They traveled through time at the same time, but the villainous scientist

Chapter 428 Witch's Barrier
As the blurry female silhouette gradually became clearer, a deeper and purer malice began to spread.

Centered on the shadowy woman, the entire world's "style" began to change drastically.

It was as if an invisible giant brush, dipped in thick and bizarre paint, was wantonly smearing this Showa town built of resentment.

The solid asphalt road surface becomes soft and twisted, presenting a thick texture like layers of oil paint;

The Japanese-style wooden houses on both sides are stretched and compressed, the roof tiles melt into colorful scales, and the windows become blinking eyes that are flowing with colorful tears.

The sky was no longer dark, but replaced by a bizarre backdrop of deep purple and dark red, like a curtain, adorned with gears, broken clocks, and meaningless symbols that slowly rotated, emitting out-of-tune, unsettling music box sounds.

A cloyingly sweet smell filled the air, mixed with the odor of rotting wood and rust.

The blood-red tendons that originally clung to the building have now been "painted" into thick, twisted, colorful lines, weaving the entire space into a bizarre and illogical cage.

Seeing this familiar scene, full of surrealism and gothic style.

Zhang Qi was taken aback.

Isn't this... a witch's barrier?
Within the Central Continent Team, there is only one person with a similar enhancement system...

Zhang Jie.

As if to confirm his ominous premonition, the enormous female silhouette in front of him, which had already completely merged into this bizarre oil painting world, began a new round of expansion and alienation.

Her body was no longer a blurry human form, but had transformed into an indescribable, enormous mountain of flesh composed of countless wailing faces, a shattered television screen, and tangled black hair.

Behind that mountain of flesh, an even deeper shadow spread out like a tide. From within the shadow, countless bizarre monsters shrieked and surged out, rushing toward the ground below the barrier!
Those monsters are the witch's "familiars".

Some have heads like television sets, with static on the screen, but their limbs are withered human hands and feet;
Some were tangled cascades of videotapes, covered with lurking eyes;

Others were little girls dressed in white hospital gowns, their hair disheveled, crawling rapidly across the ground in groups, emitting cries like night owls.

The horde of monsters instantly engulfed the streets, their target being a small area in the center of the barrier that had not yet been fully assimilated.

There, several figures were putting up a fierce resistance.

Zheng Zha's roar could be clearly heard even in this chaotic soundscape. He wielded his iron-blooded spear, and each sweep shattered dozens of familiars into pieces, but those pieces would quickly reform, endlessly.

Zero stood calmly on the high ground, the electromagnetic sparks of the Gauss sniper rifle flashing continuously. Each bullet accurately pierced the "core" of a familiar, causing it to completely dissipate.

But the number of familiars was simply too great, like a black ocean constantly battering their fragile, lonely boat.

At this critical moment, a thick, white laser cannon, as thick as a searchlight beam, tore through the crimson sky and descended from above!

"boom--!!!"

With unparalleled power, the light cannon struck directly at the core area where the monsters were most concentrated.

Wherever the beam of light passed, everything, from the oil painting-like ground to the hideous familiars, was instantly decomposed and evaporated, clearing out a huge fan-shaped blank area.

Zheng Zha and the others subconsciously looked up and saw a huge, black-bodied, grotesquely shaped, and smoothly flowing giant armored figure slowly descending from the sky.

"It's Brother Zhang Qi!"

Li Xiaoyi shouted out in surprise.

Zhang Qi nodded to Zheng Zha and the others below, while his gaze quickly swept over them. Zheng Zha and Ling Dian were still persevering, and although they were all injured, they were not seriously hurt.

However, at the back of the group, Zhan Lan and Zhang Jie lay side by side on the ground, their eyes closed, their faces as pale as paper, already unconscious.

"After we were pulled into this space, we determined from the changes in the surrounding environment that this was the past shaped by Sadako's resentment."

So we split up to investigate, trying to find the key to breaking the deadlock.

Zhan Lan's mental scan was the first to trigger the core restriction of this place. She was mentally attacked by Sadako's true form and instantly fell into a coma.

The instant she was attacked, Zhang Jie underwent a transformation. He... donned a pink and white dress resembling that of a magical girl, his power surged, and he forcefully blocked Sadako's attack, buying us time to regroup and retreat.

Chu Xuan's voice came through the communication channel.

"However, the price was that his power seemed to be restrained by Sadako, or rather, assimilated by her. After the battle, his body fell into a deep coma."

I examined it, and the materialized Soul Gem on his chest has lost all its luster.

Then, the main god issued a mission: to kill Sadako, a demon king-level monster…

Chu Xuan's voice continued, breaking the eerie silence.
Upon hearing about the "soul gem" and "being devoured," Zhang Qi roughly understood the whole story.

Sadako's resentment was the "cause," while Zhang Jie's magical girl enhancement system became the "effect."

Two forces, both stemming from obsession and capable of distorting reality, resonated and merged catastrophically here.

Sadako, having absorbed a portion of Zhang Jie's power, completed her final "witch transformation," becoming the unprecedented and terrifying hybrid before us.

This is no longer just Sadako...

"understood."

Zhang Qi nodded and disconnected the communication.

The eyes hidden beneath the armored mask pierced through the layers of grotesque scenes, locking onto the witch's true form, a structure built from pain and despair.

"In that case..."

His voice echoed in the closed cockpit, carrying a cold resolve.

"Then spit out everything you've eaten, with interest."

The next moment, his [Bio-Renewal Armor] emitted a low hum.

The dark red patterns covering the armor surface lit up one by one, like flowing lava.

The core light shone brightly throughout the body, and the heat dissipation units on the back and shoulders opened up, spewing out scorching air currents.

[Full Energy Amplification Unit, Activated!]

Synchronization rate limit removed, maximizing synchronization!

Zhang Qi knew very well that the enemy before him was a combination of obsession and rules.

It exists here, yet it does not entirely belong to the physical realm.

A purely physical attack, like the one Zheng Zha and his group used, can destroy their familiars but cannot harm their core.

To deal with this monster born from a twisted "heart," what is needed is another "heart" that is equally powerful and equally pure, to confront and clash with it! It is the crushing of will against will, the denial of the world by the self!
"Om-"

A buzzing sound, completely different from all the noise within the barrier, rang out.

Centered on Zhang Qi, a semi-transparent orange force field composed of countless hexagonal light spots suddenly unfolded!

【AT Field】! Absolute Territory! Heart Wall!

That sacred domain, representing the absolute dividing line between an individual life and the outside world, appeared instantly and began to collide with the witch's power.

There was no clash of light and shadow, no collision or explosion of energy.

This is a silent war.

The moment the AT field unfolded, the surrounding buildings, resembling an oil painting, began to violently twist and shatter. The ground, like a canvas being kneaded by an invisible giant hand, undulated and tore apart wildly.

On the crimson curtain of the sky, countless symbols and gears instantly crumbled. The false rules constructed by the witch's barrier, faced with the absolute will of the AT field that "rejects everything," let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain.

The entire town's buildings were destroyed and flattened in large swathes during this terrifying collision originating from the soul level, turning into colorful fragments flying everywhere.

The colossal witch, perched high in the center of the barrier, finally let out her first shriek...

(End of this chapter)