A group of people charging towards him, wielding black riot batons.

Zhou Yi immediately activated "Berserk," his head bursting through the ceiling as he swung his fist at the enemies.

Luckily, his back was against a dead-end, sparing him from attacks from behind. Zhou Yi could knock someone away with a single punch, but he also felt the sharp pain of the rain-like strikes from their batons.

Both sides abandoned defense, focusing solely on frenzied attacks.

Zhou Yi soon noticed something was off.

The attackers, each taking human form, had blurred features. They held riot batons and anti-explosion shields that could withstand his massive punches.

Even so, a few hits would cause their bodies to gradually become transparent and disappear.

After intense fighting, he scattered the strange attackers.

Only the panting Zhou Yi was left.

Something wasn't quite right.

He continued forward, passing iron gates that revealed large iron bunk beds, squat toilets, wash basins, and green benches.

Why did this place resemble a prison?

Were there more than one Dead Sea Alien underground?

Various thoughts flashed through Zhou Yi's mind as he touched the walls again.

"Hello, can you hear me?"

A cold voice rang in his consciousness, "Inmates are prohibited from speaking without permission, and all actions must be reported!"

"..."

Zhou Yi decided to conform, "Report, I'd like to inquire about the situation here."

"Inquiry prohibited."

No matter how he tried to communicate, he could not get a response from the prison.

Unnoticed, music began to play in the corridor again.

"Disappearing time scatters in the wind,

Seemingly unable to confront again,

Wandering days with you accompanying,

Fate reunites us..."

Zhou Yi immediately saw those guards, armed with batons and shields, rushing towards him again.

He had no choice but to swing his fists once more, engaging in a second round of chaos.

After repelling a new wave of attacks, Zhou Yi's Berserk duration reached its limit. He reverted to his normal state, feeling weakened.

He switched to his original body form, instantly stopping the fatigue and weariness.

Zhou Yi realized the key point.

Whenever the BGM of "Friendship Years" played, the Stick People would appear and attack.

It was unusual for this prison to be closely connected to the front and back of Walmart. Normally, architectural lifeforms maintained a certain distance to avoid conflicts and ensure safety.

Contemplating this, the music echoed in the corridors again.

This time, Zhou Yi waited in the cell, ready to fight. Soon, densely packed Stick People surged towards him, and he held them off at the door, counterattacking with Stretching Fist. Due to the decreased attack intensity, it became difficult to thoroughly scatter an enemy.

Fortunately, his defenses were strong enough; his life essence remained unharmed, only the real pain from the stick blows was felt.

It turned into a prolonged battle.

The enemies barely reduced in numbers, but three minutes later, they suddenly turned away from the cell as if receiving an order, heading towards the corridors' ends and disappearing into the distance.

Zhou Yi understood that enduring was also a viable option.

He had to get out of this prison, otherwise, he would be trapped in an endless cycle of battles.

Along the way, he continuously fought the Stick People, figuring out the pattern.

The key was the BGM; the Stick People came with the BGM and disappeared with its end.

It took Zhou Yi about two hours, fighting and moving, to finally get through the long corridor.

He pushed open the iron door at the end.

He first checked outside.

Ahead was a new corridor; to the left, he could see a playground, and to the right, classrooms.

Yet it was equally deserted.

A school behind the prison?

Zhou Yi furrowed his brows.

The situation was getting stranger.

He still chose to continue forward.

The school was bathed in bright sunshine, a golden sun hung in the sky, casting long shadows of the basketball hoops and trees. On the dark red plastic track of the playground, visible gaps and cracks were everywhere, next to the track fence stood a flagpole, with a red flag fluttering in the wind.

Zhou Yi was stunned.

The setting was all too familiar—it was Beishan Middle School where he had once studied.

A new BGM began to play in the broadcast.

"The wind in July is lazy, even the clouds become hot,

Soon after the sky feels stuffy, a bout of rain follows..."

It was Wen Lan's "Summer Wind."

The sound was neither too loud nor too soft, lingering over the entire campus.

Zhou Yi looked through the glass at the classroom.

Inside, the desks and chairs were neatly arranged, the blackboard blank, and the walls adorned with slogans such as "Study Hard" and "Tempered a Thousand Times."

He soon snapped out of it.

No, that's not right.

This can't possibly be Beishan Middle School.

Because that school can't possibly have stayed the same as it was when I studied there.

Zhou Yi placed his hand on the wall tiles, trying to input energy into them.

"Hello, I've trespassed here inadvertently, and I'd like to ask a question."

He received a polite reply, "May I ask if you are a student here?"

Zhou Yi had a sudden idea, "I am! I'm a transfer student, just arrived."

The school immediately said, "Student, please go to your class during class time, do not wander about during lessons."

"Okay, sorry."

Zhou Yi walked into the nearest classroom and sat down in his old spot.

Suddenly, there were people around him.

There were students sitting in their seats, while some stood at the podium holding textbooks, all showing familiar faces. There were former friends and close buddies, imagined academic goals, geniuses he felt he could never catch up to, and a few annoying individuals.

Some listened attentively, others dozed off, and yet others hid something else behind textbooks. The teacher wrote on the blackboard and sometimes cast sharp glances below.

In an instant, Zhou Yi was transported back to his long-lost student days.

It was as if he had taken a very long afternoon nap.

And when he woke up, it was time for class.

The class lasted for 45 minutes, and then "Summer Wind" rang out again, prompting the teacher to begin tidying the podium. Students got up in twos and threes, walked out of the classroom, and began their break.

The hallways grew lively as well.

Zhou Yi was now certain that he must have fallen into some kind of illusion. Not to mention the low probability of three consecutive buildings being connected underground, buildings so close to each other inherently competed.

The three different scenes all shared one thing in common, the BGM.

But he still hadn't located the source of the music or ascertained the identity of the enemy.

Zhou Yi switched to Machine 2 and called Xiao Fu to serve as a strategist.

"This situation is consciousness interception. By creating fictitious Conscious Keys, it temporarily connects to the memory core, making it difficult for the consciousness to distinguish which Conscious Keys are real and which are false."

"How temporary?"

"The short ones might only be an instant, but the long ones might last for hundreds of years, until the energy is exhausted or the fictitious Conscious Keys naturally collapse."

Reverse Flow couldn't help but say, "If we had earlier installed the 'Light Wheel Well' and 'Circumference Light Device' on this body, encountering this situation would be simple. Just connect the Conscious Key and convert the opponent into Fire Seed Life..."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Zhou Yi warned.

"..."

Xiao Fu pondered for a while longer, "There are two methods now."

"The first one is basically foolproof, just wait here. External linking of fictitious Conscious Keys requires a huge amount of energy. To affect higher life forms like us, the consumption is enormous."

"Just letting it drain, the entire consciousness interception will break down on its own. Anyway, the current intensity isn't enough to damage the machinery, we have the advantage. I boldly estimate, at most a year to break through here."

Zhou Yi asked, "And the second?"

"The second method is to strengthen the consciousness."

Reverse Flow explained, "Consciousness interception targets the Conscious Key. If the intercepted consciousness increases in strength, or if the amount of information suddenly increases, it could cause the entire system to lose balance and shatter."

"If you connect the Conscious Key of Fire Seed Life 'Duke Baili' to your memory core, like you did with Red Kestrel and samurai crab before, it could break us out."

It emphasized, "But that would be a heavy load on the memory core, and might involve potential risks."

Zhou Yi made his decision swiftly.

A year was too long.

Better to fight fast and decide quickly.

During the previous physical struggle with Xiao Fu, he had already used this shaky method, and the risks had already occurred.

Future problems can be addressed later, now that we have good tools, we should use them.

Zhou Yi initiated synchronization of consciousness and began the Conscious Key connection.

With the experience from last time, the operation was smooth and practiced.

A long shadow formed under Zhou Yi's feet.

In the shadow, space warped and then slowly condensed into Duke Baili, clad in heavy armor with four arms. He still appeared weak, with wounds and cracks visible on his body.

"What's going on?" Duke Baili's eyes held confusion, "Where is this? How did I come out of the spiral?"

There was no time for explanations.

Because Zhou Yi saw the classroom beginning to shake, windows cracking and deforming, and walls breaking with cracks that continuously extended, parts already starting to shift and collapse.

He witnessed buildings collapsing rapidly, the sun in the sky fading in the dimness, and the sky disappearing in large swathes like a burning scroll.

Everything was crumbling and destroyed.

Amongst the dust, the BGM that sounded in his ears also became markedly slow and drawn out.

The illusion dissipated.

Zhou Yi found himself standing in a cave.

On the ground lay skeletons haphazardly, both human and other creatures, all with very intact anatomical structures, as if they had died in their sleep.

In the center of the cave, there was a stone platform with a black rectangular box on it.

The box was still playing music.

"You're not—here..."

Turns out, there was no Dead Sea Alien, only this music player initiating consciousness interception, trapping the intruder in different scenes with different music, locking them in the world of BGM.

Zhou Yi walked over, located the off switch on the box, and pressed it.

Thus, the world quieted down.

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