Chapter 131: Silent Hill

As the system’s voice resonated, the psionic energy that had been aggressively flooding into Ye Hai’s body began to retreat. The giant serpent, having opened its eyes, was thoroughly awakened. However, trapped within the extreme cold of the ice, the serpent was hampered by its own nature; its body lacked the strength to move, and locked within the rigid, frozen depths, it could not even manage the slightest twitch. It was forced to submit as its psionic energy was frantically absorbed by Ye Hai.

At this moment, every cell in Ye Hai’s body radiated an insatiable craving for psionic energy. The dynamic shifted entirely: what was once an invasion of psionic energy into his body had transformed into a frantic intake by Ye Hai himself. As more and more energy surged into his heart, the organ’s rhythm accelerated violently, reaching a peak of dozens of beats per second. Accompanying this frenzied drumming was a rapid, grotesque expansion. Within seconds, Ye Hai’s heart had swollen to the size of a basketball, eventually rupturing his chest and exposing it directly to the bloody ice.

The moment the pulsating heart made contact with the blood, it seemed to develop a consciousness of its own. It no longer limited itself to the psionic energy within the serpent’s blood; it began to convert and consume the zombie virus saturating the fluid as well. This transformation inflicted excruciating agony upon Ye Hai. The pressure generated by the heart’s violent palpitations caused his blood vessels to burst one after another, and the kinetic energy from those ruptures shattered the surrounding ice. Meanwhile, the icons for the "Cabin in the Woods" and "Silent Hill" modules within the system grew increasingly luminous.

The Shesha crusader guards stationed underground, witnessing such a violent reaction to a blessing for the first time, rushed forward to investigate the ice cavern. As they approached the pit where the ice was exploding, they were horrified to see the giant serpent nearby undergoing a drastic change. The massive creature was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye. When it had diminished to a certain size, the guards saw the serpent flick its tail twice—as if in a state of immense, trapped terror—before it went completely still.

The crusaders exchanged bewildered glances. In all their years, they had never seen such a peculiar phenomenon, and for a moment, they did not know how to react. Suddenly, deep cracks spiderwebbed across the ice. Looking down, they saw Ye Hai swimming beneath the surface, heading toward another ice cavern. As he reached the chamber where another survivor had been melted into a pool of blood, that second giant serpent also began to shrink. Even the dullest among the crusaders realized that a catastrophic shift was occurring in the Sanctuary.

"Get to the surface immediately and report to the Pontiffs! The situation below is beyond our control!"

"Hurry! If we are too late, all the Shesha gods sleeping underground will be eradicated!"

"Split up and report to the four Pontiffs... The rest of you, fall back to the tunnel entrance and prepare for any eventuality!"

"Move, now!"

The leader’s shouted orders galvanized the guards. Without hesitation, they displayed their superhuman prowess, sprinting toward the exit. But as the tunnel doors were thrown open and the first few guards stepped through, the scene before them shifted abruptly. They had been ripped away from the frozen underground world and deposited into a dilapidated town, shrouded in dense fog that obscured everything beyond its borders.

"What... what is happening?"

"We were just in the Sanctuary; why are we suddenly in this strange place?"

The abrupt transition unsettled the leader. Yet, as elite crusaders of the Shesha sect, a ruined town was not enough to trigger genuine panic. Still, the eerie nature of the shift sent a chill through everyone. Under the leader’s command, the hundred-strong force of warriors—each possessing strength beyond a Stage 6 mutant—gathered together, their unease slightly tempered by their collective numbers.

Strange, unsettling sounds drifted from the impenetrable fog, assaulting their eardrums. These warriors, who had never flinched before waves of mutants, felt a long-forgotten sense of dread and cold here.

"Stay close! We’ll find out what kind of hell this is," the captain ordered. "Keep your guard up. If there is danger, warn the others immediately!"

They crept toward the center of the town, but the place remained deathly silent, devoid of any living things. Seeking answers, the captain spotted a decrepit building surrounded by a wire fence. Upon approaching, he saw a large red cross above the entrance. Anyone from Earth would have recognized it instantly as an abandoned hospital. The structure was in ruins; the iron window frames were rusted, and shards of broken glass littered the sills and corners. Only the front entrance was visible through the thick mist, while the rest of the building remained swallowed by the fog.

"Let’s check inside."

The captain pushed open the rusted doors and stepped into the darkness. "What is this place? Is there anything like this near Ironwood Forest? I don't even recall seeing architecture like this anywhere on the Zombie Planet!"

The guards activated their light sources. Moments later, a group of women with alluring figures appeared in their view, standing in bizarre, static poses. They wore nurse uniforms—not the standard long coats and trousers, but provocative, ultra-short skirts. A few crusaders let out whistles of amusement, eliciting a chorus of laughter.

But as the laughter died down, the nurses, who had been as still as statues, turned in unison and began to glide toward the crusaders. When the guards saw their faces, even men accustomed to the most horrific mutations were jolted by shock: the nurses had no faces.

"Playing tricks!" the captain snarled, his expression darkening as he prepared to trigger his zombie-transformation.

Then, the unthinkable happened. He realized, with a jolt of pure terror, that he could not feel a single trace of the virus within him. He could not transform. He was no more than an ordinary survivor.

The faceless nurses suddenly brandished sharp scalpels and charged. In moments, the captain was reduced to a pile of gore before his men's eyes. The others soon realized that the power granted by the Shesha god was completely inaccessible; they had all been reduced to mere mortals. Panic flooded their minds, dragging them back to the miserable days of their past.

Just as they turned to flee, a strange figure emerged from the fog—a hulking creature wearing a massive, triangular iron helmet, dragging an enormous cleaver behind him. The screech of the blade grinding against the pavement grated against their nerves, sounding as if the axe were being dragged directly across their hearts.