Chapter 333: Converging Paths

While Lu Xin and the others traversed the illusory streets of the city center various teams from Central City had already reached the city core.

From the north side a burly man clad in black tactical gear led the first team to arrive at the city center position. By now his and his team members’ clothes were slightly torn and their faces were smudged with dust.

He had brute-forced his way directly through the fake streets.

Although this method indeed allowed him to reach the city core fastest it came at a considerable price.

In that illusory city where truth and falsehood were hard to distinguish too many dangers could appear at any moment attacking him and his team members in various ways.

For instance a large hole suddenly appearing on perfectly intact ground.

Or an old man walking innocently down the road suddenly pulling a weapon from his grocery basket and aiming it at them.

Or a bullet suddenly flying from an obviously empty area an invisible bullet at that.

But he had come all this way without a single injury. Instead his own fists were stained with quite a bit of blood.

“Ability? Heh!”

“No matter how much they play tricks it’s just a joke.”

He glanced back at the street littered with strange corpses and sneered.

Without even planning to rest he looked directly towards the building ahead.

But just as he took a step he suddenly paused looking up.

Above this abandoned city the red moon hung like a hook its bloody color even more vivid.

Under the moonlight atop a ten-story building by the street stood a girl.

She held a sharp kitchen knife in her hand wearing a small white dress. Because her head was lowered her features were lost in the darkness only two cold gazes could be felt looking down on them.

The tall burly man and his two team members stopped simultaneously looking upward.

…

…

At the same time from the east side the Doctor and his mental patient team who had deduced the world’s original form using their superhuman perception and avoided many dangers had also reached the edge of this illusory city.

They encountered many dangers along the way but skillfully evaded them all.

They saw the surrounding scenery stretching becoming abstract and bizarre knowing they were about to break through.

But just then the Doctor suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

The two mental patients nearly bumped into him asking curiously.

“The data is wrong.”

The Doctor looked up at the surrounding world like a stream-of-consciousness abstract painting and said softly.

“We’ve come this far how can it be wrong?”

The patient with wandering eyes asked the Doctor curiously.

“Within the real data I can perceive several new types of data have suddenly appeared…”

The Doctor spoke slowly then slowly shook his head: “No it’s not several new types of data but one type that exists in many instances. So it temporarily disrupted my calculations. This feeling… it’s like someone very powerful is watching me… No not one person watching me. The feeling is like… many people are watching me…”

The patient wearing a fat doll mask spoke muffledly: “You’re so thick-skinned why fear being watched?”

The Doctor sighed softly saying: “I don’t fear being watched but…”

“What if it feels like they’re right up against your face watching you?”

…

After saying this he took another step forward and the abstract world around them began to shatter.

As the last influence of this false prosperous city faded they discovered their current location. They were in a narrow cramped alley pitch black all around.

The alley wasn’t long; a faint glimmer of light could be seen about ten meters ahead. But where they stood was absolute darkness the kind where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

“Are we surrounded?”

The Doctor sighed softly suddenly raising the sharp scalpel in his hand and precisely slashing towards a specific spot.

However just as his scalpel was about to reach the target.

It abruptly stopped.

In front of the scalpel a mass of dark light appeared—it was a huge eyeball.

The eyeball was as large as a basketball its white completely filled with blood lines while its pupil was like a bottomless black pit. Several blood vessels and pieces of rotten flesh extended from its back connecting it to the nearby wall. It was currently rolling around then fixed its gaze upon them.

This gaze seemed to possess some sort of demonic ability forcing the Doctor’s scalpel to halt.

“Swish!”

The other two patients hastily tried to retreat showing no intention of saving their captain.

But they only took one step back before suddenly stopping.

They both felt a peculiar gaze and instantly understood the Doctor’s words.

That feeling of an eye pressed right against them watching.

This sensation made their bodies stiffen. Slowly turning they saw more and more eyes opening within the alley.

Some grew on the walls some on the ground some inside the rusty trash can nearby some appeared under the broken cover of the streetlight at the alley entrance and some even opened directly beneath their feet staring fixedly at them.

The entire alley had now become a world of eyes.

Dense bloodshot and horrifying.

Staring at them from every angle every direction leaving no flaw or privacy untouched.

They wanted to say something but opened their mouths only to find they’d forgotten what they intended to say.

All three now felt as if every secret inside and out had been seen through.

This sense of hollowness seemed to engulf them directly.

“Since you hate each other why not take this chance to kill them?”

In the alley full of eyes a voice softly sounded thin yet elegant and rational.

“Hate each other? Do we?”

Hearing this the three instinctively wanted to object.

“Since you hate each other why not take this chance to kill them?”

The voice sounded again its content even its speed and tone unchanged in the slightest.

The three fell silent.

This voice faint calm and rational seemed like some kind of power seeping into their minds.

A feeling arose in their hearts that their hidden thoughts had already been exposed.

…

“Creak…”

At the same time Xia Chong opened a door leading her two team members out.

She had directly used her ability to leave the area covered by the illusory city encountering no danger. However because she was now approaching the city core she didn’t know what she would encounter after pushing open this door.

Leading her team out the door they found pitch blackness behind it where one couldn’t see their own fingers.

“Click!”

A team member switched on a flashlight illuminating the surroundings revealing dusty air massive pillars and abandoned vehicles.

They had arrived in a parking garage.

“We should be very close to the city core now.”

Xia Chong said softly: “Find a way out determine our position then figure out the lab’s specific location.”

Both team members nodded in agreement searching for a way out of the parking garage.

The pitch-black parking garage was deathly silent. The space seemed vast empty and desolate.

One team member suddenly stopped looking up alertly: “Did you guys hear something?”

The others quickly looked around: “What?”

That team member twisted their neck uncomfortably saying: “Crying…”

“An infant’s crying…”

…

While remaining vigilant the others instinctively strained their ears.

Soon they too heard the faint crying like an infant weeping in some dark corner.

Simultaneously the thick smell of blood filled their nostrils growing increasingly intense.

“Not good…”

Suddenly a female Spider-type team member moved nimbly flipping backward sharply retreating two or three meters.

In the darkness only a black shadow could be seen striking heavily where she had just stood.

Two powerful flashlights beamed over simultaneously.

They saw only a writhing flesh tentacle slowly retracting withdrawing towards the shadow-shrouded space behind it.

“Bang!”

Xia Chong fired her gun. The bullet accurately hit the tentacle the instant it retracted.

Blue electrical arcs flashed accompanied by crackling sounds. In the darkness something seemed to writhe violently.

The heavy smell of blood grew even stronger.

“Above us…”

Suddenly a team member shouted. They scattered simultaneously aiming their flashlights at the ceiling.

They were currently in an underground garage beneath a large building. The light revealed that the ceiling which should have been steel and reinforced concrete was now occupied by a huge flesh monster.

Its body was surrounded by rough terrifying tentacles covered in barbs.

In the center was a bloated obese pale infant-like monster its limbs hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Though called an infant its body was actually two meters long stronger than an adult.

Its two eyes were blank white voids but its infant-like face wore a bizarre smile.

“Rustle…”

Startled by the flashlight beams it scrambled across the ceiling swift as a spider crawling towards the distance.

“Waaah…”

The infant’s wail echoed.

This cry triggered changes in the surroundings. Foul-smelling flesh dropped from all sides slamming heavily onto the ground.

Like thick curtains of flesh they piled up and expanded. Huge tentacles moved slowly in the deep darkness surrounding the parking garage stretching as if transforming the unlit dark spaces into a mysterious ocean filled with infinite danger.

They realized they were trapped within the flesh.