Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

I've arrived! I've arrived!

Section 68 Liquidation

Alice has now dealt with Zhao Yingkong's matter. As for Qi Tengyi... ignore him. His fate has come to an end; at most... his life will end before the seventh day.

[It's the fourth day now, and although there's not much time left, it's enough for me to make arrangements in Lop Nur and construct the Stellar Extraction Tower. Therefore, the next focus should be on dealing with the unstable element within the team. Cognitive interference still exists, but Zhao Yingkong and Qi Tengyi are temporarily ruled out as suspects. The other veterans have already undergone screening, so…]

[...Is this really a problem among the newcomers?]

There's nothing we can do. You're just unlucky.

Patchouli stood on the edge of the first-class cabin, her gaze piercing through the transparent porthole as she looked down at the vast land thousands of meters below. Through the thin clouds, she could clearly see the massive military base covering tens of square kilometers below, and at its very center, the entrance to the colossal shelter, constructed of steel and concrete and built to take advantage of the terrain.

Under the cover of night, the base was brightly lit. Even from 10,000 meters above the ground, her eyesight allowed her to clearly see countless vehicles and people moving in an orderly fashion below. The large area belonging to the airport had been completely cleared, and the control tower's indicator lights were on, ready to receive large passenger planes at any time.

It's early morning, just as the fourth day begins. The large passenger plane carrying the Central Continent Team and the main characters of the story has crossed distant airspace and arrived above the giant refuge in Lop Nur. It is circling at high altitude, constantly adjusting its altitude as it descends.

She gently touched her long, pale purple hair, and in an instant, the pigment in the ends of her hair rapidly changed from pale purple to jet black. The details of her facial features also underwent slight adjustments through muscle contraction. Before long, the facial features unique to Westerners faded rapidly, replaced by a face that still retained its previous outline, but with much softer lines, possessing a gentle and graceful quality like most people from the Eastern Continent.

She looked at her companions who were also changing clothes. While guiding them to put on the specific costumes that had been prepared in advance, she emphasized the precautions to them one last time.

"The plane will land in ten minutes. Final confirmation. We are now the Special Advisory Team of the Eastern Continent Special Affairs Bureau. We have the highest authority, including mobilizing the troops at the Lop Nur Refuge, sealing off the Refuge, and supervising all officials in charge of the Refuge. Our mission is to carry 'specific materials' to the natural cave at the bottom of the Lop Nur Refuge to complete 'Plan SP173'. Any obstruction will be considered treason and executed on the spot." She flicked a card that looked like a magnetic card, speaking calmly but with a serious expression.

"These are our identification documents, we've got them all. Although I don't think we'll need them much, it took me quite a bit of time to prepare them, so it's better to be safe than sorry."

Six hours ago, the plane made a brief stop over the capital of the Eastern Continent, circling in the air for about half an hour. During this time, Patchouli activated a protective barrier and landed from the passenger plane. Then she spent a considerable amount of time dealing with some... personnel issues.

The specific details are unnecessary to elaborate on, but in short, when she returned, the Eastern Continent government had already temporarily established a highly authoritative and classified 'Special Affairs Bureau,' and all members of the Central Continent Team, including the new recruits, had their files created within the Eastern Continent government under disguised identities. Corresponding personnel adjustments and resource allocations were quickly completed. Furthermore, she received an appointment document from the highest decision-making body of the Eastern Continent.

In other words, they can now directly take over the shelter without worrying about any obstacles—this is a good thing, as it greatly saves the time the Central Continent Team's reincarnators would otherwise spend setting up the cave. For the Eastern Continent people, this event also means that the reincarnators no longer need to launch a purge before the sixth day arrives.

Zheng Zha nodded.

“Understood. We’ll be officially stationed here from now on. And we’ll be completing the plan you prepared earlier, right?” He easily grasped the current situation. He also understood that Patchouli had spent so much time arranging an official identity for the group, instead of simply activating a shielding array and overwhelming them like they did in the Americas, all to accommodate the values ​​of most of the veterans, including Zheng Zha himself. Therefore, he quickly adjusted his mindset and swiftly assumed the identity Patchouli had prepared for him.

He was the team leader and also the commander of this newly formed special squad. With a military background, his original rank was Senior Colonel, but he personally disliked that rank. According to him, "I'm allergic to the word Senior Colonel. Even being demoted to Lieutenant Colonel or even a junior officer would be fine; I just don't want to be associated with that word!" Therefore, to fulfill his wish, Patchouli had to spend some extra time changing his official file to Major General. And because of this, the group was delayed considerably, arriving in Lop Nur on the fourth day after the main god's teleportation.

"Yes, that's it. I, Zhan Lan, and Xiao Honglu are the technical directors, and Zhang Heng and Lingdian are the security consultants. You are the team leader. The newcomers are ordinary technicians. As for the main characters, they are the 'specific materials' for Project 'SP173'. Once we get down there, the newcomers will take the main characters to rest, and we can arrange a unit to protect them. We will explore the underground cavern under the guise of preliminary reconnaissance. I will find a suitable place to build the 'tower,' and during this time I will find it difficult to concentrate on other matters, so if we encounter any obstacles, you will be responsible for my safety."

“No problem.” Zheng Zha nodded quickly. The others also had no objections.

This was a natural development. Putting aside the shared interests, she had already emphasized the division of labor and cooperation several times during the flight, taking advantage of any spare moments. It had become so much that the others were starting to get annoyed.

At least aside from the depressed Zhang Heng and the usually silent Lingdian, the other two were genuinely annoyed. Patchouli could even clearly feel the melancholy gazes directed at her by Zhan Lan and Xiao Honglu. And after saying this last thing, she finally chose to shut up completely.

The emphasis has been repeated too many times; there's no point in continuing.

A few minutes later, the plane landed safely, guided by ground lights. The group from Zhongzhou then stepped onto the ground again after a long flight.

............................................................

The handover process went smoothly. The person in charge at the Lop Nur base carefully verified the documents and credentials carried by the group and confirmed their authenticity through special channels before readily handing over control of the base—since they were genuine, there was no need to worry about any loopholes being discovered. Of course, this was only one reason; a more important reason was that they did not interfere with personnel appointments within the base. This was perfectly reasonable; even if the reincarnators gained power, they wouldn't actively interfere with the base's operations. After all, none of them had expertise in this area, and there were no plans for large-scale changes to the base.

Since there is no conflict of interest and the orders from superiors are genuine, then peaceful coexistence will naturally follow.

Thus, the original person in charge of the base continued to perform his duties. The entire underground shelter continued to operate normally as if nothing had happened. The reincarnators also proceeded according to the previously prepared plan. The newcomers, along with the main characters, remained on the upper levels of the base, securely protected by the Eastern Continent's army in specially designed enclosed safe houses. The veterans, led by the relevant officials of the base, entered the depths of the shelter, continuing their journey towards the natural caves beneath Lop Nur.

Of course, before setting off, she placed a device in the safe house that could continuously emit electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency. Using this, she could force angels near the base to reveal themselves. Based on previous experience, the fundamental principle followed by angels when moving across this continent was to remain hidden. Although she didn't understand why they did this, she could at least confirm that they wouldn't actively approach areas that would reveal them. After preparing the device, Patchouli also set up some defensive magic arrays in the safe house to deal with unexpected situations. Even if they couldn't directly destroy attacking angels, they should be enough to protect herself for a short time.

With the miscellaneous tasks completed, it was time to get down to business. Although the underground base in Lop Nur was enormous, taking the elevator directly to the bottom wouldn't take much time. Soon, the base's guide led the group to the deepest part of the underground, a bottomless cavern entirely constructed of natural rock, far removed from any man-made environment.

"Is this our destination?" Zheng Zha stepped out of the elevator and looked around. In his vampire vision, the visible area covered by the searchlight at the elevator entrance was less than twenty meters. And beyond twenty meters was the abyss.

“Yes, this is very likely the place. The Ear of the World, known as a bottomless abyss leading directly to the Earth's core. We are currently three thousand meters underground. Theoretically, even a solar storm wouldn't cause any problems here, because the thickness of the surface rock layers would completely negate the heat rays,” Patchouli replied. She walked to the edge of the abyss, her gaze fixed on the endless darkness. The echoes of their group reverberated through the cave, initially discernible as indistinct syllables, but soon fading into a series of booming, trembling sounds.

This is an abyss, an abyss without end. Its mere existence is like that of a prehistoric behemoth, poised to awaken at any moment, its gaping maw ready to devour anything daring to approach. Mortals are as insignificant as dust before this dark natural landscape, and even the reincarnators are no better off—Zhang Heng, the least daring among them, even took a small step back, forcing himself to stop before his heel touched the ground, and only carefully stepped back after making sure no one was watching.

Patchouli snapped her fingers, and a solid sphere of light formed from her fingertip, plummeting downwards in free fall—even though she had already repeatedly confirmed the location she needed using sound waves, seismic waves, and electrical signals. Yet, she still wanted to use the primitive optical detection method of sight to verify it one last time.

Sure enough, even after nearly five minutes had passed, she still hadn't felt any bottoming feedback signal from the physical ball of light she had thrown.

"Zhan Lan." She turned her head to look at the mental manipulator in the group. "How deep underground can your mental scan detect?"

Zhan Lan closed her eyes, and a slight twitch appeared between her brows. She quickly arrived at her answer in less than two seconds.

“One hundred and twenty kilometers. That’s a bit different from the detection level on the surface, perhaps because of the different environment,” she replied quickly.

“One hundred and twenty…that’s enough.” Patchouli nodded, reaching out to take out a large pile of mechanical parts that had been stored in her folding storage space—these were components of the stellar extraction tower she had crafted during her day-long flight on the plane, and now they came in handy. Of course, they were far from the original, but for the current situation, they were more than sufficient.

She didn't intend to drain the sun dry; it was unnecessary, pointless, and, more importantly… she couldn't. Her only goal was to devour the solar storm and prevent the apocalypse on the seventh day.

So……

"Everyone, let's get started now, proceeding as planned," she said calmly, using a gravitational field to levitate the metal components and drop them into the air above the abyss to form the main structure of the extraction tower.

"Zhan Lan is responsible for using her mental power to correct assembly errors, while Xiao Honglu is responsible for controlling the electrical energy to keep the pipeline running smoothly. Zhang Heng and Zheng Zha are respectively preparing to deal with the ranged or melee enemies. As for me, I am responsible for the overall assembly work."

She spoke quickly, controlling the force field to rapidly assemble the various components into the desired shape. As she became more focused, the assembly process became increasingly intricate and complex. This forced Xiao Honglu and the other person to concentrate all their energy on this assembly work... and she herself naturally did the same.

Everyone was focused, devoting all their energy to completing or ensuring the completion of this project. This meant that from that moment until the Stellar Extraction Tower was fully constructed, all the experienced individuals present were completely unaware of what was happening above.

And that's exactly what Patchouli needed.

Section 69 · Levels

Patchouli didn't do this without a reason. The reason she separated the veterans and the newcomers was to completely eliminate the unstable factor that had infiltrated the team and interfered with the perceptions of many, including herself, before the plan could be implemented and the Stellar Extraction Tower was completed.

She knew there was something wrong with the team, but she didn't know who it was. The veterans had already eliminated all suspects through a process of elimination. Therefore, the focus should be on the newcomers and the main characters of the story.

The hidden dangers must be eliminated, no matter the cost, to ensure everything is under control by the end of the sixth day.

Patchouli thought this way, and thus made her arrangements. Since cognition could be influenced and thinking could be confused, she would simply let a tool without the ability to think act on her behalf. The 'unfortunate' Li Laoshi who had died was precisely the tool she had created to identify the infiltrators. And in order to eliminate the influence of external factors, she had to ensure that the veterans would not get in the way when she initiated the verification.

A consensus had been reached. Xiao Honglu had already obtained the intelligence that 'Li Laoshi's attack was deliberate' during the previous incident and had passed this intelligence on to Zheng Zha. Although it was unclear whether Zheng Zha had understood the implications of this intelligence, since he had not expressed any opposition or doubt, Patchouli assumed that he was aware of it and had tacitly agreed.

It was precisely for this reason that when Patchouli explained her personnel allocation plan, mentioning the separation of newcomers and veterans, no one objected—Zero Point and Zhang Heng remained passive, Xiao Honglu tacitly agreed, and Zhan Lan and Zheng Zha's situations were unclear. Regardless, the plan had been initiated and was being implemented smoothly.

In short, the experiment was triggered in a closed environment using newcomers as bait. Since the infiltrator had already killed Li Laoshi, it meant that its goal included at least the killing of reincarnators. Therefore, now was the opportunity Patchouli had specially prepared for it to kill.

—The newcomers always need to be useful, and as the deadline approaches, the situation will obviously become increasingly urgent. If they are useless, they will eventually die in the subsequent natural disasters. At the same time, it is much better for the infiltrators to come from among the newcomers than from among the veterans. After all, these unlucky guys who were just pulled into the real world by the main god... are not yet considered members of the Central Continent Team.

The suspicions of the veterans have been largely ruled out, but only "largely," not definitively. The angels of this world possess a higher level of technological power than the witches. Although their applications are somewhat rigid, there might still be something within them that could completely conceal her identity and keep her completely in the dark.

Patchouli said she wouldn't scheme against the members of Team Middle-earth, and she would naturally keep her word. Because witches, like the devils often seen in Western fantasy, are adept at exploiting loopholes and finding loopholes, but when it comes to a properly signed contract, they will carry it out to the end no matter what.

If you can't scheme against your teammates, then you can only scheme against those who aren't teammates yet.

Therefore, she assigned tasks to all the senior members, including herself. She expended considerable energy ensuring that no one would interfere with the inspection due to subjective or objective factors. Furthermore, Qi Teng and the others were far away in another country and wouldn't be able to return anytime soon. This way, if something happened above, it would completely eliminate suspicion from all the other senior members, ending the current seemingly harmonious but actually suspicious situation. If nothing happened above, it meant the assembly of the Stellar Extraction Tower could proceed smoothly, which was also good for her plan. This was a win-win situation, as long as… things didn't develop in the worst possible way.

While the newcomers at the top serve as bait, aren't the veterans below another crucial element? And this bait is even more enticing, sweeter, and more important—the Stellar Extraction Tower plays a pivotal role in the subsequent plans. Once completed, Patchouli will undoubtedly install massive protective measures above it. If that infiltrator attempts to sabotage the Central Continent Team's plans, then this is the perfect opportunity.

However, if such a thing were to happen, it would only prove one thing.

—Of the six veterans present, at least one is no longer the person they were.

..................................................................

Meanwhile, on the other side of the earth.

In the heart of Boston, on streets that were once bustling but are now heavily trafficked, two women sit quietly under a parasol. Their gazes casually sweep over the once vibrant city, now as cold and hard as frozen steel.

Alice didn't kill many people.

In fact, when she destroyed the army, suppressed the opposition forces, and dispatched heavily armed mechanized legions to patrol the city's hidden corners, the once vibrant city fell into complete silence. Schools closed, companies shut down, and all civilians were ordered to stay home—their freedom of movement was taken away, but at least their lives were spared.

Alice didn't need them—she wanted to build factories to produce her own army to fight her enemies, and with AI and engineering robots, the mortal workers were a burden. They were useless, and it wouldn't hurt to let them fend for themselves. And because pointless killing was inherently unnecessary, there was neither slaughter nor enslavement in America at this moment. She only needed them to do one thing from beginning to end:

—'Don't get in my way.'

When Alice made this decision, she felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her chest, and she felt a little more relaxed. She flicked her forehead and watched as batches of mechanical legions walked out of the factory in neat formation, lined up, assembled various weapon components, and then, under her control, advanced in the directions where troops needed to be deployed. Finally, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Everything was finally on track. The second-generation robot army, built using the steel and electromechanical industries of the Americas, completed its replacement of the first-generation army before it ran out of energy. With this, nothing in the Americas could hinder her from moving the plan to the next stage. Many projects that had previously stalled could be restarted and put back into operation.

If the three eroded and transformed industrial zones in North America, disregarding all other considerations, were to focus solely on producing robot armies using their existing resources, over one million robots would be deployed within 24 hours. Given that a single ordinary combat robot could easily handle an infantry platoon without heavy firepower, this military force would be enough to completely wipe out the entire human world.

However, she didn't intend to do that. Because it wasn't within her scope of business. And she clearly wouldn't bother with such trivial matters at this moment; it would only cause her trouble.

“Terminator.” Alice gently tapped her head. “If the angels don’t make a move, and if there’s any chance of a comeback in North America, then the only thing that can happen is some ridiculous idea like a future warrior traveling through time to defeat me.”

"You seem to be really looking forward to this happening?" The voice of the main personality, Zhao Yingkong, came from not far away. After listening to all the plans and reaching a consensus with Alice, she followed Alice to her side. "Time travel, if you could acquire this technology, it would be a great help to you."

“Indeed, that technology is quite beneficial to me, but right now I'd rather this mess get even muddier. This world with its hidden agenda is incredibly difficult to manage. If I had no other choice, I really wouldn't want to get involved in this mess,” Alice said calmly. She had long since given up hope of understanding how far the current chaos could unfold. Everything had already been chosen by the angels; any attempt to do anything would be futile.

They were ultimately a cycle of reincarnation, and the possibility of annihilating the angel race had become almost zero after they realized the identity of the 'acquaintance' hiding behind the angels. If they couldn't resolve the situation, the cataclysmic disaster could only be postponed, and regardless of whether it was postponed or not, many things were already predetermined.

"This world will eventually be destroyed. Even if we successfully survive the twelve days and return to the Main God Space, all traces of civilization on this planet will be completely erased when the thirteenth day arrives. After that, perhaps a new cycle will begin, or perhaps this planet will be abandoned altogether... Tsk, in any case, I will absolutely not return to this world. This feeling of being controlled at every turn... I only need it once or twice." She said calmly, her tone completely unwavering.

“That’s true, so we just need to focus on the present.” Zhao Yingkong nodded in agreement. She suddenly reached out and opened the refrigerator in a closed ice cream shop on the street, taking out a box of ice cream from a distance. She deftly unwrapped it, picked up a spoon, and took bites one by one. Soon, a happy expression appeared on her face.

"The taste... is better than I expected."

"You've never eaten this before?"

“I’ve never eaten in this state of mind before.” Zhao Yingkong shook her head. “I thought I would fall asleep in the fire of hatred and the guilt of killing my parents, until my alternate personality rises and my fate comes to an end. But I never expected that I would actually find my true enemy.”

She turned her head and looked at Alice.

"As I told you before, I have an older brother named Zhao Zhuikong. He should have already entered the cycle of reincarnation. If you encounter him in the future, please give him my regards. Tell him not to eat apples all the time, as it's not good for his health."

“You can go talk to him yourself.” Alice pouted, tilted her head, and asked curiously, “How do you know he’s in the cycle of reincarnation? You… didn’t you just wake up from this horror movie?”

"I tricked him out of it. The real world is peaceful; unless there's a world war, fourth-tier powerhouses simply can't emerge. My brother is a genius far stronger than me, but he's considered useless in the intelligence networks of various countries. That's because he's been suppressing himself from advancing, only breaking his seal and returning to his peak state when he encounters a sufficiently powerful enemy." Zhao Yingkong waved her hand dismissively. "So when I asked Qi Tengyi a question just now, I deliberately lured him in and directly gave him the information that 'Zhao Zhuikong' had already reached the fourth tier. When he thought this was correct and was completely unaware of it, my goal was achieved."

"When my brother sees me, he will definitely come straight at me and try to kill me. However, I think I probably won't live to see that day, so I can only ask you to pass on a message for me."

Alice was silent for a moment before speaking, "Gods are not so easy to die. If you don't want to, you can come back to life even if you die."

“No, that won’t work,” Zhao Yingkong shook her head. “I won’t live to see that day.”

“My soul is flawed; no matter what, I cannot overcome my inner demons and reach the middle of the fourth tier. If I force a breakthrough, I am destined to die… This is my fate; I cannot escape it, nor do I want to. Because I must reach the middle of the fourth tier to find that nameless assassin from the depths of my heart. And once I succeed, it also means that I will die soon.”

“The Book of the Sun,” Alice said slowly. “You still have a chance to be resurrected, you can start over.”

“That sounds good. But that’s impossible.” Zhao Yingkong denied with a wry smile: “You know, there are different levels of ‘death’. Ordinary people will die if their bodies are damaged on a large scale. But people who have cultivated or strengthened can regenerate their bodies, so their death would be the complete annihilation of both body and soul.”

“And my death would probably be even more troublesome than complete annihilation.” She smiled at Alice. “Overcoming death should be your ultimate reliance for surviving this story. When things become impossible, have Zheng Zha complete the captain certification and forcibly stop this story world. Those who unfortunately die can be resurrected by the main god… Anyway, everyone still has one chance to be resurrected. However, how can you prove that the Sun Scripture can definitely solve the death caused by the collapse of the Light of the Soul?”

Alice remained silent.

She couldn't prove it, nor could she possibly prove it. And what's worse, she felt that Zhao Yingkong's theory... seemed to make some sense.

Section 70 - Pit