Ark Chess Player

“Ghost Shark…that’s what the ‘dead’ call me.”

"The doctor told me that the condition for continuing treatment was to fight for Rhodes Island."

"I will, I will dedicate all my strength to you."

"So, please..."

Please don't give up on me.

The gray-haired girl explained that, without realizing it, tears had soaked her face, and only weariness remained in her eyes.

Having been implanted with false beliefs, I am constantly tormented by voices echoing in my mind, unable to sleep day and night.

Every nightfall, the ghost shark is forced to clasp its hands together in prayer, devoutly praying, singing, and cheering to the stars.

Without doing so, she couldn't get a chance to catch her breath from the splitting headache. But each time she prayed, the voice in her head became even more solid. Ghost Shark seemed trapped in an endless vicious cycle, where despair led only to more despair.

Lin Lu figured it out.

Ghost Shark is an innocent girl who has been tragically harmed by a cult.

Those despicable cult members have actually tormented a perfectly healthy young woman into this state of mental instability! This pains Lin Lu, an upright person, deeply.

It was quite heartbreaking, because Ghost Shark was a little emotional while talking, and her hand on Lin Lu's chest unconsciously gripped too tightly, causing Lin Lu's nipples to hurt.

"If I told you that I might have a way to free you, would you be willing to try?"

Lin Lu pondered, to be honest, he wasn't very confident, but how would he know if it would work if he didn't try?

You mean...?

Ghost Shark was stunned; she seemed unable to grasp the meaning behind Lin Lu's words.

Countless nights of breakdowns have made her afraid to hope for a return to normalcy; she just wants to be a little more lucid.

“I can’t guarantee it will work, after all, I’m lost just like you.” Lin Lu raised his right hand and used his index finger to wipe away the girl’s tears, fading the tear stains. “But I can feel your pain. You have a long road ahead of you. I hope you make some friends, enjoy fine food, and see the world.”

"Ghost Shark, will you believe me?"

To be honest, Attorney Lin's question sounded very unsure of himself.

Because his hand was still on the other person's smooth, flat abdomen, just like a middle-aged balding uncle groping his subordinate.

Ghost Shark stood there dumbfounded for a long time, then finally nodded blankly, like a lost child in a shopping mall meeting a kind lady at the service desk. She had no choice, but fortunately, she met someone capable of helping her make a choice.

I won't let you down.

Lin Lu smiled slightly and said softly, his tone indifferent.

Ghost Shark suddenly looked up and realized that the person who called himself the Doctor had changed.

The white-haired youth who seemed to have lustful thoughts but lacked the courage to act on them seemed to have become a completely different person.

Calm and collected, as if the entire situation was under his control, he was simply passing the time from beginning to end.

A cobalt blue light gathered in Lin Lu's eyes as he calmly gazed at the ghost shark, but his eyes did not reflect the girl's image.

Lin Lu's gaze went very far, as if he wanted to cross a period of time, beyond ships, beyond wastelands, beyond hills, and beyond oceans.

Until those cobalt blue eyes reflected the dim, vertically oriented giant pupils.

"found it."

The cobalt blue flame in Lin Lu's left eye suddenly ignited, radiating a chilling aura as it confronted the hostility.

The left hand, which was attached to the girl's abdomen, suddenly glowed, and the double helix mark on the back of the hand burned fiercely, emitting orange-red flames.

extraction.

This is one of Lin Lu's trump cards.

Lin Lu was able to withstand Talulah, this humanoid calamity, in Chernobog precisely because he used the power of extraction to decompose and absorb the incoming Originium Arts, converting them into his own power. However, the power of extraction is not without limits. Otherwise, he would have simply drilled into Chernobog's central energy core and seized enough Originium energy to power the entire city. What would he have been afraid of then? He could have easily torn apart the Reunion Movement and stormed out of the city without hesitation.

In Chernobog, Lin Lu used the power of extraction to endure the despair of the hounds who had been artificially infected by the Reunion Movement in order to free them.

The more impurities an Originium contains, the greater its side effects and the more severe the mental pollution it causes.

Lin Lu decided to use this move because when he used Ibitas's power to suppress the Ghost Shark, a message popped up in the Spirit Realm.

"Should we perform energy extraction? Success rate: 20%."

Even if Ghost Shark were willing to believe him, the dismal success rate would only increase from 20% to 25%.

Given Lin Lu's pathological caution, the success rate is not 100%, but the failure rate is 100%.

The risk of directly extracting unknown energy is too great, and he dares not think about the consequences of failure.

but--

If this could save the girl from the corridor of despair, then Lin Lu was willing to bear any burden, no matter how heavy.

Because I am a doctor from Rhodes Island.

"Epicas!!"

Lin Lu roared, and a dazzling star chart rose up from behind him, instantly illuminating the secluded room with a ring of stars.

The data-driven spiritual realm is operating at an accelerated pace, and spiritual power is continuously increasing, causing the surrounding information to become distorted as a result.

Lin Lu needs any force to increase the success rate as much as possible!

The success rate rose from 25% to 40%, but that's not enough, not enough!

Lin Lu suddenly understood why he was angry.

It wasn't just because of the ghost shark's suffering, but also because he felt a deep-seated hatred for it.

Forcing someone to believe in the unknown through twisted means is undoubtedly a desecration of a girl's soul.

What truly restrains Ghost Shark is not this gloomy room, but the nun's habit she wears—a mobile cage intended to accompany her throughout her life.

Ghost Shark stared blankly at Lin Lu, her hand still pressed against his chest. Her nun's habit seemed to be touched by flames, emitting wisps of smoke. Streams of black matter struggled to escape from the clothing, distorting and twisting its outline.

"Quiet!"

Lin Lu roared, forcefully silencing the frenzied black creature.

The flame above his left eye flickered, and the light emanating from the intertwined marks on the back of his hands resembled a burning flame, breaking down, melting, extracting, and absorbing the black matter it touched.

Unlike the hounds who were reduced to disposable tools, and unlike the spell that blocked a cataclysmic event, Lin Lu felt his spiritual domain trembling, a bone-chilling cold spreading continuously from his body. His brain, overloaded with information, issued a warning of exhaustion; the struggle of the dark matter made his veins bulge, and the will in his eyes grew increasingly severe.

The rustling sounds kept echoing in my mind, eventually turning into dense noise that made no sense and was purely a nuisance.

Even the Spirit Realm cannot analyze these meaningless conversations.

Lin Lu endured the intense mental shock. He reached out his right hand and embraced the silently weeping Ghost Shark, holding her tightly in his arms and cradling her head.

"It's alright now." His voice was incredibly firm, like a stubborn anchor firmly anchored to Hai Qiao, standing tall even as the waves surged and the waters stretched to the sky.

"It's alright now." His right hand stroked down the girl's soft, smooth hair, resting against her back, as if comforting a child who had been crying all night.

"It's alright now." His embrace was the warmest place in the world, driving away the cold, damp darkness, and the scalding hot hug brought the girl a dry, sweet dream.

...I don't know how much time passed.

Until the star chart dissipated, the cobalt blue flames quietly died out, and all evil returned to nothingness.

Lin Lu held the naked Ghost Shark in his arms, looking at her sleeping face with tears welling up like a child's, and silently raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

A faint smile played on his lips as he lay in bed, gazing at the shattered, illusory stars in the sky.

"It's alright now."

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Bridge University

6:46 pm Cloudy, visibility 15 km.

The sunset four kilometers outside Longmen Outer Ring Road was far more beautiful than I had imagined.

Compared to the apocalyptic scenery of Chernobog, this tranquil afternoon was drowsy.

A comfortable evening breeze swept across the deck of the Rhodes Island ship, wiping the sweat from the brows of the operators who had worked a long day, and smiles appeared on every operator's face. The operators huddled together, looking up at the sky. Of course, they weren't just idly watching the sun go home to hunt monsters; they were pointing and discussing amongst themselves.

The highest-ranking leader of Rhodes Island, and one of its three founders.

A leading scholar in the treatment of Oripathy and research on natural disasters, holding doctoral degrees in biology and neuroengineering.

He dedicated his life to eliminating Oripathy and proposed groundbreaking theories in the field of Oripathy prevention and treatment, giving many medical professionals new insights into changing the status quo.

One of the mainstays of Rhodes Island, he holds the highest military command authority on Rhodes Island, and also serves as the tactical commander of combat operations and frontline personnel, responsible for providing comprehensive support.

For most operators, their impression of the Doctor comes from the first Rhodes Island employee information they see during their training at Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals, in the tutorials provided by the PRTS support system. Even though the Doctor disappeared for three whole years, Rhodes Island never erased any trace of his existence. On the contrary, they highlighted his contributions to medicine.

Through word of mouth among the operators involved in the Chernobog rescue project, the Doctor's identity has become even more shrouded in mystery.

The team that went to rescue the doctor ended up being rescued by the doctor himself.

The doctor was able to easily overpower the well-trained vanguard team as soon as he woke up; none of them could last more than three rounds.

The doctor was in command of all operations along the way, leading the rescue team to defeat the Reunion Movement, whose numbers were three times greater than theirs.

In the battle against the leader of the Reunion Movement, the Doctor saved everyone and successfully led them away.

In order to rescue a new operator, the Doctor got into an argument with the others at the extraction point and returned to the war zone alone.

The operators who remained on the Rhodes Island ship felt a pang of jealousy as they listened to the rescue team praising the Doctor.

If it weren't for the vivid and convincing account given by the rescue team members, making it seem like the truth, they would have actually believed it.

If the Doctor can shatter natural disasters with a single blow, then what's the point of having these Disaster Messengers? To be communications soldiers?

Doctor, if you're so awesome, why don't you become Weathering With You?

Look, it's going to clear up.

What kind of ghost is this?!

If it's just one person saying it, then everyone can just listen and move on. But if ten people, twenty people, an entire squad, or even elite operators like Ace and Scout agree... then it's normal for the other operators to be curious, right?

So everyone gathered on the deck of the ship, looking up at the white-haired man hanging on the bridge, enjoying the breeze.

"The scenery is beautiful. I never imagined Rhodes Island had a place like this."

Lin Lu couldn't help but sigh, looking around as if the entire land was under his control.

At the edge of the desolate wilderness, a menacing corner of the steel jungle is revealed, seemingly offering a glimpse into the borders of the mobile city-state of Lungmen, a remarkably prosperous city.