Chapter 538: Whispers of the Abyss

Swish…

In that instant, Black Jack felt an unprecedented shiver run through him.

It was his fear of the unknown that had driven him to unleash his most formidable power—dragging his opponent into the Abyss.

But he hadn’t expected that once inside the Abyss, the man he saw remained unchanged outwardly. Yet, he could unmistakably sense that something within him had been amplified.

If that were so, then it meant he was finally witnessing what he truly desired.

Now, he didn’t want to watch—or rather, to be frank, he was too afraid to look.

“My domain, my authority…”

A deep, oddly echoing voice suddenly boomed out.

Black Jack reacted swiftly, raising his scepter high. He pointed its tip towards the sky, now filled with swirling dark red clouds and a crimson half-obscured moon.

The very next moment, the Red Moon’s radiance seemed to intensify.

As if driven by tidal forces, an invisible power surged in from every direction, engulfing the small room.

Around the room, from the endless ruins, strange entities abruptly lifted their heads.

With greedy agitation, they crawled toward the room.

At the same time, as Black Jack unleashed his greatest Mental Power upon the room, his form contorted strangely—like a twisting serpent—bouncing off the room’s walls and swiftly gliding deeper into the ruins.

Unable to grasp how to deal with this opponent, not even the Abyss offered salvation.

All he could do now was escape using the Abyss.

…

Amidst the onslaught of ceaseless Mental Power and monstrous beings, Lu Xin continued to scrutinize the scene.

No wonder during their earlier clash, Black Jack’s abilities had seemed bizarre—even defying the laws of physics.

It turned out his power was of the Abyssal kind.

Abilities that allow one to traverse the boundary between the Abyss and reality inevitably seem inconceivable.

Much like Xia Chong, who could appear anywhere within tens of kilometers through a mere doorway.

This ponytailed man’s ability was different from Xia Chong’s, but still relied on the interplay between the Abyss and reality.

However, he wasn’t limited to just that.

Once within the Abyss, Lu Xin noticed even more oddities about him.

The man no longer seemed like a solitary mental entity. Behind his distorted appearance, countless barely visible filaments fluttered—one end tethered to him, the other stretching deep into the Abyss beneath layers of crimson mist. It gave the impression of supreme control, yet in reality, he was as vulnerable as a kite in the wind.

“He’s actually being controlled…”

“Could those filaments be connected to the mental monster hidden at the city’s edge?”

“…”

Lu Xin felt he’d hit the jackpot.

Dragged into the Abyss, he not only saw Black Jack’s true nature but also glimpsed something lurking deep within the city.

More importantly, as this was his second venture into the Abyss, the sensation was markedly different—there was a sense of intimacy, a thrill. The ruins, resembling an apocalyptic landscape, stirred an unusual excitement in him.

Or rather, it was something deep within him that stirred.

It was like when you’re faced with a feast of succulent meat, and your reason tells you to stop, yet your body craves it all the same…

But his duty was too important to ignore.

“No, business comes first…”

Lu Xin chided himself, snapping out of his reverie.

At that moment, Black Jack was channeling boundless Mental Power into the shattered room.

Tendrils of mental energy—both delicate and frenzied—swirled into vortices. They crashed like mighty waves of raw force, or like razor-thin, transparent blades that slashed at the crumbling walls and debris of ruined buildings.

Countless monsters hidden in the shadows clambered among the fragments of the devastated world, advancing greedily and ominously.

The air grew thick and suffocating.

Endless murmurs and roars flooded his mind, causing his brain to throb in pain—it was truly horrifying.

“This sensation… it’s absolutely terrifying…”

A reminiscent expression flickered across Lu Xin’s face as he whispered, a grin slowly spreading in an exaggerated arc.

“Thud… thud…”

Just as the invisible, blade-like mental forces were about to demolish everything in the room, Lu Xin exhaled deeply. With his heart pounding twice, his eyes suddenly turned pitch black.

It was as if some bizarre substance awoke within him, filling his vision in an instant.

Thin, chilling, and laced with utmost disdain, it looked out upon the world through his eyes.

Crash…

With that single glance, the raging, all-encompassing force that threatened to shred the room abruptly halted.

As if everything in this world had frozen, the ripples of mental turbulence stilled.

In the next moment, the black particles in Lu Xin’s eyes began to vibrate violently.

Then, all the power rebounded outward—ten, a hundred times faster than before…

Whoosh…

A visible ripple, centered on the room, rapidly expanded outward.

Countless monsters that had eagerly clambered around the room were instantly swept up by the wave.

Before they could even let out a piercing howl or display a look of shock, their bodies were shattered into fragments, the splintering mass blooming like a burst of flowers.

Where the ripple passed, the mental monsters were reduced to nothing—not even scraps remained.

They didn’t even register their own demise; the air remained tainted with their greedy, savage emotions for what felt like an eternity.

That ripple then surged toward the far reaches of the ruined city, stirring up a ring of smoke.

Numerous dilapidated high-rises were sliced in half by the overwhelming collapse, releasing heavy plumes of crimson mist.

Crash…

In that moment, the entire city fell unnervingly silent.

Further away, even the monsters that had hidden in crevices and avoided the ripple were suddenly engulfed by a powerful fear.

They stared blankly at the room from which the ripple had erupted, as if their very souls trembled.

In that instant, paralyzed by terror, they forgot to flee and instinctively crouched down.

Heads bowed and trembling, they dared not escape.

At once, they surrendered the right to decide their own fate to the master of that aura.

Under the half-veiled Red Moon, amid the debris of broken walls throughout the world, red shadows quivered like scenes painted in blood—whether on the windowless, gaping mouths of buildings, along cracked, ever-flowing streets, inside warped, dilapidated cars, or in the crevices beneath massive fallen walls, black silhouettes lay prostrate.

All their heads faced the same direction.

Inside that dilapidated hotel room, Lu Xin slowly walked to the window, his eyes pitch-black as he peered out.

…

“How can this be…”

Just as that invisible force exploded, Black Jack had already escaped several hundred meters away.

In the Abyss—a realm where a few hundred meters sometimes meant an infinite distance—it signified safety.

Yet, the sudden surge of terror from behind made him lose his balance, as if the world had flipped upside down.

In the Abyss, gravity mimicking that of the real world struck him, leaving him head over heels as he plummeted toward the ground.

Spinning rapidly, he saw the Red Moon, ruined buildings, and cracked earth alternating in his view. Despite his efforts, the overwhelming dizziness rendered him helpless, spinning uncontrollably in the air.

When the spinning finally ceased, he found himself looking at the dilapidated hotel room, a twisted television, and withered plastic flowers.

He had inexplicably returned to that very room.

Though he had been several hundred meters away, his landing spot was still that same room.

“Hehehe…”

A hollow, chilling laugh echoed from behind him.

Black Jack spun around violently to find a group of people standing before him. Among them was the young man he had fought before—an unremarkable opponent. Flanking him were two large figures and a small one. The young man radiated potent Mental Radiation, making the three shadows around him appear hazy, like stars orbiting the sun.

They all seemed to be smiling at him.

But on closer inspection, only the young man was actually smiling.

The other two, one large and one small, wore expressions of deep wariness instead of mirth.

“Crash…”

The young man grinned as he extended his palm toward Black Jack.

A piercing, agonized scream erupted from Black Jack as he met that open hand—he had no strength left to resist.

Strangely, that hand wasn’t reaching for him; it was directly clawing at something behind him.

“Buzz…”

Behind Black Jack, delicate, almost imperceptible strands of eerie filament hung in the air.

These filaments connected to his body and stretched deep into the Abyss’s remotest depths.

Lu Xin still remembered why he was here.

He had come to investigate the Special Pollution Incident in Heichao City.

Following Han Bing’s advice, his Investigation Team had decided to use an insurgence tactic, inciting chaos among the city’s lower echelons to force the Administration Hall of Heichao City to flush out the one hiding at the pinnacle of power.

With Black Jack deployed within the Abyss, he’d confirmed that something truly bizarre was lurking deep below.

That entity remained hidden in the Abyss’s depths—its presence yet to be revealed.

And if that mental monster didn’t show its hand, what was the plan?

…Of course, the plan was to force it to reveal itself!

Isn’t that perfectly logical?