Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

A few days later, Zhao Hao obtained information from Colt indicating that the town had been infected by the **X virus from its spiritual foundation; even mentioning related names could be dangerous, potentially leading to infection. Therefore, the information was sealed, and even the name Desiwa no longer existed.

This operation was named "Operation Raccoon".

Just as the Skull and Bones Society had predicted, Zhao Hao's psionic power had increased due to this incident, reaching Bronze 2-star.

+10000 Fate Points.

+3力量、+4体质、+3敏捷、+4感知、+4智力、+2精神。

But he wasn't happy.

Chapter 357 Extraordinary Normal State

"Alright, alright, stop howling!" the short-legged thug said impatiently, clutching two daggers in his hands.

He and Summer teamed up to play a real-world instance in a remote rural area of ​​Georgia.

At this moment, the two of them were protected by a semi-transparent hemispherical barrier, while opposite them was a monster with wrinkled skin and white hair, its body dry and black, swirling with wisps of black smoke, its eyes were two holes, and its mouth was a black hole.

This monster is only a level 4 Black Iron monster, and it doesn't have any minions or small monsters, but it has a special ability: it can use a kind of agonizing howl to attack superhumans and game players.

Three extraordinary individuals from the real world and four players from the fantasy game have already fallen to this old monster.

The players are alright. Although Zhao Hao "updated the game" and now "deducts spiritual energy and rewards" every time they die, which is basically Zhao Hao skinning them alive, at least they don't actually die.

But those three extraordinary individuals were truly dead. Not only did they die, but they also strengthened the old monster, making it even more difficult for those who came after them to deal with him.

Koki and Samo were, after all, Zhao Hao's "beloved" Shichibukai, and they set an example by secretly giving him resources. So, with proper preparations in place, he wasn't afraid of the old monster's wailing.

The sound waves rippled across the "sound wave protection barrier," creating concentric circles, but they couldn't affect Koki and Samo inside.

However, this barrier consumes spirit energy beads, and there are limited uses. It can only be replaced three times before it becomes unusable.

After all, Zhao Hao wants "sustainable exploitation," so he certainly can't give out permanent items.

Nakoki felt a pang of heartache as he watched the psionic orb being consumed.

The old monster's wails came in bursts, and they had to time their attacks perfectly during the pauses in the wails; for now, they could only tough it out.

Koki was both annoyed by the old monster's piercing screams and wails, and also in pain from the damage to the barrier. So, although he couldn't fight, he kept cursing and grumbling, insulting the old monster from its ancestors to its descendants.

At this moment, Samo, the innocent college student who had been led onto the path of adulthood by the three senior female students, spoke up.

"You know how she got here, right?"

Koki was taken aback: "I just heard that it was supposedly the reincarnation of an old woman who committed suicide? What? Is there some story behind it?"

Samo's face was filled with sorrow: "I specifically looked up the information. This old man was 86 years old. Before he died, he strangled his mentally challenged son with a rope and then committed suicide by taking medication..."

"Killed her own son? Really? An eighty-year-old woman... how could she do that?" Koki was also shocked, his eyes wide. Even though he had grown up on the streets, he had never heard of such a thing!

Samor nodded: "The old lady's son is sixty years old, but he is mentally disabled and unable to take care of himself. The old lady has raised him since he was a child, but she is worried that her son may not be able to live on his own after she dies, so she has chosen to take him with her on her journey."

"As for how he did it... the forensic doctor said that although the son was conscious, he did not struggle."

What a tragic scene! In the simple house, an eighty-year-old woman, trembling, strangled her son with a rope, tears streaming down her face as she strained to tighten the cord. The son, meanwhile, just stared at his mother, grinning foolishly…

When Koki looked again at the wailing monster, whose eyes were still bulging with blood and tears, he felt a pang of unease.

"Fuck you! You won't let me live properly while I'm alive, and you won't let me die properly when I'm dead! What the hell are you trying to do? Damn it! Damn it!"

"Howl! Howl my ass! If howling could solve problems, this world would have been ruled by donkeys long ago! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

As the wailing ceased, Koki instantly appeared behind the Howling Banshee. He gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, and the two daggers in his hands glowed with brilliant psionic energy as he plunged them viciously into the back of the Howling Banshee's head... He was filled with resentment, but he didn't know who to direct it at.

……

Meanwhile, in the distant peninsula of South Korea, a team of sixteen players was completely wiped out.

This group consisted of almost all the gamers in South Korea, twelve of whom were superhumans, while the rest were ordinary people.

They are quite united, having already connected to complete tasks together, helping each other and sharing resources.

Although the number of people is not large, they have developed quite well among players.

However, in this real-world scenario, they suffered a crushing defeat.

Kim Kwang-hoon sat dejectedly on the ground, feeling the long-lost state of spiritual damage. He felt as if he had lost contact with the world, and even his spiritual energy was not flowing smoothly.

But compared to these, the emotional blow was far more severe. The overwhelming sense of defeat plunged him into despair.

"Ring ring ring~" Kim Kwang-hoon yanked the phone to the ground and picked up the receiver.

"Annai..."

"Brother Guangxun!" Before he could speak, the person on the other end started crying out.

"We failed, we failed, Kwang-hoon! We couldn't save them! I hate it so much! Ahhh..."

Soon, the sixteen-person player team quietly gathered offline; their last meeting was three months ago.

In South Korea, offline gatherings of these players are extremely dangerous. This is because South Korea has the strictest management of superhumans; the vast majority are treated well and brought under official control, while those outside the system are in grave danger.

In particular, South Korea has repeatedly banned fantasy games, and players who were caught playing them have basically never logged on again.

Their last adventure gathering was because Kim Kwang-hoon and a few other players accidentally stumbled upon a secret sacrificial ritual.

After a series of investigations, Kim Kwang-hoon and his team were shocked to discover that this was a horrific human sacrifice!

This sacrificial ceremony was massive in scale, and it could even be described as a tacit cooperation between various departments, covering the entire South Korean peninsula like a spider web. From selecting the offerings to fulfilling every requirement, there was absolutely no flaw in the process.

In South Korea, various superstitious beliefs are rampant, and with the resurgence of psychic energy and the resurgence of the supernatural, it's impossible that those large corporations that originally controlled the lifeline of the nation wouldn't have any ideas.

Those who are already in their seventies or eighties, yet still cling to their power; those who have already essentially grasped the pinnacle of power, yet still aspire to become extraordinary, to become superhuman—they have all taken action!

This sacrifice was not the first time. Kim Kwang-hoon and his team discovered that since 78, there has been a sacrifice every year, with varying numbers of participants, whether large or small!

The number of people sacrificed this time was as many as 108, all of whom were young students.

After months of selection, they were taken to the mountains under the pretext of a study tour, where they were all murdered on a paper boat with the words "Sewol" written on it. The official explanation was that a landslide had occurred.

Kim Kwang-hoon and his group tried to stop them, but they were no match for the overwhelming force. All one hundred-plus children perished. Even more terrifying, this sacrifice continued annually, prolonging the lives of those in power at the helm of powerful conglomerates…

……

In the ruins of a mental hospital that had been abandoned for many years in Ami, the fat man also fell victim to the disease.

After becoming a player, he had a smooth journey, and would occasionally "help" Zhao Hao, much like a max-level player carrying a junior to victory.

He was originally a bounty hunter, and now with the real-world instance, it's even more convenient for him.

But this time, it was quite an unexpected turn of events. You could even call it a trap!

The fat man was assigned a task to investigate a paranormal event, but the clues pointed to a mental hospital that was destroyed in a fire many years ago.

A major incident occurred at that mental hospital years ago: forty-seven mental patients died en masse, and the hospital was later burned down.

As a result of this investigation, something went wrong.

At first, the fat man thought it was a mirror ghost that had become powerful.

Such extraordinary monsters have appeared in almost every part of the world. After all, in any civilization, mirrors always have some strange properties and meanings.

It's perfectly normal to see supernatural phenomena in a mirror.

However, the fat man was careless, starting with the Mirror Ghost. It was actually a Black Iron 5-star Mirror Ghost!

Keep in mind that the incident at the mental hospital happened decades ago, before the psychic energy revived. At that time, the creation of a Mirror Ghost was already a low-probability event, so how could it still be so powerful?

However, he didn't think of anything more.

The fat man fought and investigated all the way, eventually tracking the suspect into a secret room. It was a room filled with dozens, even hundreds, of mirrors on all sides, and in the very center of the room was a restraint chair, along with instruments forcibly prying open eyelids!

It turns out that decades ago, this place was a secret base of a strange folk religion. They always believed that there were other passages in this world that could lead to other worlds.

So they founded a mental hospital as a cover to study some absurd things.

However, what you keep thinking about will eventually come to pass. They actually found an ancient book that recorded some extraordinary knowledge.

Then they designed an experiment, found a mentally ill girl with extremely high psychic potential, put her in a room, removed her eyelids, and made her stare at the mirror 24 hours a day to stimulate her mind.

In the end, they actually opened up a mysterious space, or rather, an unknown secret realm!

At the time, Fatty thought he was dealing with a mutated mirror ghost that a folk sect had accidentally created by using fifty lives. He never expected that the mirror ghost was just a target thrown out to attract attention. The mastermind behind this was actually a devil from hell!

That ancient book is fake, written by the devil; the ritual is fake, created by the devil; only the dead are real!

Those ignorant fools tried things they didn't understand at all, and in the end, they "created" a secret realm in the mirror with fifty souls! A secret realm that connects to hell!

At that time, psychic energy was dormant, and this secret realm was just a secret realm. It couldn't open the Hell Passage and was merely a simple mirror space. For the devil, it was a failure, a trivial little plan that he made casually.

But now, it has become one again!

The fat man killed the mirror ghost in the mirror world, who was using the mirror to slaughter people near the mental hospital, only to find himself trapped and unable to escape.

What truly made him realize something was wrong was that, on the very edge of the "empty but reversed mirror world," there were raging flames, endless black smoke, and an abnormally unusual celestial phenomenon!

This is not a mirror world!

By the time Zhao Hao arrived, the mirror world was almost entirely consumed by hell. The fat man had spent five hours in the mirror world, fighting against more than a dozen monsters and being targeted by a demon, engaging in several battles.

When Zhao Hao arrived, the fat man was in a terrible state. His clothes were torn to shreds, and his face was covered in soot and dust, making his white flesh stand out starkly.

Fortunately, he was a body cultivator, an extraordinary individual who excelled in both physical and mental aspects, cultivating essence, energy, and spirit. If he were an extraordinary individual following the mage path, he would probably have been exhausted to death by now.

"Ritian, what are you doing here? Where is this... Damn it! Don't drag yourself into this mess! How did you get in here? Let's get out of here!"

The fat man used the game's friend function to ask for help. But this mirror world was no less mysterious than the real world; in fact, it was far more enigmatic.

If it weren't for Zhao Hao, probably no one else would have been able to get into this place.

Once this place is completely eroded by hell and becomes part of hell, then the surface world and hell will be connected.

Even now, there are still quite a few demons and monsters active in the surface world, but they have gone through countless transfer stations and used countless methods to finally arrive in the surface world to wreak havoc, harvest souls, and have fun.

But if this mirror world is eroded and the earth and surface are connected, it would be like having a high-speed train, allowing you to arrive in the surface world in no time! Of course, just like that silly math problem about going in and out of a pool, this passage is not big, like a nail hole in a wall. Those big demons would still have a hard time passing through, but they could still get through with some power.

"Don't rush, Fatty! I came prepared. You protect me first; I need to stop this world from going astray!"

Zhao Hao came up with a very simple solution: Eat!

Let the magic mirror devour the mirror house upon which this mirror world depends!

Under Zhao Hao's guidance, the Magic Mirror has become the central server of the entire Fantasy Westward Journey game, and it can now be considered a Bronze 5-star extraordinary item. It's just one step away from those legendary artifacts.

Even many things in myths and legends are probably not as advanced as it; eating a mirror house wouldn't be a problem.

At that time, we can use the entire psionic sea to suppress this "hellish nail hole," and even try to fleece hell...