Chapter 93: Expulsion
Gulu was a bit confused, completely unable to understand the situation at hand. Just as she felt she would die stifled in her own home, the mysterious person who suddenly appeared had actually left.
Even so, Gulu's pressure was now even greater. After the eerie entity within the wall absorbed those bloody threads, its gaze became more threatening. Gulu's mental energy and physical energy consumption rate multiplied. Not only that, but her eyes were even more sore.
Gulu, stare~
Bang!
A muffled sound came from downstairs. This rough and direct way of opening the door made Gulu's heart leap with joy. Finally, they had arrived.
Just as Gulu was filled with anticipation, a small mechanical vehicle drove into the bedroom. At first glance, it looked like a toy car, but its structure was very precise, equipped with imaging, thermal sensing, sound sensing, and other devices.
"Gulu, how much longer can you hold on?"
Su Xiao's voice came from inside the mechanical vehicle. Hearing this, Gulu spoke without moving her lips:
"Can't hold on much longer, you guys hurry up here."
"Speak like a normal person."
"Can't move my lips."
"Hold on for another ten minutes."
"No problem, are you going to set something up?"
"No, just observing you."
"?"
Gulu's eyes, staring straight ahead, showed great confusion.
The bedroom fell silent again. Gulu tried her best not to blink. As her mental energy began to deplete, she felt she was reaching her limit.
"When I count down from 3, 2, 1, immediately look away."
Baha, who had flown into the bedroom, spoke. It stared at the face on the wall and felt that S-109's gaze was shifting toward it.
"3, 2, 1, turn your head."
Baha's eyes widened. Gulu, wearing a Gothic dress, immediately turned her head and closed her eyes.
"I almost went blind. What the hell is this thing? It's too unstoppable."
Gulu opened her eyes and blinked. She felt like she had come back to life. Compared to the soreness in her eyes, her body felt completely drained.
"Don't be too happy too soon. You are Victim A locked onto by S-109, and I am Rescuer B. Once it starts hunting, S-109's intelligence level drops significantly. It has already locked onto you. See, when I made eye contact with it, I could move, but you couldn't."
As Baha spoke, it grinned and raised its wing. Indeed, although it had made eye contact with S-109, moving its body did not provoke S-109.
"Explain clearly. Victim A? Don't tell me..."
Gulu thought of something, and a very bad feeling surged in her heart.
"Yes, just as you think. Under normal circumstances, eye contact with S-109 can be 'replaced.' For example, if I take your place, S-109 will no longer bother you. Similarly, after the 'replacement,' I, who am making eye contact with S-109, cannot look away or move.
There is one exception: when S-109 enters a hunting state, it locks onto one person, temporarily called Victim A. With Victim A present, I can replace you for a maximum of two hours at a time. After that, you still have to make eye contact with it."
Hearing Baha's explanation, Gulu's face turned pale. She was already drained. After two hours, she would have to make eye contact with S-109 again?
"What if I choose to leave?"
"S-109 will transfer into your body and absorb you until only your bones remain."
"Two hours, huh. I'll go sleep immediately."
Gulu walked out of the second-floor bedroom and saw Su Xiao sitting on the sofa in the living room. On the coffee table in front of him were many small bottles.
"Mental energy depleted, drink this potion. This one is for restoring physical energy."
Su Xiao put away the [Writhing Box]. It was through this item that he took materials from his storage space and mixed potions on the spot.
Without a word, Gulu drank several potions, then curled up on the sofa, covered herself with a blanket, and fell asleep. She had a vague feeling that the coming period would be very difficult.
Whether S-109 had other unknown properties, Su Xiao didn't know. His method of dealing with S-109 was simple: wear it down until S-109 entered a dormant period. At that point, he could consider eliminating or sealing it. Elimination was the priority; if that wasn't possible, he would seal it and bring it back to Reincarnation Paradise for harmless disposal.
"Oh, by the way, before you came, someone else arrived first. He fed something to S-109. After that, S-109 became more threatening to me."
After saying this, Gulu fell into a deep sleep.
Su Xiao pondered. From the current situation, it seemed someone had used the contractor named Feng Xiao, bringing S-109 into the real world. Would an eighth-rank contractor easily lose emotional control, causing S-109 to grow inside him? That clearly didn't make sense.
Combined with S-109's characteristics, Su Xiao couldn't help but suspect whether someone wanted S-109 to gain traversal properties. By letting S-109 grow in the real world for a period, it could acquire traversal abilities. Su Xiao had known for a long time that the real world had this peculiar trait.
Why did Reincarnation Paradise only choose contractors from the real world? Because people living in the real world naturally have strong traversal constitutions. This is a prerequisite for entering various primordial worlds. Otherwise, the cost of entering a derivative world or primordial world each time would be very high.
Once S-109 gained a certain degree of traversal properties, it could be taken to seventh-rank or even sixth-rank fully open primordial worlds, where it could develop freely, absorbing and storing a massive amount of life force.
Someone needed an absurdly large amount of life force, which was why they chose to bring S-109 into the real world. This wasn't a random incident but a deliberate act.
"Bubu."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked, meaning the visitor left no scent or aura. Just then, Su Xiao's phone rang. He answered, and a synthesized electronic voice came through.
"Bai Ye, don't go to the Treeborn World. Don't ask who I am. We are enemies, but also friends."
The other party hung up after saying this. Su Xiao looked at the number on his phone, a string of 1111****111. His first thought was whether this matter was done by Huishenshi.
If so, the other party must have a backup plan. After discovering Su Xiao's arrival, Huishenshi would use S-109 as bait to complete his contingency plan.
Boom!
A muffled sound came from outside the window. Su Xiao quickly walked to the window and saw invisible flames rising more than ten kilometers away. The loud noise and explosion were inaudible and invisible to ordinary people.
"Roar!!"
A roar came from afar, then gradually faded. The intense, discomforting aura in the distance suddenly disappeared—either sealed or having left the real world.
Su Xiao had only speculated before, but now it seemed this matter was indeed done by Huishenshi. Last time, when Su Xiao contacted the Dean, Mad Doctor, and others, he discovered that Huishenshi had come to the real world. Now it appeared he was here to accomplish this.
Huishenshi never put all his eggs in one basket. His most troublesome trait was his ability to decisively abandon an ongoing plan, using it as bait to divert the attention of powerful enemies, then completing his backup plan to achieve his goal.
This situation was exactly that. Su Xiao had been slightly outmaneuvered by Huishenshi. The other party had already succeeded. What consequences this plan would bring would be known once they entered the Treeborn World.
Two hours passed in an instant. Su Xiao tapped the coffee table in front of him. The sleeping Gulu's eyelids twitched, and she slowly woke up.
"If I ever find out who did this, I'll go kill them."
Gulu walked toward the bedroom as if heading to the execution ground. As Victim A, she had to continue making eye contact with S-109 until it weakened and fell into a dormant state.
The S-109 elimination plan, with Gulu as the main force, began. Bubu Wang and Baha were responsible for occasional replacements, while Gulu repeated the following process:
Stare~ → Take medicine → Sleep for 1 hour 56 minutes → Wake up and continue staring~
Two days later, Gulu's face was pale, and dark circles had appeared under her eyes. She looked at the potion in her hand, hesitated for a few minutes, then closed her eyes and downed it in one gulp.
"I'm completely drained. Bai Ye, every time I meet you, I end up unlucky. You're not just my father; you're my lifelong nemesis."
Gulu's face showed a look of utter despair. It made sense. At lower ranks, Gulu met Su Xiao, got her Demon Hunter Ring stolen, fought him in the Ghost World, was nearly struck to death by Reinhardt's heavenly thunder when he thought Su Xiao was dead, and later had her legs broken and got beaten up in the Canglong Continent.
Time flew by. On the morning of the third day, Gulu stood in the bedroom, two pairs of lifeless eyes staring at each other.
Don't think S-109 is easy to deal with. This was only possible because they knew its weaknesses and behavioral traits. Otherwise, encountering S-109 would result in a 98% or higher chance of instant death. S-109's weaknesses and habits were discovered by a group of brave and fearless people in some world, who risked their lives to probe them out. Every key piece of information was stained with the blood of heroic souls.
Just as Gulu was barely holding back the urge to blink and yawn, the face on the wall changed. Its eyes slowly closed, and the waves it emitted disappeared.
Seeing this, Gulu fell to the ground with a thud and fell asleep instantly.
"Boss, S-109 is dormant."
As soon as Baha's shout fell, Su Xiao walked into the bedroom. He held a pure copper metal box. First, he placed the metal box by the wall, then cut his index finger and brought it close to S-109, stopping about thirty centimeters away.
Blood dripped from Su Xiao's fingertip into the metal box below. S-109's eyelids on the wall twitched. It began to detach from the wall, trying to get closer to Su Xiao's bleeding finger.
S-109 completely left the wall and fell with a thud into the pure copper metal box below. The inside of the metal box was coated with bone ash, which had a certain binding effect on S-109. When S-109 absorbed victims, it never absorbed bones; it had a repulsion to them.
Su Xiao stepped on the lid of the metal box and snapped it shut. Thumping sounds came from inside.
Carrying the metal box, Su Xiao quickly walked to the living room and immersed the box in high-concentration saltwater. Hissing sounds and hair-raising screams came from inside.
After a full half hour, the S-109 inside the metal box lost all sound. A spatial fluctuation appeared, as if dragging something away. This spatial fluctuation didn't come from Reincarnation Paradise or any person; it seemed to come from some unknown world.
Su Xiao took the metal box out of the high-concentration saltwater and opened it. Inside, he saw a substance similar to rock powder.
[You have obtained Life Remnant Ash (This is an item from an external world, forcibly stored in storage space).]
[You have not eliminated S-109. You have expelled it back to its original world.]
[Tip: During the generation of such dangerous objects, they all absorb world force. If the Hunter is within the ??? world, eliminating or containing dangerous objects will yield corresponding rewards (chests and world sources).]
[Complete elimination of dangerous objects: Obtain chest + world source.]
[Containment of dangerous objects: Obtain only the chest rewarded by Reincarnation Paradise.]
...
[Real World · Achievement Task: Eliminate the Eerie Entity (Completed).]
[You have obtained "Mark Level Exchange Permission · One Time."]
[This permission cannot be retained. It has been used.]
[Your mark level has been reduced to Lv.73.]
[You have obtained Diamond Honor Medal × 100.]
...
Su Xiao hadn't engaged in combat, but he had expended considerable mental effort. Fortunately, Victim A this time was Gulu. Although Gulu looked like she was questioning life, her inner strength was formidable, allowing her to withstand the immense pressure.
With the matter resolved, Su Xiao casually tossed Gulu onto the bed and left the villa. Bubu Wang wanted to drive but was afraid of being caught by surveillance cameras and making headlines the next morning, so Ma Pangzi still drove.
Returning to the accessory shop, Su Xiao's peaceful real-life routine began. After the S-109 incident, Su Xiao became more cautious about entering the Treeborn World.
The violators were planning something big there. Unfortunately, Su Xiao couldn't get involved on that side. His method of dealing with this was simple: since he couldn't weaken the enemy, he would strengthen himself. As long as he was strong enough, he could take care of all the violators.
Su Xiao paused the puzzle game. This DLC was so difficult it made one's scalp tingle. Su Xiao even felt like cursing out Pi Pang.
Outside, the sun was blazing. Due to the air conditioning being set high, the accessory shop was slightly cool. Su Xiao decided to have hotpot tonight—extra spicy hotpot.
Unknowingly, the relaxing daily life came to an end. A prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Tip: The Hunter is about to enter a new world. The world selection method for this time is fixed.]
PS: (Taking a break with two updates today. Need to organize my thoughts before starting the new world tomorrow. Everyone, guess the characteristics of the new world.)