Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

"Good place."

Chongyue said something in a low voice, and the puppet sitting next to him nodded in agreement.

"really."

Destreet hugged her arms tightly, her face turning pale.

She had only ever seen similar scenes in horror movies before, and never imagined that one day she would become the protagonist herself.

Muirsey's voice came through everyone's earpieces: "Activate the detection devices on the three vehicles."

The equipment specially supplied by the head of the Ecology Department of Rhein Life Sciences is much better than the mass-produced equipment available on the market.

With a hum, the detectors on the three vehicles activated simultaneously, and invisible ripples spread in all directions.

The scene within everyone's field of vision was folded to varying degrees; some people found the nearest wooden house to be more than 100 meters away, while others said it was right in front of them.

Mike roughly understood the differences in cognitive distortion among the team members and decisively said, "Put on the talismans to ensure that the collapsing entity doesn't get close before we notice it. Cross-check that the talismans on the people around you are in place."

Everyone immediately sprang into action, replying one after another through their earpieces with messages confirming the mission was complete.

Muirses, who was standing behind Mike, asked, "Don't you need it?"

The water sprite looked at the talisman paper her fellow beings had given her, which was covered with a series of mathematical formulas, far from the complex and obscure special symbols she remembered.

When did we realize that mathematical formulas could be used to deal with collapsed bodies?

It seems that a lot must have happened to the doctor.

Muirsey couldn't help but wonder what happened to Mike during the months he was missing.

But then the water sprite thought again, she hadn't forgiven this man yet.

"I'll tell you the details later. For now, let's deal with the immediate problem."

Mike lowered his head again, offering no further explanation to Muirsay.

Surely he wouldn't say that he was the source of these talismans, would he?

Muirsey nodded with some skepticism, feeling that the man was just brushing her off, but she had no proof.

The rest of the team had no doubts and quickly followed Mike's instructions to stick the talismans on.

When Muirsey finished the action, she felt a warm current flowing into her body from the talisman. She stared in astonishment at the golden light emanating from between her fingers, with visible light particles floating in the air.

Amazing.

The previously blurry vision, as if veiled by a light gauze, began to become clear under the golden light.

"This is……"

What she saw was indeed an abandoned village, but the reality was not what she had imagined.

The snow covered the traces left behind, but it couldn't completely conceal them.

The once tranquil village was reduced to ruins by the heavy snow, with most of the buildings collapsed. The huge bodies of livestock, long dead and frozen stiff, barely protruded from the ground.

There was no road ahead; the vehicle had reached the end of the road and was blocked by a thick fence.

If it weren't for the chaos caused by the collapse, this place would have been a peaceful home for the Sami people.

The group gathered together to discuss the matter and decided to get out of the car to check the situation.

The distorted, desolate village attracts outsiders. If it were any other unprepared expedition team that blindly ventured forward, they would most likely end up becoming part of the collapsed mass.

Mike clutched the unmelting snowball in his pocket and muttered to himself, "Are there things even you can't do?"

The team members confirmed at base camp that Mike had taken command. He said he would get out of the vehicle to check the situation, and everyone quickly got out of the vehicle and onto the ground where the snow was up to their calves.

"Yelena, Phantom, and Asteria, proceed to the designated location. Yelena will lead the three-person team, as she has a certain understanding of the complexities of the Ice Plains..."

Mike had another reason for arranging Yelena's presence: he wanted to confirm whether the Patriots' guerrillas were in a state of flux.

The Sami Icefield is now undeniably dangerous.

The first three team members to enter the deserted village quickly sent back a message: they had not found any survivors. In addition to livestock, some Sami people who had not had time to evacuate were killed by the collapse.

Destreet's legs trembled slightly as she whispered, "The village has been abandoned for far longer than we previously estimated."

"Yes, the previous estimate was a week before the main camp fell, but judging from the signs of destruction in the buildings, the timeframe could be extended to one to three months."

What happened three months ago?

Others may not know, but Mike could never forget.

He faked his death and left Rhodes Island, and the news spread throughout Terra during that time.

As they were talking, Typhon, the Sarkaz girl, walked alone towards the deserted village. She had clearly been authorized by Mike to observe the village from different angles.

Destreet shook her head: "I don't understand."

"Different people see different things, and perhaps Typhon will make new discoveries."

Mike offered one explanation and then fell silent.

Immediately afterwards, Horhaia and Andorn entered the deserted village together, while the rest of the people stayed behind to guard the vehicle.

This time, Desmond didn't press the matter further.

Now, Shuangxing and the other two, who had ventured deep into the deserted village, arrived in front of a dead tree.

"If I'm not mistaken," the girl murmured. "this is the most important tree in the village."

She approached a little closer and saw a mess under the tree, with junk piled up haphazardly, which did not resemble the sacred tree respected by the tribe at all.

As Xingji, who was accompanying them, took notes, he asked, "I heard Miss Typhon say that the Sacred Tree is extremely important to any tribe. Why did this happen?"

“The Sami people would never do that.”

Phantom walked to the tree, used his dagger to clear away the snow, and threw something in front of the two young ladies.

It was a can of food that had been opened and eaten clean, with a label indicating it was made in Colombia.

"The tribe was attacked by the collapsing entity, and most of the people were forced to migrate. After that, another group came here. These people had no relation to the Sami people, so they did not have to follow the Sami customs. Therefore, they threw all sorts of things under the sacred tree."

Froststar's explanation is reasonable, but more evidence is needed to verify it.

Based on their understanding of the Collapsed Body, they knew that this monster wouldn't stay in one place for long. By the time the rest of the group arrived, the village was already deserted.

"If that's all there is to it, why are you blocking our way when we try to go around it?"

Without explaining this, there is no way to explain the series of events that have occurred.

Upon hearing this, Mike nodded seriously and said, "It's very close to the truth."

"the truth?"

The top lawyer found the ice field so cold that it dulled her mind, and she couldn't figure out what was going on.

Like Mike, Chongyue, who was holding the fort, suddenly said, "It's roughly the idea of ​​'using their own methods against them.'"

"I understand even less now that you're saying that."

Faced with Destle's doubts, Adele ran up to Miss Kuranta, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "The contamination left by the collapse has always been there. All the signs that Miss Frostnova discovered indicate that there were two collapse attacks in the deserted village. The first forced the original residents of the village to leave their homes, and the second severely damaged the Columbia team that came here to rest, forcing them to leave. The Doctor is using this information to reconstruct what happened in the past through multi-faceted observation."

"Doctor? How could this be..."

Before Daisy could finish speaking, Typhon's urgent voice came through the earpiece.

“I saw many illusory figures appearing in the direction of the village’s sacred tree. This is not a good omen. If we don’t intervene, they will enter reality.”

"Is it possible to figure out what's going on with these monsters?"

"Judging from their attire, they appear to be a small team from Sami."

The Sami people wouldn't be unaware of the sacred tree; these people must be suspicious.

But Typhon said, "We need to hurry and come up with a solution. These monsters will soon enter reality, and we will definitely have to pay a heavy price to deal with them."

Meanwhile, a report also came from Froststar's side.

"Doctor, figures have appeared on the other side of the deserted village that we haven't been to. Not only that, but all sorts of strange monsters dressed in local clothing are attacking us!"

At this moment, Mike smiled and said, "These things have been hiding all this time, so what can I do about them? Now is our time to take advantage."

In fact, while he was speaking, Frostnova and the others, who were next to the sacred tree, had already started fighting the monster that had become a collapsed entity.

Phantom moves extremely fast; even when faced with thick snow, it remains agile and moves with lightning speed.

He shook the black-faced, red-based cloak behind him, and a wisp of black mist emerged, causing him to vanish completely.

"Why are there so many monsters?"

"The monsters surging into the deserted village fall into two categories. The first are warriors from the local tribes, who have been corrupted by demons and turned into collapsed beings. The second is a team of Colombians, among whom there seems to have been another very fierce battle, or rather, they are killing each other after their cognition has been distorted by demonic corruption."

The number of these monsters was not endless. After she stood on the rooftop facing the gale and fired two arrows at her target, she noticed that most of the strange things surrounding the sacred tree had disappeared.

The number of collapsed bodies that need to be addressed has now been significantly reduced.

Upon hearing the report, Mike laughed heartily: "Just as I suspected, I was right."

The battle in the deserted village didn't last long. Frostnova put away her staff. She rarely used spells with amazing effects; she had only used ice spikes to hit people.

She had just noticed Typhon standing on the roof when the girl looked at her, made a gesture, turned around, and disappeared again.

Magellan got out of the car at this moment, looking like he had just woken up. Looking at Destle's serious expression and Mike's smiling face, he decisively chose to stand on the Doctor's side.

"Doctor, how is the situation now?"

"Some minor problems have been resolved, but the real issues remain unresolved."

He reached into his pocket, gripped the snowball tightly, and asked in a low voice, "How do you feel about this outcome?"

In fact, Mike's question would never be answered, because this deserted village had been abandoned for a long time. The tribe members had migrated south and disappeared without a trace, and it was very likely that they had come to the edge of the Sami region and could leave the country at any time.

As the battle in the deserted village drew to a close, the team members also discovered some suddenly appearing phantoms. Although they became real for a short time, they all had different time limits and would automatically disappear when the time was up.

Because these are all fake.

Mike spoke into the headset, which cleared up some of the confusion in the minds of the operators.

"The abandoned village is real, but most of it is fake. The agents who participated in the abandoned village are real, but everything they saw was fake. The collapse bodies and the monsters contaminated by the collapse bodies did have some impact, but they are still fake."

The pollution caused by the collapse has the ability to distort reality, turning everything in memory into reality. After entering the deserted village, Frostnova and the other two saw many dead people and were immediately convinced that they were real. In their subconscious, the deserted village should indeed be like that.

Then Typhon appeared. The Sarkaz girl took an unconventional path, gripping her giant bow as she leaped over the difficult rooftops of houses. All she saw before her was a vast expanse of white fog, and the absurd scene of her wits and courage against the air within the fog.

Holhaya and the others had only one objective: to monitor Yelena, who had entered earlier, and to check if her physiological data was normal. Secondly, and this was something they couldn't say, they also needed to monitor Typhon.