The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Dozens more strands of pure and ethereal energy seeped into Wu You's body from the inside pocket of his trench coat, like dozens of extremely fine warm currents simultaneously passing through the fabric and skin, merging into the depths of his body.

The numbers on the Sword Manual panel flickered.

Divinity +30!

Without the slightest hesitation, he began to absorb the nutrients.

The divine essence that had softened under the filtering of the sword manual seemed to be dismantled bit by bit, spreading into his body, from flesh and blood to bones to meridians and the depths of his soul, every inch being refilled.

The lifespan that was just burned off is now recovering at a rate that can be seen with the naked eye.

The semi-transparent figure within the pale blue seal seemed to have sensed something.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze passing through the pale blue barrier of light, looking down at Wu You.

The black-clad figure was reflected in those translucent, white-rimmed eyes, and then a hoarse voice echoed from within the seal: "Humans born with divine potential, a variable beyond destiny?"

His tone carried a detached, approving quality: "Unfortunately, that guy has his eye on me, otherwise my abyss of wicked thoughts would have gained another delicious addition to its collection."

But after saying that, the dark figure merely turned its head slightly and looked away again, as if it had already finished reviewing an exhibit, without making any unnecessary movements.

He remained suspended quietly inside the seal, his body neither struggling nor gathering strength, and even the fluctuations of his aura remained at an extremely low level.

While Wu You accelerated the absorption of the divinity flowing into his body, he also kept a sliver of his peripheral vision fixed on that figure.

A question arose in his mind: Did the restraint left by the Fifth Lord of Li really trap him?

Or is He simply waiting for something?

. . .

Meanwhile, in the real world. Yunshang Province, Dayun City.

With the arrival of new reinforcements from various locations, the local investigation bureau in Daiyun City has recovered and begun to take full control of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of the torchbearers, all the other pillars of light, except for the thickest ones, have been cleaned up.

On a relatively clean patch of grass, Hua Linlin and the members of the support team sat and lay haphazardly. Some of them simply took off their black trench coats and used them as cushions, while others looked up at the sky and breathed heavily.

Hua Linlin also put the psionic pistol aside and sat comfortably on the grass.

After more than a dozen high-intensity, continuous battles, everyone's physical strength and energy reserves were almost depleted. The soreness in their limbs seeped out from between their bones, and their faces were covered with a layer of sweat.

But the atmosphere in the surrounding residential buildings was completely different.

Many heads peeked out from windows, balconies, and even rooftops of various houses, some holding up their phones, others peering through binoculars at the few figures resting there.

Many of them had witnessed the Torchbearer squad clearing out the zombies. Now that the battle was over and the people in black trench coats were resting, they became bolder and started shouting across the floors.

"Hey boss, look over here! I'm your disciple whom you've never met before!" A young man's voice came from the third-floor balcony, carrying a mix of joking and serious excitement.

"Wow, I want to join you guys too!!" A hand stretched out from the fifth-floor window and waved incessantly.

"Hey over here, I'm your lost thigh hanger!" A young girl in a JK uniform said in a very energetic voice.

"Ah, I want to learn superpowers! I want to be Homelander!"

"Wow, there really are superpowered beings!!! I want to see Ultraman fight monsters in the next episode!"

The hearing of those with superpowers is incredibly sharp; every shout coming from all directions reached Hua Linlin and her teammates' ears without missing a single one.

The phrases "disciple," "thigh hanger," and "Ultraman vs. monsters" sounded like a jumbled mess, but each sentence carried a desire to connect with those who protected them.

Hearing these words, even the exhausted faces of the support team's leader, Silver Badge, and the rest of the team, including Hua Linlin, couldn't help but show a hint of a smile.

Just then.

Boom! ...

The thickest pillars of light that had never been destroyed suddenly shattered from the inside by some force, giving a jolt and then beginning to crumble from the top down.

Broken energy fragments peeled off the surface of the pillar of light, like a collapsing glass tower. The debris turned into countless tiny specks of light in mid-air, falling down one after another.

Hua Linlin propped herself up on her knees, looked up at the scattered specks of light, and exchanged a glance with her teammate beside her.

Several pairs of eyes were filled with the same joy—could it be that a master from the bureau had destroyed those giant beams of light?

then.

Their expressions froze almost simultaneously.

The sky suddenly darkened.

The kind of darkness that has no transition whatsoever.

The blue sky, white clouds, and the midday sun—everything that belonged to daytime—was erased from the drawing paper at the same time as if by a giant eraser, replaced by a rapidly expanding pitch-black vortex.

The vortex pressed down from the sky, as if someone had lowered a black curtain from the heavens, covering everything so quickly that no one could react.

In a short time, the vortex had spread from the sky above Dayun City to the entire Yunshang Province, and then continued to expand until it encompassed the entire southeastern three provinces under its shadow.

A heavy pressure poured down from the darkness, pressing down on everyone.

The torchbearers only felt a tightness in their chests and needed to exert more effort to breathe, while ordinary people who had not received any training felt even worse. Some bent over and supported themselves on their knees to catch their breath, some turned pale, and some simply squatted down and supported themselves on the ground with their hands.

Hua Linlin's expression also changed.

She looked at the vortex and felt the aura emanating from its edge, and recognized it almost instantly!

That damp, slightly decaying smell is a scent that every torchbearer is all too familiar with!

That's an aura unique to the Dark Realm! And the concentration is ridiculously high!

It was more intense than anything she had ever encountered before in Lanhe or during any of her missions!

But local investigation bureaus also responded very quickly.

The psionic barriers that had been prepared were activated at the same time. A layer of silver, semi-transparent light shields spread outward from the core of each city, covering each urban area, like a silver-white umbrella being held up for each city.

The aura of the dark domain was temporarily kept outside by that barrier, but the blackness outside the barrier continued to surge, accumulate, and thicken.

Hua Linlin raised her head and looked into the depths of the vortex once more.

Amidst those surging undercurrents, she glimpsed some blurry outlines—a semi-transparent figure that seemed to be imprisoned, and beside it, another figure also dressed in a black trench coat.

Both shadows were distorted by the swirling light and shadow, making them difficult to see clearly through the layers of darkness.

But when Hua Linlin's gaze fell on the figure in the black trench coat, a certain corner of her heart suddenly stirred.

She couldn't explain why, but even from this distance, she could sense a certain... familiarity with the silhouette.

She couldn't help but frown.

. . .

At this moment, Wu You, who was absorbing divinity, suddenly noticed the change in the vortex.

He couldn't help but gasp – he could actually see the real world through that dark vortex!

At first, the images were small and blurry, just some different colored blocks. But as the sense of distance closed in, the outlines of those blocks gradually became clear, revealing tall buildings, streets, residential areas, and cities—things that only exist in the real world!

Could it be that the depth of this aggregated deep dark domain is already deep enough to penetrate into the real world?

Wu You's pupils suddenly contracted.

Thinking about the meaning behind this scene, even he, who was usually calm, felt a chill run down his spine.

If the deep dark realm is indeed directly connected to the real world, then the three southeastern provinces, as the point of connection, will be plunged into utter disaster!