Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 418 - 390 Battle Begins

Chapter 418: 390 Battle Begins

Dr. Silver Mask’s assistant watched Ying Lingyun, waiting for instructions.

Just as the young researcher I encountered in the Human Bureau’s secret base described, based on all available information, the Human Bureau excessively relies on Ying Lingyun, giving him extremely extensive permissions. Even the news of the Human Bureau’s main base being invaded seems to have been relayed to him first, leaving the decision up to him.

Today’s Ying Lingyun is the de facto leader of the Human Bureau.

Upon receiving the report of the invasion, Ying Lingyun’s bewildered and frantic expression instantly turned indifferent and calm.

"Invasion?" he said, "This independent reality space has the Power of Divine Seal Fragments as a firewall and has absorbed lessons from the previous independent reality space being invaded. Even Impermanence couldn’t possibly invade this place.

"However... if Impermanence also uses the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, that’s a different story. The invaders are likely the ones who provided Fa Zheng with the Divine Seal Fragments. He has the motive and the power. It seems that the actions of the Human Bureau and I have already exceeded his limits of tolerance, and I anticipated this day would come."

Beside him, one of the Silver Masks reminded, "Even if Fa Zheng also possesses the Power of Divine Seal Fragments, theoretically he shouldn’t be able to invade our independent reality space because most of the technology using the Power of Divine Seal Fragments on his side was relayed from us, and in many aspects is backward compared to us."

"So there might be an involvement of other Impermanence," another Silver Mask said thoughtfully, "...there’s a high possibility it’s Divine Light.

"Based on the intelligence we’ve secretly gathered, although Divine Light’s progress in the research of Divine Seal Fragments is in a different direction from ours, in depth it’s no less than ours, and perhaps he could achieve things even we couldn’t imagine using the Divine Seal Fragments."

The last Silver Mask added, "It’s likely Zhuang Cheng is also involved in this matter, it’s said he has already become Impermanence. From analyzing his behavior and character over the years, he’d never miss a chance to save a friend."

Ying Lingyun expressionlessly said, "So, we’re facing an attack from three Impermanence this time?"

"Not only that. Fa Zheng is cautious and would regard every Divine Seal Fragment we possess as a Great Impermanence level force... so we’re likely facing four Impermanence at once," one Silver Mask said, "The fourth Impermanence should not be Jian Feixian, Fa Zheng will probably assign him to the rear. Excluding Old Fist God, Liu Shuying, and King Zhuanlun, whose whereabouts are unpredictable, the fourth Impermanence should be Gua Tianshi or Ming Zhuo..."

"Gua Tianshi never gets personally involved if there’s something to do, the fourth Impermanence should be Ming Zhuo, probably targeting our technical resources." another Silver Mask said.

Ying Lingyun said almost to himself, "Even if our independent reality space is breached, it will automatically recover, and Divine Light must maintain the invasion path from the rear. Zhuang Cheng and Ming Zhuo surely won’t give up their main assault positions, so Fa Zheng is responsible for blocking the retreat?"

In just this brief moment, they managed to figure out all our major force configurations here through analysis and communication, even accurately identified who is at the front and who is at the back!

Know thyself and thy enemy, a hundred battles, a hundred victories, we have no idea what methods Ying Lingyun has, and yet he is close to exposing everything about us.

"But... something’s still off. Even with Divine Light’s technical support, I still don’t think they can breach the firewall of this independent reality space..." Ying Lingyun frowned tightly, "there must be some crucial aspect we haven’t noticed... what loophole have we overlooked..."

"Such matters can wait to be pondered post-action, we can delve into it during a review," one Silver Mask said looking at Ying Lingyun, "What do we do now? Even if Fa Zheng blocks the retreat, we actually still have ways to escape unscathed.

"But the issue is, once you lose the Human Bureau, you’ll have no resources to resurrect Yinyue. While we, as ’possibility replicas’, it doesn’t matter, you can’t accept that, can you?"

Another Silver Mask said, "Ten minutes until the enemy completes their invasion, do we begin Yinyue’s resurrection ceremony?"

"...No, we can’t!" Ying Lingyun stared hard at the body of Changan, fluctuating inside the cylindrical glass container, "This material can only be used once, I must be in the absolute optimal condition to utilize it, no mistakes allowed at all..."

The last Silver Mask said, "If we hurry and initiate the resurrection ceremony now, we still have a success rate of more than ninety-seven percent to resurrect the true Yinyue.

"And if you stubbornly cling to that less than three percent failure rate, our final success rate will only amount to zero."

Ying Lingyun closed his eyes, the three Silver Masks looked at him coldly like a machine.

Several seconds later, Ying Lingyun suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.

"Indeed, true trials always strike without warning, giving no chance for thorough preparation..." A ruthless determination emerged in his eyes, "In that case, let’s take a gamble in the last ten minutes!"

At the moment he said this, my link with the thermal energy marker inside Changan’s body was finally strengthened by the Power of Divine Seal Fragments from Divine Light to a level sufficient to transmit power.

Simultaneously, my perception of the independent reality space further expanded. Not just this laboratory, I could now perceive every corner of the independent reality space. It’s much like the last Human Bureau’s secret base, full of a vast number of researchers and guards. At this moment, a sharp alarm blared inside this main base, everyone was in a panic taking refuge.

"Last ten minutes?"

I amplified my voice to echo throughout the Human Bureau’s main base.

Ying Lingyun’s face changed drastically, abruptly raising his head.

"I won’t give you that time."

With my words, a sea of fire suddenly erupted from the center of Ying Lingyun’s laboratory, and the Human Bureau’s main base instantly turned into a mortal inferno.

Numerous researchers and guards were reduced to ashes in an instant, along with countless pieces of equipment and instruments exploding and shattering in the flames.

But in the next instant, a powerful and mysterious force rose, also enveloping the Human Bureau’s main base. It was the Power of Reset, identical to what Dr. Silver Mask used, and all the deceased and destroyed objects were immediately resurrected as if rewinding a film, restored to their original state. Perhaps, because it was supported by the vast resources of the Human Bureau’s main base, coupled with the current stage where I couldn’t invest too much power into the main base, this inexplicable power of restart could temporarily stand against me.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter to me. Introducing the flames into there was the purpose in itself, destruction became secondary.

As the center of the Power of Reset, Ying Lingyun and the three Silver Masks did not perish immediately in the sea of fire. Ying Lingyun’s gaze seemed to follow the trail of flames, locked onto me outside of the independent reality space, and his voice came out somewhat maniacally, "This flame, it’s you... I understand, so it was you! You implanted a marker in the Emanation of Yinyue’s body, and even I wasn’t able to detect it..."

"He’s called Changan, don’t forget next time. That’s the name of my friend, and also your son," I said, "Ying Lingyun, I have come to kill you."

"Zhuang Cheng—"

Ying Lingyun laughed out of anger, then made a gesture towards the air. Whatever he did, I was about to further emit flames, only to be cut off in sensing. The internal image of the independent reality space instantly vanished from my consciousness.

However, the link with there wasn’t severed. Due to the grand scale of emitting flames through the link just now, the connection had expanded countless times, far exceeding the level originally needed ten minutes to broaden.

I stood on the forest clearing, looking towards the nearby Fa Zheng and Divine Light. The latter seemed to have sensed that I’ve accomplished what I needed here, nodded at me, and then extended a hand towards the center of the array.

In the center of the array, a fine light line rose swiftly, ceasing to extend at a ten-meter height, resembling a needle of light thrust into the ground.

"—The operation begins."

As the organizer of this assault, Fa Zheng naturally issued the command.

The vertical light line stretched open to both sides, forming a doorway of white light about five meters wide.

Ming Zhuo rushed forward without hesitation, his figure disappeared into one side of the white light, yet did not emerge from the other, evidently entering the independent reality space outside the real world. I followed closely but a beat slower, also charging into the white light.

The white light filled my vision, then faded away, the scene before me transformed into the Human Bureau’s main base engulfed in a sea of fire. This was one of its corridors, while the rear was the Teleportation Door formed by the white light.

The Black Evil brought by Ming Zhuo also started entering this corridor one after another, initiating their mission upon entry and began to loot technical resources within the Human Bureau’s main base.

Members of the Human Bureau clearly couldn’t manage everything, fleeing and hiding in a panic.

Ming Zhuo glanced at the members of the Human Bureau fleeing in the distance, and their bodies suddenly burst into nothing, only to be revived again under the Power of Restart.

"Such minor tricks."

Ming Zhuo casually remarked, shattering the bodies of Human Bureau members in the distance once more. This time, those people no longer came back to life.

I attempted to sense other places within the Human Bureau’s main base through the sea of fire, but could only perceive hazy information, also unable to execute Flame Transmission. It seemed the power which cut off my perception earlier now spread everywhere throughout the Human Bureau.

However, due to the initial unfolding of the sea of fire, I had already fathomed and memorized the layout of the Human Bureau’s main base, also figuring out where I was at the moment. Not being able to use Flame Transmission doesn’t matter, as long as I can directly move to where Ying Lingyun is.

Ignoring all obstacles along the way, I smashed through the ceiling and walls in one go, moving in a straight line shortest path to the laboratory where Ying Lingyun was earlier.

At this moment, Ying Lingyun was no longer there, and in the far end of the cylindrical glass container, Changan had also disappeared.

"What’s here?"

Ming Zhuo also moved over like a specter, observing left and right with hands behind his back, then seemed to notice something novel, "Oh? This is..."

"Could you stay away from me, don’t you have your own matters to attend to?" I said.

"What are you saying? Who cares to follow you, I’m just..."

Before Ming Zhuo finished speaking, a huge mana fluctuation surged from outside the room, attacking us.