Chapter 444: Cascading Chaos

Driven by Doll’s ability, the entire Happy Town was filled with mental turbulence flowing westward—right toward our current position. We couldn’t let this force spill over into other areas, for anywhere it reached would be prone to erratic mutations and even mass loss of control among its people…

After passing the Settlements Armed Force camp, they pressed onward without a moment’s pause.

No one dared to drop their guard.

In many ways, the situation now was like setting off a bomb by igniting Happy Town, once an S-level forbidden zone.

The sheer density of the mental radiation alone could tear apart both vehicles and people.

Not to mention, ordinary citizens and ability users below the second stage would immediately suffer a barrage of auditory and visual hallucinations, mood swings, and bodily distortions—a sudden loss of control triggered by that overwhelming mental force.

“Before they catch up, we need to put at least thirty kilometers between us…”

Chen Jing leaned low on her motorcycle, flooring the throttle.

Though not a Spider-type Ability User, her agility and the nimble bike allowed her to barely keep pace with Gecko.

While handing over the motorcycle to Gecko would have been ideal, with the Bear Child around, Gecko had to drive that car to maximize the odds that all three of them would survive the onslaught of mental turbulence.

“Crackle…”

Dark red mental turbulence spread outward.

It quickly trampled over the tents left by the Settlements Armed Force, along with their vehicles and various weapons.

It appeared intangible, yet under crushing pressure every bit of vehicle glass developed spiderweb-like white cracks before shattering, and the barbed wire twisted into tangled knots as if manipulated by an unseen force.

“Beep beep beep…”

Countless alarms blared desperately, their sounds merging into a dissonant roar.

In that moment, the clamor was swallowed by the overwhelming mental turbulence, silencing everything.

“Luckily, Single Soldier and Doll lured away the surrounding armed forces beforehand…”

“Otherwise, we’d be looking at one group after another of completely deranged people…”

“…”

Through her rearview mirror, Chen Jing watched the dark red turbulence crush the abandoned camp, a shiver running down her spine.

“Team Leader, what difference does it make if we’re thirty kilometers out?”

Gecko’s cry came through the channel, “This mess doesn’t look like it will subside in just thirty kilometers…”

“That’s what Professor Bai said—so we head to the designated safe area first…”

Chen Jing gritted her teeth before a howling wind forced her to seal her mouth.

Truth be told, she didn’t fully understand the overall plan.

With time so short, even she could only pass along Professor Bai’s rough battle plan to Lu Xin before retreating, and by then the massive mental turbulence at their backs had already disrupted the signal.

She could receive no further updates.

At that moment, the only option was to follow the orders she’d received to the letter.

…

“Swish, swish, swish…”

By the time the mental turbulence closed to within a hundred meters behind them, they were already roughly ten kilometers ahead.

From afar, scattered figures could be seen across the wasteland—remnants of the Settlements Armed Force that Lu Xin and Doll had diverted earlier, or those deeply affected or weakened, not pulled very far.

Their escape distance was directly tied to the impact and the warped desires they suffered.

Normally, with Lu Xin and Doll leading the frantic dash, the effect would constantly linger.

Even when Doll later donned her invisibility glasses and wore clothes to block her influence, inertia still drove these people forward, as if chasing a vanished dream they couldn’t let go of.

Many, once diverted and groggily waking in the wasteland, eventually came to their senses.

Even when their minds remained cloudy, they instinctively fled the wasteland.

But those obsessed with ‘treasure’ were loath to leave the barren land.

Some, having realized they couldn’t catch up with Doll, reluctantly turned back toward Happy Town.

In that moment, they were the first to be engulfed by the mental turbulence.

“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…”

Through the motorcycle’s mirror, Chen Jing watched as the dark red turbulence swallowed people—bodies crushed like tomatoes, with gloops of sticky blood spurting from eyes, ears, and mouths.

Like a fountain, some sprays reached as high as three or four meters.

By the time the turbulence was only about fifty meters behind them, they had racked up roughly twenty-five kilometers, while in the wasteland, the silhouettes of the Settlements Armed Force began to multiply.

As Chen Jing sped forward, she could feel waves of mental energy pulsating from behind.

Many caught in the turbulence were reduced to skin stretched thin over emptied bodies, while others shook uncontrollably before jerking into an eerie, mechanical rhythm.

Ultimately, agonized screams pierced the air as black shadows, clawing and menacing, burst forth overhead.

Under the dark red mental force, terrified eyes snapped open as bodies twisted in awkward contortions.

It was as if the region engulfed by the turbulence had transformed straight into hell.

In that hellish scene, demons stretched their limbs, exposing their true nature while letting out eerie, maniacal laughter.

…

“At first, the Team Leader claimed he cleared seven or eight mental monsters on a spin—I still wasn’t convinced…”

Over the channel, Gecko picked up on the appearance of those mental monsters and began shouting hoarsely.

He wasn’t concerned whether Chen Jing could respond; he just had to yell it out.

“Team Leader was clearly just blowing smoke—there’s no way he could have cleared that many powerful mental monsters for fun…”

As Gecko shouted, his voice quickly turned into a wail, “Now I believe it…”

“Team Leader, do you think we can actually escape this time?”

“Team Leader, is it true that Linda promised to come watch old movies with me, or was I just being tricked?”

“Team Leader, do the movie tickets in the Main City come with free popcorn and fries?”

“…”

Chen Jing had no time to answer Gecko.

At that moment, the gruesome scene overwhelmed her, and her heart felt as if it were being kneaded by an unyielding hand.

Even though she’d suspected Technology Church’s true intent, witnessing so many mental monsters appear in the wasteland made her feel as if the sky were falling; every pore in her body pulsed with fear.

Each of these mental monsters posed a dire threat to the population.

If they spread out, the ensuing contamination would be catastrophic.

All rational thought had fled, replaced by an apocalyptic panic and a crushing sense of impotence.

Perhaps this is exactly how ordinary people feel when faced with contamination.

…

Just as Chen Jing’s terror peaked, they finally reached the designated safe area, roughly thirty kilometers away, with the relentless mental turbulence still close behind, battering at them with unabated force.

Both Chen Jing’s motorcycle and Gecko’s vehicle were now emitting labored wheezes.

Had this apocalyptic scene finally caught up with them?

Chen Jing let out a rare, weary sigh as she forced herself to lift her gaze to the horizon.

Then, she suddenly shuddered.

At the edge of her vision, a row of army-green trucks advanced in unison, crushing the weeds as they rapidly closed in.

Overhead, the low rumble of helicopters filled the air.

In the center of the truck convoy, Minister Shen sat in the driver’s seat, his expression as hard as stone.

He fixed a cold, unyielding stare on the massive surge of mental turbulence as he gripped his walkie-talkie, his eyes glowering like those of a villain as he watched Chen Jing and Gecko desperately race past a chalk line on the ground.

Then he suddenly roared, “Detonate!”

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

In an instant, a series of explosions erupted beneath the chalk line.

Dazzling electrical arcs shot up from the ground, quickly interlocking into a vast net that intercepted the mental turbulence.

“…”

“Crackle, crackle…”

When the turbulence first emerged, it was like an uncontrollable tide—its crest rising over a hundred meters high, painting the sky red. But as it spread outward faster, its height dropped to merely four or five meters where Chen Jing and Qinggang’s forces made contact.

Its speed, however, increased markedly.

Then, as the row of electrical arcs exploded, an electric net instantly materialized to block the surge.

The mental wave spread outward in both directions, its boundaries nearly impossible to measure, while on the ground, countless plasma bombs were deployed—the only visible sign being dense patches of chalk powder spreading far and wide.

Chen Jing instinctively glanced back at the spectacle of exploding electrical arcs, her emotions surging so powerfully that she nearly fainted.