Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Gulu tried to open these isolation chambers, but the defensive capabilities of these materials were significantly higher than those of ordinary materials.

"Tsk, really sturdy." Gulu curled his lip. "Looks like there's no way we can pry it open quietly."

Lin Yi ignored Gulu's complaints and turned his gaze back to the researcher who was almost collapsing to the ground.

The other person's white coat was stained with dirt and cold sweat. His body was trembling like a leaf, his eyes were unfocused, and his lips were opening and closing unconsciously, emitting unintelligible breaths.

His psychological defenses had clearly collapsed, but excessive fear and long-term mental stress had left his thinking on the verge of chaos and madness, making it impossible for him to ask many coherent questions.

Lin Yi walked up to him expressionlessly and raised his hand without warning—

Snapped!Snapped!
Two crisp, loud slaps landed squarely on the researcher's face.

The immense force jolted his head to one side, his cheek instantly swelling and turning red, leaving clear finger marks, and even a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

This sudden physical stimulus seemed to forcibly interrupt the vicious cycle of fear in his mind. He turned his head blankly, and the unfocused and crazy look in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by a fear of violence and a trace of bewildered clarity, as if he had been forcibly pulled out of a nightmare.

Lin Yi stared into his eyes and pointed to Zero's isolation pod: "Open it."

"Open it?" The researcher was somewhat dazed from the beating, but upon hearing this request, his pupils contracted again in fear. He shook his head frantically, as if he had heard the most terrifying thing in the world. "No! No! Absolutely not! Those crystals... those particles... high concentration... if they leak out... we'll all die! Or become like them! We can't open it!"

His voice grew increasingly shrill, and his breathing became rapid again, as if the frenzied state he had just been brought back by the slap was about to return.

Lin Yi frowned, having neither the time nor the patience to soothe her slowly.

He sighed and winked at Gulu beside him.

Gulu understood immediately and moved with ghostly speed, instantly stepping forward and delivering a precise chop to the researcher's neck.

The researcher's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

Before he completely lost consciousness, Lin Yi had already taken out a high-pressure injector and plunged it into his jugular vein without hesitation.

A mixture of powerful sedatives and muscle relaxants was rapidly administered.

The researcher's last shred of will to struggle vanished, and he fell into a deep coma, collapsing to the ground like a rag doll, with only his chest maintaining a faint rise and fall under the influence of medication.

Gulu kicked the researcher who had completely lost consciousness, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes: "Should we eliminate this threat completely? It's just a burden to keep it around."

Lin Yi shook his head and pointed to the wristwatch on the researcher's wrist, whose screen was still dimly lit after the alarm had just sounded: "This thing isn't just for show. It triggered the alarm just because he temporarily left the designated area. If his vital signs had completely disappeared, do you think it would have just given a voice prompt? This is just right. His vital signs are stable, so it won't trigger a higher-level alarm immediately, giving us more time."

Gulu pursed his lips, seemingly agreeing with the assessment, but still muttered, "So troublesome."

The two ignored the unconscious researcher on the ground and focused all their attention on the isolation pod.

Lin Yi tried swiping his access card towards the sensor area next to the hatch.

[Beep! Insufficient permissions! Warning: Level A permissions do not allow operation of Level S isolation units!]

The cold, electronic voice ruthlessly rejected his access, and a red lock icon flashed on the control panel screen.

On the control panel, in addition to the card slot, there is a clearly defined fingerprint recognition area and an iris scanner.

Clearly, accessing this requires specific individuals' biometric permissions.

"Tch, what a hassle." He spat. "Looks like that guy doesn't have enough authority to open these 'finished' hulls."

Lin Yi's eyes turned slightly cold. Since the normal way was not working, he would use his own method.

With a thought, the black and white rose quietly slipped into his hand.

Lin Yi grasped the sword hilt and gently pressed it against the wall of the isolation chamber where Zero was, then thrust it downwards with a slight force.

laugh--

A very faint cracking sound was heard.

The special polymer composite material, which can withstand heavy blows, was easily pierced by the sharpness of the black and white rose, leaving a small hole.

The pale blue nutrient solution immediately gushed out from the small hole, flowing onto the ground with a slightly sweet and fishy smell.

Lin Yi and Gulu took a half step back, carefully observing the cabin and the small hole.

There were no piercing alarms, no flashing red lights, only a slight hissing sound caused by changes in internal liquid pressure.

The internal systems of the cabin seemed to classify this localized damage as "tolerable damage" or "internal pressure change," and did not trigger the highest level of leak alarm, which gave Lin Yi more room to maneuver.

Without further hesitation, he flicked his wrist, and the longsword drew a chilling arc.

Swish!
The tough bulkhead was like a torn sheet of paper, with a huge gap neatly cut upwards from the small hole that was pierced!

More nutrient solution gushed out like a burst dam, instantly spreading across the ground and forming an ever-expanding blue puddle with tiny, shimmering crystalline particles floating in it.

Zero's body lost the buoyancy of the liquid and slid out through the breach, landing with a "plop" on the cold, nutrient-soaked ground, motionless, like a bizarre sculpture washed ashore.

Before taking action, Lin Yi had already taken out two functional masks that covered most of his face from his storage space and threw one to Gulu.

"Put it on. This thing was custom-made by someone at a high price. It has a built-in micro-ecological circulation system, and its purification efficiency is comparable to the life support unit of a small spaceship. It can filter out most known biological and chemical toxins and even negative energy erosion." Lin Yi explained as he skillfully put the mask on his face. The smart material on the edge of the mask automatically contracted to fit tightly against his skin, forming a perfect sealed environment.

The eye uses two advanced composite lenses to provide clear vision and a variety of environmental data tracking.

Gulu put it on as instructed, and the mask automatically adapted to her face shape.

She took a curious breath and found the air to be unusually fresh and dry, completely isolating her from the increasingly strong strange smell from the outside world.

Fully armed, the two carefully approached Zero, who was lying on the ground.

Lin Yi squatted down and unceremoniously pried open Zero's eyelids.

The exposed eyeball was cloudy and covered with a spiderweb-like crystalline structure. The pupil did not react to light and was very dilated, almost occupying the entire iris.

He then took out a small flashlight to examine various nerve responses, such as the knee-jerk reflex.

The results were disappointing. Although Zero's body maintained minimal physiological activity, it showed almost no valuable response to external stimuli, which closely matched the medical definition of a vegetative state.

"How is it?" Gulu asked in a low voice from the side.

“The body is still ‘alive,’ but it’s empty inside, or rather, the ‘signal’ has been cut off,” Lin Yi concluded, his brow furrowed. The situation was worse than he had anticipated.

He pondered for a moment and decided to try some unconventional methods.

He reached out his hand, and the purification spell landed on Zero's body.

"Huh? It didn't work?" Gulu was a little surprised, but more puzzled. "Did your purification spell fail? Or is this guy so 'dirty' that he's beyond saving?"

In her view, while purification spells rarely fail, they are not impossible, since the effectiveness of a spell depends on the level of authority of both parties.

Upon seeing this scene, Lin Yi's heart sank.

Gulu didn't understand, but he knew it himself!

EX-level purification techniques have an extremely high level of authority. Beings below the absolute power level, as long as they are in an "abnormal state," should more or less react, at least being stimulated by the purification power to produce a rejection or purification effect.

But now, this utter sense of "nothingness" makes it seem as if the target of the purification spell doesn't exist at all.

In an instant, a host of clues rapidly connected in Lin Yi's mind: the spreading narcolepsy, the bizarre dreams, the sleepers who couldn't be awakened, the crystallization of the body, the ineffective purification technique, and this "hospital" that exuded an eeriness and surrealism, as well as the overly smooth infiltration and the researcher in front of him who easily broke down yet seemed to know some inside information...

A bold conjecture took shape in his mind.

The inquiry on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a sense of understanding and... a hint of mockery at being fooled by a clumsy trick.

He stood up and, without a shred of pity, kicked Zero's cracked and fragile body away, letting him roll like a rag doll into a puddle of nutrient solution.

Gulu was stunned by Lin Yi's sudden and rough action. "What did you find? Is this guy beyond saving? Or..."

She seemed to vaguely sense that something was wrong, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Lin Yi did not answer her, but instead looked around the hall filled with countless "crystal coffins".

"I realized we were wasting our time on a carefully arranged but superfluous stage, acting alongside an actor who thought he was hiding his true abilities but was actually full of flaws."

Before he finished speaking, a thought struck him, and the shadow beside him surged violently like boiling ink.

The next moment, hundreds of Shadow Legion soldiers swarmed out of the shadows.

Upon receiving Lin Yi's order, they immediately transformed into the most efficient destroyers, wielding weapons formed from shadows and frantically smashing the surrounding isolation chambers, control consoles, energy pipelines, and all the seemingly sophisticated instruments!
Boom! Bang! Sizzle—! Crack!

A deafening roar of destruction instantly replaced the previous silence. The isolation pod was violently dismantled, with fragments flying everywhere. Blue nutrient solution poured out like a waterfall, and the "patients" inside fell to the ground.

Sparks flew from the console, the screen shattered, wires were snapped, and dazzling electrical sparks erupted.

The energy pipeline was severed, and the leaking energy emitted a dangerous hiss, which then triggered a more violent explosion.

The flames spread rapidly, engulfing everything flammable. Thick smoke billowed up, and the piercing fire alarm was finally triggered, emitting an extremely sharp siren. The red warning lights flashed wildly, illuminating the entire hellish scene in a bizarre and grotesque way.

Lin Yi stood in the center of this raging, exploding inferno, his eyes behind the mask cold and calm, as if waiting for something.

Although Gulu didn't understand why, he immediately went into battle stance.

Soon, hurried, chaotic footsteps and tense shouts came from the direction of the elevator.

Several fully armed guards in heavy protective suits rushed in, seemingly drawn by the commotion and the fire alarm.

But before they could even see the situation in the center of the fire, or even raise their weapons, Lin Yi simply raised his hand casually, the tip of the Black and White Rose Sword slightly raised.

A black sword aura, condensed to its fullest extent, flew out from the blade, silently sweeping across the space between the two.

The guards, along with the elevator car door behind them, were instantly and neatly split in two.

Before the blood and entrails could even spill, they were eroded and annihilated by the abyssal power attached to the sword energy!

The elevator shaft behind them echoed with a sickening metallic crack and a deafening crash of falling weight—the entire elevator had been severed from its cables by that terrifying sword strike and plummeted to the ground.

After clearing out the remaining enemies, Lin Yi turned his gaze back to the entrance to the fire.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred.

The researcher, who should have been knocked out by the powerful anesthetic and muscle relaxant and collapsed on the ground like a dead dog, actually... stood up unsteadily.

His eyes had completely changed; they were no longer filled with fear, exhaustion, and collapse, but rather with emptiness, indifference, and a hint of curiosity and scrutiny deep within.

The energy fluctuations emanating from him had also completely changed, subtly bringing a chilling sense of threat, making him seem like a completely different person from before.

He walked step by step into the raging inferno.

Even more bizarrely, wherever he went, the raging flames seemed to come alive, fearfully parting to make way for him, as if paying homage to their king.

Ignoring all the destruction and chaos around him, he walked straight up to Lin Yi. Through the mask, his inhuman eyes seemed to be able to see Lin Yi's expression directly.

He asked in a calm, almost imperceptible tone, yet with a genuine hint of doubt, "Where... is the problem with this scene?"

"This is a reflection of your deepest memories and perceptions, and it should be flawless enough to fool the prey and make them fall in love with it until they melt away."

“My plan was to quietly replace the rules of the two worlds, solidify this ‘echo’ into a new outer world, and drag the reality you are familiar with into the inner world to complete the final devouring. Why… did you see through the plan just as it was starting? This doesn’t make sense.”

A cold smile, as if to say "I knew it," appeared on Lin Yi's face beneath the mask. The smile was full of mockery for some kind of overconfident behavior.

He had no interest in answering the other person's questions, much less in engaging in any form of debate or satisfying their curiosity.

The response was an incredibly fast sword strike!
The black and white roses, like lightning tearing through the night sky, instantly pierced the "researcher's" chest.

However, no blood flowed out.

The pierced "researcher" stiffened abruptly, then a bizarre expression appeared on his face, like a meticulously crafted but suddenly broken puppet.

His body began to collapse like a sand sculpture, starting from the sword wound, quickly turning into wisps of thick, ink-black mist that drifted upwards.

At the same time, the entire underground space began to undergo changes that could not be explained by common sense.

The surrounding scenery began to flicker and distort wildly.

One second, Lin Yi and Gulu were standing in the burning isolation ward hall; the next second, the ground beneath their feet might have become an ancient stone-paved riverbed flowing with sewage, while overhead might be the wooden beams and chandeliers of a medieval restaurant, and the walls might be the pale plaster of a modern hospital haphazardly glued together with the stone walls of an ancient castle… Fragments of scenes from different eras, styles, and functions are forcibly pieced together in one space, yet the seams fit together strangely, forming a bizarre, surreal landscape that is both absurd and chilling.

The entire world, like a virtual reality game whose resource library has collapsed, is completely disintegrating and rebuilding before their eyes, revealing its bizarre and fantastical nature.

Meanwhile, the black mist emanating from the researcher's body slowly condensed in the center of the distorted space.

"An interesting reaction." The black mist emitted a voice that was neither male nor female, which echoed directly in the minds of the two people.

"A crude method. You think you can weave a perfect cage just by peeking at some fragments?"

"Rough?" The black mist's voice carried a hint of offense, and the surrounding space distorted even more violently. A huge library bookshelf crashed down. "This all originates from yourselves! Your fears, your memories, your understanding of 'research' and 'dreams'!"

"No, you're just clumsily imitating and piecing things together." Lin Yi sneered, the tip of his sword casually slicing through a bizarre combination of half a medieval candlestick and half a modern IV stand that floated past him, and the thing immediately vanished like a bubble.

"The truth lies in the internal logical consistency, in the fact that even the absurd is self-contained, allowing people to become immersed in it without realizing it, rather than this meaningless chaotic hodgepodge. You are too eager to achieve results, too eager to crush us with fear and grotesqueness, which has exposed your existence—a rudimentary form that has not yet fully mastered the rules of this place and can only rely on brute force to distort reality. It may even be just a 'BUG' that was accidentally generated in the operation of a larger system and has a little self-awareness."

The black mist churned violently, and Lin Yi's words struck at the truth it least wanted to admit.

"As for why you were able to see through it so quickly? The biggest flaw is your ignorance of our true nature."

"You have no idea where we come from. You try to pry into our memories to construct a scene, but all you see are superficial fragments. So the scene you weave is full of contradictions and inconsistencies from the very beginning, just like someone who doesn't understand passwords trying to decipher encrypted information and only getting a bunch of meaningless gibberish."

The sarcasm in Lin Yi's words was quite obvious.

Even if Lin Yi and Gulu don't see the problem in a short time, the other party will definitely reveal a flaw after a long time.

The reason is simple: neither of them are locals of the Land of Slumber. If they can't explain the situation regarding the Paradise of Reincarnation, loopholes will inevitably appear sooner or later. (End of Chapter)