Inside the factory complex.
A black blur resembling thunder pierced through the roof of the factory, roaring and disappearing into the swirling thick fog.
Immediately afterward, a crawling shadow emerged from the hole in the roof, bending and twisting around nothingness, spiraling upwards closely behind.
A dark red hole writhed at the head of the centipede, and in the next instant, countless shadows resembling growing branches emerged from the hole, grasping towards Han Meng's body from all directions!
Han Meng's black trench coat was stained with blood. He frowned as he looked at the giant shadow rapidly pursuing him. His right hand gripped the gun, and he repeatedly pulled the trigger. The disintegrating bullets fell like rain, destroying those incoming shadows one after another.
Han Meng could feel his mental energy being consumed crazily, and at the same time, the [Court of Judgment] was also stretched to its limits.
This wasn't Han Meng's first time challenging a higher level. Compared to his previous battle against the red paper monster, dealing with this shadow centipede was clearly less strenuous. This wasn't because the shadow centipede was weak; it was just that Han Meng felt the red paper monster was more sinister...
The power of judgment continuously shredded the shadows in the air, and Han Meng's figure dangerously weaved through them, constantly rising higher.
However, when his altitude exceeded a certain threshold, the black giant shadow stopped pursuing and turned back, retreating into the devastated steel factory.
"It doesn't want to leave the steel factory at all..."
Han Meng halted in mid-air, pensive.
After continuous battles, they had almost flattened the entire steel factory. As the law enforcement officer of District 3, Han Meng naturally didn't want to see such losses, so from the beginning, he had been trying to lure this parent body away from the factory complex.
But no matter from which direction he tried to lure it, as long as it exceeded a certain range from the steel factory, the parent body would automatically stop pursuing and return to the steel factory... as if it had completely considered this place its nest.
This made it even more difficult for Han Meng. To resolve the troubles in District 3 now, he had to kill this parent body...
But with so many centipedes gathered inside the factory and the narrow terrain, it was almost impossible to kill a fifth-stage creature with fourth-stage abilities. This was also why the two had been battling and entangled for so long.
Just when Han Meng was pondering a way to break the stalemate, a sudden change occurred!
The hundreds of shadow centipedes writhing within the factory complex simultaneously trembled. Their heads turned towards a certain direction in the thick fog, and their dark red holes contracted violently, unsure whether they were feeling fear or excitement.
Han Meng looked in the direction they were facing, but he could see nothing but thick fog.
Han Meng's brows furrowed slightly. As he was feeling puzzled, the parent body nestled inside the factory behaved as if it had gone mad. It rushed deep into the factory, its form gradually disappearing into the ground.
The other shadow centipedes quickly gathered, following closely behind it and converging towards the giant pit, like a black tide swirling into a vortex.
Seeing this, Han Meng immediately transformed into a blur and chased after them.
He entered the factory. Those centipedes that were originally filled with murderous intent towards him now seemed unable to see him, all drilling into the ground without hesitation.
Han Meng followed their trajectory and stopped at the corner of the workshop. There was a giant pit several meters in radius before him. The edges of the pit were ash-like ground, as if stained by something.
"A gap between the Gray Realm and the Aurora Realm?" Han Meng's brows furrowed even tighter.
According to his knowledge, even if the Aurora Realm encountered an intersection with the Gray Realm, the intersection point would only persist for a maximum of half an hour before healing automatically... but this time, it had already been several hours, and the intersection point was still here?
As the numerous centipedes disappeared, Han Meng's heart did not relax but became even more vigilant.
As long as this intersection point existed, those calamities could still appear, even if they weren't centipedes; there might be other calamities from the Gray Realm. Moreover, Han Meng clearly sensed that this intersection with the Gray Realm was unusual.
He hesitated at the entrance of the pit for a moment, but then a flash of determination appeared in his eyes. His figure lightly leaped and disappeared into the grayness at the bottom of the pit, following the black tide.
...
"It smells so good..."
Inside the warehouse, under the fierce flames, it was like a boiling crucible. Numerous curled shadows were quietly burning, and a figure with charred black skin and limbs resembling burnt firewood was crouched atop one shadow, tearing at its flesh and blood crazily.
[Audience Expectation +1]
[Audience Expectation +1]
[...]
As Chen Yifei consumed one shadow after another, the crimson color in those empty eyes became even more vivid.
Dozens of shadow centipedes were burned to death in the fierce flames. Their flesh and blood became Chen Yifei's meal, their spirits were swallowed into nothingness, leaving behind only puppet-like corpses respectfully curled up on the ground.
It's unclear how long it had been. Chen Yifei's eyes had been burned blind.
His hands grabbed at the charred "roasted chicken" for a moment but couldn't seize a piece of meat. He could only grope through the darkness and stumble away.
However, as he took a step, his left leg crumbled into carbon, and he fell to the ground.
This fall also shattered his right hand, chest, and shoulder. He stiffly collapsed into the flames, resembling a desiccated corpse nearing death.
"Is this... the end..."
Even the [Blood Robe] couldn't sustain Chen Yifei's survival in the intense flames for long. His vitality, along with most of the shadow centipedes, was nearing its end.
The oxygen inside the warehouse was rapidly depleted, and an unprecedented sense of suffocation surged over Chen Yifei. He still tried to crawl up and grab the surrounding "roasted chickens," but after struggling for a long time, he could only sway slightly in place.
Eventually, he lay motionless, as if completely resigned to his fate.
Those pairs of crimson eyes silently spied on everything in the flames. The fire completely consumed the last of the air and gradually extinguished inside the warehouse, leaving only near the door gap, where a few wisps of flame silently flickered.
[Lost actor connection detected. Performance interrupted.]
[Audience Expectation -50]
[Current Expectation: 28%]
Several lines of charred characters flashed across the corpses, and after a moment, a strange red light extended from beneath Chen Yifei, weaving into steps that stretched to the end of nothingness.
Above the warehouse's sky, a vermilion star faintly flickered, and a surging mental power erupted from Chen Yifei's corpse!
It seemed as if he had broken through some barrier, and his aura climbed steadily, finally settling at the second stage of that distorted divine path before slowly disappearing into nothingness...
In the darkness, that humanoid charcoal-like corpse suddenly rapidly regained vitality. Flesh and blood regenerated on the pitch-black carbonized blocks, and the dried-out eyeballs regained their luster, as if something was about to emerge from this desiccated corpse!
His fingers slightly curved, and as his eyelids opened, a pair of hollow and eerie eyes were exposed to the air!
He slowly climbed up, his bright red theatrical robe spotless.
In the next instant, eerie and ominous laughter echoed within the silent warehouse.