Chapter 438: Flesh and Blood of Despair

“Th-that…”

“That isn’t just one monster!”

“Those are two horrifying monsters…”

“…”

Even more tragic was Qin Ran—or rather, the true essence of that Flesh-and-Blood Tree.

When it felt as if the entire world’s spiritual energy had turned against him, gnawing at his being like ants crawling over his skin—and not just any ants, but vicious Amazon bullet ants—he knew something was terribly wrong.

He could clearly feel the mental vines extending from his body being severed one by one.

Bit by bit, he was being devoured.

Every inch of him felt as if it were being sliced by countless razor-sharp blades.

He had tried to fight back.

Time and again he summoned all his might, attempting to repel these bone-attached assaults and hurl them further away.

Yet each time, just as he exerted every ounce of strength, a far greater force suppressed him.

It was as if he had become the center of the universe.

The most terrifying part was that he had become the center of the world in a state of being despised.

“Scratch, scratch, scratch…”

That was the sound of spiritual power being corroded.

An indescribable agony surged from the treetops of branches and leaves straight into his mind.

A deep, chaotic misery welled up within him.

He felt that everything around him was loathing him, launching a frenzied assault upon him.

As that sensation faded, even he began to despise himself.

Around him, several vines, under the influence of that power, had grown wild and beyond his control.

In the end, they even turned abruptly, lashing out at him with savage bites.

The worst part was that he could now share in the vines’ sensations.

So when those very vines reversed and struck him, an odd thrill surged within his heart.

“This is terrifying…”

On the trunk of the tree, a face emerged, muscles tensed, its gaze filled with a raw, startled intensity.

He understood that it was the Girl’s power at work, yet he couldn’t counter it…

The real crux lay with that Man.

The Girl was indeed formidable; her ability held a potential that verged on being ‘unsolvable’ even from his perspective.

But it was obvious that she hadn’t yet mastered her power—by the standards of the Technology Church, she was merely a novice in controlling her abilities. Even if her power were stronger, it would still be easy to deal with.

She possessed too many weaknesses.

Ordinarily, even a well-trained Spider-type could kill her if they understood her ability.

But at that moment, a Zero Ability User blocked her path, intercepting every attack. His power was so vast that it posed little threat to her, while she still had ample time to unleash her most terrifying side.

It created an almost perfect synergy.

…

“This guy, as expected…”

Drawing a deep breath, Qin Ran peered at Lu Xin through a tangle of vines that he still controlled.

He knew that the problem lay with this person—though he couldn’t explain why.

How could one bear such overwhelming contamination?

On the level of Ability Users, it was an utterly unreasonable phenomenon.

Through a method of transmitting calamity, it was like trying to fill a bottomless pit, unable to break that person’s limits.

And since his limits couldn’t be shattered, he was forced to endure the Girl’s influence endlessly.

Self-loathing grew until it seemed to drive him to suicide.

Dragging it out was pointless—this was a battle with visible, immediate consequences.

So he made up his mind without delay.

“Splash…”

The Flesh-and-Blood Tree suddenly withered, its vines falling off one by one.

From the vine tips, Qin Ran found relief, his eyes growing bewildered before he scrambled away frantically.

During this chaos, several Qin Ran clones were still locked in combat.

You grab me, I grab you; you thrust into my eyes, I bite your throat.

…

…

“Huh? Escaped?”

Qin Ran’s departure took Lu Xin by surprise.

He had, in a strange way, enjoyed the cascade of torments transmitted to him.

That feeling was agonizing, yet undeniably real.

Just as he was about to delve even deeper into the sensation, suddenly all feeling vanished.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the surrounding grasping vines retract like snakes slinking back into a tunnel.

In the distance, the Flesh Monsters shattered with a thunderous crash, breaking apart and scattering in all directions.

One after another, human-shaped fruits—either strewn on the ground, overpowered by chaotic spiritual forces and slowly corroding, or wearing expressions of terror and panic—rushed into the depths of the wasteland, disappearing among the ‘Sleepers’.

The faces that had grown on him burst suddenly, blood streaming out.

The pain vanished abruptly and cleanly.

Out of nowhere, a trace of loss lingered.

When he looked up ahead, he saw a Flesh-and-Blood Tree, towering over thirty meters high, crumbling instantaneously.

Blood-red figures scattered, diving swiftly into the crowd and vanishing without a trace.

“I’ll kill you…”

At that moment, Doll still held her parasol aloft, shrieking in a deceptively fierce tone.

She sensed the relentless surge of agony emanating from Lu Xin, and she dared not retreat—only launching attacks from a distance. Otherwise, she would have charged in immediately.

Even now, as soon as she noticed her target fleeing and the pained expression on Lu Xin evaporated, she soared into the air, parasol raised, ready to strike.

But Lu Xin quickly grabbed her calf and pulled her back.

“Don’t let personal feelings interfere with your work.”

Knowing that Qin Ran had fled swiftly and uncertain of the consequences if Doll pursued, Lu Xin sternly admonished her.

“O”

Doll’s eyes went wide, clearly puzzled by Lu Xin’s sudden calm.

But it was a good sign.

She composed herself before breaking into a delighted smile.

At that moment, a trace of anger and sorrow still lingered on her face, mingling with her smile in an oddly attractive way.

…

Boom!

After Qin Ran’s escape, this illusory world—or rather, the Museum—began collapsing at an accelerated pace.

Doll’s power not only remained undiminished but grew stronger.

She dismantled this fake world, transforming the once orderly spiritual radiation into chaotic turbulence, which was irresistibly drawn to her, merging into her strength.

As a result, her power continued to expand in this place.

It felt as if a massive vortex of limitless energy was constantly swirling around her.

Those ‘Sleepers’ around her, their beautiful world destroyed, glared at her with resentment as one by one they were violently launched away by the turbulent energy, crumpling on the ground like scalded shrimp trembling in agony.

Fortunately, the spiritual turbulence around Doll remained gentle—even in its ferocity, it targeted only Qin Ran.

Thus, most of these people were hurled far away, crashing heavily onto the ground without dying.

During this, they displayed a range of reactions.

Some were dazed, some shocked, some deeply terrified, and some were inexplicably drawn to Doll.

Initially, it was an irresistible allure.

But as Doll’s power grew, that charm transformed in an unexpected way.

Suddenly, someone felt a surge of terror and quickly bowed their head.

The Princess displayed her authority.

…

“Let’s go!”

As Lu Xin moved swiftly forward amid the collapse of the illusory world, the dense mass of sleepwalking people in the wasteland collapsed one after another, slumping to the ground with heads bowed.

Before him, the way was clear—as if a grand avenue had been formed.

Countless bowed figures sat quietly on the ground, as if offering their obeisance to their king and princess.

Lu Xin and Doll quickly made their way through the wasteland, approaching Happy Town.

As the chaos around subsided, he began to hear clearer cries for help.

The Queen’s voice sounded feeble, groaning in pain.

When he finally reached the edge of Happy Town, his pace faltered as he looked toward the source of the sound.

Behind the town lay a low Mountain Area.

Lu Xin remembered that there once stood a few small Villas in that area.

Back then, the Queen had slumbered within one of those Villas. Now, standing where he was, he could see the Mountain Area, but not the Villas—instead, a milky white glow shimmered faintly amid this dark red world, strikingly vivid.

Happy Town was small, and along a small road on its edge, he soon reached the foot of those mountains and stopped quietly.

By that time he could already tell what the milky white orb was.

A gigantic light dome had settled over the Mountain Area.

About a hundred meters in diameter, it emitted a soft glow, resembling a vertically set Glass Bottle that enveloped the Villas within.

The Villas were half-ruined, and the Queen of Happy Town now stood beneath this light dome.

He could see her clearly—more clearly than when he had first met her.

After all, that time he had seen only half of the Town Queen’s body.

But now, Lu Xin could see the full figure of Happy Town’s Queen.

Her upper body was humanoid—a young girl clad in a tattered white T-shirt. But from her waist down, a grotesque mutation had taken shape, resembling a half-ant man.

Lu Xin observed that the Mental Monster sometimes blurred the boundaries between the real and the illusory.

This sensation was strongest when he looked at the Queen.

He could no longer tell whether her bizarre appearance was the result of a spectral Mental Monster or a genuine presence.

At first glance, it seemed that the Queen had become trapped between the two.

…

At that moment, the Queen shot upright, impaled on a massive Man.

The Man had a vaguely human silhouette, towering four to five dozen meters high.

He appeared to be in his forties.

With yellow hair and deep-set eyes, he was a white Westerner.

Yet calling him human seemed misleading.

His posture was bizarre—legs together, arms stretched out, his head held straight as he closed his eyes.

He resembled a human crucifix, standing silently inside a bottle.

From his body, numerous blood vessels and nerve tissues extended like strange chains.

The Queen was suspended on him, her arms outstretched along the horizontal of the cross, her palms melding with his arms.

Below the waist, her body hung open, brutally sliced to reveal vivid red flesh.

Blood vessels and nerves from the cross reached into the Queen’s abdomen, trembling slightly with each pulse, as if drawing vast amounts of blood and other substances into the Man’s body.

Perhaps sensing Lu Xin’s approach, the Queen weakly raised her head.

The massive body twitched, triggering a sudden shift in the spiritual radiation field of the wasteland. It was like an earthquake—thunderous roars emerged from deep underground as entire blocks of houses collapsed.

Yet with each struggle from the Queen, the cross behind her throbbed violently.

Like the beat of a heart.

More blood vessels and nerves extended outward, sharp and sinuous like vipers, piercing the Queen’s body one after another.

“Thud…”

More flesh and spiritual energy surged into the cross.

The Queen suddenly appeared even more haggard, her eyes weakly meeting Lu Xin’s gaze as her lips trembled.

“Save me…”

“…”

“…”

In that instant, Lu Xin felt his scalp go numb.

He finally understood what the Technology Church was up to.

They had encased the Queen in a bottle—in the most brutal way imaginable.