183: Section 183

"So... like the humanoid weapon, I am his clone!"

"Yes."

Having learned the truth, Mark fell into silence.

Morgan was also shocked upon learning the truth. "No wonder when we performed a genetic check on Mark back then, we found his genetic similarity was only 94.6%. This level of genetic deviation means he isn't human at all!"

"Genetically speaking, he indeed isn't human!"

"Then how is he to defeat the mana ecology?" Morgan had raised Mark until today, it could be said, specifically to have him combat the ecology.

"There is a place that only he can go! Only by entering it can we understand the ecology's purpose and the methods to combat it!" Master Lai spoke briefly, without disclosing everything.

The details within only needed to be known by Mark alone.

However, Mark was currently in a state of shock and had not yet recovered.

Bai Yuekui looked at Master Lai and said, "Let him have a moment!"

Jing Yuan was just about to step forward and ask for details when Bai Yuekui's communicator suddenly rang.

"Boss, something's happened!"

Wine Song's voice came through the communicator.

"What is it?"

"The shielding zone is surrounded by Phage Beasts!"

"Which shielding zone?"

"Not just one area. With the village at the center, the entire periphery of the Purification Zone has been surrounded by Phage Beasts!"

"How could this happen?" Bai Yuekui frowned; when Wine Song reported earlier, there were only a large number of Phage Beasts outside District C3.

"We don't know either! Just a moment ago, there were only Phage Beasts outside District C3, but not long after, Phage Beasts appeared outside other areas as well! There are even Phage Beast signals over by the mountains!"

Bai Yuekui looked at Master Lai with a confused expression, but he closed his eyes, sensing the aura of the surrounding Phage Beasts.

After a moment, Master Lai opened his eyes and said, "That's right! Phage Beasts have already surrounded the area around Dragon Bone Village!"

Chapter 185: Phage Beasts Surround Dragon Bone Village

Jing Yuan was very confused upon hearing their conversation.

Bai Yuekui prepared to leave, and Jing Yuan caught up to ask, "What's the situation?"

Bai Yuekui shook her head. "I'm not sure either, let's go see first!"

"Have you ever encountered a Phage Beast encirclement before?"

"No!"

Since the Lighthouse and Dragon Bone Village are now collaborating and will live in this area in the future, Jing Yuan naturally had to check the situation when something like this happened.

"I'll go with you!"

Bai Yuekui glanced at Jing Yuan, thought for a moment, and then said, "Alright!"

Bai Yuekui herself cannot utilize Source Essence Potential; with Jing Yuan following, he could fight if they encountered a situation where they needed to deal with Phage Beasts.

Jing Yuan put away his weapon and followed Bai Yuekui and Master Lai out of the Lighthouse central hub.

Bai Yuekui directly controlled her swift spaceship to reach the upper levels of the Lighthouse.

She found an open spot and leapt into the spaceship.

Master Lai and Jing Yuan followed closely behind.

After entering the spaceship, Bai Yuekui immediately piloted it toward the edge of the shielding zone.

Having set the course, Bai Yuekui looked at Master Lai and asked, "Master Lai, you said before that you came for those Phage Beasts. Do you know why they are surrounding the shielding zone?"

Master Lai shook his head. "I only sensed a large number of Phage Beasts closing in on you and was worried something had happened, so I rushed over to check!"

After Master Lai finished speaking, he looked at Jing Yuan again. "I just didn't expect to happen upon the incident on the Lighthouse here."

Earlier, Jing Yuan had seen a large number of Phage Beasts gathered outside the shielding zone at District C3.

At that time, he was focused on dealing with Charles and didn't notice the problem.

He just hadn't expected that in a short while, the Phage Beasts would actually surround the entire shielding zone.

Jing Yuan speculated, "Since so many Phage Beasts have appeared, could it be that there's something they want inside the shielding zone?"

Bai Yuekui said, "What Phage Beasts want most is life source essence."

Jing Yuan asked with a face full of doubt, "Could it be the Lighthouse? The Lighthouse has a large population, and most people do not know how to perform Returning to Origin, plus it's currently in a low-altitude hovering state..."

"It's possible!"

Master Lai, however, said, "The distance from the Lighthouse to the edge of the shielding zone is still quite far; the Phage Beasts shouldn't be able to sense their presence. I speculate it must be for other reasons."

The swift spaceship soon arrived at the edge of the shielding zone; looking out from here, it was actually densely packed with Phage Beasts.

However, these Phage Beasts were all beyond a certain line.

Inside the line was empty, while outside the line, Phage Beasts were swarming.

Bai Yuekui looked at Master Lai again. "Master Lai, can you use your ability to read some information?"

Master Lai nodded.

A faint blue light erupted from his eyes; after a moment, he slowly said, "It seems the ecology is commanding them!"

"The ecology?"

"Perhaps you did something that made the ecology notice you! These Phage Beasts seem to have come to investigate the anomaly in this area."

Bai Yuekui murmured, "Could the ecology have discovered that we are using a primal body to construct the shielding zone?"

"If that's the case, it's dangerous!" Master Lai explained, "The shielding system utilizes the primal body's ecological niche to keep other lower-order Phage Beasts from approaching. However, the ecological niche itself is granted by the ecology. Once the ecology discovers an anomaly, it can completely revoke the primal body's ecological niche, at which point the shielding system will lose its effect!"

Jing Yuan looked at Master Lai. "What would happen if the shielding system loses its effect?"

"The shielding system has briefly failed before, and Phage Beasts entered the Dragon Bone Village area. However, the village is located within the mountain; as long as everyone collectively maintains a state of Returning to Origin, we can hold out until the shielding system is restored!" It was Bai Yuekui who spoke instead of Master Lai, her face now showing unprecedented worry. "But if it's truly as Master Lai says and the ecology revokes the primal body's ecological niche, we will have nowhere left to go!"

Jing Yuan understood that without this shielding system, people could only hold out by relying on Returning to Origin, but how long could they last? If even one person broke their Returning to Origin, it would be a devastating disaster for the entire collective.

"The top priority is to find out the reason the ecology is paying attention to this place..."

Before Master Lai could finish his sentence, a Phage Beast on the ground was suddenly 'pushed' into the shielding zone.

Beyond the boundary of the shielding zone, the densely packed Phage Beasts were crowding against each other, yet they did not dare enter the shielding zone's range.

However, when one of the Phage Beasts accidentally entered the shielding zone, it discovered that nothing happened even though it was inside.

Thus, this Phage Beast began to actively explore the interior of the shielding zone.

Seeing this scene, Jing Yuan couldn't sit still; he looked at Bai Yuekui and asked, "Should we take care of this Phage Beast?"

Bai Yuekui shook her head. "Let's wait and see; a single Phage Beast is no threat!"

They continued to observe the ground situation from the spaceship, but following the first Phage Beast's 'accidental' entry into the shielding zone, a second one soon appeared.

When the Phage Beasts discovered that nothing happened after entering the shielding zone, a third and a fourth appeared.

As more and more Phage Beasts broke into the shielding zone, everyone's expression changed!

Seeing this, Master Lai turned to Bai Yuekui and said, "Girl, open the hatch and let me out!"

Bai Yuekui nodded and pressed a button on the dashboard to open the hatch.

Master Lai flew straight out.

Jing Yuan controlled his war blade to hover by his feet, also preparing to go out.

"Don't move yet!" Bai Yuekui blocked Jing Yuan.

Master Lai flew near the swarm of Phage Beasts and released a strange ripple.

The Phage Beasts that had broken into the shielding zone sensed this ripple and were all stunned.

Some Phage Beasts turned and fled, while others simply lay prone on the spot.

Jing Yuan saw this from the spaceship and asked in confusion, "What is Master Lai doing?"

"Using his ecological niche to drive away the Phage Beasts!" Bai Yuekui's brow remained furrowed because she could see that the Phage Beasts did not flee immediately, indicating they were questioning Master Lai's identity.

"Girl!" Master Lai's voice appeared directly in the minds of both Bai Yuekui and Jing Yuan. "These Phage Beasts are under the direct control of the ecology; I cannot drive them away!"

In the mana ecology's system, there is a strict ecological niche; this rigid hierarchy ensures that lower-order Phage Beasts cannot defy the will of higher-order Phage Beasts.

However, in this system, the status of the mana ecology is the highest; no one is higher than the ecology itself.

Caught between the ecology's commands and the pressure from a higher-order Phage Beast, the lower-order Phage Beasts can only obey the ecology's commands.

"What should we do now?" Jing Yuan looked at Bai Yuekui.

"We can only evacuate!"

"Evacuate to where? Do you have a contingency plan for this situation?"

Bai Yuekui nodded. "There is an underground shelter beneath Dragon Bone Village! It's just that I don't know how long we can hold out!"

Jing Yuan realized that when these Phage Beasts rushed into the village, it was bound to be a bloody battle!