The swarm of Carnival Revelers was gradually fading away.
It wasn’t because they’d all been destroyed—in fact, they kept regenerating endlessly. No matter how many were taken down, more of these eerie figures, traced by colorful, abstract lines, would continuously materialize from the mist. But when the heavily ard Deep Divers brought by Xu Jiali crossed a certain “threshold” in their destructive efforts, Yu Sheng noticed a clear shift: the entities began receding rapidly, vanishing before their very eyes.
First, the colorful silhouettes retreated from the outskirts, slipping quietly back into the fog. Soon afterward, even the Entities closest to the battlefield dissolved into the haze, and finally, those already destroyed ceased to reappear.
The fog-laden streets gradually quieted. The pulse rifles in the Deep Divers’ hands ceased their roar, and glowing energy blades cut down the final Carnival Revelers. Countless scraps of festive paper fell, blanketing the street like multicolored snow, before swiftly disintegrating into dust on the wind.
Yet, these seasoned warriors did not fully relax. They continued to loosely hold their combat formations, splitting into small teams of eight to twelve, scattered around the area. Each team stayed within sight of at least two others, ensuring constant visual contact as they monitored the entire district. Soldiers took small instrunts from compartnts in their Powered Armor, placing them around to collect environntal data. These instrunts connected back through peculiar, rope-like devices extending from their armor—referred to as “Umbilical Cords”—sending real-ti information directly to the command center.
Xu Jiali stood by Yu Sheng’s side, explaining these procedures clearly.
“This is our ‘Umbilical Cord,'” said Xu Jiali, a man already nearly two ters tall, now towering around two and a half ters clad in his Powered Armor. He gestured at the black, cord-like appendage floating eerily from his chestplate, swaying slowly as though imrsed in an invisible fluid. “Its other end is connected to the ‘Deep Dive Pool’ in reality. This tether maintains our humanity, sanity—and our communication with command.”
Irene stared wide-eyed. “At this point, I hear ‘Umbilical Cord’ and my nerves imdiately twitch…”
Xu Jiali chuckled helplessly. “I understand. Ever since the Anka Aila Incident, many of my colleagues have developed a bit of paranoia about it. Soone even suggested we change the na—call it a ‘tether rope’ if we have to—but higher-ups turned that down.”
Yu Sheng thought deeply, murmuring, “So communication isn’t completely impossible between Otherworlds and reality… first the ‘locator,’ and now your gear. The Special Affairs Bureau clearly has solutions.”
“Regular communication thods get blocked,” Xu Jiali nodded, watching his comrades carefully secure the area, “but we have ‘irregular’ alternatives. Although, truthfully speaking, these thods always feel a bit sinister… Technical Division folks will chew out for describing it like that, but honestly, many of us feel this way.”
“You’ve seen my Umbilical Cord, right? During Deep Dive missions, we’re essentially dissolving our physical and ntal forms in the Deep Dive Pool, then diving straight into the Otherworld like plunging headfirst into a nightmare. Our dissolved selves carry the Umbilical Cord along, establishing communication from within. When returning, we reverse the process—our forms fragnt again inside the Otherworld, and these fragnts are pulled back through the Cord into the ‘amniotic fluid’ of the Dive Pool, where we’re reassembled and ‘reborn’ anew.”
Xu Jiali gave a faint grin as he rambled on, clearly proud despite his complaints. Yu Sheng listened in astonishnt, frequently glancing at Xu’s impressive gear—indeed, it was quite striking…
Irene muttered softly, “Why does your ‘diving’ technique sound incredibly unsafe? The whole thing feels like an accident waiting to happen.”
“There’s definitely so risk, but it’s quite minimal compared to the inherent dangers of fighting in Otherworlds,” Xu Jiali said nonchalantly. “The odds of losing control during ‘deploynt’ or ‘diving’ are practically negligible. It’s just the new recruits who tend to panic. Their first ti dissolving and being reborn in the ‘amniotic fluid’ tends to cause psychological stress. Veterans typically need to guide them through the process dozens of tis before they stabilize.”
With Xu Jiali’s detailed explanations, Yu Sheng finally gained a clearer picture of the Special Affairs Bureau’s elite capabilities in handling Otherworld incidents. According to Xu, scenarios demanding Deep Diver intervention were relatively rare—most cases were manageable by teams of conventional operatives like Li Lin, who handled simple rescues or investigations within known Otherworlds.
Clearly, however, this particular situation fell firmly into the rare category.
Xu Jiali raised his head, gazing thoughtfully at the endless mist overhead. Within it, the outlines of mirrored streets flickered in and out of view, eerily reflecting the world they knew.
“This place has an ominous feel,” Xu Jiali muttered grimly. “It’s definitely not an Otherworld we’ve encountered before—this one is new. Soone back at the Bureau is definitely pulling another all-nighter after this. Not that it’s unusual; soone’s always working overti back there, either one departnt or another…”
“Earlier we faced ‘Ink Stain’, and now we encountered the Carnival Revelers swarm,” Little Red Riding Hood added seriously. “These Entities normally only appear in their respective Otherworlds, yet here they are, roaming through this mist. How did they even get here?”
“Two possibilities,” Xu Jiali responded, his manner casual but reasoning sharp. “Either this Mirror Otherworld is linked to other worlds—much like the ‘Train’ Otherworld, connecting at deeper layers—or its unique trait allows it to spawn distinctive Entities from different Otherworlds directly.”
“If that’s really the case,” Little Red Riding Hood’s expression darkened, “then the threat level here just skyrocketed. The depth of this mist is likely between L-1 and L-2, but its danger might reach Level Three or higher.”
Xu Jiali waved his hand dismissively. “Let the Bureau’s smart folks handle the analysis later. Right now, our main concern is that soone’s trapped inside, right?” He sighed heavily, his brow deeply furrowed. “I’ll be blunt—given what we’ve seen so far, his chances are slim. Ink Stain and Carnival Revelers alone are lethal threats to any ordinary human. Nobody could easily outrun them, especially since I heard he’s got that troubleso ‘High Sensitivity, Low Stability’ constitution. If anything, he’d attract Entity attention even faster than you folks. At this point…”
The muscular soldier let out a heavy sigh.
Yu Sheng’s expression darkened further.
Beside him, Foxy’s ears drooped low, and she slumped to the ground. Now that she was a gigantic Nine-tailed Demon Fox the size of two vans, the earth trembled at her weight.
Yet just as a suffocating gloom was beginning to settle, Xu Jiali’s communicator crackled to life. It was a Deep Diver on periter patrol, his voice excited and tense:
“Leader! We’ve found the trapped civilian!”
Everyone instantly perked up. Xu Jiali jumped, eyes widening as he barked eagerly into the communicator, “Where is he? What’s his condition—is he alive?”
The response ca with an awkward hesitation. “Alive, but it’s complicated. We’re currently… uh… trying to cut him down from a wall. He’s sealed inside an amber-like substance, but he’s fine.”
Yu Sheng and Irene exchanged bewildered looks. Little Red Riding Hood appeared thoughtful. As for Foxy—well, Foxy’s gigantic fox-face was hard to read, but she suddenly leaned down and gave Yu Sheng a huge lick, almost knocking him off his feet. What exactly this ant was anyone’s guess.
Xu Jiali instructed the Deep Divers to bring over the rescued civilian imdiately. Monts later, Yu Sheng finally caught sight of the long-missing Big Nephew.
He imdiately understood why the situation was described as “complicated.”
The perpetually tired-looking young man was frozen inside a massive block of pale-yellow amber. He was locked in a running pose, a look of terror frozen on his face as if captured in the midst of desperate escape. Despite his alarming state, he bore no visible injuries.
“What the…” Yu Sheng murmured, bewildered. “Are you sure he’s alive?”
“Hope he doesn’t suffocate in there,” Irene added anxiously.
Little Red Riding Hood relaxed visibly upon seeing the amber’s shape, waving her hand dismissively. “He’s fine, really. His luck is incredible.”
Yu Sheng turned to her, puzzled.
“It’s a neutral Entity called ‘Tree Granny,’ originally from the Otherworld known as ‘Autumn Forest’,” Little Red Riding Hood patiently explained, seeing Yu Sheng’s confusion. “Tree Granny looks like a giant human-shaped tree with an elderly woman’s face. It chases intruders in its territory and encases them in resin—just like amber—but it doesn’t harm them. Those captured remain conscious, able to breathe and think clearly inside. The resin even provides a powerful protective shield.”
She paused, letting Xu Jiali pick up where she left off.
“Tree Granny’s a unique Entity—both powerful and strangely benign,” Xu Jiali explained. “In fact, it beca so famous that at one point, poaching groups even appeared. They’d purposely provoke Tree Granny to obtain her resin, sending a team mber as bait—rumors spread that drinking resin-infused water cured high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, and applying it directly could improve your skin.”
Yu Sheng listened in stunned disbelief. “Seriously? Poaching groups ford because of this? So how’d you solve that?”
“Star dia brought in two respected experts—one from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, a Daoist immortal, and the other a Prophet from Bamosian. Both solemnly declared on TV that Tree Granny’s resin was radioactive.”
Yu Sheng stood in speechless silence.
[…]
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