However, before the man could get close to that void, his speed began to drastically decrease. By the time he neared the void's vicinity, his speed had dropped to zero.

The man struggled near the void for a moment before, under the influence of some force, he plummeted downward, landing back where he had originally been standing.

"We meet again. Didn't you say last time that our next meeting would be my death day?"

Lin Ye said in a feigned, theatrical tone.

"Ah, this is too humiliating. Please, let me disappear."

The man composed of ashes sighed, turned into ash, and vanished.

"... It's the effect of the black box and the Abyss. The closer you get to that void, the easier it is to fall downward. The black box is also preventing me from leaving this place."

The man explained as if nothing had just happened.

"Aren't you the boss of the Red Sea? Isn't your true form inside the Red Sea? Can't you use the Red Sea's power to destroy this space?"

Lin Ye looked at the man with some confusion.

"The black box isolates the flow of information between here and the outside world. My true form is unaware of what's happening here. As for the Red Sea, this body cannot borrow its power either."

The man gazed at the void in the sky, seemingly pondering how to escape this place.

Lin Ye didn't speak. He just stood very quietly at a spot not far from the man.

"... You really are difficult to deal with."

The man remained silent for a while before sighing and speaking.

"I don't believe an existence like you would be incapable of leaving this place under these circumstances."

Lin Ye put the Disaster Hazmat Suit back on. This ritual item proved unexpectedly useful for a Master of Ritual Studies like him.

"I'm not lying to you. The information flow is indeed isolated by the black box, but I naturally have special channels to contact my true form. You shouldn't have helped me connect to the Red Sea. As you said, that's my territory. On this point, you were far too careless."

The man was now feeling a bit of regret. He had still underestimated Lin Ye's reaction speed. If the other party chose to perish together with him before his true form arrived, he would be finished.

After the void appeared, he actually had a way to leave this place. But if he escaped this space, his true form would be unable to locate Lin Ye's position again.

"Do you really think I would be that careless?"

Lin Ye suddenly revealed a strange smile. He looked calmly at the man, a gaze that sent shivers down the man's spine.

"... What do you mean?"

But even though he felt extremely uneasy inside, the man could only continue to stall for time. As long as his true form reached this space, whatever Lin Ye did would be meaningless.

"I mean, you don't think only you want to make a move on me, and I would never make a move on you, do you? Would you like to guess why I'm standing here wasting words with you? Who is really stalling for time right now? Does stalling for time truly benefit you?"

Just like the man, Lin Ye was also stalling for time. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"What did you do?"

The man carefully examined his body but found nothing. If he didn't have some understanding of Lin Ye, he would suspect Lin Ye was bluffing.

"Was that ash individual from before really your ash remnant? Is there a possibility that the ash individual was just an empty shell I fabricated, and I was inside it, simulating your personality to talk to you?"

Lin Ye was very skilled at analyzing and imitating other people's personalities. With sufficient information, he could even impersonate those D-Class personnel and deceive the organization, even when information was lacking.

"... You impersonated it? That's impossible! It helped me perform the ritual. You couldn't possibly know how to perform that ritual. And even if you really did impersonate it, what use would that be?"

The man looked at Lin Ye with confusion. Even now, he didn't understand where Lin Ye's confidence in stalling for time came from.

The absolute strength of his true form was his confidence, which was why he was willing to stall for time with Lin Ye, even though he sensed something was off.

"If I were alone, of course I couldn't perform a ritual I knew absolutely nothing about. But weren't you right there helping me? I am a Master of Ritual Studies, after all. That ritual and the ritual to communicate with the Abyss are essentially the same type of ritual. I could still manage to assist on the sidelines."

That ritual was truly complex. Even Lin Ye needed to concentrate to keep up with the man's movements.

"You still haven't told me what exactly you did. It couldn't just be to perform the ritual together with me, could it?"

The man had already accepted Lin Ye's explanation, but he still couldn't figure out what Lin Ye could have done.

"Of course not. A so-called ritual is a method of communication that requires mental energy to guide. In terms of flesh Alienation, I might not reach half your level even after studying for several more years. So, I could only act in the area of mental energy."

Lin Ye smiled and met the man's gaze, revealing a slightly apologetic expression. This time, he had made the first move.

"But I don't sense any issues with my mental state at all."

The man looked at Lin Ye suspiciously.

"Yes, you can no longer sense any issues with your mental state at all."

A man composed of ashes appeared before the man and helped straighten his somewhat messy collar.

The man offered no resistance at all. Even though Lin Ye had told him this wasn't his ash remnant, he still couldn't find any flaw in the other's presence.

"What did you do to me?"

The man didn't want to attack Lin Ye, because stalling for time was the best strategy.

... But was that really the case?

"I merely transmitted half of a duplicate of a mental parasite originating from the Parasitic Gate. It has been replicating within your consciousness. When the void appeared, it hadn't replicated enough. If you had chosen to leave then, my plan would have completely failed. But unfortunately, your actions were entirely within my expectations. It's really quite boring."

Lin Ye had thought an existence like the other party could perform actions beyond his expectations, but clearly, he had thought too much.

"... If that's truly the case, then you didn't need to connect to the Red Sea at all, and I wouldn't have had a chance to escape. My true form is about to arrive. You could have completely avoided this situation."

There were still things the man couldn't quite understand.

"This is an Information Space constructed from the Abyss, the black box, and an Abyssal Relic. If your true form doesn't come here, who will help me break this cage? Surely you don't expect me to trouble that Abyssal Evil God?"

Lin Ye had planned his method to break the situation from the very beginning. After that, it was just waiting for the most crucial actor to appear on stage.

"You had a chance to throw me into the Abyss, and you gave it up for this? Once my true form finds this place, it will definitely pull me out of the Abyss. Do you know what kind of opportunity you've lost?!"

The man suddenly roared in a low, furious voice.

Even under the influence of the mental parasite, it was difficult to suppress his current mental fluctuations.

"I don't want a powerful Red Sea creature who has fallen into the Abyss to come looking for me to perish together. And for me, that opportunity isn't important."

A giant blood-red Eyeball appeared outside the void. Lin Ye gave it a wave of greeting, then controlled the man and sent him plummeting into the depths of the Abyss.