Chapter 151 The Taste of Barbecue

Li Ang didn't pay attention to the strange expressions on Hoenheim and the others' faces. He was preoccupied with fiddling with the confiscated phone, aiming the camera at the missing people who were gradually turning into Buddhas. After unlocking it, he browsed various apps.

It really looked like he wanted to download a financial loan app.

Several players from Europe were dumbfounded.

They had heard before that although this Li Ang was powerful, his way of thinking wasn't on the same wavelength as normal people.

They had only treated it as a joke, but they didn't expect it to be true.

Hoenheim and Xing Hechou, however, reacted after a brief silence.

Unless he was having a bout of temporary mischievousness, Li Ang wouldn't do anything meaningless.

Some seemingly outrageous behaviors would be proven to have deep meaning afterward.

He was playing with the phones of the missing people, most likely trying to deduce their experiences through the state of the phones.

Or he was using the phones to perform mystical rituals to measure King Shibi.

"No signal, no internet connection.

The phones of the missing people in the same area display the same time.

The phones of the missing people in different areas display times consistent with their respective time zones, each different.

Also, the phone batteries are generally low.

Some phones with low battery capacity that need to be charged daily, like Apple, Apple, and Apple, have already shut down.

It seems that the flow of time inside the Buddha Kingdom is the same as outside."

Li Ang muttered to himself, not intending to put the phones back on the missing people's bodies. Instead, he stuffed them into his pocket and swaggered after the main group, continuing forward.

Because most people were wearing slightly bulky protective suits and had to be wary of possible dangers at any time,

the players' pace wasn't fast.

The group passed through the crowded people and entered the horseshoe-shaped valley, finally seeing the military base that European Heavy Industries had built there.

The military base, like the outside of the valley, was also full of missing people from all over the world.

The players found that the closer they got to the cave area, the higher the probability of the missing people turning into Buddhas.

The transformed Buddhas were male and female, old and young, wearing kasayas (Buddhist robes) and making various mudras (symbolic hand gestures),

dhyana mudra, vitarka mudra, bhumisparsha mudra, abhaya mudra...

Some of the transformed Buddhas' physical appearances had also changed—their earlobes became long and thick, their eyes narrowed into slits, and their cheeks became fuller, like a kind and gentle Buddha statue.

And their pockets no longer contained personal items such as phones and wallets.

The degree of transformation into a Buddha was even higher.

The players' expressions gradually became serious.

Michael led the group to the edge of the military base, stopped, and looked up ahead, as if trying to see through the light curtain to the cave on the cliff.

David silently took out a square explosion-proof tablet from his backpack, scanned the faces of the missing people present, and searched for information in the global database.

"These transformed Buddhas come from all over the world and have nothing in common in life.

Some transformed Buddhas are not devout believers, but just happened to be near religious buildings and were absorbed, including European Heavy Industries employees here.

And some devout believers, on the other hand, have not shown a tendency to transform into Buddhas."

David pondered for a moment and said to the others, "Also, the sects that those transformed Buddhas who can be considered believers belonged to are not all Buddhism.

There are all kinds of sects.

Currently, transformation into a Buddha seems to be a random event. It's not that devout believers will necessarily transform into Buddhas."

"That's good news."

Hoenheim nodded upon hearing this. What these transcendents feared most was finding King Shibi halfway, only to have these transformed Buddha missing people in the Buddha Kingdom suddenly turn into divine envoys and attack them,

plunging the players into a sea of divine envoys.

"Wait a minute..."

Abel, as the representative of the European Heavy Industries Group, raised his hand.

After attracting the attention of the others, Abel said with a slightly solemn expression, "The positions are not quite right."

"Positions?"

David was stunned upon hearing this and quickly reacted, "You mean the positions of your European Heavy Industries employees?"

"Yes."

Abel nodded and said, "When King Shibi's mutation broke out, most of the personnel in this military base didn't have time to react and were engulfed by the Buddha light.

Most of the powerful transcendents also failed to escape.

They were engulfed by the Buddha light before escaping a spherical area with a radius of 1,200 meters.

By comparing the images captured by the surveillance cameras of the European Heavy Industries Group

with what the players are seeing now,

you can find that some of the European Heavy Industries Group's employees are missing.

And the positions of the remaining personnel have also changed,

differing from the last images captured by the surveillance cameras when the mutation occurred."

"The number of people has decreased, and the positions have changed?"

David frowned upon hearing this and said, "What does this mean?

Did some of your European Heavy Industries Group's employees continue to move in the Buddha Kingdom after the Buddha light expanded?

And not only did they move themselves, but they also moved the positions of other people?"

"I don't know."

Abel said straightforwardly, "I wasn't responsible for the Ajanta Caves at the time."

"Hmm..."

Xing Hechou thought for a while and said, "I remember that European Heavy Industries initially built the military base to try to control King Shibi, right?

You were also the first to develop protective suits that could move briefly in the Buddha Kingdom.

The protective suits we are wearing now are improved models of European Heavy Industries' protective suits.

Is it possible that when the mutation broke out,

some employees in the military base happened to be wearing protective suits, resisted the Buddha light's erosion, and were able to move freely?

After seeing the mutation break out, these people hid and observed the situation for a few days.

Then, unable to contact the outside world,

they tried to rescue themselves and their companions—they found more protective suits from the warehouse and tried to put them on their transformed Buddha companions.

That's why the positions of the European Heavy Industries Group's employees changed?"

"Oh?"

David's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "That's certainly possible, but it doesn't seem to explain a few other points.

For example, where are these missing employees now?

If they have regained their self-awareness and ability to act, why don't they walk out of the Buddha Kingdom's range themselves? Complete their own rescue?

After all, we haven't encountered any dangers or obstacles along the way."

One question failed to be answered, and instead, more questions arose.

The group of players stood in place, silent.

"Let's go."

Michael said indifferently. The body under the silver-white armor exuded immense power, gently pushing away the ordinary people on both sides in front, opening up a path to the Ajanta Caves.

The Ajanta Caves were originally a famous historical site.

The local departments operated the caves as a tourist attraction, building a relatively spacious suspended corridor along the cliff. There was also a row of railings on the outside of the corridor to prevent tourists from falling.

After European Heavy Industries blockaded the cave area, they built a suspended corridor that could carry more heavy objects to facilitate the transport of heavy machinery.

And they also transformed the terrain, building a straight staircase to connect the caves with the military base at the foot of the mountain.

There were also many ordinary people undergoing transformation into Buddhas on the stairs.

Michael walked up the straight staircase, the Flame Sword in his hand burning with flames, like a torch, emitting a bright light, penetrating the dim and dull air, expanding the visible range.

It could be seen that the outside of the caves, as before, still had many detection instruments and light fixtures placed by European Heavy Industries.

But the cave itself behind the pillars, like a blurred oil painting, constantly changed colors and shapes, making it difficult to see clearly.

Just as Michael had said before, the cave itself was changing.

The players had different expressions. The closer they got to the cave on the stairs, the more they could feel the suppression and hostility of the surrounding world toward them.

The natural recovery rate of spiritual power continued to decrease,

and the detection range of spiritual consciousness was reduced again and again.

It was a bit like what Li Ang and the others felt in the box world.

In order to avoid colliding with those transformed Buddha ordinary people, the player team was stretched out a bit.

Michael and Nebula, representatives of the Global Supernatural Alliance, walked in the front row of the team.

Abel, David, Hoenheim, and other European representatives walked in the middle of the team.

Xing Hechou, Wang Buliuxing, Qing Xingdeng, and other Asian representatives, as well as the relatively lone wolf players like Truth Seeker and Li Ang, walked in the back of the team.

"The degree of transformation into a Buddha is already very serious for these people."

Li Ang frowned, his gaze sweeping across both sides of the stairs.

Compared to the victims below the valley, the progress of the missing people's transformation into Buddhas on both sides of the stairs was even higher.

The everyday clothes they originally wore were all gone, and they were only wearing kasayas and holding Buddhist beads.

On the faces of some of the missing people, there was even a faint glimmer of golden light like a Buddha statue, kind and benevolent, unlike human beings.

"The divine power has deeply eroded their bones and transformed their souls,"

Truth Seeker glanced and said quietly, "Even if King Shibi is really eliminated, these people probably won't be able to turn back into ordinary humans in the end—a part of their personal will has been erased by the divine power."

"Is that so..."

Xing Hechou's heart sank upon hearing this. Although the Evil Demon Scientists Alliance was an orderly evil guild that spread chaos, and its reputation wasn't good with official organizations in various regions,

Truth Seeker was, after all, the person in the Killing Game with the deepest understanding of souls.

If he said there was no hope, then there probably really was no hope.

"The effectiveness of the protective suits we're wearing is also constantly weakening."

Li Ang felt the degree of invasion of external divine power and said casually, "It seems that King Shibi is recovering quite quickly. It's estimated that he's about to wake up."

"Hmm?"

Xing Hechou was stunned upon hearing this. He knew that Li Ang was a demigod with plant attributes. "Are you saying that King Shibi hasn't woken up yet?"

"Of course not."

Li Ang said casually, "You may not be able to feel it,

but from my perspective, the divine power scattered in the air

is like the water source in a bathtub flowing slowly down the sloping floor toward the drain,

rushing toward the cave itself at a slow but constantly accelerating rate.

If King Shibi were awake, the speed of absorbing divine power would never be so slow.

His current state should be similar to being half-asleep and half-awake,

with only a low level of perception of the outside world.

The current changes in the cave should be the instinct to protect himself.

Hmm? Why did the team stop?"

Li Ang stopped and looked ahead.

He saw Michael, wielding the Flame Sword, standing at the very front of the team.

The entrance to the cave in front of her was rapidly changing shape.

One moment it was a stone archway like the Roman Colosseum,

another moment it was a red-lacquered vermilion gate of ancient East,

another moment it was a church wooden door,

another moment it was a torii (traditional Japanese gate) without any obstruction.

"..."

Michael stood still and waited for a moment, but the cave entrance showed no sign of stopping its changes, continuing to transform.

"Back up."

Michael said calmly, and an invisible and intangible vast power gushed out from her body, pushing the ordinary people standing on both sides of the stairs backward.

The players standing in the team also reacted and consciously retreated, making space.

The entrance was cleared.

Michael took half a step forward, slowly raised the Flame Sword in her hand, and heavily slashed down at the cave entrance.

Boom!

In the process of being swung, the Flame Sword rapidly lengthened, reaching more than two hundred meters, even higher than the top of the cave.

The blade, burning with flames, slashed on the surface of the cave, as if to split the entire cliff in two.

Clang—

Under the crushing force of the longsword, the surface of the cave instantly bloomed with a dazzling golden light, resisting the Flame Sword,

actually withstanding the Flame Sword's slash.

Sparks flew and burst out.

The air was distorted and deformed due to the high temperature.

Michael's wings fluttered slowly behind her, and a pair of wings slowly regenerated under the silver-white armor, turning into four wings.

Buzz—

The Flame Sword lengthened by another hundred meters and burst into flames,

The surrounding air was blurred and distorted, the visible range decreased sharply,

and the originally solid and reliable metal stairs, like candles under high temperature, slowly liquefied and dripped, collapsing and disintegrating—this was still under the condition that Michael deliberately controlled the Flame Sword's damage range and didn't let the high temperature directly scorch the stairs.

Waves of heat surged one after another.

The group of players in the front row couldn't bear the high temperature and retreated backward.

Abel and David in the middle of the team stood still, their expressions becoming a little serious.

Hoenheim snapped his fingers and summoned several ice crystal familiars beside him to lower the surrounding temperature.

And the pink-haired girl, Fuxiao, summoned the Qubeley mecha,

controlling the mecha's cooling system to release some cold air, sheltering the surrounding companions.

From this, the level of combat ability of these people could be seen.

Li Ang watched the different performances of everyone, completely unaffected by the high temperature.

He even had the leisure to take out fish, cauliflower, leeks, pork belly, pork cartilage, duck intestines, gluten, squid, oysters...

and even scallions, ginger, garlic, cumin, pepper,

and a large number of bamboo skewers from his sodium ring.

Amidst the chrysanthemum-tightening gazes of Xing Hechou and others,

he sat on a small stool, taking advantage of the heat waves emitted by Michael,

and started grilling barbecue.

"The fragrant taste, have you ever eaten it? The spicy feeling, have you ever tasted it~"

Li Ang hummed a song, quickly grilled a few skewers of barbecue, ate a few himself, and then stuffed a few skewers to Xing Hechou and others. "Come and try it, eat it while it's hot."

Xing Hechou subconsciously took it, but before he could really eat it, he heard Li Ang say, "One thousand yuan, cash or card?"

???

Are you trying to force a sale?

Xing Hechou subconsciously said, "Why is it so expensive?"

"Everything is expensive in scenic spots, don't you know?"

Li Ang said as a matter of course, "Of course, except for Xuexiang (Snow Town).

I used to drive to Xuexiang for a self-driving tour, and I thought I would be ripped off, but I didn't expect the people there to be exceptionally enthusiastic. Not only did they slaughter pigs and sheep, but there was also a bonfire party at night. The scenery in Xuexiang is beautiful, and the people are even better.

When I left, they even sent me all the way to the train station, which moved me to tears."