"Let's go eat first," Gao Changze said, rubbing his stomach.
Ji Jia nodded slightly, agreeing to his suggestion.
The two... no, three of them found a fast food restaurant and sat down.
It was nearly 2-3 PM, so the restaurant wasn't very crowded, but those who remained had ample time to chat while eating.
"Holy crap, the mysterious organization has appeared again!" a man exclaimed excitedly to his companions, his eyes widening as he saw the notification pop up on his phone.
"For real? Let me see," his friends said, picking up their phones to search and browse the news.
"That's awesome! They single-handedly took out those drug lord bosses in Caster Country!"
"Lately it seems like the mysterious organization isn't hiding anymore, like they're ready to reveal themselves."
"They've been discovered, how can they keep hiding?"
"Haha, son's got a point."
"Get lost, don't you know to call me dad?"
Gao Changze listened intently and took out his phone to search as well. He easily found the trending topic without much effort.
The gist was that Bitcoin Buddha Country had discovered people migrating out of Caster Country and had even deported many illegal immigrants. Upon further inquiry, they learned about the situation in Caster Country.
All the SS-Level Monsters and leaders of the major factions had been killed, and Caster Country was in turmoil.
This news had spread throughout Caster Country, but no one dared post it online. With examples of people being shot for talking recklessly still fresh in their minds, no one wanted to take the risk.
The Caster Country government's announcement finally came out, confirming Bitcoin Buddha Country's claims.
Although Gao Changze knew things might gradually return to how they were before, directly taking out those bastards felt incredibly satisfying.
It felt so good!
"It's just momentary gratification," said Yin Qingran pessimistically, having seen the dark side of things and being in a parasitic state. "Without armed protection, monsters will migrate there too. This may not necessarily be good for the local people."
Gao Changze was very displeased but couldn't find a reason to refute her.
Ji Jia noticed his change in mood, quickly glanced up, then lowered her head again.
Although they had been together for a long time, their personalities hadn't been influenced by external forces or a desire for internal change, so they didn't easily change. They had also gotten used to this kind of companionship.
Gao Changze thought for a moment, then repeated Yin Qingran's words to Ji Jia.
Despite Ji Jia's quiet demeanor, she usually spoke piercing words when she did open her mouth. Gao Changze wanted to get support from her.
Ji Jia was silent for a moment before speaking softly, "I don't know... it might get worse, or it might get better. I hope it's the latter. But if we don't try to change things, they'll just stay in their terrible current state."
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy. Gao Changze looked utterly dejected; these two were absolute conversation killers.
They finished their meal in silence and set off again.
This time, they were investigating recent reports of someone continuously buying monsters on the black market, specifically requesting live specimens. They suspected that organization might be planning to sell monsters again.
"Should we... ask Qi Yuan again?" Ji Jia suggested timidly. Her relationship with Qi Yuan was average, and she wasn't as outgoing as Gao Changze.
Gao Changze was uncharacteristically embarrassed. "Let's not..."
Though he didn't say it, he felt very guilty about not arriving in time last time. What if they rushed desperately this time and still didn't make it...
Although he felt that Brother Yuan wouldn't mind too much, why test their relationship unnecessarily?
They had received a lot of help, and all they could offer in return was a little money.
Yin Qingran seemed to sense his thoughts and spoke coolly, "This shouldn't be a burden on you. You're just helping me. Our original deal didn't include revenge."
Gao Changze paused. Just as Yin Qingran thought her words had convinced him, he suddenly spoke up, "I see, so it's your fault! My conscience suddenly doesn't hurt anymore."
Yin Qingran: ...She had indeed convinced Gao Changze, but now she was the one who was upset.
Her fists clenched!
...
Qi Yuan, whom the three had mentioned, was currently in a temple.
From the intricately carved stone slabs and the jaguar-shaped throne, he easily identified the owner of this temple - the Feathered Serpent God.
Qi Yuan set his phone to ultra-power-saving mode, relying on the time displayed on the phone to determine how long he had been there.
He had been in this temple for several days now, surrounded only by monster corpses.
As he had predicted, the monsters fled upon hearing of the mysterious organization's arrival. He had tracked the monsters all the way here, only to be unfortunately caught in a Fusion Zone.
After sitting idle for a day or two waiting for the Fusion Zone to end, Qi Yuan finally understood something...
Now, he was in a sealed room within a Special Fusion Zone, similar to those unopenable rooms in palaces like the one codenamed "Moon Palace."
Even though he was already an SSS-level Superhuman, he couldn't forcibly break through this area.
Damn it!
Could it be that there really was a world consciousness, and upon discovering his attempt to unilaterally bind himself, it had banned him?
Over the course of several days, he had explored every inch of the room up and down, but found no mechanisms.
Fortunately, he was overpowered. He created a soul projection ability, then placed his body on the jaguar-shaped throne, maintaining a minimal energy consumption state.
With a superhuman's physical condition, he could stay like this for quite a while.
Qi Yuan truly lay like a corpse on the throne, his soul form also lying down, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He reasonably suspected he had been targeted, but had no proof.
In reality, Qi Yuan wasn't completely without options, otherwise he wouldn't be able to lie so calmly on the throne.
Qi Yuan still had several avatars outside. Although they couldn't replenish energy, if used sparingly, they could follow his plan and help him become a sharer of fate.
Perhaps this way, he could forcibly break out of this damned place.
After several probing attempts, Qi Yuan could sense that the reason he couldn't get out wasn't due to insufficient power, but rather using the wrong method.
Simply put, the normal way people leave a room is by going in and out through the door, but he couldn't find where the "door" was, so he could only try to "demolish" the "room."
Currently, he only had the power to "walk through doors," not the power to "demolish rooms."
Therefore, he needed exponentially more power to leave this place.
What kind of Husky behavior was this!
Qi Yuan adjusted his lying position, putting his palms under the back of his head, and sighed helplessly.
Although he had unfortunately been caught up in this place, it wasn't a total loss. At least there were no gods lying dormant waiting to resurrect in these sealed rooms.
He could set his mind at ease and boldly make up stories.
No, wait, he wasn't an avatar, so he couldn't transmit messages out.
With nothing else to do, Qi Yuan attempted to analyze the Fusion Zone.
From the incident with the Three Bamboo monsters, he deduced that there was a high probability of Fusion Zones occurring in unstable spatial conditions.
The spaces where Fusion Zones descended were all within human cognition, be it mythology or jungle, with no high-tech products appearing.
Moreover, every time a Special Fusion Zone with mythological characteristics appeared, it was always in a country with corresponding legends. So it should be a parallel timeline or a past timeline.
No...
If it were a temporal intersection, why weren't there any living beings from the other timeline?