GRMFBS CH98

The director’s mood remained terribly low afterward. Cupping the beetle corpse in his hands, he kept muttering under his breath, “How is this possible? Where did things go wrong? This is so humiliating, ahhhh… How is this possible?!”

His voice was incredibly soft, showing he very, very much did not want to be heard. However, he forgot that everyone present was a frontline combat operative with sharp ears and keen eyes.

The team exchanged highly covert glances… Is this guy a fan of our Captain too?

It seems staring at Infinite fragments for too long really does make people a bit unhinged!

Fortunately, the director’s professional competence remained intact.

The group took an elevator underground, where they had to pass through several large-scale protective barriers to proceed further.

These large-scale defenses were extremely powerful, but deploying them was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and they could not be moved. Therefore, the best course of action was to place the newly arrived Infinite fragments directly inside the protective perimeter.

However, entering the protective perimeter also meant they would lose the shielding provided by these layers of defense.

The director led them to change into hazmat suits.

Ji Yueming gave a nod, and the squad automatically shifted formation. Entering in pairs to change, they ensured that five people always remained outside guarding the sealing cases holding the Infinite fragments.

The director and security personnel really wanted to say that since they were inside the Research Institute, it was perfectly safe and there was no need to be so cautious. But thinking of that beetle, they all fell silent.

Soon, the squad members, security personnel, and the director had all changed into hazmat suits. Yet Ji Yueming had remained completely motionless beside the transport cart the entire time, still maintaining her posture with one hand resting on the sealing cases.

Looking somewhat awkward, the director asked, “Are you not going to change into a hazmat suit?”

Ji Yueming: “I do not need one.”

The director faintly caught a glimpse of flashing lightning in the Tianshi’s eyes and suddenly shuddered.

Ah… It’s true. The Tianshi doesn’t need protection.

They passed through the protective barriers.

The true face of the “Apocalyptic Fragment” revealed a corner of itself to them. Upon those facets resembling shattered picture frames, they saw all manner of mutated organisms.

Skyscrapers drowned by vines sprouting fingers, rats taller than humans scurrying across highways—it was a civilization incredibly similar to their own, yet human civilization there had long since collapsed. No wonder it was called the “Apocalypse.”

Such overly familiar scenes of civilization inevitably spawned illusions, let alone for those who had lived through the events twenty-six years ago and still retained those memories.

A few people’s breathing involuntarily grew heavy.

Ji Yueming tapped her finger. A thunderclap like a spring storm exploded abruptly beside their ears.

“I am still here. What are you afraid of?”

The group jolted back to their senses, their drifting, uneasy hearts settling firmly back into their chests.

Circling the terrifying behemoth, they entered a heavily fortified sealing room.

“We’ve prepared separate sealing pedestals to ensure these Infinite fragments won’t resonate and fuse…” The director’s introduction lacked confidence, his voice weak.

The next step should have been moving the sealing cases onto the pedestals and activating the seals. But the Tianshi remained standing beside the pile of cases, her hand resting on them, motionless.

“That’s enough,” Ji Yueming said. Her eyes grew brighter and brighter, unlookable lightning spilling from her eye sockets. “Now, sound the alarm and order a full evacuation.”

Her Tianshi robes billowed without wind, and the crackling of lightning in the air grew increasingly fierce. “I’m going to make a move.”

Before the director and security personnel could even react, her squad members, looking utterly horrified, grabbed the others and started bolting for the exit.

Dragged out the door by brute force, the director stumbled and yelled, “No, wait, what’s going on?!”

The Tianshi’s usually mute squad members bellowed in his ear, “Where’s the emergency evacuation alarm? Turn it on, quick! The Captain is about to unleash her ultimate attack—”

Accompanied by piercing alarms and roaring thunder, the people inside the Research Institute rapidly evacuated past the third door, then with well-trained efficiency, continued withdrawing past the second door.

Looking pitiful and helpless, the director desperately clung to one of the squad members. “Explain this to me! What on earth is happening?!”

“Explain what? We don’t know either!”

“Aren’t you her squad members?!”

“Do you really think the Tianshi would consult us about what she wants to do?”

“Just… just what exactly is she trying to do?!” The director looked like he was about to have a breakdown.

Rubbing his chin, Shi Qin said, “Looks to me like the Captain wants to destroy all these Infinite fragments.”

“Ah?!!” The director turned pale with shock, his eyes instantly bloodshot with panic. “No, no! That absolutely cannot happen!”

“Why not? You act like this crappy Research Institute of yours is so safe.” Taking advantage of his distraction, Shi Qin pulled out a seal and slapped it hard against the director’s forehead.

The director was knocked backward by the blow. Feeling as though someone had just pressed a branding iron to his forehead, he let out a sudden scream.

Having distanced themselves from the Tianshi’s heavy, terrifying aura, the Research Institute personnel gradually snapped out of their panic. The security personnel here were also elite supernaturals, and they surrounded the squad with unfriendly expressions.

“What are you looking at, what are you looking at?” Shi Qin shouted at the top of his lungs. “You don’t even know you’ve been corrupted!”

Another squad member pulled out a mirror and shoved it right in the director’s face.

There was no burn mark on his forehead—only a cinnabar seal. The director raised a hand to touch his forehead, his fingertips smudging the red ink.

He recognized this seal text; it was used to cleanse corruption. If a person had no corruption on them, they naturally wouldn’t be burned by the cinnabar.

A jolt of shock ran through the director.

“Nobody move!” he yelled loudly.

With his clouded brain and mind working once more, he began to realize something was wrong with himself.

Arrogance.

When did I become so arrogant?

A corruption leak was a matter of utmost urgency. The Tianshi had told him that traces of the “Apocalyptic Fragment’s” corruption had appeared outside their blockade, yet what had he been doing?

He had been obsessing over losing face. He had decided to proceed with receiving the Infinite fragments and placing them within a compromised defense perimeter. He should have immediately investigated the cause of the corruption leak!

When did I start losing my reverence?

Some people grew more reverent the more they researched; others lost their reverence entirely.

On his very first day entering a laboratory, his mentor had told him: You must learn reverence.

The world is vast, the universe is boundless, and human existence is minuscule. There are far too many things capable of destroying us!

Explorers must be cautious, because no one knows whether what they are opening is the next Pandora’s Box.

He had been corrupted… No, he wasn’t the only one.

All personnel at the Research Institute were required to undergo testing every ten days. He had absolutely been corrupted for longer than ten days! Was there a problem with the equipment? Or had the testing personnel already…

“All personnel! Stand where you are and do not move!” he shouted.

“Please help us screen for corruption!” He bowed deeply and solemnly to the squad. “I…”

BOOM!

A massive clap of thunder rolled out from the Research Institute behind him.

The bowing director stumbled in fright.

Shi Qin patted his shoulder. “Don’t be scared, it’s just our Captain. And you don’t need to worry about clearing the corruption either. You all just walked right through the Captain’s lightning aura; anyone who was severely corrupted would have dropped dead long ago.”

Everyone stared in horror at the lightning flashing within the Research Institute.

The director stammered, “Can… can the Tianshi succeed? That’s… that’s the largest fragment! And, and since our alarms have gone off, the Bureau will definitely respond!”

Tai Altar.

Da Wule’s Suburban Sacrifice ritual was only halfway through when a commotion suddenly broke out in the audience. It seemed they had received some news, as several people stood up with ugly expressions, preparing to leave.

“Where are you going?” Lingzhou Wendi asked with a smile.

He wore ancient sacrificial robes, holding a bell in his left hand and a pestle in his right. His hair was bound at the crown with jade ornaments. Every word he spoke sounded like a chant.

He struck the drumhead with the pestle in his right hand, hitting perfectly on the beat of his chant.

The people attempting to leave the ritual all froze involuntarily.

“Da Wule, please continue. We’ve received urgent news and need to head back immediately!”

“Once the Great Sacrifice to Heaven and Earth begins, no one is permitted to leave.” Lingzhou Wendi strolled across the altar as if dancing. “If you believe you can withstand the pressure of heaven and earth, then go right ahead.”

The pressure of the ritual began descending upon these rule-breakers. Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads.

“The Tianshi has gone rogue, you…” A flash of realization hit the person speaking. All of them were the ones Da Wule had specifically added to the Suburban Sacrifice guest list. “You’re in on it with the Tianshi!”

Lingzhou Wendi ignored him. The drum sounded, the bell chimed, and his robes fluttered as he chanted.

The power of heaven and earth resonated with him. The other participants in the ritual felt a jolt, suddenly feeling as though they had been washed clean by a pure deluge of water, all manner of illnesses and pains washed away.

Only those select few cried out in agony, collapsing to the ground howling or coughing up blood.

“I am ‘in on it’ with heaven and earth.” Lingzhou Wendi’s gaze was imposing and stern. “This ritual erodes the filth of Infinite. Why did you collapse?”

Aside from the group detained by Da Wule, another group within the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau had received orders to deploy to the Infinite Research Institute.

The orders were marked critical and high-risk. Three Captains were dispatched in one breath, mixed with two squads directly assigned by the Council.

When this group arrived outside the Infinite Research Institute, they unexpectedly ran straight into a massive mountain.

The mountain was golden, gleaming with solemn majesty in the night.

A woman dressed in hemp clothes, standing two meters tall with a buzz cut, walked out from the foot of the mountain, sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes without speaking a word.

“The Immovable Wisdom King?!” the Council personnel cried out in shock.

The Immovable as a Mountain technique of the Wan Yao Alliance’s Immovable Wisdom King was hailed as the number one prison in the world; to date, no one had ever successfully shaken this divine ability of hers.

Now, they were all trapped within this mountain. Even though the Infinite Research Institute was right before their eyes, they couldn’t take a single step forward.

“Immovable Wisdom King, why are you here? Does the Wan Yao Alliance want to start a war?!”

The Immovable Wisdom King remained completely still, unmoving and ignoring them entirely.

The Council personnel tried persuading, cursing, bribing, and threatening, but it was all utterly useless.

In the distance, thunder had already began to roar.

Furious, he started barking orders at the three action squad Captains: “Hurry up and chase her away!”

Black Wolf picked his ear. “What did you say? The wind’s too loud, I can’t hear you—”

The aura of lightning clashing with Infinite gradually spread outward. The towering majesty and the dark, bizarre secrets eroded each other.

The turbulence stirred up the hidden villains lurking in the shadows.

Amidst the background music of a Spring Festival Gala dance, Zhan Yunkai checked his phone messages, then stood up with absolute naturalness and told the kids, “I’m going to the balcony to check if the windows are closed tight.”

Stepping onto the balcony, he gazed at the gathering clouds in the distance, opened his mouth, and let out a long cry.

A sound imperceptible to mortals instantly swept across the four directions.

In the living room, Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru both snapped their heads up to look toward Qixia Mountain.

Chongming cries, deterring all evil.

Research Institute Sealing Room.

Even before the others had fully evacuated, lightning had already enveloped the sealing cases beneath Ji Yueming’s palm.

The Infinite fragments, which should have entered a dormant state under the seals, were now exceptionally active, thrashing wildly inside the cases.

The Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau’s collection of the Infinite fragments had gone far too smoothly—not a single corruption outbreak had occurred. The transport process had also been far too smooth, encountering no decent opposition whatsoever.

The Council of Twenty-Four assumed this was due to their meticulous planning, believing Infinite was an enfeebled, powerless relic of the past.

Arrogance!

Infinite had long since hidden a sliver of its will inside one of the fragments, waiting for the moment the Research Institute opened the seals to initiate fusion.

Using the “Apocalyptic Fragment” as a foundation and these Infinite fragments as support, Infinite could resurrect instantly!

The storm of lightning brewing within the Tianshi robes surged. Electricity coiled around Ji Yueming’s arm. As her five fingers tightened into a grip, the lightning formed a cage, contracting ruthlessly and snuffing out the hidden will of Infinite.

Lightning aura poured out from the sealing room. Ji Yueming’s physical form was no longer discernible; her arms, neck, and every inch of exposed skin had transformed into blinding lightning.

Lightning descended from her fingertips, wrapping around every sealing case. The most awe-inspiring pressure of heaven and earth descended, eroding the Infinite fragments sealed within one by one.

The lightning aura buoyed her upward, leaving her hovering across from the “Apocalyptic Fragment.”

This terrifying behemoth stood firmly in place. It had gouged a two-hundred-meter-deep wound into the earth, persisting here for twenty-six years.

Ji Yueming took off her mask and casually tossed it aside.

Piercing through the Research Institute’s layers of blockade, heaven and earth sensed her. The wind howled and the clouds surged. Dark clouds gathered in the sky above the Research Institute, blinding lightning darting through them.

Ji Yueming spread her arms, the space around her already transformed into a sea of lightning.

The mask had been her seal.

Now, she was going to cleanse the filth that had festered in this wound for far too long.

The lightning from the heavens crashed down with a deafening roar!