The Nether Flame bombs didn't create a significant ripple; a surface-level explosion couldn't truly shake this unknown power. Wei Huan had to find a new way.
He ordered a Burrow Beast Mother to charge full-tilt into the Divine Surge. As expected, she died the next second. But the moment she expired, a Facehugger she had been carrying inside her burst out, successfully lunging forward a tiny distance. When it died, a Puppy-man fell from its abdominal cavity. It died even faster, but after its death, the true trump card appeared:
A Flying Monkey bound to a Nether Flame bomb in a "Kite State." Its purpose wasn't to delay the bomb's disappearance, but to trigger it at the very last moment of its life.
'Boom!'
Finally, a Nether Flame bomb detonated—not on the surface, but nearly three meters deep into the surge. It was a result of Wei Huan using every "Russian nesting doll" trick in his arsenal. The internal explosion was far more potent than the surface blasts. The powerful surge splashed outward, drenching the surrounding undead and wiping out a large number of them.
Wei Huan wasn't angry; he was delighted. He had found the method. These surges looked like formless air, but they were actually "heavy," almost solid. Once a pit was blasted into them, they wouldn't flow back to fill it immediately.
He immediately repeated the process, sending in waves of nesting-doll combinations.
'Boom! Boom-boom!'
The pit grew larger and deeper, approaching the ash-like substances at the bottom. Wei Huan knew that once he touched those ashes, the Heart of Steel would give him answers. This was far better than trying to study it himself.
As Wei Huan's excavations created a massive commotion—making the other captains increasingly restless—Mu Zhong suddenly received a communication request. His expression changed as he turned to Wei Huan.
"Xia Yu's preliminary results are in. The samples contain a massive amount of energy identical to the Divine Surge. This energy grants objects a sort of immortality, making them powerful but also seemingly manipulating them."
Wei Huan focused. "So the bodies of the Liar Remnants are filled with this."
"The illusions they spread are actually a form of root-system parasitism," Mu Zhong explained. "Like spores, they latch onto humans, numbing pain and inducing hallucinations while absorbing nutrients to sprout. In this world, the Liar Remnants seem to have been invaded by the Divine Surge. Their parasitic nature combined with the surge's immortality allows them to not just control the challengers as walking corpses, but to actually master the hosts' abilities. We can view the combination of the Divine Surge and the Remnants as an 'upgrade.'"
"So they're symbiotic?" Wei Huan didn't like that answer.
"Likely so. And Wei Huan, I think your current direction is right. If the surge itself is this terrifying, what could it be protecting? This is the truth the Heart of Steel wants us to find."
---
Wei Huan's method was blunt but effective. Sea after sea of undead sacrificed themselves, slowly blasting a tunnel to the seabed.
'Rumble!'
Following another explosion, a wisp of the ash—which had been suppressed by the surge for eons—flew up. A Facehugger acted instantly, swallowing a wisp of ash into its abdominal cavity along with some seawater. It ran back like a dog playing fetch, carrying its prize through the dangerous currents.
The sight drew everyone's attention. Wei Huan had been here for half an hour, blasting away at something invisible. Now, there was a physical result.
Captain Pandit of the Three Nations couldn't help himself. "Commander Wei, did you find something?"
Wei Huan ignored him. He was staring at the Heart of Steel. He didn't want to bring unknown substances into his ship, so the Facehugger stopped outside. The Heart of Steel provided a prompt, calling the substance: "Ashes of Eons."
'Is that it?' Wei Huan thought. 'Any dirt on Earth is technically eons old!' That wasn't the answer he wanted.
Mu Zhong communicated with the Heart of Steel for a while before nodding to Wei Huan. "Got it. Dig a bit deeper using the same method, and we'll get to the real thing."
Wei Huan continued the bombardment, ignoring the losses. After another 500 meters of depth, he didn't need a prompt to see the anomaly. White objects were appearing amidst the deep ash.
"Did I hit the bottom?" Wei Huan was surprised. He thought there would be an invisible barrier, but he had hit something solid. It was likely some rare treasure, given it survived the Divine Surge and the bombs.
"It's not the bottom," Mu Zhong said, his voice trailing off in awe. "It's a Divine Corpse."
Wei Huan was speechless. The criminals serving as anchors in the room widened their eyes, shocked but knowing better than to speak.
"Look at the map again," Mu Zhong said. With the mention of a "Divine Corpse," the answer was obvious.
The Sequence 6 world was essentially a coffin.
Of course, a "coffin" was a human concept, and divine beings from other civilizations wouldn't necessarily share that culture. But the fact remained: this closed space held a massive secret. This explained why even the resilient Liar Remnants were reduced to mere labor here, and why the dead could "live" with their powers intact.
Wei Huan's shock soon faded into pragmatism. 'What can this corpse give me? What does it give humanity?' A divine body was a goldmine. Even a strand of hair would be a fortune. If humanity was to build its first major alliance city on top of this corpse, how would it affect them? How much energy could they siphon?
Mu Zhong was already communicating with the Heart of Steel. Since communication wasn't going smoothly, Wei Huan ordered his undead to try and carve off a piece of "flesh."
It was useless. The white substance was as hard as steel. His strongest Two-Headed Hidden Demon Fiends were like plastic toys against it.
Mu Zhong interrupted: "It's no use. The divine shell cannot be broken. We need to find another way in. Furthermore, this corpse is the foundation of this world; it cannot be moved, at least not until we have the power to destroy worlds."
"What about the World Tree?" Wei Huan asked.
"That's next. The Heart of Steel will lead us to the key items to change the status quo. But there will be a battle there. General Meyer and the others are likely gathered at that location."
"You want me to reach Sequence 6 first?"
"The Heart of Steel suggests it."
Wei Huan understood. His undead army began to withdraw, and the white vehicle turned back. He trusted Mu Zhong's judgment. He returned to the wreckage of Meyer's empty vehicle, ordered a "standby" command, and left the bridge. He needed to make the breakthrough.
---
Wei Huan meditated in the Dark Source chamber. With the "Seven Seeds of Enlightenment" he had been planted with years ago and the urgent need to grow, his progress was staggering. He summoned more Two-Headed Hidden Demon Fiends to replace the lost ones, keeping enough power in reserve for the coming fight.
While he was submerged in darkness, greed was festering outside.
The Fence Country vehicle returned. Captain Pandit of the Three Nations contacted him privately, filling him in on Wei Huan's "secret" excavation.
"You're saying Wei Huan found new resources and didn't say a word?" the Fence Country captain asked. "He has no intention of sharing?"
"Information is locked down," Pandit said. "We don't know what's down there. But look—Meyer's vehicle is silent. We all know Wei Huan's AI has the highest permissions. How could it take three days to crack a password? It's a lie."
The Fence Country captain agreed. "Suspicious. Do we force our way onto Meyer's ship, or go to the seabed ourselves? He can do it, so why can't we? The resources he brought back from the Dark Beast world made everyone envious. Resources without an owner belong to whoever grabs them."
The two captains shared a look of mutual understanding. They smiled.
"Wei Huan is powerful, but he is 'Good-Aligned' toward his own race," they reasoned. "He won't strike first against us. We'll move at dinner time. By the time he reacts, we'll already be at the treasure site."
Wei Huan, in his deep cultivation, was unaware of their specific plot. He could have monitored them, but he didn't care about fools. He would mourn a fallen challenger, but he had no sympathy for those seeking their own death. He had earned his resources through blood and fire, not luck.
---
In the main cabin, Mu Zhong shared the news of the Divine Corpse with his core team.
"If there are gods, does that mean we can become gods too?" someone asked.
"It depends on the definition. To an ant, we are gods. I think 'God' is just the end of evolution."
"In Daxia's culture," someone laughed, "if there are gods sitting on our heads trying to control us, we don't worship them—we storm the Heavens and rebel!"
Yake looked on in horror as he tried to understand his companions' logic. "Storm the... oh God, we'll be punished!"
"Old Yake," Xu Qingqiang laughed, slapping his shoulder. "Drop that 'wage slave' mindset. Why can they be gods and not us? My life is mine, not Heaven's. You came here because you were tired of being controlled by the puppeteers back in Ausam, right? Welcome to the awakening!"
Mu Zirui added gently, "Our Taoist spirit is worth studying, Yake. I'll explain it later. For now, surely you can't refuse the goal of becoming a 'Human' in the eyes of an 'Ant'?"
Yake blinked, his worldview shattered, but he realized he didn't hate the change.
As the team laughed and planned, Mu Zhong's face suddenly darkened. He scowled, looking at the monitors.
"Some people are looking for death," he sneered. "I truly don't know if I should even bother saving them."