Manipulator

Bai Cangshu looked at the enormous dragon head in the sky and the ocean surrounding him, then suddenly realized he was in a dream.

Sage’s origins lay not only in that mysterious demonic power. He was also a "demigod."

Seeing the Scarlet Sheen emerge from Bai Cangshu’s body once more, Sage knew that his opponent had realized this was the world of consciousness.

The so-called Collective Subconscious Ocean should have been a place where no soul or consciousness could act of its own will, except for a Manipulator like himself…

Sage had successfully passed through the Collective Subconscious Ocean and entered Mercenary Tao’s Mind Island, intending to directly alter Mercenary Tao’s subconscious again and control him.

Yet Mercenary Tao’s abnormality surfaced once more. He was actually still capable of maintaining his thoughts within his subconscious?!

He could even think logically.

The phenomenon stirred a rare trace of disorder in Sage’s heart, but he quickly soothed his Mind-Body and calmed himself down.

Back when he had still been a relative newcomer in the Infinite Dimensional Space, he had heard of a method for judging a reincarnator’s aptitude.

The baseline was whether one could adapt to the Space’s deployments. Reincarnators who could not adapt were all Defective Products. Most were mentally too fragile and would quickly suffer breakdowns amid the cruel, frequent deployment missions. Even if they possessed decent initial physical qualities and gains from their initial worlds, they would soon be eliminated.

Those above the baseline were qualified consumables, worker bees that the Space could deploy repeatedly to gather information.

Yet the reason consumables were called consumables was that reincarnators of this rank could only be considered qualified at best. They would naturally be worn away over mission after mission, swallowed up by other reincarnators or killed during missions. In the end, they could never truly grow.

Beyond that, as the Space constantly recruited new reincarnators, it would occasionally encounter some superior specimens—people born with exceptional aptitude who, for one reason or another, entered the Space.

Some had tremendous shortcomings in certain areas, yet were vastly superior to any other reincarnator in other respects. Once they found a direction they excelled in within the Space, they would rise rapidly.

Others were cunning to an almost monstrous degree, able to toy with other reincarnators in the palms of their hands through their own efforts alone.

Even in the real world, such reincarnators would be called geniuses and become pillars of their respective fields. They were people of astounding talent.

But occasionally, even more unusual individuals would appear in the Space. They were more like humans who had undergone genetic mutations, possessing abnormalities that seemed utterly out of place even within their own species.

Data, personality, logic, ethics—there was always some aspect that let you immediately sense the difference between yourself and them.

Such anomalies were the most unstable. They could easily be targeted and perish because of those abnormalities, yet they could also often grow rapidly into the most terrifying reincarnators.

Like the woman in the North District who had earned the title Tumi Flower Blooms. She had once forced Great Sun of Finality and Life of Silence back into the East District, leaving them no choice but to turn on each other.

Abnormal growth speed, abnormal combat power, abnormal ability traits…

"Mr. Sage, I once encountered a low-level reincarnator who had enhanced Lord of Mysteries Sequence Abilities, but I rarely saw any Beyonder characteristics in the Slum Area. Are that world’s resources controlled by His Excellency Eternal Destiny?"

Bai Cangshu’s smile remained unchanged. He swept his gaze around and saw islands faintly visible amid the distant mist.

Sage’s abilities were steadily being exposed. This meant that although his abilities were strange, he severely lacked the means to fight Bai Cangshu head-on…

For his demonic power to make others die in his place or kill them, there had to be considerable restrictions.

And those restrictions were ones Bai Cangshu had never suffered.

Bai Cangshu continuously considered the differences between himself and Loka’s group, seeking the reason Sage could make those people die silently while he remained unaffected.

The dragon Sage had transformed into looked down from the sky at Mercenary Tao’s Mind Island. No, that cramped space of barely a square meter could not be called an "island" at all.

It was merely a Mind Reef large enough for one person to stand on.

He realized that this might be part of Mercenary Tao’s abnormality. The reason Mercenary Tao could so quickly realize this was not the real world and recover his logic and sense of self within his subconscious was because… he barely had any subconscious world at all…

This was highly abnormal.

The human brain possessed an immense amount of redundancy, and human consciousness likewise retained an immense amount of residue.

How could a human’s Mind Island possibly be so small…

Sage’s heart stirred, and he opened his mouth in a long roar.

He directly stirred up a storm in the Collective Subconscious Ocean. Against ordinary people, he needed to enter their Mind Islands, understand their subconscious, and guide them from within.

That was how he could learn all their secrets without them realizing it and guide them to act according to his will.

But against someone like Mercenary Tao, perhaps he should simply drown him in a Mind Storm!

Let him remain forever immersed in every kind of frenzied emotion.

Whoosh!

As a Sequence 4 demigod who had completed his acting, a Manipulator, he was fully capable of stirring madness here.

Bai Cangshu turned his head and saw towering waves rushing toward him. The Collective Subconscious Ocean was undergoing a tremendous transformation, while the sky grew gloomy as well.

He lowered his head and looked at himself. His body was indeed changing at this moment.

But at the same time, he saw that the dragon in the sky was not far from him. Perhaps…

Bai Cangshu closed his eyes. A pure white radiance began to bloom from his body, while he also spoke, attempting to influence Sage.

"So, His Excellency Eternal Destiny has likely mastered some high-level Sequence Ability from the Mysterious World?"

"Let me guess… a Dreamer?"

The dragon Sage had become lowered its head and roared again. The Mind Storm crashed down.

Boom!

The entire mental world instantly became a complete mess.

In the real world, Red Dust slowly crawled up from the ground. He had not died, and the powerful telekinetic restraint on his body had vanished as well.

The long-lost freedom to breathe made him gasp uncontrollably.

But soon, he coughed twice. His Internal Qi circulated, rapidly expelling the purple toxin from his body.

Red Dust waved his hand, and powerful gale-force wind dispersed the poisonous mist. This purple poison mist was probably a special ability possessed by Red Queen’s Silver Plot Equipment-grade shield.

Yet there was no trace of anyone else nearby.

Once the poisonous mist dispersed, he saw a phantom burning with scarlet aura standing opposite Sage.

That was… Mercenary Tao?!

Red Dust beckoned with his right hand, and his treasured saber immediately spun into his grasp.

Looking at the two, the unprecedented opportunity made it difficult for him to restrain the urge to slash out with his blade.

But…

Red Dust stepped closer and discovered that both Sage and Mercenary Tao had their eyes tightly shut, their minds seemingly extremely unstable.

Mercenary Tao’s enlarged body twitched slightly, and blood began flowing from his nostrils. That was a sign of suffering a Mind Storm.

But Sage… could Mercenary Tao actually affect Sage in a battle of minds and subconsciousness?!

Moo!

Boom!

A blast of air erupted, surpassing any known hurricane in the world.

In that instant, Red Dust felt like a leaf tossed upon a raging sea. A terrifying aura that made one tremble erupted from ten kilometers away.

Space was being torn apart, and the shrieks of countless souls rang out at once.

Red Dust instinctively turned around and saw only the enormous pitch-black figure at the end of heaven and earth extending a hand. In its palm, golden spirits crumbled into fragments and gradually scattered with the wind.

The black figure became extremely unstable, and the colorful Spirit World space began expanding wildly.

In an instant, more than half the city was swallowed again.

Meanwhile, Tatsumaki, who had twisted half the space in the sky, was also blasted away.

A red kasaya that nearly covered the entire city drifted within the Spirit World, now being torn apart by the pitch-black figure.

"Reincarnators… I will… kill you all…"

The voice should have been childish, but it was now filled with brutal ruthlessness. Resentful psychic power came crashing down, blasting Red Dust, Mercenary Tao, and Sage away together.