Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 678 A Life of Misfortune

A disheveled little boy, who had stolen money and been beaten, stuffed the money into his mouth, disgusting the other person so much that they didn't want the money back and had no choice but to hand him over to the police.

The police in the gray neighborhoods don't bother with this kind of thing. Orphans from who-knows-where are sent to orphanages or shelters, but after a while, the restless ones always run away again.

It would be better to send it to some weird organization to get rid of it.

If you're lucky, dying so simply and cleanly would be a good outcome.

But he was unlucky; he didn't leave this world so easily, but after some twists and turns, he returned to the streets.

He joined a gang, did odd jobs, and acted furtively, spouting arrogant remarks under the gang's name. When the gang leaders found out, they broke his hands and threw him out.

His luck was still bad. He should join a more powerful gang. This small gang wouldn't kill him. Although it's normal for people to die in the gray neighborhood, small gangs can't withstand the pressure. It wouldn't look good if the police caught him causing trouble.

But larger gangs wouldn't want him either.

He wanted to make a name for himself, to do great things, good or bad, and to enjoy a life of extravagance and debauchery. If none of that worked, he would just die.

He will struggle; as long as he's alive, he'll fight for it with all his might.

If he died, that was good luck. If he survived, he'd keep going. Unfortunately, after all the ups and downs, Jackson felt his luck was always terrible.

Especially during his worst period of luck, he encountered Jili, and instead of being completely taken away by the illusion, he had to continue working while carrying that illusion with him.

So unlucky...

……

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to make you suffer some more," Gilly's indistinct voice suddenly whispered to him.

Gray branches crawled across his limbs and bones, filling all the gaps in his body, and finally, guided by dark green crystals, they rapidly devoured the existing pathways and climbed toward Jackson's mind.

But at this final moment, he was imprisoned in a cage that another consciousness had prepared long ago.

Jackson suddenly opened his eyes and flicked his hand, causing gray branches to grow, blocking all of Zheng Fan's subsequent fierce attacks. The gray branches were quickly smashed into pieces, but they did delay Zheng Fan's offensive, allowing Jackson to quickly withdraw and create distance.

“Gilliam! What’s going on?!” Jackson asked immediately.

There was no response; only in my mind, the creaking sound of wood rubbing against wood echoed incessantly.

Zheng Fan also temporarily halted his advance, as a relentless assault seemed to have lost its purpose.

"Only twenty seconds passed, but it didn't even take a minute. I misjudged... no, it was your illusion that willingly gave up its position to the branch for you, using itself as a cage to transform the branch into your power, greatly accelerating the process," Zheng Fan judged.

“Gilliam…” Jackson patted his head, somewhat dazed, unable to recall that the last words Gilly had said to him were just now.

He couldn't even last half a minute against Zheng Fan's panicked entity. He was caught out of position and riddled with bullets. Jili sacrificed himself to save him, taking in the gray branch for him.

The creaking sound of wood in his mind irritated him.

“I’m going to avenge Gilly.” Jackson glared fiercely at Zheng Fan.

“I think so too.” Zheng Fan put one hand on his hip. “After all, it was my fault, even if I only accelerated the process. With the little secret hidden in that branch, if it hadn’t done this, you would have been in trouble sooner or later.”

"Noisy!"

The gray-green flames merged and produced vine and branch patterns on Jackson's face at the same time, while two-colored electric lights spread outwards from him, directly tearing up large sections of the surrounding ground.

The moment Zheng Fan raised his hands, the gray branches and crystalline branches swallowed his figure.

The world became murky at that moment.

Jackson's life form has entered another level, constantly leaping forward and climbing.

Spokesperson!
It's unclear what exactly this person is representing, but there's no doubt that they now have the qualifications to challenge the panic-inducing entity that Zheng Fan is trying to control.

Zheng Fan's figure weaved through the branches, the situation reversed, and Jackson was now relentlessly pursuing him. Jackson used a multi-stage acceleration to reach Zheng Fan directly, his hand slashing down with lightning speed, crystals extending and branches spreading, but all of this was blocked by the black earthworms that suddenly emerged from behind Zheng Fan, whose expression remained unchanged.

The vibrations spread rapidly, but Jackson condensed them into crystals, shattered them, and even threw them back.

But Zheng Fan simply tapped his finger and input the rhythm as the earthworm started to vibrate.

The melody explodes! Thump!
A dynamic rhythm pierced through the crystal and into Jackson's mind, causing him to bleed from all seven orifices and suffer severe injuries.

Red lines surrounded and cut his body from all sides. Finally, countless afterimages of Zheng Fan expanded, and under the spray of white steam, gears formed a lance that pierced his brain and smashed him to the ground.

Boom!

Zheng Fan's combo punched through the ground, and the illusionary realm teetered on the brink of collapse under his attack. The enormous hole that had been created could not be filled, so it simply extended outwards and encompassed him into this bottomless pit of endless falling.

Below him, Jackson, whose clothes were already torn to shreds and only strips of cloth remained, charged out again, grinning maliciously, "It's not over yet!"

"Of course it's not over yet! I haven't had this much fun in ages!" Zheng Fan grinned, no longer holding back.

……

"The gate to the processing bureau... This is your most vivid memory." Lin Yilin said, looking at the building in front of her, ignoring the violent tremors and murky sky in the distance.

Jian Quanshen looked at the familiar door in front of him with a complicated expression.

The local office on the small street was also small and looked ordinary, but it was the door he used to come and go from every day.

"What are you going to do?" The stabbing killer stepped forward.

"Please don't move, Miss Impaling Serial Killer. I know you serial killers are slow-witted and stubborn, but I still want to explain to you that although Mr. Illusion advised us not to touch you, that was only a temporary measure. If you make any rash moves, we won't ignore it." Lin Yilin glanced at her and pushed open the door halfway.

"Me too, I can't possibly ignore you." The stabbing killer was equally resolute.

"Oh, then come with me." After saying that, Lin Yilin pushed open the door and rushed into the processing department. Although Jian Quanshen didn't understand, he subconsciously followed Lin Yilin quickly.

The stabbing killer was startled and quickly followed him through the door.

"Which door does this key belong to?" Lin Yilin asked, gesturing to the key in her hand as she ran.

Countless memories flashed through Jian Quanshen's mind in an instant: "Why do you have this key!?"

"It was given to me by the workers who worked themselves to death in the factory," Lin Yilin said without hiding anything.

“…This is my office spare key,” Jian Quanshen replied after catching his breath.

He then quietly quickened his pace and led the way.

“This is it.” Jian Quanshen pointed to the door in front of him. Red spikes quickly sprouted from the ground, and the shadow under Lin Yilin’s feet expanded rapidly. A black earthworm bit off the spikes and threw the key to Jian Quanshen.

Without hesitation, Jian Quanshen inserted the key into the lock and turned it to open the old door.

The images of the surrounding processing bureau's interior disintegrated, revealing a glimpse of the truth behind it all.

The Mordish family's underground secret laboratory.

Lin Yilin's eyes immediately locked onto the computer next to her. She went over, turned on the computer, and casually connected her phone to it.

Gray Scale Project...

A clash at the boundary between black and white...

Research on global shock processes...

[Lamplighter Production Project Log: Jian Banxian believes that the Lamplighter is a very important form, and we need Lamplighters to advance the research to the next stage... However, the cultivation of Lamplighters is firmly controlled by the Lighthouse, and we will have no chance. Any rash move will alert the Undying Lighthouse—Jian Banxian has decided to launch our own Lamplighter production plan.]

[Using the most primitive method of stimulating the Pure White Factor, before the Lighthouse was even designed, to create Lightbearers involves enormous unnecessary losses, but at least there's no risk of exposure. With the Modish family's resources, intercepting some Pure White Factor children before they're even lured to the Lighthouse wouldn't be a problem.]

[“Pulse” Project Log: A deal from the dark world. If we agree, our plan will receive support from the underworld. This is obviously asking for trouble, but we are determined to take this path. We have the support of the white world, and now we need the support of the black world as well, even if it's just a part of what's behind the scenes. The gray world certainly can't do without the support of these two parents. We need to provide a suitable lamplighter body for the suspected hallucinogenic individual who calls himself “Pulse.” This is a shocking blasphemous project, and we haven't even started trying it yet… Of course, the black world will also help with the research.]

[Project Log: One of the sub-projects. The entity behind the Eyeless Dogs seems easy to talk to. They only need a few failed cultivation corpses that can't even be called Seeds of Light, making it a sure-fire way to profit...]

A flood of information flashed by, but Lin Yilin only caught a glimpse of the parts that were most likely to catch her attention.

Even this small portion is already quite significant.

(End of this chapter)