Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 541: The Hall of Cocoons

Under Luo’s guidance, Yu Sheng and Erin cautiously maneuvered through the connection passage near the laboratory.

The outer area was unexpectedly "quiet"—even though Yu Sheng had considered that the probability of encountering enemies outside the laboratory might be low, he hadn’t expected there to be no one at all on this path.

The polluted corridor, spider silk eroding into the real dimensions, and shadows with a sticky texture silently writhing between the cracks on the walls and ceiling—these were all that could be seen in the outer area. The rebellious space station defense force, laboratory security, and the deranged researchers seemed to be nowhere in sight.

"I feel a bit creeped out," Erin, who normally feared nothing, was now clinging tightly to Yu Sheng’s head, showing a rare glimpse of fear, "I, I’m not playing dead space O anymore in the future..."

"You weren’t this cowardly during the Inference Star Body outbreak before," Yu Sheng glanced at the little thing on his shoulder, "Wasn’t that thing scary too?"

"No, it’s different," the little puppet muttered, "Look at the threads around here, they’re beyond my control, and these shadows, I feel like they’re all eyes watching me—this place is targeting me!"

For some reason, scenes from the images Marin had sent before flashed in Yu Sheng’s mind—the blonde-haired puppet arrogantly charging at the Omen Goddess descending from mid-air with a frying pan.

From that footage, the blonde Erin back then seemed strong yet unrefined, while the Omen Goddess was polite but utterly cowardly.

The little Erin on his shoulder now clearly combined traits from both sides.

Both cowardly and unrefined.

And short.

A blend of shortcomings from everywhere.

The little puppet suddenly turned her head, her scarlet eyes fixating on Yu Sheng: "Are you thinking something impolite?"

"Not at all." Yu Sheng casually patted the little puppet’s head, distracting her attention, then focused slightly, perceiving the bloodstains he had left in the space station earlier.

After returning to the space station, his perception of the blood marks here had strengthened considerably. Although the previously vague feedback caused by interference now contained more information—despite still being unable to analyze the "breaks" and "blanks," he could at least clearly and steadily visualize the "contours" of the space station’s core area in his mind.

In the location where the laboratory was, he vaguely sensed a massive... "void."

All material structures abruptly halted at the edge of that void. Inside, he couldn’t sense anything, as if someone had taken away a chunk of the space station out of thin air.

"Wait a moment."

Luo’s voice suddenly sounded from beside him.

Her spider-like limbs made a slight braking noise, coming to a stop at a corner of the connection passage before pointing forward with her mechanical appendages.

Yu Sheng cautiously peeked his head out, looking toward where she "hand" pointed.

The passage ahead was twisted and distorted, as if the walls had been cut into many irregular "puzzle pieces" by an invisible force. Between the cracks, one could glimpse architectural structures not belonging to the Black Stone Space Station, along with many vague silhouettes, flashes, and distant, muffled explosion sounds.

"...It’s from the Special Service Bureau!" Erin’s sharp eyes immediately recognized it, raising her hand to point into the distance, "Hey, hey, over there, that looks like Xu Jiali!"

"They can’t see us," Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, quickly making a judgment, "...let’s go, but watch the cracks on both sides; the space structure here is very unstable."

The group cautiously emerged from the corner, continuing forward along this passage exhibiting space-time overlay scenes.

A hollow, indistinct whistling sound faintly came, echoing directly at the heart.

Yu Sheng instinctively looked up, seeing a crack seeming to open in the darkness, with elongated, terrifying limbs reaching out and blindly moving through the air, joint tips stirring up semi-transparent ripples, while sticky shadows like sludge dripped from the limb tips, corroding holes into the corridor floors of the space station.

But in the next second, everything vanished like an illusion.

"Did you guys just see that thing? It looked like a spider’s..."

"Of, of course I saw it!" Erin immediately said, instinctively shrinking her neck—already only 66.6 centimeters tall, shrinking further might leave her only 65 centimeters tall, "Li, Li Lin saw this thing before, didn’t he?"

Yu Sheng said nothing, simply soothingly patting the little puppet’s back, looking up ahead.

The final gate leading to the laboratory appeared before him—a half-closed gate seemed jammed, stuck in an open position.

There was a low humming sound from beyond the door, as if many people were gathered, praying for something, or perhaps it was just collective unconscious murmuring.

Luo seemed tense, her mechanical appendages slightly retracting, then watched as Yu Sheng strode directly toward the open gate.

"Hey, you really aren’t afraid of dying..."

Luo’s low exclamation echoed from behind, and at the same time, the scene in the laboratory came into Yu Sheng’s view.

This once brightly lit giant hall was now shrouded in shadow, with crossing and crisscrossing black cobwebs covering almost every inch of the ceiling and walls. Many pieces of equipment were shut down, and the few remaining machines were flashing with alarm lights and error holograms. Amidst the intertwining webs, Yu Sheng finally saw the "people" left in the space station.

Spider silk had wrapped into cocoons, enclosing slowly wriggling black figures. The maddened soldiers and researchers were all here, countless human-like silhouettes hanging from the ceiling, sticking to the walls, or fixed on the ground. Layer upon layer of prayers emerged from those wriggling cocoons, devout, fearful, yet seeming intoxicated in a dream realm.

And in the center surrounded by these "human cocoons", on the platform that once held the Zolda Black Stone, was a giant cavity—a black rift trembling at the edges, as if even space itself was constantly flipping and collapsing inward toward the rift’s center. Even just looking at it seemed to exert a powerful attraction, making it difficult to stand or think.

Luo glanced at that black rift once and immediately felt her spiritual intuition crazily warning her, hastily shifting her gaze aside.

Then she saw the viscous shadows overflowing from the platform’s edge—mud-like shadows continuously dripping from the "cavity" above the platform, like bloodied mud seeping from a wound. The shadows filled the platform, then flowed out from it, spreading wantonly along the laboratory floor, and even reversing upwards along the surrounding walls.

Each "human cocoon" was immersed in those viscous shadows, as though absorbing nutrients.

Luo involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air: "What the..."

Probably due to her limited vocabulary, she never completed the second half of her sentence.

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng’s gaze had already landed on the cavity in the center of the hall.

"This should be the source of all the space rifts in the station," he said solemnly, "Turning this thing off should do it... That’s what I think."

"Off? How to turn it off?" Luo looked incredulously at Yu Sheng, who was empty-handed but eager to try, her expression as if she’d seen a ghost, "Wait, you can’t be planning to just go over there and handle it directly, can you? Are you out of your mind!?"

"I told you I’m not afraid of dying," Yu Sheng said with a serene, almost teasing look at her, "Didn’t you say you weren’t afraid either?"

Luo was completely dumbfounded: "No, I said I’m not afraid of dying... but I never said I came to meet my end..."

Yu Sheng chuckled, opting not to continue teasing her. He raised his hand, lifted Erin from his shoulder, and handed her over to Luo: "You two stick together."

Upon seeing such a red-eyed little shorty, Luo almost slipped and fell on the spot, refusing to take her: "Huh?"

Erin, initially unresponsive, was being held mid-air and turned her head towards Yu Sheng: "Why?"

"You’re a mass-production body with an emergency teleportation gate inside," Yu Sheng explained, "I’ll go up and close the rift. If I succeed, great; if I fail, take Luo and teleport back to the valley immediately—the mass-production model can take one person without issue."

"Oh, oh!" Erin finally understood, immediately nodded and agreed while turning to leap onto Luo’s arm, beginning to climb up her shoulder with hands and feet.

Luo almost jumped on the spot.

Of course, she didn’t jump, primarily because wheels aren’t suitable for jumping—if it were walking mode, she would have practically flown by now.

"I’ve got a good grip!" By now, Erin had already climbed to Luo’s shoulder, not minding her pale face, as she grasped onto her long ear like holding a handlebar, turning her head towards Yu Sheng, "Off you go~"

Yu Sheng nodded, then strode towards the fearsome cavity in the center of the hall.

He stepped onto the "flowing shadow" thick as mud, feeling a surge of chilling yet ultimately peaceful and serene air flooding into his heart.

With the next step, he heard a vague murmur whispering by his ears, as if someone was calling his name, or perhaps it was only the hollow wind.

On the third step—within the hall, the layers of prayers abruptly quieted down.

All the "human cocoons" ceased their writhing, all the viscous shadows ceased their flowing.

Within the entangled spider webs, one cocoon after another, silhouette-like "cocoons" suddenly turned, with countless invisible gazes piercing through the silk, falling upon the intruder.

In the next moment, the cocoons broke open.

Person-shaped figures, like silt, burst out, clamoring with unspeakable noise as they pounced on the invader in the hall.

"I damn well knew it wouldn’t be this easy!" Yu Sheng shouted, already prepared, as he raised his hand and extracted his Tetanus Wand from a door, while with the other, he opened a portal to No. 66 Wutong Road, calling without looking back, "Erin, summon reinforcements!"

Before he finished speaking, distorted space rifts were already opening behind him. One mass-production puppet after another stepped into the hall, followed by the whistling sound of a figure leaping elegantly through the gate, brandishing sharp blades at the creatures emerging from the cocoons. Then a silver-white figure, edged in dark blue flames, dashed in, hopping around Yu Sheng with joy: "Savior, Savior, I’m here!!!"

Yu Sheng pointed a finger forward: "Attack!"

The fox girl let out a howl, and eight Fox Travel Cannons flew beside her, charging forward.