Chapter 262 Monitoring Room

Inside the monitoring room, messages flashed rapidly across the central control screen.

After Gubu Fortress implemented a local network lockdown, Deep Sea forcefully took over the outer perimeter scheduling of the Umbrella Defense Line.

Every time a Sky Eye was destroyed, the next substitute image immediately appeared.

The "protagonist" of the images was always that desperately fleeing Homecoming Team, which could be swallowed by the storm at any moment.

One of the team members muttered with a complex expression, "This is the first time something like this has happened... Deep Sea seems to have gone crazy..."

The entire monitoring room staff no longer needed to do any work.

Deep Sea took over all the data here.

Zou Hai had never seen such a scene before.

The North Continent Fortress was highly dependent on Deep Sea, but because the front line was too long and the computing power was limited, on average, the assistance that Deep Sea could provide to each fortress was not that substantial...

Was it a specially approved permission from the upper levels?

Or?

No matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem reasonable, because the fortress was now in an isolated state of network blockade. To avoid the spread of mental toxins, Deep Sea shouldn't interfere with the local network's task instructions.

"Suggestion: Activate 'Umbrella Defense Line.'"

Such a message suddenly popped up on the central control screen.

Zou Hai was stunned.

In all these years, it was truly the first time he had seen Deep Sea make such a choice... First, it helped the Old World Fortress to lock onto the Homecoming explorer team from the outside, which was estimated to be at least thirty kilometers away, probably the limit of Sky Eye's detection range.

Without Deep Sea's reminder, this message would most likely have been missed.

As for giving the suggestion to open the Umbrella Defense Line's passage, in large-scale missions, Deep Sea only ever had the right to suggest, not to make decisions. This was the last privilege reserved by the Federal Government for humanity. No matter what the situation, only humans could make the final decision.

However, based on Zou Hai's understanding of Deep Sea's rules, after surveying this unprecedented storm, Deep Sea should have suggested immediately closing the giant wall and the defense line's passage.

Opening the defense line for twelve people could very likely lead to the premature intrusion of the Source Matter Tide!

This did not align with Deep Sea's basic principles!

Zou Hai's contemplation was interrupted by the sound of the communicator.

It was a call from the study.

Lin Lin's voice sounded somewhat tired, "The Umbrella Defense Line's images... Deep Sea has transmitted them to me. Open the passage and bring these people in."

But the tone of this sentence was very firm.

Deep Sea was really off the charts. Did it know that it couldn't make the decision itself?

Such a thought suddenly arose in Zou Hai's mind. He didn't dare to think about it in detail. He quickly regained his spirits and replied seriously to the communicator, "Yes, Brigadier General!"

…

…

The silver-white Great Domain desperately fled before the storm.

The source energy burning efficiency was 200%. If it weren't for the effect of the Ruler of Truth, these source armors would have already turned into burning meteors, transforming into charred black remains after displaying a moment of brilliance.

Gu Shen's expression was faintly pale.

Carrying eleven people was indeed a bit strenuous.

Most importantly... a 200% burning efficiency could only barely outrun the storm; it couldn't shake it off.

If they landed on the Umbrella Defense Line at almost the same time as the storm...

The Umbrella Defense Line would not be able to open the passage.

In one connection after another with Deep Sea, Gu Shen seemed to see a miracle... The distant giant umbrella emitted a low, rumbling vibration. Those "floating platforms" were "slowly" rotating.

"The passage... is open?"

Gu Shen knew that this was definitely not because he had stumbled upon good luck. It was highly likely that it was Chu Ling's guidance to the Gubu Fortress. In the absence of a connection, only she had the ability to quickly and accurately capture his figure.

To achieve this without any message prompts, there was only one possibility—

Constantly refreshing Sky Eye to capture every frame of the Umbrella Defense Line's images.

Taking a deep breath.

Gu Shen gritted his teeth.

For the final stretch, the storm behind him seemed to have become even more ferocious. The tiny bit of distance that the team had managed to create was now being closed again... He did his best to visualize, trying to use the breathing technique to temper his spirit, hoping to enhance the power of the Ruler of Truth in the final desperate moment!

Relying solely on the Spring Breathing, if it wasn't enough...

Then, he would add the second volume of breathing techniques!

Gu Shen tried to enter the extremely focused "onlooker state of mind." At this moment, his spirit was more concentrated than ever before, condensed into the Pure Land. The Susao Tree was radiant, scattering billions of branches and showers of light according to its master's will. The clouds that originally enveloped the spring rain gradually became hot, with lightning flashing.

Gu Shen eagerly wanted to push his spiritual power "a step further"!

He began to comprehend the Summer Breathing on the spot... However, it was too far off. How could a volume of breathing techniques be comprehended so easily? State of mind, opportunity, and accumulated time were far from enough.

But this comprehension at this moment had unexpected gains.

Gu Shen suddenly had a moment of恍惚 (huanghu – absent-mindedness).

Time seemed to have slowed down.

He didn't know that in the real world, the silver-white brilliance of the Ruler of Truth actually slowly swept out a line, intertwining with the Blazing Fire between his eyebrows, and finally merging to form a wisp of pale, snow-like flame.

That wisp of flame burned slowly, unhurriedly.

But that snow-white was not pure.

In the Domain of Truth, a wisp of ink-black spread.

This flame was the same.

Gu Shen immersed himself in the spiritual world... He found that his Pure Land was quieter than ever before, and even the figure of Tie Wu had disappeared.

Was this really his Pure Land?

Gu Shen looked around and found that many places in this world were blurred. Light and shadow intersected, mottled and falling. The entire sky seemed to have been cut into pieces by something, scattering large swaths of dazzling brilliance, while more places were shrouded in shadow.

The areas similar to the Pure Land were covered in brilliance.

Looking closely, Gu Shen found that these shadows seemed to follow a pattern.

Those iconic sacred objects in his Pure Land, such as the giant, towering Susao Tree, and some areas that had been carefully planted with source matter nectar, were all growing between the shadows. Although they had forms, they only had huge shadows left.

These things seemed to be growing in a virtual illusion.

["Hey..."]

Just as Gu Shen turned around, a hoarse voice sounded from behind.

He turned his head back.

Behind him was the boundless shadow cast by the towering Susao Tree. In the depths of the shadow, faintly visible, there sat an incomparably tall, jet-black throne.

The voice just now had come from within the shadows.

Gu Shen stood still. He frowned and looked towards the darkness. This should be "his" spiritual world. When had a second person appeared, and why was he completely unaware?

He tried hard to look through the darkness.

He couldn't see anything.

He could only see the tall outline of the throne... What was worth pondering was that the throne didn't bring any substantial pressure to Gu Shen. On the contrary, Gu Shen had the impulse to go up and sit on it.

This was terrifying.

Gu Shen immediately suppressed this thought, then extended two fingers and placed them on his brow, trying to summon his Blazing Fire.

In his spiritual world, the Golden箍 (gu - fillet, headband) would not restrict the appearance of the Blazing Fire.

However, this time...

The summoning of the Blazing Fire failed.

He stood in large patches of mottled light, gazing at the Darkness Throne not far opposite. After a brief silence, Gu Shen realized something.

This was not his "spiritual world."

It was just a world that was very similar to the "Pure Land."

And the reason for the existence of these shadows was because there was only one Pure Land. This world could only achieve similarity, but not the same. Those things that could not be replicated could only be replaced with shadows.

After realizing this, Gu Shen roughly guessed what this place was.

And who the guy sitting on the throne was.

Out of politeness, he took the lead in breaking the silence between the two.

"You are...?"

The hoarse voice in the darkness chuckled.

The owner of the throne said softly, "I am the master of this ruler."

Gu Shen did not reveal a surprised expression.

He stood in the light, calmly and indifferently staring at this throne. The moment the Blazing Fire failed, Gu Shen guessed that this was a deformed spiritual world under the influence of the Ruler of Truth.

The only person with a spiritual domain similar to his Pure Land was the previous Hades.

The reason for the existence of such a deformed spiritual domain was not difficult to guess... Hades had left a wisp of underworld fire in Jin Suihua's mind.

Then, there was probably also a wisp in this ruler.

The brief mutation that occurred in the ruler during the God War between the Great Metropolis Area and Dionysus was very likely due to the activation of the Underworld Fire.

And at this moment, the power of the Underworld Fire was once again displayed.

Gu Shen was pulled into an independent spiritual world.

"You've already guessed the answer to that question."

The man in the darkness continued, "Besides, in the current situation, who I am is not important... What's important is that you're about to die."

In the fragmented spiritual space.

Images of the real world were projected.

The flow of time became very slow.

But faintly visible, the silver-white Domain of Truth had begun to twist, and the Storm had caught up with this team... and was about to crush it from above the Domain of Truth.

"A storm of this scale... I'm afraid only a God Seat can survive it."

The man on the throne changed to a lazy sitting posture, speaking leisurely, his voice somewhat regretful, "With your current strength, the probability of survival is zero."

Gu Shen stared at him, "So?"

"So..."

A long pause.

Gu Shen felt the gaze in the darkness.

The owner of the throne smiled and asked gently, "My successor, would you like to make a deal? I can let you live."

…

…

(ps: Let me talk about the "dragging" issue. I rarely respond to such book reviews, but it is necessary to mention it here. The Outpost mission is the soul beginning of the third volume. The perspective here and each character's subsequent development are very important. I neither write filler nor do I stop updating. Knowing that the plot will inevitably slow down, I added two more updates and was still scolded for "dragging." What kind of reasoning is this? Those who see it here should be very clear that this book is a group portrait novel. Lin Lin and the generals and officials of the North Continent are all important characters in this volume. If you don't have patience, please save it up to read or look elsewhere. I won't change the writing rhythm.)