Chapter 46: The mysterious [Savior] organization

‘Illusion?’

‘No.’

Bai Xue tried to move her body, but found that not even her fingers would respond.

Just as confusion set in, her fingers suddenly twitched—she could move them again.

But there was a distinct delay.

It was like her entire body had been frozen stiff, unable to function properly.

‘What’s going on?’ Her senses were dull, but her thoughts remained as clear as ever.

In her pupils, a flash of white appeared.

It moved with incredible speed—so fast that it seemed to vanish the moment it appeared.

But she recognized it instantly.

That was her master.

The white figure extended a hand and tapped the glowing red eye of a mechanical puppet with one pale finger.

Then in a blink, the figure disappeared.

Only then did Bai Xue notice silver patterns racing across the puppet’s body, which then faded from sight.

The white shadow moved faster and faster, repeating the same action.

In the blink of an eye, the first wave of mechanical puppets had all been tapped.

At that kind of speed, Bai Xue couldn’t keep up at all.

By the time the strange sensation vanished, Ye Lian had already returned to her side.

Time resumed its normal flow.

For Bai Xue, it felt like no more than two seconds had passed.

At least, that’s how it felt.

Now, all the puppets that had charged at them stood motionless, lined up like obedient soldiers awaiting orders.

“Bring them in,” Ye Lian said calmly.

The next second, the red eyes of the mechanical puppets flickered as their wheels spun at high speed.

In unison, they turned and shot toward the other puppets like gray-black cannonballs.

Chaos erupted.

Some of the enemy puppets hesitated, but they quickly resumed their attack on Ye Lian and Bai Xue.

The same strange sensation returned.

Bai Xue saw the white shadow once again, repeating the exact same technique.

This time, the movements were even faster, sharper, more efficient.

She had clearly grown more practiced at it.

In no time at all, another fifteen mechanical puppets had been subdued—now under Ye Lian’s control.

Just like the previous batch, they turned and began capturing nearby enemy puppets.

Bai Xue was stunned for a moment, then quickly snapped out of it.

After all, she’d seen her master pull off so many outrageous maneuvers by now that she was starting to get used to them.

“Looks like I won’t even get a chance to do anything,” she muttered.

She simply stood there, unsure what to do with herself.

Before long, every puppet that had attacked—and every one captured—had been taken over by Ye Lian.

All 108 mechanical puppets were subdued without exception.

“Spread out,” Ye Lian ordered.

“Bring me every puppet in this city that doesn’t recognize us.”

Now that she had subordinates, she couldn’t be bothered to search for them herself.

Without hesitation, all 108 puppets scattered to capture the other mechanical puppets still roaming the city.

“Master, you’re invincible!” Bai Xue clapped her hands in admiration, her eyes sparkling.

She knew firsthand just how powerful those puppets were.

To think they were all taken down without even breaking a sweat—this was just too amazing!

“It’s nothing special,” Ye Lian replied modestly.

“My abilities just happen to counter them perfectly.”

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re incredible,” Bai Xue said earnestly.

“Call you a cow and you start spewing rainbow farts,” Ye Lian laughed.

“That wasn’t flattery, I was just stating the facts!” Bai Xue rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Still, the look she gave was nothing short of enchanting.

“Let’s just go with that. We should keep exploring,” Ye Lian said, quickly changing the subject.

“Master, is it safe now?” Bai Xue asked.

“More or less,” Ye Lian nodded.

“This place really is terrifyingly big. Look over there, Bai Xue. There’s another wall.”

She pointed to the far end of the road.

Following the direction of her finger, Bai Xue spotted another tall, thick wall, the same dark gray as before.

Beneath it was yet another massive city gate.

“Looks like this is a city-within-a-city,” Bai Xue commented.

“A city within a city?” Ye Lian looked a little confused.

She didn’t know much about ancient architecture.

“It means a city divided into an inner and outer section. Even if the outer city falls, the inner one can still hold out. That way, the entire place isn’t lost the moment the front lines are broken.”

Bai Xue explained.

Honestly, she wasn’t all that knowledgeable herself—she’d picked it up from reading historical novels.

“I see. So to take control of this place, I’d have to conquer it twice,” Ye Lian said.

“That’s basically what it means.”

Bai Xue nodded lightly.

“Let’s take the outer district first,” Ye Lian said, retracting her gaze.

“Master, are we going to search these buildings now?” Bai Xue asked.

“Yeah. Let’s see if there’s anything val—anything valuable,” Ye Lian corrected herself mid-sentence.

Bai Xue noticed and couldn’t help the small smile tugging at her lips.

‘So Master’s a bit of a money-grubber, huh?’

Far from being disappointed, she actually felt closer to her.

***

Ye Lian and Bai Xue came to what looked like an old shop.

Ye Lian reached out and gently pushed the door.

With a creaking sound, it slowly opened.

A single glance inside was enough to take it all in—completely empty.

The door itself stood around two and a half meters tall, slightly higher than normal storefronts.

“Master, nothing suspicious here,” Bai Xue said after scanning the room.

“Aside from the slightly higher doors and older design, the structure’s not much different from a typical human dwelling.”

“Could this be the main city prepared by the so-called ‘Savior’?” Ye Lian wondered aloud.

But the moment the words left her mouth, she frowned.

That mysterious organization didn’t seem to know much about what was happening in the game.

Then again, maybe they did know—and just weren’t telling anyone.

Maybe they’d deceived everyone.

“Not sure. But I don’t have a good impression of that ‘Savior’ group,” Bai Xue said.

“Why do you say that?” Ye Lian asked, leaning casually against the doorframe.

“They’re always hiding things, acting all mysterious… Doesn’t seem like anything good comes from people like that.”

Bai Xue pursed her lips and voiced her honest thoughts.

“Yeah. Their existence—and this entire game—feels extremely suspicious.”

Ye Lian nodded.

“I heard a theory once… that the ‘Dream Invasion’ was all orchestrated by the Savior organization themselves.”

“Yeah. Their timing was way too convenient.

Definitely suspicious.

But if that’s true, then what’s their motive?” Bai Xue touched her smooth chin, a faint frown appearing on her face.

“If the ‘Dream Invasion’ and the resulting deaths are all the Savior group’s doing, what would they gain from it? Extreme pleasure? Or do they just want to make the world suffer?”

Ye Lian couldn’t make sense of it.

“And if they wanted something specific, then why create this Nightmare Space as a way to break the cycle?” Bai Xue raised a new question.

“That’s what I don’t get either,” Ye Lian admitted, rubbing her temples.

The more she tried to dig up something useful from the situation, the thicker the fog in her mind became.

“No doubt about it, it’s a contradiction. Unless… there are two opposing factions within the Savior organization?” Bai Xue suggested.

“With the limited information we have, there’s no way to draw any real conclusions.” Ye Lian decided it was time to drop the topic before things got even more confusing.