“Isaac is dead. Ingar and Elle are injured. Everyone else is here.”

In a corner of the rift realm, beneath broken walls, the Homecoming Knights had regrouped. After a headcount, a trace of resignation surfaced on the bearded man’s face.

Silan hadn’t expected things to go so badly. They had only just entered the rift realm, and already they had suffered losses. Nearly everyone bore some kind of injury.

Their situation wasn’t as absurd as Ji Jue’s group, who had fallen from the sky, but some had dropped directly into monster nests, while others had barely taken a few steps before being buried under collapsing buildings, only to crawl out covered in dust and grime.

Fortunately, they hadn’t been scattered too far apart. Relying on the resonance between their matrices, they quickly eliminated several crocodile-like creatures lurking in the mud before regrouping. They maintained a vigilant formation, protecting Lou Feng at the center.

The moment the rift realm had shifted, the experienced Silan had immediately tackled his employer to the ground. The two hadn’t been separated upon arrival, and now they merely looked a bit dusty and disheveled.

Unlike certain unlucky souls who were chased the moment they landed, Lou Feng had ample time to analyze their surroundings. Thankfully, the instruments stored within the space opened by the Eternal Gate hadn’t been damaged during the trip.

“Damn it. The spirit matter frequency is completely chaotic. I can’t detect any traces of higher harmony, and the stability index is far below the safety threshold.” Lou Feng looked up from the handheld device’s screen. “However, according to the data, the rift realm is still overlapping with the real world. As long as we find an opportunity to reopen the gate, we can leave this place.”

Silan nodded in understanding. “So, establish a safe base first? I’ll send people to scout the surrounding area shortly, see if there are any traces of the workshop Master Kong mentioned.”

Seasoned mercenaries through and through were prepared for all kinds of unexpected situations. Even if they had lost larger equipment in transit, the food and emergency supplies they carried were sufficient. Without even needing Silan’s orders, some had already begun searching the surrounding buildings for a suitable place to set up camp.

“And also, when the opportunity arises... No, we should create an opportunity instead of waiting for one to appear...” Lou Feng’s face twitched as he forced the words through clenched teeth. “Find that Ji guy!”

Setting aside the grudges between them, the mere possibility that Ji Jue carried contingencies and guidance from Ye Xian was already troublesome enough. Among everyone who had entered this place, his threat ranked above all others. If, after all their hardship, they managed to find the workshop, only to have that bastard swoop in and snatch the prize, then Lou Feng might as well go find a rope and hang himself.

“Remember, if possible, don’t kill him,” Lou Feng warned. “If he dies, I’ll have to explain myself to Master Ye.”

Silan smiled. “Understood, boss. Don’t worry. We’re professionals.”

Ji Jue was just some kid without a matrix. They wouldn’t even need a gun to deal with him. It would be effortless.

Someone beside them asked, “This Ji guy you mentioned... is he a young man with a scar on his face?”

“Yes,” Lou Feng replied.

The Homecoming Knight frowned. “And he rides a small scooter? Uh... and has a pretty annoying smile?”

“That’s right.” Lou Feng looked up. “How do you—”

His words cut off abruptly, and he froze on the spot.

As if answering his call, from the far end of the ruined street came the roaring of an engine. Through the billowing dust, the face he would recognize even if it were reduced to ashes slowly came into view.

Ji Jue had arrived at the scene!

As everyone watched, the scooter charged forward, dragging behind it a figure flailing midair, and hurtling straight toward them!

“Ni hao! HELLO! Konnichiwa!!!” Ji Jue waved his arms wildly in sheer delight, as if afraid Lou Feng wouldn’t notice him, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Mr. Lou! Long time no see! How’ve you been? Hahahahahaha!”

The roar of the engine surged once more, becoming louder and louder until, with a violent shudder rippling through the earth and chunks of shattered walls collapsing one after another, a thunderous blast erupted.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

Half of a ruined building let out a wailing groan as it split down the middle. A massive, ferocious monster appeared from the wreckage and stood up in fury, growling as it gave relentless chase.

“I’ve missed you guys!!!”

Ji Jue sped up. Laughing wildly, he hurled himself straight toward Lou Feng’s team.

“Ji, you fu—”

Lou Feng’s vision went black. He didn’t even realize that, for the first time in his life, he almost cursed. The next moment, he was already yanked up and slung over Silan’s shoulder.

“Run!!!” the bearded knight bellowed, not even sparing a glance at the expensive instruments they had just finished calibrating, nor at the supplies and provisions scattered across the ground. Without a second thought, he took off at a full sprint!

On the battlefield, even the slightest hesitation or wishful thinking led to death. After witnessing countless people freeze under the howl of incoming shells and pay the price, those who survived learned the most valuable lesson of all: decisiveness.

Unfortunately, no matter how decisive you were, it didn’t change reality. Two legs simply couldn’t outrun two wheels, especially when Ji Jue effortlessly accelerated, waving as he shot past them. Under the furious, bloodshot glares and the futile hail of gunfire sent after him, the faces of the Homecoming Knights stiffened.

Slowly and rigidly, they looked back. Staring at the enormous monster now right on top of them and feeling the vast shadow falling across their faces, they gulped nervously.

The last thing they heard was the monster’s shrill, furious roar.

***

After quite a bit of effort, Ji Jue finally shook off the trouble chasing behind them. He, Horsey, and An Ran came to a stop within a stretch of ruins, covered in dust as they caught their breath.

At An Ran’s feet, a corpse was still writhing, tightly bound. In truth, even Ji Jue found it hard to tell exactly what this thing was. It looked like a ludicrous mashup of octopus, hippo, and cheetah parts stitched together with human flesh. Lurking in the shadows, it jumped out the moment Ji Jue stopped the scooter.

Before Ji Jue could even raise his gun, An Ran’s knife cleanly split the creature’s head apart.

They had seen far too many of these things by now, not just that enormous, sci-fi-movie-style monstrosity, but rotting butterflies larger than normal humans, spider-like abominations made of mismatched limbs, and even more frenzied, mutated corpses. He half wondered if they’d wandered onto the set of some low-budget horror film.

On the ground, the headless, twisted creature still writhed, oozing blood mixed with some transparent fluid, the torn flesh continually growing and mutating.

“So weird. It clearly has no heartbeat.”

An Ran turned the knife, expertly slicing through vital points, including the heart, the groin, and the neck with fluid, effortless motions. The separated chunks of flesh finally went still, revealing the bizarre structure inside. It was a mix of iron, metal, ceramic, and plastic.

After analyzing it carefully, he said in a serious voice, “Ji Jue, this thing isn’t human.”

“How can anything like this be human?” Ji Jue asked, twitching. Even before An Ran cut it open, he had already suspected as much.

“I mean it has nothing to do with humans, not that it’s not human. It’s different,” An Ran replied. Seeing Ji Jue’s confused look, he grew more anxious, but his words wouldn’t come easily. He stumbled over his explanation, stammering, until at last he found a way to put it that Ji Jue could understand. “They... weren’t turned from humans. They weren’t human to begin with.”

Stunned by the sudden realization, Ji Jue fell silent.

Hearing An Ran say this, Ji Jue pinched his nose and leaned closer, taking the knife from him. Carefully, he pried open the skull, and watched the brain matter, now a grayish pulp, ooze out from the crack.

But when he forced himself to suppress his nausea to reach inside, his hand froze.

Why did the lymph nodes and nerve clusters show faint traces of spirit circuits? They were dim and hazy, so faint that without deliberately examining them, one would never notice. It was as if the nerves had naturally grown this way.

No, on the contrary, it was almost like the spirit circuits had grown in the shape of nerves. This was utterly insane! A synthetic human simulacrum?

It behaved almost like a living being. From its nerve reflexes, operational mechanisms, even the dissipating spirit matter, it was indistinguishable from a dead human. Watching the spasms and twitches of the body on the ground gradually weaken, Ji Jue drew a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and pressed his hand down, forcibly trying to communicate with it using Deus Ex Machina.

But all that erupted in his mind was a piercing, bone-chilling scream. Not a single voice, but thousands, like an endless chorus of shrieks. It detonated in an instant, and Ji Jue’s vision went black. Blood surged into his mouth and nose, choking him.

If he could have spoken, he almost would have screamed, This shit is toxic! There’s shit here! So much shit!

For a brief, absurd moment, he felt as if he’d sucked gasoline through a tube, only to have the other end plunged into a filthy water tank.

If the consciousness of alchemical constructs could be compared to drinks, some would be like cola, some like soda, some as unruly as hard liquor, and some as pure as plain water, then what he had just greedily gulped down was like Haizhou herbal tea mixed with fermented herring.

The thick, nearly solidified, insane spirit matter surged back at him, exploding inside his soul. It left a pain far worse than a hammer to the forehead, and gifted him a psychological scar he might never forget.

Deus Ex Machina wasn’t a cure-all.

He remembered what Professor Ye had warned him when giving him the devil's work ball: relying too heavily on it would eventually backfire. Now, it wasn’t just the devil's work ball that had taken a hit, he had almost eaten the full brunt himself.

Leaning against the wall, Ji Jue gagged violently. At least now, he was certain that these things weren’t human at all.

But all he wanted to know was...

What the hell did that wench Mercury do back then?! How could she have created a batch of these utterly insane, unbearable abominations?

Just as he was about to curse, An Ran pressed a hand to his shoulder and whispered, “Shh... I hear something.”

A faint sob came from the distant darkness.