The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

Military special plane, high altitude.

The cabin was heated, but Gu Xu still felt a bit cold.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the tablet in his hand, on which were images transmitted in real time by Xu Yunshan's team.

That worm.

Gu Xu had watched the video several times to make sure he could clearly see the shape of that thing.

It was dark red all over and as big as a skyscraper that seemed to be floating in the air. The densely packed suction cups on its surface looked like raw meat in the video.

That density is so intense that it could make certain people faint.

"The 'Strange Fetus Mother'"

Gu Xu muttered those four words to himself, then rolled his eyes: "The system has a whole set of names for enemies, are you trying to get into graduate school?"

Sitting opposite him, Su Qiong put down the battle report in her hand, looked up at him, and asked, "What have you figured out?"

"We've figured it out."

Gu Xu placed the tablet on the table and nodded seriously: "This thing doesn't have eyes, but it's extremely sensitive to sound waves and vibrations. Look at its suction cups; they're more like sensory organs than attack organs."

"so?"

"So hitting it isn't actually that difficult!"

Gu Xu leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs: "Once we enter the secret realm, we'll first use the Domain of Calamity to suppress it, and then gulp it down in one go."

Su Qiong paused for a moment: "You make it sound so easy. That's a demigod-level existence."

"What happened to the demigod?"

Gu Xu shrugged: "Demigods are also divided into levels, and this one hasn't fully hatched yet; it's in its weak period."

As he spoke, Gu Xu gestured with his hand as if he were breaking apart a crab leg: "That's it, I'll do it with my eyes closed."

Beside her, Jiang Shu held a tablet, her eyes darting back and forth between the images of Gu Xu and the strange fetus's mother. Finally, she sighed and said, "Sir, I have a question."

"explain."

"What if that thing has already hatched before you go in?"

Gu Xu thought for two seconds: "Then let's make it a little more difficult."

"How difficult is it to handle?"

"It's... rather difficult to handle."

Jiang Shu: "..."

She lowered her head with pity and continued to work out the plan on the tablet, muttering to herself, "Okay, sir, don't worry about the combat aspect. The main concern is the incubation time. We estimate there's still a window of fourteen to eighteen hours, which should be enough, as long as the aircraft doesn't have any problems..."

"The plane will definitely be fine."

Gu Xu comforted him.

The plane lurched as soon as he finished speaking.

Gu Xu: "..."

Su Qiong picked up her coffee and took a sip without changing her expression.

……

Yunban City, temporary outer base.

When the plane landed, the crimson hue on the horizon had already spread, turning the entire night sky of Yunban City into a scene straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie.

The atmosphere at the temporary base was tense.

The soldiers were carrying out the retreat orders in an orderly manner, but the suppressed fear in their eyes was unmistakable.

The worm's phantom hung in mid-air, even if it was just a projection coming from a dimensional rift.

That biological sense of oppression still made everyone's spine ache.

As soon as the special plane came to a stop and the cabin door opened, Xu Yunshan, covered in bandages, was the first to come forward, leaning on his crutches.

His condition, to put it nicely, is described as persevering despite injuries.

To put it bluntly, they haven't been out of the pit for long, and they're still walking a bit unsteadily.

"Commander Gu!"

Xu Yunshan saluted, but the movement was much smaller, clearly indicating that he had aggravated some injury: "Thank you for coming so quickly! The situation is like this—"

Next came the standard battlefield report, which Xu Yunshan presented concisely, covering everything that needed to be mentioned: the extent of the black mist, the scale of the uprising, the current state of the monstrous mother body, the damage to the defensive line, and how his own indestructible domain was shattered in a single encounter.

When it came to this last point, the ninth-level saint's tone was unusually a little awkward.

After listening, Gu Xu remained silent for two seconds before speaking:

"Master Xu, do you still have your thermos?"

Xu Yunshan was taken aback for a moment: "It's...with my adjutant."

"Okay, go drink some goji berry tea and take good care of yourself. I'll take care of things here."

Xu Yunshan didn't move: "Commander Gu, the energy of that matrix—"

"I know."

Gu Xu interrupted him, patted the saint on the shoulder, and said in an unusually steady tone: "Elder Xu, you have done what you should do. The rest is not something you can handle. Let me do it."

This statement is completely devoid of any fluff or exaggeration; it simply states a fact.

Xu Yunshan remained silent for a moment, then nodded emphatically and took a step back.

The soldiers around them, who had been listening intently, suddenly relaxed a little.

The person who could make Master Xu step back has stepped forward.

Gu Xu glanced at the shocked or scrutinizing gazes around him, coughed, and casually said, "Stop staring at me. I don't have any flowers on my face. Alright, alright, everyone go back to your places. I can't escape; I'm just a big worm."

"Our Commander Gu took down four demigods last month, and almost scratched the face of the Abyss Emperor. What's a worm compared to that?"

Jiang Shu suddenly appeared out of nowhere, standing next to Gu Xu, and waved her hand casually in Gu Xu's tone: "Don't worry, just squat here and wait for good news. With the commander handling things, one is enough."

The soldiers present remained silent for about three seconds.

Then, no one knows who made the first move, but a few scattered laughs broke out along the entire defensive line.

The laughter was initially somewhat restrained, but it spread quickly.

The suffocating feeling that had been building up for hours had actually dissipated quite a bit.

……

A dozen minutes later, Gu Xu appeared at the edge of the secret realm.

But what I see before me.

Even the ancient ruler, the very being of the strange, couldn't help but grin.

To be honest, Gu Xu had seen quite a few bizarre scenes.

He had been inside those dark, murky sewers in the old corridors.

He had also visited villages with a chaotic, red-and-white, haphazard style, reminiscent of mass graves.

He had also experienced the underworld aesthetics of the Silver Moon Realm, the dark side of the moon.

But the Cloud Realm is on another level of absurdity.

The red mist rose from the ground; it wasn't the kind of thin mist that had a slightly mystical feel, but rather the kind of solid substance that could completely envelop a person, making it impossible to see more than three meters ahead.

How concentrated was it? It was as if someone had placed a breathing wall in front of the entrance to a secret realm.

The wall kept writhing, and some blurry things swayed inside the edge, appearing and disappearing. They were like human figures, but their movements were not like those of a living person. They were eerie, but it was impossible to describe them precisely.

While it might not send chills down your spine, it certainly won't make you feel the urge to rush in.

Then, the projection of that worm was still hanging overhead.

Gu Xu looked up once, just once, and didn't look any longer.

This thing is so big that it has a strange sense of oppression.

It's that feeling when you're looking up from under a tall building; it creates a strange sense of dizziness, as if the whole world is pressing down on you.

What's even more disgusting is that the spreading dark red ripples haven't stopped.

Each circling outwards carries countless ghostly faces.

Floating in mid-air, each one grins at you.

"This is absolutely disgusting!"

Seeing this, Gu Xu couldn't help but make a slight complaint.

however……

Just as Gu Xu was preparing to open the Domain of Calamity.

Buzz!

A muffled thud, like a thunderclap, suddenly exploded in front of us!