“I'll be damned…” Atobe shuddered and muttered, “What's with this inexplicable feeling of nausea…”

“Well… actually, it's quite logical.” Feng Bujue replied, “Because silkworms are larvae, after all.”

“Alright, now is not the time to popularize natural science knowledge.” Honghu interrupted them and pointed in the opposite direction from the Boss, “Let's run first!” As he said this, he had already run forward.

“My Stamina Value is still decent, I'll hold her back.” At this time, Uncle Waste Chai faced the Boss and stood at the back of the group, “You guys go first, I'll catch up in a bit.”

Judging from his tone, he wasn't discussing with his teammates, but had already made up his mind.

“Oh! As expected of a partner of justice, seems very reliable…” Tianma Xingkong began to speak some chuunibyou lines, but before he could finish, he was dragged away by Jue-ge.

Atobe also took the opportunity to follow, turning back before leaving to say, “Whatever you're planning to do, be careful!”

“Hmph… I seem to be underestimated…” After his teammates had all run into the crystal pillar forest, Uncle Waste Chai snorted and reached into the inside of his bathrobe to pull out a pack of cigarettes.

“Fū—” He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then exhaled. Then, he looked at the giant silkworm with a lazy expression and muttered, “Getting out of this kind of situation is still easy for me.”

“Looks like you don't understand…” The giant silkworm's cute voice sounded again. Looking at the four players who had already fled, she just smiled disdainfully, “Heh… very well…”

Before she finished speaking, the giant silkworm's body suddenly shook. In the next second, the invisible large net in mid-air was revealed. In an instant… the entire sky above the crystal labyrinth seemed to be covered with a layer of pinkish-white silk.

Then, she slowly lowered her giant silkworm head, passed through the silk net, and finally approached Uncle Waste Chai, “You… why aren't you running?”

“Fū—I'm buying time for my companions.” Uncle Waste Chai faced the giant creature's gaze, still standing proudly.

In this situation, not only did he not retreat a step, but he also calmly raised his head and blew smoke into the Boss's face.

“You want to eat us, don't you?” Uncle Waste Chai continued, “How could I let you have your way…”

“So… you want to resist?” the giant silkworm said, “Hmm… as expected, hee…” She laughed again, “I've encountered prey similar to you before… After escaping the silk net, you think you can run away, right? Hahaha…”

Uncle Waste Chai caught a hint of danger in the other party's words, and his heart tightened: “What do you mean?”

“Heh… take a good look at the top of your head…” the giant silkworm replied in a deep voice, “…ignorant interdimensional traveler.”

Hearing this, Uncle Waste Chai's expression changed slightly, and his gaze quickly moved upwards, and then he saw…

…………

Chew Demon Island, the eastern side of the "Reverse Island."

Beyond the boundary of the crystal labyrinth, past a stretch of white salt flats, one could see a small wooden house.

Squeak—creak—

Accompanied by the sound of metal axles turning, a mini tricycle came to the small wooden house.

Riding on the bike was a doll that was only the size of a child.

He was wearing a black suit and a bright red bow tie. On his white "mask face" were two spiral red blushes, a pair of reddish-black eyes, and a heavily rouged red mouth.

“I really wanted to pretend I wasn't home.” A man's voice came from inside the small house, “But unfortunately, even through a door, you and I can feel each other's presence.”

“Heh heh… long time no see, brother.” Billy said with a smile.

“We haven't 'seen' each other yet.” The "brother" inside the house replied, “We're just talking through the door.” He said loudly, “If you turn around and leave now, I can pretend you never came, that would be better for everyone.”

“Alright, Bill, I know you're emotional, but didn't I come to save you?” Billy got off his tricycle and, with small steps, struggled to climb the steps in front of the small wooden house (there were only three steps in total, but for the short Billy, climbing them was quite difficult), “You have to understand me, it's hard for me to come and save you when I can barely save myself.”

“Yeah, yeah… then you might as well not have come.” Bill said again, “Even if a trivial thug like me gets out, I'll only become a burden to you…”

“Shut up, Bill.” Billy interrupted the other party in a serious tone.

“Okay.” Bill's grumbling seemed to be about done, and his tone suddenly weakened.

“Hmm… let me see.” Billy stood on tiptoe, leaned on the door of the small wooden house, and then stared intently at the wood grain on the door panel.

After staring like this for a full ten minutes, Billy took two steps back, stood on the porch, and loudly recited: “balabing~balaboom~balabingbangboom~”

Then, an amazing thing happened… the door panel of the wooden door immediately made the exact same sounds as the spell Billy recited (if this even counts as a spell), clanging and banging for a while…

Then, with a "creak—" the door opened.

Boom! Boom!

In the pitch-black room, heavy, powerful footsteps quickly sounded.

As the footsteps grew closer, a tall and strong silhouette appeared at the door.

“Now…” Bill's deep voice was already close at hand, “we can finally say we've met.”

Before he finished speaking, another "crack" was heard.

A giant armored puppet, two and a half meters tall and weighing one ton, smashed the door frame and burst out of the cage.

This was Bill, his entire body made of deep blue unknown metal, with a mahjong tile-like square head, a v-shaped torso, arms as thick as thighs, and legs as thick as thighs…

“You seem to have become smaller than I remember, brother.” Bill lowered his head and looked down at Billy.

“That's because you've grown taller again.” Billy shrugged, turned around, and carefully jumped down the steps, “At least when you were locked in this room, you could enter and exit that door normally.”

“Oh… is that so…” Bill scratched his head and said, “Whatever.” His face was quite distinctive. Compared to Billy, Bill's expressions were much richer, because Bill's face was a display screen. Although his "face" was a fixed, unchanging plane, the screen could display all kinds of kaomoji emoticons.

“Many things have changed since you were locked up.” Billy walked to the tricycle and said, looking back, “I'll tell you one by one on the way.”

“Okay.” Bill said, “Where are we going now?”

“The Crystal Labyrinth.” Billy replied.

“Huh?” Bill was stunned for a moment, “Aren't we leaving Chew Demon Island directly?”

“No, I need you to help me move something.” Billy got on the tricycle and started pedaling with his short legs.

Bill followed behind with large strides, his walking speed about the same as Billy's riding speed: “Hey! Hey! What's going on? Did you rescue me just to use me as a porter?”

“Did you think I came all the way here just to chat with you?” Billy asked calmly in reply.

“Hmph…” Bill snorted unhappily, “After leaving this broken island, I'm going my own way.”

“Then you'll be caught again soon.” Billy continued, “And then they'll design a bigger cage for you, and more painful torture methods.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Bill replied, “Then what will you give me? A heavy physical labor job that requires sixty hours of work every week? The reward is… hmm… let me think… a can of motor oil?”

“In fact, I have found a job for you.” Billy replied, “Working as a librarian at Zhuanjie Zun's place.”

“What!” Bill was shocked, “Are you crazy? That old guy is a madman! He'll spread me on a sandwich like jam and eat me!”

“No, he won't, I've reached some consensus with him.” Billy said, “Currently, we have a very stable cooperative relationship, and I believe he's a trustworthy person, much more reliable than you.”

“Oh… so you had everything arranged before you even came here.” Bill's face refreshed to a pouting expression, “And I can only accept everything, is that right?”

“Yes.” Billy replied, he paused for a moment, and tried to express a gentle tone with his terrifying gravelly voice, “I'm sorry, Bill, I can't let you stay by my side… at least not now. You'll understand after I explain it to you, our universe is facing a complete collapse crisis, and I have many things to do, very important things…”

“Whatever, I might not understand even if you explain it.” Bill was straightforward, since his brother was in trouble, he simply didn't ask, “Let's talk about the present, what do you want me to move?”

Billy sighed and replied, “The corpse of the [Silkworm Mother].”

“What!” Bill was startled, “The Silkworm Mother is dead? Who did it?”

“Not dead yet.” Billy said, looking down at the small watch on his wrist (Billy didn't have this accessory before *Deng Lou Ji*), “But… soon.”

…………

At the same time, in the Crystal Labyrinth…

“Hey, have we run far enough?” Atobe had been sprinting behind Honghu and the others for more than five minutes, and was panting again.

“Haa… I think… it's about time.” Even Tianma Xingkong was a little out of breath, he had indeed left himself too little Stamina Value.

“Huff… let's take a break for now.” Seeing that his teammates' Stamina was almost at its limit, Honghu stopped and said while adjusting his breathing, “Huff… anyway, it seems that the other party hasn't caught up yet.”

“Ah—” Seeing Honghu stop in front, Atobe immediately screamed and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, “Haa… I say… the net in the sky… haa… how did it suddenly become visible?”

“Probably the Boss activated some skill or something.” Feng Bujue replied, his breathing was still relatively steady at the moment.

“I hope Uncle Waste Chai is okay.” Tianma Xingkong continued.

“Judging from the team bar…” Feng Bujue replied while opening the game menu to glance at it, “Hmm… he's still alive.”

“It's okay, Brother Chai is still very reliable.” Honghu continued, “With his ability, he should be able to retreat unscathed, no…”

Honghu's words were suddenly interrupted halfway. His whole body froze in place, as if he had been frozen, and his throat also made "ka—gu—" sounds, his expression becoming extremely terrified.

“What's wrong with you?” Feng Bujue immediately stared at the other party vigilantly and used the corner of his eye to scan the surroundings.

At this moment, Jue-ge's first reaction was—Honghu had been hit by some kind of stasis attack, causing him to be unable to move.

Unexpectedly, almost in the same second…

“Ka—ah—” Atobe, who was sitting on the ground, and Tianma Xingkong, who was supporting his knees with both hands, also showed similar reactions.

“What's going on now…” Feng Bujue muttered. Although he really wanted to do something, it was not advisable to act rashly before he figured out the situation.

After a brief silence, a bizarre scene appeared…

Honghu, Atobe, and Tianma Xingkong all stood up straight, their hands and feet moving stiffly like machines.

Like three funny toy soldiers, they all straightened their limbs and swung their arms and legs in the same way, beginning to walk forward…

“Controlled by something…” Looking at his teammates' actions, Feng Bujue quickly deduced the situation, “Then… the problem is the principle of control…”

While he was thinking, the three had already turned to the rear and were heading back to the place they had finally escaped from.

“Is it mental manipulation or physical interference…” Feng Bujue could only think of countermeasures while following behind them back the way they came, “Hmm… Judging from their unnatural movements, it seems that physical interference is more likely.” He rubbed his chin and muttered, “But if it's physical interference, why am I okay?” He scanned all directions, up, down, left, right, front, and back, “I was just with them, and I didn't notice any signs of an enemy attack… There's no reason why only I was spared.”

“Ka—ge—” At this time, Honghu struggled to make two more strange groans from his throat, as if trying to remind Jue-ge of something.

“Save your breath, I don't understand.” Feng Bujue replied unappreciatively.

“Gegge—gu—” Atobe and Little Ma-ge also said a few words in unclear voices at this moment.

“Same goes for you two.” Feng Bujue continued, “Save some energy, your zombie-like way of expressing yourselves will only distract me.”

But the three still didn't stop, trying their best to say something.

“Eh? That's right!” Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Jue-ge's mind, “You're not trying to tell me some specific content, because you know you can't speak, you're trying to remind me…”

After figuring this out, Jue-ge's thoughts instantly became clear. He looked at Honghu's back and said, “So the problem lies in… the phrase 'only I was spared'?”

Honghu immediately responded with a few kaka-gege sounds.

“Okay… let me think.” Feng Bujue replied, then thought to himself: Only I was spared… Only I…

Only three seconds later, he came to a conclusion.

“I see…” Jue-ge immediately stopped being vigilant about his surroundings, walked forward, and muttered to himself, “No one attacked us just now…” He paused, “The attack was completed long ago, when you were stuck on the net.”

Speaking of this, Feng Bujue had already walked to Atobe's side: “Where is it…” He squinted his eyes, looking Atobe up and down, carefully searching for something.

“Found it!” After about half a minute, Jue-ge's eyes lit up.

On the back of Atobe's head, there was actually a strand of extremely thin, extremely difficult to detect pinkish-white silkworm silk. One end of the silkworm silk was hidden inside Atobe's hair, deeply penetrating into his brainstem; and the other end… extended all the way into the sky.

“You really can't let your guard down at all…” Feng Bujue said while taking out the [Must Break Defense Blade], “This strand of silk must be different from the other silk threads on the net, so it has never fallen off and has been well hidden here.”

Ding—

When Jue-ge's kitchen knife chopped on that strand of silk, it made a sound as if a rubber band had snapped.

In the next second, Atobe fell forward and knelt on the ground. He seemed to be exhausted, breathing heavily, his face covered in sweat.

“Haa… haa… that scared me to death…” Atobe said while panting, “That was terrifying!”

Feng Bujue ignored him and continued forward, doing the same thing, and quickly found and cut the silkworm silk behind the other two's heads. This time… he had completely rescued his teammates from the silk net.

“If you had acted ten seconds later, my Stamina Value might have reached zero…” Tianma Xingkong said with lingering fear after being rescued,

Honghu sighed and said, “Alas… even if we clear this time, my Fear Value rating will definitely be the worst.”

“What?” Feng Bujue continued, “When you were being controlled, did you see some terrifying images?”

“It's hard to describe.” Honghu replied.

His answer… was very appropriate.

In the less than two minutes just now, Honghu and the others experienced a very terrifying experience. At that time… the three of them could not control their bodies, and they could not make a sound in their throats, but their five senses were still present, and they became countless times more sensitive than usual… They heard the most subtle sounds inside their "bodies," such as the beating of their hearts, the peristalsis of their intestines and stomachs, the flow of blood, and the contraction of their lungs. They saw all the details in the distant scenery, such as the cracks on the crystals, the fungi on the surface of objects, and the fibers on the silk net. They also smelled some unforgettable odors, such as the smell of their own nasal cavities…

“Well, anyway… you three rest here for a while, I'll go ahead.” Feng Bujue replied and turned to leave.

“Huh? Where are you going?” Tianma Xingkong asked suspiciously.

“Is there even a need to ask…” Feng Bujue replied with a serious expression, “Don't forget…” He pointed to the back of his head with his finger, “Uncle Waste Chai's situation is the same as yours.”