The off-road vehicle jolted all the way, arriving near the school. The school where Song Jingchen studied was the closest to the ocean, also the closest to freedom, nurturing rebellious souls.
Lu Yan instructed Bai Lang to park the car a few kilometers away. He put on a wireless earpiece, and inside came Ning Huai's worried inquiry, "Are you sure it's okay to go alone?"
System: [The school's monitor is a combat-type harbinger with a psychic threshold of 3000. Talent alerts, heavy pressure. Other teachers are harbingers, with psychic thresholds generally around 1300. Clearly, Ning Huai underestimates you.]
Lu Yan planned to infiltrate the school, reshaping the minds of the monitors and teachers inside.
Perhaps because the Primeval is a psychic pollutant, it imposes strict supervision on human psychic harbinger monitors, almost to the point of instant death upon discovery. As for other evolved beings of different types, they are not valued by the divine realm.
Barren land is destined to bear no fruitful results. A psychic threshold of two to three thousand is already the limit for these lineages.
Although he never missed a class during his student days, Lu Yan was skilled at climbing walls, landing on the ground with silent steps.
In the quiet night, even the sound of the wind seemed amplified. According to the memories Lu Yan saw in Song Jingchen's mind, the monitors and teachers lived in their respective staff dormitories.
Compared to the cramped single-student dorms, the staff dormitory building was more spacious. The walls were adorned with propaganda praising the Primeval.
These paintings were probably done a long time ago, now faded. In the paintings, the Primeval wore a Greek-style robe, holding olives and eyeballs. The place where the face should be was replaced by a large red brain flower.
[The monitor of this school has a long, slender tongue, gecko-like climbing ability, and acidic saliva. It survived the initial hunting activities.]
The monitor's dormitory was on the third floor.
[Due to talent alerts, the monitor suddenly felt anxious but didn't know why.]
[The monitor wanted to escape, but all the windows here were sealed. As the monitor's hand touched the doorknob, the heart started pounding, warning of danger outside.]
However, the corridor outside the door was empty, only Lu Yan.
[The monitor hid under the bed, silently chanting the names of the Primeval. Unfortunately, the Primeval probably couldn't hear the calls of believers. It's not a real god, just a pollutant trying to become a deity.]
So, Lu Yan gently knocked on the door.
Large beads of sweat dripped from the monitor's temples. His eyes almost became vertical pupils, heart pounding violently.
The next second, the door made a creaking sound –
Lu Yan forcefully unlocked the door and walked in.
The room was extremely simple, with only a bed, a desk, and a copy of "Doctrine of Paradise." There wasn't even a bathroom.
The monitor heard the intruder make a surprised noise, "Aren't you here?"
Then came the gradually receding footsteps, accompanied by the sound of the door closing.
The monitor breathed a sigh of relief, waited for a long time, and only then, with the hot sweat on his back cooled, did he slowly crawl out from under the bed.
However, at the moment his head peeked out from under the bed, his smile froze on his face.
Lu Yan squatted on the edge of the bed, looking down at him. In his silver eyes, a red moon faintly glowed, "You've come out."
[Talent 14 - Mind Reshaping]
The monitor, 37 years old, probably had a stronger psychic threshold than Song Jingchen, causing Lu Yan's computer to lag occasionally.
He accessed the monitor's memories, replacing the beliefs inside with a single click. He also added some common knowledge of human society and their plans for divine realm actions.
By the time he exited, the monitor's expression towards him was filled with fanaticism and devotion.
"My Lord."
He knelt on the ground, wanting to kiss Lu Yan's toe, but quickly got deterred by the unhidden killing intent in Lu Yan's eyes, remaining motionless.
Lu Yan brought these shoes to the divine realm. If they got licked dirty, there would be no replacements.
The monitor, with tearful eyes, pleaded, "My Lord, enduring humiliation and hardship, I've survived in the divine realm for over thirty years, finally awaiting your arrival. I can't bear to stay in this filthy world any longer. For the trust of those heretics, my sins over the years are too numerous to mention. I am deserving of death. I request you to bestow endless purgatory upon this sinful land, burning it along with me."
After these people turned into believers, their speech all transformed into a similar tone. However, due to Song Jingchen's good looks, his tearful expression barely fell within Lu Yan's tolerance. As for the monitor, Lu Yan interrupted him halfway, saying, "Summon the other teachers."
It took him half an hour to complete the mental reshaping. Though these individuals had relatively low psychic thresholds, reshaping the minds of dozens of them in succession left Lu Yan feeling somewhat fatigued.
Accessing the memories of the monitor, ensuring no one was overlooked, Lu Yan opened his earpiece and informed Ning Huai, "You can come in now."
Ning Huai entered with two teammates, swaggering in from the door. They were all labeled as "heretics" on the divine realm's internal wanted list, marked for extermination by the believers. However, these brainwashed lineage members showed no reaction upon seeing Ning Huai and others.
The monitor even lowered his head and greeted, "Welcome, esteemed guests of the Sea God Church."
Meng Hu, patting his arm's goosebumps, commented, "Truly the strongest psychic talent. The effect is terrifying."
[This is because faith occupies a significant part in the hearts of these lineage members. It's just that the object of faith has changed from the Primeval to you.]
According to tradition, every year on October 10th, selected "outstanding students" from various schools would be sent to the divine realm. This school had five slots. The four of them, along with Song Jingchen, made up the perfect number.
The monitor appeared anxious about this, "My Lord, I can indeed send you all to the divine realm, but the other three are wanted criminals. Once they're discovered, they won't even be able to enter the hunting grounds."
Ning Huai turned to White Wolf, "This matter is easily solved. White Wolf."
White Wolf had a talent called Lava. While not as extraordinary as Purgatory, it could convert blood into magma, causing minimal harm to high-contamination pollutants. However, burning someone's face with high temperature was more than enough.
They had narrowly escaped death numerous times; ruining their appearances was a minor issue. Additionally, harbinger's strong self-healing ability meant facial injuries would likely recover in a few months.
Even if they didn't, it didn't matter. Ning Huai had already cast aside concerns for life and death, so a face was not something to care about.
The appearance of a burned patient was indeed terrifying and grotesque, reminding Lu Yan inappropriately of Zong Yan.
On the eve of their departure to the divine realm, Lu Yan divided his special medications and sedatives into four, handing them to the other members. He had a Hellfire, for convenience, he didn't bring a bow but a gun.
The last issue was the absence of the stripe code on their necks, exclusive to believers.
The system provided concise guidance, "Human skin paper."
This piece of human skin paper had been recycled many times, now somewhat dirty. Lu Yan found it somewhat distasteful, but with no other choice, he used a dagger to divide it into four, then meticulously copied four stripe codes with a black marker.
His hands were steady, the lines he drew were straight, creating lifelike stripe codes.
The human skin paper, drained of its last bit of value, was attached to the necks of the four harbingers, quivering slightly before seamlessly merging with their original skin.
Unable to resist curiosity, Ning Huai asked, "How do you know everything? I haven't even asked how you found the Cangqiong Base..."
Other pollutants had been wandering nearby for many years, never discovering the existence of a survivor base.
Lu Yan replied nonchalantly, "I've seen others' memories." After all, he already had Talent 14. This explanation seemed reasonable.
Ning Huai reluctantly accepted this explanation.
Upon seeing Lu Yan again, Song Jingchen appeared very excited. Tears filled his eyes as he said, "I knew you wouldn't abandon me."
Though Song Jingchen was a harbinger, due to not deliberately strengthening and training, his psychic threshold was only a bit over seven hundred. This, combined with his early awakening and decent talent, made him a favored target for pollutants in the hunting grounds.
Lu Yan sighed, "In the hunting grounds, I can't always ensure your safety. You have to find a way to hide on your own."
Song Jingchen nodded solemnly, then asked curiously, "What is the hunting ground?"
"It's your coming-of-age ceremony."
During the coming-of-age ceremony, outstanding students from over ninety schools would be sent to the deserted area. This time, it was an abandoned industrial zone, previously a food industrial area with the largest snack factory on Changjia Island.
Due to no one working there, most machines were covered in rust. Many useful parts had been dismantled and sent to processing plants.
During the coming-of-age ceremony, the bodies of the hunted lineage members would be consumed by pollutants, and their souls would enter the Central Shrine to become nourishment for the Primeval.
The Primeval had just suffered heavy damage and urgently needed energy replenishment. Therefore, this time's hunting grounds not only included lineage members but also "heretics" gathered from other survivor bases.
The divine realm was located in the central region of Changjia Island, with the Central Shrine being the very center where the Primeval's essence resided.
According to the system's description, the Central Shrine was like a massive control room.
The school bus stopped at the entrance of the deserted area, where a few people were waiting at the edge, long-awaiting their arrival.
The monitor presented his pass: "34th High School."
The lineage members guarding the gate glanced at the codes on the students' necks, asking casually, "Why are there three so ugly?"
"There was a fire when they were young."
So, these people nodded slightly, opening the access control, "Go in, the noble ones of the divine clan have been waiting for you."
The gate slowly closed behind them. Ning Huai took out a sedative from his bag, lit it, and his hands trembled slightly, "I've been waiting for this day for a long time too."
Lu Yan remained silent, pulling out his gun from his leg.
The Fifth Research Institute, also known as the Military Factory. Naturally, he bought the best gun available.
The system whistled, "[Awaken, the hunting hour has come.]"
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