Wu Pifu opened his eyes, not immediately turning over, but silently observing his surroundings, listening to the sounds, and sensing the situation.
During the previous two "Zhou" ends, he had been killed due to suddenly sitting up, as death here came without warning; any sudden movement could lead to demise.
At this moment, he cautiously opened his eyes and saw a surrounding darkness, gradually making out some shapes after a long while.
It seemed to be a factory, a workshop, or a similar place.
Seeing this, Wu Pifu let out a slight sigh of relief.
In his first two "Zhou" ends, he had once directly descended into a pile of graves, with an exaggeratedly large round moon in the sky, surrounded by corpses in the grave mounds and ghosts flying everywhere.
He was extremely fortunate to have died twice and then been reborn in an empty coffin, surviving only after the "Zhou" end time had concluded.
The second "Zhou" end had brought him to a "small" town.
The reason this small town was marked with a special symbol was that it was anything but small; it was incredibly vast.
At that time, Wu Pifu had already practiced the Tiger Demon Technique.
Although he might have only brushed against the threshold of Mingjing, his physical strength and mobility had surpassed that of ordinary people.
He had climbed to a high building in that town and looked down, seeing a dense array of countless buildings and alleys...
It was a place that continuously proliferated and changed, a "living" town, an immense labyrinth, and not only was the town itself a maze, but any building that was slightly larger also transformed into a maze.
After confirming the situation of the town, Wu Pifu initially had the bold idea of leaving the town, but he quickly regretted it.
As soon as he stepped away from the town's center and entered any alley, he would lose his way back within ten minutes at most.
He faced an endless, ever-changing labyrinth, and the deeper he went, the more horrors he encountered.
During his second "Zhou" end, he not only died three times but was also corroded, with one-third of his body undergoing mutation, while many of his past memories vanished.
Surviving the second "Zhou" end was truly a stroke of luck, as staying in the town's center greatly increased his chances of survival.
The labyrinth's changes and horrors were minimal there, although it was still a gamble with his life.
Now, he was about to face his third "Zhou" end, and it seemed to be in a closed area.
Based on his experience, as long as he hid quietly in a corner without moving, he had a great chance of surviving this "Zhou" end.
Thus, Wu Pifu slowly pushed himself up from the ground, trying to minimize his body movements.
Only then did he begin to see everything around him more clearly.
It appeared to be a food processing factory.
He saw some employees sorting meat on an assembly line, while in the distance, another assembly line was processing the meat into cans.
It seemed quite normal... if not for the other scene revealed in his eyes.
The entire factory instantly transformed from neat and orderly to filthy and chaotic.
It no longer resembled a modern assembly line factory but rather an ancient or rural slaughterhouse, the kind that looked like a scene from a horror movie.
All the employees had turned into monsters with the heads of bulls, pigs, sheep, and birds, towering and robust, with the shortest among them standing at least two and a half meters tall.
The meat they were sorting was all too clearly identifiable as human organs—hands, feet, and even half-human bodies with heads attached...
But this... was still not the true reality!
Wu Pifu forcibly restrained his urge to pry further, for behind this horrifying scene, he could vaguely see a blurred image...
Dozens of wires, metal parts, and grotesque machines formed from piles of flesh and blood were wielding chainsaws, hammers, and various chaotic tools, cutting through various lives—some human, others of creatures Wu Pifu had never seen before.
All life was being sliced, smashed, and disassembled, then thrown into a massive container that looked exceedingly high-tech.
However!
This was not the deepest truth.
Wu Pifu had a gut feeling that something truly significant was hidden behind this most blurred image, but unfortunately, he could not see it clearly.
At that moment, the Huanglian fragment around Wu Pifu's neck emitted a slight fluctuation, and in an instant, all the "employees" he could see turned to look at him.
If it had been before, Wu Pifu would have prepared to flee, but because of the Huanglian fragment, he suppressed the urge to escape or attack first, merely standing up as if nothing had happened.
The core rule of perception: when you sense the "real" or the bizarre, the real and the bizarre will also sense you in return.
Now, two data points of his perception had been activated: Anomaly Perception 2.2 and Barrier Perception 1.4, equivalent to a strength of Anomaly Perception sixty-four times that of an ordinary person, while Barrier Perception was four times that of an ordinary person.
This was enough for him to see countless truths that ordinary people could not.
However, this was not entirely a good thing, as when you see the truth, the truth also sees you.
For instance, in the last dream world, the reason he was marked by the Wusheng Laomu was likely because he "saw" her, thus triggering her gaze upon him.
Based on his perception level, perhaps when these "employees" looked at him, what he faced was not the attacks of those beast-headed monsters but something even more terrifying—an attack from machines composed of countless wires, parts, and flesh.
Yet, nothing of the sort occurred.
After staring at him for three or four seconds, the employees turned back to continue their work, except for one moderately plump employee who walked toward Wu Pifu, saying, "Newcomer, go to the slaughter area. I don't know what's going on over there; the output speed is getting slower. We only have twenty-three hours left, and the recipient is about to arrive!"
As he spoke, this seemingly supervisory plump employee kindly pointed in the direction.
Wu Pifu silently lowered his head and walked toward the slaughter area.
All this calmness relied entirely on the miraculous effect of the Huanglian fragment, even to the point of being miraculous.
It directly ignored one of the core rules of perception, allowing him to perceive a certain degree of "truth" without being detected by it.
In any situation, this was a divine skill, turning the originally double-edged sword of perception into a skill with only positive benefits!
For example, right now, Wu Pifu felt he could pass through this "Zhou" end without being noticed, as long as he did not reveal any flaws, he could completely disguise himself as someone unaware of the truth.
Based on the experiences of the past two "Zhou" ends, as time passed, the surrounding environment and living beings would become increasingly bizarre and terrifying, but this could at least buy him more than half the time.
The "Zhou" end lasted twenty-four hours!
Now, it was estimated that there were still a little over twenty-three hours left, meaning the time when the recipient mentioned by the plump supervisor would arrive was likely when it would conclude!
Wu Pifu lowered his head and walked toward the slaughter area, trying his best not to look at those "employees" and the meat.
Although the effect of the Huanglian fragment was extraordinary, it also had limitations: it could only shield against the "truth" at the levels of baseline reality 0.9 and 0.8. Given his strong perception, he was unsure if the Huanglian fragment could withstand it, so he walked carefully, not daring to look around, constantly suppressing his desire to pry into the truth.
Thus, he walked as normally as possible, albeit at a slightly slower pace, to the entrance of the slaughter area.
Before he even opened the door, a thick stench of blood rushed into his nostrils.
(Sorry, I am just an ordinary person struggling to survive.
Perhaps I have gained some strength, but compared to these terrifying anomalies, I am but an ant.
I am sorry, I am sorry...)
Wu Pifu stood before the door of the slaughter area, took a breath, and then pushed the door open.
Behind the door was another series of assembly lines, but this was the slaughter assembly line.
The slaughter assembly lines for cows, pigs, and sheep connected to the outer factory, with pigs, cows, and sheep continuously being pushed in from outside.
However, these assembly lines were not fully automated; there was no initial electrocution.
Instead, they were first washed with high-pressure water, then moved forward, where "employees" used various tools to stab, dismember, and then placed these carcasses on the conveyor belt to be washed with water while being transported outside the slaughter area.
In Wu Pifu's eyes, the cows were all strong or very fat humans, while the pigs were male, and the sheep were female.
They all appeared dazed, like puppets, completely naked as they were transported in from outside the factory.
At this moment, he could do nothing but lower his head and try not to look.
At that moment, one of the "employees," a tall and robust man, said, "Newcomer, go help in the sheep area."
Wu Pifu silently nodded and casually walked to a "sheep" slaughter assembly line, watching the numb humans pass by below, feeling both sorrow and fear, and pretended to be busy there.
Suddenly, he noticed some commotion at the end of the conveyor belt, but all the "employees" ignored it.
He slowly walked over and saw a little girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old, with emerald green hair, trying to crawl out toward the factory's exit.
Seeing the little girl, Wu Pifu's heart stirred, but he did not do much.
He merely bent down toward the conveyor belt, trying to bring his head closer to the little girl's position, and whispered, "Gou Dan?"
The little girl froze, suddenly turning and jumping up, colliding her forehead against Wu Pifu's head, and then she attempted to jump up and bite him.
This scene naturally startled some "employees," and two of them walked over to this spot.
Wu Pifu covered his forehead and said, "Jiu Jiu, how did you get in here? And why are you here?"
Wu Pifu naturally knew who this was.
That bird with spirit, Jiu Jiu, but he did not expect her to follow him in and transform into a human form...
Jiu Jiu looked at Wu Pifu with tearful eyes, then fearfully glanced at the approaching "employees," and then she did something... she stopped struggling and followed the dazed humans to the next procedure on the conveyor belt, as if she no longer recognized Wu Pifu.
Wu Pifu shook his head and walked in front of one of the two arriving "employees," looking at the steel fork in its hand.
He reached out and swiftly pierced its throat along with the spine, then before the other "employee" could react, he stepped forward and smiled at it.
"What are you thinking? Gou Dan... no, Jiu Jiu."
(End of Chapter)