You Jiawei walked over, covering herself. Duan Chen handed her his jacket and motioned for her to wear it.
"We're trapped in an airspace and must find the core to leave."
"How do we find the core? We'd like to help." Deng Lin immediately came over.
"It could be an item, or a person. Regardless, don't overlook anything."
"Should we search together now? But that would be inefficient," Hill said, folding her arms. Her earlier state had quite frightened the young men.
"Then... Xiao Hei, take them as one group. I'll be with Xi'er, Xiao Hong, Xiao Qing, and Sister Weiwei," Duan Chen looked at Jun Ci. His strength was not weak, and he should have no problem leading these ordinary people.
"No problem."
This airspace was different from previous ones. If it were the work of other apostles, the police officers would likely be dead, and the police station would be a scene of carnage. But this time, apart from Yu Lun, who was killed by a sea monster, the rest was clean, without a drop of blood.
Duan Chen suspected that those people might have been kidnapped.
"Let's go, room by room. Xiao Hei, you're responsible for the north side of the police station, and we'll take the south."
Before Jun Ci left, Yuan Qingqing gave him some food.
"Your food can restore spiritual energy?" You Jiawei asked curiously.
"Yes, it's an auxiliary ability."
It had to be said that Yuan Qingqing, with her mature face, making a shy expression... was a bit strange.
Duan Chen shivered, wishing he could quickly return to his original appearance.
His own face was more comforting to look at. No matter how handsome this face was, it felt awkward.
There weren't many rooms on the first floor of the police station, but the strangeness was abundant. Duan Chen threw out his phoenix hairpin and summoned Hong Ying.
"Husband, it's been a long time. Have you missed Hong Ying?"
The sudden appearance of a beautiful ancient woman in a red robe in this dark place genuinely startled Yuan Qingqing and You Jiawei, especially when she called Duan Chen "husband."
"Is this... a strangeness?"
Hill observed with great interest.
Duan Chen nodded slightly and smiled at Hong Ying, "I'll trouble you from now on."
"As you command, husband." Hong Ying smiled charmingly, very pleasing.
Her favorability towards Duan Chen had risen to Lv. 6. Dealing with these low-level strangeness was not a problem. While Hong Ying was killing the strangeness, they searched the entire southern part of the first floor.
"The core isn't here. Let's go to the second floor."
The second floor was completely different from the first. It was like another world.
Police officers in uniform brushed past them in the corridors. The corridors were brightly lit, and the officers all wore smiles, looking no different from the real world.
"Are these... ordinary people?" You Jiawei's face turned pale.
Duan Chen snorted and unhesitatingly activated his Eye of Truth.
In his eyes, the brightly lit corridor instantly turned dark. The lights flickered overhead. Each police officer who passed by now resembled an ocean worm.
These worms were as tall as a person, covered in a sticky slime, leaving long trails of mucus in the corridor. The worms' heads had no eyes, only a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth.
Duan Chen felt a chill.
He aimed his gun at a worm and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
"Hey!"
No wonder You Jiawei screamed. In her eyes, these were just ordinary people.
Duan Chen used his Ancient Script ability to share the scene in his mind with the others—this was a new ability of the Ancient Script, and he quite liked it.
"Fire!"
Qin Nanyuan didn't hesitate. She hated insects and directly unleashed flames to burn these disgusting creatures to ashes.
You Jiawei hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes and punched the ocean worms' faces from a distance.
"Squeak squeak!"
Duan Chen withdrew the shared vision. Now, without needing the Eye of Truth, the true scene of the second floor of the police station was revealed.
Before them was a horde of approaching strange worms, their mouths open, dripping green saliva.
The worms piled on top of each other, forming a wall not far from them. Mucus dripped from the ceiling, emitting a foul odor.
"This mucus protects them!"
You Jiawei's face was ashen as she shook the mucus off her fists.
"So many?"
"Xiao Hong, use fire!"
"Received!"
"Wait, leave one alive for research. I want it alive."
Hill's words caused the several girls to cast strange glances at her.
Hill didn't care about their gazes. There was even... desire in her eyes as she looked at the worms?
Duan Chen felt like retching but suppressed it.
"Prairie Fire!"
Qin Nanyuan deliberately avoided a row of strange worms in the corner. Her flames spread like wildfire, fiercely hitting the worm horde!
"Boom!"
The sound was deafening, and a faint smell of burning filled the air.
The worm horde was unaffected. Instead, they secreted more mucus, seemingly having a protective effect as You Jiawei had said.
As the horde drew closer, Duan Chen's brow furrowed.
"Pandora's Mirage - [Shield] Form!"
Duan Chen, holding a large shield, managed to push the worm horde back a few meters.
"Sequence 035: [Raven Swarm]!"
A flock of crows appeared out of nowhere behind him. As they approached the worms, Duan Chen roared.
"Explode!"
"Bang!"
You Jiawei and the others covered their ears, watching as the worms exploded one by one, green blood splattering, and then... turning into more small worms?!
Duan Chen's face turned green.
"Huh?" Hill had never seen splitting strangeness before. She became even more curious, eager to capture one and research it.
"Ugh—" Qin Nanyuan and Yuan Qingqing were on the verge of retching together.
You Jiawei's expression remained grim. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"Mr. Bai, how wide was the range of that petrification move just now?"
Duan Chen seemed to understand her meaning.
"Petrifying these bugs is not a problem!"
He gritted his teeth and pushed the worm horde back a few more meters with his shield.
"Use that move, then come back! I have a plan!"
After all, You Jiawei was a senior agent; she wasn't without her trump cards.
"Okay!"
Trusting her teammate, Duan Chen unhesitatingly removed his shield.
"Petrifying Eye!"
He drew one-fifth of his spiritual energy and petrified all the bugs in front of him.
Hill seized the opportunity to run over and pick up a small one.
Everyone: ...
"Ten seconds, is that enough?"
"Enough!"
You Jiawei extended her fists, concentrating all her spiritual energy into her palms.
"Ten Thousand Fists Unite!"
"Bang!"
A massive wave of energy swept out. The surrounding walls, including the ceiling, were scraped and peeled by the aftershocks of this energy wave, demonstrating its immense power.
Eye of Truth!
Duan Chen activated his Eye of Truth and saw a giant fist formed of spiritual energy floating in mid-air.
How could he miss this opportunity?
Replication - Read/Write [Eye of Pilfering]!