Yang Yuxin and Yun’er reacted extremely quickly. They both moved to shield Cheng Shengnan behind them, then struck out at the ghostly face on the wall. The paranormal energy saber and the monster’s sharp claws raked across the wall’s surface. With a squelch, they left several bloody scratches. The next second, thick, black sticky stuff began to flow out of these scratches.
Looking closer, sure enough, it was those black worms again.
“Its paranormal energy intensity isn’t high. It’s not the fused monster controlling this paranormal space,” Cheng Shengnan said. Although she had some combat ability, trying to help at a time like this would just be getting in the way.
Fortunately, she knew her limits. She left the fighting to the professionals, Yang Yuxin and Yun’er. She stayed as far back as possible without being separated from them, using the paranormal energy detector to look for the weird phenomenon’s weak points.
Following Cheng Shengnan’s directions, Yang Yuxin didn’t have to waste time checking the detector herself. She focused entirely on dealing with the weird phenomenon. Working together with Yun’er and using her paranormal gear, they quickly blasted a hole through the wall.
A large hole was blown open in the wall. The ghostly face was mangled and incomplete. Inside its huge, bloody mouth was complete darkness, as if there was a separate space within.
Gurgle.
Gurgle.
Faintly, from within that dark space, came the weird, characteristic sound of swallowing. Although the situation before them was extremely eerie, this was the only path available. Going forward felt wrong, but so did turning back.
After discussing it, the three decided to keep moving forward.
Yang Yuxin took the lead, Cheng Shengnan was in the middle, and Yun’er brought up the rear.
Cheng Shengnan’s expression was serious as she followed behind Yang Yuxin. She didn’t dare make a single sound, because they had no idea what this strange, dark space actually was. The appearance of that black wall with the ghostly face gave them the illusion that they were entering its stomach.
But the idea of one fused monster existing inside another fused monster was a situation even Shen Ge had never encountered. So, Cheng Shengnan judged that the ghostly face wall from before was something like a “gateway” – a throat or an entrance. Passing through that door meant they had officially entered the interior of the fused monster.
They walked for about ten minutes. Inside this pitch-black space, the visibility from their flashlights was even worse.
Strangely, after entering this area, the ground felt soft and spongy underfoot, like walking on a thick layer of padding.
It was dark and quiet around them, eerily quiet. Apart from the occasional swallowing sound, they could only hear their own breathing.
Cheng Shengnan subconsciously even slowed her breathing. Yang Yuxin also slowed hers, but not because she felt an invisible pressure in the dark space. It was because, ever since entering this area, she felt like the weird thing making the swallowing sounds was very close to her.
“Do you guys hear something?” Yang Yuxin asked.
Cheng Shengnan replied, “The weird sound of swallowing. I feel like it’s near us too. But strangely… the distance seems to keep changing, sometimes close, sometimes far. I can’t even tell which direction it’s coming from.”
“You both heard the weird sound? But why haven’t I heard anything at all?” Yun’er said, a little confused.
Yun’er wasn’t trying to scare the other two women. It was simply that, ever since entering the dark space, she genuinely hadn’t heard a single sound.
Cheng Shengnan and Yang Yuxin found this very strange. They also knew Yun’er would never joke at a time like this. For a moment, they couldn’t help but think back to the situation in front of the ghostly black wall.
Back then, Cheng Shengnan had felt the cold first. Yang Yuxin could only feel it after removing the protection of her paranormal skin suit. And Yun’er hadn’t felt anything at all.
In other words, the influence of this weird phenomenon seemed only to affect humans.
“It’s the paranormal energy! The air is filled with invisible paranormal energy, and this energy has a certain effect on humans. That’s why both Captain Yang and I can feel the changes around us, but Yun’er can’t feel anything!” Cheng Shengnan suddenly realized the problem.
Yang Yuxin’s eyes darkened. She immediately took a paranormal gas mask from her backpack and put it on. Instantly, not only did the faint, creeping chill and sense of pressure lessen slightly, but the weird swallowing sound, which had seemed to come from just a few meters away, now sounded like it was dozens of meters off. The feeling of it being alternately close and far also diminished significantly.
Realizing the paranormal gas mask was effective, Yang Yuxin immediately took a spare from her backpack and handed it to Cheng Shengnan, who put it on. Cheng Shengnan experienced a similar effect. The negative influence from the weird phenomenon faded.
“Looking at this, this should be a type of fused monster recorded in Shen Ge’s files, one where the paranormal energy effect causes hallucinations and negative influences in humans. This kind of fused monster has strong spiritual attacks. The closer you get to the heart area, the greater the influence,” Cheng Shengnan said in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Yang Yuxin’s expression became grave. If what Cheng Shengnan said was true, it meant that even with her paranormal gas mask and paranormal skin suit, getting close to the heart would be very difficult.
The main reason Shen Ge could freely enter and exit a fused monster’s body without being affected by paranormal energy erosion was that the primordial weird cells inside him resisted it.
Paranormal energy is only harmful to humans, and in some ways, it only affects humans. That’s why a monster, if it wants to control the power of weird phenomena, must implant weird cells.
“If… paranormal energy only affects humans, then once you find the weird thing’s heart, or reach a point where you can no longer resist the paranormal energy erosion, why don’t I just go?” Yun’er suddenly said. By now, she had completely controlled her weird cells and was no different from any monster in a monster organization.
Compared to these fused monsters, her rating was actually higher. So, it wasn’t surprising that she could resist paranormal energy erosion.
“That is one solution. But we don’t know the intensity of the fused monster’s ‘heart’ or whether there are parasitic-type weird phenomena around it,” Yang Yuxin said in a low voice.
Cheng Shengnan said, “According to Shen Ge’s records, both of those things exist. In fact, some powerful fused monsters will actively generate weird phenomena and other monsters for defense when they sense danger. The heart is the monster’s weak point, but it’s also the most heavily defended place.”
“That’s right… But Director Li conducted many simulations based on the reports brought back by Agent Shen. He developed a type of paranormal bomb that can neutralize paranormal energy. This bomb can, to some extent, destroy the hard defense of weird phenomena. It might be able to break through the heart’s defense,” Yang Yuxin said.
Yun’er asked, “Did you bring this paranormal bomb?”
“Yes, but I only have one,” Yang Yuxin replied. She had no experience fighting fused monsters and had never imagined she would one day end up inside one’s belly. The single neutralizing paranormal bomb in her backpack, designed specifically for “hearts,” was only there “just in case.”
Yun’er said, “Then let’s decide on that for now. Finding the heart is the priority. We’ll decide based on the situation then. If you two can’t resist the paranormal energy erosion, I’ll take the neutralizing paranormal bomb into the heart and try to destroy it.”
“But…” Cheng Shengnan hesitated. “As far as I know, the main reason the neutralizing paranormal bomb can blow open the extremely tough defense of the heart is because it neutralizes the paranormal energy of the heart’s defense, creating a twisting vortex, and thus opening a gap. Although you have a monster’s body now and won’t be affected by the heart’s paranormal energy erosion, precisely because you are a monster, the twisting vortex created by the bomb’s explosion could very likely pull you into it.”
Yun’er smiled slightly and said, “That may be true, but we don’t have a better option right now, do we? Besides, my mission is to protect you. And Agent Shen rescued my sister and me from hell. How could I let someone he loves get hurt after such a great kindness?”
“But he was the one who saved you, not me. You don’t need to sacrifice yourself for me. Besides, creating the twisting vortex doesn’t necessarily mean the heart is destroyed. You could still be affected by it. So, I think the safest approach is for all of us to enter that area together,” Cheng Shengnan said.
Yang Yuxin agreed, “Director Cheng is right. The neutralizing paranormal bomb affects you too. If you get caught up in the explosion, there’ll be no one left to finish destroying the heart and defeat the fused monster. But talking more now is useless. At least we need to find the heart first.”
As the three talked, they walked for nearly another twenty minutes. At the end, there was another black wall. The difference was a strange “door” in the center. It was clearly two sliding doors pushed together, but they were irregular in shape, looking like the pattern of a “heart.”
“This fused monster is pretty thoughtful. Afraid we couldn’t find the heart, it specifically made the ‘door’ shaped like a heart to make it easier to recognize?” Yang Yuxin couldn’t help but joke.
Yun’er said very seriously, “It might be a trap. Be careful!”
“…”
Yang Yuxin had just made a casual joke, but Yun’er took it seriously. For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond. Finally, she turned her words into action. She fully equipped her paranormal skin suit and approached the door.
Yang Yuxin tried pushing the door, but no matter how hard she pushed, it wouldn’t budge an inch. It felt like she wasn’t facing a door but a solid wall.
“Sigh. Here we were arguing about who would sacrifice themselves to go into the heart and detonate the neutralizing paranormal bomb, and now we’re stopped by just a door,” Yang Yuxin said. She slashed at the door several times with her paranormal energy saber, but the door didn’t move at all. It didn’t even leave a scratch. She was speechless.
They couldn’t use the neutralizing paranormal bomb on this, could they?
“I have an idea,” Cheng Shengnan said.
As soon as she said this, Yang Yuxin and Yun’er both turned to look at Cheng Shengnan, who was standing behind them. They saw her pat her wrist, and then her right hand “reached into” her left wrist.
Her right hand seemed to enter another space, directly “disappearing” in a very eerie way. This scene stunned Yang Yuxin and Yun’er.
Yang Yuxin excitedly said, “Is this the newest type of paranormal backpack that the Research Department announced before? The ‘blood-skin backpack’ that can unfold a small paranormal space?”
Currently, the Rong City branch, in fact the entire Special Strategy Department, only had one blood-skin backpack. It was integrated into the Red Mist Battle Armor and used by Shen Ge.
Although researchers led by Li Xiang at the Rong City branch had repeatedly tried to find inspiration from weird cells and the “secondary armor” to create a similar spatial backpack, they had always failed.
Seeing a similar item appear in Cheng Shengnan’s hands now, Yang Yuxin was incredibly excited. If she could replace her combat backpack with a spatial backpack, she could carry several times more weapons and ammunition. She wouldn’t have to worry about lacking explosives anymore.
“Actually, this is just a derivative product split from the blood-skin backpack. The actual space isn’t large, only about a dozen cubic feet,” Cheng Shengnan said. Then, she pulled a paranormal rocket launcher out of the blood-skin backpack and hoisted it onto her shoulder.
As Shen Ge taught: When in doubt, start with an RPG!
Although Shen Ge’s original words were “When in doubt, fire a shot,” Cheng Shengnan automatically filtered out some inappropriate contexts.
“…”
“…”
This scene completely shocked Yang Yuxin and Yun’er. In their eyes, Cheng Shengnan had always been a refined, office-lady type, an administrative staff member. Seeing her suddenly transform into a female Rambo was a bit hard for them to accept.
Under the two women’s subtly peculiar gazes, whoosh, the rocket launcher fired. A long, fiery tail trailed behind the projectile as it flew towards the distant heart-shaped door. With a bang, a wave of fire exploded outward.
Seeing the fire wave surging towards them, Yang Yuxin immediately stepped forward. She raised her arm and activated the inflatable function of her paranormal arm guard. It expanded into a large air cushion, blocking the fire wave.
The air cushion inflated by this paranormal arm guard was filled with paranormal energy, not ordinary air. So, it wouldn’t explode under strong impact or high heat.
Once the fire wave subsided, the three went to the door. A small breach had been blown into it.
Due to limited carrying capacity, Yang Yuxin hadn’t brought large weapons like paranormal rockets. But she knew the power of a paranormal rocket wasn’t less than that of an ordinary paranormal grenade; in fact, it was several times more powerful.
One rocket had only created a small breach. This showed just how high the “door’s” defense was. If the door was this tough, how hard would the “heart” be?
Honestly, seeing that the paranormal rocket had only made a small breach, Cheng Shengnan felt a bit disappointed. After all, sitting in her office reading Shen Ge’s exciting reports, he always seemed to easily take down those high-level fused monsters, making them vanish into thin air without breaking a sweat.
But when she had to do it herself, she realized that just this one fused monster, suspected to be Tier 4 or 5, had left the three of them helpless.
Only at this moment did Cheng Shengnan truly understand that the “horrors” Shen Ge experienced were far from the few casual words he used to describe them.
Now, black paranormal energy mist continuously poured out of the small breach in the “door.” As this paranormal energy mist spread, even Yang Yuxin and Cheng Shengnan, wearing their paranormal gas masks, began to suffer severe mental attacks. Their “auditory hallucinations” increased.
Relying on her monster body, Yun’er actively approached the breach. Only then did she realize that the “door” was like a thin membrane, a protective shell around the “heart.” But this thin, protective membrane had actually managed to withstand a rocket!
Then, Yun’er shone her flashlight through the breach into the space beyond. The beam hit what looked like a “wall of flesh” about half a meter in. Looking closer, that fleshy wall was pulsating – thump-thump, thump-thump.
“The heart! I see the heart!” Yun’er said excitedly.
But more and more black paranormal energy mist poured out of the hole in the door. Cheng Shengnan, who had weaker defenses, felt like her head was about to explode. The weird “gurgle, gurgle” swallowing sounds were like thunder crashing right next to her ears, making her dizzy and her consciousness fuzzy.
Sensing Cheng Shengnan’s condition deteriorating, Yang Yuxin tried to pull her away from the area affected by the paranormal energy mist. But the mist was spreading too quickly.
“Captain Yang, give me the neutralizing paranormal bomb! Quick!”
