Chapter 1149: Witch of Dreams
The huge reception hall was truly gigantic, almost the size of a small world. Within the hall were all sorts of aliens.
What came as the greatest shock to Zhang Lie and the others was that every alien present was at least on the level of a superior king, and several of them were as strong as the king of keys. Some among them had even seemed to reach the level of Silver. It was little wonder that, despite how annoying Ghroth was as an opponent, he only ranked third among this hall of seasoned veterans.
The king of chaos was truly the strongest king of the third realm.
The members of Team Zenith had once believed that Zhang Lie could kick aside the king of chaos and rule over the three thousand worlds. To them, their captain had always seemed invincible, but against such an overwhelming formation, even the members of Team Zenith were starting to doubt themselves.
How would they knock aside all these superior kings?
Strong as the members of Team Zenith were, it was difficult enough for them to deal with a single superior king, but there were dozens of such powerful entities gathered in this hall.
"Are you all from the same race?" Tulzscha asked curiously.
"They are," said a female who walked over. Her body was graceful and svelte, if a bit on the thinner side. Her beautiful face was shaped like a goose egg, with a short, straight nose and severe lips. Her beauty, however, overwhelmed all her physical characteristics. She radiated an irresistible charm, like a figure out of dream or fantasy.
The members of Team Zenith, male and female alike, were struck by the female's charm. The next moment, however, they shuddered as one.
The female continued, "I ate one before."
Everyone belatedly recalled that this was the king of chaos' reception hall. How could there be any human hunters within this hall but them? Like Nightdemon, the female's appearance had to be an illusion.
The female, seemingly having thought of something, suddenly continued, "I apologize, you must be upset at hearing my words. I met one of your kind by chance. He seemed interesting—I learned that your race is capable of growing stronger by absorbing beasts you hunt."
"Is that so? No wonder you've gained our leader's favor." The speaker was a roughly human-shaped figure with a cloak draped around him, with black tentacles and a bat's wings. Within the cloak, countless nightmares flapped their wings and flew around.
Despite the many guests present, the speaker had to be among one of the more interesting.
The aliens all around were idly chatting in groups of twos and threes. Only the speaker was standing alone by the shadowy recesses of a corner of the hall, as though that was where he belonged.
A polished black tumor seemed to bulge out of his stony shoulders. His two eyes had been frozen in unnatural and strange positions on his face: one closer to the top, the other to the bottom, and the mouth in between. The eye near the bottom was green and shone with a jade-like light; the other sparked with blood. Despite the unusual nature of these eyes, they looked bizarrely realistic.
Beneath the cloak, a number of nightmares folded their wings and grabbed tightly onto a body invisible to the naked eye. The twin eyes, flashing green and red, seemed to pierce through time and space. Its humongous body stood out even among a hall of esoteric beings.
Zhang Lie spread his arms. "I don't think it's particularly interesting. There are plenty of aliens around that can devour other beings to grow stronger—the king of evil among them, for example. Even beasts can devour each other for strength, and we humans represent only a minuscule portion of power among the three thousand worlds."
The female made a charming pose. "In the end, the human I saw treated me like a beast and attacked me, so I killed it and ate it. To my surprise, I found that your race isn't simply devouring these beasts. Despite being foreigners, you have some sort of unusual link to this realm. These beasts are able to transfer some curious items known as 'genes' to you. It's very interesting."
The members of Team Zenith were astounded to hear genes being mentioned.
The stronger entities of the third realm were cognizant of the ability to grow stronger by devouring beasts. All hunters of the Milky Way had this ability, and it wasn't something they could hide. The term 'gene', however, was different.
No alien to date had been able to understand this terminology, and none understood what it represented—but here was one exception.
Nightdemon explained, "This is the witch of dreams. By devouring lifeforms, she can transform into members of that race and possess even their unique racial characteristics."
Zhang Lie frowned. "Are you just aware of genes, or can you even obtain them?"
The witch of dreams smiled. "Not just that. I've even been to your world—the Milky Way galaxy, was it?"
The members of Team Zenith were shocked beyond belief. "You've been to the Milky Way?"
The witch of dreams shrugged. "Not as a human, of course, but as a member of another Milky Way race. I even lived in the Milky Way for some time, but there were some strong hunters around in your world, ones not too much weaker than our leader. As a result, I had to be careful, and it's only natural that you wouldn't be aware of this."
Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith were in turmoil.
They had all thought the Milky Way extremely safe and secure, that no alien could travel in the other direction between realms—but they were clearly, dearly mistaken.
The witch of dreams continued, "But after I remained in the Milky Way for a while, I stopped wanting to go there any longer. The time dilation was ridiculous."
After all, time passed 40 times faster in the third realm than in the Milky Way. Nine days in the Milky Way was a whole year in the third realm.
Yang Ze suddenly thought of a problem. "You said you transformed? It wasn't an illusion?"
The witch of dreams nodded. "That is so. It's not simply an illusion you're seeing—I'm physically the same race as you are with the exact same features, although I can't reproduce."
"You don't have reproductive organs?" Yang Ze asked boldly.
"You can't reproduce?" Fang Yi asked.
Reproductive isolation?
The witch of dreams licked her lips, then smiled charmingly. "I do have such organs, but all my children are malformed. Would you like to give it a try?"
Zhang Lie suggested, "You might be able to transform into a member of our race, possessing the same abilities, but you have to differ on a genetic level. The dominant genes are just fine, but the recessive genes are likely problematic. The reason your children are malformed is possibly due to those genes—it's the same issue with incest."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l