Chapter 429: Weird Domain Core

Eighteen plasma main cannons press down simultaneously.

The blue-white high-temperature particle beam strikes the hole in the deep-red domain membrane, unable to disperse, instead being squeezed into an extremely thin bright line that forces its way inside.

Chen Shao stands at the forefront.

His left Demon Eye rotates, scarlet rings pressing one after another, the telekinetic field firmly holding both sides of the rift.

That Domain Membrane begins to resist.

It's not bouncing open.

Nor is it closing.

But rather, something inside is actively grabbing all external rules in reverse.

Su Ming stares at the parameter screen.

The red line has spiked past the threshold, the green line flatlined, and all that remains is scalp‑tingling garble.

The deputy's voice went dry: "Su Team, this thing makes no sense—main cannon output is down sixty‑four percent, and opening rule number thirty‑one is also degrading."

"Don't recite the battle report—I'm not blind."

Su Ming's wrist still bleeds; blood drips from his fingertips onto the ground, falls into the scorched‑white soil, and sends up a thin wisp of smoke.

Chen Shao suddenly tilts his head.

His brow lowers.

"Su Ming."

As those two words left his mouth, several Federation investigators felt tension in their backs.

Chen Shao's mood is off.

That state of killing intent held in check is different from before.

Before, it was anger.

Now, it's doubt.

It's also vigilance.

"A harmless‑treated C‑rank Weird Domain should never produce this level of obstruction."

Chen Shao's Demon Eye still outputs, scarlet pressure making the Domain Membrane's edge click.

"What exactly are you hiding?"

When he threw that out, many on the Federation side felt their skin go numb.

The Eden Garden people all turned their gaze to Su Ming.

Xu An stood at the center of the Correction Place's grid, the Red Wood Ruler hanging, his stitched lips unmoving, his hollow eyes turning toward Su Ming.

Su Ming didn't turn back.

"If I were really hiding something, would I have scorched my hand into a chicken‑foot?"

The deputy instinctively glanced at Su Ming's charred hand.

Don't say it.

It's pretty vivid.

Chen Shao wasn't thrown off by that lame joke.

"Don't beat around the bush with me."

He pressed forward half a step.

The rift in the Domain Membrane was forced open half a palm's width by the Demon Eye, yet the red mist seeping out grew thicker.

That mist isn't drifting out.

It's crawling out.

It clings to the ground, to the shield, to the barrel, inching outward bit by bit.

Inside the green‑skinned lantern, a half‑human face suddenly shrieked, the sickly green fire line twitched—almost sucked back by the red mist.

The lantern‑holder weird controller cursed: "This isn't C‑rank—B Ji isn't even enough! Who the hell filled out the report? Did they do it with their feet?"

Su Ming's mind raced.

Old data.

B09 sealed record.

Harmless‑treatment process.

Three‑fold recheck.

Most recent teaching approval.

Every step was problem‑free.

The problem is that having no problem is itself deadly.

Weird Domain never follows administrative procedure.

They also won't just lie flat because a stamp was placed.

Su Ming said: "Two hypotheses."

Chen Shao didn't speak; his Demon Eye glowed red, restrained.

Su Ming continued:

"First, A‑rank or higher Weird intrudes into the residual Weird Domain, because the residual Domain's rules weren't fully cleansed, the whole Weird Domain becomes a petri dish for high‑rank rules and reactivates."

"Second."

"There is a brand‑new high‑rank Weird Domain that directly covers the original B09."

"Not a resurgence."

"It's devouring."

"You understand the stacked monks, right?"

The deputy officer's hair stood on end as he listened.

"Su Team, which one do you lean toward?"

"The latter."

Su Ming stared at the fissure.

Chen Shao said coldly, "As a Core Captain, you haven't detected even the slightest hint of something like this?"

Su Ming replied bluntly, "Well asked."

"If I could have sensed it, I wouldn't just be a Core Captain who only runs the rear field. Your old rival Jiang Yuan faces high‑risk Weird Domains above A Ji every day."

The deputy officer's mouth twitched.

Around the perimeter of B09, artillery fire was still outputting.

The fissure was being pried open little by little.

But the aura that surged from inside made the frontmost counter‑weird operatives begin to get goosebumps.

Su Ming raised his hand.

"Reduce the main cannon to fifty‑five percent; don't overfeed the fissure."

"Number Thirty‑One, continue drilling holes."

"Xu An, push the grid forward three meters; don't let the red mist touch the artillery unit."

Xu An gave no reply.

The Red Wood Ruler struck down.

The deteriorated grid expanded forward; after touching the edge of the red mist, the mist, like delinquent students forced into the School Rule, was pressed back into the seams of the Domain Membrane.

Su Ming looked at Chen Shao.

"Hold on."

Chen Shao stared coldly.

"That remark isn't yours to make."

"Then I'll say it differently."

Su Ming stared at the red inside the fissure.

"Your sister is still waiting for the door to open."

Chen Shao fell silent.

The Demon Eye flared crimson.

The Domain Membrane fissure was forced open to a width of one person.

The next second.

A low, grinding sound emanated from the fissure.

All instruments on the display alarmed.

The civilian investigator's face turned pale: "Internal energy‑level jump! The Weird Domain core is moving!"

Inside B09's Weird Domain.

Lu Yu helped Chen Yao over half‑collapsed fence, his shoe soles sinking into thick mortar.

They arrived at the Central Square.

This had originally been the safe ruins' practical training assembly point.

Yellow assembly lines were drawn on the ground, and beside them a half‑burned warning sign read: Keep formation, obey Instructor orders.

Quite ironic.

The Instructor is now mostly a component of the monster.

Lu Yu leaned against a broken sculpture and gasped twice.

His throat was filled with the smell of blood.

The wound beneath his ribs throbbed from sweat, his back was sticky, the school uniform clung to flesh, each movement reminding him his body was nearing its limit.

Chen Yao supported him.

Her hand was steady.

Not like the feigned frailty earlier.

"Can you still walk?"

Lu Yu gave her a glance.

"That question lacks emotional intelligence."

Chen Yao pursed her lips.

"Then I'll ask differently: how much combat power do you have left?"

"Against ordinary anomalies, can operate up to three simultaneously."

Lu Yu paused, looking toward the center of the Square.

"When fighting that thing, it's advisable to write a will before surrendering."

Chen Yao followed his gaze.

Red mist gathered in the Central Square.

It wasn't dispersing.

It was swirling.

One circle after another, circling the fountain pool at the square's center.

The fountain had long dried up; the pool bottom was littered with broken desks, Instructor gear, student backpacks, and some unidentifiable limbs.

The red mist slipped out through the gaps of those things, collapsing toward the center.

There was a vortex there.

Huge and viscous, it made the sound of wet flesh scraping the ground as it turned.

Chen Yao's fingertips tightened.

She had seen Xu An kill people.

She had seen Chen Shao clean up enemies.

She had also seen the underground test zone of Eden Garden.

But this scene still churned her stomach.

A few hours earlier, those students were still noisy, flaunting their family backgrounds, complaining that the training was too exhausting, and secretly debating which Instructor was harsher.

Now, their hands, feet, faces, and school emblems were all swept into the red mist.

Lu Yu lowered his voice: "Don't stare for too long."

Chen Yao averted her gaze.

"What is that?"

"Core."

Lu Yu changed his grip on the Reinforced Steel Bar.

The bent Reinforced Steel Bar was no longer handy; its tip was frayed, with bits of flesh and debris hanging on it, looking rather shabby.

"It's also the last disgusting checkpoint before the Exit."

"The planners have already spawned the monsters onto the mandatory path to the entrance; do you think it'll let us breeze through the level?"

Chen Yao was silent for two seconds.

"You've kept talking about the planners."

"Just a personal habit."

Lu Yu gave no explanation.

Some things cannot be spoken.

For example, he's far too familiar with the malicious intent behind these Rules.

Familiar to an absurd degree.

Just then,

the red‑mist vortex suddenly paused for a beat.

Lu Yu's shoulders and back tensed.

"Go."

Before Chen Yao could react, Lu Yu was already pulling her toward the right‑side corridor pillar.

The next moment,

dozens of hands emerged from the vortex's center.

The hands varied in size; some still wore student wristbands, some were missing fingers, and some had skin already sewn to the half corpse of Fang Ming.

They grasped the ground, dragging whatever lay inside out bit by bit.

First the shoulders.

Then the chest cavity.

Then the lower body assembled from countless limbs.

A blood‑and‑flesh totem rose from the vortex.

It was at least three stories tall.

Its core was Fang Ming's mutilated torso, its chest filled with students' severed limbs, ribs flared outward like a cage, and inside were packed semi‑transparent flesh tumors.

Each tumor bore a face.

Some were students.

Some were Instructors.

And there was Zhou Ting, who had just died in the Air‑raid Shelter.

Her face was pressed into the tumor's membrane, mouth open but unable to form complete words, only her throat pulsating continuously.

Chen Yao's steps faltered for half a beat.

Lu Yu grabbed her.

"Don't empathize."

"Empathizing now is like applying a brake on yourself."

Chen Yao's lips turned pale.

"They're still alive?"

Lu Yu stared at the blood‑and‑flesh totem.

"The definition of 'alive' is broad."

"But it can't be saved."

The words were harsh.

Yet they were more useful than comfort.

Chen Yao closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the timid shell had pressed back onto her face, leaving only the deepest layer of calm.

"It saw us."

The totem's head had no features.

Only a ring of hollow eye sockets.

Those eye sockets simultaneously turned toward Lu Yu and Chen Yao.

There were no eyeballs.

The lockable sensation made Lu Yu's nape go numb.

"Nonsense."

Lu Yu pushed Chen Yao behind a corridor column.

"If it can't see us, we should buy a lottery ticket."

The Flesh-and-Blood Totem moved.

Its surrounding force field pressed the red mist into concentric ripples; the nearby broken steel frames, desks, and glass shards were all drawn up and then ground into powder.

Lu Yu stared at its right side.

There, four legs bore the weight, three arms dragged on the ground, and a tail‑like structure composed of a spine.

It moves slowly.

But its range is large.

Moreover, the force field interferes with distance judgment.

An ordinary person who rushes forward would be crushed before even getting close.

Lu Yu muttered low, "These stats and mechanics are absurdly set."

Chen Yao asked, "What do we do?"

"Run."

"Where to?"

"To the place it doesn't want us to go."

Lu Yu pointed to the left side of the Square.

That side is not the Exit.

It is a teaching building whose half has collapsed.

Chen Yao understood immediately.

"Skirt the field of view?"

"Smart."

"But the Weird Domain entrance is on the other side."

"So we first make it leave the entrance."

Lu Yu tore off the broken safety latch at his waist and threw it in the opposite direction.

The safety latch hit the ground, producing a crisp clatter.

The Flesh-and-Blood Totem's eye sockets on its head turned for half a second.

Only half a second.

Lu Yu had already rushed out of the corridor column with Chen Yao.

The two sprinted, pressed against the collapsed flowerbed.

Red mist washed over their calves, occasionally tiny fingers grasped the soles of their shoes; Lu Yu lifted his foot to crush them, leaving several bloody scratches on his ankle.

Chen Yao made no sound.

She gritted her teeth and kept up.

Only her breathing grew increasingly ragged.

Behind them, the Flesh-and-Blood Totem raised a flesh‑and‑blood war hammer stitched together from dozens of arms.

The thing's surface was draped with student clothing, bone fragments, and the Instructor's tactical belt; when lifted, the whole red mist was pulled into a long trench.

Lu Yu glanced back, his pupils contracting.

"Not good."

The force field arrived first.

The yellow lines on the ground were pressed into bends, and the flowerbed cracked into several pieces.

Chen Yao slipped at her foot.

Lu Yu seized her backpack strap and pulled her back to his side.

"Lower your head!"

The flesh‑and‑blood war hammer swept horizontally across.

The two dove into the broken stands' base.

The cement slab above was swept to pieces, debris rained down, and Lu Yu used his shoulder and back to shield Chen Yao, a muffled hum forced from his throat.

Chen Yao smelled a stronger scent of blood.

It wasn't the monster's.

It was Lu Yu's.

"Your wound has split."

"Congratulations, you got it right."

Lu Yu propped himself up, his face a blend of ash and blood, still harboring a lazy grudge against others.

"The reward is to keep running."

Chen Yao looked at him.

In a very brief instant, she almost revealed her identity.

If she said it, Lu Yu would understand her worth.

He would fight even harder.

It would be even scarier.

But the words got stuck on the tip of the tongue and couldn't come out.

In the critical moment, she surprisingly didn't want to use her own status to suppress that person.

Very absurd.

Also very unlike Chen Yao.

Lu Yu suddenly grabbed her and rolled to the side.

A red mist Tentacle slipped through the seam of the stand, wrapping the spot they had just occupied and gnawing a dense array of holes in the cement.

"What are you daydreaming?"

Lu Yu was panting heavily, but his tone was fierce.

Chen Yao: "......"

She was stunned for half a second by the scolding.

Then, surprisingly, she smiled lightly.

It wasn't the kind that was a disguise.

So short that even she herself was unfamiliar with it.

"You, you're really strange."

"Everyone is strange to someone else."

Lu Yu inserted the Reinforced Steel Bar into the ground and used it to push himself up.

"Dead people are the easiest to deal with."

The Flesh Totem turned around.

It didn't chase toward the teaching building.

It stopped in the middle of the Square, and all the hollow eye sockets contracted together.

Lu Yu's expression changed.

"It doesn't chase?"

Chen Yao also sensed something was off.

"It's guarding the Exit."

"No."

Lu Yu looked around.

The red mist was curling back toward the center.

The teaching building, flower bed, stand, and emergency gate were all linked to the Flesh Totem's body by mist strands.

"It's going to turn the entire Square into an execution platform."

As soon as the words fell, countless severed arms rose from the ground.

Each severed arm clutched an old school plaque, a steel ruler, a Reinforced Steel Bar, or a broken lectern board.

They formed a circle, trapping Lu Yu and Chen Yao in the center.

The flesh lumps on the Flesh Totem's chest lit up one by one.

The faces inside began to open their mouths.

No complete sentences.

Only a few words repeated. And names.

"Roll call......"

"Late......"

"Absent......"

"Report back......"

"Zhou Ting......"

"Xu Yisheng......"

Chen Yao felt a chill down her back.

Lu Yu listened, and instead couldn't laugh.

"Damn."

"Maybe it's a rules judgment."

Chen Yao looked at him: "What does that mean?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it will treat everyone who enters B09 as a student and take roll again."

Lu Yu clenched his teeth and scanned the severed arms.

"Those who don't respond are counted as absent."

"What happens to the absent?"

The Flesh Totem answered with action.

A severed arm grabbed a distant student corpse and pulled it into the vortex.

The corpse was pressed into the Flesh Totem's abdomen and instantly became a new hand.

Lu Yu lifted his head.

"Regardless of whether the state is a corpse or a living person, they will be forcibly assigned to a class."

Chen Yao's distress beacon flashed twice inside her cuff.

The outside hadn't opened yet.

They couldn't wait for support.

All the eye sockets of the flesh totem lock onto the two.

Within the chest tumor, Fang Ming's half face is squeezed to the front, its mouth opening and closing.

Lu Yu......

Chen Yao......

Return to the squad.

Red mist billows.

The blood‑and‑flesh war hammer, sewn together from dozens of arms, is raised high, covering the dark crimson canopy above.

Lu Yu pushes Chen Yao behind him, but he himself is pressed by the force field, his knees trembling.

All retreat routes are gone.

On the left is a broken‑arm fence.

On the right is a red‑mist vortex.

Behind is a collapsed viewing platform.

Ahead is the fallen blood‑and‑flesh war hammer.

Chen Yao looks up, and the shadow growing nearer reflects in her pupils.