Chapter 244: The Immovable Colossus

Now that the Second Stage was complete, Lu Xin felt much more at ease.

Having his family by his side now made that sense of ease even more distinct.

He hadn’t seen his family in days, which made their presence now feel exceptionally good. He wasn’t one to express his feelings easily through words, but subconsciously, he felt a surge of power coursing through him…

He moved faster and faster, scrambling like a spider over building faces, electrical wires, and countless overturned vehicles. His form flickered between shadows and the Red Moon’s glow as he rapidly closed in on the Donghai Grand Hotel.

Looking up, he saw it – the Red Cloak silhouette, towering even over the Donghai Grand Hotel, stood silently beside the building.

The closer he got, the more immense the red shadow felt.

And the distorted, almost tangible mental power that formed its body.

Its mere presence warped the air around it, stirring up a chilling wind.

Meanwhile, to the west, countless grotesque mental monsters crawled forth from the plaza, the flowerbeds, and the residential buildings.

Some sported three heads – one crying, one laughing, the third watching the other two’s antics. Another was a woman’s body with two writhing male torsos gruesomely sprouting from her sides, screaming in agony.

These were the monsters missed during the earlier capture operation, now converging on the Red Cloaked Apostle.

Reaching it, they burrowed directly under the Red-cloaked Monster’s robe, vanishing near its legs. The monster’s mental power solidified further, emitting strange fluctuations as the smaller abominations disappeared within it.

…

“This huge mental monster isn’t going to be easy to handle…”

Lu Xin let out a breath. Looking at his sister, who was still clinging to his hand, he asked, “You can let go now, right?”

She’d been hanging onto his arm like a teddy bear ever since she appeared.

Hearing this, Sister rolled her eyes and hugged even tighter.

“No way. I have to protect you.”

“This isn’t about protection right now. We need to get to work.”

Lu Xin tilted his head way back to look up at the Red-cloaked Monster looming over them. “It’s enormous,” he said to his sister. “So, can you do what you did before? Just corrupt its body directly?”

Sister froze, turning to Lu Xin incredulously. “You’ll lend me your power?”

Lu Xin nodded. “You’re my sister. There’s no ‘lending’ involved.”

A delighted expression lit up Sister’s unnerving little face. She nodded vigorously and scrambled forward.

As she scrambled away, Lu Xin could still feel a connection linking them.

He felt calm and trusted his sister completely, and because of that, something seemed to flow rapidly from him towards her, making her small form stand out with unusual clarity amidst the chaos.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

She moved faster and faster, weaving between the grotesque mental monsters. Sometimes she’d scramble over them, other times she’d twist and contort unnaturally to evade grasping claws and tentacles, drawing ever closer to the Red Cloak.

“Heehee, the big red doll is so cute…”

She cried out happily as she closed in, just three or four meters away from the red-robed monster.

Her tiny body leaped from the ground, launching itself towards the Red Cloaked Mental Monster in an embrace.

By now, the Red Cloaked Mental Monster towered at least 120 meters high, impossibly tall.

Just one of its feet alone was likely over ten meters long and two or three meters wide.

Compared to it, Sister’s tiny body was like a speck of dust.

*Smack!*

This speck landed on the Red-cloaked Monster’s robe, looking no bigger than a fleck of white lint.

But the moment Sister’s tiny form made contact, a visible ripple of distortion spread out between them. Instantly, where her little hands grasped the robe, a discordant texture began to spread. The once smooth surface suddenly took on a rough, frayed appearance.

Ugly, jagged scars, like crude stitches, appeared one after another, spreading rapidly across the fabric.

Even in death, this Red Cloaked Mental Monster retained its living form. Because it was now composed entirely of mental power, its red robe was immaculate, smooth as glass, possessing an eerie beauty under the Red Moon.

But now, that beauty was being corrupted.

It looked like it had instantly become a dull, tattered rag, ripped apart and crudely stitched back together.

*Vmmm…*

The Red-cloaked Monster seemed to notice Sister’s presence.

Having stood motionless, it now slowly lowered its head, its hollow, vacant eyes fixing on Sister.

*Guh…*

A strange vibration emanated from its body, spreading continuously outwards.

Sister was caught within its range.

*Riiip…*

Engulfed by this vibration, Sister’s body suddenly distorted, twisting like a crumpled paper doll.

*Gegege…*

But the crumpled Sister let out a chillingly cute giggle.

The next moment, she crumpled herself further, then her body suddenly fragmented. Each piece, seeming to possess its own life, scrambled outwards along the Red-cloaked Monster’s body, vastly increasing the area she could “embrace”.

Focus slowly sharpened in the Red-cloaked Monster’s eyes, lending its impassive face a flicker of animation.

*VMMMM…*

Suddenly, an intensely dense vibration hummed outwards. Invisible mental power radiated from its body.

Everything around it was violently thrown back, including many of the smaller mental monsters that had just reached it. Like fleas, they were sent scattering in all directions, some flying seven or eight meters, others more than ten…

Sister was flung back over thirty meters. Her fragmented body snapped back together as she landed hard on her bottom.

She seemed stunned by the impact, staring blankly for a moment.

Then, snapping out of it, she grew even angrier, scrambled back to her feet, and charged forward furiously.

…

…

“Looks like Sister can’t handle this monster alone.”

As he watched Sister, fierce yet oddly cute, charge at the mental monster once more,

Lu Xin rode the Donghai Grand Hotel’s exterior glass elevator, ascending steadily.

Through the elevator’s glass walls, he saw that Sister had managed to corrupt a large portion of the monster. But as it flung her away, the corrupted areas rippled like water washing over them.

All the distorted parts smoothed out, returning to their original state as if Sister’s efforts had been for nothing.

This was different from when they dealt with the monster beneath the South Wall of the Second Satellite City.

“Well, Sister is still little…”

Mom covered her mouth with a smile, looking slightly amused. “Look how happy she gets when someone fights back…”

…

Lu Xin wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

He rode the elevator to the top floor. Mom glanced curiously towards the Doll’s safe house before they took the emergency stairs at the end of the corridor up to the rooftop. Standing at the building’s edge, they looked out at the enormous mental monster.

Even from the rooftop, their eye level was only at the monster’s chest.

Looking up, they could see the monster’s face – disturbingly real, yet pale and vacant.

“Mr. Lone Soldier, can you hear me?”

Han Bing’s anxious voice crackled through the headset built into his glasses’ left earpiece.

“Oh, yes, I can hear you.”

Lu Xin quickly explained, “I was in the elevator, and being so close to the monster must have interfered with the signal.”

“The elevator…”

Han Bing took a few seconds to process the absurdity of Lu Xin taking an elevator during this crisis.

Maintaining her composure with effort, she continued, “The Special Task Force is withdrawing. Do you want their investigation report forwarded to you?”

Lu Xin thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t have time to read it now anyway. Could you analyze it for me instead?”

“My main concern right now is the nature of this mental entity. I saw it seems highly resistant to other forms of corruption… Part of it was clearly corrupted, but it recovered almost instantly.”

“Corruption…”

Han Bing wasn’t sure why Lu Xin was asking such a strange question.

Mental monsters can be corrupted too?

“I’ll relay Professor Chen’s analysis now…”

Han Bing’s voice came through quickly.

It seemed she was now acting primarily as a liaison; others had taken over the information analysis:

“Mental monsters can indeed be corrupted, provided the corrupting entity possesses superior ‘quality’ or a nature that inherently counters or overwhelms the target. However, when the target’s psychic magnitude reaches a certain level, it can resist and maintain stability by continuously repairing itself and repelling the corrupting force.”

“So that’s why Sister can’t affect this monster?”

Lu Xin pinched the arm of his glasses and turned to Mom. “Do you have any bright ideas?”

Mom looked thoughtfully at the mental monster and chuckled softly. “I can see quite a few problems.”

“And most importantly…”

She suddenly turned to Lu Xin with a soft chuckle. “You’re pinching the earpiece, dear, not the microphone…”

“Which means they heard everything you just said to me…”

…

“Ah… crap.”

Lu Xin froze, took off his glasses to inspect them, then put them back on with a helpless smile. “Well, if they heard, they heard…”

“Besides, my family *is* real!”