Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

The team behind Lin Yi entered one after another, their flashlight beams sweeping across the dimly lit street.

“This place…” Takanashi Hoshino said softly, the muzzle of her shotgun following her gaze, “is worse than I expected.”

This is true.

The buildings on both sides of the street are very old, and most of the windows are broken and hastily covered with wooden boards or cloth.

A few streetlights still in operation cast dim yellow halos, drawing blurry patches of light on the ground.

The streets were littered with debris—broken toys, torn pages of books, and overturned containers.

Some walls have blurry graffiti, not children's random scribbles, but distorted symbols written with some kind of dark red paint, which look like both words and patterns.

At the base of a building less than 20 meters from the entrance, Lin Yi spotted several figures.

Three girls.

They huddled in the corner, their so-called "clothing" no longer worthy of being called clothes—it was just a few gray strips of cloth barely joined together, sewn together with rough thread, or simply torn pieces of fabric haphazardly wrapped around their bodies.

The edges of the cloth strips were worn down to a frayed state, barely covering the vital parts of the body, but large areas of skin were exposed to the cold air.

They looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, but their faces showed none of the expressions one would expect from children.

When the flashlight beam shone on them, all three people looked up at the same time.

There was no fear, no curiosity, not even basic vigilance—their eyes were empty, like two dry wells, with nothing inside.

The procession stopped.

Ayane Okusora instinctively covered her mouth.

Kuromi Serika's cat ears were pressed against her scalp, and her tail hung stiffly behind her.

The sand wolf Shiroko simply watched quietly, her blue eyes devoid of any emotion, but the tip of her tail trembled slightly.

Of the three girls, the one in the middle spoke up.

Her voice was soft, hoarse from prolonged dehydration:
"Are you... here to kill us?"

These words were like a block of ice, smashing into the silent ranks.

Hoshino opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately no sound came out.

Lin Yi stood still and sized up the three girls for a few seconds.

His face was expressionless, showing neither sympathy nor disgust, as if he were looking at a status report for an object.

For Lin Yi, who had experienced multiple worlds and witnessed true hellish scenes, the scene before him could hardly be described as "tragic".

At least they are still alive, with walls to shelter them from the wind and rain, and intact bodies.

He had seen deformed creatures crawling through ruins, corrupted by the power of the ancient gods, and he had seen an entire civilization awaiting destruction in despair.

"No."

Lin Yi explained simply, then took out several items from his storage space.

Three sets of women's clothes, although the styles were not very attractive, were clean and intact.

There were also several sealed military ration packs, the kind that are high in calories and easy to store.

He casually tossed these things onto the ground in front of the girls.

The soft sound of fabric hitting the ground, the rustling of plastic food packaging.

For the first time, the eyes of the three girls changed.

That wasn't a glimmer of hope, but more like the instinctive reaction of a hungry beast seeing food.

The girl on the far left reached out, her fingertips trembling as she touched the fabric of her uniform, as if she couldn't believe it was real.

The girl in the middle looked up at Lin Yi. Her lips moved, but she didn't say anything to express her gratitude.

In places like this, gratitude is a luxury; survival is the only rule.

Lin Yi crouched down and looked them in the eye.

Where is Beatrice?

The name was like an icicle, piercing the bodies of the three girls.

They both began to tremble.

The girl on the far right even shrank back and buried her head in her knees.

The girl in the middle turned pale, her lips pressed into a straight line.

The silence lasted for about ten seconds.

Then, the girl in the middle slowly raised her hand and pointed into the depths of the town.

Her finger pointed to the end of the street, where she could vaguely see the outline of a structure taller than the others, like some kind of tower or clock tower.

“There…” her voice trailed off, “the central tower…she’s down there…”

Lin Yi nodded and stood up.

"Thank you."

He said, and turned to leave.

"Wait, wait a minute..."

It was the girl in the middle again. She stood up, leaning against the wall, swaying unsteadily, the strips of cloth covering her body seemingly about to come undone at any moment.

"Your...name?"

Lin Yi didn't turn around, he just waved his hand.

"No need."

He continued walking forward, with the group silently following behind.

As he passed the three girls, Hoshino paused for a moment, took out two more packs of compressed biscuits from his backpack, and gently placed them next to the uniforms.

Then she quickly caught up with the group and didn't look back.

The group continued along the street deeper into the town.

After walking a few dozen meters, Nomiya said softly, "Their eyes... are like they're dead."

“Living in a place like this,” Hoshino’s voice was somewhat muffled, “is probably worse than dying.”

Ayane adjusted her glasses; the terminal screen displayed the environmental data from the rapid scan: "Prolonged exposure to this environment can lead to a decline in cognitive function and emotional regulation. Their mental state may already be..."

She didn't finish.

Lin Yi walked at the front, seemingly uninterested in the conversation behind him.

His senses had spread out, covering a range of several hundred meters around him.

Occasionally, one can see a fleeting figure behind a curtain in the buildings lining the street.

There were eyes peeking from behind some windows, but when Lin Yi's gaze swept over them, those eyes immediately disappeared.

The whole town was eerily quiet.

There was no conversation, no children playing, not even the basic sounds of daily life—no running water, no clanging of cooking utensils, nothing at all.

This place doesn't feel like a community; it's more like a giant prison.

Just as the group was about to turn a street corner, Lin Yi raised his right hand.

Everyone immediately stopped and went on alert.

The next second, eight figures rushed out from the buildings on both sides.

Arius's patrol squad.

They were dressed in identical dark combat uniforms, moving swiftly and silently, clearly highly trained. The eight women were divided into two groups: one group advanced from the front, while the other attempted to flank them.

But they made a mistake—underestimating the team's fighting strength.

"Haha! They've finally arrived!"

Jian Xianhecheng's laughter exploded in the quiet street.

She didn't even use a gun.

The first Arius soldier had just raised his gun when Tsurugi appeared in front of her and punched him in the stomach.

The soldier groaned, curled up like a shrimp, flew backward three meters, crashed into the wall, and slid down.

Her halo flickered violently, but did not shatter—He Cheng controlled the force.

The second soldier attempted to fire, but He Cheng dodged the gun barrel and sliced ​​the soldier's wrist with his palm like a knife.

The rifle flew out of his hand, followed immediately by a knee strike to the chest, and the second soldier fell to the ground.

The battle ended in ten seconds.

All eight Arius soldiers were rendered incapacitated, but none were seriously wounded or killed.

They lay on the ground, some curled up clutching their stomachs, others coughing while covering their chests, but their halos were still shining.

He Cheng stood between them, flicked his wrist, and smiled with lingering satisfaction: "Too weak... not even a warm-up."

Lin Yi stepped forward, squatted down, and checked the condition of one of the soldiers.

The other person tried to resist, but He Cheng stepped on his wrist.

"Is Beatrice in the central tower?" Lin Yi asked.

The soldier gritted his teeth and remained silent.

"Silence is fine too." Lin Yi stood up and dusted off his hands. "We already know anyway."

Just then, Lin Yi suddenly raised his head.

His senses detected something unusual, a familiar aura.

The power of the abyss.

Moreover, the concentration is not low.

"Everyone, stand back."

Lin Yi's voice was calm, but the warning in it made everyone tense up instantly.

He took a few running steps and leaped onto the roof of a three-story building. The view from there was much wider, overlooking most of the town.

Hina Sorasaki flapped her wings and landed beside him.

Her purple eyes swept across the street below: "What did you find?"

Lin Yi did not answer.

His gaze was fixed on the west.

"Whatever you see next," Lin Yi said, "don't go near it, don't touch it."

Hina frowned, but nodded.

The team below regrouped, Hoshino pointed his shotgun in various directions, and Ayane operated the reconnaissance drone to take off.

Then, the ground began to change.

It's not a vibration, not a crack—it's a "ripple".

Within a radius of about 100 meters, the concrete ground appeared to have turned into a water surface.

Ripples spread outward from the center, distorting the ground wherever they passed.

“What is that…” Celery’s voice trembled.

No one can answer.

After the ripples spread to their limit, things began to "float" out of the ground.

First, the hands.

Pale, slender hands, like those made of plaster, emerged from the ground. Then came arms, shoulders, heads… one by one, complete human figures slowly rose from the ground, like corpses emerging from water.

But they are not corpses.

They were wearing nun's habit—the classic black hooded nun's habit, but with a more elaborate design and silver embroidery along the edges.

Everyone was wearing a mask similar to a gas mask, with dark lenses that obscured their eyes.

The exposed skin had an unnatural grayish-blue hue, like a specimen that had been soaked in formalin for a long time.

They stood up.

Ten, twenty, fifty... Eventually, more than a hundred such "nuns" appeared on the street, completely surrounding Lin Yi's group.

They didn't move, they just stood there quietly, their "gaze" from behind their masks focused on the group.

“The Saints of Eustina…” Ayane’s voice came through the communicator, tinged with unusual tension. “There are only scattered records in the database, but the description matches this—'A soulless nun, an immortal ceremonial gown'.”

Just then, everyone's communicators simultaneously started making static noises.

"Zzz...Teacher...can you hear me...?"

It was Sakurako Utazumi's voice coming from the ground command center.

The signal is very poor and keeps cutting out.

"We... detected... an abnormal energy reaction... it's the Saints' Guild's doll costumes... be extremely careful... they're not living beings... they can't be killed..."

Communication was interrupted.

Lin Yi jumped off the roof and landed back in the middle of the group.

He glanced at the still nun dolls around him and already had a guess in his mind.

Hoshino was the first to pull the trigger.

The roar of shotguns echoed through the street, and a barrage of lead bullets enveloped the three puppets at the forefront.

The nun's habit was riddled with holes, and the doll's body fell backward and crashed heavily to the ground.

But the next second, the bodies of the three fallen dolls began to "melt".

It didn't melt away in a bloody mess, but rather softened like a candle when heated, seeping into the concrete surface.

In less than three seconds, they disappeared completely, leaving only three faint puddles of water on the ground.

Then, about five meters away from the original position, the ground rippled again.

Three brand-new nun dolls slowly rose from the ground.

"What the hell is that!" Celery exclaimed, firing her submachine gun and riddling an approaching doll with bullets.

The same thing happened again—the doll fell to the ground, melted, disappeared, and then regenerated a few meters away.

Bai Zi's three consecutive shots accurately hit the mask of a doll.

The mask shattered, revealing a hollow, featureless face behind it.

The doll swayed slightly, but did not fall down; instead, it continued to walk forward.

"The weakness isn't the head!" Bai Zi calmly reported.

The team began to tighten their defensive perimeter.

Tsurugi attempted to use close-range attacks, but while her fists could knock the dolls away, they couldn't stop them from regenerating.

"Teacher!" Hoshino shouted as he reloaded, "We'll run out of ammo at this rate!"

Lin Yi observed for about fifteen seconds.

These puppets all follow a consistent pattern of movement: they move slowly, do not dodge attacks, and respawn quickly after death.

The respawn location is random, but it is always within 30 meters of the team.

Moreover, they seem to have some kind of "learning" ability.

The initial waves of puppets approached in a scattered manner, but now they are consciously applying pressure from multiple directions simultaneously, forcing the defensive formation to disperse its firepower.

Creation by contract.

Lin Yi is basically confirmed.

These dolls are not physical beings, but rather a concrete manifestation of a certain "contract" or "rule".

As long as the power of the contract remains, the doll can be reborn indefinitely.

Below, the battle situation is becoming increasingly tense.

The circle of puppets was slowly but steadily shrinking.

Despite the team's fierce firepower, knocking down wave after wave, respawning seemed to be costless and endless.

He Cheng had abandoned his guns and charged directly into the group of puppets. His fists and legs transformed into a crimson storm, sending puppet limbs flying wherever they went, only to be quickly replaced by new ones.

For the first time, annoyance appeared on her face. This kind of enemy that she couldn't kill or get rid of was clearly not her type.

Hina Sorasaki's empowered bullets can cause more significant damage to the dolls. Parts hit by the purple aura will disintegrate more completely, and the regeneration speed seems to be slightly slower, but relative to the total number, it is still a drop in the bucket.

The team began to fight and retreat, moving towards the area below Lin Yi's building, attempting to reduce their exposed surface area by relying on the building.

Lin Yi knew it was time for him to make his move.

Continuing to waste time is pointless; we must break this deadlock.

He leaped from the rooftop and landed in the center of the battle in a few steps, right in front of the triangular formation formed by Hoshino and the others.

There were no unnecessary movements, not even the drawing of the longsword from his back.

Lin Yi simply lifted his right foot and then gently stepped down.

The shadows on the ground within a 50-meter radius of his landing point came to life.

Hundreds and thousands of blades, composed entirely of the purest shadows, with a dull, dark light flowing across their edges, pierced through every corner of the ground!

They appeared at incredibly tricky angles, precisely piercing the bodies of every "nuns" within range.

Puff puff puff puff——!
In an instant, a forest of shadowy blades seemed to suddenly grow on the street, centered on Lin Yi.

Hundreds of "Saintly Attire" dolls, in forward or attacking stances, were firmly pinned to this forest of blades.

Their movements came to a complete standstill, the red light in their eyes flickered erratically, and their bodies trembled slightly, yet they were unable to break free.

This shocking scene caused the gunfire to pause for a moment.

But Lin Yi's experiment had only just begun. He reached out his hand, and the black and white rose fell into his palm.

He casually walked to the nearest doll, its chest pierced by a shadow blade and pinned to the spot, and with a swift movement, brought his sword down.

The blade easily sliced ​​through the doll's pale blue skin and the material beneath that was neither metal nor wood. But when it had cut into about a third of the doll's "body," Lin Yi's mind stirred slightly, and a wisp of abyssal power, like the finest black venomous snake, quietly seeped into it through the tip of the sword.

Change has happened.

The doll, which had been stiff and hadn't reacted much when pierced by the shadow blade, suddenly began to convulse violently!

A strange sound, like shattering glass mixed with boiling oil, emanated from its body.

The pale blue covering its body was quickly replaced by darkness.

The doll swelled up like an inflated balloon, its nun's habit torn, and its pale blue skin became transparent, revealing the pitch blackness churning wildly inside.

Just two or three seconds later—

A soft "pop" sound.

The doll exploded.

There was no flying blood and flesh, no scattering of parts.

It was like a popped soap bubble, bursting into a cloud of thick, black smoke that spread rapidly and then immediately dissipated, leaving behind only a few wisps of fading burnt smell and a tiny, barely perceptible ash.

The shadow blade, having lost its support, fell to the ground with a soft "ding" and dissipated into black mist.

At the same time, Lin Yi clearly sensed that within a radius of several hundred meters, the "contractual power" field, which originally supported the rebirth of all the puppets through some kind of hidden network, fluctuated slightly, and an extremely tiny "void" appeared.

Although the void is being slowly filled by the surrounding forces, it does exist, and no new dolls are being reborn nearby to fill the void left by the destroyed individual.

Sure enough.

Lin Yi's guess was confirmed.

These dolls are essentially creations of rules formed by an ancient "contract," similar to a magical construct that automatically executes commands and infinitely repairs itself.

Conventional attacks, whether physical bullets or energy shocks, only destroy their "form." The corrupted contractual forces that drive them will immediately reclaim the "form" and use the stored energy and matter to reshape a new one.

However, by directly attacking and annihilating that small cluster of contractual power driving the entity's existence, permanent destruction can be achieved. (End of Chapter)