The White-haired Rat turned and glanced back at Xie Yi and the other Ratmen.
"We have guns," Xie Yi declared unafraid.
They proceeded downward, walking an incredibly long and remote distance until Xie Yi felt as though they were nearly reaching the core of the earth.
The surrounding environment grew hotter and the architectural structure more complex, filled with intricate and unpredictable piping. The entire mausoleum seemed to have its own heartbeat, and Xie Yi could hear faint sounds echoing continuously.
After descending the staircase, a large, hunched life form suddenly appeared before them and lunged at the Ratmen. Xie Yi and the others opened fire on it, it was hit and let out a non-human screech while howling.
Then it extended its pale claws, continuing to advance like a zombie, seemingly impervious to the weapons. At this moment, a roar sounded from the depths of the mausoleum.
The voice halted the monster, preventing further conflict. It slowly walked away, and Xie Yi observed carefully, noting it resembled an overly elongated human with larger hands, feet, and head than a normal person, but its eyes were sunken and lifeless, with protruding teeth and a deformed nose; it was akin to a monstrous fetus.
It looked back at its companions, and the Ratmen moved past Xie Yi, as if possessed by determination, obstinately set on finding Idith.
Feeling helpless, Xie Yi continued to delve deeper.
The Ratman Exploration Team grew increasingly tense, convinced they had descended into a bottomless abyss where neither humans nor machines dared to venture, save for the Ratmen who would dare enter such a secret deep pit.
However, after reaching the lower levels of the Giant Tower, they saw more of the same kind of beings they had previously encountered: pale-skinned life forms resembling a horde of Mutated Humans living in the depths of the Giant Tower, walking around in the complex structures resembling villages, their numbers vast and numerous. Xie Yi held his breath, and perhaps due to the profound roar from before, this large group of pale, bloated, and corpulent "people" did not attack the Ratman Exploration Team.
They were just wandering around.
It wasn’t until they arrived at the innermost depths of the mausoleum, at the very bottom of the Great Mausoleum, that Xie Yi was certain they had reached the lowest point possible. There they saw a life form locked within a column of pale salt.
It was so... exceptional that Xie Yi held his breath, daring not to move. It was about 3 meters tall, with deep purple veins visible beneath its pale skin, a statuesque figure with the likeness of a divine being.
Xie Yi was terrified. Two grotesque, misshapen individuals were headbutting the column, but to no effect. Once the Ratman Exploration Team arrived, these two Mutated Humans also jumped down from the column, similarly blind and twisted.
"Destroy this column."
The voice echoed in the Ratmen’s minds.
The Ratman Exploration Team wanted to retreat but remembered the general’s orders and saw the pale human-like beings from the Mutated Village coming closer, not as amicable as before. If the Ratman Exploration Team refused, they likely would die in this bottomless pit.
"Squeak, squeak..." A big black rat couldn’t bear the psychological pressure, crouching on the ground, shivering.
Fear overpowered the cowardly Ratmen. The man in the salt column sneered at them, directing the surrounding pale figures to disarm the Ratmen and take away their guns and explosives. Afterward, they picked up rudimentary weapons, roaring as they fired on and attacked the column, ready to release the man.
The bullets hit the column, also hitting the man’s body, but all the damage vanished as if sinking into the sea, leaving no scars or blemishes. With the barrage of bullets and the onslaught of bombs, the column began to show signs of collapse.
Even this slightest damage was enough for him to break free from the seal; he exerted his full strength, smashing the salt column and stretching his limbs.
The man leaped out from the seal with the swiftness of a flash, landing heavily before them. Now, standing in front of Xie Yi and the others, he appeared even more terrifying than any ultimate being they could imagine, filling them with dread and shattering their minds.
It grabbed the apparently most intelligent White-haired Rat, their eyes met, and the White-haired Rat let out a piercing scream as its body rapidly decayed and disintegrated, while he devoured the Rat’s soul and read all the information within.
"I am the Resurrected One, Idith." It gathered much intelligence—Rat Witch, Ratmen, Company, guerrilla squad, Witch, "...Tch, many changes."
With a wave of its hand, Xie Yi and the others floated off the ground like suspended toys, shouting in fear. But they were enveloped by Idith, forced to huddle together like suspended orbs following behind it.
Idith howled, dashing upwards. Xie Yi watched in horror at everything he witnessed; Idith seemed to adapt to any terrain, sprinting up vertical faces and chasms as if on flat land, completely defying gravity. In sufficiently open spaces, he could even tread on air and fly.
The pale, mutated people in the depths of the Giant Tower howled in waves, cheering for the return of Idith.
He leapt up from the ground and appeared above the mausoleum. By now, Peacock Company had detected the Ratman Exploration Team’s visit to this mausoleum and sent a small force to investigate.
When the Mercenary Army saw Idith, they couldn’t recognize what it was and opened fire, but no large-caliber bullets or artillery inflicted any effective damage; they simply vanished inside Idith.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Idith, with Xie Yi still suspended in the air behind him, watched as the world shook and in an instant, saw the armed helicopters, war Shuttle Machines, and soldiers explode rapidly, crushed by an unprecedented power, utterly annihilated without affecting Idith in the slightest.
"Let’s go." Idith had also read the current location of the general from the previous soul-reading and flew towards it. In no time, he arrived above a manor.
"That is..." The guerrillas pointed at Idith in discussions.
It resembled a deity, towering, naturally radiating a splendid light, robust and powerful, its body covered in tough, pale skin, veins distributed like wild beast tattoos, enough to inspire bone-deep awe.
Idith stared at the crowd below, noticing some witches among the guerrillas.
"Infants switched at birth, scum that infiltrate races, all of you die!" Idith’s voice was chillingly cold.
It immediately selected them, lifting the nine witches into the air. Before they could let out their first scream, Idith compressed their bodies together as though an invisible giant hand was squeezing them tightly, turning their bodies into a ball of flesh and blood, with blood and bits of flesh splattering towards the ground.
Immediately after, Idith hurled the bloody ball with great force.
Xie Yi’s gaze was empty; they used to be the team’s doctors, teachers, warriors...
"Break the flags of your past and follow me to purify this land!" Idith bellowed.
Then, it turned and looked towards the company army that appeared on the horizon.
It released its majesty, making everything prostrate in its apocalyptic brilliance.
The guerrilla members watched in terror—as that beam of intense light shone, all machinery of war, armies, and fleets were exploding, capsizing, collapsing! They could not match Idith’s power and were twisted and dismantled by the immense force at will.
Xie Yi ended her floating state and crashed heavily to the ground. She crawled backwards, Rat Witch, Miss Rat Witch... I’m sorry...
Elsewhere, in Anjiu City of the Northern Archipelago, Shijin Mansion.
The New Year’s celebration was ready, and as the countdown began, people made wishes while waiting for the first day of the 150th year of the Company Era to arrive. Traditionally, wishes made on this day are particularly effective.
"Where is Lady Farosa?" The witches looked at each other, realizing that Farosa was missing.
Xu Yang came into the secret chamber and found Farosa somewhat anxious.
"What’s wrong?" he asked.
"Close the door," Farosa requested.
Xu Yang did as asked, and Farosa sighed with relief.
Once the door was fully closed and the secret chamber was completely sealed, Farosa heard fewer echoes. However, as she gained control over the Witch Goddess’s divine power, she could increasingly hear the lamentations of witches from every location, from every corner of the world. They were witches forced into labor by companies, witches with their brains excavated to be added to computing matrices, and witches subjected to violation... Whenever she left the secret chamber, these cries became even clearer.
"Continue to rest?" Xu Yang inquired.
Farosa took a deep breath.
"No... I’m ready," she said, pushing the door open. The hallway, which appeared to Xu Yang as completely clean and elegant, presented Farosa with a sense of connectedness. At every moment of suffering, each witch inevitably prayed for a "Witch Goddess," and Farosa happened to have attained such a status.
This was her grand expedition and mission. She utterly detested these troublesome matters, but it was necessary.
She yearned for power, and if she could truly save all witches from peril, the strength they would reflect and project onto her would be extremely potent, capable of forging an omnipotent power to rival that of a true deity.
She must reconstruct the witches’ order in this era, prove her influence over all witches, thus subsuming the concept of witches to become the Witch Goddess.
She followed Xu Yang to an open corridor where they could make wishes under the stars.
"May peace prevail..." Xu Yang made a traditional wish, though he did not particularly believe in the value of wishing.
"I hope my master stays happy forever..." Lila made her wish as well.
The witches of Shijin Mansion each had their own wishes, gazing at the stars and making traditional New Year’s wishes.
"To the witches of the Cyber Era, I offer my protection and grace," Farosa silently looked up at the stars and prayed.
As the bell rang, the first day of the 150th year of the Company Era ensued.