His consciousness returned to reality.
Yue Shi first carefully recalled his course of action.
He had left no traces, nor any clues that could point directly back to him.
Good.
After confirming this, his wide wings flapped slowly behind him as he quickly returned to the wasteland outside Amber City.
Scanning the mess below from high up, Yue Shi descended slowly.
As he passed the wreckage of the armored transport vehicle, a strange sensation suddenly arose in his heart, and his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the four corpses of the transcendents.
This feeling...?
Following his instinct, he slowly raised a hand toward the bodies.
An invisible, intangible suction emanated from his palm.
In the next moment, mysterious and profound auras were forcibly stripped from the four corpses, quickly merging into Yue Shi's palm as if summoned.
The brand-new skill "progress bar" he had just unlocked visibly advanced by a small segment.
An irrepressible look of joy appeared on Yue Shi's face.
Was it because that mysterious space had upgraded, or was this newly appeared "progress bar" tentacle different from the previous one?
He could actually devour the source of transcendents now?
Regardless, this was an extremely significant advancement!
It meant he had another way to gain new abilities, and an incredibly efficient one at that!
"This is wonderful!" Fanaticism flickered in Yue Shi's eyes. Not only could supernatural creatures become his snacks, but now even transcendents had fallen onto his menu!
Unable to suppress the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, Yue Shi reveled in his joy for a moment before turning toward the Investigation Bureau's vehicles.
The situation was grim. Bai Wanyang was still alive thanks to his unique ability, but he was in a completely crazed state.
The other ordinary scouts had all perished under the Clown's indiscriminate mental contamination and the crushing weight of the director's chaotic rules.
However, just as Yue Shi thought there were no other survivors, he found a scout who was still breathing in the corner of an overturned carriage!
This person had no visible injuries and was sleeping as soundly as a baby. It was a mystery how he had survived the chaotic battlefield created by the Clown and the director; one could only say he was lucky.
Yue Shi's gaze returned to Bai Wanyang. He was still raving and irrational, yet his supernatural power hadn't been triggered.
Could it be that madness caused by mental contamination didn't count as a "heavy injury"?
The judgment mechanism for 【Breakthrough through Heavy Injury】 was truly baffling.
But... this could probably be seen as Bai Wanyang's greatest weakness, right?
If Bai Wanyang ever stood on the opposite side of Yue Shi one day, Yue Shi certainly wouldn't hesitate to ruthlessly exploit it.
After thinking for a moment, Yue Shi came up with a plan; he intended to give Bai Wanyang a hand.
He walked up to Bai Wanyang and delivered a simple punch to the area over his heart.
Thump!
A dull thud rang out.
Bai Wanyang's body jolted, his bizarre smile freezing on his face. His heart suffered a heavy blow, and his life force instantly became extremely weak, entering a true near-death state.
Almost at the same moment, Bai Wanyang's supernatural power triggered passively. At the cost of reducing his maximum lifespan, his vital signs began to stabilize and recover at a visible rate. Other attributes, including his sanity and mental state, were also passively improving.
Yue Shi watched curiously for a while. Then, he returned to the driver's seat, closed his eyes, and pretended to be unconscious.
He wanted to perfectly hand over the roles of "first to wake up," "most informed," and "team core" to Bai Wanyang.
Afterward, the Investigation Bureau's questioning would naturally focus on Bai Wanyang.
The fallout from that armored transport vehicle would likely center more on Bai Wanyang as well.
Time passed slowly.
The physical injuries Bai Wanyang had sustained were mostly healed by his supernatural power, but his mental recovery was quite slow.
Fortunately, being away from the source of contamination—the Clown—meant that no matter how slow the recovery was, it was still happening.
After a long time, Bai Wanyang's hollow eyes gradually cleared.
He coughed a few times and looked around blankly.
Who am I? Where am I? What happened? Why does my face feel so sore?
Intense headaches and daze assaulted his senses, giving him a surreal feeling of not knowing what year it was, as if he had just woken from a bizarre nightmare.
After ten minutes or so, he managed to piece together his memories before losing consciousness: the Rules Horror in the cold storage, the colleagues who froze to death, the sudden incident on the way back, the strange Clown...
His memory stopped there.
He had been contaminated by the Clown; he knew nothing about the director's arrival or the battle between the Clown and the director.
Bai Wanyang only remembered saying a few words to the Clown before inexplicably losing consciousness, only to wake up to this scene.
He had no injuries, but Yue Shi in the driver's seat was "unconscious," his shirt in tatters as if he had been through a fierce battle.
Catching a glimpse of Yue Shi's exposed skin, it was abnormally pale, not looking like a normal living person's.
Bai Wanyang's heart tightened, and he hurriedly reached out to check Yue Shi's breathing.
"He's still breathing. Thank goodness."
Bai Wanyang clutched his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Ignoring the dull pain in his chest, he stumbled out of the vehicle to check on his colleagues in the other cars.
The result was tragic. He found only one living scout; everyone else had sacrificed their lives.
In the distance, the charred remains of the exploded transport vehicle were still smoking. Bai Wanyang didn't know where it had come from. At this moment, he was overwhelmed by immense grief and a sense of powerlessness.
It was just a mission to search the scene where skinless corpses were found. How did it end in near-total annihilation?
Though young, Bai Wanyang had seen his share of storms. After standing dazed for less than a minute, he forcibly suppressed his grief and anger, gathering his emotions.
He felt that since he was the first to wake up and appeared to be in the best condition, he should take responsibility.
He first tried to wake Yue Shi and the surviving ordinary scout, but no matter what he did, he couldn't wake them. He didn't dare shake them too hard, fearing he might cause secondary injuries.
Then, he quickly found his phone, needing to report to the Investigation Bureau and call for help immediately.
However, his phone screen remained black; no matter how he pressed the buttons, there was no response.
Not only that, but the communicators in the car and other equipment were damaged to varying degrees and were unusable.
Perhaps the energy dissipated during the battle between the Clown and the director had destroyed the nearby precision electronics.
But Bai Wanyang knew nothing of this, nor did he know where he currently was or how far it was from Amber City.
Standing blankly in place, surrounded by a desolate and deathly silence with only sacrificed or unconscious companions, an unprecedented sense of isolation surged in his heart.
Rate on N.U.
