This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 284: Making Contact

Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Making Contact

The little iron cage creaked upwards, driven by some unknown force. After a long time, it finally reached the top. Chen Ke first threw the Moonlight Greatsword and the rifle to the ground, then he stepped out of the elevator.

The deformed horns, burned into his helmet, became entangled in the gaps of the small iron cage. Chen Ke bent over and fiddled around for a while before he completely extricated himself from the cage, then he picked up his gear and headed towards the cathedral.

When he went down, he was all shiny; coming up, he was pitch black—a testament to the unpredictability of life.

Chen Ke actually quite liked his previous armor, which was shiny and silver, but now, dressed in black with flaming patterns and sporting two horns, he seemed like a villain, too dark and ominous.

Of course, the main thing about Holy Relics was that their attributes had to be useful; the design was secondary and didn’t impact anything else.

Chen Ke speculated about going back and studying the rifle canned like iron; if this gun could be used normally and summoned from the palm like the iron can, that would be fantastic. After all, pulling a trigger suited him better than swinging a great sword.

He left the small chapel and noticed that the Fan Hede space-time had changed. It used to be as bright as daylight, but now it was pitch black.

He followed the stone steps up and reached the broken bridge, only to see the sky black as ink, yet the surrounding buildings and mountains were clearly visible, as if they emitted their own light.

This scenario was familiar, Chen Ke furrowed his brow and thought for a few seconds. Suddenly, he remembered the world of 2006—that was how the world looked when it was slowly disappearing!

It seemed, after the cycle ended, this realm was also on the verge of shattering, everything returning to nothingness. He looked up at the black night sky, convinced the sky no longer existed; it was the incarnation of "void."

He returned to the cathedral, prepared to take Parker and leave. At that moment, Parker was still lying motionless on the bench, but bizarrely, his body was slowly vanishing.

The disappearance was visibly fast; every second, a few millimeters of flesh simply disappeared into thin air, like melting ice cream; his entire form was collapsing.

"Parker... Parker? Can you hear me?" Chen Ke pushed Parker.

"Chen? You’re back?" Parker’s voice sounded surprisingly calm.

"You’re... slowly disappearing, do you know that?" Chen Ke asked.

"I’m not sure what’s happening on the other side, but... it feels very strange, I’m not really there." Parker said.

"What do you mean...? You are right in front of me," Chen Ke did not understand.

"No... it’s hard to explain, I feel like I’m a pile of ashes, but when I speak, I can feel my mouth moving, and... it seems like my words aren’t being heard here..." Parker murmured to himself.

"What... what do you mean? Where are you?" Chen Ke waved his hand in front of Parker, who showed no reaction.

Parker’s current state was indistinguishable from a dead person: his face was expressionless, he had no breath or pulse, and his heartbeat had stopped. Only his mouth moved when he spoke; the upper half of his face was completely static.

If Chen Ke himself weren’t in an abnormal state, Parker’s appearance would have surely frightened him.

"It’s hard to say, it looks like a laboratory here, but I’m sure it’s not a hospital because it seems much more sophisticated..." Parker replied.

"Can you be more specific? Is there anything conspicuous?" Chen Ke asked.

"I see a door with ’0451’ on it, I don’t know what it means, maybe it’s a room number," Parker answered.

"Is there anything more?" Chen Ke persisted.

"Chen Ke, I seem to have no body here; I can only see fixed things, and it seems like I’m about to see no more... Is my body over there almost gone?" Parker said.

Chen Ke glanced at Parker’s body, his legs had completely vanished, and so had his left arm. His head was also beginning to disappear, the disintegration had reached his forehead.

"You have two or three minutes left; I don’t know what will happen when your body is completely gone, maybe you really will just be a pile of ashes." Chen Ke said.

"Oh... dude, that’s really harsh... If I’m just a pile of ashes, then what... am I?" Parker sighed.

"I don’t know, but I remember what you said, ’0451’... If I find a clue, I’ll definitely find you," Chen Ke said.

"I don’t want to discourage you... but what can you do with a pile of ashes... ? I’m feeling really bad... Chen, I might really be dying... just like you said... I’m already dead, it’s just that the Great Void let me linger a bit longer... Maybe my memories are all illusions..." Parker said.

"Don’t be too pessimistic..." Chen Ke said, his own voice lacking confidence.

"Don’t worry too much about me, buddy, are you still in there? I hope you really find a way out," Parker instead comforted Chen Ke.

"This place is also disappearing, Parker, I have to go too, we’ll meet again, I promise," Chen Ke said.

"Goodbye, Chen, goodbye. You’re a good man," Parker said.

Chen Ke was taken aback and asked, "Why say that all of a sudden... We haven’t been together that long."

"Indeed not long, and every time you disappeared, but I’m not a child, Chen... You’re definitely not from the Administration Bureau," Parker said.

Chen Ke stared at Parker’s rapidly disappearing body, now reduced to just a nose and mouth.

"You really can’t lie, Chen, you really can’t..." Parker had just finished speaking when his entire head vanished completely, leaving just a stub of a body still sitting on the chair, neck and torso left intact.

Chen Ke sighed and sat on the ground with a crack. He looked towards the cathedral door, where darkness had begun to slowly encroach, maybe, the outside world had already entirely vanished.

Chen Ke took out a soul, not particularly large, and held it in the palm of his hand, but did not crush it right away. Instead, he watched as Parker’s body completely disappeared before abruptly crushing the soul with a snap.

Behind Chen Ke, a Teleportation Gate opened, showing the apartment he had rented near the Opportunity City hospital.

Chen Ke stood up, first tossed the canned rifle through, then shouldered the Moonlight Greatsword in his left hand and pulled the Fire-igniting Broadsword from the ground with his right before stepping through the gate.

After the gate vanished, Fan Hede was completely swallowed by darkness.

Chen Ke stood alone in the empty room, where the Moonlight Greatsword and the Fire-igniting Broadsword instantaneously turned into orange and white Holy Diamonds.

He walked with heavy steps to the door, made sure it was bolted, then drew the curtains shut before he dared to revert his armor back to its original form.

The armor instantly reverted to five orange Holy Diamonds, dropping to the floor along with his wallet and cellphone, Chen Ke now completely bare, his body still smeared with soot from the Flames.

At the same time, his body was covered in sweat, which streamed down the grooves of his abs, pecs, and back muscles, emitting bursts of heat.

He quickly picked everything up from the floor, tidied them away, then rummaged through his luggage to scrape together a barely acceptable outfit before he dashed off to the bathroom with a towel.

After all he’d been through, it was time for a shower. Rama and Louis had been sent by Chen Ke to look after Sleery. He wasn’t sure where they were now. It was daylight outside, probably around noon. Perhaps they were at the hospital.

At this moment, Chen Ke’s cell phone suddenly began to vibrate. He unlocked it to find that many unknown numbers had called him several times.

"Hmm? Who?" Chen Ke squinted his eyes, noticing the timing of the call logs: twenty calls, from the week before last... until this morning.

"Did I really... spend two weeks in there...?" Chen Ke was startled.

The last time he entered Fan Hede, a week had passed when he came out.

This time in Fan Hede, Chen Ke had completed at least three cycles, once helping Faralis find her sword, once helping in the fight between Faralis and the Pope, and once taking down An Helei... Perhaps that’s why time seemed to pass even longer?

"Hello..." Chen Ke entered the bathroom, locked the door, and answered the phone.

"Chen Ke! You finally picked up. Where have you been these past two weeks?" came Diana’s anxious voice from the other side.

"Diana! Hey! Diana! Are you okay? Did your injuries get a little better?" Chen Ke asked.

"You should be more concerned about yourself, boy! You, Sam, and the other two survivors could vanish into thin air at any moment," Diana warned.

"I almost forgot about that... You sound energetic. Are you still at that hospital?" Chen Ke asked.

"Of course not... Three days after you guys admitted me there, the Administration Bureau found me and transferred me to their hospital. I didn’t get a chance to call you before; I think they’ve been watching me," Diana explained.

"Did you tell them anything?" Chen Ke asked.

"Of course not! Why would you think that?" Diana sounded a bit angry.

"No... I didn’t mean that..." Chen Ke discerned from her tone that she indeed hadn’t divulged much.

"Less nonsense, Chen Ke, I’m contacting you for two things. First, there’s a traitor in the Administration Bureau, it seems like someone has been sending the Bureau’s data to other organizations and even illegally accessed the high-security database. The higher-ups now suspect the traitor is me, so I’m currently being monitored by a senior agent, so you must absolutely not call my cell phone," Diana said.

"Wait... will they interrogate you?" Chen Ke asked.

"Interrogate... Damn it, Chen Ke, do you think the Administration Bureau is a mafia? Without solid evidence, they can’t even perform a search, but they can definitely monitor all my calls, and they will have someone tailing me. I’m using a payphone to talk to you right now, and I can’t talk for long, so stop the nonsense and let me tell you the second thing," Diana said.

"Alright, go on," Chen Ke said.

"The second thing... I have a friend, her name is Wang Ailin, she’s a scientist, maybe one of the best in the world in Spiritual Energy research. I’m not going to lie, Chen Ke, I told her about the stuff happening in that haunted place," Diana said.

"What... You told...? How could you discuss something like this with someone else?" Chen Ke said.

"Listen, I hid a small amount of ash in a bullet casing and gave it to Wang Ailin for research. She’s really good at this and could definitely find some solutions, but recently I’ve been watched too closely, I might not be able to contact you for a long time, so I’m giving you her contact information. If there’s any progress, she will tell you," Diana explained.

"Wang Ailin...? Is she Asian? Is she also from the Administration Bureau?" Chen Ke asked.

"Yes, she’s Asian, but she doesn’t belong to the Administration Bureau; she’s with the Spiritual Ability Research Institute. Her number is 13137807552. I haven’t introduced you to her yet, but she knows your name," Diana said.

"I’ll talk to her... properly. Thank you, Diana, for everything you’ve done for us," Chen Ke said.

"Chen Ke... I would have been dead by now if not for you, so no need for thanks... Anyway... I have to go, Chen Ke... someone’s coming, I hope you and Sam are alright... Bye, Mom, I’ll be okay, I promise, Mom... Well, I have to hang up now, bye," Diana said, obviously disguising the last part.

Chen Ke hung up the phone.

"Wang Ailin..." he murmured to himself.