82: Chapter 82 The Headless Statue

Just as Commander Ji Yunlan finished speaking, Lu Cheng's back tensed up abruptly.

Almost as a reflex, he turned his head to look back in the direction of the stone steps they had come from.

That one glance made his heart sink.

The path behind them was gone.

The blue stone steps that originally extended upwards, the archway, and the corridor had all vanished completely, leaving only an expanse of wilderness.

The entire Abandoned City was so quiet that it made one feel empty; it was so silent that even the sound of breathing seemed jarring.

Commander Ji Yunlan also saw the change behind them, and her expression cooled slightly.

She did not panic, and her gaze fell directly upon the other two scouts in the team.

"What is the situation?"

The bespectacled young man pushed up his glasses, closed his eyes to perceive for a few seconds, his expression growing increasingly ugly, and finally shook his head.

The short-haired female scout raised her hand to press the sensor on the side of her ear, paused for a moment, and also shook her head.

Lu Cheng was also silent for two seconds.

He looked up and said, "Good fortune and bad luck are both within the city; it is hard to determine the specific situation without going inside."

Commander Ji Yunlan glanced at him and nodded.

"Protect the scouts, move into the city."

Once the order was given, the team moved immediately.

Ten soldiers of the Source Gathering Realm quickly divided into three sections: vanguard, middle, and rearguard, shielding the three scouts in the center.

Officer Zhao Yue walked at the very front, while Commander Ji Yunlan stayed toward the rear flank, guarding against sudden situations.

Lu Cheng followed the team into the street, and soon, faint, crisp friction sounds came from underfoot.

The ground was not paved with the cement bricks common on Blue Star, nor with ordinary stone slabs, but with a grey-black composite material that, when cracked, revealed fine metal patterns inside.

Scattered on both sides of the road were many strange signs, shaped a bit like billboards, with dull materials and severely rusted edges.

Originally, there should have been characters engraved on them.

But those characters had mostly worn away, leaving only intermittent traces, along with some strange symbols that were completely incomprehensible—curved, sharp, and layered—which did not match any common writing on Blue Star.

The bespectacled young man looked at them for a moment and couldn't help but whisper, "Is this place... really a city where people lived?"

A soldier nearby replied, "Judging by the building structure, it is."

"But these characters..."

"Do not get distracted." Commander Ji Yunlan said indifferently.

She took a few steps forward, her gaze sweeping over the collapsed metal plates by the street, and after glancing at the confused expressions on the faces of the three scouts, she remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"Since you will all know eventually, I might as well tell you in advance."

The group did not stop walking, but their attention was drawn by her words.

Commander Ji Yunlan's voice was not loud, but it was very clear in this dead-silent district.

"These so-called ruins are mostly not products of Blue Star; they were born after other spaces died and merged with Blue Star's space. No one knows what kind of world lies inside the ruins."

She raised her hand to point at the surrounding broken high-rises and strange road signs.

"Some ruins maintain the appearance of their original worlds, some have been distorted beyond recognition, and others are mixed with various rules."

"The city you see now very likely belongs to a space that has already been destroyed."

Someone in the team's breathing hitched.

The short-haired female scout frowned and said, "A space dies... and it can still merge with Blue Star?"

"It can." Commander Ji Yunlan nodded. "This is also the reason why ruins appear on Blue Star out of thin air. They never just pop up suddenly; they were simply not within our observation range originally. Once the fusion deepens, the entrance becomes visible."

Lu Cheng listened to these words, his eyes flickering slightly.

So was the man he saw in his dreams an alien?

The team continued forward.

The street was very wide, with abandoned vehicles stuck haphazardly on the side of the road, many of their shells already rotting and cracking.

Some of the buildings on both sides were relatively well-preserved, while others had collapsed halfway, their interiors pitch-black like open mouths.

After walking about two hundred meters, the bespectacled young man suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

He quickly crouched down, placed the detection instrument box from his back onto the ground, and several small probes popped out, extending toward a tilted building in front.

The indicator light on the instrument flashed a few times.

The young man's expression changed.

"There is a faint life signal inside the building."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire team tensed up instantly.

Officer Zhao Yue looked up at the building. The surface of the building was covered in cracks, most of its exterior glass was shattered, and the interior was dim. The dozen-story structure was tilted and pressing against the street corner, feeling as if it could continue to collapse at any moment.

Commander Ji Yunlan raised her hand to signal.

"Vanguard, prepare to search the first and second floors first. Scouts..."

Before she could finish speaking, Lu Cheng's expression changed abruptly.

Bad luck!

This time it was sharper than any previous time, stimulating his temples until they throbbed.

"Retreat!"

Lu Cheng's voice raised sharply; he practically roared it out.

"Everyone retreat! Fast!"

The people in the team were shaken by his shout.

Commander Ji Yunlan reacted the fastest, not even asking for the reason, and directly shouted, "Retreat!"

A dozen or so people retreated violently in an instant.

The military training was perfectly demonstrated at this moment; everyone moved almost simultaneously, the formation tightening as they retreated.

Lu Cheng also retreated, his Wandering Step activated, his figure so fast it left a trail of afterimages.

The next second.

The entire building suddenly shook.

Immediately after, an extremely bizarre scene appeared.

The inside of the building seemed to have been forcibly "replayed" by some invisible power.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The long-shattered glass exploded at the same time, the fragments flying outward.

The interior walls crumbled layer by layer, steel bars twisted out of the concrete, and a group of blurry figures even appeared in the depths of the hallway.

Those figures were grey and hazy, their outlines distorted, yet their movements were terrifyingly clear.

Some were running wildly.

Some were turning back and screaming.

Some fell at the stairwell, knocked over by the people behind them.

Others were pounding desperately on a door, as if calling for help.

The entire building, in a brief instant, seemed to re-experience the scene of the disaster when it first broke out.

Those were not living people at all.

That was some kind of "past" that had been left behind.

The next second, those fleeing figures dissipated all at once, turning into a layer of grey ripples that expanded violently from inside the building!

Hum!

The grey shockwave swept across the street, moving at an astonishing speed.

"Spread out!"

Officer Zhao Yue shouted, his Source Power exploding outwards as he stood at the very front.

Most people dodged it.

But one Source Gathering Realm soldier in the team was half a beat too slow. Just as he moved sideways, the outer side of his right arm was grazed by that layer of grey ripples.

It was just a graze.

The soldier groaned, his footsteps staggering, and his face instantly turned pale.

Once the grey shockwave passed and the street returned to dead silence, everyone could clearly see the change in his arm.

The arm that had been grazed had noticeably weaker blood energy fluctuations.

The cuff of his combat uniform had torn open, and the skin revealed underneath had changed color—grey, withered, with fine wrinkles quickly rising on the surface, the flesh loosening instantly, making it almost indistinguishable from an old man's arm.

The expressions of the soldiers nearby changed.

"Old Zhang!"

"Don't touch him, check him first!"

The soldier himself also looked down at his arm, a clear flash of shock in his eyes.

Only that area had a problem.

From the shoulder to the wrist, the skin on the outer side was shriveled and dry, the blood color had faded severely, and the veins on the back of his hand were even more prominent.

But the other parts remained normal.

He gritted his teeth and moved his fingers.

"I can move it."

Commander Ji Yunlan had already walked over quickly, her gaze landing on that arm.

"Do you have any other feelings?"

The soldier took a deep breath, closed his eyes to feel for two seconds, and a layer of sweat quickly seeped out on his forehead.

"The blood energy circulation in my body is a bit slower, and the absorption of Source Power is also slower. Other than that, I have no other feelings."

Officer Zhao Yue stood to the side, his hand gripping his blade tightening slightly.

This thing is too wicked.

Commander Ji Yunlan slowly stood up, her gaze returning to the building that had returned to silence, her brows knitting together bit by bit.

These ruins were far more bizarre than she had originally estimated.

She was silent for a few seconds before finally speaking, her voice very low, yet it made everyone around her heart sink.

"Power of Time...?"

Commander Ji Yunlan gave her own speculation...

Officer Zhao Yue looked up at the building ahead that had returned to dead silence, his expression very tight, his voice also sinking.

"Commander Ji, if this place can even manifest remnants of time on a large scale, then the danger level of this place probably needs to be re-evaluated."

Commander Ji Yunlan didn't answer immediately.

She stood in the middle of the street, her gaze sweeping from that building to the broken district under the grey fog in the distance, and then sweeping toward the plaza further away.

After a moment, she slowly let out a breath.

"If that is really the case, the ruins here have far exceeded the range that our exploration team can explore normally."

Once these words were spoken, the eyes of several soldiers sank.

The short-haired female scout whispered, "Then what should we do now? Find a way to contact the outside first?"

"We need to find a way to contact the outside, and we also need to find the core," Commander Ji Yunlan said. "The retreat route has been sealed off; staying in place will only be more dangerous."

Lu Cheng stood in the crowd; from just a moment ago, Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck had been giving him the same 'seek good fortune' prompt: approach the plaza.

Commander Ji Yunlan soon noticed his expression.

She turned to look at Lu Cheng and asked directly, "What have you discovered?"

The few people around also looked over.

Lu Cheng did not beat around the bush and raised his hand to point toward the distant plaza.

"Go to the plaza; my talent perceives that there is something there."

Officer Zhao Yue frowned, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Lu Cheng nodded. "From just a moment ago, it has been pointing in that direction."

Commander Ji Yunlan stared at Lu Cheng for two seconds.

She had already had several personal experiences with Lu Cheng's talent; this kid's perception was extremely wicked.

"Change the route." She made a prompt decision. "The whole team advances toward the plaza, tighten the formation, and don't touch the buildings on either side."

"Yes!"

Once the order was given, the team immediately reorganized.

Lu Cheng was placed in a slightly forward position; after all, the whole team had to follow his perception now.

The group advanced along the main street toward the plaza.

The further they walked, the taller the surrounding buildings became, the wider the street became, and the more scattered metal fragments were on the ground.

Many building surfaces had black scorch marks, and in some places, one could even see large traces of melted and re-solidified material.

As Lu Cheng walked, he stared ahead, and the guidance from Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck became clearer and clearer.

A few minutes later, the group was about to approach the edge of the plaza.

It was also at this moment that a sudden change occurred: a layer of grey-white fog rolled out from the end of the street, swallowing half the street in the blink of an eye.

"Stop!"

Officer Zhao Yue shouted, his combat blade held horizontally.

The team stopped in their tracks instantly.

But the fog didn't give them any time to react; it swallowed everyone up with almost one roll.

Their field of vision dropped extremely low instantly.

Things beyond three meters started to become blurry.

Lu Cheng's heart sank abruptly, and the next second, the ground beneath his feet actually shook gently.

Click... click-click...

A tooth-aching sound of friction came from all around.

Lu Cheng looked up, and his expression changed on the spot.

The surrounding Abandoned City began to deform.

The building on the street that was originally broken into two sections had its exterior walls slowly twisting, as if something was forcibly moving its structure from the inside.

The elevated tracks in the distance were also shifting, the steel twisting and emitting low, muffled sounds. Even the cracks on the ground were rearranging, spreading in another direction.

The entire dead city seemed to have come alive.

"Damn..."

Lu Cheng frowned slightly, and the scene he encountered in the Abandoned City outside a few days ago flashed through his mind instantly.

This situation was almost exactly the same as that time.

"Don't move around! Close in on the spot!" Commander Ji Yunlan's voice came from the fog, cold and tight.

"Report positions!"

"Vanguard team is here!"

"Middle section is here!"

"Rearguard is here!"

Responses rang out one after another quickly.

Fortunately, the team was well-trained; even though their vision was severely suppressed, everyone quickly re-formed the formation by listening to voices.

Lu Cheng stood in the middle, his ears filled with the sound of churning fog and moving buildings, and the sense of vigilance in his heart had reached its peak.

A few minutes later, those friction sounds finally stopped slowly.

Their vision was restricted; even Commander Ji Yunlan could only see a distance of fifteen meters.

The bespectacled young man immediately closed his eyes to perceive, and a few seconds later, he opened his eyes, his face pale.

"I cannot detect the situation inside."

The short-haired female scout also quickly raised her hand to press the side of her ear, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.

Commander Ji Yunlan also released her perception, and the next moment, her eyes sank directly.

Her perception had also failed, which meant that they were now almost blind in this deformable ruin city.

Commander Ji Yunlan tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade, her gaze sweeping quickly around.

Just at this moment, Lu Cheng suddenly spoke.

"Follow me."

Everyone looked at him simultaneously.

His Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck was still working, able to determine the direction... at least there would be no danger.

The plaza was right in front.

To be precise, the new path after the deformation still led to the center of the plaza.

Commander Ji Yunlan did not hesitate and nodded directly.

"The whole team follow Lu Cheng, maintain formation."

"Yes!"

Lu Cheng walked in front, his pace not fast, but he didn't make a single wrong step.

Turn left, pass through a section of a collapsed street intersection.

Then bypass a huge metal wreckage half-buried in the ground.

Then continue forward along a narrow passage squeezed out by high-rises on both sides.

Officer Zhao Yue looked up to observe the surroundings several times, and the more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

The path Lu Cheng led them on sometimes looked like a dead end, but every time they turned, a passage would reveal itself again ahead.

A few minutes later, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

They finally walked into the plaza.

This place was even larger than it looked from afar, with large patches of broken stone bricks paved on the ground, and broken stone pillars standing all around, many of the pillar bodies already cracked and fallen at the edges.

The periphery of the plaza was also scattered with a large number of broken metal components and black devices of unknown use, like some kind of sacrificial site and modern city ruins forcibly pieced together.

And in the very center of the plaza stood a huge statue.

The statue had no head.

The break at the neck was jagged, as if it had been forcibly broken by some immense force. The remaining half of the body was still tall, draped in tattered robes, one hand hanging by its side, the other slightly raised, palm facing forward.

As soon as the group stepped into the plaza area.

That headless statue suddenly lit up.

First, a faint white light emerged from the break at the neck.

Immediately after, the originally dormant patterns on the surface of the entire statue lit up one by one, the light spreading rapidly along the stone body, from the chest, arms, and robe hem all the way to the base under its feet.

Hum...!

A low, deep vibration rang out in the center of the plaza.

Everyone stopped in their tracks at the same time.

Several soldiers raised their guns instantly, and Officer Zhao Yue stepped forward, his Source Power surging as he pointed his blade directly at the statue.

Commander Ji Yunlan looked at the statue, her expression changing bit by bit.

She seemed to recognize something, and for the first time, there was a very obvious shock in her eyes.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath, and her voice lowered slightly.

"This is... a statue of a god...?"