Yu Sheng had no idea how many terrifying and bizarre figures had suddenly erged from the mist—he only knew they were everywhere, staggering and swaying. Abstract human silhouettes drawn from colorful lines materialized straight out of thin air, instantly flooding his vision. Their numbers swelled rapidly, becoming a surging tide that filled the entire block.
Swarm-type Entity—now Yu Sheng truly understood what the word “swarm” ant when applied to an Entity.
In fact, he strongly suspected he had stumbled upon the largest cluster of the Entity known as “Carnival Revelers” right now. The swaying figures on the street had to number in the tens of thousands!
The crowd surged forward with illusory yet continuous cheers, popping of festive cannons, bursting balloons, and off-key celebratory music echoing as if from above and below. Those bizarre and frightening figures stretched out their hands toward Yu Sheng and his companions, their distorted heads cracking open into chaotic grins, inviting the newcors to join in their boundless and invisible revelry.
“Awoooo—”
A wolf’s howl shattered the noisy chaos. Countless Shadow Wolves charged into the oncoming chaotic lines of Entities, tearing them into even more tangled remnants. At the sa ti, Fox Fire blanketed the sky—Foxy maintained her form as the nine-tailed Demon Fox, her silver-white tails blossoming dramatically behind her, unleashing fierce barrages of scorching fire like whips against the massed swarm of Entities.
Yet their sheer number was overwhelming. No matter how fiercely the Wolf pack and Fox Fire barrage assailed the tide of revelers, Entities kept breaking through the blockade and closing in on Yu Sheng’s group.
Yu Sheng swung his battle staff, smashing each laughing reveler that approached into fragnts. He carefully avoided direct contact—even brushing against the “color” released upon their destruction was dangerous enough.
Individually, the revelers posed little threat; Yu Sheng even found that the feedback from striking them was lighter than hitting those Evil Wolves in the Black Forest. But their endless number and ear-splitting cacophony soon beca overwhelming pressure.
Each defeated reveler burst into countless colored paper shreds like festive confetti, quickly covering the streets.
And still, they continued pouring forth—tens of thousands of Swarm Entities rapidly materializing from the mist.
“These things are worse than that ‘Ink Stain’ we faced earlier!” Irene shrieked. “Do they even have any weakness?!”
“In the Otherworld ‘Naless Carnival,’ you’d just find a plaster clown with a balloon hat, drink the sweet wine he offers, and the crowd would disperse!” Little Red Riding Hood shouted angrily as she struggled to maintain the Wolf pack’s defensive periter. “But this place…this isn’t the Naless Carnival! Where the heck are we supposed to find a clown here?!”
“If we have to, let’s just retreat…” Irene tugged at Yu Sheng’s hair urgently. “We can’t beat them all… Entities like these have their rules locked inside their original Otherworld—now they’re loose here with no weaknesses!”
Yu Sheng gritted his teeth. Retreat wasn’t his first choice since they were here to rescue soone, but they hadn’t even seen the person they ca to save yet. Continuing seed futile—the revelers multiplied at an unnatural pace, their untouchable nature making escape thods incredibly risky. At this point, opening a Door and fleeing seed like the only rational option…
But just then, he suddenly heard a strange humming noise piercing the air.
It sounded like so kind of high-frequency interference, disturbing even the already chaotic noise.
“Arghh!” Irene imdiately began shouting again. “What is it this ti?! Can we not—”
Before she could finish, a brilliant flash tore through the air, plunging straight into the mass of revelers, causing a violent explosion.
Then ca more flashes—heavy fire from an unknown source blanketed the street, ripping massive holes through the carnival horde.
Yu Sheng instinctively looked skyward.
One after another, massive figures two or three ters tall, clad in black powered armor, suddenly appeared ten ters above the street, falling like cannonballs into the Entity swarm.
Dozens of these heavily armored warriors erged abruptly from the sky, jetpacks and waist-mounted thrusters blasting aside groups of Entities even before they touched down. Imdiately upon landing, they ford seven or eight tight firing positions with dazzling coordination, thodically covering each other as they unleashed furious firepower against anything moving that wasn’t an ally.
The weapons in their hands were enormous and heavy, firing not bullets but blazing spheres of light. When those glowing rounds touched anything, they erupted instantly into white-hot fireballs a ter wide, incinerating everything within that blazing sphere. Amid the chaos, a dozen soldiers in lightweight powered armor raced through the battlefield, wielding glowing energy swords to swiftly cut down any Entity that broke through their defense line.
These warriors showed no fear of touching the colorful, thread-like outlines of the Carnival Revelers that could normally assimilate a person. Their powered armor shielded every inch of their bodies, further protected by thick energy barriers.
Perched on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, Irene stared wide-eyed at the scene unfolding on the street below. After a long pause, she murmured, “Whoa…”
Little Red Riding Hood exhaled deeply, relief washing over her face. “Special Affairs Bureau finally made it. But why so many? There must be seventy or eighty Deep Divers here… I’ve never seen such a large-scale deploynt.”
Yu Sheng didn’t respond. Curiosity and astonishnt flickered in his eyes as he watched these armored warriors—standing nearly three ters tall—slice effortlessly through the battlefield like farrs harvesting crops. The longer he stared, the more familiar their suits appeared.
Suddenly, one of the massive, black-armored warriors stepped forward, flanked by two slightly smaller comrades. Approaching Foxy in her imposing nine-tailed Demon Fox form, he reached up to tap his helt.
The thick faceplate snapped open, revealing Xu Jiali’s cheerful, sowhat goofy grin.
Xu Jiali tilted his head back, looking at the awe-inspiring Demon Fox towering before him. His gaze then shifted to Yu Sheng’s group and the thick layer of colorful confetti littering the ground around them. After a long pause, he finally spoke, “…You guys can really fight. When I dived down and saw ten thousand Entities surrounding you, my blood went cold. I even started imagining where the Director would bury afterward.”
Little Red Riding Hood sighed, exhaustion clear on her face. “Stop flattering. Two more minutes and we were going to run. Good thing you brought enough people.”
“Headquarters sent everyone they had on standby. The situation was unusual, and the Deep Sea Echo from our trackers indicated sothing seriously wrong down here,” Xu Jiali explained. Without turning his head, he casually raised his hand and fired off a shot, obliterating several Carnival Revelers erging from the fog. That huge cannon he wielded probably weighed more than Little Red Riding Hood, yet he swung it around as easily as if it were a feather. “If we’d had more prep ti, we’d have brought the ‘Hunting Owl’ along.”
Irene blinked. “The what?”
Xu Jiali chuckled. “An atmospheric bombing vessel equipped with a Machine Spirit. It can execute Deep Dive missions alongside us, but it takes longer to prepare.”
At this mont, Yu Sheng, silent until now, suddenly blinked. Recognition flashed in his eyes as mories fell into place.
“Oh! I recognize it now!” He pointed excitedly at Xu Jiali’s armor. “I opened a Door once and saw two people fighting on an alien planet—one of them wore exactly this kind of suit…”
Xu Jiali’s expression froze on his face.
He had nearly forgotten about that incident…
Yu Sheng imdiately noticed the change in Xu Jiali’s deanor. Initially surprised by how closely Xu’s armor matched his mories, realization quickly dawned on him. “…Wait, don’t tell that was you?”
Xu Jiali reached up to scratch his head, forgetting the helt and clanging his hand awkwardly against the tal.
“Yeah, that was ,” he admitted sheepishly.
Yu Sheng: “…”
Xu Jiali: “…”
Both spoke simultaneously:
“Why didn’t you say sothing?”
“You didn’t ask!”
“Honestly…” After two seconds of embarrassed silence, Xu Jiali spoke again, looking more uncomfortable than ever. “At first, I had to keep it secret. That was a classified mission. Later on, the timing just never felt right. You know how it is—so things, if you don’t say them right away…”
He paused, lifting his massive cannon again (Yu Sheng struggled to see the thing as a re “gun”) and blasted several Carnival Revelers that had escaped his comrades’ barrage, sending confetti swirling into the air once more. Then he finished, “If you don’t speak up at first, it just gets harder later.”
Yu Sheng considered this, finally shrugging with an understanding smile. “Alright, I get that.”
Then he gave Xu Jiali another thorough look-over.
“So, this is your fully equipped form? No wonder you said you weren’t in ‘combat mode’ last ti.”
“To be truly fully equipped, I’d still need a ntally controlled fire-support shuttle, two walking tactical robots, so lightweight drones, and a psychic attendant,” Xu Jiali shrugged, smiling wryly. “But that’s standard equipnt for missions outside Borderland. Here, I have to scale things back. Last ti you saw was an ergency—I ran into a Heretic Cultist unexpectedly and didn’t have ti to gear up. Fortunately, my skills got through that scrape…”
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