Inside the barrier, South District Beach, Sūchéng.
The Hotel.
"Duàn Chén?!"
Duàn Chén and Niya ran up from the first floor, still dragging Hóu Cè with them – they had stumbled upon him on the way and brought him along.
"How's the situation?"
Duàn Chén threw Hóu Cè onto the ground and, without further ado, activated his mind-reading ability.
"What's your mission?" Wú Suǒwèi kicked his foot.
"I-I don't know!" Hóu Cè was still seeing stars from Duàn Chén's earlier beating and hadn't recovered. He shook his head hazily.
"It's... to activate the barrier!"
Duàn Chén's eyes sharpened.
Hóu Cè suddenly reacted, his body trembling.
"That's not it!"
"Next question, how many aberrations are there on the beach?"
Duàn Chén took a deep breath. "There's no fixed number. They'll come ashore through the sea when they receive the signal, holding a feast by the beach!"
"You, how can you..."
Hóu Cè looked like he was about to cry.
"Who is your superior?"
Hóu Cè tightly closed his mouth, but unfortunately, that action was useless.
Duàn Chén frowned. "It's a man named Fēng Wéi. His race... is also a Blood-drinker."
Hóu Cè's eyes widened. "You can read my mind?!"
His face was ashen.
It was over. Everything was over now.
Bái Yè squatted down and asked the final question.
"Is the one called Fēng Wéi nearby?"
Duàn Chén shook his head. "No, he comes to the beach from the sea at irregular intervals."
Hóu Cè no longer resisted. He had no way to deal with Duàn Chén's mind-reading.
"What do we do with these two?"
"Kill them!"
Duàn Chén's tone was chilling. He had no need to show mercy to these evil aberrations who used ordinary people's lives to activate the barrier.
"Yes."
After dealing with Zhū Kè and Hóu Cè, the group gathered in Duàn Chén's room to discuss countermeasures.
"The best course of action is to wait for rescue. The influence of the feast is something the Sūchéng Spirit Hunting Guild's president cannot be unaware of. She should have reported the situation to the capital."
Wú Suǒwèi took a sip of water and said casually.
"Can't we break the barrier and get out?"
Yàn Qiú Rén glanced at Bái Yè and said, "You have a beautiful imagination. Let me tell you, even if all the agents from your Sūchéng Spirit Hunting Guild were gathered, along with your president, you still couldn't break through the barrier!"
"Is the intensity that high?"
Qí Qīng frowned.
Wú Suǒwèi nodded. "Exactly. The last time the feast was held was thirty years ago. At that time, Spirit Hunting agents also foolishly thought of breaking the barrier, but... not only did the barrier not break, the backlash even caused irreparable casualties to the Spirit Hunting Guild."
"In other words, even if the barrier could be broken, Sūchéng would face a catastrophe."
"Why?" Tiān Qí regretted it. If he had known, why would he have come for a vacation?
This was too unlucky!
"Because once the barrier is broken, a large number of aberrations will flood into the city, and Spirit Hunting agents will still have to clean them up."
"So, the best approach now is to stay put in the hotel..."
"Gurgle—gurgle—"
Before he could finish the word "wait," the hotel walls began to writhe. The scene reminded Duàn Chén of the peristalsis of the intestines.
The walls, even the furniture, became soft and wriggled back and forth, as if something was about to be expelled from within the walls.
"What's going on?"
Shèng Chén quickly hid behind his master.
"Gurgle—!"
The wall on the left curved outwards from the center, forming a vortex resembling an asterisk "*." In the center of the vortex, various aberrations gradually appeared.
"Holy crap!"
"Crow Tide!"
The flock of crows directly charged into the vortex. After exploding, they cleared out some aberrations, but an endless stream of them still poured out of the vortex. If all of them managed to get out, their sheer numbers could drown them.
"Let's go! We need to leave the hotel first!"
"Yes!"
"Why aren't you using your ultimate moves?"
Qí Qīng expressed his confusion.
Duàn Chén's expression was stern. "Can you guarantee that this vortex won't appear in other rooms? If the numbers accumulate, it's something we can't possibly contend with!"
"Holy crap, it really is!"
"Let's go!"
Just as Duàn Chén had predicted, the corridor was soon filled with aberrations. The group scrambled downstairs, clearing out the aberrations behind them as they ran.
"Bang! Bang!"
"These disgusting things are endless!"
"You over there! Why aren't you putting in any effort?"
Wú Suǒwèi moved among them with ease, not a single aberration near him.
He shrugged helplessly. "It's the rules. I cannot interfere arbitrarily in mortal affairs, especially not in matters of such magnitude."
If he could, not only these aberrations but even breaking the barrier right now would be no problem. However, as a god, he was bound by rules.
"Open the door!"
"Bang!"
Just as the aberration tide was about to catch up to them, Duàn Chén's Thousand Illusions Pandora suddenly transformed into a shield, smashing open the hotel door.
"Bang!"
After everyone had exited, he kicked the door shut again.
"Holy crap..."
"I'm exhausted..."
"Don't rest yet, it's not time!"
Duàn Chén's throat bobbed. He saw the hotel walls beginning to writhe again.
Fortunately, no vortex appeared on the walls.
"Damn it..."
Tǔfèi Yuán, perched on Xī'ěr's head, was utterly exhausted.
"It's over. In this case, we don't even have a sanctuary anymore?" Bái Yè sighed to the heavens.
Wú Suǒwèi shrugged. "What are you thinking about? From what I observed, the entire beach is filled with aberrations. Don't think about a sanctuary. As long as the sand we're standing on doesn't go berserk, that's good enough."
"No way—"
"Then what do we do now? Just wait here?"
"No, if we keep waiting like this, what about food and water? I think we should go eat at that seafood restaurant over there first."
Shèng Chén was carefree, showing no signs of worry.
"Let's go. Even if we die, let's die with full stomachs."
"Although it's a bit ominous, it makes sense."
Duàn Chén smiled helplessly and followed them.
To their surprise, the chimney of the seafood restaurant was still emitting smoke. Could it be that some aberrations were cooking inside?
"Damn it! Today, I'm going to eat this meal, and no one can stop me, not even aberrations!"
Qí Qīng rolled up his sleeves and kicked open the door of the seafood restaurant.
"Oh my, oh my, young people are so impulsive."
The one cooking in the seafood restaurant was not an aberration, but two people Duàn Chén was very familiar with...
"Mò'ěrbō'ěrsī, Jīn Ān? How are you two here?"
"No, when did you come out of my body?"
Duàn Chén was dumbfounded. He hadn't noticed anything at all.