AITAMITB Chapter 141

The outside world wasn’t completely without information about Zhao Xiaokui and the others.

Before leaving, they found a Gypsy witch and, using the methods of the Dark Council, conducted a ritual to determine their status—whether it was life or death, health or severe injury.

The Domain is currently occupied by evil gods, presenting an overall state of darkness. Normal means cannot penetrate it, but these dark arts come in handy. In the past two months, the person in charge of observation was anxious every day, but there haven’t been any major issues with Zhao Xiaokui and the others.

Until today.

“When did this happen?” hastily asked Sheng Boming, who rushed over.

Among the seven humanoid statues, three of them now had cracks, indicating severe injuries. Additionally, all seven statues, originally entirely white, were more or less turning slightly black, a manifestation of their spiritual bodies being tainted by the evil gods’ power—evidence of contamination.

However, the most horrifying was Zhao Xiaokui’s statue.

Her statue was a mermaid leaping out of the water, intricately carved by the sculptor’s skillful hands. Every scale was meticulously crafted, making it appear lifelike as if she would come alive the next moment, leaping out of the water with the sound of splashing.

But now, the statue had inexplicably gained many black chains, as if something had bound her.

“It happened just a moment ago, at around two minutes past midnight!”

Messages from within the Domain couldn’t get out, and messages from outside couldn’t get in.

Watching the anomaly on Zhao Xiaokui’s statue, everyone’s expressions became somewhat solemn, but no one spoke.

Zhao Xiaokui and the other six were among the seven most outstanding individuals in humanity.

It’s not that there weren’t more exceptional individuals, but there wasn’t a better combination.

If they couldn’t complete the mission, if they couldn’t break through the Domain from the inside out, and the United Nations and others were forced to launch an attack from outside against the Domain, the cost to be paid would be far more than a thousand or ten thousand times more complicated than it seemed.

Perhaps the entire civilization of humanity would regress as a result.

…

Zhao Xiaokui recalled the books she had read—

In the historical records of the Extraordinary World, the “Extremely Dark Era” lasted for over ten thousand years.

During these tens of thousands of years, human civilization experienced no development. Like the real-world society where Zhao Xiaokui lived, they completed the agricultural revolution, transitioning from a nomadic gathering society to an agricultural society, but for a whole ten thousand years, there was no technological or extraordinary revolution.

The reason was simple—because of the existence of those evil gods.

These evil gods came from the previous civilization, sneaking through rifts in time and space. They were self-proclaimed as kings, occupied large territories, and treated the just-emerged-from-ignorance humans as slaves. From birth to death, people rarely experience the emotion of happiness.

The oppression of the evil gods on humans even prevented the establishment of the hierarchical classes typical of feudal societies. Except for a handful of lucky individuals who became lackeys, the vast majority of people were slaves.

Classes only emerged after the Extremely Dark Era disappeared.

Because in the Extremely Dark Era’s absolute power environment, there were only two classes—evil gods and humans.

“You’re wondering how the Extremely Dark Era ended, right?”

A chilly finger pointed at Zhao Xiaokui’s forehead, and the cold sensation made her shiver.

It was an empty room.

Four walls and a bed.

A girl with seaweed-like long hair was restrained on the ice-cold bed by several pitch-black iron chains. She was completely naked, her legs had turned into a fish tail, tightly pressed down by the iron chains.

Zhao Xiaokui, with dark golden pupils, looked at the woman standing by the bed.

She was a rather tall woman.

Zhao Xiaokui’s current height is around 1.8 meters, quite outstanding among ordinary people. However, it still couldn’t compare to the oppressive feeling brought by this woman’s stature.

She was very slender and pale, so thin that her cheeks were sunken, revealing high cheekbones. Her face was unnaturally white, gloomy, and carried a certain pathological quality as if layers of powder had been applied. This metaphor was used because her complexion truly looked unnatural, melancholic, and somewhat diseased.

“What do you want, Loisette?”

Loisette, precisely the evil god who kept all substitutes in the laboratory, appeared exceptionally up-to-date.

Zhao Xiaokui and her team successfully found substitutes, and killed the guards, but fell into her trap.

“Let me think… Let me think…” Loisette used her long black nails to tap on her temple, pretending to ponder. She circled Zhao Xiaokui’s bed, suddenly bringing her face close to hers. “The key is, what can you offer me, right?”

Zhao Xiaokui tried not to provoke her. “As long as I can offer what you desire.”

“I know… you want to escape. I also know you want to kill me, but it’s okay, it’s okay. Really, it’s okay. People who want to kill me are too many, too many. I can’t even count how many there are, but every time, I mean every time, every time they have never succeeded. This… it’s really regrettable.” Loisette opened her arms, speaking in a tone of lament. Towards the end, she even hugged herself, portraying a self-pitying appearance.

Simply based on appearance, Loisette was indeed a quite charming woman.

When she feigned a pitiable look, it could indeed evoke a bit of sympathy from others.

But Zhao Xiaokui remained completely cautious and was not swayed by her allure. Contrary to popular belief, opposing someone with power wasn’t frightening at all.

There’s nothing to fear about having intelligent people as enemies.

What’s terrifying is when the enemy not only wields immense power but is also intelligent and insane.

The evil gods that Zhao Xiaokui and her team have hunted down so far were either arrogant and conceited, like petty individuals who become arrogant when they achieve success, or timid and cowardly, resembling frightened mice with shattered courage. However, encountering a crazy woman like Loisette was a first for them.

Listening to her words, Zhao Xiaokui tried to extract useful information. After a moment, she asked somewhat incredulously, “Are you longing for death?”

Loisette looked at Zhao Xiaokui, blinked her deep eye sockets, and exaggeratedly praised, “You’re really smart.”

“You know I can’t do what you’re asking…” Zhao Xiaokui understood, of course, that when Loisette mentioned death, it wasn’t like dealing with the previous evil gods by cleanly removing their necks and getting rid of their earthly bodies. Loisette’s intention was for Zhao Xiaokui to grant her true tranquility, to escape from the fissures of time and space.

“I’ll kill you if you can’t do it!”

Loisette’s tone was calm, but it sent shivers down Zhao Xiaokui’s spine for no apparent reason.

Zhao Xiaokui immediately responded, “I seem to have a way!”

She hesitated very briefly.

Facing such an obviously deranged individual who was clearly on a different level, there was no shame in being cautious from the heart.

Zhao Xiaokui didn’t believe that it was the time for her to sacrifice herself. If Loisette hadn’t killed her immediately, it meant there was room for reversal.

“I knew it, I knew it, you must be able to do it… there’s nothing you can’t do…” Loisette became happy again, conjuring a chair out of thin air and sitting next to Zhao Xiaokui. “You want to know how the Dark Ages ended, right? Let me tell you; I’ve personally experienced several Dark Ages.”

…

The special ops team of seven people had three heavily injured, three lightly injured, and one captured.

In an empty room, Park Huiya tightened the bandages and poured a liquid potion into the mouth of the unconscious teammate. Then she turned to Hill and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Hill gritted his teeth, cut off the rotting flesh with a dagger, and, seeing fresh red blood flow, sprayed the wound with a hemostatic spray. The moment the potion touched the wound, a fierce and intense pain struck, distorting the expression of this seemingly tough man in an instant.

“What should we do next?” Park Huiya asked, feeling a bit lost.

After several months of interaction, Zhao Xiaokui had become the core figure in the team. Without her, Park Huiya felt like she had lost crucial support, and everything around her now seemed filled with danger, a perception she had not felt before in the anomalous domain.

“The most important thing now is to focus on healing. At least wait for the three of them to wake up before deciding the next steps. We are a complete team, and none of us can afford to lose anyone. With the strength of the gods inside the anomaly, splitting up is not an option; none of us can handle them alone,” Lin Bai analyzed calmly. Before coming, they had indeed formulated operational plans in case a teammate got separated or died, but after encountering several gods, everyone realized that those theoretical plans were not practical.

Currently, the highest-ranking superhuman in human society is a level six, or more precisely, a level six pinnacle.

Throughout their journey, they had not encountered gods surpassing level six, but with the anomaly’s enhancement and being superorganisms far exceeding level six, these gods were much stronger than an ordinary level six. If Zhao Xiaokui hadn’t devised a reasonable plan to weaken and divide them, likely, they wouldn’t have stood a chance against even a single god.

After Lin Bai finished speaking, the atmosphere in the air fell silent.

No one spoke. Except for the three severely injured members, the others simply leaned against the wall with their eyes closed.

The recent events played like a nightmare in each person’s mind.

They successfully penetrated the lab’s defenses, rescued the fate substitutes, and then—

It was the terrifying woman.

She wore a black long dress, resembling a witch from a fairy tale, smiling as she approached them. Time seemed to freeze, and everyone could only watch helplessly as she waved her hand lightly, throwing someone far away as if discarding something unimportant.

The first to be attacked was Ye Ying, who had infiltrated near her.

Next was Arthur, who had erected a barrier, and Sucha, capable of directly inflicting effective attacks on evil gods.

The three of them almost fell to the ground simultaneously, unconscious and unresponsive.

Then Zhao Xiaokui rushed forward—

Its eyes lit up the moment it saw Zhao Xiaokui.

Zhao Xiaokui’s resistance didn’t yield very effective results. Unlike the person thrown away, she received the treatment of being grabbed by the neck and lifted up.

“Aha, look what I’ve got here, a living golden mermaid!”

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