Wu Pifu's muscles were tensed all over, his state of vigilance far exceeding that when he faced the Wild Boar Demon.
Although he had activated the Controlled Demonization state at the first moment against the Wild Boar Demon, that was to achieve a kill with minimal damage, not out of desperation.
However, now, Wu Pifu didn't even have the courage to activate the Controlled Demonization state; the thing outside was too terrifying!
Even without seeing it with his own eyes, even with a large door between them, he felt goosebumps all over his body.
If he had to describe it, it was akin to the horror of ten half-paper figures or five Wild Boar Demons combined.
This was undoubtedly a BOSS-level monster!
Even Jiu Jiu, who was still asleep, instinctively woke up due to the proximity of this monster, which showed just how heavy its presence was.
Now, Wu Pifu was at a loss.
The door to the storage room was not sturdy, and the monster outside didn't seem to be using all its strength to break through the door.
He didn't know if it was toying with them or if it lacked sentience altogether.
The most likely scenario was that it was attracted by something—either the living aura of him and Jiu Jiu or the scent of the blood and flesh from the Wild Boar Demon he had cut.
Wu Pifu gently released Jiu Jiu's mouth, shook his head at her, and then quietly picked up an iron rack to pile against the door, stacking some heavy objects from the storage room on top as well.
(There are about twenty to thirty minutes left until the twenty-four-hour mark ends.
Based on my previous experience, this is when various small and large monsters start rampaging and become aware of our presence as "outsiders."
As long as we can endure this period, we can return safely...)
Wu Pifu silently pondered.
After piling almost all the heavy objects in the storage room against the door, he spoke to Jiu Jiu in a very low voice, "If we die in a bit, don’t move around after reviving. Confirm your surroundings first. If there’s no immediate danger of death, just lie still. If there is, run immediately and keep stalling for time. Injuries don’t matter. If you understand, nod."
Jiu Jiu's eyes were filled with fear, but she obediently nodded.
At that moment, the thing outside suddenly exerted more force, and the entire door seemed to be pushed inward into the storage room.
Wu Pifu didn’t dare to speak anymore; instead, he pressed his whole body against the iron rack, unleashing his strength, his qi and blood surging to the extreme.
His arms, waist, and legs, with an explosive force of about one and a half tons, pushed against it, bending the metal rack as the door was gradually pushed back.
Seeing this scene, Jiu Jiu's fear began to dissipate.
But it didn’t last long.
As time passed second by second, the monster outside suddenly increased its strength again, and the door was once more pushed inward bit by bit.
At this point, Wu Pifu's body began to ooze beads of blood, and a large amount of steam rose, transforming into a faint red mist that started to spread.
Even so, the door was still irreversibly being pushed inward, and just as it seemed about to be completely pushed open, Wu Pifu suddenly closed his eyes, opened them again, and his eyes turned blood red.
In the next instant, the door was once again pushed outward bit by bit.
Blood immediately gushed from the joints of Wu Pifu's arms and wrists, as if his muscles and bones were being crushed into juice by some immense pressure.
As he entered the Controlled Demonization state, there were no longer any protective limits on his body, and his immense strength even surpassed the limits of what his physical body could reach.
However, this state could not be sustained for long.
Wu Pifu knew he was just stalling for time, and he would hold on for as long as he could.
But this time, he only managed to push the door back for less than two minutes before the monster outside increased its strength once more, and this time the force was astonishing.
Not only did the entire metal door shatter, but the outer wall of the storage room also crumbled.
Then Wu Pifu and Jiu Jiu saw hundreds of heads emerging from the darkness of the sewer, looking at the two with an extremely eerie gaze.
“... Wu Pifu! There’s an exam tomorrow!”
A hand slapped Wu Pifu's shoulder, jolting him awake from his drowsiness.
He felt a bit dazed, suddenly realizing that class was about to start, and waved his hand, saying, “Don’t mess around, Li, Wang, Zhang... who are you?”
Many names flashed through Wu Pifu's mind, but he suddenly felt it was strange because this voice was both familiar and unfamiliar, and he couldn’t immediately recall the name.
He turned to look in the direction of the voice and hand, only to see a grinning head floating in front of him.
In the next moment, everything around him began to dissolve—the classroom, the desks, even himself...
When Wu Pifu opened his eyes again, he saw a hazy scene.
He was submerged in a semi-transparent liquid, his entire body frozen in this liquid like an insect trapped in amber.
As he awakened, unimaginable pain surged through him; his hands, feet, body, and even his head were slowly dissolving.
“Not good! Corrosion!!”
Wu Pifu was alarmed because this was not death.
Although his entire body was dissolving, he could still feel the parts dissolving—not being digested, but transformed into another life form, merging with other lives!
He was being corroded rapidly!
Moreover, if he lost his self-awareness and anchor of reality during the corrosion, such as falling into a hallucination, he would be unable to return to the real world!
As Wu Pifu thought this, he saw Jiu Jiu not far from him, her body also dissolving, with about one-fifth of her body already gone.
Before he could do anything, his consciousness became hazy again...
“Pifu, eat more.” A gentle female voice rang out.
“Tomorrow the summer vacation ends, remember to pay attention in class.” A slightly authoritative male voice followed.
Wu Pifu was focused on eating, and as he did, tears fell into his bowl, making him reluctant to look up.
He knew all of this was an illusion.
If it were someone else, they might see their parents or classmates, but his intuition was too strong, combined with the influence of the Huanglian fragments and perhaps the effects of the Tiger Demon Technique's Unresting Spirit Awareness, allowing him to see the truth and break free from these illusions.
But...
Why use his parents...
Wu Pifu silently looked up and indeed saw two floating heads with eerie smiles facing him.
Then everything began to dissolve again...
Wu Pifu opened his eyes once more, and part of his eyeball was beginning to dissolve.
Not far away, Jiu Jiu had already disappeared by one-third.
Once the corrosion exceeded fifty percent, it meant that he was no longer human or recognized as "life" by the mainframe.
At that point, he would never be able to return to reality.
“Here! Take it all!!”
With the last of his physical control, Wu Pifu unleashed his qi and blood without any restraint, his eyes turning crimson, and he charged his entire consciousness into the depths of his mind.
In an instant, the liquid enveloping Wu Pifu began to boil, turning pitch black.
Countless black auras spread from his remaining flesh, staining everything around him like ink.
At the same time, at the moment Wu Pifu fell into demonization, his Unresting Spirit Awareness let out one last roar, echoing like thunder from the liquid, first affecting Jiu Jiu nearby.
She suddenly opened her eyes, tears streaming down her face, followed by the heads with eerie smiles, all of which stopped smiling, first looking bewildered, then in pain, before they began to gradually dissipate.
In just a few seconds, the massive monster turned completely black, and then all the liquid began to evaporate, with Wu Pifu and Jiu Jiu disappearing without a trace in the sewer.
After a moment, the surface of the sewer suddenly exploded, and a man in skeletal armor fell from the sky.
He looked around and reached down to touch the ground.
At that moment, two more people landed on the street above the sewer—a man and a woman.
The man held a long staff with a strange head and spine, while the woman clutched a colorful orb.
“What is it?” the woman asked.
The man in skeletal armor shook his head, saying, “I can’t confirm, but there was an extremely strong source of pollution that just erupted here, with pollution levels reaching the million mark!”
The staff-wielding man and the orb-holding woman were both shocked.
The staff-wielding man immediately said, “A million level!? That’s at least baseline reality 0.5, right!?”
“Not just that!” The orb-holding woman's expression turned serious.
She said, “Pollution data is the most intuitive manifestation of terror. Baseline reality 0.9 is one to one hundred, then 0.8 is one hundred to one thousand, 0.7 is one thousand to ten thousand... By this calculation, a million to ten million falls within the baseline reality 0.4 range... the realm of gods and demons!”
The man in skeletal armor silently listened to their conversation, looking up at the sky and sighing, “This time, it’s too late. The weekend is about to end, and the mission to hunt down the remnants of the Human Revolutionary Alliance has still not been accomplished, especially... ‘him’!”
The three fell silent, and then their bodies gradually faded away, disappearing without a trace.
Wu Pifu suddenly opened his eyes wide, flipping over and looking around nervously.
Just then, he heard Jiu Jiu's chirping from above his head.
In the next second, Jiu Jiu landed on his shoulder, holding a piece of yellowed paper and a black object the size of a fingernail, tilting her head to look at him.
Wu Pifu let out a sigh of relief.
He looked around to confirm he was indeed in Gaia, then collapsed to the ground and said to Jiu Jiu, “You fat bird, how could you be so easily corroded into a dream?”
Jiu Jiu was furious, dropping the items in her beak and crashing into Wu Pifu's forehead, pecking at his brow incessantly.
Wu Pifu felt his mood lighten.
He casually picked up the yellowed paper and the black object, intending to toss them aside, but just as he touched these two items, the mainframe's voice echoed in his mind.
“Important information detected... Judgment complete. Level 2 maintenance personnel Wu Pifu, do you wish to provide important information? You may exchange for one of the following options.”
“Title judgment upgrade by one level.”
“Based on your current power system, randomly obtain a foundational technique corresponding to baseline reality 0.7 to 0.5.”
“Teleport five hundred carbon-based nanounits.”
“Awaken ten level one maintenance personnel.”
“Please choose.”
(End of Chapter)