Chapter 38: Boss Faction
Brother Umbrella-less, wearing nothing but oversized shorts, sat inside his sleeping bag. Still groggy from sleep, he instinctively reached into his shorts, scratched himself, then brought his hand to his nose and sniffed, instantly waking himself up.
"Huh? Bai Ye? You're the contact this time?"
Brother Umbrella-less broke into a smile, about to catch up, but immediately turned serious.
"Give me a moment to adjust. I was just completing a main mission in a sixth-rank world. Bai Ye, what rank are you now?"
Brother Umbrella-less put on his clothes and packed away his sleeping bag.
"Eighth rank."
"Damn, you're already eighth rank? We were both second rank back then."
Brother Umbrella-less laughed carefreely, but beside him, Nailuoyi and the Little Detective couldn't muster a smile.
"So this is an eighth-rank world?"
When Nailuoyi said this, her heart felt especially heavy. However, she didn't avoid speaking in front of Divine Maiden Shataye. Divine Maiden Shataye acted as if she hadn't heard, or rather, from her perspective, Nailuoyi was acting strangely—suddenly switching to an unknown language while speaking, then reverting back after a while.
"Yes."
Receiving Su Xiao's clear confirmation, Brother Umbrella-less, Nailuoyi, and the Little Detective all wore grim expressions.
After initial discussion, Su Xiao learned about the situation of Brother Umbrella-less and his two companions. All three were sixth-rank and had formed a small group called the "Suicide Squad."
Don't think this adventure group's name is ominous. For these three, "dying" was a normal occurrence. Or rather, "dying" within the spiritual world was normal, and at critical moments, they needed to "sacrifice themselves."
The reason the three could handle the bizarre and unpredictable "mystery-solving incidents" was that their abilities complemented each other.
Brother Umbrella-less's talent, "Survival Against All Odds," had evolved into "Undying Will" after two awakenings. This wasn't just a description—he was truly "undying," or rather, undying within the spiritual world.
As long as he entered the spiritual world, each time Brother Umbrella-less "died," he could perform spiritual adsorption, pulling his dissipating spiritual body back to his original form. The power of this talent lay in being able to share this effect with three allied targets, but they had to sign a covenant contract with Brother Umbrella-less—that was the key to sharing.
Among the three, Nailuoyi's ability was sensing. Within the spiritual world, her perception could uncover many hidden details. Items that others might overlook but held great significance would emit a faint glow in her perception.
As for the Little Detective, he was responsible for solving mysteries, reasoning, and other mental tasks.
Spiritual death and return, important item sensing, mystery-solving and reasoning—these three each had their role. Working together, they could indeed resolve many thorny problems. Within the spiritual world, as long as the correct method was found, even very powerful enemies could be dispelled. Note: dispelled, not killed.
"We've previously handled the Reverse Flow Cave in a seventh-rank world. With my intelligence, this time should be no problem."
Brother Umbrella-less tapped his head with his index finger, his eyes full of wisdom.
"The guy who forgets to bring toilet paper when he goes to the bathroom."
The Little Detective was quite sharp-tongued, but Brother Umbrella-less didn't mind—he was used to it.
"Here's the situation..."
Baha began explaining the current circumstances to Brother Umbrella-less and his group. The more they heard, the more shocked they became. This time involved time.
"Time has stopped? Since the problem isn't here, it must be in the spiritual world connected to this place. Let's go in. We'll die a few times first."
The Little Detective took out three metal chairs, metal headbands, and various wires.
"Diving deep" in the dream world—that is, entering the spiritual world—wasn't actually difficult. The node was on the statue inside the grand cathedral.
Brother Umbrella-less connected the various wires to the statue, then returned to the metal chair, put on the wire-covered metal headband, and leaned back in his seat.
Buzz~
A wave of spiritual energy spread. The three sitting in the metal chairs lost the color in their eyes, closed their eyes, and lowered their heads.
An hour later, Brother Umbrella-less opened his eyes first, followed by Nailuoyi. Soon after, the Little Detective also returned.
"Standard one death."
"What the hell was that place?"
"Trouble. There are imitation-type projections over there."
The three looked at each other and shook their heads with bitter smiles. All three had just died once in the spiritual world. On their first entry, they focused on exploration, trying to avoid danger as much as possible.
"This big shot named Bai Ye—who is the Grand Sage? His unconscious projection is absurdly strong in the spiritual world."
The Little Detective gently rubbed his forehead. Just moments ago, the three of them had been dealt with by the Grand Sage's unconscious projection in the spiritual world.
After questioning, Su Xiao learned that the spiritual world there was identical in appearance to the dream world, filled with "post-Gothic style" architecture. The dream residents didn't need to be dealt with; the trouble was the dream monsters.
A large portion of the spiritual world's monsters were projections of people who had once arrived in the dream world. For example, the Grand Sage's projection had nothing to do with the Grand Sage himself and looked completely different—very blurry.
To identify these projections, one could either observe them or ask the dream residents. The Little Detective had learned that it was the Grand Sage's projection through the latter method.
"You mean anyone who's been here gets projected into the spiritual world?"
When Baha asked this, he really wanted to know if he himself had been projected.
"Not entirely correct. Based on my observations, the projections are random. The spiritual world here is like a mirror. If you walk past the mirror, your outline gets 'recorded.' The Grand Sage's projection is very blurry, made of mist, with no facial features or clothing details. The projection has no direct connection to the original body—it's an independent existence."
The Little Detective wasn't discouraged. He called out to Brother Umbrella-less and Nailuoyi, and the three entered the spiritual world again.
A somewhat comical scene unfolded. The three began "dying" repeatedly, then returning to their bodies, using "death" to pave the way.
Five hours later, the Little Detective opened his eyes, stood up, and raised his arms in celebration: "The Grand Sage has been successfully dispelled!"
"We found the mist-absorbing bird specifically to deal with him, and he still escaped through the mist for so long."
Nailuoyi also showed a smile. The three of them handling the situation in the spiritual world was like clearing a dungeon—accumulating information through repeated "deaths."
Although they wouldn't truly die, there were still situations they couldn't handle.
"Continue."
Brother Umbrella-less looked somewhat fatigued. Dying in the spiritual world came at a cost—it gradually exhausted his spirit, and each time he activated his talent ability, he consumed a certain amount of life force.
This time, only about ten minutes passed before the three woke up simultaneously. They all looked at Divine Maiden Shataye. Just moments ago, they had encountered Divine Maiden Shataye's projection.
The exploration continued. The trio's "death" frequency skyrocketed. Shataye's projection was troublesome, with a strong aggressive drive.
Several hours passed. Each time Brother Umbrella-less woke up, the look he gave Divine Maiden Shataye grew more defeated.
Finally, after nearly ten hours, the three lured Shataye's projection into the central clock tower of the spiritual world. Using the clock tower's time cage, they trapped Shataye's projection. How long it would hold was anyone's guess.
Just as the three were beaming with joy, they encountered the Old Knight's projection in the spiritual world. After dying seven or eight times, the Little Detective nearly burst into tears.
"Nice, we did it again."
The Little Detective was very happy. Just like a few hours earlier, they lured the Old Knight's projection to the central clock tower and trapped it with the time cage.
A few minutes later, the three sat with closed eyes on the metal chairs. Suddenly, all three opened their eyes simultaneously and reached for their necks.
Seeing this, Baha said, "No need to say it. I already know whose projection you met. Refreshing, right?"
Baha laughed maliciously. Brother Umbrella-less, Nailuoyi, and the Little Detective all looked at Su Xiao with complex expressions. Just moments ago, they had encountered Su Xiao's projection in the spiritual world. That projection was a humanoid form made of blood energy, holding a long blade.
"Refreshing is an understatement. It was almost despairing. Boss, what exactly do you do? Your projection has a hunting characteristic. One good news and one bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
The Little Detective slumped weakly in his chair, his whole body limp.
"The bad news."
Su Xiao wasn't surprised that his projection appeared in the spiritual world. Besides, that projection had no direct connection to him.
"The bad news is, boss, your projection can perform unlimited instant teleportation plus super-speed afterimage dashes in the spiritual world. We barely saw a blood-colored afterimage before our heads came off."
The Little Detective sighed. What do you do when your teammate is too strong, making it impossible to defeat their projection? Asking online, very urgent.
"But there's good news too. Boss, your projection is too ferocious. Besides the Grand Sage, Shataye, and the Old Knight, all the other dream monsters were killed by your projection. Not a single one left."
The Little Detective's smile was especially complicated, and his laughter was strained.
Standing by the church door, Su Xiao looked at Divine Maiden Shataye. Shataye pressed her Penitent Scythe against the door, and the two metal doors fused together. Without Shataye and the Great Knight as dream guardians, no one could open the door.
Divine Maiden Shataye swung her war scythe, and a dream door opened. As the dream guardian, she could open doors connecting to the outside world anywhere in the dream world. At Su Xiao's request, this one led to Snake Lady's cabin.
Opening this dream door was to give Brother Umbrella-less and his group a place to hide from the dream world's reset. These three wouldn't be able to solve the dream world's time stagnation problem in a short time.
Su Xiao was leaving, not because Brother Umbrella-less and his group were looking at him with increasingly defeated expressions, but because he had something to handle.
Su Xiao walked through the dream door and returned to Snake Lady's cabin. At Su Xiao's invitation, Snake Lady clinked glasses with him and drank a cup of fine wine.
This time, Yueling didn't say she wanted to drink. Her perception was frantically warning her, to the point of sensory pain.
The dream world side was mostly handled. Now they just waited for good news from Brother Umbrella-less and his group.
Su Xiao took a fist-sized pale skull from his storage space. It was covered in black and bright yellow lines, indicating one thing: the Insect Lord Hash he had created earlier was still alive.
Su Xiao needed to find Insect Lord Hash. The pale skull in his hand, the old container, was actually part of Insect Lord Hash. Using this as leverage to make him do something should be no problem.
If this succeeded, Su Xiao would be more confident in competing for the Space-Time Power.
Besides Insect Lord Hash, Su Xiao had another source of assistance: the Kodo School. He had previously given Bishop Noah a notebook for free, which contained research on ancient god energy, but only half of the core content.
Now Su Xiao took out the other half. In return, the Kodo School had to send sufficiently powerful combatants to assist Su Xiao in completing one task.
During the Space-Time Power transaction, Apocalypse Paradise and Holy Light Paradise would each teleport a team into this world. They would definitely include eighth-rank top-tier contractors or battle angels.
Undoubtedly, these two teams would be difficult to deal with. But after some preparation, Su Xiao's lineup was even stronger. His side consisted of:
Su Xiao himself, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, Beini.
Temporary assistants included:
Royal Guard Yueling.
Insect Lord Hash.
Dream Guardian Old Knight.
Divine Maiden Shataye.
Kodo School Heresy Execution Squad (twelve people).
If that wasn't enough, no problem. Su Xiao could summon [Axe of Hatred], also known as Big Axe Bro.
This time, Big Axe Bro would be enhanced by Su Xiao's true intelligence attribute and soul strength. In other words, the higher Su Xiao's soul strength, the stronger Big Axe Bro would be. At this moment, Su Xiao's soul strength had reached 470 points.
This was the faction Su Xiao had prepared to compete for the Space-Time Power. It was easy to imagine that when the Space-Time Power transaction took place, the scene would be very lively. If any lively characters appeared on the enemy side, they would get to experience what it felt like to be surrounded and hammered by a group of big bosses.