spiritual scholar

cultist

Northern Shuangle Station, Temporary Command Center

Zhang Wendong and others were wearing masks, giving commands.

"We still can't contact the outside world. This spiritual magnetic interference is quite strong. I'm afraid it's an evil entity of the demon ghost level!" someone said.

"Hmph, a demon ghost-level entity smart enough to replace surveillance video footage. Damn it! Those cultists are traitors!" another person said angrily.

Only humans could understand how to replace surveillance footage!

This wasn't just an emergency; it was a terrorist attack planned by humans!

"Instead of arguing, focus on directing the crowd to areas protected by practitioners."

"The temporary spiritual net's range is limited. We've already pulled in the reserve forces from the periphery. If the outskirts of the station are attacked, I'm afraid..." someone worried.

"Team 3 is about to reach the location where Team 1 disappeared. Everyone, keep an eye on the real-time video transmitted by Team 3..."

"Report!" a soldier shouted, "Before communication was cut off, a concerned citizen reported a suspicious target."

Zhang Wendong immediately asked, "What's the suspicious target?"

The soldier operated the screen, enlarging the suspicious target on the big screen.

It was a person wearing a hat and glasses, with a QR code on their cheek, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, with an unremarkable appearance.

"They went through the bionic channel for inspection. I don't know how they slipped through, but I just found out he's not a bionic person. He's a practitioner named Feng Liping..."

The command center fell silent for a moment.

"Idiots! The security personnel at the inspection are useless!"

"Damn it!"

Zhang Wendong, remaining calm, asked, "Is he possibly a cult practitioner?"

"According to the database, Feng Liping had close contact with 'Dark Path' cult members in 2031 and with 'Radiant Dream' cult members in 2033, but there is no solid evidence..."

"According to Hong Jun's intelligence, Feng Liping's last travel record was updated in Xiping City on July 1st at 4:18 PM. He bought two cans of iced tea at a private grocery store."

Someone scolded, "Why didn't you warn us about this earlier?"

The soldier, feeling wronged, said, "I marked him as orange right after the report. I was verifying the information, but Feng Liping had disguised his face, so the facial recognition system didn't identify him..."

He had already verified it very quickly!

Zhang Wendong didn't blame the soldier and analyzed, "Feng Liping is not within our temporary spiritual net range. There are two possibilities: he's still inside the Northern Shuangle Station but hasn't connected to our net, or he's left our net's coverage area."

After the analysis, he commanded, "Team C, retrieve the surveillance footage of Feng Liping leaving. Team A, continue providing information support for Teams 2 and 3. Team B, handle crowd protection within the station."

"Team D, keep analyzing the type and abilities of the evil entities in this emergency."

Outside Northern Shuangle Station

The crowd had retreated to the Hell Dragon Ice Cream Truck. With the network cut off from the outside world, this super cool Hell Dragon Ice Cream Truck had become an ordinary ice cream truck.

"I didn't expect to see a vehicle with a manual driving cabin. It's practically an antique." Feng Liping praised, "Old man, has your driver's license expired?"

The ice cream vendor rolled his eyes and didn't answer directly, "Fully automated cars are great, saving space, manpower, and resources, and significantly reducing the number of accidents. But in an emergency, all automated vehicles shut down."

As he spoke, he directed the couple and the middle-aged man to throw out the iceboxes, making room for people.

Rosalie remained silent, staying close to Su Xiao and watching the surroundings vigilantly.

Su Xiao was frantically typing, sending messages to give commands and communicating with various sources to confirm information.

His arms were sore, his throat was nearly hoarse, and white steam was rising from his forehead.

While operating, his mind was also thinking.

The enemy this time was the Dream Clan. The Dream Clan's ability to cause material damage in the real world was limited. If materialized, their combat power would drop significantly, so there was no need to worry too much about secondary disasters like building collapses.

But the Dream Clan itself was very strong.

The Dream Clan wasn't the name of a single evil entity, but a common name for many similar entities with various abilities.

Humans refer to all evil entities living in the dream of the Leviathan-class evil entity "Moon Mountain Beast" as the Dream Clan. All Dream Clan members are considered Moon Mountain Beast's minions.

The Dream Clan has two shared abilities.

Projection Reality and Dream Invasion.

Dream Invasion allows them to invade the dreams of unprotected humans and torment them. Although it's hard to kill them directly, it leaves a significant psychological impact, leading to various mental illnesses and even madness. This ability is harmful but controllable.

Projection Reality is the Dream Clan's main ability to create emergencies.

Through mechanisms not yet understood, the Dream Clan can project into the real world and operate within it. Existing intelligence suggests that there are two ways the Dream Clan projects into the real world.

By chance, through someone's dream, they briefly enter reality. This kind of emergency is hard to prevent but generally causes minor harm because such Dream Clan members usually don't have the ability to destroy the Hong Jun Network and will dissipate shortly. These are considered the weakest "lower-level minions."

Planned by humans, usually cultists who worship the Moon Mountain Beast. They create connected dreams through spiritual drugs, psychic abilities, or sacrificial rituals, allowing powerful Dream Clan members to descend.

Dream Clan members descending through the second method often have the average strength of lower-level minions, can reach upper-level minions, and occasionally include demon ghost-level entities!

Moreover, Dream Clan members descending through the second method can stay in the real world for a long time and even possess a human to become their spiritual carrier.

At one point, Dream Clan members pretended to be "super strong remnants," "an old master chased by enemies," and so on to deceive young humans into voluntarily becoming their carriers. Fortunately, the government increased publicity efforts to curb their evil schemes.

Su Xiao judged, based on the information collected, that only one place within his temporary spiritual net—the entrance of a subway station—was attacked by an evil entity.

The Dream Clan member attacking there would likely stay put and "feed."

If it moved, it would be advantageous. This is Shuangle City, a major hub in China, and rescue will arrive quickly. The Dream Clan member wouldn't have enough time to eliminate the Clear Mind Spell before the rescue team arrived and crushed its head.

Su Xiao also judged that there was probably only one Dream Clan member at the subway entrance.

If there were two, based on past emergency experiences, they would act separately, not putting all eggs in one basket to avoid being wiped out by humans.

"Rosalie," Su Xiao said, "To make an entire subway entrance's people unconscious, including the security forces there, even though it relies on a virus, that Dream Clan member must be quite strong. If materialized, its combat power is like an upper-level minion. If you can handle it, do so; if not, drag it out until reinforcements arrive."

"North Shuangle Station likely encountered enemies too, as no one has come out to connect..."

"As for the specific type of this Dream Clan member, I'm still identifying..."

"No problem," Feng Liping immediately said, patting his chest, "I'm a practitioner of the Awareness Stage, equivalent to an upper-level minion in the evil entity's power system!"

Rosalie glanced at Feng Liping and gently said to Su Xiao, "Although I'm not at the Awareness Stage, facing an upper-level minion, I can kill it like slaughtering a chicken."

Feng Liping shivered instinctively.

Why did it feel like this lady wasn't talking about killing the evil entity but him, Feng Liping himself!