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Chapter 409: Chapter 409: What Makes a Nemesis

The bullets from a handgun clearly wouldn’t have had such an effect; it was as if the three had been hit by high-explosive rounds fired from a large-caliber sniper rifle. Chen Xuan guessed this was the effect of Reid’s ability, deliberately avoiding vital spots to capture them alive.

Compared to the earlier truth game, he didn’t say a word when he fired, and he only touched Flying Star and the Samurai, yet three people were hit, indicating this curse ability wasn’t just for a single use.

However, Chen Xuan had already anticipated the gap in power between the two sides and wasn’t surprised by the outcome at all.

Most of his attention was still focused on the person who had yet to make a move.

"You’re the only one left; do you want to surrender?" Abigail asked.

"No wonder the mechanism chose elite agents like you," the young man said gravely. "You’re so strong, yet you willingly serve a group of incompetent parasites. Why? Can’t you see they’re corrupting this world?"

"Don’t... don’t waste your breath on her. She won’t wake up..." His comrade, gripping a bleeding wound, said through gritted teeth.

"Meng, take our lives and help us avenge!"

"Yes, we would rather die than surrender!"

"The purpose of the Dimensional Limit Mechanism is precisely to deal with unruly bastards like you," Reid scoffed. "You think having abilities lets you do whatever you want; look at how many you’ve killed pursuing a fugitive!"

"Isn’t that exactly what the mechanism is doing?" The young man called Meng frowned. "We may have many differences, but we share the goal of seeking power, because only with sufficient power can we execute our ideals."

Reid was about to retort but was stopped by Abigail’s raised hand. "Did you come up with these ideas?"

"The leader taught me," Meng replied. "He said he understood the actions taken by the mechanism to control the world; what he couldn’t understand was why the mechanism’s ability users allow ordinary people to control, exploit, and persecute them. We’re clearly the chosen ones, meant to create our own world, not patch up this old one."

"So you think it’s right to flip it around? We should be controlling, exploiting, and persecuting ordinary people?"

"Exactly," he nodded. "Just like humans domesticate dogs... and not the other way around."

"Whew..." Abigail sighed deeply, "Although I agree there are many issues with the mechanism, it’s far more normal than the Evangelical Association."

"The leader was right; you’ve been domesticated. Without eliminating you, the new world won’t come," Meng reached out both hands, pointing at his companions, "Lend me your power!"

"Stop him!" Although Abigail didn’t know what he was planning, disrupting the enemy’s plan was never wrong.

"Oh, I see." Watching from the rear, Chen Xuan had a sudden realization. He saw the brighter points of light hadn’t disappeared but were leaving the bodies of the three, twisting with a peculiar rhythm. If viewed as individual entities, it’s indeed unbelievable, but what if all the points of light are seen as a whole?

A distributed spiritual qi form, light points existing in multiple parts of the body simultaneously... A life form with these traits is called a demon.

It’s not that they were never human from the start.

But he has indeed stepped into the realm of demons!

When Reid heard his superior’s order, he immediately fired repeatedly at the Evangelical Association ability user. However, warehouse workers who had been lying on the ground afraid to move, suddenly sprang up and rushed forward to shield Meng with their bodies. As they were shot and fell, black smoke spewed from their eyes and mouths.

"Damn bastards!" Reid changed clips while rushing towards the enemy, planning to close the distance to activate his ability.

But halfway through his run, his body froze in place, and black smoke billowed from his eyes.

"Not good."

Chen Xuan saw the spiritual qi point belonging to Reid waver; he hadn’t moved, but the point was trembling back and forth.

Abigail also made a move at this time.

With a single hand, she pulled back, making Reid fly backwards.

But the adjutant’s condition didn’t improve; he still seemed possessed, unable to move. This took Abigail by surprise, for Reid was already within her ability range, why hadn’t he recovered immediately?

"What did you do to him?" Her face rarely showed a hint of astonishment.

"I actually did nothing." Meng forced a smile, blood flowed from his nose and mouth, clearly the ability was causing him considerable burden. "I just gave you all a chance... to face yourselves..."

"Face ourselves?"

Before Abigail finished speaking, her body suddenly shook, and her emerald eyes quickly lost their luster; cloudy black smoke wafted from her eye sockets.

Chen Xuan sensed something filling the room!

It first affected Reid in the front, and now it engulfed Abigail. At this pace, the outer warehouse would be affected in seconds.

"Wait, there’s something wrong with Abigail!" Honglian finally realized something was wrong with her comrade. "We need to help her—"

Her voice abruptly ceased.

No... perhaps even faster. Watching the wooden expression of Honglian, Chen Xuan found he’d also lost control of his body.

Next came an endless darkness enveloping him.

He felt as if he were falling, and the abyss below had no end.

Maybe a long time passed, or perhaps just a fleeting moment, he landed on a flat surface. Above him was light, faint outlines of city buildings in the distance, but uniquely nothing in the spot where he stood, only a blank expanse.

This experience was like entering a high-fidelity game where the loading process failed, leading to incomplete display of object textures.

"Need display?"

Before him appeared a line of text.

Huh? Chen Xuan stared at this strangely familiar prompt, blankly, then blurted, "Dream Maker?"

"Detected non-autonomous dreamscape, taken over."

It really was the effect of the Dream Maker!

When he sets a dreamscape, if certain details need repeated adjustments, the ability communicates this with such text.

With this thought, Chen Xuan tentatively said, "Terminate dreamscape."

In the next instant, the empty world vanished, and he returned to the underground warehouse. Honglian still retained her sprinting posture, eyes billowing black smoke; further into the adjacent warehouse, Abigail and Reid remained standing motionless. Even Meng hadn’t left his spot, tightly clenched jaw, evidently struggling to maintain the ability’s effect.

The previous question suddenly had an answer.

He hadn’t "fallen" in darkness for long, or perhaps no more than two or three seconds. With a mere blink, he had awakened from the dream.

Most remarkably, he hadn’t brought the Dream Maker—this non-combat ability was still in storage, yet it still affected him.

Chen Xuan had no time to ponder why.

Using the Heart Method, he observed that Abigail and Reid’s spiritual qi trembled with increasing amplitude, showing signs of detaching from their bodies... it wouldn’t be long before they lost their original spiritual qi, becoming mere playthings for demon fiends.

He dashed out from his hiding spot, wielding a Qi Sword, charging at the enemy.

The moment the enemy saw him, he was utterly shocked, "Who are you?"

Chen Xuan said nothing, raising his hand to release the Celestial Thunder Order.

The Qi Sword immediately erupted with brilliant golden light.

Fortunately, his manager status was high enough to allow carrying conventional combat spells alongside "Decomposition and Re-Fusion" and "Celestial Thunder Order"—the latter specifically effective sect technique against demon fiends.

Like an arrow leaving the bowstring, the Qi Sword streaked, crackling with celestial thunder, straight into the enemy’s belly! The counteracting force instantly shredded the enemy’s spiritual qi circulation. Meng’s eyes widened, barely believing the sight: the spiritual qi that should have belonged to him extinguished one after another, like candles snuffed out by the wind.