?"

Wen Xishu pointed at Zhu Di.

Huo En nodded:

"Yes, I'm guessing that after we wake up, or rather, after we return to the Ark, we will definitely be tested."

"But if it's just you and me, our acting skills will definitely be able to fool the Captain. As for Zhu Di, she helped me, so I must help her back. I will ensure she won't be the one who gets in the way."

Zhu Di did not understand their conversation, but she felt a chill. She had the feeling that the two of them were about to do something major.

Wen Xishu nodded:

"But the others won't do."

Huo En felt a bit helpless:

"Yes, the others won't do. I think I understand what you mean. So sometimes, killing really is the most effective method."

Wen Xishu did not mind; he simply wiped the black blood of the octopoid monsters from his face and said calmly:

"I will go kill them. End this trip to the island. After returning to the Ark, we have an even greater crisis."

This sentence made Zhu Di shiver.

Huo En nodded.

Wen Xishu suddenly asked:

"Actually, you have never seen Sirius, and you have absolutely no understanding of what kind of existence Sirius is, whether he is good or bad, yet you are currently helping me, helping Sirius break out of prison..."

"You are working against the Captain of the Ark; what is your motive?"

Huo En was not at all surprised that Wen Xishu asked this question, and he did not avoid Zhu Di.

He simply said calmly:

"I don't like the Captain of the Ark. He is the sinner for the Ark becoming like this. And although I don't know who Sirius is,"

"At least I know I must borrow his power, because what the Captain wants to do is what I must stop."

"My ambition is to become the new master of the Ark, but I lack the power. To defeat an enemy far stronger than me, I cannot be too stubborn about who I become allies with."

Wen Xishu smiled:

"Huo En, it is truly a pity that someone like you does not have the aptitude for awakening and did not become an ability user."

Huo En was noncommittal, only sighing faintly:

"I'm counting on you, Wen Xishu. Although I don't know where you come from, in the future... the Ark will be your friend."

(End of chapter)