Chapter 61: Forcing Entry into a Supernatural Zone

Song He’s words instantly illuminated the minds of Zhou Fan and Song Qiao.

There were many versions of Mother Bear, but the most widely circulated one matched the giant bear monster they had just encountered.

Both of them grew somewhat tense.

"Uh..." Zhou Fan spoke up, "Could the spiritual monsters be born from the 'negative emotions' of the residents?"

Song Qiao subconsciously swallowed her saliva, her voice tinged with fright as she added, "If that’s the case, Mother Bear can only be considered a low-level mob... Anyway, there are countless horror stories far more terrifying than Mother Bear! And monsters in many of those horror stories possess special abilities..."

"Congratulations, your deduction has hit the bullseye."

Cao Yu smiled at this moment and said, "In this instance, we can be considered quite fortunate to hold the out-of-bounds intelligence regarding 'spiritual monsters.' Although this intelligence itself contains little specific information, through it, we can indirectly verify a good deal."

"...Captain, is this really something to celebrate?" Song Qiao reminded him, "Next, we are likely to face all kinds of terrifying monsters. After 10:00 PM, should we... should we follow the rules and go to sleep?"

"Rest assured," Cao Yu comforted her, "There's no need to wait until 10:00 PM; we'll be coming into contact with those monsters very soon."

Song Qiao: "..."

Was this something to be reassured about?

Zhou Fan quickly reacted: "Brother Cao, do you know the method to clear the level?"

"You could say that. The bears from just now all crawled out of spatial portals." Cao Yu asked in return, "Didn't you feel that the environment inside those portals was very familiar? Wasn't it gloomy, damp, and carrying an indescribable strange odor?"

"Talent Residential Area!" Song He said, "It's very similar to the abnormal environment shrouding the Talent Residential Area!"

"Exactly. The things I needed to verify are essentially completed in advance. Let me lay out my train of thought first."

Without keeping them in suspense, Cao Yu directly told the three of them:

"Earlier during the prayer crisis, the 'negative emotions' transferred to us grew progressively stronger. While the impact of negative emotions on people can last a long time, when they erupt intensely, their duration is extremely fleeting. You might be angry enough to kill someone one second, and calm down very quickly the next.

The explosive negative emotions previously transferred to us were quite numerous, and they certainly weren't provided in real-time by the town's residents.

In other words, this town can both absorb 'negative emotions' and accumulate and store them; what we received should be the 'stock-in-trade.' The embarrassing memories that were stripped from us have most likely been stored away as well."

He pointed out the crucial detail:

"In this instance, a 'storage site' most likely exists. It could be a specific location, or it could be a special space... Now it seems to be the latter, without a doubt.

Giant bears, Mother Bear... It appears that this 'storage site' contains not only 'negative emotions' but also various types of monsters born from those 'negative emotions'."

Hearing this, Song Qiao understood.

She asked with a trembling voice, "Captain, you don't mean... you don't mean you want to enter the 'storage site' behind that portal, do you?"

"Of course we're going in!" Zhou Fan immediately stepped forward and said, "If we don't go in, how do we retrieve our lost memories? If we don't go in, how do we complete the side quests?"

"..."

Song Qiao had long since realized that Zhou Fan was a sycophant, so she wasn't surprised by his behavior at this moment... Whatever. A newcomer who had barely become a player dared to follow Cao Yu into battle; as a veteran E-rank player, she couldn't afford to lose face!

Song Qiao analyzed logically:

"When Mother Bear crawled out, the portal remained open for a very short time, making it difficult for us to seize the opportunity and slip inside. If we want to reach the 'storage site'... I'm afraid we'll have to wait until a large number of monsters emerge from the 'storage site' before we can find a chance to go in. That is to say..."

She looked at Cao Yu and asked, "Do we have to wait until 10:00 PM, violate the sleeping rules, and wait and see if a large number of monsters appear?"

"Your logic is correct, but the method is too passive." Cao Yu grinned and said, "Wait? Too slow. Do you remember what I told you before we set off?"

Song Qiao naturally remembered.

The other party had said he was going to take them on a big play.

Cao Yu continued:

"Now, go to the cafeteria. Collect ropes and other binding items along the way. Find those 27 Federation citizens, tie them all up."

...

6:45 PM.

Cao Yu and his group of four arrived at the cafeteria located in the center of the town, only to find that another team had arrived before them and was just stepping out of the cafeteria entrance.

It was the young miss and her two bodyguards.

The auras of all three were noticeably weakened, their clothes disheveled and showing traces of being slightly battered. If nothing else, they must have already fought the giant bear monsters.

The young miss's team also spotted Cao Yu's group of four. Seeing that all four of them were in prime condition, they felt somewhat puzzled.

Coming to the cafeteria at this hour meant they had definitely broken the rules and encountered monster attacks... Why did they all look to be in such good shape? Not even a corner of their clothes was ruffled...

The young miss said nothing.

However, the male bodyguard’s gaze shifted slightly. Showing goodwill, he spoke up:

"Are the four of you here to investigate the cafeteria? We just searched inside and found no clues."

"You should have received the prompt for the side quests as well, right?" Song Qiao spoke up to ask.

"We did." The female bodyguard replied: "Presumably, you are also here to look for your lost items, right? The public cafeteria is one of the gathering points for the town residents. We originally thought there would be some clues, but..."

She sighed softly:

"These townspeople really just came here purely to eat."

"We encountered giant bear monsters on our way here. They all crawled out from suddenly appearing spatial portals."

The male bodyguard continued:

"We are planning to go and investigate other parts of the town. If we still can't find any clues... we might look for an opportunity to lie in wait for the monsters to reappear and try interacting with those spatial portals."

"There's no need to look for other clues." Cao Yu suddenly reminded them, "What players lost are their memories. Behind those portals is precisely where our lost items are hidden."

He had sensed the obvious goodwill emitted by the two bodyguards.

That being the case, he didn't mind returning a gesture of goodwill.

"The lost items are actually memories...‽" The male bodyguard frowned. "I didn't feel anything wrong with my memories... Has the logic been smoothed over?"

"This is troublesome!" The female bodyguard also frowned, saying, "If what was lost is memories, then the first side quest must be completed!"

She certainly didn't want to leave the instance with incomplete memories; heaven only knows if it would impact her future!

Clearly, none of them harbored thoughts of merely coasting along for a guaranteed baseline reward, and they all possessed a certain level of confidence in completing the side quests.

At this moment, the young miss, who had remained silent all along, suddenly proposed to Cao Yu's group of four:

"Your strength is quite good. Would you like to join my team?"

After making the proposal, she added:

"I have a D-rank item. My dad is a C-rank player."

"..."

Ah, this... Was she really being this direct?

Weren't they afraid others might harbor malicious intentions and resort to murder and looting?

Cao Yu and the other three could see that this young miss was mentally naive and most likely hadn't experienced many setbacks... No wonder she had two bodyguards accompanying her into the instance.

"No thanks." Cao Yu smiled and said, "What we are about to do is something you wouldn't dare to do."

"...What is there that we wouldn't dare to do?"

The young miss and the two bodyguards all felt a sense of being looked down upon.

Cao Yu didn't say much more, merely giving an order to his teammates: "Action."

With that, he took the lead and entered the cafeteria.

Zhou Fan and the other two followed closely behind.

This scene left the young miss and the two bodyguards feeling somewhat bewildered.

What action?

Originally planning to leave, out of curiosity, they temporarily stayed behind, intending to observe.

Before long, all three of their expressions turned to one of shock and fright.

"Are they crazy!?"

As the young miss exclaimed in alarm, she rapidly retreated, murmuring the name of an item:

"Illusory Floral Blazing Sun!"

The male and female bodyguards also wore solemn expressions.

"Spirit-Striking Fist Spikes!"

"Thunder Bow!"

Both of them activated their items, entering combat readiness and shielding the young miss behind them.

Because through the cafeteria doors, they saw Cao Yu's group of four actually dragging out 27 townspeople, ignoring their resistance, forcefully knocking them unconscious, binding them, and dragging them together into a pile.

Attacking townspeople directly... What immense audacity!

"Let's get out of here first!" the male bodyguard said promptly. "Don't get dragged into this!"

The young miss and the female bodyguard responded quickly, beginning to fall back.

Right at that moment, the light inside the cafeteria suddenly dimmed, space began to warp, and a massive portal with a gloomy backdrop appeared, out of which poured a dense horde of giant bears.

"Quick—"

The male bodyguard had just wanted to shout to run when he saw the charging giant bears suddenly bursting apart one after another, happening so fast that he could barely keep up with his eyes.

In just a few seconds, half of the surging giant bears were dead.

Then the massive portal faded away, and Cao Yu's group of four along with the remaining giant bears vanished completely without a trace.

Inside the cafeteria, only the panicked townspeople remained, alongside the 27 Federation citizens who had been knocked out and tied up.

Soon, the townspeople calmed down one by one and resumed their meals. The expressions on their faces were warm and gentle, as if nothing had happened at all.

"...So powerful!" The female bodyguard stopped her retreat, exclaiming in shock, "Killing 19 giant bears in just a few seconds—what kind of god-tier team is this!?"

"They weren't here to investigate clues!" the male bodyguard stated. "They intended to forcefully break into that mysterious space all along!"