Chapter 61

Chapter 61

His uncle had arrived.

Lu Mingxuan’s tightly wound nerves relaxed, and his already exhausted body could no longer hold on, swaying and beginning to fall.

Lu Yanzhou, who had arrived a moment later, caught him.

Without a word, the uncle-nephew pair moved in sync, their gazes following Lin Juan, who was kicking monsters across the arena.

Having just fought the monsters, Lu Mingxuan understood better than anyone how tough they were to handle. Before, he only knew that Lin Juan was strong, but now, he had a concrete understanding of just how powerful he was.

It was a strength he could never hope to match, even with all his might.

In that moment, his admiration for Lin Juan reached new heights.

His uncle was truly fortunate—by a random marriage, he ended up with such a strong and beautiful partner.

Heh, the Lu family had pretty good luck too. Having someone so powerful as his uncle—just thinking about it made him feel fortunate.

With Lin Juan’s arrival, the monsters could no longer harm anyone.

Among the rescued, some were injured, while those who were unharmed or lightly injured took it upon themselves to maintain order, so Lin Juan wouldn't have to worry.

Lu Yanzhou and Lu Mingxuan also joined in maintaining order.

Before long, the ground and walls were littered with monsters.

To prevent the monsters from harming anyone, Lin Juan either smashed them to death or knocked them unconscious. In short, every monster he struck was rendered completely immobile.

Monsters continued to emerge from the void, but compared to before, their numbers had noticeably thinned.

There was no helping it—no matter how fast they appeared, they were no match for the speed of Lin Juan's kicks.

After knocking out the last monster, Lin Juan cast a casual glance at a monster halfway out of the void, larger than any before.

His seemingly light gaze felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, making the monster freeze. Under Lin Juan’s stare, it gradually pulled back.

“We won!!”

“The boss is so strong!”

“Kill the monsters!”

From the moment Lin Juan appeared, the tide of the battle turned. The humans, who had been toyed with and slaughtered by the monsters, shook off their despair and spontaneously joined the mopping-up effort.

Armed with makeshift weapons, they used whatever strength they had left to descend on any stirring monster, kicking and punching to vent their accumulated anger and fear.

They looked at the long-haired young man at the center, who had single-handedly turned the tide, as if witnessing a deity’s descent.

Lin Juan walked up to the monster that had mostly retreated into the void and, ignoring its terrified expression, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, dragged it out, and smashed it to the ground.

The monster didn’t even have time to scream before losing consciousness.

Lin Juan scanned the area. Faint cracks still appeared in the air, but no monster dared to emerge from them again.

His brutal efficiency had deeply shocked the monsters in the void.

Without Lin Juan having to search for them, Lu Yanzhou and Lu Mingxuan approached him.

As a superpower holder, Lu Mingxuan’s recovery speed had greatly improved. In just a short while, most of his strength had returned, though his appearance was still a mess.

Holding his wooden great scythe, he exclaimed excitedly, “Uncle, I’ve awakened my superpower!”

“I saw,” Lin Juan said, patting his head as if he were an eager dog. “You did very well.”

“Heh,” Lu Mingxuan chuckled foolishly.

After his chuckle, he remembered the important matter: “Uncle, have monsters appeared elsewhere?”

“Everywhere else is normal. Before the monsters appeared here, did anything unusual happen?”

When Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou received Lu Mingxuan’s call for help, they were on the second floor eating—mostly Lin Juan, while Lu Yanzhou helped him with the food.

Knowing Lu Mingxuan wouldn’t joke about such a thing, Lin Juan immediately headed to the location Lu Mingxuan mentioned.

Not wanting to leave Lu Yanzhou alone, Lin Juan brought him along.

The convention venue was large, and it took Lin Juan and Lu Yanzhou some time to find the spot Lu Mingxuan had described.

Even before getting close, they could hear the sounds of fighting and piercing screams.

Strangely, everyone else seemed oblivious.

When Lin Juan tried to enter, he encountered some resistance. Anxious to save people, he ignored what was blocking him, broke through forcefully, and rushed in.

Fortunately, he arrived in time. Although Lu Mingxuan was injured, it wasn’t life-threatening.

“Unusual things…” Lu Mingxuan tried hard to recall. “I was taking photos with cosplayers here the whole time. I only noticed the monsters after hearing the screams. It seemed like the screams initially came from over there.”

Lu Mingxuan pointed in a certain direction.

Lin Juan checked his wounds. There were many, but the bleeding had stopped. Pressing on the largest wound on his shoulder blade, Lin Juan said, “The blood is blackish-red—it might be poisoned. You need to get to a hospital quickly.”

Even with Lin Juan’s light touch, Lu Mingxuan hissed in pain. “It probably is poisoned. When I was scratched, I felt dizzy and my vision went black. But now I seem fine. Uncle, let’s deal with the situation here first.”

Where did these monsters come from?

Was this a new supernatural incident?

Why was there no warning?

After taking a few steps, several injured young people, supporting each other, approached. They first thanked Lin Juan and Lu Mingxuan, then hesitantly asked, “Boss, can we leave now?”

Unaware of the situation outside, no one dared to leave directly. Though dangerous, this place had the boss. They had seen with their own eyes how he single-handedly made the monsters wail and lose all resistance. Staying with the boss at least ensured their safety. What if there were monsters outside? Wouldn’t they be walking into a death trap?

They were all loyal fans of "Reverse Time" and knew all too well how terrifying these monsters were.

“By the way, boss, these monsters look exactly like the ones from a horror novel we’ve been following. Could there be more monsters at the convention?”

“A horror novel?” Lin Juan was surprised. He had sensed a strong supernatural presence here, but if these people said the monsters matched those in a novel, could this incident be related to the book?

“Yes, yes,” several chimed in, describing the monsters’ features and emphasizing how identical they were to the book’s descriptions.

“In the book, the main characters only found a way to deal with these monsters near the end…” The speaker glanced at Lin Juan. The boss’s strength was just too authoritative.

Because they understood the horror of the monsters in the book, they had felt utterly hopeless facing them. There were no protagonists in real life—they were just ordinary people. How could they possibly survive against monsters even the protagonists struggled with?

Having plunged into an abyss of despair, they saw Lin Juan.

Through his actions, Lin Juan showed them that even though there are no protagonists in the real world, there are still people capable of dealing with monsters.

And his power was even more terrifying.

Watching Lin Juan brutally beat the monsters, they were first stunned, then bewildered, and finally, they calmed down.

Yeah, right!

As if they could stay calm!

That was the "Wenjian"—the very monster that had nearly wiped out the entire main cast in the novel—yet this young man was kicking them aside effortlessly, one after another?

The book fans were collectively questioning their sanity.

"There are no monsters outside."

Lin Juan’s words made everyone’s eyes light up with hope.

If there were no monsters outside, did that mean they could leave?

Even with a pro like him around, they still wanted to escape to a safer place.

It's basic human instinct.

"However," Lin Juan's tone shifted, "when I came in, I encountered an invisible barrier. As I approached, I could hear the sounds of fighting inside. It was strange—people outside seemed completely unaware, with no reaction at all."

If the sound had gotten out, the event organizers would have sent someone to check, and someone would have called the police, causing a commotion. Yet when Lin Juan was on the second floor, everything below appeared perfectly normal.

"It’s the 'Boundary'!" Lu Mingxuan smacked his hands together. "In the novel, every time the 'Wenjian' appears, they first create a specialized hunting space. The characters in the book call it the 'Boundary.' The 'Boundary' separates the inside from the outside and is extremely difficult to break."

"Exactly! It’s even harder to break from the outside than from the inside. You arrived so quickly—it must have taken a lot of effort to break the 'Boundary' from the outside, right?"

Was it difficult?

Lin Juan thought back. He'd been in too much of a rush at the time and barged straight in. He hadn't seemed to use much effort.

He turned to look at Lu Yanzhou, who he'd been dragging along until they entered and saw Lu Mingxuan struggling alone, at which point he let go.

Lin Juan tilted his head back slightly and asked in a low voice, "Did you feel any resistance when you came in?"

"No." Lu Yanzhou hadn’t felt anything at all.

A few people, too anxious to wait, tried to leave but returned shortly after, looking dejected.

"We can’t get out. No matter which way we go, we always end up back here." The man said despairingly. Were they going to be trapped here forever?

He glanced at Lin Juan, his lips moving as if he wanted to ask Lin Juan to help him escape. But remembering the terrifying power Lin Juan had just displayed, he swallowed his words.

Better not, he thought. He should just wait. If the expert wasn’t in a hurry, there was no benefit in annoying him.

"What other monsters are in this novel?" Lin Juan asked as he walked in the direction Lu Mingxuan had pointed.

"There are many." Lu Mingxuan listed everything he knew, not wasting breath on the easier ones and focusing on a few that were particularly difficult to deal with.

"Besides the 'Wenjian,' there’s also a monster that looks like a giant scorpion, a sea urchin covered in tentacles, a giant sandworm..."

"These things are very likely to appear here," Lin Juan warned.

Lu Mingxuan was startled. "Could that book be based on a true story? No wonder the descriptions of the monsters felt so realistic. Uncle, do you think the author might know something?"

"I’m not sure if the author is aware, but I do know that the pollution readings here are off the charts. There’s probably a more powerful anomaly lurking in the shadows."

Lin Juan paused. "Based on the pollution level I sense, this anomaly is at least B-grade."

Because of Lin Juan, the Lu family, though not awakened to superpowers, had some understanding of anomalies. Lu Mingxuan understood what Lin Juan meant.

The ground was stained with dark blood—some from humans, some from monsters. Skirting around the monster corpses, they saw a person lying on the ground.

This could no longer be called human.

Monster-like skin had grown over her limbs, and one of her hands had been replaced by a monster’s sharp claw. She lay on the ground, occasionally twitching, indicating she was still alive.

Not far away, a girl was curled up in a ball.

Aside from her, there was no one else.

Hearing footsteps, Zhou Tiantian looked up. Her eyes were red, and she looked terrified, like a frightened rabbit.

"It’s you!" Seeing Lu Mingxuan, Zhou Tiantian’s eyes lit up with intense relief.

"Do you know her?" Lin Juan asked Lu Mingxuan.

Lu Mingxuan looked confused. "No, I don’t."

"I know him. He saved me earlier." Realizing her words might cause trouble for her rescuer, Zhou Tiantian quickly explained.

Before Lin Juan arrived, Lu Mingxuan had saved many people. His only goal at the time was to rescue as many as possible, and he hadn’t bothered to remember what they looked like.

As long as he confirmed he was saving a human, that was enough.

Lin Juan guessed that this girl might know something. Cutting straight to the point, he asked, "Do you know what happened when the monsters first appeared?"

"I do." Zhou Tiantian took a deep breath. She could never forget—after all, the first monster had crawled out of thin air right before her eyes.

And there was Xiao Ling, who had become so strange...

Thinking of Xiao Ling, Zhou Tiantian urgently pleaded, "Sir, please save Xiao Ling! She suddenly turned like this. Is she going to become a monster?"

Zhou Tiantian didn’t dare get any closer.

Lin Juan walked over, crouched down, and examined the girl on the ground.

The pollution level on her was very high. Lin Juan didn’t have a pollution detector with him, but based on the concentration he sensed, the pollution on this girl was higher than anywhere else nearby.

"She’s contaminated and showing signs of mutation. Has anything strange happened to her recently?"

"Her cosplay outfit was mysteriously ruined—does that count?" Zhou Tiantian thought about it carefully. The only strange thing that had happened to Xiao Ling was her inexplicably damaged clothes and props.

She recounted the events of the previous night in detail—the clothes that were ruined for no reason, the outfit suddenly soaked by an unknown liquid. Now, it all seemed highly suspicious.

"Where are those clothes now?" Lin Juan asked.

"At the hotel."

The clothes were definitely suspicious. Could the source be linked to them?

Without seeing the clothes, Lin Juan couldn’t be sure.

"I'll take you out first." Lin Juan glanced at the clothes, needing to confirm whether the issue lay with them.

Half an hour earlier, at the Paranormal Special Affairs Office.

A superpower holder monitoring pollution levels across various locations suddenly stood up: "We've got a problem! The pollution levels at Yujia Sports Center on the Third Ring Road are rising at an abnormal rate!"

They knew this pattern well—usually, an abnormal spike in pollution levels indicated the emergence of an Anomaly in that area.

Monitoring fluctuations in pollution levels was meant to detect Anomalies as early as possible, to resolve them quickly and minimize casualties.

The pollution monitoring stations were developed through a collaboration between the Paranormal Special Affairs Office and Yaoxing Technology. With high accuracy, they were gradually being deployed across China.

As the Anomaly appeared, the Paranormal Special Affairs Office snapped into action.

"Evacuate the crowd first. Was there any event at Yujia Sports Center today?" Director Liu asked.

"Yes," replied the person answering, his expression grim. "There’s a large-scale comic con today, with a huge crowd inside."

"According to the monitoring data, there’s an 80% chance the Anomaly at Yujia Sports Center is a Class B Anomaly, and a 20% chance it’s a Class A Anomaly."

"Goddammit, why are these Anomalies getting stronger and stronger?!"

"Move fast! Contact the police to evacuate the crowd. Be careful with your wording to avoid causing panic."

Orders rained down in rapid succession. The team assigned to this mission was led by Su Xingchen.

This mission was especially tough.

The strength of the Anomaly was one reason; the other was the huge crowd at the location where the Anomaly appeared.

They had experience dealing with Class A Anomalies, but those were in remote, sparsely populated areas. Even if the Anomaly at the sports center was only Class B, the large number of people there would significantly increase the difficulty of the rescue mission.

Zhuang Yufeng was also on the rescue team.

When the Paranormal Special Affairs Office arrived at the sports center, the police, who had been notified in advance, were already evacuating the crowd.

"That area is likely the epicenter of the Anomaly outbreak," Zhuang Yufeng said with a grave expression.

The evacuation included not only the sports center but also the surrounding areas.

Su Xingchen led the superpower holders inside.

The evacuation had been rushed, leaving the sports center in chaos—booths and cosplay props were scattered everywhere.

In the empty hall, the sound of their own footsteps echoed.

"Something's there!"

A faint ripping noise was heard. The superpower holder who heard it looked up and was horrified to see a tear opening in the empty space above them, from which sharp claws emerged.

Next came a claw with bluish-gray skin.

After the entire large claw emerged from the rift, it gripped one side of the tear and tore it open with force.

The tear widened infinitely, and a grotesque monster crawled out from the opening.

"Roar!"

With a deafening roar, the entire building shook.

"Everyone, be careful!"

"Over here too!"

As the first monster crawled out, cracks began to appear in the void where there should have been nothing. The cracks were torn open from the inside, and lizard-like monsters emerged one after another.

They were countless times larger than ordinary lizards, with a pair of crimson compound eyes on their heads and sharp fangs protruding, radiating unnatural energy.

Their long, thick tongues flicked out as the lizard monsters clung to the ceiling, their greedy eyes fixed on the superpower holders.

To them, the superpower holders were tasty morsels.

The first lizard monster moved.

It lunged downward from above but was destroyed by a superpower before reaching them.

A second and third monster dropped from the ceiling.

The superpower holders launched their attacks, coordinating seamlessly to gain the upper hand.

Realizing their prey was not easy to deal with, the lizard monsters held back their assault, swinging their massive tails as they slowly retreated.

Su Xingchen led the team forward. Along the way, they encountered various bizarre-looking creatures, none of which were particularly strong. They made good progress until they reached the location mentioned by the police.

According to the police, there was an invisible wall here.

Su Xingchen stopped and reached out to feel ahead.

After a certain distance, his hand touched something unseen.

He halted his movement.

Based on the police headcount, there were at least forty people inside.

Forty ordinary people, trapped at the epicenter of the Anomaly outbreak—they couldn't bear to think what these people might be facing.

They had to act fast!

Su Xingchen activated his superpower, releasing a chilling aura that caused the indoor temperature to plummet dramatically.

The invisible wall froze over and suddenly shattered.

Lin Juan was leading the group out when he felt a chill in the air.

Lu Mingxuan sensed it too and quietly stayed on alert, whispering, "Uncle, are more monsters coming?"

"Not necessarily. It could also be our rescuers."

As soon as he finished speaking, a distortion in the air appeared ahead.

The cold intensified.

Lin Juan looked up as shattered ice fell, and his eyes met those of the people outside the broken ice.

Both sides stood frozen in mutual surprise.

The superpower holders outside couldn't believe their eyes when they saw Lin Juan and his group suddenly appear. They never expected that breaking through the invisible wall would reveal a group of people walking out completely unscathed.

They were prepared for a fierce battle, but instead of a dangerous rescue, they found the victims walking out voluntarily.

"Mr. Lin!" Zhuang Yufeng was the first to regain his composure. Seeing Lin Juan surrounded by the crowd, his face showed pleasant surprise.

With Lin Juan present, it meant the people inside were safe—how could that not bring joy?

"Dr. Zhuang is here too?" Lin Juan moved aside slightly. "Perfect timing, come take a look at this girl’s condition."

Lin Juan had planned to go find Zhuang Yufeng after getting out, but now that he had come on his own, it saved a big step.

Zhuang Yufeng gave Xiao Ling a check-up and purified her contamination inside her body. "Her contamination value is very high. I’ve done a preliminary purification; she should wake up soon."

Su Xingchen asked, "Mr. Lin, why are you here?"

"I dragged my uncle out to hang out," Lu Mingxuan answered before Lin Juan could speak. "I never expected something like this to happen."

Su Xingchen asked, "Did you encounter any monsters?"

Lin Juan replied, "Yes, and Lu Mingxuan even awakened as a superpower holder."

"Not bad, kid." Su Xingchen was surprised and then congratulated him.

In this incident, Lu Mingxuan could be said to have gained the most.

He had experienced several anomalous events before. Generally, those who could become superpower holders would awaken after one such event. Lu Mingxuan had gone through several without awakening, making the chances of him becoming a superpower holder very slim. No one expected him to awaken this time.

"By the way, Dr. Zhuang, could you take a look at Lu Mingxuan too? He was scratched while fighting the monsters earlier."

"Sure." After treating Xiao Ling, Zhuang Yufeng treated Lu Mingxuan.

Not long after, Xiao Ling woke up.

During this time, Lin Juan explained everything that had happened inside.

"A monster born from novel settings?" Zhuang Yufeng had encountered this kind of anomaly in his previous life. "Class A Anomaly [The Imaginer]. This anomaly tends to appear in crowded places, especially when a group of people share the same thoughts. It can change its form and abilities based on people’s imaginations."

"The monsters you encountered were likely evolutions created by [The Imaginer] based on what you imagined. The stronger you imagined them to be, the stronger they became."

Has [The Imaginer] appeared this early?

Zhuang Yufeng remembered that in his previous life, [The Imaginer] appeared two years later. As soon as it emerged, it created a small world based on a popular game, drawing players into it to toy with and devour them.

Thinking of this, Zhuang Yufeng got a headache. The difficulty in dealing with [The Imaginer] lay in its lack of a fixed form, making it hard to locate. He had glanced inside earlier—the monsters there were in a sorry state. Facing a powerful opponent like Lin Juan, [The Imaginer] would likely withdraw and hide.

Once it deliberately conceals itself, finding it again becomes extremely difficult.

As Zhuang Yufeng expected, after searching the area, the contamination levels on the detector slowly returned to normal. The monsters Lin Juan had embedded in the walls and floors suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only large holes.

"So cunning," Lin Juan remarked as he examined the holes. "When escaping, why not fill these pits too?"

"Leaving holes unfilled is just improper, isn’t it?"