Everything happened in a flash, and that strange black "stone" with eerie Illusion light had already fallen into the turbulent light screen at the center of the Gate of Eden.

In fact, the two high-tier priests and "Holy" closest to the catalyst had a chance to react and intercept it - for such powerful Spiritual Ability Users, even catching a bullet was not a difficult task.

However, they simply watched it happen - at this instant, the flow of time perceived by everyone seemed to be distorted, the fact that the "Angel Catalyst" fell into the gate felt like it happened in the distant past, and every person’s perception of time in front of the Gate of Eden was stretched countless times in this moment.

A Great Sage resting his hand on the podium slowly raised his head, trying to look at the sky - he felt the entire sky was gradually darkening, the clouds above the Gate of Eden were taking on a dirty and sticky texture, the wind suddenly became cold, and an unsettling low rumble was coming from the center of the light screen of the gate.

Thoughts became sluggish, movements became difficult, the world tilted, and the light seemed to become a sticky, chaotic curtain.

Something red was falling from the sky.

Holy raised his head and saw that the inside of the magnificent circular mega-structure was rapidly being stained crimson, the light screen at the center of the structure rippled like a blood-drenched liquid surface, accompanied by a strange low rumble, the top of the mega-ring first cracked open - blood seeped from the rifts, scattered by the wind in the clouds, and fell slowly like in a slow-motion.

The priests a bit further from the gate were less affected, watching this strange scene in horror, then finally someone exclaimed: "The gate is going to crack open—"

With their exclamations, the Gate of Eden emitted a groaning sound as if on the verge of disintegration, the entire mega-ring shook top and bottom, bizarre blood continuously fell from the top of the ring, gradually like a curtain of rain, and the entire energy supply system connected to the mega-ring also suffered unknown strong interference, continuous explosions began to echo from afar between heaven and earth.

The support system of the Rift Generator was overloading - this gate standing on the plain was only part of the entire "Gate of Eden system", while its larger control mechanism, energy facilities were deeply buried in the mountain, part of which was directly connected to the place where the Shadowless Skeleton was imprisoned, the "deep well".

Now everything was out of procedural control - the "invader" was usurping the control rights of the Gate of Eden.

The high-tier priests in front of the gate struggled to think, in increasingly dull thinking, he suddenly felt this invasion seemed to have already happened, even felt it had lasted for centuries.

And just at the instant when the world in his eyes was about to fall into darkness, a powerful surge of Spiritual Energy Power suddenly swept across the entire platform, Holy’s voice penetrated the ears of every priest present: "Withdraw!"

A brilliant pale gold halo erupted abruptly, spreading from the center of "Holy" to all directions, wherever the halo reached, the time distortion caused by the Gate of Eden was quickly smoothed out, the priests who were too close to the gate and suppressed to immobility found their ability to think and move smoothly restored, and immediately after, they heard Holy’s voice repeat again, this time with evident exhaustion: "Withdraw - away from the gate!"

The priests awakened as from a dream and hurriedly retreated towards the plain, and at that moment, another loud bang resonated as thunder exploded over everyone’s head.

Someone fearfully looked back, seeing the central light of the Gate of Eden had completely turned into a curtain of blood, the top of the ring soaring into the clouds was cracked open with countless terrifying fissures, blood poured down like a torrent of rain, dancing with the wild wind in front of the blood curtain, and then, the center of the gate swelled rapidly as if something was about to emerge from inside.

"Something is coming out..." a high-tier priest screamed in horror, but his shout stopped abruptly halfway, transformed into silent shock.

A small figure flew out from the swollen blood curtain.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, 66 centimeters tall, grasping a few golden threads dangling in mid-air, swinging back and forth, clawing ferociously.

Several priests who ran too far couldn’t even immediately see the small figure clearly.

The sight in front of them was too bizarre, so much so that everyone was dazed in the first moment - and hence they didn’t even notice countless small figures rapidly emerging from the gate’s bottom.

When the first torrential rain of scorching beams swept across the earth, there was finally a priest among the shots who exclaimed: "What are these things—"

Countless black-haired red-eyed puppets crawled out from the Gate of Eden, with vacant stares, agile movements, fearless of pain, spreading in swarms to all directions.

A brilliant halo descended from the sky, and several mass-produced puppets running across the platform were caught unawares, instantly evaporated by the halo.

Holy maintained the posture of pointing at the puppets with a raised finger, his face gloomy and pale.

Suppressing the Gate of Eden’s turbulence just now consumed a staggering amount of his power, but he was still strong - at least far stronger than these bizarre cursed puppets running amok.

Those priests who had already retreated to a safe distance finally steadied their footing, and after the initial chaos, they quickly reacted, beginning to organize a counter-offensive.

The mass-produced puppets merely categorized as ordinary "Soldiers" had little advantage before a Priest Group with an average "Sage" level.

Yet at that moment, the Gate of Eden emitted another colossal roar, amidst the violent energy impacts, the nearby priests instinctively looked up towards the direction of the roar.

They saw a gigantic illusion—a mass of silvery-white illusion light. This radiance descended from the layer of blood mist, slowly "blooming" mid-air into a series of spread-out Fox Tails, with an intense ghostly blue flame fiercely burning at their tips.

And above those gradually "blooming" Fox Tails, something seemed to be flowing within the center of that swelling layer of blood mist. Gradually, the flowing substance completed its reformation.

They coalesced into a face—huge, standing between mountains and land.

That face slowly lowered its gaze, observing the "Holy" on the platform from beneath the clouds.

The Holy raised his head, the fierce wind whipping his robe, as magnificent spiritual energy formed a gigantic phantom behind him. He gazed at the face emerging on the Gate of Eden, his expression surprisingly calm: "Who are you?"

"You may call me Yu Sheng," the face slowly spoke, its voice resonating through the clouds like thunder, "Leader of the travel agency, Angel Hunter of Boundary Land, Star Guardian of Shuji, Patriarch of Fairy Tales, friend to many, and—

"Every cultist’s collective living father."

The next second, accompanied by incessant rumbling, the Fox Tails swept across the long sky, spewing fierce Fox Fire, launching a frenzied bombardment all around...

...

A series of rapid gunshots shattered the silence as flashes from particle bursts lit up the dim corridors due to power failures. Marines in Power Armor quickly cleared the resisting forces in the corridor before continuing their advance.

Occasional explosions sounded through the thick walls and ceilings, distant and muffled, with the rumbling accompanied by slight tremors within the building, indicating the fierce battle ongoing far away.

More life signs appeared ahead. The AI assisting the Power Armor quickly reacted, marking the approximate position and the most probable movement of the enemies. The squad commander immediately raised his gun, but before firing, the corner at the end of the corridor was painted with a faded pale hue—a strange scene that vanished in a flash, with the enemy signal disappearing.

Friendly signals appeared in the identifier.

The squad commander looked up to see several tall figures in heavy deep-dive Power Armor walking over from the opposite side, and among the soldiers in heavy armor walked a young woman with gray-white long hair dressed in a white suit.

The commander lowered his gun, nodding in salute: "Baili Councilor."

Baili Qing nodded, briefly inquired about the situation, and then waved to the heavy-armored soldiers who followed her.

A heavily armored deep diver approached, holding a strange device with many tubes, valves, and runes—it didn’t appear to be a product of the Boundary Land engineering unit.

The squad commander curiously watched the scene as he saw the soldier operating the strange device. After a few manipulations, its top components began to move. With a faint hissing sound, large flows of red mist rapidly gushed out from several outlets of the device.

The mist smelled of blood.

The blood mist, as if alive, did not scatter randomly but swiftly flew toward the nearby walls and ceiling, like a living thing swiftly "burrowing" into them.

Baili Qing quietly observed the scene, then raised her hand to her ear: "Sector 12 has been cleared, the Diffusion Device has been deployed, how’s the situation in other areas?"

Red’s voice came through the earpiece: "Just received news, the Star Gate reactor still has vigorous resistance from guards—a group of fanatic cultists has occupied the only passage, sealing the corridor with intelligent turrets. They might be installing bombs in the reactor pool."

"Understood, I’ll send a Diffusion Device over... our soldiers don’t need to force their way through; just get the Diffusion Device to the engine room near the reactor, and soon those cultists will be assaulted by the reactor they are trying to protect."

There was silence for a few seconds in the earpiece.

"Ah Qing, you can now say such travel-agency-like words with remarkable calmness."

"I’ve gotten used to it," Baili Qing said without any expression, "so should you, just get used to it."

As she spoke, she ended the communication and turned her head back to the corridor.

The blood mist emanating from the Diffusion Device continued to swiftly seep into the nearby building structures, but soon the mist began to diminish on its own. Then, a while later, as if receiving some remote command, the Diffusion Device stopped its operation automatically.

Next, the character "妥" slowly appeared on the adjacent wall.