On the outskirts of the city across the island.
Inside a decaying abandoned building overgrown with weeds, several people were sound asleep by the campfire when they were suddenly kicked awake.
“Get up!”
“Stop sleeping. Get up now. Activate your models for financing broadcast and help us find someone.”
“Find someone?” A few people from the Red Model grudgingly sat up, scratching their arms, and looked at the several Silver Model individuals at the door.
“Who are we looking for?”
The firelight illuminated the cold face of the man at the forefront of the doorway.
The man looked down, staring at the disheveled fellows, and said in a deep voice:
“Looking for a master who is suspected to have entered the core area of No.11 Solitary Island.”
They exchanged glances. “What does that have to do with us?”
On the ground, a young man’s expression shifted slightly. Wang Xiaoshun lifted his head and looked around at the others:
“Could it be that someone from our Red Model entered the island’s core?”
“What? Impossible!”
They panicked, becoming a flustered mess.
In this city, any decent Red Model Demonic Nightmare had either submitted to the other side or been unified slaughtered and made into model tools. Every Red Model person was left with only the amplification and investment capabilities of their model.
Yet, against all odds and under such adverse circumstances, was there actually someone who managed to slip deep into the island right under the noses of these White Model guys!
Even Cheng Yunze of the Four-Phase Team couldn’t pull that off!
“Less talk, send out the broadcast now. Find whoever it is, and you’ll be reserve members of the Four-Phase Team from now on.”
With that said, the men at the door let out a hopeless snort, turned, and headed out toward the next abandoned building lit by a bonfire.
Wang Xiaoshun glanced at the flickering models of his companions, contemplating for a moment before biting his lip. A faint red glow flickered on his chest.
A triangular beam of light radiated into the void.
{You who have entered deep into the island, do not respond to anyone’s Mental Link!}
In an instant, the thin thread spanned the hazy mist, spreading across tens of miles alongside countless other red and white model lines.
Hong Haocheng, who had once again escaped from the Bound Spirit, halted, his chest heaving violently as sweat dripped down his face. He looked up at the dimly lit night.
“Damn it, I forgot to tell those three fools where to meet up.”
Amid the darkness, a red line suddenly appeared on Hong Haocheng’s chest.
{Who’s on the island?}
It faded swiftly, followed by two, then three more lines.
{Is there one of our people in there?}
{Whoever you are, be careful. Don’t expose yourself.}
{Ignore all funding requests like mine—don’t connect to them!}
Lines surged and faded in waves, carrying both inquiries and warnings.
{Take care, you mysterious master among us, if you truly exist!}
{Deep within the island lies a gate to City 11. Enter it, and you can forge a Virtual Zero Sequence Timeline Weapon using a “Soulbinding Core”… It can ignore temporal defenses…}
Many model messages sounded as if they feared this top-tier expert still lacked understanding of certain local conditions, unreservedly spilling everything they knew, afraid that a single oversight might lead to great regret.
{Since they’re an expert, they must already know this information.}
Some tried to stop them, but were ignored. These words of caution continued to ring out, fleeting in an instant, leaving no time for the recipient to possibly connect.
{It’s said that Virtual Zero weapons can ignore certain temporal effects to achieve a one-hit kill—provided the target’s lifespan falls within the coverage of the Virtual Zero Sequence.}
Hong Haocheng’s pace gradually slowed as he felt the countless low murmurs of unfamiliar heartfelt thoughts that the ring in front of his chest received.
{Haha, what are you guys doing? Someone managed to penetrate deep into the island, right under the noses of the Four-Phase Team? You must be kidding.}
{Can our Red Model really produce such a person? Be careful—this could be another setup from the enemy; maybe another major purge is coming up.}
{If you’re a newcomer, please protect your Demonic Nightmare well.}
{We have no future left. If possible, please save up ten thousand years’ worth of timelines and leave as soon as you can.}
Hong Haocheng looked up at the sky.
He couldn’t help but wonder whether the statues in the temples are constantly listening to such a cacophony of voices day in and day out, just like this.
{You are our unknown king. You have proven that our Red Model is not worthless.}
Yet the difference is…
{Those who enter the depths of the island, please never answer anyone’s Mental Link! Protect yourself…}
[I feel a shared wish from over a thousand people.]
A voice, belonging to himself, murmured in Hong Haocheng’s heart.
“I?”
[I have fulfilled the collective wish of over a thousand people—simply by existing.]
A beam of light was born before the heart, then merged into the model.
The silhouette in the darkness ceased all its movements.
Hong Haocheng stood stunned, feeling this newly-born so-called talisman.
[I have gained a “Talisman” condensed by the power of heart wish.]
[Heart Wish Talisman, Thousand-Person Grade. It can grant reasonable wishes in this world.]
……
Luo Bin’s foot stepped onto the ground, temporarily dispelling the thin mist floating above it like a stage effect; a few seconds later, the drifting mist seeped back over the trodden ground.
“Gee, this is City 11!”
Captain Qin and the others, along with several valiant and inspiring women, carrying weapons and supplies, descended from a phantom ghostly light train that had materialized out of thin air.
Behind these people were individuals from different cities who had earned entry with “Book Pages”—this time, the qualifications for entering City 11 were all exchanged by going through pages hard to obtain, courtesy of Yang Zicang’s hand.
By the end of this transaction, Yang Zicang had gained 11 book pages in two colors.
“This place was once like our city, yet now it has become this lair of demons.”
Chef Ma Bin, leaning against the carriage door, looked up.
The city was shattered, with spiral-shaped dark clouds revolving across the sky—they were a deep blue. Wispy threads of blue energy densely filled the midair, forming unsettling pale-blue energy patterns that slowly swirled across the entire city, with the spiral clouds stretching tens or even hundreds of kilometers as far as the eye could see.
Golden sunlight poured down from beyond the deep blue clouds hundreds of miles away, like a golden curtain enveloping the city.
“Roar…”
A faint, desolate roar came from a distant place.
“Wail…”
The cries of these monsters seemed like the lament of grief-stricken beasts, forever bound by despair with no hope of escape.
Li Sumei stared blankly at the sky above, pointing upward.
“Look over there.”
The others, stepping down from the vehicle one by one, raised their heads.
In the clouds, something appeared to be suspended, but shifting mist soon veiled it from sight.
“What is that in the sky?”
They turned their gaze to the young man who was the last to step off the carriage. Yang Zicang, with his hand resting on the doorframe, looked up and said, “It is [Beichuang].”
As his feet stepped onto the solid ground, a voice echoed in the minds of the dozen or so people.
{You have arrived at the City of Spiraling Spirit.}
{Here, you may use bound spirit cores to add a partial “Turbulent Void Zero” effect to suitable items. Turbulent Void Zero can counteract part of the “Chronology” effect.}
A faint light coalesced before the group, expanding into the image of something resembling an ancient core.
Then, the light twisted slightly and split apart into two portions—they remained bound spirit cores, but their surface colors were tinged with a faint brownish-red and a pale white.
As if they were mottled rust stains born on an antique left untouched for a long time.
{These blood-bound spirit cores were collapsed from individuals in this city who had once obtained “Bloodline”.}
“Those who have obtained Bloodline?!”
{For every ten crimson or silver-white bound spirit cores, you can exchange with [Beichuang] for one opportunity to attach Void Zero effects to a timeline weapon above the Century Weapon level.}
{Alternatively, you can exchange with the city chief for an appropriate request from it the Hub Town.}
{Furthermore, you may request a message concerning special items and Cruxspace from employees ranked as elite or above of the “Lost Illusion Company”.}
Everyone present, having more or less heard information about bloodline abilities, was deeply shaken by these words.
So many people in City No. 11 must have already obtained bloodlines!
Luo Bin and the others thought to themselves, no wonder they had ultimately driven the city to ruin, causing such a catastrophe of annihilation. The former elites of City 11 had already left the people of other cities far in the dust.
It wasn’t just one or two of them who had obtained bloodlines; they wanted the entire city’s population to obtain bloodlines!
So this was the reason they wanted the Tenth City to descend!
The group outside the train, representing the leading forces of various major cities, were utterly stunned beyond words.
The clamor gradually subsided.
In the distance, countless faint roars came again.
The crowd withdrew their gazes. The cook Ma Bin said, “Beichuang is referring to that thing in the sky?”
“I thought there was some special weapons furnace somewhere in this city. I didn’t expect it to be in the sky.”
Someone in the crowd couldn’t wait to activate their quadrilateral model to send information about this place to the outside, but as the thought arose, a powerful mental pressure emerged, coiling like a vortex to bind, devour, and ultimately dispel the desire to speak.
One person turned to the experts around them and asked, “Excuse me, what is the city chief?”
The handsome youth beside Young Master Wang, bearing a resemblance to him, explained with a calm tone:
“That’s a title only found in cities ranked within the top thirty-five. It represents the publicly recognized strongest team in the city, who typically compete representing their city in the year-end rankings.”
“I see.”
Then, one person frowned and said, “By the way, that last part, ‘request information about Cruxspace from an employee of the Lost Illusion Company’—what’s that about?”
Many people don’t even know about the existence of this company, let alone its elite employees.
“That voice didn’t say how to make requests to those so-called employees. Even if we got that ‘Spiritbiding Core,’ we wouldn’t know who to give it to.”
Luo Bin and the others looked over at Yang Zicang.
“Ahem.”
Yang Zicang, dressed in a black tracksuit, cleared his throat.
“Hello everyone, let me reintroduce myself.”
“Huh?” Everyone turned their heads to look at him. Oh, right, Yang Zicang might know something.
“I am a senior employee of the Lost Illusion Company, Starlight Illusion. If you obtain a Spirit Bond Core later on and want to know in advance what will appear in the Cruxspace corresponding to your frequency crystal — and what they’re used for — come find me.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped to the floor.
{Get off the train quickly — I can’t hold on much longer. It’s not night yet.}
Having gained a chain energy from the “Daytime” monitor-in-chief, the great star Xiao Machao could now briefly manifest as a Phantom Light Train outside the Freq-Loss Lands, but couldn’t stay long.
On hearing this, they hurriedly scrambled to take the stuff out.
“We’ll leave this to you. Stay safe.”
Yang Zicang could not participate in the battle against the Bound Spirit, and soon departed with the train for the “Beach Resort” on the city’s edge, exclusive to Illusion Company.
Captain Qin clapped his hands to draw the crowd’s attention amidst the group. “Alright, everyone, let’s set up a base first and pitch a few tents.”
“Yeah!”
A few girls from Rose Creek cheered.
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