Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 615: The Second Wave of Invasion

Boundary Land, East District, located in the dark alley of the old street.

The dim evening light enveloped the alley from above, making the heterogenized streets appear particularly cold. The street-front shops emitted eerie lights, with a strange, almost viscous texture spilling from the windows, as if about to flow to the ground, trembling and writhing in the air. Meanwhile, the tangled mess of wires and strings with colorful small flags hung crisscross above, with strings of lights buzzing and flashing with a psychedelic glow.

Heavy footsteps broke the silence in the dark alley as several towering figures in power armor slowly walked through the narrow lane, eventually stopping in front of an old bookstore to inspect the traces nearby.

Xu Jiali opened the mask of her power armor, frowning as she observed several grooves on the ground.

A slender figure stood beside her, wearing light power armor, with a pair of pointed cat ears on the helmet—spiritual servant Lingdang alertly watched the surroundings. Her vertical pupils expanded in the dim environmental light, reflecting the pervasive thin mist in the alley.

"Boss, my spiritual intuition is warning me, meow..." Jipro Girl's tail bristled inside the power armor, her voice tinged with tension, "This place is a bit unsafe."

"Of course it's unsafe. The danger level here has reached level 3, with two plus signs after it," Xu Jiali said gruffly, "Look at these marks—they're not what should be in the alley. It looks like something heavy was dragged through here, maybe the 'knights' left them."

"Last report didn't mention these," another deep diver remarked beside her, "This could be traces from a few hours ago."

Xu Jiali rubbed her chin, raising her hand to activate some detection devices on her power armor.

Beside her, Lingdang lifted her head, her cat pupil suddenly fixed on a shop across the street.

"Boss, it looks like they sell cans over there, meow~"

Xu Jiali glanced up: "That's a pet store in the dark alley—the cat food inside isn't for you, and you're not really a cat anyway. After work, go back to the dorm and sniff some catnip."

Lingdang grumbled slightly, unclear what she was muttering about, when suddenly several shadows emerged from the shadows of nearby buildings and entered the cat-eared girl's vision.

The shadows had a texture like rubber or plastic, as if emerging abruptly from the walls and ground like sludge, quickly forming the outline of cats, with pale glowing eyes at their heads.

Lingdang instantly let out a "meow," her entire body arched, as the mechanical magic ball in her hand floated into the air, starting to buzz.

Another spiritual servant nearby reacted almost simultaneously, issuing a high-pitched warning as the mechanical magic ball activated: "Attention, meow, entity generation!"

The sounds of guns cocking and shields charging buzzed in the alley, as the deep divers immediately prepared to deal with entities. However, the "cats" that emerged from the opposite corner didn't advance toward them immediately but instead circled around in the dark, their pale, vacant eyes occasionally glancing toward the mist deeper in the alley.

Lingdang's back hunched high, with several sharp claws extending from the power armor gloves, bright arcs of electricity jumping between the alloy claws, and a threatening growl coming from her throat: "meow uuuu——"

But Xu Jiali, who had extensive experience in dark alley operations, suddenly noticed something unusual. Maintaining a vigilant posture, she placed a hand on the shoulder of the spiritual servant: "Hold off, something's not right—these cats aren't showing aggression."

Lingdang continued to grumble in her throat but restrained the impulse to charge and confront the local cats. She operated the floating mechanical magic ball beside her to apply a spiritual energy shield to her boss while nervously eyeing the distance, noticing... the alley seemed to be widening.

"Boss! The alley is getting wider! This was mentioned in the previous intelligence!"

"I've noticed too—everyone stay on guard and confirm the 'umbilical cord' condition!"

Xu Jiali issued orders rapidly, simultaneously observing the "cats" circling in place. After a moment of hesitation, she boldly took two steps forward.

"I'm a friend of Yu Sheng," she recalled the previous intelligence and casually activated the projection device on her arm armor, projecting Yu Sheng's image into the air, "Can you understand? Friend, one of us..."

The deep diving team members widened their eyes at their captain's actions. They had heard about the changes in the dark alley's 'cats,' but seeing it firsthand was a first. Lingdang was tense, her gaze filled with wariness toward the "outside cats."

Then she realized the intelligence was true.

The "cats" calmed down immediately upon seeing Yu Sheng's holographic projection. They even seemed to discuss among themselves with a few meows, then stretched lazily in front of Xu Jiali, lifting a paw to swipe in the air while meowing.

Xu Jiali paused, turning to her spiritual servant: "What are they saying?"

"...How would I know, meow!" Lingdang looked bewildered, "I'm not a real cat!"

Xu Jiali's face twitched, and just as she was about to ask something else, she suddenly saw those few black kittens anxiously scrambling up and down, gesturing and howling towards him.

It was as if they were urgently warning him.

A chill from spiritual intuition suddenly rose from the depths of her heart, and Xu Jiali felt a sharp pain in her mind.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a dozen or more big and small black cats, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, bounding out of nooks and crannies, charging frantically in the street as if frightened. Amid the chaotic clamor of the cats, they dashed and piled into a pitch-black sphere, a heap of paws, tails, and ears writhing on the surface of the ball, which quickly rolled into a nearby old bookstore.

This bizarre scene sharply heightened the alertness within all the Deep Diving Team Members, and Xu Jiali, in particular, felt a distinct killing intent in the chill within his heart—years of combat instincts instantaneously suppressed his thoughts, and without hesitation, he overloaded the joints of his Power Armor, launching himself to the side with a fierce pounce!

A loud noise erupted from the armor joints, and the Power Backpack roared to life. His heavy steel body left an afterimage in the air, and as he leapt, Xu Jiali activated the additional Combat Set on his arm, opening an enhanced Rigid Shield. He then detected sudden distortions appearing in the air.

With his superhuman dynamic vision as a deep diver, he barely caught a glimpse of the figure darting out from the shadowy rift—immediately after, several sharp Fingertip Blades shattered his first layer of Shield and then clawed out sparks of overloaded light on the second layer!

In an instant, several clashes occurred. The Shield flickered violently, and in the moments between recharging the energy barrier, the high-strength alloy of the Power Armor had already been marked with several spark-flashing wounds.

The slender black figure danced like a specter in the air. The moment Xu Jiali landed, another Deep Diving Team Member was kicked flying with a cry of shock—he hadn't even seen how that killing machine changed direction during its attack on him, taking the opportunity to ambush another team member.

At the same time, the heavy footsteps reached everyone's ears, and towering brass-armored figures tore through the thin fog, marching in formation into the Dark Alley...

Xu Jiali flipped himself upright, quickly pulling out a Laser Dagger from the weapon rack on his waist. With his other hand, he raised a Heavy Particle Rifle and unleashed a volley at the brass-armored figures: "Lingdang! Prepare a Spiritual Energy Scream—all units, engage!"

...

"These are the Derivative Star Crystals shipped from Shuji," at the Special Service Bureau headquarters, in a high-security laboratory, Yu Sheng pointed to the mountain of pale crystals on the platform beside him and introduced them to Baili Qing, "They're all excavated from the large cavities in the mantle—the large cavities were originally the 'nutritional sacs' for Inference Star Bodies during the preparation phase for Ascension, and the support structure on their inner walls is made of these crystals. You could say, besides the 'Ascension Body,' these crystals are the closest material to the Inference Star Body's 'essence'."

The technicians in the laboratory behaved as if facing a great enemy, all wearing heavy protective suits. Although Baili Qing wasn't "fully armed" like them, she was surrounded by a protective barrier driven by ancient Dragon Language Magic. Approaching the pale crystals, she appeared very cautious: "Are you certain this thing is stable now?"

"Very stable," Yu Sheng casually patted the things that looked like stones to him, "Let me tell you, this thing, in a sense, is equivalent to my gallstones..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Baili Xue's voice, who was hiding discreetly in a corner of the laboratory, drifted into his ears: "That metaphor is a bit painful, you know..."

Yu Sheng: "Equivalent to my Shariputra..."

Baili Qing coughed twice, signaling that Yu Sheng's metaphor was good but didn't need continuation.

"I know most people are a bit neurotic about things left by the Dark Angel, but the Angel Relics I've 'converted' are indeed harmless, especially these crystals buried underground in Shuji; essentially, they're a specially recast mineral," Yu Sheng touched the tip of his nose and patiently explained, "And correspondingly, as long as some 'technical means' are used, this thing is very suitable for making 'Angel Catalyst'—firstly, they don't belong to any known mineral, and relatively speaking, this peculiarity doesn't easily expose itself immediately. Secondly, this thing has a high affinity with the 'World Bridge'..."

He looked at Baili Qing at this point without explicitly stating it, but she clearly understood the implication of his words.

Originally, Yu Sheng had not planned to use these crystal fragments from underground Shuji as fake bait. After all, these things had completely shed the characteristics of the Dark Angel and were no different from ordinary minerals. However, the affinity displayed between the Derivative Star Giant Tree and the World Bridge gave him new ideas after returning from the cathedral.

In the cathedral in the Soul Wilderness, the World Bridge had already regenerated on the 'Derivative Star Crystal Tree,' inspiring Yu Sheng. He believed that whether it was creating fake 'World Bridge Fragments' or adding 'extra ingredients' into the fakes, these Derivative Star Crystals from Shuji might be excellent base materials.

As for how to make the fakes appear more real, so that the finished products could elude the eyes of the Hidden Monastery Sect, this was obviously a matter for technical experts to consider.

Baili Qing nodded gently.

"Let's begin," she looked towards the lab staff clad in heavy protective gear on the scene, "Remember, although there's no contamination, caution is still needed."

"Yes, Director!"