At the center of a nightmare room shrouded in gray mist, the Leader, his form blurry and indistinct, leaned back on a throne made of the same mist. His eyes were slightly closed, like a Demon King taking a nap.

Suddenly, the Leader’s figure jolted slightly, and his half-closed eyes slowly opened.

The surrounding gray mist surged in an instant, and the fleeing ghostly figures within it seemed to let out piercing screams.

The Leader made a slight gesture with his hand. The gray mist roiled, forming a pair of withered, ashen hands that held something and respectfully presented it to him.

It was a deathly pale doll with a massive head and a tiny, disproportionate body. Combined with the clown-like makeup and eerie smile painted on its face, it evoked an unsettling, hair-raising feeling.

Faintly, one could discern a trace of Yuan Luàn’s features on that bizarre face, which seemed to belong only in a nightmare.

At that moment, the doll’s body, which was covered in cracks, suddenly shattered with a sharp SNAP.

"Yuan Luàn’s true form has shattered."

The Leader gazed at the doll held in the pair of gray mist hands, his eyes narrowing slightly.

’What happened? Did the mission change?’

Just then, through some special magnetic field transmission, he received a message from Baiguang. The message described everything that had happened.

"Zhou Yuanjue..."

The Leader softly spoke the name in the gray mist nightmare, then fell silent for a moment before murmuring to himself with a calm expression, "I seem to have underestimated you."

He then fixed his gaze on the shattered nightmare doll and said softly,

"Nightmare, reboot."

A ball of gray mist enveloped the nightmare doll. As if guided by some force, the doll’s shattered body reassembled, as if time were flowing backward.

Then, the cracks on the doll vanished one by one until not a single one remained, and it was restored to its original state.

The doll’s deathly still face showed a trace of human-like expression. It looked a bit lost, but after seeing the Leader before it, it seemed to understand something.

"There won’t be a next time."

"As punishment, and as slight compensation for the power I lost, offer up your nightmare... and your fear."

The Leader spoke softly to the doll. Instantly, an expression of extreme terror appeared on the Yuan Luàn doll’s face.

The next moment, endless gray mist completely submerged the doll.

「In a secret laboratory in the Starry Sky Country.」

GLUG! GLUG!!

Inside a futuristic cultivation tank, emerald-green nutrient fluid filled the chamber. A young, white male body, nearly identical to Yuan Luàn’s physical form, was connected to various instruments and floated in the fluid.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Suddenly, the instruments in the tank activated. The beeping and warning lights caught the attention of the lab staff.

Large amounts of a gray, mist-like liquid were injected into the nutrient fluid from all sides and were rapidly absorbed by the young man’s body.

"Subject Six’s vital signs are rising steadily! ’Gray Blood’ has been released! The target individual is about to awaken! Get ready! Get ready!"

This sudden development instantly threw the entire lab into a flurry of activity.

"’The Rebellion’ was actually rebooted? Who did this?"

The lab director stood behind a glass window, staring intently at the cultivation tank, a look of shock on his face.

’I can’t believe a being like that was actually, completely destroyed.’

’What the hell happened?! Who did this?!’

In the cultivation tank, as the "Gray Blood" flowed in, the young man’s expression changed.

It was a contorted expression unimaginable to an ordinary person, as if he were experiencing some immense terror.

His limbs began to struggle violently, as if he were trapped in a nightmare.

CRACK!!

Amid his struggles, he shattered the cultivation tank. A large amount of nutrient fluid poured out, and his body slid from the tank onto the floor.

*PANT! PANT!*

At that moment, he finally opened his eyes, awakening from some nightmare, gasping for breath. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

After a long moment, he truly came to his senses. Feeling the unprecedented weakness and powerlessness in this body, feeling the irreparable loss in his true soul-form, he spat out three words through gritted teeth:

"Zhou! Yuan! Jue!!"

...

...

Meanwhile, with such a major incident occurring within its borders, the Mongol Empire reacted immediately, dispatching people to investigate the scene.

The location was not far from the border of the Beisha Country. The Beisha Country’s intelligence network in the Mongol Empire obtained the information at once. In less than half an hour, a complete report was on the desks of the Beisha Country’s top officials and Gleb Innovich of the Security Department.

"According to the intel, the target of the attack was clearly Zhou Yuanjue. He came here secretly, hiding his movements from everyone, but his information was still intercepted, and he was ambushed."

"As for the attacker, we currently speculate it was one of the Seven Mo Luo from the Celestial Organization. Only traces left by the Plague of Rebellion, one of the Seven Mo Luo, were found at the scene. However, an eyewitness saw the entire incident. She said other powerful individuals were rushing to the scene when the battle occurred, and we suspect they might also be members of the Seven Mo Luo."

"Based on the eyewitness’s account, the direct confrontation between Zhou Yuanjue and the Plague of Rebellion lasted no more than three minutes. And within those three minutes... the Plague of Rebellion was likely defeated and killed."

The assistant said softly, a look of disbelief in his eyes.

You have to understand, that was one of the Seven Mo Luo!

The member of the Seven Mo Luo stationed in the Hiloba Region is a being that gives the entire Beisha Country a massive headache!

And this Plague of Rebellion was also stationed over an entire continent, yet he only lasted three minutes against that Zhou Yuanjue?!

This far exceeds our previous intelligence assessment of Zhou Yuanjue’s strength!

"Three minutes... one of the Seven Mo Luo..."

Gleb Innovich’s eyes narrowed slightly, his thoughts unreadable.

"What an incredible guy. He’s piquing my interest more and more."

"Where is he now?"

Director Gleb asked.

"He didn’t hide his movements after the battle. He’s running at a speed of eighty kilometers per hour. It won’t be long before he enters the territory of our Beisha Country. Since we were the ones who invited him, should we send someone to greet him once he crosses the border?"

The assistant asked.

"Greet him?"

Gleb shook his head slightly.

"Based on his previous strength assessment, the higher-ups would probably have been very keen for him to visit Moscow for talks. But now, given the level of threat he has demonstrated, he has crossed a certain line. If a Human Form Nuclear Bomb like him enters Moscow, the entire upper echelon would probably lose sleep over it, don’t you think?"

Gleb said with a smile. He slowly rose from his large chair, his massive body nearly blocking out half the light in the room.

"Notify the others. Ready our fastest fighter jet."

"We’re going to see him."