207: Chapter 207 Entering Baicheng Alone

"Lin Ye!"

As soon as Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan walked in, she looked as if she had exhausted all her strength, her hands pressing desperately against the edge of the golden-nanmu tea table.

"Just in the past hour alone, more than three hundred more people in Jiangzhou City have turned into white sand. Not only that, wherever those piles of white sand accumulate, the door pattern of the closed-eyed white dove will form."

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan raised her head, her phoenix-like eyes that were usually as sharp as blades now revealing a deep sense of helplessness.

"We have forcefully cut off the internet, but ordinary people walking on the streets in reality will be instantly infected even if they just inadvertently glance at the pattern on the ground. This thing is like air, omnipresent."

"What is even more terrifying is that it is evolving."

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan swallowed her dry saliva and pulled up a surveillance footage on her military tablet.

"Take a look."

On the screen was a sealed underground garage.

A deceased person who had been infected and turned into white sand left a miniature door pattern on the floor.

Immediately after, the pattern made of sand suddenly began to emit a faint clicking sound.

Then, that pile of white sand surged like a fountain, condensing into a vague humanoid outline in mid-air.

That humanoid figure had no face, only a patch of pure white light. It wandered in the underground garage, and anyone it touched directly disintegrated into new white sand.

"From auditory infection to visual infection, now... it has begun to materialize these white 'angel' monsters to carry out physical contact infection."

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan covered her face with both hands and rubbed them in pain.

"Great Xia's thermal weapons hit these light-and-shadow monsters and just pass right through them. More than a dozen of our special operations officers have already sacrificed."

"Headquarters has issued a strict order: if the source cannot be found within four hours, Jiangzhou City... will be classified as a Level 1 uncontrollable epidemic area for a complete lockdown."

Complete lockdown.

Everyone present knew what these four words meant.

It meant that this huge city with a population of twenty million would be completely abandoned, turning into a dead city at the mercy of the meme virus.

After listening to Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan's report, the atmosphere in the hall was so oppressive that it felt as if it could drip water.

Helena piously crossed herself on her chest. Although her faith had collapsed, this apocalyptic scene still awakened the compassion deep in her bones.

"What's the rush? When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

A lazy yet exceptionally firm voice broke the dead silence.

Lin Ye pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan.

"Lin Ye, this is no joke." Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan looked at him, a trace of hope flashing in the depths of her eyes, "You... do you have a way?"

"As for a way, it's simple if you say it's simple, and difficult if you say it's difficult."

Lin Ye picked up the teacup and took a gentle sip.

"Since this thing is a rule-based strange talk built on cognition, physical defense and escape in reality are completely meaningless to it."

"Even if you unplug the network cable and blindfold your eyes, it can still find you through dreams or the subconscious."

"The only way is to crawl along the network cable, find the host of this server, and smash it."

Lin Ye stretched out a finger and pointed at his own head.

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan was stunned: "Crawl along the network cable? You mean... you are going to actively infect yourself with this meme?"

"Are you crazy!"

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan stood up, and because her movement was too fierce, the chair behind her let out a harsh friction sound.

"That is a rule that directly obliterates souls and concepts! Even if you have the Pure Yang Dao Body, you can't resist this high-dimensional cognitive rewriting!"

"Once you get trapped in that so-called 'White City' and can't get out, your physical body will turn into a pile of sand in reality!"

"Husband, you must not."

Leng Yue stepped forward, her dark golden eyes staring fixedly at Lin Ye, leaving no room for discussion.

"Such illusory things without causal entities are the most dangerous."

"If you must go, I will go for you. I am the body of a drought demon, long outside the reincarnation of the Five Elements; that rule may not necessarily obliterate me."

"Big Sister is right!"

Frost Star also rushed over, hugging Lin Ye's arm tightly.

"If you turn into sand, who will buy delicious food for me? Who will hold me to sleep at night? If you dare to go, I will... I will demolish this Funeral Shop!"

Watching them one by one looking terrified that he would never return,

a warm current flowed through Lin Ye's heart.

"Ouch ouch, why are you all so nervous? Making it look like a life-or-death parting."

Lin Ye reached out, pinched Frost Star's delicate face that could be broken by a blow, and then turned back to hold Leng Yue's cold jade hand.

"Wives, don't you know me yet? In this life, I, Lin Ye, never make a losing deal. Without a ninety-eight percent certainty, would I act tough on a matter like this?"

He stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"This Taiping Old Street is my, Lin Ye's, territory."

"Whether it's a Western deity or some damn rule-based strange talk, wanting to carry out forced demolition in my territory means asking whether I agree or not."

Lin Ye turned his head and looked at Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan.

"Captain Chu, take out the original audio recording in your phone."

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan bit her lips hard, her hands clenched into fists, her nails sinking deep into her palms, but she refused to take out her phone.

"Lin Ye, I'm begging you..." Her voice carried a trace of entreaty, "Let's think of another way, there must be another way..."

"Take it out."

Lin Ye's tone became a bit heavier.

"Dilly-dallying, nothing like a female police officer holding a gun."

He stepped forward and directly pulled out the military encrypted terminal from Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan's trench coat pocket.

"Password." Lin Ye stared at her.

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan's eyes were red, staring at him fiercely, but eventually she dejectedly spat out a string of numbers.

Lin Ye skillfully unlocked the screen and found the audio file marked with red highlight.

He turned around and looked at Leng Yue and Frost Star.

"My physical body will be left in the shop. Once I enter, my body might show some signs of apparent death or sanding."

Lin Ye instructed with a serious expression.

"Leng Yue, guard my physical body. No matter what happens outside, even if the sky falls, do not let anyone or anything approach within three chi of me."

"Frost Star, Helena, Ayugu. You three, guard the door of the Funeral Shop."

"Those materialized white monsters in Jiangzhou City will definitely be attracted over. Kill one for every one that comes. Understand?"

Leng Yue took a deep breath and said no more words of dissuasion.

Because she knew that once her man made a decision, not even nine oxen could pull him back.

She just retreated half a step with poise and bowed slightly towards Lin Ye.

"Husband, go ahead with peace of mind. With your concubine here, this physical body will remain indestructible through ten thousand kalpas."

Although Frost Star was still wiping away tears, she also nodded hard, gripping the dark blue bone knife in her hand tightly, her eyes turning ferocious: "Whoever dares to touch Brother-in-law's body, I'll freeze him into a popsicle, smash him into pieces, and feed him to the dogs!"

Having finished all instructions,

Lin Ye sat cross-legged on the grand master's chair.

He adjusted his breath, restraining his Pure Yang True Qi within the square inch of his spiritual altar, achieving a state of mind as calm as still water.

Then, he pressed the play button.

"...I walked up to a door."

"On that door, a white pigeon with closed eyes was drawn."

"I felt very curious, so I... so I pushed the door open."

In the recording, the man's fanatical and eerie voice echoed in the quiet hall.

"Push it open... Push it open..."

That seductive sound that drilled directly into the depths of the brain instantly exploded in Lin Ye's sea of consciousness.

This was the first step of meme pollution: concept implantation.

Lin Ye did not resist.

Instead, he opened up his powerful mental barrier and actively accepted the concept.

Deep within his mind,

a city composed of pure white geometric lines slowly emerged.

There was not a trace of other colors here, and all the buildings exuded a dazzling white light.

Neither was there wind or sound; that absolute silence was enough to drive any normal person insane in an instant.

In the center of White City,

stood a huge, incomparable pure white grand door.

On the door, abstract lines outlined a pigeon with closed eyes.

Lin Ye felt that his consciousness was being forcibly dragged into that picture by a massive suction force.

In reality,

Lin Ye, who was sitting on the grand master's chair, suddenly stiffened.

His face, which was originally rosy, lost its color at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning as pale as paper.

The most terrifying thing was that

the tip of the index finger of his right hand resting on his knees was actually beginning to show subtle signs of sanding!

Wisps of white light sand were trying to peel off from his fingertips.

"Husband!"

Leng Yue's eyes turned fierce as she stepped forward in one stride, forming hand seals with both hands.

A pure dark-red Red Lotus Karmic Fire quietly bloomed at Lin Ye's chest, locking in the vital force that was disintegrating within his body.

Under the suppression of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, the sanding trend slowly stagnated at the fingertips.

"Guard the door."

Leng Yue let out a cold shout without turning her head.

Frost Star, Helena, and Ayugu immediately turned their backs to Lin Ye, standing in a row before the glass front door of the Funeral Shop.

...

At this moment,

within the different-dimensional space, inside White City.

Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes and found himself standing on a street in that pure white geometric city.

There was no sense of gravity here, nor was there any tactile sensation of airflow.

"Is this the high-dimensional rule space?"

Lin Ye lowered his head and glanced at his hands.

Here, he had no physical body, only an conscious entity condensed from mental power.

Pure Yang True Fire could not burn here, and Taiyi Divine Thunder could not be summoned either.

Because low-dimensional energies like spiritual qi did not exist here at all.

No wonder those special agents of The Ninth Bureau and Western experts were utterly powerless to resist.

In this place that completely disregarded physical and metaphysical logic, no matter how high your cultivation was, you were merely a mortal to be toyed with at will.

"Push open the door... Join us..."

That ethereal murmuring sound came from all directions, like magical sounds instilling the brain.

Lin Ye raised his head.

He saw that not far ahead, the huge door painted with a closed-eyed white dove was slowly opening toward him.

Behind the door, an even more dazzling white light radiated.

Dozens of "angels" without any facial features stood behind the door, opening their arms toward Lin Ye and making a posture welcoming an embrace.

As long as he stepped through that door, his consciousness would be completely assimilated and become a part of this rule-based strange talk.

And his physical body in reality would completely turn into a pile of white sand.

"Playing God and acting like a ghost."

Lin Ye stood in place without moving.

"Here, Daoist arts indeed cannot be used."

Lin Ye slowly raised his right hand.

He flipped his wrist.

An [ordinary red brick] that was dark red throughout, with a pitted surface, just like one newly picked up from some demolition site, abruptly appeared in the palm of his hand!

[Conceptual-grade Armament · god-beating brick].

Since this thing was a conceptual-grade weapon produced by the system, it could naturally ignore dimensional limits and be brought directly into this pure-consciousness space.

On the surface of this seemingly ordinary brick, mysterious and obscure chaotic Dao patterns faintly flowed.

Lin Ye weighed the brick in his hand.

It had plenty of weight and an excellent feel.

He looked at those faceless angels ahead.

The smile on his face gradually turned cruel and perverted.

"But it doesn't matter."

"When I, your father, hung out in Jiangzhou Old Street, aside from drawing talismans and chanting incantations,"

"what I was best at was cracking people's heads open."

Lin Ye held the red brick upside down in his right hand, strutting with an unyielding gait as he swaggered toward the door of White City.