A flicker of determination flashed in Duan Chen's eyes.
He wasn't thoughtless.
On the contrary, Duan Chen's intelligence was not low.
His IQ and EQ were both much higher than that of over ninety-eight percent of his peers.
The events unfolding now replayed in his mind. He could deduce what he wanted to know without even opening the ancient texts he had once copied.
This was a purely subconscious combat reflex, unrelated to anything else.
Thanks to his cognitive abilities, Duan Chen had managed to escape danger numerous times in battles.
His eyes suddenly lit up.
It was as if a light bulb had flashed in his mind.
Duan Chen abruptly turned his head and yelled at Bai Ye, who was continuously firing sand beside him.
"I have a plan! Bai Ye, be careful. You cover me, and I'll approach."
Bai Ye immediately received the message and raised his hand in an OK sign.
"No problem."
With Bai Ye cooperating, what Duan Chen wanted to do became much easier.
He mobilized all the spiritual energy in his body. When Duan Chen got serious, the result was terrifying.
A sharp glint, almost making one tremble from the inside out, flashed in his eyes.
It was like a blade cutting through heaven and earth, unstoppable.
At this moment, the spiritual energy he mobilized far surpassed the total spiritual energy he could wield before merging with the King Chess.
[Sequence 025: Eye of Truth] activated.
See through illusion.
The fundamental aspect of this ability was to see through illusions and sorcery. However, after merging with the King Chess, Duan Chen had also discovered a new talent amplification for this ability.
That was the judgment and penetration of weaknesses.
Unfortunately, the spiritual energy required to use such a talent amplification was immense.
Generally, Duan Chen would not easily use such talents, but now he had no choice.
He had a deep feeling that this village was unknowingly becoming more terrifying and more xenophobic.
If they didn't resolve this battle quickly, they might be assimilated by the entire village soon.
Because here, the village was alive.
The moment the Eye of Truth was used, a light flashed in Duan Chen's eyes.
[Sequence 008: Visual Analysis]
His highest record was six seconds.
But after merging with the King Chess, his highest record could reach half a minute.
However, this would deplete all the spiritual energy in his body.
Therefore, in this battle, Duan Chen deliberately controlled his spiritual energy output, allowing himself only a glimpse into the future for five seconds.
He saw that within these five seconds, he would use the Fairy Law he had learned from Wu Suowei.
And the sand opposite him would move in a trajectory with a flaw to evade the Fairy Law.
[Sequence 016: Fairy Law]
A golden light flashed, traversing heaven and earth, heading towards the enemy the caster perceived in their heart.
A human-like fear appeared in the sand's eyes, and it instinctively tried to dodge.
However, unexpectedly, as the colossal body began to evade, the golden light seemed to have eyes, making a sharp turn and piercing directly towards the fatal point Duan Chen had seen.
"Ah!"
The sand let out a scream.
Fear instantly surged, and it wanted to escape. However, within the five seconds Duan Chen saw, the future that should have happened, synthesized from countless parallel worlds.
These five seconds almost made his brain explode.
It was because he had underestimated the impact of his upgraded ability, but he quickly stabilized his emotions and the mental shock in his mind.
Seeing his prey about to escape, how could he give the sand such an opportunity?
[Sequence 033: Shadow Clone Technique]
Countless Duan Chens surrounded the sand.
This was what it meant for one person to surround another.
Before the sand could react, Duan Chen activated his final move.
[Sequence 030: Void Domain]
Numerous ghost-faced monsters roared, appearing in the azure sea.
The seawater surged, but it did not carry a chilling aura; instead, it was gentle and embracing like a mother's embrace.
"Slay!"
Beneath this gentle and embracing aura came an unsparing declaration.
The sand's body slowly dissipated like burnt paper, leaving behind only the last girl's head.
She opened her mouth, her eyes seeming to hold hope, looking somewhere in the void.
Her mouth moved slightly, and broken words were uttered.
"Mom... my wish... to have the best family... Mom and Dad..."
"Ding dong!"
A small wooden bear clattered onto the floor.
"Whew! That wasn't easy."
Bai Ye was panting like a dead dog. He looked over upon hearing the sound.
His eyes widened in surprise and delight.
"A weird object dropped."
Duan Chen took a shallow breath and stopped Bai Ye, who was about to pick up the weird object, yelling urgently.
"Wait! Don't go over yet!"
"What's wrong?" Bai Ye looked back, confused, but thankfully, he stopped moving forward, having listened to Duan Chen.
"Do we need equipment to collect weird objects now?"
Duan Chen shook his head. "No, it's just that I suspect there's something wrong with the weird object here. Let me scan it with a detector first."
He felt a sense of uncertainty.
However, something that no one expected happened.
When he placed the detector on the wooden bear lying on the ground, the detector suddenly emitted a series of error alarms.
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep!"
"What does that mean? Is it malfunctioning?" Bai Ye was completely bewildered.
Wang Zihao's expression was solemn as he explained.
"It's probably not a malfunction, but rather that the weird objects produced here cannot be detected by a detector at all, and they are likely quite dangerous."
"But even so, we still have to collect the dropped weird object. Otherwise, if it's left here, the surrounding things might mutate!
Then everything we've done today will be in vain."
Bai Ye frowned and looked at Duan Chen, his eyes asking if he had any way to solve it.
"Of course, I know."
Duan Chen sighed and looked at Wang Zihao.
"Can you contact the outside world?"