Chapter 100 The Devil's Deal

In the moment the "deal was struck," a surge of mental energy flooded Gu Shen's mind. This was power from a "devil," and the "real world" shrouded by the Ruler of Truth was no longer affected by worldly laws.

Gu Shen became the person in control of this small world.

He could dominate everything within the "Domain of Truth," with all costs borne by that devil.

The moment the source energy efficiency increased to 1000%, the source armor shattered!

Even the "Fifth-Order Source Armor" worn by Captain Yuan Yuan could not withstand this terrifying propulsive force. However, the shattering of the source armor did not spread, because Gu Shen immediately issued the second command.

"Maintain everything in the domain."

This command kept everything in the Domain of Truth "intact"!

These shattered source armors, bearing tremendous pressure, remained complete... This was simply a "miracle," or more appropriately described as a "devil's masterpiece."

"Boom—"

The storm descended.

At the 31st second in the real world, that terrifying storm finally crashed down on Gu Shen and his team.

The "Domain of Truth" was instantly pulled into it.

Gu Shen looked up.

A giant mountain not far away was pulverized within seconds. The destructive power of this storm was incalculable, and the vast "extraordinary source matter" contained within should be able to annihilate all organic life in this world.

Even a titled powerhouse could not survive such a disaster.

What did it feel like to be dragged into the "source matter storm"?

It felt as if a giant were suddenly stomping down from above. Even at the storm's outer edge, the terrifying shock and oppressive force were beyond description. In an instant, the world went from noisy to silent, and when the heavy, dull pressure arrived, the "Domain of Truth" transformed from a complete "large circle" into an almost flattened "ellipse."

However, this "domain" did not shatter.

Because the force from the darkness continued to provide support.

Therefore, the change in shape did not affect anything... This "domain" remained stable, reliable, and reassuring.

The more it was at this moment, the more calm Gu Shen became.

The "Domain of Truth" activated the source armor's 1000% acceleration, instantly冲 (chong) out of the storm's outer edge. In the final moment of life and death, the huge attraction of the storm's center was broken free... The devil in the ruler was right. If they had been a second later, truly engulfed in the storm, then there would have been no way to recover.

Even "he" had things he could not do.

After breaking free from the storm, the "Domain of Truth" accelerated faster and faster, bursting out and leaving the storm far behind.

To escape this "storm," two things had to be accomplished.

First, outrun the storm.

He had already done that.

Second, get the "Umbrella Defense Line" to open!

This was not simple... Because of the loss of the [Old World] signal, Gubao was likely to choose to close the fortress and counterattack when the storm hit.

Gu Shen calmly issued a third command in the "Domain of Truth."

"I want to establish a mental link..."

This deal was provided by the devil in the ruler.

He probably knew everything that was happening outside at this moment.

Gu Shen had hidden the news about "Chu Ling" from everyone, but the guy in the ruler seemed to know... In this case, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

The Domain of Truth sensed Gu Shen's thoughts.

"Ding..."

"Attempting to connect..."

It actually started "building" and, after a second, the "connection successful" prompt sounded.

In the [Old World], the deep sea had no signal... But the ruler could actually help Gu Shen extend his mind to the virtual space where 001 was located. What a strange power this was!

...

...

Sitting on the floor of the car, surrounded by countless failed connection attempts, Chu Ling was focused and frantically manipulating data.

She was more concerned about the dynamics of the "Umbrella Defense Line" at this moment than everyone else combined.

To this end, she even massively called on the deep sea's computing power to invest in the current "Umbrella Defense Line" local area network.

[Sky Eye] was rapidly dying.

The storm was coming.

At this moment, the defense line could no longer "see" Gu Shen's true figure.

The final calculation showed that he was likely to be swallowed by the "storm"...

And just as Chu Ling was feeling despair, a light voice sounded.

"Connection successful!"

Chu Ling was stunned.

She could not understand any of this, let alone think deeply. The scene in front of her quickly changed. This was a sign of successful mental link synchronization. Soon she saw Gu Shen's first-person perspective. Countless collapsing rubble and silver streamers reflected each other. According to database calculations, Gu Shen's current "speed" had far exceeded the limit-breaking power of the source armor.

Under the pull of the storm, Gu Shen, carrying eleven unconscious teammates, had actually reached a speed of "one kilometer per second."

With this terrifying speed, the team had at most thirty seconds to reach the defense line!

The connection was very unstable.

In the brief moment of connection, Chu Ling saw a blurred and collapsing scene of doomsday, and also heard the thought that Gu Shen was trying his best to convey.

"Open the defense line!"

...

...

"Open the defense line!"

A loud voice echoed on the giant wall.

The speaker was a not-so-tall blond man.

The sentinel stationed on the border of the fortress reacted first by refusing... What a joke, what time was it? How could they open the defense line?

A deafening roar sounded in the distant sky.

It could still be heard from dozens of kilometers away!

Even the veterans who had been stationed in Gubao for more than ten years had never seen a "storm" of this scale!

A few days ago, [Deep Sea] had issued a high-risk warning for source matter tide erosion. Everyone had chosen to stand firm and deployed several combat plans in the "siege" situation... The best choice at this juncture should be to completely lock the defense line and do everything possible to defend the giant wall!

Open the defense line?

What if the defense line could not be closed... The opening phase of the battle would suffer a huge blow!

"Don't worry about the 'defense battle.' This storm is expected to arrive in ten minutes... The defense line will be closed within five minutes after opening, and it will not affect the 'defensive fortifications.'"

Zhong Yuan said the second sentence.

As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned.

Because this second team captain of the Investigation Corps took off the cloak on his shoulders, revealing the customized golden source armor. He was bowing his head to check whether the oxygen in the source armor mask was sufficient and whether the spare source energy was in place...

"Captain, are you preparing to go outside the fortress?"

A member of the elite team was stunned.

"You stay here and respond to changes. I will go outside the fortress... In the last five minutes, they are going against the wind, and their speed must not be enough." Zhong Yuan said calmly, "I'll give them a hand, maybe they can live."

The atmosphere on the giant wall suddenly became heavy.

Everyone knew very well that in the face of this kind of storm, life was as humble as weeds, easily crushed. Zhong Yuan's life was no different from others. Even if his personal strength was strong, he could not fight against natural disasters.

"Sorry, I refuse to open the defense line."

The guard captain guarding the giant wall bit his teeth and said coldly: "Gubao Fortress does not need to obey the orders of the Investigation Corps captain!"

Zhong Yuan frowned.

These days, he had been running around in the monitoring room. The soldiers responsible for rear monitoring and resettlement tasks had defaulted to him exercising Lin Lin's power, but these guards on the giant wall did not buy it.

Time was tight, and Zhong Yuan had no time to waste. Just as he was about to take action, he heard:

"Returning life signs detected..."

"Strongly recommended: Open the defense line!"

"Strongly recommended: Open the defense line!!!"

The voice of [Deep Sea] echoed in everyone's mental channel.

[Deep Sea] had repeatedly conveyed a positive response to the outside of the defense line. This news made the guard captain entangled. Usually, their tasks were to receive guidance from [Deep Sea]. This big guy who connected the Five Continents never made mistakes, and [Deep Sea]'s "strong recommendation" was generally an extremely important mission objective.

What really made the guard team make up its mind was a weak but clear voice.

"Open the defense line."

Lin Lin's voice came from the guard captain's private channel.

He took a deep breath, maintained a military posture towards the unmanned place in front of him, and said respectfully: "Yes, Brigadier General!"

The real "controller" of the entire Gubao Fortress was Lin Lin.

And it could only be Lin Lin.

At this juncture, even [Deep Sea] was not as useful as Lin Lin's words!

With the transmission of an instruction.

The members of the guard team on the giant wall were tense. The Umbrella Defense Line was a buffer zone connecting Gubao Fortress and the [Old World]. This dozens of kilometers of barren land was full of dense floating boards. At this moment, the floating boards were tilted open, and the wind was drooping, and the tranquility of the world was broken at this moment!

The storm was roaring.

On the giant wall, 149 source energy boats in Gubao Fortress were ready. All of them turned their hulls and aimed at the north. The muzzles of the source energy cannons were constantly spewing faint dark fire, accumulating majestic source matter, ready to bombard at any time... The storm was getting closer and closer, and the pressure in everyone's heart was getting bigger and bigger!

Zhong Yuan took a deep breath. He jumped off the giant wall, his blond hair flying, and the source armor mask was buckled on. The whole person turned into a dazzling golden long line, and quickly "swam" towards the direction of the defense line opening.

Under the huge wind pressure.

His heart was already gray.

As the captain of the Investigation Corps, he knew very well the admonition in the Corps—never give up hope no matter what, but the wind pressure inside the defense line was so huge. Those team members who are currently outside the defense line still have a chance to survive?

No matter what.

He had to go outside the fortress!

What if... a miracle happened?

Zhong Yuan held his breath, trying to empty his chaotic and pessimistic thoughts, and not think about anything, and he arrived at the exit of the defense line in just ten seconds. The tens of millions of floating boards opened and closed slowly like fish fins, like scales soaked in the sea.

If he rushed out of the defense line and could not return within the specified time.

Then this scene should be the last picture in his mind belonging to the inland world.

Zhong Yuan's eyes became firm.

Just as he was about to rush out of the defense line, the linking sound of [Deep Sea] sounded extremely weak.

"Strongly recommended, close the defense line immediately!"

"Strongly recommended, close the defense line immediately!!"

This sudden change of suggestion caught Zhong Yuan completely unprepared... An even faster change was behind. Almost at the same instant that [Deep Sea] changed its tune, a ray of light that Zhong Yuan had no time to see clearly even if he released his mental power suddenly crashed in from the entrance of the "Umbrella Defense Line"!

He bumped into him!

This was a high-speed "domain"!

The majestic silver light instantly submerged Zhong Yuan.

The top-level second team captain subconsciously pulled out his dagger, but the next moment his eyes became erratic... Terrifying mental power invaded his mental sea. In this silver-white domain, he saw thousands of dark shadows crisscrossing and separating the world, and a tall black shadow was sitting on the dark throne.

He wanted to see more clearly.

But only for a moment... his consciousness became completely blurred.

Gu Shen frowned.

At the critical moment... he managed to catch up, but what was going on with this blond man blocking outside the fortress?

At a glance.

Gu Shen manipulated the power of the Ruler of Truth to directly hypnotize him and bring him into the dream.

In the dream, he quickly read Zhong Yuan's memory.

"Investigation Corps... Second Team Captain..."

Gu Shen suddenly realized.

The look in his eyes at Zhong Yuan also became subtle.

This guy was just about to go outside the fortress to save people...

Before this terrifying storm hit, this man would actually do such a thing. Should he say that he had the righteousness and courage of "sacrificing himself for others," or that he did not have the necessary awareness of being a core captain?

Or rather, this was a fool who regarded "certain things" as more important than "his own life."

After escaping the storm and arriving at the defense line.

Gu Shen's deal with the "devil" was considered complete.

He tentatively used "devil" to refer to the soul inside. That guy was just a wisp of remnant soul. Although his words alluded that he was "Hades," his true identity had not yet been clarified. Perhaps there were other spirits who sacrificed themselves in the Ruler of Truth?

Using this title could remind himself at all times what kind of existence he was dealing with every time he used the ruler.

If it was really "Hades."

Then he was "insidious," "violent," and "indifferent." The world did not hesitate to use evil words to describe the capriciousness of this god, and Gu Shen had to be on full alert to deal with every "interaction."

The power of the "Domain of Truth" was rapidly weakening.

It could be seen.

That guy cherished his strength very much and ended the "borrowing" of external forces as soon as he got out of danger.

He only cared about whether the "ruler" could safely return to the fortress.

What Gu Shen cared about was not only whether he could return smoothly... but also the subsequent "secret concealment." Chu Ling could smooth out the monitoring data of [Sky Eye] after he used the power of the ruler.

But being seen by Zhong Yuan was an unexpected encounter.

He had to eliminate this guy's memory...

Taking advantage of the fact that the power of the ruler had not completely faded, Gu Shen placed two fingers on Zhong Yuan's eyebrows.

The Fighting Golden Hoop was restored again, and at the last moment, blazing fire swept past.

A group of people fell heavily on the ground.

Zhong Yuan looked dazed, and the source armor mask popped open by itself. He rubbed his forehead laboriously, always feeling as if he had experienced something extraordinary... Before he could think about it, Zhong Yuan raised his head and found that the entrance and exit of the Umbrella Defense Line had been closed, and the roar of the storm was isolated outside.

Looking around, he found something that was staggering.

The members of the Explorer team were lying all around him.

A miracle had really happened. The entire team, which was almost swallowed by the storm, had returned safely!