Discovering the [Door] Discovering the [Door] Discovering the [Door]...

When all the captains are reporting the same information.

Good news... is no longer good news.

The smile on Lin Lin's face froze, and an ominous premonition surged in his heart.

He took off his communication headset and looked up.

At this moment, the main screen was divided into twelve shots, each showing an image of a [Door] at the end of every branch of the Dolu River Disaster Zone...

There were twelve [Doors] in total!

The captains hadn't yet realized what had happened...

"Don't touch them!"

With powerful intuition, Osmond reacted extremely quickly, his roar echoing through the linked channel: "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat immediately..."

But it was already too late—

These [Doors] were all located at the end of the Dolu River branches.

This was theoretically the weakest signal area. After discovering the [Doors] and transmitting the information, the twelve windows on the main screen dimmed one after another...

Osmond had barely spoken when some teams had already lost their connection!

And when he finished.

The entire command channel fell silent.

Perhaps the final order had already been issued.

Or perhaps... it hadn't reached the ears of these captains at all.

Osmond stared blankly at the dark screen in front of him. This time, the "disconnection" wasn't due to external interference, but rather, the rules of the Disaster Zone itself had begun to operate...

"Hello? Hello?"

As the main control boat fell silent, a lazy, nonchalant voice squeezed into the channel, where only two people remained.

...

...

Lu Zhe placed both hands on his knees.

He was currently at the foot of Black Snow Mountain. One more step, and he would enter the disconnection zone.

According to the original plan, upon reaching the Black Snow Mountain area, he needed to give the main control boat a brief communication, the last contact between the two sides before the mission was completed.

"Why is it so quiet?"

Lu Zhe narrowed his eyes, gazing at the cloudy sky in the distance, and asked calmly, "You two seem to be in a heavy mood... I presume something bad has happened since I left."

Inside the main control boat, Lin Lin glanced at Osmond's gloomy face and took the initiative to speak, "Have you arrived at the 'Black Snow Mountain' area?"

"Yes. Everything is going smoothly."

Lu Zhe said calmly, "I retraced the path of Zhong Yuan's team, and I gained a lot along the way. I collected all the relevant supernatural beings' hair and mental aura... I'm ninety percent confident in the tracing that follows."

This captain of the Investigation Corps' First Team was indeed a top-tier mission executor.

"Understood..." Lin Lin said in a low voice, "I wish you success in your mission."

"What about your side?" Lu Zhe didn't hang up the connection. The intuition of a mental-type supernatural being told him that the main control boat's atmosphere was so gloomy because something bad must have happened.

As the captain in the restart mission, he had the right to know this information.

"Well..."

Lin Lin hesitated.

What the main control boat had just encountered would really damage morale, and informing Lu Zhe at this moment... might affect the mission execution.

He looked at Osmond, and after receiving a nod of approval, he slowly opened his mouth, "We... discovered the [Door]."

"Discovered the [Door]?"

Lu Zhe raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Isn't that the main mission we came here for? Why does your tone sound like this news is terrible?"

After a brief silence, Lin Lin said honestly, "Because... there are twelve [Doors] in total."

There was silence on the other end of the connection.

Only the rustling sound of wind and snow could be heard.

"Twelve... how is that possible?" After a long time, Lu Zhe's voice revealed no trace of laughter. The usually carefree captain's tone became serious, "Logically speaking, only one [Door] is needed to connect the Dolu River Disaster Zone to the outside world."

"Yes..."

Lin Lin said, "It happened so suddenly that we haven't figured out what this means yet, and the mental connection between the main control boat and the team captains was simultaneously interrupted."

"To be precise, they lost their connection with you."

Lu Zhe calmed down and said slowly, "The fact that I can contact you means... there's nothing wrong with the main control boat's mental signal."

"Do you need me to change my mission objective?"

Lu Zhe said quietly, "It would take me about twenty minutes to reach the nearest team... If not, I will enter 'Black Snow Mountain', and you will completely lose contact with me until the mission is completed."

Osmond thought for a moment.

He shook his head and gave a clear instruction, "No need."

Although Lu Zhe was strong.

The captains of the other teams weren't pushovers either.

[Living Fish] Fisher, Second Team Captain Zhong Yuan... and others went without saying.

The other captains were also powerhouses among the Fourth Order!

Supernatural beings of their level were seasoned veterans with a wealth of experience. Even if they encountered danger, they could rely on their own strength to resolve it.

Osmond had great confidence in these people. It was only a "disconnection," and he believed that the captains could react correctly, just like the previous sudden situation.

Under these circumstances, interrupting Lu Zhe's mission would be akin to creating chaos.

"Understood."

Lu Zhe nodded. He had only asked out of routine. After receiving the order, he said nothing more, preparing to hang up the communication and continue heading towards Black Snow Mountain.

But Osmond stopped him.

"Little Lu."

Lu Zhe was somewhat dazed.

He hadn't heard that address in a long time...

He was the famous First Team Captain of the Investigation Corps, known throughout North Continent!

The younger members of the Corps mostly addressed him respectfully as "Captain," and those who were slightly more familiar could call him "Team Lu."

The Corps Commander called him "A-Zhe."

Only "elders" like Osmond, whom he didn't often see, would call him that.

"Next, the main control boat will very likely head towards Black Snow Mountain..."

Osmond said softly, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Lu Zhe smiled silently, "You mean the main force needs a 'cleaner,' right?"

"When the Corps Commander handed you over to me, he seriously warned me that I needed to restrain your abilities at all times... to avoid causing unnecessary damage," Osmond said in a low voice.

This warning sounded somewhat absurd.

What kind of person would need to be deliberately restrained when carrying out a mission?

Every supernatural being in the Investigation Corps knew... that among the many teams, only one person had the qualifications to carry out missions beyond the border alone.

Lu Zhe.

Rather than saying this was the qualification to carry out missions alone, it was more accurate to say it was the ability to do so.

Lu Zhe was a freak who didn't need teammates at all.

This situation only changed when Mu Wanqiu joined the First Team.

For most of the missions Lu Zhe carried out later, the Corps Commander would arrange for this S-rank to accompany him. On the surface, it was to allow Lu Zhe to suppress Mu Wanqiu's [Judge] and help the younger generation learn and improve quickly.

But in reality, there was another meaning.

Arranging for Mu Wanqiu and Lu Zhe to act together was actually a two-way suppression.

Two freaks together was actually a heart-warming good thing.

In recent years, in order to take care of this "S-rank," Lu Zhe's solitary nature had been curbed a lot.

Grouping together had one drawback.

That was that many new recruits didn't know just how strong this First Team Captain was.

"Only you can do this."

Osmond leaned over the long table and said, word by word, "Mr. Cleaner, I hope you can exert your strength as much as possible and sweep away all the unclean things in Black Snow Mountain."

In the crackling sound of electricity.

Came Lu Zhe's very light laughter.

"Understood."

...

...

After the connection was cut off.

Black snow fell on his cheek, very cold.

But only one flake.

Because Lu Zhe only allowed this one flake of black snow to fall into his "domain."

This thin flake of black snow quickly melted, and before it could turn into black water, it was evaporated by an invisible heat wave.

The First Team Captain raised his head and yawned.

He sat cross-legged in the void, one meter above the ground, and looked at the gray iron dome with countless falling black snow, his eyes slightly sleepy.

Lu Zhe slowly stretched, and just as he lay back, a square, empty space suddenly lifted him up, and he actually lay in the void.

Letting the surrounding black snow be as sharp as a knife, it couldn't cut into his body at all. From a distance... he looked like he was riding in a sedan carried by the wind and snow, swaying towards Black Snow Mountain.

In fact.

He wasn't asleep.

Because of Zhong Yuan's information, he knew very well that once he entered Black Snow Mountain, he wouldn't be able to see anything.

Once he lit a flame, he would be swallowed by the "Mirror Dream."

In this case, "seeing" and "not seeing" made no difference...

Of course.

Not seeing didn't mean not being able to see.

The spiritual power of supernatural beings was greatly suppressed in Black Snow Mountain, and Lu Zhe was no exception, but even with his spiritual power suppressed, his "visible range" was still very wide, almost covering half the mountain.

In terms of range alone, it was ten times that of Zhong Yuan!

Under this terrifying mental radiation—

All the "monsters and demons" in the darkness were clearly visible to him.

The black snow in the distance surged, and a humanoid creature seemed to be walking towards Lu Zhe... Black Snow Mountain could capture information and replicate supernatural beings into fakes. This was an unidentified copy.

But unfortunately, it never had a chance to reach Lu Zhe.

Lu Zhe flicked his finger slightly.

With a "bang."

At a distance of a hundred meters, an invisible force descended, and the copy's head was directly poked and shattered, exploding open.

Blood fell on the mountain path of Black Snow Mountain and was instantly wiped away by new black snow.

Lu Zhe closed his eyes, riding the wind and snow, and without touching the rules of the Mirror Dream, he advanced towards the top of Black Snow Mountain in an absolutely crushing posture. Wherever he passed, the sound of fingers flicking continued, and gray and dim creatures continued to fall.

Where the cleaner passed.

Rivers of blood flowed and froze into ice.

...

...

(ps: Today's three updates are completed. Although I don't care about negative comments like "North Continent arc is a foot-binding cloth," I still want to reply after thinking about it, which can also give confidence to readers who are seriously following the updates. I made a lot of detailed outlines for the Traveler Volume, and these are necessary foreshadowing. Knowing that you are working hard to follow the updates, I will definitely update diligently. At that time, the causes and consequences will be clear at a glance.)