Shrouded Seascape

Anna's pupils constricted slightly as she felt a faint, peculiar tremor from the ground. She slowly turned around; the sound of stones scraping against each other resonated in the area as the wall of the tunnel was raised up.

Within the rectangular opening was a vast, spherical chamber. If the floating island were described to resemble a duck egg earlier, then this space was the yolk. Strange structures, entirely unlike anything in the human world, were evenly distributed across the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Clusters of three-meter-tall green centipede-like creatures and other bizarre-looking creatures could be seen among the buildings.

The center of the floating island was actually completely hollow. It was a city belonging to 1189-1. Or rather, this was likely an airship hovering in the air!

1189-1 hadn't escaped in fear. It was merely trying to lure Anna here.

The moment Anna laid her gaze on the numerous 1189-1 entities, the various forms they controlled turned their sensing organs onto her to "look" at her.

A clattering sound, akin to teeth chattering, echoed through the chamber. The next moment, every 1189-1 in the city surged toward Anna like a tidal wave.

The wave stretched on endlessly. Their sheer numbers provided them an overwhelming advantage, enough to compensate for any lack of strength. No matter how powerful Anna was, an immense onslaught of flesh and bone like this could still crush her into a pulp. After all, one person could never stand against an entire army.

"All of you are doomed! Not just you, but everyone struggling in the Subterranean Sea! All of you will become our hosts! Humans shall become our slaves and be treated like livestock!" the 1189-1 controlling Charles' body taunted Anna, its voice carrying a hint of madness as it watched its kind rapidly closing in on them.

Anna turned toward it, and her eyes were filled with indifference as she said, "Are you done with your trash talk? Return that body to my man."

With a lift of her tentacle, Charles's pupils dilated momentarily before his focus returned and was fixated on Anna.

Joy flickered across Charles' face momentarily. He thought he was dead and hadn't expected that he had regained control of his body.

However, his temporal joy faded and was replaced with a solemn expression when he saw the approaching horde of 1189-1.

They were unlike any threat he had encountered before. They weren't just isolated anomalies but a fully developed and formidable species!

"Mmmmm~" Anna cooed as she spread her arms wide and wrapped them around Charles. She let out a soft purr as she closed her eyes. "Gao Zhiming, you love me too, don't you? Regardless of my identity, right?"

Charles clenched down on his teeth and struggled to his feet. Grabbing Anna by the waist, they stumbled back the way they came. "Get Sparkle to teleport you back! Tell the others that we're in deep trouble!"

Anna gently let go of Charles and looked at him with calmness in her eyes. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Are you crazy? Is this the time to talk about that?" Charles' voice almost cracked under the severe threat of the approaching 1189-1 horde.

Anna cast a glance at the oncoming horde and remarked nonchalantly, "Relax. I know them as well as I know myself.

"It's simple to get rid of them. First, to prevent any further body-swapping, I need to implant a countermeasure in your brain."

With that, Anna lifted a tentacle and guided it toward Charles' right ear.

Charles gritted his teeth as he endured the intense discomfort of a foreign object invading his ear canal. He was losing count of how many times Anna had inserted her tentacle into his ear.

At this point, he wondered if there was even any space in his skull left for his brain after Anna had implanted so many foreign objects within his head.

"Don't be scared. We are much more powerful than them. You alone can easily take all of them down," Anna reassured Charles as she steadied him.

With a gentle smile, Anna slightly pushed him toward the 1189-1 horde. "Go, it's done. You can just walk over and get rid of all of them."

"Are you sure?" Charles asked. If he didn't know that Anna was an expert in the manipulation of consciousness, he would have thought that his beloved had also been controlled by 1189-1.

"Charles, do you trust me?" Anna asked while caressing Charles' cheek. Her gentle gaze remained fixated on the latter's alarmed eyes.

"How exactly do you want me to deal with them? No matter how strong I am, I can't take down an entire army. Answer me; don't hide anything."

Anna shook her head slightly. "Sorry, but I can't tell you. There are some things you absolutely must not know. Please trust me on this."

Charles turned his gaze onto the monstrous horde closing in, now only a few hundred meters away. Taking a deep breath, he turned and marched forward. "If I die, you'll become a widow."

Anna let out a soft chuckle in response. "Oh, you can't be too certain about that. I'm so beautiful that if you die, I can immediately find someone new."

At the same time, a slit appeared on Anna's body, and a bloody skull emerged from within. It twisted and writhed in agony; in fact, it looked a little like Charles. It was trapped in a fleshy cage that was made from several intertwined tentacles.

Cradling it like a doll, Anna held the cage against her chest and whispered tenderly, "Come on, accompany me in watching how your entire species is annihilated."

The skull contained the 1189-1 entity that had been forcibly extracted from Charles' body. Anna had placed it in a separate vessel.

"Annihilation? Just by the two of you? Impossible! Just wait! The day I escape, I—"

1189-1's mocking words were cut short as it watched Charles being encircled by its fellow creatures.

The next moment, starting from Charles, the closest 1189-1 entities began to rapidly disintegrate. They vanished not only from reality but also from Charles' mind.

"No…. this can't be happening! What's going on!" Panic filled 1189-1's eyes.

A satisfied smile appeared on Anna's visage. "I got my hands on a little something earlier. I tweaked it just a bit and implanted it into Charles' mind so that it's easier for our kind to 'see' it.

"You can't see it? No worries. Let me show you."

Reaching out a finger, she gently pressed her fingertip against the bloody skull. The next moment, 1189-1 saw the long, slender white skeleton surrounding Charles.

It moved its formless body swiftly; any 1189-1 that came into contact with it faded away slowly, turning into nothingness and ceasing to exist.

Charles was like an insatiable sponge; every 1189-1 entity approaching him was absorbed completely.

"NOOOOO! This isn't real! Stop it! Everyone, don't go near him! Anna, I was wrong! Make it stop!!" 1189-1's voice trembled, almost sounding choked. It couldn't be helped as its entire species was facing annihilation.