Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 66 Echoes of Resistance

It was a scene full of contradictions and disharmony.

Ruan Bo's body, which should have belonged to a free scholar pursuing the truth of history and folklore, was now like a sacrifice possessed by a deity, suspended high in mid-air by countless pulsating black cables. His handsome but slightly neurotic pale face was devoid of any human expression, only an absolute indifference like that of a meticulously sculpted doll.

However, the mental pressure emanating from his not-so-strong body was as immense as a supervolcano about to erupt, even more pure and refined than the previous "head nurse" composed of countless eyeballs!

The will of the "Tower" clearly saw him as a more perfect "container" than Yao. Instead of using methods of pollution and distortion to transform him, it used a domineering approach to completely "format" his soul essence, which belonged to the dreamer, and then "downloaded" a part of its own will into it.

At this moment, Ruan Bo is no longer Ruan Bo. He is a walking "terminal," a war machine that exists solely to execute the highest orders of the "Tower."

"...Purge...all...heretics!"

When that voice, which did not belong to him, slowly escaped from his mouth, the entire underground dome space, which was shaking violently, froze for a moment.

The beast hounds that had been frantically attacking Mo Fei like a tidal wave suddenly stopped their attack when they sensed the arrival of this superior will.

They all turned around in unison, and with their round mouthparts filled with teeth like shards of glass, they emitted a low, reverent hiss towards the figure suspended in mid-air, as if subjects were paying homage to a king.

Even the cradle, the massive energy sphere engaged in a fierce data battle with Lance, experienced a slight disruption in its pulsation due to this newly emerging and immense threat.

"Damn it! Another one?!"

Mo Fei, who was guarding the stairwell alone, showed genuine seriousness for the first time in his bloodshot eyes when he saw the suddenly appearing "Ruan Bo". He could clearly feel the dangerous aura emanating from the man hanging in mid-air, an aura that was even more terrifying than the dozens of biological hounds combined.

"Lan Ce! What is that?!" An Mu's voice was filled with shock and disbelief.

“It’s…it’s Ruan Bo! But…he’s been completely controlled by the ‘Tower’!” Lan Ce’s voice was filled with horror. “His mental energy fluctuations…are now completely synchronized with the ‘Tower’s’ frequency! He is now…he is now a miniature ‘Tower’!”

Suspended in mid-air, Ruan Bo's pure black eyes, which swirled like a vortex, slowly turned and finally locked onto An Mu, who was kneeling on the edge of the "cradle" and struggling to support the entire protective barrier with his "Iron Wall Royal Authority".

In his "vision", Anmu is no longer a person, but an "anomaly" that shines with dazzling golden light and is out of step with the "rules" of this world that are full of distortion and pollution.

The highest command of the "Tower" is to eliminate all "abnormalities".

Ruan Bo slowly raised his right hand.

As he moved, the surrounding space began to distort violently. Countless ominous black runes appeared out of thin air, frantically converging towards his palm.

Finally, the runes coalesced in his palm into a black spear composed entirely of darkness and twisted rules.

The spear was wreathed in black energy arcs like lightning, and with each flash, the surrounding space groaned in agony as if it were about to collapse.

"Target locked...Clearance initiation."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly pulled the arm holding the black spear back, and then threw it forward with a speed that exceeded the limits of human dynamic vision!
"call out--!"

The black spear transformed into a bolt of black lightning powerful enough to tear the sky apart. With an irresistible "sure-hit" concept, it ignored the distance in space and instantly appeared in front of An Mu!
"team leader!"

Mo Fei and Lan Ce both let out a horrified roar.

An Mu's pupils contracted to pinpoints. He could clearly feel the terrifying power contained within the black spear. It wasn't a simple energy attack; it was a higher-level "rule" obliteration! If struck by it, his "Iron Wall Royal Authority" would be instantly pierced, and his soul would be utterly torn apart by that distorted rule in an instant!
He tried to dodge, but his body was pinned to the spot because he had to maintain the entire protective barrier, and he couldn't move at all!
At this critical moment.

A burly figure, faster than the black lightning, appeared like a crimson meteorite falling from the sky, instantly blocking his path!

It's Mo Fei!
At the most critical moment, he actually abandoned the defense of the stairwell, concentrated all his strength in his legs and launched a desperate charge, using his body to build the last line of defense for his captain!
"You want to mess with our captain?!"

Mo Fei let out a deafening roar, his crimson eyes burning with the purest desire to protect. He crossed the two high-frequency battle axes in front of his chest, forming a cross-shaped shield. The crimson energy flames surrounding him, like blood, burned to their fullest extent at this moment!
"First, ask my two axes if they agree!"

The next second, the black spear that was powerful enough to obliterate the rules collided violently with the cross-shaped battle axe formed by the will of guardianship!
"clang--!"

A deafening roar, seemingly capable of shattering eardrums, resounded throughout the entire underground dome!
A visible circular shockwave erupted from the two of them, spreading outwards with a deafening roar! The surrounding ground was scraped away by several feet under the terrifying impact!

Under the immense impact of the black spear, Mo Fei's burly body plowed two deep furrows, each half a meter deep, into the ground with his feet. He was pushed backward more than ten meters before finally crashing heavily into the golden protective barrier erected by An Mu with a muffled thud!
"puff--!"

A mouthful of bright red blood gushed from Mo Fei's mouth. The two high-frequency battle axes he had used to parry, made of a special alloy, were now covered with spiderweb-like cracks, like glass struck by a hammer, and a huge nick appeared on the axe blade!

His sturdy combat uniform was pierced through the chest by the tip of the spear, leaving a gaping hole in his chest!
But he... ultimately managed to block it.

He sacrificed his own body, which was nearly shattered, to take the fatal blow for his comrades behind him.

"Mo Fei!"

Anmu and Lance simultaneously let out a grief-stricken roar.

"Cough...cough...I won't die..." Mo Fei leaned against the protective barrier, struggling to lift his head. A defiant and unyielding smile spread across his pale face, which had become somewhat bloodless. "With...this little bit of strength...you think you can...tickle me?"

In mid-air, a hint of confusion, as if due to a data error, appeared for the first time in the pure black eyes of "Ruan Bo," who was suspended there. In his "calculations," this attack should have been fatal. He couldn't understand why this creature, which he considered incredibly "inferior," could suddenly unleash such immense power.

During this brief stalemate, the light inside the giant energy sphere "cradle," which had been undergoing "purification," suddenly surged to its maximum intensity in an instant!

……

Within that lake of consciousness composed of dazzling data streams.

The blue power formed by Bai Yu and Lu Yueqi working together has completely driven Yao's remaining will to the brink of despair.

"No... I won't lose! I am the master of this place! I am the one chosen by the 'Tower'!"

Yao let out a final, unwilling scream. She gathered all the remaining power of corruption within her, transforming it into a gigantic, grotesque face filled with countless twisted features. It opened its blood-red maw and launched a final counterattack against the two of them!

"ended."

Bai Yu's voice was calm and undisturbed.

He and Lu Yueqi exchanged a glance, both seeing a tacit understanding in each other's eyes that needed no words.

They abandoned all defense and instead condensed their icy blue power into a massive longsword formed from the concept of "annihilation." Then, together, they gripped the hilt and thrust it fiercely at the oncoming gigantic ghost face!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any devastating energy clash.

The moment the ice-blue longsword touched the giant ghost face, it was like a red-hot iron meeting ice and snow, silently cleaving it in two.

The grotesque face, filled with resentment and malice, did not dissipate after being cut open; instead, it was completely "frozen" and "purified" by the icy blue power. The distorted expressions on its face gradually faded, eventually restoring it to the appearance of a young girl in a white nurse's uniform, with a hint of timidity and unease on her face.

That was the Yao people before they were polluted.

For the first time, a sliver of human clarity returned to her empty eyes. She looked at Bai Yu and Lu Yueqi before her, then at her own slowly dissipating, translucent body, and a bitter smile, filled with guilt and relief, appeared on her face.

"Thank you... all of you..."

She whispered her last words in a voice only she could hear.

"Finally... it can... be over..."

With a sigh of relief, her body completely transformed into countless specks of light and vanished into the lake of data, leaving no trace.

With the complete elimination of Yao, the biggest "virus," the entire "cradle" system was finally freed from decades of constraints and began to operate at an unprecedented speed and efficiency!
An immense spiritual energy, beyond description, surged forth like a flood, flowing wildly through the ice-blue bridge constructed by Lu Yueqi's will into Bai Yu's long-dried sea of ​​souls!
"Well--!"

Bai Yu let out a painful groan.

He felt as if his soul had been thrown into a giant furnace, and was being thoroughly "reshaped" and "repaired" by that enormous energy!
Those soul rifts that had plagued him for a year and caused him unbearable pain began to heal rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye under the cleansing force of that warm and vast energy!

……

outside world.

The "Ruan Bo" suspended in mid-air seemed to sense the changes inside the "cradle." For the first time, a genuine sense of "urgency" appeared in his pure black eyes.

He raised his hand again, preparing to conjure a second black spear to completely eliminate these troublesome "ants" in front of him.

However, at that moment, an unprecedentedly dazzling white light suddenly erupted from inside the huge energy sphere "cradle" that had been in a passive defensive state!
Immediately afterwards, a huge beam of light shot out from the sphere of light like divine punishment, slamming into "Ruan Bo" in mid-air at a speed exceeding the speed of light!

"Do not--!"

A scream filled with resentment and horror escaped his lips.

His body, possessed by the will of the "Tower," began to rapidly dissolve under the pure white purifying light!

The black cables wrapped around him were snapped one by one! The ominous rune marks on his body were also erased bit by bit!

Finally, the immense will belonging to the "Tower" that had been residing within him was completely expelled by the purifying power from the "Cradle" after letting out a final, unwilling roar. That will transformed into a wisp of black smoke and vanished into that distorted space.

Ruan Bo's body, like a puppet with its strings cut, fell helplessly from mid-air.

With a loud thud, Ruan Bo crashed heavily onto the wrecked ground and lost consciousness.

With the two greatest threats eliminated one after another, the endless biological hounds seemed to lose all their source of power. Their bodies quickly withered and eventually turned into puddles of green, viscous liquid that blended into the slippery floor.

The entire massive underground dome space finally returned to calm after this thrilling battle.

"Win...win?"

Looking at this unbelievable scene before him, Lan Ce spoke in a dry voice.

An Mu also deactivated his "Iron Wall Royal Authority". He looked at Mo Fei, who was lying in a pool of blood with a silly smile on his face, then looked at Ruan Bo, who had fallen unconscious from mid-air, and finally turned his gaze to the huge energy ball that had resumed its steady pulsation.

They won.

But this war... is far from over.

Just then, the light from the giant energy sphere gradually faded.

Two figures slowly floated out from the center of the sphere of light and finally gently landed on the ground.

It's Bai Yu and Lu Yueqi.

Lu Yueqi had already fallen into a coma due to overexertion and was being carefully held in Bai Yu's arms.

Bai Yu slowly opened his eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

His eyes were still deep, but the weariness and brokenness that had long lingered between his brows had vanished without a trace. In their place was a clarity and radiance like the sky after a rain.

His soul... was completely healed.

He slowly raised his right hand and looked at the still clear "Eye of the Vortex" mark on the back of his hand.

The malicious spying from "the Tower" still exists.

But this time, he felt no passivity or unease whatsoever.

He simply raised his head, casting his calm yet powerful gaze upon the unseen void, as if issuing a challenge filled with fighting spirit to that lofty being.

"next time……"

he said softly.

"...It's my turn to come find you now."

(End of this chapter)