Chapter Ninety-One: Back to the Asylum

Xie Ling and Liu Xu successfully joined the Explorers and received the standard equipment provided by the organization.

They even had cell phones now.

Liu Yiran drove the three of them to Area J48666.

Here, Fang Tang met the rest of the team.

Two men and one woman.

The woman was around thirty years old, exuding the maturity and charm of a young wife—an allure few young men could resist.

Of the two men, one was over two meters tall, built like a tower of iron; the other was small and slender, but his eyes sparkled with intelligence, and his hands looked powerful and sinewy—clearly a man of considerable ability.

The moment they laid eyes on the newcomers, Fang Tang and his companions received information about them. All three had reached roughly the fourth tier of evolution, with average sequence talents.

After the six had introduced themselves, Liu Yiran waved his hand and said, “Alright, we’re teammates from now on. Let’s enter the Gate of Evolution.”

Liu Yiran pressed his hand to a glowing orb, and a beam of blue light enveloped the seven of them.

“A moderately distorted area? Boss, our three new teammates are all rookies. Isn’t it a bit much to take them into a place like this right away?” The hulking man had a name as robust as his figure: Ta Meng.

Ta Meng scratched his head and gave Liu Yiran a questioning look.

Liu Yiran smiled amiably. “It’ll be fine.”

As the teleportation light faded, the seven found themselves beneath a high wall.

The mature woman stepped forward, studying the wall and iron gate.

“A small-scale area with moderate distortion rules. The building inside is five stories tall—it looks like a prison or a hospital.”

“‘Abnormal?’ ‘Under research?’ What does that mean?” The slender man was named Xu Lin, an eighth segment of the fourth evolution tier, second only to Liu Yiran in the team.

Liu Yiran turned to the woman. “Su Mang, have you discovered anything?”

Su Mang shook her head. “I didn’t sense any danger on the plaza in front of the building, but the building itself is transmitting a constant sense of threat—not overwhelming, but enough to warn us. We can go in.”

“Then let’s proceed. Time for our new teammates to experience the dangers of a distorted world,” Liu Yiran said.

“Keep up!”

He beckoned to Fang Tang and the others, then vaulted over the wall into the courtyard, with Ta Meng and the others following closely behind.

Fang Tang looked at the building with a strange expression.

“To think, my second trip through the Gate of Evolution brings me right back here…”

He laughed. “Last time I fled in panic—this time, I’ll see who on the third floor can stop me!”

“Let’s go in, too!”

Bending his knees, Fang Tang leapt into the courtyard.

Upon landing, he donned his Magma Armor. Although its effectiveness was reduced by forty percent under the distortion rules, it remained formidable.

Liu Yiran and the others stared in surprise at his Magma Armor.

“Level-six tech? Are you really from the New World?” Ta Meng asked skeptically.

“Of course!” Fang Tang smiled. “I happen to know someone with incredible luck.”

Glancing over at Xie Ling, he realized she was also clad in armor similar to his, though hers was blue and exuded a frosty mist.

“Impressive, two sets of level-six tech. Even a fifth-tier fallen one wouldn’t faze you,” Xu Lin remarked, eyeing the trio with newfound respect.

Earlier, hearing they were rookies, he hadn’t thought much of them. Now, seeing their gear, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

Liu Yiran narrowed his eyes. “Let’s go inside.”

Fang Tang followed, and as Xie Ling was about to enter as well, Liu Xu suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Lingling, we’re sisters, aren’t we?”

Xie Ling nodded eagerly. “Of course, Sister Liu Xu. What do you want to say?”

“Could you make one of these armors for your sister?”

“Sure!” Xie Ling replied. “I’ll make one for you when we get back.”

Liu Xu hesitated. “But I don’t have enough materials…”

“No problem, Sister Liu Xu. I can piece together some resources for you,” Xie Ling said cheerfully.

“Thank you, Lingling!”

“You’re already a grown woman, and you’re still bullying little girls,” Fang Tang teased upon noticing their whispered conversation.

Liu Xu shot him a glare. “Lingling isn’t stingy like someone I know.”

“Hey…” Fang Tang was momentarily speechless, shaking his head as he walked into the building.

Inside, just like last time, the building was silent and empty, dust covering the floors, with only a faint trail of footprints.

“Someone’s been here before,” Su Mang said gravely, eyes fixed on the prints.

“Judging by the tracks, it was just one person. A lone wolf entering a moderately distorted area must be quite powerful,” Xu Lin assessed.

Ta Meng’s voice was low. “Do you think the core of this area has already been taken?”

Liu Yiran’s face clouded, his usual amiable smile stiffening.

In the world governed by distortion rules, the land was divided into many areas, each one a kind of dungeon. Clearing them would yield the area’s core.

But if a lone wolf had already entered this place—and anyone strong enough to venture into a moderately distorted area alone would be formidable—then perhaps the core was already gone. In that case, their journey would be for nothing.

A heavy silence fell over the hall.

Fang Tang rubbed his nose and was the first to break the quiet.

“Uh… those footprints are mine.”

“What?” Xu Lin and the others all turned sharply to look at him.

The tension on Liu Yiran’s face softened. He knew Fang Tang had returned from a moderately distorted region, but he hadn’t realized it was this very one.

What a coincidence.

Xu Lin and Su Mang both looked Fang Tang up and down, finding it hard to believe he was the lone wolf with such capability.

Fang Tang smiled faintly, recounting his previous experience, and Liu Yiran and the others finally understood.

“So, according to you, the mirror world on the first floor isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Perhaps Chu Chu doesn’t refuse to kill—she simply can’t,” Liu Yiran mused, deep in thought. Fang Tang also frowned.

Knock, knock, knock!

A sudden rapping at the door, followed by hurried, chaotic footsteps.

The group waited patiently for the footsteps to appear. Instead, they noticed that the faint footprints on the floor had grown distinct again.

The prints stopped before Liu Yiran, as if something was happening.

Su Mang’s face changed. She suddenly grabbed Liu Yiran by the arm and yanked him back.

“That one called Chu Chu was just now feasting on your flesh.”

Fang Tang: …

WTF?

So last time, when he stood there for so long, Chu Chu was eating him the entire time?

The thought made his skin crawl.

His previous impression had been dead wrong!

Liu Yiran stepped back a couple of paces and, glancing at Fang Tang’s expression, managed a slight smile. “In the world of distortion rules, most fallen ones can hardly be called human anymore. Perhaps in the catacombs you’ve met those who retain some kindness and humanity, but here, they have become pure evil.”

Fang Tang nodded in silence, saying nothing more.

He was not in a good mood.

“There are still many mysteries on the first floor that remain unsolved, and perhaps cannot be solved. The area is shrouded by the rules of the mirror world—unless we find the true body on the first floor, we’ll never find the riddle or its answer,” Liu Yiran said quietly, heading toward the stairs. “Let’s go upstairs. Our goal is the boss on the fifth floor.”