Chapter 554: The Breaking Point of Mental Power

When the Scarecrow’s Mental Impact surged forth, chaos overwhelmed the world.

Even Lu Xin’s own memories had never witnessed such a powerful surge of mental force.

After enveloping the Nightmare Serpent, the hundred-meter-tall Scarecrow unleashed an incalculable amount of mental power.

It felt as if the Scarecrow had completely crushed the enormous body and psychic magnitude of the Nightmare Serpent, releasing it all in one burst—a level of mental force only an S-rank mysterious creature from the Forbidden Zone could possess.

Every Forbidden Zone creature possesses a mental magnitude beyond normal comprehension.

Just imagine the terror of a single release like that.

The most critical point is that this Mental Impact also carried the Scarecrow’s own ability.

Earlier, Lu Xin had taken a hit and knew that such a shock could sever a person’s consciousness from their mental power.

But that previous blow was merely the devastated mental force of the Scarecrow itself at work.

Now, however, it was borrowing the Nightmare Serpent’s power to unleash its abilities.

It was like the difference between blowing out a candle with your breath and using the exhaust of a jet fighter.

……

“Clatter…”

The Administration Hall building behind Lu Xin was stripped layer by layer by the onslaught of mental force.

The outer wall was torn away, revealing the crumbling lime layer beneath the pristine brick veneer; the lime disintegrated, exposing bright red bricks that were then scraped off piece by piece to reveal steel bar supports jutting out like wild, slanted weeds.

The entire Administration Hall was completely stripped down by the overwhelming force, reduced to a bare skeleton of supports.

Meanwhile, Lu Xin stood atop the building, with the twisting forces around him compressed to their limit.

Faced with such a terrifying mental impact, even he had to…

…raise his hand to shield his eyes.

…afraid that the dust might blind him.

……

There was no doubt that the Scarecrow had entered its final frenzy, unleashing its power and ability without holding back.

It had pushed its power to sever a person’s consciousness from their mental force to the ultimate extreme.

The entire plaza was transformed into an apocalyptic scene.

……

“What’s the point of such futile struggle?”

When that mental shock reached its peak, Lu Xin’s voice rang out amid the clamor.

The Scarecrow had expended its mental force to the maximum, and its power began to wane.

Its massive form, only recently enlarged by enveloping the Nightmare Serpent, now appeared somewhat shriveled.

Then, it heard Lu Xin’s words.

As its two marble eyes stared ahead, an indescribable despair surged within it…

The sturdy Administration Hall had been blown down to nothing but a remnant of its foundation and a twisted steel frame, yet Lu Xin stood perfectly atop one of the steel bars, balancing on one foot, his clothes miraculously intact.

A pair of pure, pitch-black eyes stared silently at it.

The dark particles within those eyes were calm, steady, and as concentrated as the veil of night.

Under that immense mental assault, those eyes remained utterly unmoved.

The smile on its face remained exaggerated, sneering down upon itself.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”

In its despair, the Scarecrow unleashed every last bit of its remaining mental impact.

Although the force was still formidable, it now bore a distinct sense of weakness.

“Hahaha…”

But before it, Lu Xin’s smile suddenly reached its zenith, and his dark eyes widened.

Compared to the Scarecrow, his body was small—like a person standing in front of a towering thirty-story building.

Yet his gaze was unbound by his size; looking ahead, it seemed to influence the world itself.

And in his vision, everything began to change.

Towering, broken walls and pillars emerged gradually from the plaza ruins. Countless skeletons and rusted armor of fallen soldiers lay strewn across the ground. Crumbling palace remains jutted out, and fragmented stones still bore traces of exquisite patterns. Blood-stained weapons were scattered about, their crimson trails never drying.

It was a corner of a vast palace, marred by the scars of war and destruction, with an aura of death lingering everywhere.

Lu Xin stood deep within that palace’s remains, on steps piled high with skeletons and shattered armor.

He looked down from above, coldly observing the Scarecrow.

The Scarecrow trembled, its mental force quivering as it beheld the palace’s shadow.

It seemed to muster resistance countless times, yet in the face of such an aura, its head just kept drooping.

Little by little, it finally collapsed, its forehead touching the ground.

It had sunk to a level even lower than Lu Xin’s.

Yet the mockery on Lu Xin’s face did not diminish in the slightest.

Within his field of vision, mental force infused with the aura of death burst into life, forming an array of bizarre yet intricate patterns.

Clack, clack, clack…

Some strands of mental force intertwined rapidly, transforming into rusty black chains that bound the Scarecrow tightly.

Other mental currents solidified, forming a black base, a towering iron framework, and within it, chains that restrained a blade tens of meters long, its slanted edge aimed squarely at the Scarecrow’s neck.

It was a guillotine.

The Scarecrow’s desperate struggles only made the chains rattle noisily.

Its head was clamped tightly, while the sharp blade above was hoisted high by the chains.

It seemed imbued with infinite power, ready to drop at any moment with terrifying inevitability.

“What exactly is that?”

In the nearby hallway, the Gecko and others who had sprawled on the ground during the chaos looked up and were startled.

They could see that many people were still on the plaza.

These were the ones who, under the Scarecrow’s influence, had failed to hide during Mizang—along with officials from the Administration Hall. Their bodies were unnaturally stiff, kneeling with heads thrust forward and hands raised behind them.

Their necks stretched out, as if waiting for the blade to fall.

That eerie posture was truly spine-chilling.

……

……

“He can actually pull that crumbling corner of the palace into reality…”

Around the distant plaza, family members saw a faint shadow of a ruined palace emerging amid chaotic mental turbulence. Their hearts skipped a beat. Even Father’s voice had shifted unnaturally: “This…this defies logic…”

“If he can execute the Scarecrow, then he can execute you as well, right?”

Mom slowly turned around, her face marked by an unprecedented indifference.

“Is now really the time to discuss this?”

Father growled softly, “If he wakes up now, it will be hell for everyone…”

“There’s no choice…”

Looking weary, Mom shook her head slowly and said:

“When that creature escaped, I knew it would enrage him, so I tried to dissuade it.”

“But it didn’t heed me. I don’t know who emboldened it to provoke, but I do know…”

“The awakening of divinity should have been gradual—a slow, gentle process…”

“Yet because of its appearance, the awakening happened faster and more fiercely than anyone could have imagined…”

“……”

Sister listened to Mom’s words, her face etched with worry as she anxiously crawled beside them.

Several times, she seemed ready to rush forward, but she didn’t dare.

Father, equally agitated, roared, “Is there truly no other way? What are we to do?”

“The solution is actually quite simple.”

Mom whispered, “To halt the return to divinity, we must awaken his humanity.”

“But sadly, we cannot…”

She continued, “Only the little Orphanage Director in Qinggang holds most of his humanity. If she were here, we’d have a chance, but we can’t bring her in time. We can only watch…”

“……”

Father roared in anger as the surrounding shadows swelled grotesquely and terrifyingly.

“Nonsense. It’s all nonsense.”

“Trash. They’re all trash…”

“Are we only meant to stand by and do nothing?”

“……”

Mom replied expressionlessly in a soft tone, “Yes.”

“Sometimes you have to admit that many things are beyond our control…”

Her eyes suddenly turned complex: “And what I don’t understand is…”

“It’s too coincidental.”

“Whether it’s the Nightmare behind Heichao City or the Scarecrow behind the Nightmare, it all seems too coincidental…”

“So unnatural that it can’t be a mere coincidence, thus…”

She frowned, “There might be a third person behind all of this…”

……

……

Beside the plaza, as the family reached peak worry and helplessness, the Scarecrow was being targeted by a guillotine.

Its mental oscillations allowed it to perceive Lu Xin, standing atop the steel bars of the Administration Hall across, and to sense the deadly, sharp guillotine. Terror surged within its heart, and it finally struggled without reservation.

“It’s you…”

“It’s you who saved me from the abyss…”

“You were the one who informed me of his condition—so then…”

“Why didn’t you come out to help me?”

“……”

The consciousness emanating from the Scarecrow was picked up by Lu Xin, causing him to furrow his brow slightly.

He seemed curious about the person referenced in the Scarecrow’s mind.

But then he decided to ignore it, for nothing was more important than witnessing this execution.

He relished the feeling…

Thus, in his gaze, the execution platform became increasingly steady and clear, and the sharp guillotine was about to drop.

“Spare it.”

But just then, a gentle, clear voice rang out.

At that instant, a strange mental force filled the entire plaza, and the falling guillotine halted midair.

A cold, sinister gleam flashed in Lu Xin’s jet-black eyes as he turned his head.

……

……

From one corner of the plaza, a silhouette appeared out of nowhere, slowly approaching.

To everyone’s surprise, it was a girl named Ye Xue who came forward.

Carrying a guitar on her back, she walked quietly and gracefully into the plaza.

Her youthful face bore an almost adult-like, mocking expression as she gazed silently at Lu Xin, smiling:

“Number Nine, do you remember me?”