CHAPTER 1374: CHAPTER 1374: SALVAGING RUDEL (LONG CHAPTER, REQUESTING MONTHLY TICKETS)

Sitting on the flowerbed by the roadside, Ye Yun extinguished the cigarette in his hand and tossed it into a nearby trash can. He then took a slight breath before standing up again, and taking out a new pack of cigarettes from his pocket, he shook it lightly.

No new cigarettes came out; the pack was already empty.

After a brief pause, he stuffed the cigarette pack back into his pocket and reached for the blood-stained longsword beside him.

Bang bang bang—

At this moment, hurried footsteps approached from afar, and a face full of excitement appeared in Ye Yun’s field of view. "Boss, all the sacrifice rituals have completely stopped. We’ve also controlled those conducting the rituals, and the mutations in the streets have come to a halt as well."

Upon hearing these words, Ye Yun was slightly taken aback. Then, as if realizing something, he looked up at the clear sky above him.

——

Vehicles with blaring sirens sped through the streets.

Sitting on the roadside, a white-haired girl lowered her joined palms, looked up at the tranquil sky above, and revealed a faint smile.

——

The gloomy clouds receded from the firmament, and beams of light from the gaps between the clouds descended, illuminating the blood-stained square.

In the center of this square, the dim light converged into Jie An’s body.

He raised his head, looking at the sky.

The surrounding noise and commotion seemed to have completely quieted down. He spoke softly, his voice carrying a touch of fatigue and hoarseness, "Is it over."

——

In the shadow of the dim corridor, Liu Nan silently watched the daylight outside the window.

Bang—

At this moment.

She heard a slight sound coming from behind the door beside her.

It was as if someone was awakening from a long slumber.

——

Bang—

A slightly delicate and cute face rapidly enlarged outside the open car door. The girl, unable to stop in time, leaned forward, crashing toward He Ao, who was about to get off the car.

At that moment, a hand reached out from the side, gently supporting the girl’s shoulder, preventing her from stumbling directly to the ground.

"Hehe," the girl quickly stood upright, looking at He Ao in front of her and the ’Mr. Hao Yi’ who extended his hand to stabilize her beside He Ao, and sweetly greeted, "Sir, Brother Hao Yi, good morning."

"Good morning."

He Ao looked at Lin Chichi’s joyful face and nodded slightly.

"Good morning."

The ’Mr. Hao Yi’ beside him also retracted his hand after the girl stood firm. He glanced at her slightly pale cheeks and the muscles that naturally drooped from fatigue, and softly said, "Take care of your rest."

"Mm-hmm!"

Lin Chichi nodded with a smile, the corners of her eyes slightly curved like crescent moons.

As they spoke, she seemed to realize she was too excited, blocking the way, and then moved a little to make room for He Ao and the others to get off the Velora.

"Good morning, senior sister."

Ye Ying, who got off last after He Ao, glanced at Lin Chichi nervously and greeted her softly.

"Good morning," Lin Chichi then noticed Ye Ying, who was following He Ao, and winked at Ye Ying, laughing softly, "The thrilling adventure is over, welcome home."

Ye Ying looked at the energetic girl in front of her, momentarily lost in thought, and the tension and anxiety along the way dissipated quite a bit.

Even though she hadn’t done much throughout the process, just encountering these things was enough to make an E-level like her quite anxious compared to the level of her teacher and Mr. Hao Yi.

Those earth-shaking scenes were things she wouldn’t dare to imagine even in movies.

She glanced up at He Ao and ’Li Cheng’, who were already walking on the square, surveying the surrounding battle situation, and then looked at the blood-stained ground where staff members were meticulously handling mutated corpses.

The past night here seemed to have witnessed a fierce battle.

She turned her head carefully, looking at Lin Chichi with a smile, and softly asked, "Senior sister, aren’t you afraid?"

"Don’t worry, the teacher and Brother Hao Yi will solve all the problems," Lin Chichi walked beside her and winked at her again, "When you’re confused, just praise ’K’."

"Oh." Ye Ying nodded, seemingly understanding yet bewildered.

"I’ll head to the next place first; you guys wait here for a bit."

At this moment, He Ao had already returned. He looked at Lin Chichi and Ye Ying and spoke softly.

Lin Chichi and Ye Ying immediately looked up at He Ao.

"Okay, sir." "Okay, teacher."

With two light responses, He Ao entered the Velora again, and the speeding train plunged into the void, with everyone traversing the scattered buildings.

——

Research Institute’s Special Items Containment Chamber

A weary figure crouched slightly in the dim space, eyes gently closed as if in contemplation.

Click—

In front of him, the tightly closed door was slowly pushed open, and bright light from the corridor outside spilled into this dim, dark space.

The glass globes surrounding the space, like headlamps, gradually dimmed, and the invisible chains entwined around the figure gradually faded away.

The figure slowly raised its head, looking forward at the light shining in from the corridor, staring at the young man standing in the light.

The young man quietly gazed at him and spoke softly, "The problem is solved, I’ve returned."

An intangible purple radiance was extracted from the figure, vanishing into the void.

——

Research Institute · Beidu Headquarters

He Ao and the white-haired girl sat in a somewhat empty office, looking at the bloodstains on the floor, both lost in thought.

"I left according to the plan at that time," Lin Chichi said softly beside him, "Judging from the situation in the office, Elder Mr. Rudel seemed to have used some means to make himself ’disappear’."

"Mm." He Ao, listening to Lin Chichi’s words, turned his gaze to Goya beside him.

When he had just come back, he came directly here, but didn’t find the injured Rudel or Rudel’s body.

So he went to release Wu Ganglie first, smoothed over the memories, and then went to the Western Lands to bring Goya over.

As a long-time friend of Rudel, Goya might know something about Rudel’s whereabouts. The more clues He Ao collected, the richer his understanding of the situation, and the higher the possibility he could ’find’ Rudel.

Although Rudel became the leader of some ’Salvation Organization’ due to the Fate Spinning Wheel modifying his memory.

Moreover, from an objective standpoint, Rudel’s presence actually imposed a certain restraint on that organization, suppressing those monsters within who had already mutated into madness, preventing them from causing greater destruction.

The Fate Spinning Wheel can modify memories and fate, but it cannot completely alter a target’s personality, so it does not fully control Rudel’s actions.

And precisely because of his understanding of Rudel, He Ao could make the most accurate layout to invite those ’Saviors’ into his trap.

In a sense, Rudel’s assistance to He Ao in the enemy camp was much greater than if he were among his allies.

If the Fate Spinning Wheel hadn’t chosen Rudel as the leader at that time, the situation in the Main World would have been several times more complex and tricky.

However, He Ao also understood that if Rudel entered his trap, he would be hurt to some extent, or take certain measures to avoid becoming a puppet of the Fate Spinning Wheel again.

That’s why he came over here to check Rudel’s situation as soon as possible.

But the actions Rudel himself took seemed to be far more radical than He Ao had expected.

"From the situation at that time," Goya watched the bloodstains on the ground, pondering, and said, "he might have ’exiled’ his self."

"Huh?" Lin Chichi, who was beside, widened her eyes, "Self-exile?"

"During the incident in the City of Rong Guang, you saw him use this ability, right? His talent is ’Exile’," Goya explained softly, "The essence of his ’exile’ ability is to throw the target into a ’crevice’ outside of time and space,

"Rudel himself doesn’t know where this crevice is or what the situation is, but according to the information he got from his talent, those exiled might still be able to see some scenes of reality from within this crevice, but they cannot interact with reality, nor can they make sounds or movements."

She paused, her voice sinking, and continued, "Moreover, the memories and connections related to the exiled person will gradually disappear, until finally, everyone forgets their existence, and they are completely ’exiled’."

"Then, can this ability not be retracted or interrupted?" Lin Chichi cautiously asked, "When we were in the City of Rong Guang, that Zennany from the Rong Guang Society seemed to have been subjected to ’exile’, but it didn’t take effect."

"During the process of exile, it can be interrupted; Zennany had the interference of an angel’s power at the time, which destroyed the exile before it took effect, but once exile fully takes effect, it can’t be retracted." Goya shook her head, looking at the bloodstains on the ground, "There might be a way, but Rudel can’t do it."

She sighed softly, "Otherwise, he wouldn’t have used exile to eliminate his own threat."

Rudel’s situation is more severe than Liu Zhengyun and Wu Ganglie. Small fragments of the Eye of the World cannot fully awaken his self-memories and can only maintain a rigid state.

And his B-level combat power, if he received Grace again, would be destructive to the situation. With He Ao not present, the remaining power in the main world could hardly stop him.

In theory, he only needed to hold out until the morning, when He Ao wins, and his problem would naturally be resolved.

But at that time, no one knew what the future would be like.

Even He Ao himself didn’t know if he could win.

So Rudel made the most decisive decision, to completely exile himself while his reason was still intact, to avoid becoming a minion of the Fate Spinning Wheel and hastening the world’s destruction.

For the entire world, the decision he made was correct, and it was the best decision he could make at the time.

But for him personally, this decision was somewhat ’terrible’.

"So, will he completely disappear from this world?" Lin Chichi softly inquired, "No one will remember him, and all traces of him in the world will be completely erased?"

Those left behind will not be sad because no one will remember him again.

"Yes." Goya gently responded.

She wanted to say something, but for a moment, she couldn’t say anything at all.

The ’exile’ ability had long started to take effect; at this moment, she tried to recall Rudel’s appearance, yet it seemed already blurred.

This was an already predetermined outcome, and she couldn’t think of any way to change it, perhaps not even the Divine Being could change it.

But for some reason, she instinctively glanced at He Ao beside her.

At this moment, He Ao raised his head, slightly gazing at the space above the bloodstains.

’Exile’ will completely erase a person’s social existence, but it actually does not erase a person’s life.

He Ao was very sure because Rudel was not dead.

The ’Memory Inheritor’ can exercise abilities on all those with whom they have a mystical link, meaning he can also sense all those with whom he has a mystical link.

Rudel, who had frequent communications with him, was obviously one of them.

Until now, He Ao could still sense Rudel’s existence; he had even already acted to reset Rudel’s memory.

He could also feel that Rudel’s current physical condition wasn’t too good, seeming to be caught in some kind of chaotic consciousness.

But from the vague memory, He Ao could faintly perceive that Rudel seemed still to be in this ’room’, able to ’see’ the surrounding scene, even able to ’see’ He Ao’s presence.

It was just that He Ao and the others couldn’t see him anymore.

However, this connection cannot directly pull Rudel back from the temporal crevice.

An orange-gray sheen flashed through his eyes.

His gaze swept across the underlying layer of this space.

He didn’t detect Rudel’s existence in any particular place.

In other words, this so-called ’temporal crevice’ wasn’t constructed inside the main world, but outside the main world.

But from Goya’s ’narration’ and He Ao’s sensed memories, it seemed that those exiled to a temporal crevice could still see certain scenes in reality, just not interact with them.

This proved that the temporal crevice should have information overlapping with the main world.

Like looking at the scene outside a room through a glass window?

Perhaps with some kind of power that transcends time and space, Rudel’s current existence could be located?

But what kind of thing could transcend time and space?

Suddenly, He Ao realized something.

Divine Descent!

Or, the connection with the Divine Being.

He Ao’s thoughts spun rapidly, and then he directly added a method to contact ’K’ in Rudel’s thoughts and memory through their connection, directly embedding it as extra memory.

The muddle-headed Rudel seemed to react somewhat, and after a brief pause, he chose to trust this memory.

Following the memory He Ao implanted, he drew a ’K’ symbol on his hand with blood.

The vague connection instantly spanned time and space, reaching He Ao’s soul.

Immediately afterward, He Ao activated the power of the City of Rong Guang, crossing time and space along that intangible link.

Meanwhile, an orange-gray eye embedded in an inverted triangle also emerged from behind He Ao.

The gaze of that eye swept across the entire space in an instant, thoroughly ’analyzing’ everything within it.

And following this ’analysis’, He Ao saw the contact descended from the City of Rong Guang, which was still here, only having delved into the void and then disappeared.

He Ao attempted to have the Eye of Truth cut down along where the connection disappeared.

But what entered his view was a dense mass of lines.

The power of the Eye of Truth couldn’t cut through the invisible ’glass’, or rather, couldn’t ’find’ the temporal crevice.

Even B-level abilities have their peculiar and eerie features.

The world’s abilities aren’t purely suppressed by levels alone.

But the path that B-level could open up, and the temporal crevice it could exile to, shouldn’t be particularly deep, or else this connection wouldn’t have traversed through.

The path of this connection suggests this is the closest place to the temporal crevice where Rudel resides.

Is there a way to pull someone along this connection?

In contemplation, He Ao raised his hand, generating a small patch of verdant grass beneath his feet that slowly spread toward the direction of the bloodstains.

Goya looked at this grass, slightly stunned, then lifted her head to look around the space.

By this time, He Ao had also flipped his hand.

He decided to see if he could exploit a ’loophole.’

Chains gleaming with light extended from around him, following the ’link’ established between him and Rudel, delving into the void.

Then these chains paused at the point where the connection vanished, and then, plunged headlong into it.

In an extremely short amount of time, He Ao sensed that the chains seemed to have ’tied up’ someone.

The next second, these chains contracted sharply.

The surrounding void squirmed slightly, and a blood-covered, semi-transparent figure was pulled out from the depths of the void, hovering above the ground.

At this moment, Goya’s eyes widened suddenly.

She looked at the semi-transparent figure, gently extending her hand, her fingers passing right through the figure.

The figure also lifted its head dazedly, vaguely looking at the surrounding scene.

"He hasn’t fully departed from the temporal crevice yet. What we see is just his projection on the surface layer of this world. Wait a while, and once he’s entirely ’fished out,’ it’ll be fine."

He Ao glanced at the chains wrapped around Rudel, then slightly waved his hand, and the verdant underfoot gradually dimmed.

Since it was already tied up, the Trapped Destiny Plate would slowly pull him out.