Soon, the first barrier contraction completed, and the second began to shrink.

Atop a high-rise rooftop, Ash, covered in burnt and festering wounds, sat on the ground, tapping away on his phone. His forehead was drenched in sweat. His teammate Chuyin applied the Mobile Detachment's Trait medical spray, misting it over the terrifying expanse of burn scars. Then, she wrapped sterile adhesive bandages around Ash, coil after coil.

The burns left by the Resentful Demon were troublesome. Even after Ash used "Firework Ash" to elementalize his body, he could not completely heal. He could only rely on the medical spray to keep things in check and prevent the wounds from worsening. Even the Special Affairs Bureau could not supply enough Life Potion artifacts for all its elite agents. Ash and Chuyin together had only a single Miniature Life Potion, which could only be used when absolutely necessary.

"There's trouble back at the Bureau," Ash said to Chuyin with a solemn face, not minding the throbbing pain from his wounds. "By the time we received this mission, the Bureau had already sent a squad with an advisor from the Heterodox Academy into the Misty Territory of Qianhua Road."

"..." Chuyin's beautiful countenance grew serious. After escaping from the Resentful Demon, Ash had quickly used his elite agent privileges to access the Mobile Detachment's internal network for more detailed information about the Misty Territory.

"Five minutes ago, the entire team returned alive from the Misty Territory," Ash paused, then added softly, "However, they were all suffering from moderate to severe mental contamination and are currently undergoing memory erasure and cognitive correction therapy at the medical department."

At these words, Chuyin hesitated in her bandaging.

Mild mental contamination meant Sanity Values dropped below 30%. At this stage, the patient's cognition, emotions, will, and behavior would exhibit various degrees of disturbance, such as abrupt mood swings, emotional chaos, erratic actions, and heightened paranoia.

Moderate mental contamination meant Sanity Values dropped below 20%. At this juncture, patients began to show intense disturbances in sensation, perception, thought, memory, emotion, and behavior, making it extremely difficult to communicate with the outside world.

Severe mental contamination meant Sanity Values dipped below 15%. At this stage, ordinary people were completely unable to comprehend the thoughts and behaviors of the patients, some of whom might even manifest physiological mutations...

"The only saving grace was that the Heterodox Academy Advisor, Scholar Zhu, with the help of jade artifacts he wore, managed to maintain brief clarity," Ash said with a stern face. "After escaping the Misty Territory, he shouted something in the middle of Qianhua Road, then fainted."

"What did he say?!" Chuyin asked instinctively.

With a grave expression, Ash looked off in the direction of Qianhua Road, murmuring, "Evacuate, everyone."

Shortly, the second barrier contraction also completed, and all players received the System notification for the third barrier contraction. This time, special items refreshed on the map in their wristwatches.

[Special Items have appeared, all players please confirm on their wristwatches]

[Item name: King Slime*2]

[Type: Consumable]

[Special Effect: Boosts the user's attribute values, stamina, Spirit Energy Value, Sanity Value, shortens the cooldown of the user's skills and equipment, reduces the cost of using skills, and enhances the user's Self-healing Ability. The effect lasts for 10 minutes]

[Note: King Slime will disappear after this regular mission ends.]

The term King Slime refers to two things: first, a magnet that does not attract iron, and second, the essence of moonlight. According to records in collections of strange tales, it appears as countless olives intertwined with thousands of golden threads, hanging down in clumps. When the plants and trees of the mortal world are exposed to its essence, they can turn into demons; fox spirits and evil spirits that consume it can manifest supernatural abilities.

Stripping away those fanciful fantasies from strange tales, in the eyes of players, this was a rather comprehensive consumable. It not only boosted basic attributes but also reduced cooldowns for various skills. Although the System did not specify the extent of the enhancement, considering the strategically significant Lunar Phase Locator that was previously obtained, the King Slime couldn't be too far off in value.

Since the second barrier contraction had ended, all players' range of activity had been significantly reduced, bringing them closer to the location of the King Slime. However, the Resentful Demon and the caterpillar were currently being pursued by the Mobile Detachment, Chuyin Huijin was lightly injured, and John Joyce was still lying under a bridge pretending to be a homeless man. After all calculations, only two teams intended to fight over the King Slime.

They were Ji Jiu and Zhi Jue, along with Li Ang and Liu Wu Dai.

The Datura organization had great ambitions, and as a high-ranking member of Datura, Ji Jiu naturally bore his mission. Moreover, he also had his own plans.

THUMP THUMP THUMP.

Ji Jiu, carrying Martin—a player from an enemy team—compressed into a ball, triggered the Ball Technique and ran towards the spawn location of the King Slime on the rooftops of skyscrapers in the grey-white world. Zhi Jue followed closely behind him. With every few steps he ran, his organs would shake loose and fly off his body, only to return and reconnect with his torso at an even faster speed.

In the blink of an eye, the two had leaped across several blocks.

"Aside from us, no Ball Techniques have appeared in other areas of Yin City," Zhi Jue said with a strange chuckle. "That means the Resentful Demon who killed player Si Wenbin didn't manage to capture Si Wenbin's teammate and activate the Grey Sphere Technique. Everyone who came here on a mission this time is crafty as heck. I just can't believe that other teams couldn't think of using the Ball Technique to avoid the pursuit of the Special Affairs Bureau. They either can't find their counterparts, or they lack strength, are in poor condition, or are being relentlessly chased by the Mobile Detachment, too preoccupied to care for anything else. In that case, no one else is going to compete with us for this King Slime."

"..."

Ji Jiu, running ahead, couldn't help but look back at Zhi Jue in silence. Although both were high-ranking officials of the Yin City Datura, they hadn't known each other for long. According to others, Zhi Jue used to be quite normal, but ever since he had gained the passive skill of splitting his body (which could not be turned off and was always active), he had become increasingly bizarre.

He insisted on eating tea leaves before drinking hot water, claiming it made the tea taste better. He had to sip cola first and then shake his detached head vigorously, claiming it made the soda fizz more evenly. When using the toilet, he had to place his torso and buttocks on the seat while his hands, feet, and head watched from the sink, applauding and shouting praises about how the resulting splash was absolutely perfect. When staying in a hotel, he had to split himself into numerous pieces to lie on the double bed, claiming he slept better that way. He often walked and left body parts behind, such as hands, feet, or ears, oblivious to their loss. The Datura organization even had to designate someone to follow him around, picking up the parts and mitigating the impact.

The most frustrating part was that Zhi Jue seemed to have the hidden trait of a jinx; every time he spoke, ill fortune seemed to follow. Every time the Special Affairs Bureau conducted a raid on Datura's bases, he was there—if it weren't for the fact that he had joined Datura early, the higher-ups might have suspected he had betrayed them.

Noticing Ji Jiu's icy stare, Zhi Jue gave an awkward smile but couldn't help saying, "Don't be so tense. Even if other teams' players come, they can't just confront us head-on..."

Before he finished speaking, a wooden arrow feather shot silently and swiftly towards them, striking Zhi Jue's chest at an angle, piercing through his torso and pinning him firmly to the skyscraper's rooftop.