Mr. Zhongli, we can't slack off anymore!

“Cesos… Ha, the one-in-a-million possessor of the Eye of God. Everyone’s ‘good friend’.” The monster’s head, or rather, the part with the human face of Bhatia, turned slightly, its empty, lifeless eyes pointing in Cethos’s direction.

What was extremely disturbing was that the lips of that ordinary man's face did not open or close at all; the sound came from the lower jaw, even lower in the throat, like a distorted vibration transmitted through thick flesh.

That face now resembled a stiff human skin mask forcibly pasted onto the monster's head, becoming the last pale and eerie "defense line" of his former humanity, futilely maintaining a trace of "human form" that had long since vanished.

“Batia!” Ignoring the barely concealed, intense jealousy and resentment in the other’s words, Sesos forced his weakened body to stand firm, his gaze piercing as he stared intently at the distorted shadow on the ceiling. His voice was unusually serious and heavy as he questioned, word by word, “Tell me, why did you participate in this…body modification experiment? What are you thinking?”

“Yes…” The monster manipulated its dozens of black, sharp limbs and began to move slowly and eerily between the ceiling and the walls, making “clucking” and “clattering” sounds that sent chills down one’s spine, gradually approaching the position where Cethos and the traveler were standing.

The voice emanating from its chin carried a self-questioning tone: "Batia, the mercenary who grew up with you, always honest and unassuming... why would you willingly lie on that cold experimental table?"

It paused, then quickened the rhythm of its limbs tapping: "You should listen to Professor Jalil's lecture. It's truly... enlightening. However, someone as 'lucky' as you, born favored by the gods and given divine eyes, probably wouldn't listen to it at all, right? In your eyes, what are the struggles and desires of us mortals?"

"Humanity should not be led by non-human beings! Humanity is too weak and too easily perishes! Humanity needs purification and transformation! Humanity is its own god!"

Bhatia's "speech" became increasingly agitated, and the voice emanating from his chin began to become sharp, high-pitched, and even carried a kind of fanatical tremor.

The traveler patiently and politely refrained from interrupting its clearly long-brewing and logically twisted declaration.

After all, just looking at "it" requires a strong mental fortitude, and listening to "it" raving insanely is also a kind of... in-depth understanding of the enemy situation?

She just silently complained to herself.

You look even less "human" than most demons...

But then, with a strange sense of "comfort," he thought: Don't be too self-conscious. With your appearance and concept, you'd be a regional boss in the "Resident Evil" series, and they'd definitely give you a place.

"Only we, the 'dust' abandoned by the gods, who wouldn't even deign to cast a glance upon us, can hear the call of this truth! If those high and mighty, self-righteous gods are unwilling to bestow their grace and blessings upon us, then we will elect new gods ourselves!"

"A new god?" the traveler interjected at the opportune moment. She pointed to a metal plaque lying on the floor next to a messy lab bench in a corner of the laboratory, which read "Mentor Jalil".

Next to the nameplate was a mass of "meat paste" that was almost unrecognizable, a mixture of flesh and bone fragments.

"Is this the tutor you mentioned, Jalil?" Her tone was calm, as if she were genuinely discussing an academic issue.

That pile of things clearly has no chance of being "restored to its original state".

The traveler even quickly made a professional judgment in his mind: the most dignified way to deal with a corpse of this condition is to incinerate it at high temperature and turn it into ashes, which would preserve the last bit of "cleanliness".

"Ha...him?" Batia's voice was filled with undisguised contempt and mockery. A barely perceptible twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth on his decorative face. "He's nothing but an arrogant and foolish scholar. He thinks he's grasped the secrets of life and can create gods... What's even more ridiculous is that he's gradually come to believe he's the supreme ruler. They're all just 'callers of gods,' sacrifices, stepping stones!"

Its voice suddenly rose, filled with frenzied self-aggrandizement: "I! I am the god born of destiny! The endpoint of evolution! The master of the new era!"

As it spoke, it raised several exceptionally thick, black, segmented limbs, like those of a leader. Then, from every crevice, vent, broken pipe, and even the tiny cracks in the walls of this enormous laboratory, countless viscous, slippery black fleshy tentacles, like gushing asphalt or expanding mycelium, rapidly seeped in and spread. They twisted and intertwined, emitting a wet, gurgling sound, and in the blink of an eye, completely sealed off and covered the door behind the traveler and Sesos, along with the surrounding walls, forming a constantly writhing, nauseating black wall of flesh, cutting off any escape route.

“Um…” The traveler raised a hand again, like a student with a question in class, her tone even carrying a hint of curiosity: “I’m also an investigator who works with the disciplinary officials, and there’s something I don’t quite understand. Since these scholars created you, and according to you, they ‘awakened’ or ‘created’ you, this ‘god,’ then why did you kill them all?” She blinked, her face full of curiosity.

"I'm genuinely curious," she thought. "After all, normal human logic simply can't comprehend the thought process of this madman. Perhaps this is the new logic after 'becoming a god'?"

"Because this world—only needs one god!" Bhatia roared, its voice filled with an undeniable possessiveness and a fanatical desire to destroy everything. As its words fell like a hammer, the dozens of black limbs that covered the ceiling, along with the hundreds of slippery, fleshy tentacles that poured out from the cracks in the walls from all directions, transformed into a deadly trap triggered simultaneously, forming a dark, malevolent "wave" that rushed towards the traveler and Sesos trapped in the center from all directions.

Its attack range and speed are so wide that they almost completely block out any room for evasion.

"Watch out!" The weakened Cysos's expression changed drastically. He could barely stand, but driven by instinct, he immediately tried to push the traveler next to him back, while preparing to desperately use his remaining elemental power for defense.

"Step back," the traveler's voice was unusually calm.

Her expression instantly vanished as she reached out and firmly pulled Sesos behind her. The golden light of rock element that had been filling her eyes now shimmered and enveloped them.

However, just a moment before those deadly black tendrils were about to touch the two...

Shila-

The piercing and dazzling lightning elemental force precisely wrapped around the first dozens of black limbs and tentacles that attacked, and the high-intensity current instantly penetrated those seemingly tough flesh and tissues.

The limbs struck by the lightning convulsed and spasmed violently, their surfaces instantly turning black and smoking. They slumped and contracted as if out of control, halting the momentum of the attack.

boom!

Almost simultaneously with the flash of lightning, a deafening explosion came from behind them.

The writhing black flesh wall that had just blocked the doorway was violently pierced and torn apart from the outside by an extremely tyrannical force.

Thick chunks of meat mixed with mucus splattered everywhere.

A figure, carrying a chilling killing intent and lingering fragments of lightning, swiftly passed through the gap in the shattered flesh wall and landed steadily in front of the traveler and Sesos, protecting them tightly behind him.

His short white hair fluttered slightly in the aftershocks of energy, and beneath the brim of his signature jackal hat, a pair of purplish-red eyes, cold as ice, were fixed on the twisted monster.

The uniquely shaped weapon in his hand, the "Staff of Crimson Sands," pointed directly at Baptiste, crackling with lightning and radiating a chilling aura of destruction.

Sino has finally arrived.

"Vice Hall Master!" Immediately afterward, another light but clearly anxious voice rang out. Jin Moli's figure nimbly slipped through the gap created by Seno, heading straight for the traveler with a clear objective.

Her face was filled with worry. As soon as she approached, she took the traveler's hands without saying a word, looked him up and down carefully, and said in a quick and soft voice, "How are you? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see!" After saying that, she even turned around very naturally and cleverly placed herself between the traveler and Sesos, using her slender body to separate them, while still holding the traveler's hand tightly.

"You're not injured, and you're not allowed to touch me." The traveler was taken aback by her overly "attentive" and "overstepping" behavior, instantly snapping out of his cold and stern demeanor in the face of a formidable enemy. He quickly and forcefully pulled his hand back from Jin Moli's warm and soft palm, and even subconsciously took half a step back to create some distance between them.