82: Chapter 82 The Extra Person, Altering Memories

As everyone stepped into the range of the Kunlun Ruins mountain range.

The surrounding scenery began to undergo a bizarre transformation.

The originally clearly visible mountains, rocks, and trees began to become blurry and distorted, like wax figures melting from high heat.

The air became viscous and damp-cold, carrying a nauseating smell of mold and blood.

Zhou Kai subconsciously glanced back.

This glance made his scalp tingle.

The path they came from behind had disappeared.

In its place were layers of indescribable, flat, and chaotic paintings!

Inside those paintings were the path they had just walked, the people from Bureau 749 of the Yanlong Empire standing at the foot of the mountain, and even... the entire world!

Everything had been flattened and twisted, turning into grotesque and absurd abstract scrolls suspended in the Void Realm.

"Wh... what the hell is this?!"

Zhou Kai only felt his head spinning, as if he himself were about to become part of that scroll.

"Don't look back!"

Ning Shou barked in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of warning.

"Influenced by the Taboo Rule, the space here is clearly distorted. Looking back will make you lose your way or even fall into the abyss."

Hearing this, Zhou Kai hurriedly turned his head back, not daring to look again.

But the fear in his heart grew like wild weeds... Inside the Rebirth Temple.

Through Zhou Kai's perspective, Lin Chuan also saw that eerie scene.

"Space folding? Dimensional collapse?"

"No... more than that."

Within Lin Chuan's massive eyes, which were streaming with bloody tears, black light flickered.

He opened the panel deep within his consciousness, attempting to obtain information.

However, the panel had no reaction.

No prompts, no warnings, not even a single character popped up.

"Based on past experience, my Golden Finger panel can analyze even an SSS-Rank Ninth Stage taboo and provide prompts."

"But now there's no reaction..."

"These Kunlun Ruins... could they be at the same horror level as that Mysterious Old Man?"

Lin Chuan's heart sank slightly.

Thinking of this, he had a thought.

The book of omniscience, which he had been keeping trapped, was instantly released.

"Wahhh! Big boss! You finally let me out!"

As soon as the book of omniscience came out, its pages flipped excitedly.

"Are you going to give me more taboos to eat? This time I want a big one! That shadow last time wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth!"

"Shut up!"

Lin Chuan's voice was grand and distorted... carrying an unquestionable majesty and divinity!!

"I have something to ask you."

As Lin Chuan's will descended, a light screen constructed from Rule Power appeared before the book of omniscience.

On the light screen was exactly the scene of the Kunlun Ruins seen from Zhou Kai's perspective.

"Look at this."

Lin Chuan transmitted a signal to the book of omniscience.

In the next moment, the eye on the cover of the book of omniscience swiveled and looked at the light screen.

"Eh?"

"This... why does this place look a bit familiar?"

Its pages rustled as they flipped, seemingly searching through its vast database.

"Searching data... searching..."

"Found it!"

The book of omniscience cried out excitedly:

"This is... a fragment!"

"A fragment?" Lin Chuan frowned.

"Yes! It's a fragment!"

The book of omniscience's voice became somewhat strange, seemingly carrying a hint of awe and a hint of confusion.

"According to the fragmented memory records of this esteemed one..."

"A long, long time ago... so long ago that even time had no concept..."

"A big guy... shattered."

"These so-called Kunlun Ruins are just a fragment of that big guy's body!"

While explaining to Lin Chuan, the book of omniscience's tone returned to being arrogant, even starting to refer to itself as 'this esteemed one' again.

"What big guy?" Lin Chuan didn't mind and followed up with a question.

"Don't know."

The book of omniscience shook its whole body and responded:

"My data is incomplete."

"Moreover... information about that big guy seems to have been blocked by some higher-level Rule Power."

"Even in my prime, I might not have known everything."

Lin Chuan fell silent.

Even the book of omniscience didn't know?

These Kunlun Ruins were indeed not simple!!

"However..."

The book of omniscience suddenly changed its tone, becoming somewhat wretched.

"Big boss, don't you still owe me a chance to 'Predict the Future'?"

"If I take a Peeping glance at a corner of this fragment, or..."

"Perhaps I might discover something!"

"Fine."

Lin Chuan did not hesitate and nodded directly.

"Then let's begin."

"Alrighty!"

The book of omniscience's pages flipped wildly in excitement.

"Gears of fate, start turning!"

"Let this esteemed one see what the truth behind this mist really is!"

Buzz!!!

Following its self-muttering-like chant.

Twisted, obscure runes began to emerge on the pages.

A mysterious fluctuation of rules emanated from the book, attempting to penetrate the mist of time and space to catch a glimpse of a future trajectory.

However.

Right at that moment.

Sizzle sizzle...

The pages of the book of omniscience suddenly began to burn violently!

Black flames appeared out of thin air, carrying a decaying, declining, and irreversible aura of curse, instantly spreading across the entire book.

"Ahhh!!! Hot, hot, hot!!!"

The book of omniscience let out a shrill scream.

"Oh no! Backlash!!"

"Wh... what the hell is this?!"

"Help me, big boss! I'm going to be burned to death!!"

Its pages quickly curled and blackened in the flames, even starting to peel off piece by piece, as if it would completely disintegrate at any moment and turn into lifeless Puzzle Piece fragments.

Seeing this, Chaos black light rippled all over Lin Chuan!

Boom!!!

A massive Rule Power surged out from the evil buddha golden body, instantly enveloping the book of omniscience.

Lin Chuan activated his own rule—Universal Illumination of Buddhas Light!

Soon, the Chaos black light collided violently with the black cursed flames.

Although the cursed flames were extremely eerie and stubborn, they were gradually extinguished under the suppression of Lin Chuan's rules.

"Whew... so dangerous..."

After the flames were extinguished.

The book of omniscience slumped in mid-air, black smoke rising from its body. Its originally shiny black cover was now charred, looking like rotten wood struck by lightning.

"Wuwuwu... such a big loss... a huge loss this time..."

It wailed mournfully while its pages kept flipping.

"My perfect body..."

"Now look at me, I've become even more of a cripple!"

"To recover, I'll need to eat at least ten... no, a hundred S-rank Taboos at least!"

"Shut up."

Lin Chuan coldly interrupted its complaining.

"What did you see?"

"I... I saw a little bit..."

The book of omniscience said, sobbing:

"That inside... there are many... many people."

"Many people?" Lin Chuan frowned.

"Yes... many... extra... people."

The book of omniscience's voice began to tremble.

"And... they... are not human..."

"What do you mean?"

"I... I don't remember..."

The book of omniscience seemed to have some confusion in its memory again due to the backlash just now.

"Anyway... it's just very terrifying..."

After saying that, as if it had overdrawn all its strength, it directly fell into a "dormant" state.

Lin Chuan looked at the book of omniscience, which was close to "crashing," and frowned deeply.

"Extra people?"

"Not human?"

He turned his gaze back to Zhou Kai's perspective... inside the Kunlun Ruins.

Everyone had already ventured deep into the mist.

Visibility was getting lower and lower, barely allowing them to see the surroundings within a few meters.

"Light the ghost candles!"

Ning Shou shouted in a low voice.

He took out a red candle from his bosom and lit it.

The eerie green candlelight flickered in the mist, emitting a cold light that dispelled the surrounding darkness.

Others followed suit, lighting the ghost candles in their hands.

In an instant, over thirty green candle flames lit up in the mist, like a string of ghost fires floating in the mountains.

Zhou Kai tightly gripped the ghost candle in his hand, his heart pounding like thunder.

He always felt that something in the surrounding mist was Peeping at them.

"One, two, three..."

To relieve his tension, he silently counted the number of people in his head.

"Thirty, thirty-one..."

Including Ning Shou, there were thirty-one people in total.

"Thirty-two, thirty-three..."

As he counted, Zhou Kai's expression suddenly changed.

"Thirty-four... thirty-five..."

"Sixty... sixty-one... sixty-two..."

Sixty-two people?!

Zhou Kai stopped abruptly, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

He clearly remembered that the team of Ghost Controllers from the Great Xin Dynasty in front, plus one Taboo Master Ning Shou, only totaled thirty-one people!

Why... would there be an extra thirty-one people?!

He stiffly turned his head and looked at the team behind him.

Amidst the flickering candlelight.

Familiar faces came into view.

They all had their heads bowed, walking silently, holding ghost candles in their hands.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But... the count was wrong!

It was really wrong!

"Hey... you there..."

Zhou Kai's voice trembled as he tried to call out to the person in front.

"How is it?"

A Ghost Controller walking in front of him turned around and asked somewhat impatiently.

That face... Zhou Kai recognized it.

It was the Director of another Base City in the north, named Wang Gang.

"No... nothing..."

Zhou Kai swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the fear in his heart.

He didn't dare to speak.

Because he discovered... he couldn't distinguish at all which were the original people and which were... the extra people!

In his memory, these sixty-two people... seemed... to have been in the team from the very beginning!

"No... that's not right..."

Zhou Kai felt like his head was about to explode.

"My memory... is something wrong with it?"

"Or could it be..."

He looked at the ghost candle in his hand.

The eerie green flame seemed to be mocking his ignorance and fear.

Sixty-two people.

Sixty-two ghost candles.

In this silent and eerie depth of the Kunlun Ruins.

They formed a long line, slowly and continuously moving toward the unknown depths of the mountain range.