“Is this… what’s going on beneath Sakura Island?” Li Xiang hadn’t participated in the Sakura weirdness disaster himself, but he’d followed its developments closely, and the higher-ups had sent over plenty of files for him to assist with research.
Yang Yuxin pointed out, “But look at the top-left aerial view—it doesn’t really look like Sakura Island… That patch shrouded in weirdness black fog should be Sakura Island.”
Li Xiang adjusted his glasses and said, “Actually, headquarters sent me a file before. Three months after Shen Ge and the others went to assist, there was a massive explosion in Hujiang City. After that, large coastal areas were submerged, and the entire Tokou City area was shattered into islands.”
“This map doesn’t show the complete Sakura Island, but if you piece together the surrounding islands, you’ll see it matches the area from Tokou City to Chiba.”
“So I suspect this ‘heart’ is the epicenter of Sakura’s weirdness disaster—the former Hujiang City.”
Aside from Li Xiang, Shen Ge also saw the problem. In fact, as he gradually realized that the “Tiangan” organization was no less of a threat than the “Twelve Branches,” he’d known that the new Weird King under Sakura Island was a ticking time bomb.
Back during the Sakura weirdness disaster, limited by his strength at the time, Shen Ge had made it all the way to the new Weird King’s presence but lacked the power to kill it once and for all.
He’d thought about finding an opportunity to deal with it, but the string of issues in the Dream World afterward had consumed all his attention. Now, his worst fears were coming true.
The birth of the new Weird King had indeed helped alleviate the emergence of weirdness events to some extent—but it also meant the new Weird King was constantly growing stronger by absorbing weirdness energy. Once it awakened, it wouldn’t just be Sakura Country, Bang Country, or Great Tianchao at risk—the entire world would face a crisis.
Yang Yuxin looked confused. “This can’t be the intel Sakura Country brought, can it? And they think this is enough to negotiate with us? What’s there to even talk about?”
Tu Doupi walked over, glanced at the image on the screen, and said, “I’m guessing Sakura Country wants to play the ‘lip and teeth’ card—rallying neighboring countries to help contain the disaster. Classic political maneuvering: hype up the terror of the catastrophe, paint a rosy picture of joint efforts, and then trick everyone into contributing resources. In the end, they’d be the ones dividing the spoils.”
Yang Yuxin shot Tu Doupi a sideways glance. “Never pegged you for someone so well-versed in this stuff. What, thinking of using the Special Policy Department as a stepping stone into politics?”
“Hard pass. I’d rather fight on the front lines than play mind games with those people all day,” Tu Doupi said with disdain.
Li Xiang scrolled through several other files on the computer. “There’s a lot of reports here on the current state of the Sakura weirdness disaster. The reality is worlds apart from what they’ve publicly announced. Honestly, Sakura Country is already a shell of its former self. The higher-ups who could run, have run. The only ones left suffering on the islands are the common folk.”
Many of the files were in Sakura script and English. Li Xiang could manage the latter, but for the former, he had to rely on translation software.
“From these files, it looks like Sakura secretly reached some kind of agreement with Pretty Country, which is why they accepted some of their high-level immigrants. Pretty Country’s been hit by large-scale weirdness disasters too, but they’ve got plenty of land and a sparse population, so taking in some Sakura refugees isn’t a big deal.”
“But Sakura probably doesn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket, so they’re planning to strike a deal with Great Tianchao too—to relocate some of their people here.”
“Still, this intel alone isn’t enough to negotiate with Great Tianchao. I’m guessing they must have something much more critical—maybe information related to the Primordial Weirdness.”
Yang Yuxin thought for a moment and said, “After the Haiya Research Institute incident, researchers from various countries did split up some Primordial Weirdness remains. Do you think Sakura might be willing to offer that up in exchange for our help?”
Li Xiang shook his head. “Unlikely. Our research on the Primordial Weirdness has already moved past the stage where a single piece of remains would yield major breakthroughs. Besides, after the Haiya incident, the ones who got the most Primordial Weirdness samples weren’t the international researchers—it was the Monster Organization.”
Li Xiang didn’t spell it out, but there was another point: while headquarters might be interested in Primordial Weirdness samples from Sakura, the Rong City branch wasn’t all that excited. Because Shen Ge, using the “convenience” of the Dream World, had brought back research materials far more valuable than anything from the Primordial Weirdness.
You have to understand that these are all bizarre developments that have reached their “end” and led to the destruction of the world. They have already completed various “alienations”. It’s like two people coming to negotiate with the Great Celestial Empire. One brings out the most sophisticated instrument from ten years ago, and the other brings out the most sophisticated instrument from ten years later. It goes without saying which one has more research value.
Shen Ge had remained quiet throughout, but he was thinking back to his mission in Sakura. During a rescue operation for Great Tianchao’s anti-weirdness agents, he’d stumbled upon a secret underground research facility—and that was exactly where he’d found the passage leading to the “future.”
Even now, Shen Ge still believed Ye Jingwen wasn’t lying. After all, she was already on her deathbed at that point. She couldn’t even guarantee the new Weird King plan would succeed—and in fact, from Tiangan’s perspective, it was considered a “failure.”
So there were only two possibilities. One: Ye Jingwen was playing an even bigger game, one that not only included Shen Ge but also Tiangan itself, all with the goal of destroying Sakura Country.
Two: Ye Jingwen had been deceived by Tiangan. They’d sold her a story about advancing toward the next civilization, but in reality, they were doing the exact same thing as the Twelve Branches.
The new Weird King plan was never about helping the world absorb the weirdness black fog—it was about cultivating the organization’s ultimate weapon.
Unfortunately for Tiangan, they’d clearly underestimated Ye Jingwen’s determination to exact revenge on Sakura. She was even willing to sacrifice herself to ensure the new Weird King would “take root” in Sakura.
So Tiangan’s plan to use it as leverage against the world fell apart. All they could do was watch helplessly as the new Weird King slipped out of their control, becoming a ticking time bomb threatening the entire world.
“Do these files contain any information related to solving the problem of the monster cell invasion?” Shen Ge asked. In his view, whether it was the fall of the Sakura Kingdom or the future crisis of the Great Celestial Empire, these were not things he wanted to care about right now. He only cared about the safety of the people around him.
Li Xiang sighed and shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. These encrypted files have some value, but they don’t help us much right now. Our best option is still to get Director Cheng back to Rong City. Only with enough personnel and equipment can we properly analyze her condition.”
Those words plunged the room into silence. With Cheng Shengnan in her current state, moving her was no small feat.
Sure, they could force a transport, but that would essentially turn the Rong City branch into a second Haiya Research Institute—under the watchful eyes of the entire world.
Even if Shen Ge’s presence deterred anyone from making open moves, what about behind-the-scenes? Who could guarantee the Monster Organization wouldn’t find a loophole?
And what if Li Xiang’s own situation was connected to the Monster Organization? They could just whisk her away without anyone noticing.
Just then, Tu Doupi muttered under his breath, “If only we had that teleportation tech the Monster Organization uses…”
Shen Ge froze. A bold idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
What if he used the Dream World’s power to complete the transfer through a weirdness space? Could he “send” Cheng Shengnan back that way?
In the past, Shen Ge couldn’t enter and exit the Dream World freely. But things were different now. After mastering the power of Dream Fragments, he had his own weirdness domain—a stepping stone into and out of the Dream World. So he could enter the Dream World together with Cheng Shengnan here in Daijing, travel through the Dream World to Rong City, and exit there.
The biggest risks, of course, were the unpredictable dangers of the Dream World and the possibility of landing in a world swarming with weirdness. But if this method worked, it would mean Shen Ge could travel across the globe completely undetected.
With that thought, Shen Ge was eager to test it out.
“I have an idea.” He roughly explained his plan—though he didn’t mention his ability to enter the Dream World and his weirdness domain at will. Instead, he framed it as using some kind of teleportation device. But before he even finished, he noticed Li Xiang staring at him with gleaming eyes.
“What? You’ve mastered the ability to freely enter and exit weirdness spaces?” Li Xiang asked excitedly.
Shen Ge’s eye twitched. He knew that look all too well. He quickly clarified, “I haven’t mastered anything. I just have a way to enter a weirdness space and come out the other end—like spatial teleportation. And this is still just a hypothesis. It needs testing.”
“Same thing, same thing! When are you going to test it? No time like the present—how about now? Take me with you!” Li Xiang said eagerly.
“…”
Before Shen Ge could respond, Yang Yuxin cut in. “No way. The Minister explicitly told Tu Doupi and me—absolutely no letting you and Director Li team up for dangerous experiments. Besides, Agent Shen said it himself—it’s just a hypothesis. It needs testing. I think… let Agent Shen try it first. If it works, then you can apply to the Minister, Director Li?”
Li Xiang shot her a sideways glare. “What do you know, kid? Research is all about practice! How can you do research without getting your hands dirty? Don’t worry—back when you were still a greenhorn, I was already going in and out of weirdness spaces. I know them inside out.”
“…Director Li, you’re only two years older than us, you know,” Tu Doupi muttered quietly.
Li Xiang said seriously, “Age isn’t the point—it’s experience. I’ve seen plenty of big scenes. A little weirdness space isn’t gonna trip me up.”
“I think it’s better if I test it first, sort things out here, and get back to Rong City. Then I’ll take you in. What if we both get stuck this time?”
Shen Ge’s biggest problem right now was that he couldn’t control which Dream Fragment world he’d enter—meaning he couldn’t gauge the danger level. Some worlds that hadn’t been completely destroyed, though humanity was already extinct, were far more terrifying than fully destroyed ones—high-tier weirdness everywhere.
Take the Dream Fragment that Cheng Shengnan and the others had fallen into—they walked in and were immediately greeted by a 6th-tier weirdness. Forget cross-city travel—it took serious effort just to escape its belly.
Until he confirmed this method was viable, Shen Ge wasn’t about to drag Li Xiang into danger. If Shen Ge got stuck in the Dream World, well, he was used to it. But if Li Xiang got stuck too, who would monitor Cheng Shengnan’s condition? If her “transformation” worsened, that’d be disastrous.
After weighing the options, Li Xiang agreed Shen Ge had a point. Cheng Shengnan wasn’t in immediate danger, but her “transformation” was still unstable. He needed to stay and help Xiao Qi monitor her data. If anything changed, only he knew how to use the monster antibodies to control the “transformation.”
Just then, Yun’er, who had been quietly standing behind Shen Ge, spoke up. “Agent Shen, I’ve gotten pretty good at controlling my monster powers now. Let me go in with you—I can help.”
Shen Ge shook his head. “The Monster Organization is watching from the shadows, waiting for an opening. The only way I can safely enter the weirdness space is knowing you’re all out here protecting things. I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t worry, Agent Shen. If the Monster Organization wants to take Sister Cheng, they’ll have to step over my dead body!” Yun’er declared with conviction.
Shen Ge gave a few more instructions, then headed upstairs alone.
In the room, Shen Ge channeled weirdness energy into the glowing Dream Fragment, spreading his weirdness domain outward from his center. Then he tapped into the Dream Fragment’s power, trying to establish a connection with the Dream World.
Connecting to any random one among the “countless” Dream Fragments was easy—it barely took any effort at all.
The moment the connection was made, the entire space took on an eerie gray pallor. The room’s lights flickered audibly with a zzz sound, as if they could go out at any second.
This was the telltale sign of a successful spatial crossing into the Dream World. Shen Ge opened the door, walked down the hall to the entryway, and stepped outside.
The once-luxurious villa was now a long-abandoned ruin—only the front hall was still standing; the rest had collapsed.
The entire neighborhood looked like a post-war wasteland. Several buildings were covered in black, octopus-like slime monsters.
Weirdness. And not low-tier ones either.
Through his “Weird Eye,” Shen Ge assessed them—the lowest were 4th-tier. He wasn’t sure why they weren’t tearing each other apart and accelerating their transformations, but he had no desire to attract their attention. He activated his “Invisible + Traceless” traits to keep off their radar.
Shen Ge decided to find a closer destination for the test first. This place was not far from the sealed-off area of the banquet hotel, and it would take less than an hour to walk there.
If the Red Mist Battle Armor hadn’t malfunctioned, its mobility would’ve given him a near “instant teleport” effect.
“Looks like the first thing I need to solve for spatial crossing through the Dream World is transportation!”
