126: A purification ritual? That doesn't sound like a good thing!

It was pitch black inside the garbage truck.

Several 'companions' lay haphazardly stacked around him, all unconscious.

The truck body first shuddered, then was lifted whole into a larger vehicle.

"Vroom—"

The roar of the engine started, the vehicle moved, and began to jolt.

Lin Yuan kept his eyes closed, unmoving, but his consciousness had already spread out.

Electromagnetic Induction!

Left turn, onto Zhenxing Road.

Go straight for eight hundred meters, right turn, onto the elevated bridge.

Below the bridge was the river flowing through the city, and Electromagnetic Induction could 'see' the subway lines beneath the water, as well as the faint flow of Spiritual Qi in the deeper leylines.

The vehicle traveled for about an hour.

Suddenly, the vehicle stopped.

This was a large abandoned logistics transfer station.

Four or five other identical transport vehicles were parked around it.

The cargo compartment lid was opened.

Several people, also dressed in Cleaner uniforms, walked over and dragged the people out of the truck one by one, like moving cargo.

Then, they were redistributed.

Each 'unconscious person' was mixed up and put into different vehicles.

"Cautious enough."

Lin Yuan silently gave them a thumbs-up in his heart.

Even if the Dragon Shield Bureau discovered a problem at a certain point and tracked a vehicle, they would only find this transfer station.

And once here, the people would have already been dispersed and transported away, completely severing the clues.

Soon, Lin Yuan was thrown into another box truck.

This time, there were even more 'goods' in the car.

There were more than twenty of them.

The car started again, heading in a completely different direction than before.

This journey wasn't long, only about twenty minutes.

Finally, the truck drove into an underground parking lot and stopped.

The rear door opened.

Lin Yuan was dragged out again and thrown onto the concrete floor like a sack.

"Thud."

"Thud thud."

One 'cargo' after another was dropped beside him.

After finishing all this, the 'movers' left.

The entire space fell silent again.

"Uh..."

Not long after, a painful groan sounded beside him.

A young man rubbed his temples and struggled to sit up.

"I... Where am I?"

His voice was hoarse and confused.

"My head hurts so much..."

"What is this place?!"

"Kidnapped?!"

More and more people woke up.

They looked around in horror.

It was a vast space, like an air-raid shelter.

The walls were rough concrete, and overhead, only a few incandescent lamps emitted light.

Cries and screams mixed together.

Just then.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Footsteps came from the depths of the darkness.

A person wearing a black trench coat and a black mask walked out.

His appearance quickly silenced the previously noisy environment.

Everyone's gaze focused on him.

Fear deepened a few notches.

The masked man stopped and looked around.

"Welcome, everyone, to the New World."

"I know you are very scared and confused right now."

"You will ask, why me? I'm just an ordinary person, I just want to browse the internet and play games."

The masked man's words resonated with everyone's hearts.

"But have you ever thought that your so-called 'ordinariness' is a sin in itself?"

His voice suddenly rose!

"The world you live in is decaying! The old order is collapsing! You breathe polluted air, eat poisoned food, do meaningless work day after day, living and dying like ants!"

"And we, the Apocalypse Society, are here to give you 'new life'!"

The masked man spread his arms, like a preaching saint.

"Spiritual Qi is recovering! This is a great era! It is an opportunity for evolution! It is an 'Apocalypse' bestowed by the gods!"

"The weak will be eliminated. And you, being able to stand here, proves that your bodies contain the potential for evolution! You are the chosen ones!"

His voice was filled with the power to bewitch people.

The eyes of those young people, who were originally terrified, began to change.

From fear, to doubt, and then... longing.

Lin Yuan lay on the ground, his eyelids twitching slightly.

Good gracious.

Such eloquence, suchIncitement.

It would be a waste of talent not to engage in pyramid schemes.

He could feel a faint mental fluctuation in the air, influencing everyone present with the masked man's words.

It was some kind of psychic ability, or the auxiliary effect of a magic array.

"However, potential does not equal strength," the masked man's voice deepened again.

"You need guidance to awaken the sleeping giant within you."

"Abandon your pathetic, cowardly past."

"Embrace chaos, embrace evolution!"

"Become the first citizens of the New World!"

"Now, feel it, accept it, and become one with us!"

As his last word fell.

"Buzz—"

A more powerful psychic shock swept across the entire scene!

"Ah—"

Someone clutched their head and groaned.

But more people's eyes began to glow with fervent light.

"New World..."

"Evolution..."

"Am I... chosen?"

A young man not far from Lin Yuan suddenly stood up, looking at the masked man with eyes full of worship.

"I... I will! I will join you!"

Where there was one, there was a second.

"I will too!"

"Take me! I want to evolve!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

They seemed to see a savior, each showing devout and fanatical expressions.

Lin Yuan knew it was his turn to perform.

He trembled as he crawled to his feet.

He looked at the masked man, his eyes burning with the same fervent flame.

"I... I feel it..."

His voice was hoarse, full of 'excitement'.

"Power!"

"Pfft."

The masked man chuckled softly, very satisfied with Lin Yuan's 'performance'.

"Very good."

"Welcome, my compatriots."

The masked man snapped his fingers.

A nearby iron door opened.

Several guards with numb expressions walked in.

"Take them down and prepare for the 'purification ritual'."

"Yes."

Under the guards' urging, this group of 'believers' who had just been successfully 'brainwashed' lined up and walked towards the iron door.

Lin Yuan mingled with the crowd, head lowered, playing his new role.

They were led into a room like a prison.

"Bang!"

The iron door slammed shut behind them.

There were already over a hundred people in the room, seemingly from previous batches that had been 'converted'.

Everyone sat on the floor, with strange and satisfied smiles on their faces.

They mumbled to themselves, as if praying.

Lin Yuan imitated them, found a corner to sit in, and blended in with the fanatical believers.

The footsteps outside the iron door gradually faded until they completely disappeared.

Lin Yuan could feel that the faint sense of being watched also vanished with them.

After confirming that the surroundings were safe, he activated Electromagnetic Induction, wanting to explore the structure of the entire base.

However.

His sensory ability was absorbed by a strange force when it touched the wall.

"Hmm?"

Lin Yuan's heart tightened.

There was something in this wall!

His Electromagnetic Induction was confined within this room!

This was troublesome.

Just as Lin Yuan was thinking of a countermeasure.

"Creak—"

The iron door of the cell opened once again.

A guard walked in, scanning everyone in the room.

His finger pointed several times in the crowd.

"You."

"And you."

"...And you."

Finally, his finger stopped on Lin Yuan.

"Come out," the guard's voice was devoid of emotion, "It's your turn."