Chapter 731: Chaos in Qinggang

A multitude of unknown Mental Monsters have appeared around Qinggang, polluting the city relentlessly…

Outside the city, an enigmatic force of Knight Orders draws near—it appears to be the Black Spade Studio organization, long active in the West…

A formidable mental power has targeted Qinggang’s Ability Users, controlling their actions…

Doll has reached her breaking point…

……

……

For a moment, every Special Pollution Inspector in Qinggang was on the verge of tears.

Staring at the flashing warning instruments and wildly fluctuating readings that defied logic, they felt as if they were losing their minds.

The numbers they saw made no sense at all.

These readings should never appear on a normal instrument. If they do…

Then the device must be malfunctioning.

Just… only days ago, I thought Qinggang was the luckiest city…

At that same moment, in the Command Center of the Special Cleaning Department, Professor Chen Liqing stared at a mountain of files, his old-fashioned, large black-framed glasses nearly slipping off his nose.

His voice trembled as he murmured, ‘Who would have thought that in just a few days, Qinggang could be polluted to this extent?’

What is happening?

Has God Himself descended upon our Qinggang?

……

W-what do we do?

The final words came from Mr. Su, a man known for keeping his composure even when a mountain is collapsing before him.

But at this moment, he finally broke down.

Because this is far worse than merely a mountain collapsing…

Apart from the Second Satellite City, the other satellite cities are still operating normally.

He quickly received the reports and grasped the current situation of Qinggang Main City and the five satellite cities.

Originally, everything seemed to be improving.

Doll had withstood the pressure from those watchful eyes in the sky, and residents in the satellite cities were taking shelter under controlled order.

They had even prepared to mobilize personnel to assist the Second Satellite City.

But in an instant, countless unforeseen events caught Qinggang completely off guard.

First, a barrage of unidentified signals unleashed innumerable strange pollutants from every direction outside Qinggang, shaking Doll’s barrier almost instantaneously with their unrelenting fury.

On the malfunctioning surveillance cameras, they saw Doll’s umbrella barrier torn apart, leaving nothing but a bare handle.

Doll herself, struck by a tremendous mental force, let out a muffled groan and bowed her head.

When she stubbornly raised her head again, she noticed blood slowly seeping from the corners of her eyes…

The mental power readings confirmed it.

The Second Satellite City had been completely overrun despite Doll’s protection.

A powerful mental force seemed to be battering inside the Second Satellite City, completely forcing Doll’s abilities to retreat…

Casualties remain unknown.

Details remain unclear.

For every monitoring method in Qinggang had now become useless against the Second Satellite City.

Soon after, emergency reports streamed in from the satellite cities: an unknown number of Mental Monsters, of uncertain nature, had suddenly poured in. On the mental plane, they were unmistakably clashing with Doll’s mental power.

Doll couldn’t hold on; even with the collective mental support of an entire city behind her, it wasn’t enough.

The entire Qinggang ‘Heaven’s Kingdom Plan’ was being crushed by enormous external forces, with Doll bearing the brunt.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

What mattered most was that as these endless pollutants struck and Ability Users stationed in the various satellite cities spread out to resist, they all suddenly fell under an unknown mental influence—visible black chains surged in from every direction into Qinggang’s satellite cities, wrapping around the Ability Users right before their eyes.

Drunkard, Watchdog, Red Serpent, and the Godly Woman—all were affected in an instant.

In the next moment, they seemed to lose all sense; their heads drooped, and when they reopened their eyes, they were utterly dazed.

Then, without warning, they turned on their own.

Entangled by those black chains, they were instantly transformed, rendered utterly incapable of even the slightest resistance.

The High Wall was Qinggang’s overt line of defense.

Doll and the Ability Users served as Qinggang’s hidden safeguard.

But in that instant, every defense became riddled with holes, facing an enormous challenge.

……

……

Confronted with this situation, the staff in the Command Center fell into a panic.

They had no choice; this had surpassed even their limits of understanding.

So, when Mr. Su raised the question, both Professor Bai and Minister Shen fell silent.

The other experts and professors at the meeting exchanged bewildered glances, rendered speechless.

Throwing oneself to death is no act of courage.

Faced with an assault so far beyond their comprehension that they couldn’t even begin to describe it…

Give up?

Or surrender outright to the force behind this chaos?

Continue the resistance…

When every eye was fixed on Professor Bai, he remained silent for a long moment before slowly looking up.

Amid a sea of puzzled stares, he murmured, ‘I can’t make sense of it either. This attack on Qinggang, in both depth and scale, far exceeds our understanding. We are all as lost as one another…’

But aren’t rules meant to guide us when we’re lost?

Qinggang’s regulations only specify how to counter an assault.

They never mention when to surrender…

So, my suggestion is to continue resisting and to keep monitoring the Second Satellite City…

Finally, he emphasized, ‘I believe the Single Soldier will send us a signal.’

Therefore, once we see that signal, we must unite our forces and launch a counterattack against the invaders!

……

……

At the same moment that Professor Bai and the others made their decision, in front of Red Moon Elementary School at the Second Satellite City…

Mom heard Lu Xin’s response and suddenly burst into laughter.

Her expression was relaxed, and with a teasing curiosity she asked, ‘Found the Mental Core?’

Lu Xin nodded calmly and replied, ‘Yes, I did.’

Mom asked inquisitively, ‘Come on, tell me—what is it?’

After a moment’s silence, Lu Xin’s face flushed with slight embarrassment as he said, ‘Can we not talk about it right now?’

Huh?

Mom’s curiosity deepened, yet she held back.

Then she turned slowly, surveying Qinggang and taking in every detail of the chaos.

She naturally observed the immense pressure, vulnerabilities, and movements amidst Qinggang’s turmoil, nodding as she said, ‘Even now, they’re still organizing resistance. I must admit, these people have remarkable willpower.’

Indeed.

Lu Xin nodded, a hint of pride on his face as he said, ‘I don’t have much experience handling something this enormous.’

Aren’t you prepared?

……

Of course.

Mom nodded gently, saying, ‘She set traps in the sky, so I dare not rush in.’

But on the ground, we must make our own arrangements, don’t we?

……

So then…

It’s time to send a reassuring signal to the people of Qinggang…

……

……

As Mom’s words hung in the air, every eye in Qinggang was fixed on Doll.

Even though overwhelming mental pressure and countless Mental Monsters had torn massive breaches in the city’s defenses, Doll refused to give up.

Her umbrella lay shredded, blood seeped from her eyes, and even her delicate skin now bore cracks resembling fine porcelain…

Her lips pursed ever so slightly, as if she were about to cry.

Beneath the abandoned building, the nanny teams—and Professor Bai and his colleagues—watched the scene with broken hearts.

None of them could bear to see Doll fight on any longer.

Yet Doll, blinking away tears, managed to rub her eyes and slowly stand up. On the mental plane, she sensed countless terrifying monsters barreling into Qinggang, charged with an eerie, ravenous hunger.

She could also see that the Ability Users, once destined to be her assistants in the satellite cities, had completely lost contact with her.

A more potent force seemed to have affected them, severing not only their duty to protect Qinggang’s people but also the life they had once vowed to defend together…

They had even begun to undermine that very life.

Doll felt utterly alone. She glanced toward the Second Satellite City and then silently lowered her head.

She stared at her hand, lost in thought for a moment.

After a brief pause, before the mounting mental strain became unbearable, she let out a soft sigh.

Then, slowly lifting her head, her body as light as air, she left the ground and floated into mid-air.

The surge of mental power made her radiate with an almost blinding brilliance.

Nearly every Qinggang citizen witnessed it, naturally drawing the attention of all the Mental Monsters.

Countless brutal minions swooped in from afar, clawing at Doll.

Every heart in Qinggang skipped a beat; pulses pounded in throats.

They watched in horror as endless ferocious monsters attacked Doll, shredding the mental force around her.

The foremost claw nearly brushed against Doll’s body…

In anguish, countless people closed their eyes.

Rattling sounds…

But at that very moment, the unmistakable clatter of iron chains filled the air.

The sound was so piercing, it seemed to resonate with the deepest parts of the soul.

In the next instant, a searing burst of light erupted from Doll’s body.

Although she wore a black skirt, the intense light transformed it into a brilliant white.

A pure, immaculate white.

Bathed in that dazzling light, Doll fixed her gaze on the Mental Monsters charging toward her.

Then, amid the white radiance emanating from her, countless iron chains suddenly appeared.

The white chains, densely interwoven, stretched out in all directions.

Wherever they swept, innumerable Mental Monsters—regardless of their strength—were instantly pierced and shattered upon contact, emitting shrill, terror-filled screams as they dissipated.

Unbound by space, the white chains stretched infinitely, swiftly sweeping across Qinggang’s skies.

The entire sky above Qinggang was enveloped by these tentacle-like white chains, their arms spread menacingly.

Amidst the chains, Doll’s lips pursed briefly before her gaze hardened.

She looked every bit like an adorable queen.

……

……

In that moment, every eye in Qinggang was drawn and illuminated by the brilliant white light.

That is…

Even Lu Xin from the Second Satellite City was taken aback, spinning to face Mom: ‘You gave it to her?’

Surely you didn’t think I just glanced at her without giving a proper welcome gift, did you?

Mom smiled, ‘Do you think I’m that stingy?’