Chapter 145: Descent

The layout of the sixth floor bore no resemblance whatsoever to a shopping mall. To Qi Chen, rather than a floor within the Livelihood Mall, it felt more like an independent wax museum.

A long corridor stretched straight into the distance. A dark red carpet, deeply worn by the passage of time, covered the floor, while antique chandeliers hanging overhead emitted a dim, yellowish glow.

All these elements converged to create a bizarre sense of spatial and temporal disorder.

The corridor was roughly three meters wide, flanked on both sides by cubicles fixed at a length of two meters each, with every single cubicle displaying a different scene.

Yet, walking all the way up from the first floor of the Livelihood Mall, Qi Chen discovered that the setup of every single cubicle could find its corresponding scenery within the mall itself.

Or rather, the shops inside the Livelihood Mall seemed to be mere projections of these cubicles.

Lifelike wax figures filled the various cubicles. However, as incredibly realistic as these figures were, the forms they portrayed were not human.

Qi Chen turned his head to look at a cubicle right beside him. The scene inside was precisely the roasted suckling pig restaurant that had left a deep impression on them from the very beginning.

The wax figures within were all fat-headed, big-eared pig-headed humanoids. The customers were pig-headed humanoids, and the waiters standing by the tables were also pig-headed humanoids.

The only exception was the ingredient on the roasting oven, which was of a kind all too familiar to Qi Chen.

He vaguely understood something. Meanwhile, the Warm Man, who had been carried on Overlord’s shoulder, finally drifted back to consciousness. The moment he slowly opened his eyes, he reflexively summoned Warmth to pull himself back to the ground, scanning his surroundings with a wary gaze.

His guard only relaxed slightly when he caught sight of Qi Chen's face.

"Qi Chen?" The Warm Man still appeared somewhat disoriented, tentatively whispering Qi Chen's real name instead of his codename.

"It's me." Qi Chen spread his hands, then solemnly recounted the events that had just transpired to help the Warm Man get up to speed more quickly.

"This..." Having heard Qi Chen's recount, the Warm Man rapidly recalled the process of watching the movie and subsequently losing consciousness. His expression turned grave as he spoke in an uncertain tone, "It seems this sixth floor is indeed the core of the entire Livelihood Mall."

As he spoke, the Warm Man also glanced toward the adjacent cubicle, an expression of undisguised disgust surfacing on his face as he looked at the scene inside.

"What's your plan now?" The Warm Man turned his gaze back to Qi Chen, wanting to hear why this visibly changed junior was so determined to head straight for the sixth floor.

As for Qi Chen's earlier stated reason of wanting to confront Him directly, the Warm Man had dismissed it; he still did not consider that a viable option, leaning instead toward finding some crucial rules on the sixth floor and then escaping.

"Just as I told you: find Him, and defeat Him." Qi Chen wore a completely serious expression, looking not the least bit like he was joking.

"Where on earth do you get the confidence to say that?" The Warm Man was somewhat speechless. "We've come this far, and you still haven't realized the terror of Rule-type Anomalies? Even though both of us are Anomaly Walkers, that single immortal anomaly alone is already enough to give us a headache. His presence... you must have felt it too. His spiritual strength is definitely no lower than yours."

Qi Chen gave a soft smile. Naturally, he had his own source of confidence.

It was not just Overlord, but also the voice of the white-faced theatrical mask that had rung in his ears once more while they were on the second floor.

However, there was no way to explain all this to the Warm Man right now. Actions carried far greater persuasive power than words, and while the Warm Man was rich in operational experience, he had correspondingly formed his own rigid mental inertia.

In the eyes of the vast majority of Anomaly Walkers, Rule-type Anomalies were simply not entities that could be confronted head-on.

"Then let's just keep walking down this path... Maybe we'll make some new discoveries." Qi Chen shrugged, his eyes gazing toward the distant path ahead.

......

......

Continuing along the dark red carpet, Qi Chen and the Warm Man witnessed even more cubicles, which only made them increasingly certain that these cubicles were the very source of the shops in the Livelihood Mall.

Beastmen showing their true forms in various dining establishments, dolls with ferocious expressions and eerie red lights glowing in their eyes inside toy stores, clothing store mannequin dummies wearing haunting, creepy smiles, and alienated humans engrossed in bloody films.

The scenes within these cubicles, capable of shattering one's sanity, reflected the bloody truth of the Livelihood Mall.

Having looked at so many waxwork cubicles, Qi Chen and the Warm Man suddenly realized that the Anomaly derivatives existing within the Livelihood Mall were far more numerous than anything they had experienced so far.

"If we had explored every single floor step by step... I reckon even ten lives wouldn't be enough." A thick sense of wariness filled the Warm Man's eyes, along with a lingering relief that he and Qi Chen had ultimately chosen not to thoroughly comb through the other floors.

Judging by the strangeness reflected by these cubicles, had the two of them chosen to fight to the death on the various floors, even with Overlord and Warmth, they undoubtedly would have suffered heavy losses.

"Warm Man, do you feel it? The temperature seems to be dropping." Qi Chen acutely perceived that the temperature in the air had seemingly fallen slightly, a biting chill noticeably pricking his exposed skin, but his question went unanswered by the Warm Man.

The fellow had walked toward a cubicle diagonally ahead at some unknown point, standing motionless at the entrance and gazing deeply into the interior. With his angle restricted, Qi Chen had no idea what the other man was looking at, leaving him no choice but to stride forward and follow.

Instantly, he too saw what was inside the cubicle that had captivated the Warm Man.

It was a set of figures entirely familiar to him.

Black special operations uniforms, tactical postures standard beyond reproach, and those most distinct faces brimming with resolute determination.

The wax figures in this cubicle... turned out to be the entire special operations team that had sacrificed their lives!

The wax figures were sculpted in combat postures, perfectly embodying the heroism and grit of the special operations members, but striking the hearts of the two leaders, Qi Chen and the Warm Man, with entirely different emotions.

"I have a feeling... this place isn't just as simple as the origin of the various shops in the Livelihood Mall." The Warm Man spoke up abruptly after a long silence. "It feels like His exhibition hall of achievements. Perhaps, in the very beginning, there wasn't a single Anomaly derivative in the Livelihood Mall. Every time He created a derivative, another cubicle would be added to this corridor."

What the Warm Man spoke was merely his own conjecture, yet the two of them, possessing little understanding of Rule-type Anomalies to begin with, naturally could find no grounds for refutation.

A Rule-type Anomaly in itself was the greatest problem of all. Having only manifested in City No. 3 for such a brief moment, why was its internal composition so abundantly diverse?

Nobody knew.

Suddenly, the Warm Man widened his eyes and stared straight at Qi Chen, whose expression was equally grim.

Both of them sensed it—an immensely powerful Anomaly presence!

And it was precisely Qi Chen's target in coming straight to the sixth floor—

That Him!

......