Chapter 120
Chapter 120: Three Flowers Converge at the Crown (Part 2)
Huaxia Nation's Second Base, the conference hall.
Shen Lian stood at the podium, the large screen behind her displaying materials.
Below the stage, Wan Changzheng, Zhao Yan, and a crowd of senior officials sat upright, listening attentively.
Because there was no need to elaborate on why the Divine Fetus had to be eliminated.
The upper echelons of Huaxia Nation had decided to brief all bases on the knowledge surrounding this creature.
"The Divine Fetus."
Shen Lian's voice was cool and clear.
"Born upon the World Tree in the Twilight Forest."
"In its initial infant form, it has a gentle and lively personality—just like an obedient, clingy little child."
She pressed the remote, and an image appeared on the screen.
It was a small figure with a bullseye drawn on its face.
"However, do not be deceived by their appearance."
"The self-preservation abilities they are born with are terrifying beyond measure."
"Not the slightest bit weaker than monsters that have already entered the Black-White State."
"Our Think Tank has designated this initial infant form of the Divine Fetus as 【Void】."
"The meaning being that they are like newborn infants."
"Pure and untainted."
She continued switching slides.
"Its primary distinguishing features are the origin-point-based face, which comes with 3 abilities."
"First—the Bullseye Face state."
A small figure with a bullseye on its face appeared on the screen.
"In this state, it generates a simplified domain that nullifies superpowers."
"Second—the Spiral Face state."
A small figure with a spiral on its face appeared on the screen.
"In this state, it can absorb attacks and food, converting them into its own energy to replenish stamina."
The audience below nodded repeatedly, taking notes.
"Third…"
Shen Lian's voice grew grave.
"Also, the most terrifying."
She said nothing more, and instead pressed the remote.
A 3-dimensional coordinate system appeared on the large screen—the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis.
And beside the coordinate system was a portrait of the Divine Fetus.
The portrait looked very similar to the coordinate axes on screen, yet something was missing.
Only the X-axis and Y-axis.
No Z-axis.
Below the stage, everyone rose to their feet.
A single terrifying thought surfaced simultaneously in all their minds.
For a 3-dimensional object—if any one of its axes were removed, what would happen?
……
Seattle Mercy Hospital, 19th floor.
"So this is the Divine Fetus?"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord studied Quanquan with boundless curiosity.
He spun the Dead-Energy Revolver in his hand.
"Though I don't fully understand your specific operational mechanics yet—no matter."
"Once I get my hands on you, I'll have plenty of time to take you apart piece by piece and study you properly."
The words had barely fallen when he raised the gun again!
Bang! Bang!
2 successive gunshots rang out!
2 dead-energy bullets came screaming toward Guo Shuai and Quanquan!
Not only that—the Thousand-Face Demon Lord also broke into a stride, closing in on the 2 of them step by step.
His intent was to shorten the distance and release Ten Thousand Blades to shred them completely!
"Let's see you dodge this time."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord let out a cold laugh.
Guo Shuai sucked in a sharp breath.
The boss wasn't here.
He couldn't leech off the top—so he'd have to leech off the bottom!
"Quanquan! Dad's—pfft, Daddy's life is entirely in your hands!"
Guo Shuai bellowed in desperation.
"It's all up to Quanquan! Protect Daddy!"
The little one heard the call and immediately let out a shout.
Then, Quanquan's originally tiny frame began to swell!
"What the—?"
Guo Shuai stared dumbstruck at the back that was rapidly blocking his entire field of vision.
The sudden development startled even the Thousand-Face Demon Lord, and he instinctively halted his advance.
In the blink of an eye, Quanquan's height shot up to a staggering 1.4 meters or so!
And that face—formerly the Bullseye Face—underwent another violent transformation!
Using the very center origin point as its anchor.
2 black straight lines crossed over its face, forming a cross-shaped XY coordinate axis!
In the 0.1 seconds after the coordinate axis took shape.
Those 2 dead-energy bullets had already come screaming right up to its face.
"The Diversity of the Origin Point, the Vanishing of the Z-Axis…"
Quanquan's voice rang out in an ethereal, resonant tone.
In an instant, a wave of fluctuation rippled outward with Quanquan as its epicenter.
Those 2 dead-energy bullets—incredibly—came to a halt less than half an inch from the tip of Quanquan's nose.
Then, as though erased by some force, they simply ceased to exist in this world!
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord froze in place, brow deeply furrowed.
Where had they gone?
Had they been absorbed like before by that Spiral Face and converted into energy?
No… impossible.
As the one who had fired the bullets, he could still sense the energy fluctuations of those 2 rounds.
But that earlier one—he couldn't sense it at all.
And the Divine Fetus had clearly shifted form. This was absolutely an entirely new ability mechanic!
"The Vanishing of the Z-Axis…"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord murmured to himself as waves of shock crashed through his heart.
Meanwhile, Guo Shuai—crouched behind Quanquan—had watched the entire sequence unfold, including where those 2 bullets had truly gone…
"This… this is—2-dimensional?!"
Guo Shuai blurted out.
From his side-angle view, those 2 bullets hadn't vanished at all. They had been flattened into paper-thin sheets.
Suspended motionless in midair!
This bizarre sight looked exactly like the time the boss had first entered Rose High School.
That Starving Wraith that had been pressed flat into a paper figure!
At that moment, Albert—residing in his right eye—let out an excited, eerie laugh:
"Hehehe! Now you see the true terror of the Divine Fetus?"
"This is Sequence 055—【Diversity of the Origin Point】!"
"When all 3 axes—XYZ—coexist, that is the 3-dimensional physical world we know."
"But the moment the Z-axis, which represents depth, is forcibly stripped away…"
"All things and all matter are instantly flattened into a 2D plane!"
"This little creature just hit those 2 bullets with a dimensional downgrade strike!"
"It's that powerful?!"
Guo Shuai suddenly understood, nodding frantically with excitement: "We're saved!"
However—just as Guo Shuai was overjoyed and thought a counterattack was within reach.
Quanquan, who had been standing guard in front, shrank back down to its original below-the-knee height.
"What happened?!"
Guo Shuai went pale with shock.
"Daddy… Quanquan can't anymore…"
The little one plopped down onto the ground.
"That last move used up too much energy—the little black beans Quanquan absorbed still haven't finished digesting…"
"We can only run!"
Guo Shuai's face instantly fell into a grimace.
As expected, nothing in this world came for free, and happy moments always passed so fast.
The good news, though…
After this brief rest, Guo Shuai discovered his arms and legs could finally move again!
"Time to go, time to go!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he scooped up Quanquan, tucked it under his arm, and sprinted wildly down the corridor.
Watching the 2 flee in a sorry state, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord chose not to give chase.
"The Divine Fetus's abilities are far more troublesome and time-consuming than I imagined."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord stood in place, analyzing.
"The Bullseye Face is nullification, the Spiral Face is absorption of attacks, and the Cross Face is a terrifying dimensional downgrade strike…"
"What a bothersome creature."
He turned his gaze toward the western corridor and put away the Dead-Energy Revolver.
"No matter."
"Before the Werewolf game ends completely, none of you can escape this hospital."
"Once I've completed all the pieces of my puzzle, I'll come back and play with you at my leisure."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord made up his mind and glanced at the western corridor where Chen Daozi had fled.
He did not give chase.
He did not fire.
Instead, he turned around and walked back the way he had come, unhurried and composed…
At the same time, in a patient room on the 19th floor.
Chen Daozi had sprinted all the way there, finally locating Cao Hua and the others.
In order to escape this dangerous 19th floor, Shi Zhongshan had already tied several bed sheets together.
He had fashioned them into a makeshift survival rope, tossing it out the window down toward the floor below.
"Move quickly! There's no time—I'll go down first to scout, and you all follow close behind!"
Shi Zhongshan declared with great magnanimity.
"Sir, why don't you let me go instead?"
"It's pitch black down there—it's too dangerous for an ordinary person to go first."
Chen Daozi volunteered.
"No! I'll go!"
Before Shi Zhongshan could even open his mouth to refuse, Liu Rui suddenly surged forward.
He grabbed the edge of the bedsheet and took a deep breath.
"I've been hiding behind all of you this whole time, dead weight…"
"I've watched my comrades die one by one. I've had enough!"
"This time—it's my turn!"
After witnessing so much death, the fear in Liu Rui's heart had transformed into a go-for-broke kind of courage.
Better to fight than to wait meekly for death!
"Liu Rui! Get back here!"
Shi Zhongshan was alarmed and reached out to grab him—only to catch air.
Liu Rui had already swung out the window and was sliding down the rope of bedsheets.
"That foolish kid!"
Shi Zhongshan stomped in agitation.
A few seconds later, the bedsheet shook in a steady, rhythmic pattern—3 times.
Clearly, this was the safety signal from Liu Rui—he had successfully reached the floor below!
Everyone in the room exhaled a long, collective breath.
As for why Liu Rui didn't just call out verbally to confirm he was safe—everyone understood without needing it explained.
In this deathly silent hospital, making loud noise would absolutely attract the Supervisor.
"The injured go first—your arm is still bleeding. You go down first."
Ye Yilin looked at Chen Daozi's left arm, which had been run clean through, and said quietly.
Chen Daozi nodded and didn't refuse.
"Alright. All of you—stay safe."
With that, he swung out the window and slid down the bedsheets toward the 18th floor below.
Yet misfortune so often strikes in the most unguarded of moments.
Just as Chen Daozi was nearly reaching the window of the floor below, his left arm—pierced through by sword energy—suddenly erupted in agonizing pain!
Add to that the full-stat reduction debuff from the Villager Mark he was already carrying on his body.
His palm slipped—and he lost his grip on the bedsheet entirely!
"Daozi!"
Cao Hua, who had been leaning out the window watching closely, was beside himself with grief. His eyes went wide.
On instinct, he thrust the better half of his body out the window and reached down to grab him!
He missed!
But at that most critical, hair's-breadth moment—a pair of hands suddenly reached out from the 18th floor window.
And seized Chen Daozi by the collar!
"Phew~"
The heart that had been lodged in Cao Hua's throat finally sank back down. He was just about to call out his thanks to Liu Rui.
But the very next second—Cao Hua's eyes went wide with horror!
In the darkness, a flash of light swept past, and Chen Daozi's head was sliced clean off in an instant!
That severed head—eyes vacant and glassy—was tossed directly into the room on the 18th floor!
"Daozi!!!"
Cao Hua let out a piercing, anguished roar.
At the same time, he also instantly registered something was deeply, horribly wrong.
Those hands that had reached from the window and grabbed Chen Daozi.
Thick-knuckled. Covered in calluses. They were absolutely not Liu Rui's young hands!
Exactly as he feared.
A figure in a suit slowly appeared from the 18th floor window.
It tilted its mask-wearing face upward, smiled, and looked up at Cao Hua above.
It was the Thousand-Face Demon Lord.
And in the corner of the 18th floor patient room behind the Thousand-Face Demon Lord…
Liu Rui, who had volunteered to go down first and scout the way.
Had already been nailed to the wall by Ten Thousand Blades—bloodied, mangled, and dead in the most gruesome of ways.
So, the rope that had been shaking the bedsheet to signal safety was never Liu Rui at all!
It had been bait set by the Thousand-Face Demon Lord!
"Hello there, my dear little pieces."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord smiled and offered a cheerful greeting.
Then, he reached into his coat and produced the Dead-Energy Revolver, pointing the barrel directly upward at Cao Hua.
"I hope you enjoy this welcoming gift I've prepared for you."
Bang!
Without a moment's hesitation, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord pulled the trigger.
The next instant, the dead-energy bullet tore straight through the center of Cao Hua's brow!
Because Cao Hua had thrust the better half of his body out the window.
The moment he lost consciousness, his entire body plummeted downward into the darkness below—silent and without a trace.
"Brother Cao!"
Ye Yilin, still inside the room above, had no idea what had unfolded below.
At the sound of the gunshot and the noise of Cao Hua falling, she screamed and lunged for the window, seizing one of Cao Hua's legs!
Shi Zhongshan saw this and threw himself forward to help pull.
And below, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord looked at those 2 pairs of hands desperately reaching out the window, and the corners of his mouth curved upward.
"Last bullet…"
He glanced at the revolver's cylinder, then closed his eyes.
He aimed the barrel casually upward. 'Let fate decide who lives and who dies.'
"Of course…"
"In the end, only she will likely be left alive."
Bang!
With the final gunshot, the bullet sailed clean over Cao Hua's corpse and fired straight toward Ye Yilin!
The bullet was about to pierce through Ye Yilin's skull!
Thump!
Blood splattered.
At the critical moment.
Shi Zhongshan threw himself in front of Ye Yilin, using his own back to block that bullet.
The bullet lodged in his heart.
And with his remaining strength, he pressed a vial of medication into Ye Yilin's pocket.
"Brother Shi!!!"
Ye Yilin screamed.
Shi Zhongshan's body collapsed onto the patient room floor.
But in the final moment of his life, the expression on his face was one of unmistakable relief.
"Finally…"
"It's my turn…"
The words fell, and Shi Zhongshan's eyes closed. All life left him.
And because the pulling force was gone.
Cao Hua's corpse tumbled entirely into the darkness below—swallowed without a sound.
"Brother Shi! Wake up! Don't scare me!"
Ye Yilin knelt in a pool of blood, shaking Shi Zhongshan's body, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Shhhh…"
Just then, the sound of friction came from the bedsheets outside the window.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord climbed up through the 19th floor window.
In stark contrast to the corridor moments ago—
This version of him, beyond the original head and Tiffany's head on his left shoulder—
Now bore yet another head on his right shoulder and neck!
That head—eyes shut tight—belonged unmistakably to the freshly killed Chen Daozi!
"Three Flowers Converge at the Crown… what a splendid form."
"But…"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord smiled. "Not yet perfect."
"Time to prepare for the next step."
Hearing that voice, Ye Yilin's entire body shuddered.
She slowly raised her head and looked at the terrifying creature before her.
That face at the center—those familiar facial features…
Without any doubt, this was her father—the one she had been desperately searching for.
Ye Desheng!
But those unfamiliar eyes told her.
The person standing before her was absolutely not her father!
"Who are you?!"
Ye Yilin drew her handgun and pointed it at the Thousand-Face Demon Lord with trembling hands.
"Why did you kill Brother Shi and the others?! Give my father back to me!!!"
Facing the gun barrel, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord not only didn't dodge—he studied her.
"Exactly as I predicted the script would go."
"Someone as foolishly good-hearted as Shi Zhongshan was bound to die saving you."
"And the only one left alive in the end could only be you…"
"My dear daughter."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord even knelt down on one knee and gazed at her in the tone of a loving father.
"Shut up! You are not my father! You are a parasite—a demon who seized another's body!"
Ye Yilin completely broke down and was about to empty the magazine!
However—the instant the bullets flew out of the chamber!
Several invisible, razor-sharp sword-energy strikes appeared from thin air, slicing the bullets to powder in midair!
The next second, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord reached out and seized Ye Yilin by the hair, hoisting her entire body into the air.
"Ahhhh!"
Ye Yilin screamed in agony as a sharp pain shot through her scalp.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord watched her struggle in despair with an expressionless face.
But it was then that he suddenly noticed.
His left hand had started shaking—completely beyond his control!
Immediately after, that hand seized the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's own throat!
"Urgh!"
Caught completely off guard, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord let out a pained, muffled grunt.
He could never have expected that this seized body would still erupt with resistance like this!
But he quickly regained composure, and the corner of his mouth hooked into a cold sneer.
"Heh heh…"
"What a stubborn remnant soul."
"Seeing your precious daughter getting bullied—you finally couldn't hold back and decided to bite back, did you?"
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord's eyes flickered with dark energy as he suppressed it with his spirit force.
"But this is all pointless."
"With that pitiful shred of obsession you have, you can't do a single thing."
Under the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's absolute force of suppression, that defiant left hand ultimately dropped back down.
Bang!
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord then slammed Ye Yilin hard onto the floor.
"Ahhh!"
Ye Yilin's head took a severe impact, and she blacked out entirely.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord flexed his now-recovered left wrist.
He looked down from above at the unconscious Ye Yilin, his gaze cold and indifferent.
"Sleep easy."
"I have absolutely no interest in fusing with a useless decorative daughter like you."
"However—considering that this body of yours has been quite useful to me, I can magnanimously spare her life."
"After all…"
"She makes for an excellent chess piece to restrain certain people, heh heh heh…"
With those words, the Thousand-Face Demon Lord grabbed Ye Yilin by the ankle, turned, and walked out of the patient room.
He stepped directly into the elevator at the end of the corridor and pressed the button for the lowest floor.
And his new destination was the place in this hospital where the greatest secret lay hidden.
Basement Level 1. The Morgue.