They all call me an Outer God.

[Listen up, you've entered a military restricted area. Take one more step forward, and we have the right to shoot you dead.]

[Repeat: Attention, you in front! You have entered a military restricted area. Take one more step forward, and we have the right to shoot you dead.]

Looking at the incredibly dense red dots on his body, Lia did not doubt the accuracy of the matter, but he had another important matter to accomplish during his visit.

He is from the capital.

His goal was to enter the headquarters of the Order Association, so it didn't matter how he entered. Besides, he was also curious about the current level of the association's extraordinary technology and whether it could shoulder the heavy responsibility of preparing for war.

So, faced with those merciless warnings, Ria took the first step with a mocking tone.

Immediately, his intuition told him something was wrong, and he felt a sharp pain throughout his body.

In the blink of an eye, his body was pierced through, and there was a burning smell.

"Not bad. Most extraordinary creatures cannot withstand this attack. In terms of speed and power, it is acceptable. It would be even better if it could be mass-produced."

His body continued to move forward unsteadily, thick smoke billowing from the pierced places, but soon tentacles filled them in, and golden specks of light gradually appeared.

Outside the association, the guards watched as the seemingly invincible "monster" approached them step by step. On the wide, barren plain, the "monster" exerted an oppressive force on them no less than that of a raging flood or ferocious beast.

"An extraordinary being? Or an extraordinary creature?"

Some people looked grave, observed through binoculars for a moment, and then directly ordered the weapons to continue firing.

They simply didn't believe anyone could survive a high-density barrage of bullets.

No matter what the other thing is, once it's blasted into dust, it can't still be alive.

Ike swore that if the other party could actually ignore all this and run into headquarters, he would change his name!

Just as Ike ordered the commander to increase the firepower coverage, countless bullets fired simultaneously, and the dust kicked up almost obscured most of the people's vision.

They couldn't see what was happening inside, but the telescope had an infrared sensor, and when Ike continued to observe, he found that the smoke was empty.

As if sensing something, he turned around and saw the young man sitting on a high wall, looking down at him. When he saw him looking over, the young man greeted him in a friendly manner.

"Hello--"

Ria jumped off the wall, his body completely unharmed, as if he hadn't been the one attacked.

His attitude was impeccable—gentle, humble, and assertive—but Ike reacted as if he'd seen a ghost, yelling into the communicator, "Target has breached the first line of defense. I'm dead. Tell my wife I love her!"

After saying that, he turned off the communicator, ripped open his jacket, revealing it was full of explosive devices: "I'll fight you to the death!"

As he spoke, he ran toward Ria, but tripped over a tentacle and fell with a thud.

When he looked up again, a strange, black, feathered creature appeared before him, giving him an eerie smile and uttering a ghostly voice.

Even more frighteningly, his detonator failed to explode.

In an instant, his expression changed from one of resignation to one of pleading, "Don't come any closer!"

Ria knelt down in front of him and stroked the little Swarth's head. She suddenly felt that it felt very nice to the touch. Even through the leather of her gloves, she could feel the softness of its overlapping feathers and down.

Little Swarth squinted his eyes and made a "gurgling" sound: "Aww—"

The sound nearly scared Ike out of his wits; he trembled like a leaf, then saw the person in front of him reach out his hand.

Just as he began to reminisce about his uneventful life and miserable death, the person in front of him suddenly grabbed his hand, gave it a diplomatic shake, and then helped him up.

Then, the man told him, "I'm here to turn myself in."

"what!?"

Ike felt he had never experienced such a shock in his life. Soon, more and more people gathered here, pointing their weapons at Ria. Even after hearing that he had come to surrender, they did not lower their guard in the slightest.

Ria's eyes were covered, her hands were bound, and an explosive device was placed around her neck as she was taken back to the association. They had seen superhumans before, and ordinary superhumans would never have such abnormal abilities.

This was definitely some kind of supernatural being in disguise, and his identity was quickly discovered.

This person is a disordered meme from Meme 4, and the doctor in charge of the epidemic is James Johnson; everything else is hidden.

"It seems the Keeper of the Secrets has protected his information quite well. However, this person violated the rules first. Even if we take him in, the Plague Doctors cannot break the rules to ransom him."

Ike was responsible for escorting Ria to a suitable containment cell and locking him up, and Ria cooperated perfectly throughout, as if his purpose in coming here was really just to turn himself in.

Midway through, Ria seemed to hear some fragmented whispers, presumably the contained creatures welcoming him in their own way, greeting him.

Death, you will face death—

You are not welcome here.

[Destruction, hahahahahahahaha I love destruction, what about you?]

Upon hearing this, Ria remained outwardly silent, but in reality, she responded to them one by one through telepathic communication.

Talking to me isn't free. Everything you say now will be charged according to phonetic transcription. Remember to pay the fee in the Dreamland when you have free time.

Why should we give you money?

[Good question, Hephaestus, take them away.]

As Ria's voice transmission ended, a familiar voice suddenly came from somewhere in the association.

No problem! Praise be to the faceless! But how did you know I was here?

It's true that you guys are everywhere, but your voice sounds familiar.

[Faceless, it's me, it's Xia En!]

[Shane? How did you end up here?]

[That dead Ivan... that respectable and outstanding talent insisted on stuffing me into the toilet pit in the washroom. Luckily, I have wings and a relatively smooth shell, so I managed to escape when he wasn't looking. However, I encountered a few stubborn investigators along the way.]

I hate investigators.

Do you now realize the benefits of following Sherger?

I don't want to follow him; I want to be independent and become a cultured and idealistic person.

But if you get arrested by the Order Association, you'll have a criminal record, which will prevent your child from taking civil service exams in the future, and it's uncertain whether they'll even be able to leave the country.

It's very possible that you'll be locked up here for life.

That's why I hate investigators.

Shane's voice became listless, but soon, it seemed to remember something.

【Faceless Master, the containment cell next to mine is empty. Would you like to be my neighbor? We can chat tonight.】

Ria replied quickly. "I don't want to. By the way, you also need to pay to talk to me. One syllable costs fifty swahl. Remember to pay at the Golden Church in the Dreamland. If you can't afford it, go mine in the surrounding mines."

Work as if it were daytime, rainy days as if it were sunny, and one day as if it were two. I didn't recruit you believers just for show. There are so many clones in the world; if you're not willing to work, there are plenty of clones who are.

Xia En fell silent; perhaps it had been greatly provoked at that moment.

Moreover, it was clear that Ria wasn't just joking; the Golden Church's intelligent processing mechanism would actually drag them back to the dream world while they slept and force them to work.

Capitalists are truly the most terrifying things in the world.

Shane hates capitalists, but he doesn't hate Lia; there's no contradiction.

For Seria's sake, it felt that mining wasn't a big deal.

Okay, bear with it.

It's just mining, how tiring can it be? Is it any more terrifying than following that guy Sherger who treats it like a mobile, renewable barbecue?

At this point, Shane was still unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

The other contained beings who heard Ria's voice dared not speak to him anymore, and Ria's mind immediately cleared up.

His mood improved; indeed, charging a fee was the best way to avoid harassment.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Lia was locked in a completely enclosed containment room with no windows or doors. Just being inside was very oppressive.

He was transported in by another mysterious object; theoretically, without that object, he could not leave.

There seemed to be an invisible surveillance device overhead.

The contents of the containment object next door are still unknown.

In addition, the room is furnished with a table and chairs and a bed.

It's not a big problem for Ria to lose his sight; he has plenty of eyes.

So soon, he lay down on the bed and tried to extend his consciousness to observe the containment object next door.

It seemed to sense something and twitched its leaves.

This is a bonsai, specifically a branch with lush leaves stuck in a flowerpot. It is said that once the object is pulled out of the flowerpot and inserted into the soil, its roots will grow wildly.

Finally, this plant may grow to the size of a planet, becoming the ancient star tree, an avatar of the Outer God Yggdrasil, which would destroy many planets.

Currently, it is considered an invasive species introduced from outer space, and it remains unknown who brought it to Enderus and what their purpose was.

Ria tried to talk to it, asking if it would be willing to become his follower, and that he could find it a place to live in the Dreamland.

The little twig wasn't very wise; it thought that whoever gave it a place to live was a good person, so it agreed to Ria's request, unaware that it would regret this decision in the future.

Trees that can grow continuously mean that they are a good source of timber, and with them, you can make a considerable income just by selling timber.

While the association members were still wondering about his arrival, little did they know that Ria had already begun to plan how to maximize profits from the containment object.

True businessmen never complain about the environment.

There are opportunities everywhere if you want to make money.

"Let me see if there are any other containment objects I can exploit... No, no, that's not why I came here."

Ria temporarily put aside the idea of ​​exploiting other contained beings and began trying to find the consciousness of her mentor.

Only a part of the good mentor is incomplete; human good and evil are balanced. Moreover, the consciousness of the brain that is separated from the body will not live for long; it is merely forced to believe that it is alive by extraordinary pollution.

But this process will certainly not be easy. Ria has accepted the original owner's memories and knows that her mentor is not easy to get along with.

"Hope everything goes well."

He closed his eyes and prayed in his heart: "Praise the truth."

"Mentor, mentor, are you nearby? I'm coming to rescue you!"

【tutor?】

[Mr. Ivand, where are you?]

Ria called out to her mentor, but received no response.

He recalled past memories, and it seemed that long ago, Ivand had taught him the method of separating consciousness, which was easier to succeed in if one was in good physical condition and less likely to be discovered.

Lia tried to separate part of his soul consciousness from himself, causing his main body to fall into a state of suspended animation, and he succeeded.

The next second, he passed through the wall that bound him, walked out, and began to look for the place where his mentor was imprisoned.

Although he could reveal his identity directly, he was no longer human, and it was still unknown whether the higher-ups would change their attitude towards him.

Along the way, he went into the rooms of other contained creatures to ask for directions. Most of the contained creatures showed considerable hostility towards him, a few ignored him, and a very small number were terrified of him as soon as they saw him, but their fear was also vaguely revealed as fanaticism.

Lia was a little confused. She hadn't done anything wrong, so why were they reacting this way?

He began to try to search his memories, trying to figure out where those people would have locked up his mentor.

As he pondered this, he found the monitoring room again, stood in front of the monitor screen, and had a clear view of everything.

Soon, Ria found the person she was looking for.

Most of his head had been cut off, leaving his skull empty, while the other half of his skull was left lying on the ground unattended.

Upon seeing this, his body twisted for a moment, just like Hephaestus before him, with malfunctioning fluctuations appearing around his body. However, Ria quickly restrained his emotions and turned to leave.

He went to the detention room where his mentor was being held and witnessed the horrific scene. The impact was far greater than watching it on a screen, because the person in front of him was completely unrecognizable as a human being; it was as if a pile of charred remains had been pieced together.

[They treat you like this, what are you still worried about?]

Ria walked around the bed.

Humanity may not be worth saving, and perhaps I should support the Radiant Sun, but His purpose is not merely to slaughter sinners; He is simply to satisfy His perverse desire for destruction.

The sinner's sins should be borne by the sinner himself, and innocent lives should not be involved. I believe you are more discerning than I am on this point, therefore I need to awaken you here.

As Ria spoke, she began to call upon the Primordial Pillar God in her heart. He was omniscient and omnipotent, and there was almost nothing He could not do. If He were to take action, the mentor could be awakened almost immediately.

Even though it might contort my body, I can't worry about that now.

Praying to Him comes at a price. Ria carefully considered what offering to make to please Him, but the next second, her mentor's hand moved unexpectedly.

Although it was only for a brief moment, Ria was certain that it had indeed moved.

(End of this chapter)