Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 306: Invasion

That was the last whisper uttered by the “intruder”—so faint that the breath of life at its end seemed almost non-existent, like a breeze drifting from the edge of a hallucination. The sound of it melted quietly into the air, leaving behind only the unsettling ticking of drops.

It was the sound of blood falling to the ground.

“What did he say?”

Another Hermitage Member leaned over and whispered in curiosity.

The black-robed figure standing next to Yu Sheng’s lifeless body lowered his head, his mind still lost in the disturbing echoes of what he had just heard, as though caught in a dream. Only when his comrade spoke again did he snap back to reality, looking up with a confused expression and murmuring, “He said he’s going to die, but something else… something is coming back to life. I don’t know… I didn’t hear it clearly.”

His voice wavered, laced with hesitation. It seemed that even repeating those words brought some form of unease, a lingering discomfort he could not explain. What was he afraid of? What exactly was it that unsettled him? The black-robed figure himself couldn’t quite say.

Nearby, the wounded Hermitage Order member—who had been struck by the intruder’s staff and severely injured—groaned in agony. Despite the large doses of heart stimulants and adrenaline administered by his powered armor, the pain could not be fully suppressed. Now, the armor’s life-support system was keeping him alive by force, but if they delayed any further, his life would be over.

“He needs to be in the operating room immediately,” someone checked on the injured man’s condition and quickly reported, “His internal organs are in a state of total failure. We need to decide—will it be pure steel, or blessed flesh?”

The wounded Hermitage Member wheezed painfully, lifting a hand slightly, his voice raspy and filled with agony as it came through his helmet: “Steel…”

The black-robed figure inspecting the wounds nodded, instructing the others, “Notify the medical team—prepare for a brain-body transfer. We need a mechanical cultivator’s body.”

He lowered his head again, holding the injured man’s hand as he spoke in a low, comforting tone, “Relax, brother. You will soon have a pure and powerful new body. The useless flesh of your original form will be sent to the biomass processor, becoming the cornerstone of our progress. Hold my hand and let’s take the first step toward ascension. But before that, I must amputate part of your limbs—we can’t afford to wait for a stretcher. Your brain must get to the operating room quickly.”

The sharp, unsettling sound of “processing” the injured member’s limbs echoed through the hallway.

Even with his lower body severed, the N-K-22 model powered armor’s helmet would ensure his brain’s survival for at least fifteen minutes.

Yet, even with the bustling noise behind him, the black-robed figure remained rooted in place beside Yu Sheng’s corpse, his eyes distant and unfocused, as if something had drained his spirit, leaving him staring blankly at the “intruder” on the ground.

“What are you looking at? We need to leave,” someone called from the side. “Leave the remains here. Someone will come to clean up later.”

Snapping out of his trance, the black-robed figure hastily nodded and replied, “Oh, yes, right.”

He turned and started walking toward his comrades but couldn’t resist glancing back at the bloody remains. Then, as though sensing something, he looked up toward the corner.

There, a hidden camera quietly watched him from the shadows.

The brass knights escorted a few black-robed cultists swiftly out of the area. These Hermitage members, as if instinctively aware of some impending danger, left in a hurry.

The spot where Yu Sheng had fallen was now littered with discarded clothing, a small knife that had slipped from a pocket, and a blood-soaked staff. All these items slowly melted into the blood-soaked ground, as if being swallowed by another dimension, gradually sinking into the bloodstains.

Even the phone, now soaked in blood, was covered by thin streaks that seemed almost alive, creeping across its screen and outer shell. Then, suddenly, the phone’s screen lit up.

The interface for Frontier Communications appeared, followed by a private message window. The virtual keyboard flickered as keys tapped quickly, and a line of text appeared, sent to Bai Li Qing:

“Ah, still the same topic—do you want the heretic cultists of the Holy Revere Hermitage?”

Moments later, the phone vibrated, and Bai Li Qing’s response came: a single, short word: “Yes.”

After a brief pause, perhaps realizing the brevity of his reply, Bai Li Qing sent another message: “Do you want to bring them back alive? Or should I send you some support? It’s too dangerous for you alone in their lair.”

The bloodstains on the phone screen slowly spread out, and a message was quickly sent: “No need, if you send people over, it will alert them. If they realize the situation is out of control, they might detonate the entire ship.”

“…Alright, then tell me, how should I cooperate?”

…

At the top level, in the control hall, an elderly man dressed in white robes still sat with an air of authority in his designated seat, waiting for the results from the action team.

He was soon greeted with good news.

The communicator in front of him lit up, and a Hermitage Member, clad in powered armor with a black robe covering it, appeared on screen: “Sage! We’ve dealt with the intruder, in a corridor outside the core zone.”

The muscles on Sage’s face, which had been tense, finally relaxed a little. “Well done—recovery personnel will go and clean up. What are the losses?”

“One combatant is severely injured, amputated below the neck. We’re taking his head to the surgery room. He fought bravely and requested to enter the Steel Evolution path as he lay dying.”

“Hm, a brave fighter deserves this reward,” the elderly man in white robes sighed lightly, his whole demeanor relaxing. “Afterward, report back to the upper area.”

“Yes!”

The communication was cut off, and the atmosphere in the control hall lightened with the arrival of good news.

“I thought it would be something more impressive.”

A Hermitage Member muttered from the side.

“Just some weird guy, but this world is full of strange things,” another chimed in, “not even as troublesome as those shadows we dug up in the Adar Great Pit.”

“Uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just that a few of the monitors flickered earlier. It might have been some core system self-repair resetting a few channels. I checked, and everything’s fine.”

“Don’t scare me…” an operator, sitting at the control console, muttered, stretching lazily in his chair. He glanced up at the camera on the ceiling.

The camera stared back at him, just like it always did.

But for some reason, he suddenly felt a slight… distaste and unease from the camera’s gaze.

The feeling was inexplicable, and he shivered slightly, not knowing how to explain it to anyone. He quickly turned his gaze away, avoiding the view of the ceiling.

A faint electrical crackle came through his earpiece, as if someone had said something over the communication channel, but it was too muffled to make out.

The operator frowned, initially suspecting a problem with the earpiece, but quickly ruled that out, because there was definitely someone speaking through the faint static.

He furrowed his brow, adjusting the listening channel more seriously, trying to trace the source of the noise.

And then, Sage’s voice suddenly rang out from nearby, interrupting the quiet conversation in the hall.

“Has the recovery team reported back yet?”

“No,” a communications officer answered promptly, before suddenly exclaiming, their tone turning tense. “Wait, something’s wrong!”

“What’s going on?”

“The recovery team’s signal just vanished—right at this very moment!”

The atmosphere, which had just relaxed, tensed up again in an instant. Sage’s face darkened as he stood up from his seat. “Vanished? Figure out what happened. Is it a communication failure, or…”

“Both the communication signal and the life-sign readings from the personnel have disappeared—Sage, they’re gone!”

“What about the surveillance?”

“We saw them enter the D-2 corridor and go into the connecting gate, but no one came out at the next gate!”

“Which drone storage is closest? Send a drone immediately.”

The hall erupted in a flurry of noise, filled with anxious and urgent command and report voices. Sage’s voice carried an undertone of anger, and the nearby operators sounded tense and flustered.

But the operator still sat there, intently adjusting his earpiece, switching between various channels as though entranced, determined to understand what the noise in the system was trying to say.

Time passed, and then he suddenly heard a voice—crystal clear, as if it were speaking right into his ear:

“Can you hear me now?”

The operator jerked his earpiece off as if electrocuted, his eyes widening in terror. He quickly looked up towards Sage’s direction. “There’s someone speaking on the listening channel! Something’s breached our system—”

“What?!” Sage exclaimed, immediately opening the communicator to contact the returning action team. “The situation’s changed, head to the server room immediately. There’s an intruder hiding aboard the ship!”

But all that came through the communicator was a hollow white noise.

Soon, someone reported on the communication and surveillance systems, nervously updating: “The action team’s signal is gone as well—near the D-1 corridor, the cameras didn’t capture any attackers or combat scenes.”

Sage stood still, his face as grim as stone, deep in unsettling thought.

Something was hiding within this tower.

It was attacking person after person in the tower, though no one knew exactly how, but it was clearly fast and ruthless, capable of taking down combatants in powered armor before they could even react.

And there may be more than one intruder—since the two teams that had been affected weren’t in the same area, and there had been reports of noise on the listening channel. The intruders were clearly attacking in multiple places while simultaneously hacking into the system.

“…Send out the second team, follow all surveillance closely, maintain contact, and seal off all passages from D-1 to D-2. Search every inch.”

“Yes!”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation