Chaotic explosive sounds echoed within the estate. Chu Muyun stood at the edge of the aftermath in the distance, his Woolen Overcoat swaying with the fierce wind.
He stared blankly at that red sun suspended in the air, and only recovered his wits after a long time, shock still remaining in his eyes... The scene of the Red-Clad Figure biting and shattering the Soul-Shattering Pearl in one bite just now was something even he found impossible to understand. Although that person's face was different from Chen Ling's, it should definitely be Chen Ling without a doubt.
'What kind of madness has this brat fallen into again?'
Chu Muyun pushed up his glasses, his expression as he looked at the battlefield unprecedentedly solemn.
"... He actually released that thing, this is bad..."
This was Chu Muyun's first time witnessing the appearance of a World-Ending grade. However, what surprised him was that the Calamity right now didn't seem to be in its complete World-Ending form, but was only exerting strength at about the Fifth-Tier... Could it be that Chen Ling is still restraining it? He hasn't completely died yet?
One thought after another appeared in Chu Muyun's mind. Right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom interrupted his train of thought.
[Audience Expectation Value -1]
[Current Expectation Value: 15%]
In contrast, those Paper Puppets dancing wildly in the sky became visibly insignificant to the naked eye, like flies flying chaotically under the cloud. The densely packed Red Paper intertwined into a hanging sea of clouds, majestically pressing down upon them from above.
Under such terrifying numbers and pursuit speed, they simply had absolutely no room to flee. One after another, the tentacle-like Red Paper wrapped around their rapidly floating bodies, completely enveloping them into the red cloud. No matter how the Paper Puppet Master controlled their folding, they couldn't break free in the slightest!
As the red cloud squirmed, these Paper Puppets were dragged bit by bit towards the red sun in the center, and ultimately completely adhered to the surface of that sun... Then, their bodies seemed to melt, gradually evolving from three-dimensional to two-dimensional, engraved bit by bit onto the red sun like doodles outlined by someone's brushstrokes.
Pfft—!!
The Paper Puppet Master's face turned pale as he violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body tottering.
At this moment, his connection with all the Paper Puppets had been severed. He looked in terror at that continuously squirming red cloud, his eyes full of disbelief...
"This is impossible... It was just at the Fifth-Tier like me, how did it suddenly touch the threshold of the Sixth Stage?!"
A Calamity capable of self-improvement in a short period of time?
But to cross an entire Rank in just a few minutes, this speed of improvement was simply too terrifying. If this were really the case, where would its limit be?
The red cloud supporting the sun moved bit by bit in the air. As he advanced, one building after another was enveloped by the hanging tentacles. Walls that were originally incomparably solid instantly turned into flimsy and powerless paper walls. With a light pinch from the tentacles, ferocious cracks instantly covered them, and after holding on for only about two or three seconds, they were forcefully crushed into ruins!
It was like a moving natural disaster. Wherever it passed, all living beings were pierced by the scarlet tentacles, and all buildings were razed to the ground. Within just a few short minutes, more than half of the Stars Chamber of Commerce was destroyed!
Even Chu Muyun did not dare to clash with it head-on at this moment, rapidly retreating outside the battlefield under the wild dance of countless scarlet tentacles.
"That useless trash Pu Shu ran away again... How am I supposed to fight this?!"
The Paper Puppet Master watched that red cloud floating straight toward him. The hand holding the Paper Knife seeped fine sweat. It had been a long time since he experienced such a despair-inducing battle... Even though both were Fifth-Tier, the Red Paper monster was completely in a state of absolute strength suppression right now.
The Paper Puppet Master's brain operated rapidly. After weighing the pros and cons, he still gave up on fighting the Red Paper monster and turned to run towards the distance.
Whoever wanted to guard this Stars Chamber of Commerce could guard it. He was just a mercenary who collected money to do a job. If he left his life in this place, that would be an extreme loss. Even Pu Shu had run away, so why shouldn't he?
The Paper Puppet Master's speed was extremely fast. Stepping on paper pages, his whole person transformed into a stream of light and flew out of the Stars Chamber of Commerce.
But right at this moment, another mutation occurred!
[Audience Expectation Value -1]
[Current Expectation Value: 14%]
A bone-chilling cold instantly swept across the entire chamber of commerce. The Paper Puppet Master, who had just run a few hundred meters, seemed to have sensed something, and his pupils abruptly shrank!
That was the Aura of the Sixth Stage.
He looked back in astonishment, only to see that within the churning red cloud, a fine crack split open in the center of that paper sun, and then slowly spread to both sides;
From afar, it looked like a pale pupil slowly opening from the center of the sun...
...
Falling.
Falling...
Like being plunged into an endless abyss, a figure draped in a Great Crimson Theatrical Robe had his eyes tightly shut, continuously falling downwards like a meteorite.
Countless murmurs lingered in his ears. Those were the wails of struggling soul faces, painfully begging for something... In the surrounding abyss, pairs of scarlet pupils slowly lit up.
The number of those pupils was extremely large, even more than the soul faces lingering around the Red-Clad Figure. The moment they were stared at by them, those soul faces seemed to go mad, their wails and begging almost piercing through the Red-Clad Figure's eardrums.
The Red-Clad Figure's brow furrowed tighter and tighter, as if having a nightmare. As his eyelids trembled at a high frequency, he violently opened his eyes!
Thud—!
The moment he opened his eyes, a theater was rapidly outlined and formed beside him. His entire person crashed heavily onto the floor of the Theater's Stage, emitting a muffled sound.
The Red-Clad Figure struggled to stand up, bewilderment flashing in his eyes. His gaze fell upon the partially empty audience seats Off Stage, and he was slightly taken aback, only then recovering his wits.
He looked up. A massive amount of soul faces cascaded down from above the Stage like a tidal wave. This was the first time ever that something from the outside world had appeared within the Theater. And with their appearance, the remaining Audience members in the seats visibly showed anger in their eyes!
They stood up from their seats one after another. Their scarlet pupils stared fixedly at the Red-Clad Figure On Stage. They raised their palms, seemingly wanting to grab his body through the air...
"Soul-Shattering Evidence Retrieval... This is my only chance."
A flash of resolve appeared in the Red-Clad Figure's eyes. Without hesitation, he opened his arms to welcome the swarming waterfall of souls.
The moment his figure was submerged by the soul waterfall, the surrounding scene vanished into thin air;
Replacing it were memory fragments frantically rewinding like a movie. These fragments swirled around in front of the Red-Clad Figure like a vortex, extending all the way to the deep and mysterious end like a black hole...