Chapter 139: Crossing Countless Reincarnations

When Lan Yi burst into hearty laughter, it resonated with the emotional field of Artificial Divine Realm 2055. At that very moment, humans across the entire world seemed to find solace. The inexplicable fires of rage burning within their hearts suddenly subsided, replaced by an unprecedented sensation of profound peace and comfort, as if there was finally hope of escaping their cage.

In this instant, boundaries of geography, race, and age ceased to matter.

Every single human being

felt their eyes brim and soak with tears.

Especially the humans of the Azure Dragon Federation.

Not only were their eyes swimming with hot tears, but tens of thousands of them felt a roaring battle cry echo directly within their minds. That sound was overwhelming, echoing with the resolve of those ready to face death. It was the song that the people of Jianghe used to steel their courage during the most cowardly moments when death loomed closest across countless cycles. Even though they had long since burned into ashes, a lingering warmth still remained within those fireless embers.

And now...

That very warmth, nourished by the outsider who unsparingly poured in his emotions and opened his heart to gorge on the resonance, was erupting at an astonishing speed! Sweeping outward! Infusing everything!

The Masked Space was wailing.

The Artificial Divine Realm, which had previously fallen into a state of utter dead silence and chill, now gleamed with a scorching edge like a sharp sword. The sword-wielder, Old Demon Lan, had taken up this blade and was fiercely slashing down at the immobile realm and the transmigrators it had dropped into the world!

"Roll on, Yellow River; surge on, Yangtze River."

Even products of human modification like Dr. Chen and the Tough-Faced Man could not help humming the melody resonating in their hearts.

"I never imagined that the clearance codes we mastered for activating the emotional field would turn out to be the ultimate counter-offensive weapon to suppress the outbreak of ghosts," Dr. Chen sighed softly, wiping the corner of his eye. Ever since he had stepped into the Lop Nur, he had never experienced such raw emotion again.

"We only have this one chance."

Juno suppressed the turbulent emotional resonance of the human race and calmly issued a reminder.

That madman Lan Yi had ignited the hope of the human race in this world, risking the peril of mental damage and wading through a cesspool. This flame was unrooted; once extinguished, there would truly be no salvation left. Therefore, they could only win this battle; failure was not an option.

"Rest assured, we will complete the mission," Dr. Chen nodded.

"For the Yellow River! For the Yangtze!"

This was the collective shout echoing from everyone inside the command room.

The true benefits of the emotional field only now became fully apparent.

Even though it had been defiled beyond recognition, through sheer unity of purpose, the telepathically linked human race achieved near-total cognitive synchronization, information sharing, absolute trust, and a unified objective. This collective model completely outclassed hive minds, because while gestalt collectives were rigid, this model—driven by hope—allowed every single individual to burst forth with startling flexibility and initiative.

If one had to point out a flaw,

it was that this self-consuming collective model could not be sustained for long. Yet in the short term, it was as unyielding as steel. Even spiritual practitioners would have to tread carefully when encountering a world unleashing this mode, lest they be injured by it.

The humans of Artificial Divine Realm 2055 returned to normal in a short span of time.

Though not all of them.

With so many humans,

there were bound to be some who had been utterly burned out across countless cycles. Radiating outward from the Azure Dragon Federation, those furthest away struggled to bear the intensity of the resonance and collapsed, transforming into ferocious fiends that lunged savagely at the delectable humans nearby!

The sudden outbreak of ghosts, much like the end phases of previous cycles, spelled disaster and apocalypse.

Yet this time...

When a fiend viciously bit down on the arm of a nearby person, it froze in bewilderment.

The human made not a sound, using that very bitten arm to clamp tightly around the fiend's jaw. His gaze was resolute, devoid of a shred of cowardice. At the same time, nearby humans showed no terror, no panic, and no desire to run. Instead, with ferocious courage, they swung their fists and swarmed the fiend in an orderly beatdown!

What the hell is going on here?!

The mobbed fiend only had time to whimper twice before a crowd of humans wielding tools and bare fists alike bludgeoned it to death.

Even an old man in a wheelchair spun his wheels so fast they were practically smoking!

Humans were actually able to harm ghosts.

Those humans who should have been demonized, having suppressed that uncontrollable emotional mutation, instead gained abilities similar to Ghost Controllers from the cycles.

Without fear or cowardice, everyone fought for hope at this moment, charging forward without a backward glance.

Humanoid ghosts were still manageable, but large-scale fiends, the newly emerging True-Demon-grade ghosts, and the Great Horrors gradually revealing their forms from the fractured ends of time crystals were utterly beyond mortal might!

Never mind the combat personnel hastily mobilized by various nations;

even a mother holding her infant picked up a kitchen knife at this moment.

There was no retreat, only a path paved in blood!

Their mission was to suppress the complete outbreak of ghosts, stall the full-scale invasion for as long as possible, and buy a world for a small fraction of people. Meanwhile, that small fraction was searching for the traces of certain individuals. That was right—they were consciously hunting for transmigrators. Guided by the shared instructions from Lan Yi within the emotional field, they knew very well that to sever the cycle of reincarnation, all these transmigrators had to be placed under control.

If they could not be controlled, killing them would suffice.

Above all, they could not be allowed to stabilize.

Nor could the Masked Space be allowed to pull them back!

Everyone understood clearly.

If these transmigrators managed to escape, all their previous efforts would be wasted, and once the primal ghosts were slain, the cycle would undoubtedly restart immediately.

They were already dead people to begin with.

Dead people who had died countless times over! They would never fear dying once more. Since severing reincarnation did not guarantee survival, they would gladly die for a truly visible hope!

This was a formation the transmigrators of the Masked Space had never witnessed before.

Accustomed to petty squabbles,

accustomed to staging grand plays within a snail shell with severely restricted horizons, they now found themselves abruptly facing a combat slaughter on the scale of a roaring ocean. Much like Wang Aoja in a certain cycle, they were instantly overwhelmed and bewildered, only realizing they needed to draw their ghostly artifacts when iron fists smashed directly into their faces.

Transmigrators were used to looking down on plot characters from above.

Yet when confronted with a genuine war, they suddenly discovered... their ghostly artifacts worked exceptionally well in this world! No restrictions or sacrifices were required; ghosts could be summoned directly! But the iron fists on the opposing side worked just as brilliantly. Many transmigrators never dreamed they would one day die miserably in a street brawl—even if it was a supernatural version of an unrestricted combat tournament!

"Millions of cycles of reincarnation have held despair, sin, filth, and giving up. Beneath layers of concealment, those things that theoretically should have also been preserved—such as hope, resistance, sacrifice, and fearlessness—seemed to have vanished. Yet they still exist, just like the armor remains intact."

Standing before Lan Yi were Chu Xuan and Zheng Zha.

They had been casually tossed right in front of Old Demon Lan by the conquest space. Just as Lan Yi was busy gorging on his spiritual feast, seeing whether they wanted to act like humans or ghosts, they happened to serve as a fine accompaniment to his drink.