Amidst the young man's maniacal laughter, Lin Ye crossed the boundary dividing the sky and the shadow region, entering the interior of the shadow zone.

The young man's laughter cut off abruptly. It stared at the shadow region with disbelief, then suddenly revealed an expression of ecstatic joy.

"The Real World has begun its descent!"

The young man charged toward the shadow region at its fastest speed. It wanted to go inside for a look, to see that Real World filled with hope and vitality.

*Thud!*

The bottom of the shadow region was like the most solid concrete ground, welcoming the young man falling from the sky.

"Why! Why! Why! Why! Why!"

The young man plummeted toward the ground. Staring at Lin Ye standing inside the shadow region, it roared with incomprehensible fury.

But this was utterly meaningless. Unlike Lin Ye, it could only fall toward the earth.

"This is the Real World? Why did you return my body to me?"

Phoebe looked around. The shadow region seemed identical to the city district below, yet there seemed to be some kind of fundamental difference.

"This is your business. I will only take control of the body when you can't handle it. I'll leave the rest to you."

Lin Ye came here just to finish the job. He wasn't very interested in this Real World.

"...What should I do?"

Phoebe didn't know what she should do. The things inside the shadow region looked exactly like the real world, but just looking at those familiar surroundings gave her an inexplicable feeling.

A voice arose from the depths of her heart, screaming at her to flee this place immediately, or else something irreparable would happen.

"Don't focus on the things you're familiar with. Otherwise, your consciousness will suffer irreversible effects. Focus on the things you couldn't understand in the first place. See those Umbilical Cords? Cut them. They are the bonds connecting the Real World and the real world. As long as you sever them, you can stop the Real World from continuing to erode the real world.

As long as you cut them, the real world will return to normal."

Lin Ye actually didn't have a deep understanding of this Real World either. He only knew it was related to the mental world, possibly some kind of materialized product of the mental world, because every single object here was overlaid with a vast sea of spiritual imprints.

Even Lin Ye didn't dare to seriously observe this Real World, unless he wanted the massive and meaningless flow of information to pollute his Consciousness.

However, solving the problem here wasn't difficult. Lin Ye was very good at dealing with all sorts of troubles.

"It's that simple?"

Phoebe found it hard to believe. This was as absurd as someone telling her that to rule the entire world, she just needed to give a speech at a bar.

"This Real World is eroding the real world. So, in the connection zone, the rules common to both worlds are followed. What you're cutting isn't the umbilical cords, but the connection between the two worlds."

Lin Ye offered a brief explanation, mainly because this was indeed hard to understand, especially from Phoebe's position.

"...I understand."

Phoebe walked over to those thick, crimson Umbilical Cords. She reached her hand out toward a cord, but before she could even touch it, she collapsed onto the ground.

"I... what... happened... to... me?"

Phoebe stared blankly at the ground. She only remembered reaching out toward the umbilical cord, and then the cord in front of her eyes became the ground. She had no memory of the time in between.

"This is cutting off a stream of information that's almost materialized. Do you still think it's simple?"

Lin Ye didn't even want to observe this Real World, let alone make contact with these pollutants.

"How... do... I... do... it?"

Phoebe was like someone with Alzheimer's, pausing after every word she spoke.

"You can only cut them while enduring the information flow. Or, you can generate a large amount of spiritual energy for me, and I can help you solve the problem." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Lin Ye had no other way. He couldn't possibly use the divine seat to connect with this polluted information; Little Red and that Abyssal Evil God would never forgive him.

"Aren't you the one who wants to save the world? Now is the time to show your resolve. For the sake of returning the world to normal, how much are you willing to sacrifice?"

A somewhat mischievous smile appeared on Phoebe's face. Through their interactions during this period, Lin Ye no longer needed Phoebe's consent to influence her body.

"...Everything."

Thinking of everything she had experienced over the past year, thinking of her family and friends, thinking of those companions devoured by abnormal incidents, as long as she could restore the world to normal, Phoebe was willing to sacrifice everything she possessed.

Phoebe took a deep breath, then once again reached her hand toward those deep red Umbilical Cords.

And then she collapsed again.

"Well, unfortunately, even if you have resolve, some things can't be solved by resolve alone. See those umbilical cords down there? Only by cutting those cords first will you have the slightest possibility of severing the connection... Sadly, their situation doesn't look too optimistic."

Lin Ye only confirmed the method to sever the connection after coming up here. Otherwise, he would have definitely considered cutting those cords down below.

However, cutting those cords would also cut off the survivors' lifelines. He would probably let the survivors decide for themselves whether to cut the cords, so it wouldn't be much different from the current situation.

Phoebe also realized this problem, but she remained lying on the ground, waving to her companions below.

The Woman with Glasses and those Lunatics watching the Real World were the first to notice Phoebe's movements. They quickly understood her meaning through her gestures.

"We need to cut these umbilical cords so she can cut the ones above! That will sever the connection between the Real World and the real world!"

The Woman with Glasses excitedly announced to the others.

The others weren't as excited as she was, because they immediately realized the implications.

Forget about the Lunatics and the Giant Infant below; just considering the height they were at, cutting the umbilical cords meant cutting off their own chances of survival.

Although they had already considered they might die here, when truly facing death head-on, no one remained unmoved.

The first to act was the old man. He forcefully cut a cord that wasn't connected to anyone, then spoke up:

"I'll cut these cords. You all climb down along one cord now. If that girl up there acts swiftly enough, you might still have a chance to survive."

"Are you sure? Those lunatics down there don't think so!"

The middle-aged police officer threw away his pistol, which had run out of bullets, and it happened to hit a Lunatic on the head.

Those Lunatics were desperately climbing upward. Originally, they didn't believe these people could affect the descent of the Real World, but the fact that Phoebe had entered the Real World shattered their beliefs.

They couldn't accept that cold, hard, hopeless real world. If the Real World couldn't descend, they would rather die right here and now.