The cluster of Revelers was gradually dissipating.

It wasn't being wiped out completely— in fact, they were almost continuously regenerating, no matter how many were killed, new Revelers kept appearing in the fog, it was impossible to eliminate them all— but as the number of entities eliminated by the heavily armed deep divers led by Xu Jiali surpassed a certain "critical point", Yu Sheng observed that they began to "fade" at a visibly faster pace.

First, the colorful line figures in the peripheral areas gradually retreated out of sight, followed by the entities near the "battlefield" dissolving back into the fog, and finally, the entities on the battlefield that had been eliminated no longer regenerated.

The misty streets finally began to quiet down, the pulsing rifles in the hands of the deep divers stopped roaring, and the beam sabers cut down the last few entities of the Revelers. A thick layer of confetti covered the streets, which was quickly swept up by the wind and turned into dust.

But these battle-hardened soldiers did not completely relax. They still maintained a vague combat formation, spreading out in groups of 8-12 around the area, ensuring surveillance of the entire neighborhood while also ensuring that each group was within the visible range of at least two other groups at all times, to prevent any "mechanisms" in the eerie fog from taking effect. Some soldiers also took various small devices from the storage compartments in their Power Armor, placing them nearby to collect environmental parameters, and transmitted data back to the control center through some kind of "umbilical cord" device connected to their armor.

Xu Jiali explained these details on the side.

"This is our 'umbilical cord'," the burly man who was almost two meters tall, and nearly two and a half meters tall with Power Armor on, raised his hand and pointed to his armor's chest, where a black cord-like object extended out, floating eerily in mid-air. The cord swung slowly with his movements as if submerged in an invisible liquid environment, "Its other end is connected to the real-world 'deep-dive pool', maintaining our humanity and rationality— while also maintaining our communication with the rear."

Erin widened her eyes: "Just hearing the word 'umbilical cord' makes me a bit neurotic, let me tell you..."

Xu Jiali smiled helplessly: "That's normal. After the Anka Aela incident, many of my colleagues also became neurotic. Some even suggested changing the name to something like 'guide rope', but it wasn't approved."

Yu Sheng, deep in thought, remarked, "So, it's not completely impossible to communicate between the real world and the Exotic Realm... First, there's the 'locator', and now you have this equipment... The Special Service Bureau has solutions in this aspect."

"Regular communication is blocked, but we have 'non-regular' means," Xu Jiali nodded, watching his comrades clean up the battlefield while explaining, "However, these 'non-regular' methods somewhat touch on the 'supernatural'... The tech department would disagree, but many of us feel that way.

"You see this 'umbilical cord'? When we carry out deep diving operations, essentially, we immerse and dissolve our human body and mind in the deep-dive pool, then plunge into the Exotic Realm like diving into a nightmare. The dissolved substance with the umbilical cord 'jumps' into the Exotic Realm, and that's how we bring the other end of the umbilical cord into the realm to transmit signals. Returning involves reversing this process, dissolving again in the Exotic Realm, recovering the fragments with the umbilical cord, and transporting them back into the 'amniotic fluid' of the deep-dive pool to be 'reborn'...

"I think this process somewhat involves Subspace Witchcraft— but the tech department insists it's all scientific..."

Xu Jiali rambled on with a hint of pride, while Yu Sheng listened in awe, constantly examining the other's equipment— I must say, this stuff is really impressive...

Erin muttered instinctively: "Why do I feel like this so-called 'submerge' technology sounds so unreliable, this process seems prone to failure."

"There are definitely risks, but they're very low, especially compared to the risks of 'Exotic Realm combat' itself. The probability of losing control during the 'deployment' or 'submerge' process can be ignored," Xu Jiali seemed quite unconcerned, "It's just that newcomers tend to be nervous. The first experience of dissolving and 'being born' in the 'amniotic fluid' is the most likely to cause psychological problems. They need to adapt with veterans' guidance at least ten times to stabilize."

After hearing many explanations about deep divers from Xu Jiali, Yu Sheng finally had a preliminary understanding of the Special Service Bureau's "high-end forces" in dealing with the Exotic Realm. According to Xu Jiali, incidents requiring deep divers were actually rare—most of the time, teams of "regular agents" like Li Lin could handle rescues or investigations in various known Exotic Realms.

However, this time was clearly one of the "few cases."

"This place is so eerie," Xu Jiali looked up at the dense fog and the mirror-like street views in the mist, "It's definitely not a known Exotic Realm; this is a new one... Someone at the bureau is going to have to work overtime again. But that's normal, someone is always working overtime in our place, whether it's this department or that department..."

"We previously encountered the 'ink stain', and now we encountered the cluster of Revelers, both entities usually generated in other Exotic Realms, yet they appeared in this dense fog," Little Red Riding Hood also spoke up, "We're still not sure how they 'came in'..."

"Either this 'Mirror Exotic Realm' has a feature of being connected to other Exotic Realms, like a 'train', where it's linked to other Exotic Realms on a certain level, or this is its 'feature'," Xu Jiali analyzed methodically despite her casual demeanor, "The feature is that this Exotic Realm can generate 'signature entities' from other Exotic Realms."

"…If this is really the case, then the Danger Level of this place will soar," Little Red Riding Hood's face turned somewhat grim, "The depth of this dense fog might only be between L-1 and L-2, but the Danger Level could reach level three or even higher."

"Leave the analysis to the smart folks at the bureau, the key now is that there's someone trapped in there, right?" Xu Jiali said, frowning. "I hate to say it, but looking at the situation... it doesn't look good. Ink stain, the Carnival crowd, just these two alone are deadly threats to ordinary people, very few could escape if they encountered them head-on. And I've heard that the person belongs to..."

He thought for a moment and tapped his forehead. "Oh right, 'High Sensitivity Low Stability' physique, so the chance of them encountering entities is probably higher than yours. At this moment, I'm afraid... sigh."

The macho man sighed.

Yu Sheng's face also turned grim.

Hu Li's ears drooped and she plopped down on the ground—the ground shook because she was a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox as big as two minivans.

However, just as the oppressive atmosphere was about to spread, a patrolling deep diver's voice suddenly came through Xu Jiali's communicator. "Leader! We've found a trapped citizen!"

Everyone's spirits lifted instantly. Xu Jiali's eyes popped wide, and she loudly asked through the communicator, "Where? What's the situation? Still alive?!"

A somewhat conflicted voice came through the communicator. "Alive, but the situation is a bit complicated. We're trying to cut him out of... uh, the wall. He's encased in an amber-like substance in the wall, but he seems to be okay."

Yu Sheng and Erin looked at each other, while Little Red Riding Hood appeared pensive. Hu Li... well, it was hard to discern her expression now, but she suddenly stuck out her tongue and licked Yu Sheng, nearly knocking him over—who knows what that demon fox was thinking.

Xu Jiali instructed them to bring the "trapped citizen" over, and moments later, Yu Sheng saw his long-lost "nephew."

He finally understood what they meant by "the situation is a bit complicated."

This perpetually weary-looking young man was now encased in a large chunk of amber-like yellowish transparent substance, frozen mid-run, with a look of terror on his face, as if he had been "captured" and sealed in amber at a desperate moment of escape.

But aside from being sealed, there were no visible injuries on him.

"Ah, this..." Yu Sheng was seeing this kind of situation for the first time, looking a bit bewildered. "Are we sure he's still alive?"

Erin's face was full of concern. "He won't suffocate in there, will he?"

But Little Red Riding Hood, upon seeing the amber, immediately relaxed and waved her hand dismissively. "No worries, he's alive—this guy is really lucky."

Yu Sheng looked up, puzzled.

"A neutral entity, 'Tree Granny,' found in the Exotic Realm's 'autumn forest,'" Little Red Riding Hood knew Yu Sheng lacked knowledge in this area and explained patiently. "This entity appears as a humanoid tree wandering the deep forest, with an old woman's face on its trunk. It actively pursues any living beings in its territory and wraps 'invaders' in tree resin. But this isn't fatal—the 'amber' just marks the invaders to be thrown out of her territory. Inside the 'amber,' they can still breathe and think, plus the resin offers strong protection..."

Little Red Riding Hood paused, and Xu Jiali picked up the explanation. "Tree Granny is one of the rare entities who's powerful and bizarre, but harmless. In the past, there's even been a poaching gang—their job was to provoke Tree Granny in the autumn forest to trick her into giving up tree resin—because some say that stuff, when dissolved in water, can cure high blood pressure, and when ground up, makes a great face cream."

Yu Sheng was stunned. "…You mean there were poaching gangs for this?! How was it resolved?"

"Star Media got two experts, one a Taoist from Qianfeng Ling Mountain, the other a Prophet from the Bamosa people. They both went on a show and claimed Tree Granny's resin was radioactive."

Yu Sheng: "..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.