Wu Erhun.
Not long ago, he had still been human.
An ordinary human created by S-001, scattered across the Wilderness, utterly ignorant of the so-called truth of the world.
Until he lost his tribe in the nuclear explosion recently unleashed by the Lord of the City, and was himself swallowed by an Anomaly, becoming a monster scraping by for survival inside the Anomaly 【Undying Totem】.
Yet at this very moment, that face on the flesh of the crucifix—the face that had always been obsequious and slightly skin-crawling—was smiling.
Smiling so widely that the thin layer of flesh was covered in wrinkles.
The Nascent Soul's mouth fell open like a chicken being squeezed by the throat.
He struck his chest violently, and the crucifix was instantly ejected by a powerful force.
Amber liquid welled out from the hole that pierced straight through him, rapidly vaporizing and dispersing the moment it touched the air.
He raised his translucent little hand and pointed in Wu Erhun's direction.
A blood-red crack split open across Wu Erhun's crucifix.
The crack ran straight through the center, as if cleaved by an invisible blade.
The smiling face froze for a fraction of a second before the entire crucifix exploded from the center, shattering into a cloud of grayish-white powder.
The powder drifted through the air, landing on the Nascent Soul hovering in midair, as well as on the black liquid and ruins on the ground.
Nothing was left.
At the same time, the Nascent Soul plummeted like a broken kite before barely managing to stabilize himself.
His face turned a livid shade.
It wasn't just his face; his entire translucent body was turning a livid shade of blue-green.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread in all directions from the wound on his chest.
“No...” His voice became shrill and terrified. “No!”
He whipped his head around, his gaze locking onto the massive water tank against the back wall.
Inside the tank, that grayish-white brain floated quietly in the nutrient fluid, nurturing a dream that seemed destined never to wake.
The Nascent Soul flew in that direction.
His flight path was crooked and unstable, like a drunkard stumbling along.
As he flew, his entire body emitted faint cracking sounds, and his jade-like luster dimmed inch by inch.
He knew he was about to dissipate; power was draining from his body.
But there was still one way, and that was to forcibly initiate the New Era.
Even though S-001's energy was not yet sufficient, and even though forcing the initiation now would mean all his efforts to control S-001 over these past few eras would go down the drain.
At least it would guarantee his own survival.
He had to touch that brain!
However, a figure in a white lab coat blocked his path without warning.
It was Dr. Cyril.
She stood between the water tank and the Nascent Soul, her gaze incredibly calm—or more precisely, completely dead.
The Nascent Soul was halted for a split second, hovering in midair.
The expression on his infant face shifted from terror to rage, and then from rage to a cold, condescending sneer.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The doctor did not back down.
“Consider it keeping my word,” Dr. Cyril said, her lips twitching slightly.
“Someone showed me the truth of the world.”
“As for this world, I am very dissatisfied with it.”
“Therefore, I sincerely hope that this is the final New Era.”
The Nascent Soul narrowed his eyes.
“So that's how it is,” he said, emphasizing each word. “The one that old rag bag mentioned before he died... was you.”
He didn't ask why; he simply charged straight forward.
He slammed right into the doctor's chest.
Crack!
The doctor's body bent backward violently, like a stalk of bamboo snapped in the middle.
Her feet left the ground, and the sheer force of the impact sent her flying backward.
Together, they slammed into the glass wall of the water tank.
A dull thud of flesh impacting was accompanied by the sound of glass cracking.
The doctor coughed up blood, her entire chest caving in, as a crack spiderwebbed across the surface of the water tank.
Nutrient fluid seeped from the crack, the yellow-green liquid slowly trickling down the glass wall.
“A mere mortal!” the Nascent Soul's voice was sharp and frantic.
“Cough, cough... Weren't you also just... cough... run through by one of those mere mortals?”
The doctor interrupted him, laughing even as she coughed up blood.
“A mortal is enough... Cough, cough. The position I stood in was originally meant to block this very blow.”
The Nascent Soul's movements suddenly froze.
“What do you mean?”
The doctor did not answer, her lips twitching as if she were smiling.
By then, Evans had already rushed over.
The black liquid spread into a dark track on the floor, crossing the distance with unimaginable speed as a hand condensed from the black liquid lunged to grab the Nascent Soul.
But someone was even faster than Evans.
No, not a "person."
It was God's Corpse, which had been lying collapsed in front of the water tank.
As its annihilation domain began to expand chaotically, a certain suppression seemed to be slowly withdrawing.
It had already lost its controller, but at this moment, the Adam's apple of God's Corpse suddenly bobbed, making a swallowing motion.
Immediately after, its chest cavity collapsed inward violently, like a balloon being instantly vacuumed dry of air.
Boom!
A powerful suction force erupted with its body as the center, instantly sweeping through the entire room.
Shattered glass, severed cables, metal debris, and even the dust and spilled nutrient fluid trembled in an instant, before being violently torn by the force field and sucked toward the throat of God's Corpse.
It felt as if a miniature black hole were awakening inside its body.
Even light was dragged and warped, tracing bizarre arcs in the air as it was swallowed into the expanding black hole at the throat of God's Corpse.
The white cloud that Ren Yi had transformed into was stretched thin by the suction, and he hurriedly whipped out countless white tentacles to tightly wrap around a load-bearing steel pillar.
Meanwhile, the Nascent Soul and Dr. Cyril, who were closer, began to float uncontrollably into the air.
“What... is going on?”
The Nascent Soul's startled voice echoed in the chaotic room.
He tried to charge toward S-001, which was right before his eyes, but the powerful suction had already completely snared him.
He reached out in vain, but his own strength could only manage a delicate balance with the suction, leaving him frozen in midair in a ridiculous posture.
“Cough, cough... Do you know why your power suddenly spiked earlier when you were controlling God's Corpse?”
Dr. Cyril opened her eyes amidst the howling wind, letting the blood flow freely from the corners of her mouth.
“I studied it for a very long time... why the suppression effect of God's Corpse weakens during the Month of Divine Sight...”
“And then I discovered... Cough, cough. It is the ‘gaze.’”
“To be precise, it is the ‘gaze’ of S-002 falling upon this entire world.”
She stared intently at the stunned Nascent Soul, her eyes shining with incredible intensity.
“If S-002 is compared to an eye...”
“Then the coverage of its ‘gaze’ on this world is inversely proportional to the suppression range of God's Corpse.”
“During the Month of Divine Sight, when it ‘looks directly’ at this land, the power of God's Corpse is at its weakest.”
“In other months, the coverage of its gaze shrinks, and the domain of God's Corpse expands accordingly.”
“I suppose... seeing what he looks like now, he must find it quite repulsive too, right?”
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