The squad was resting on the edge of the scrapyard. Zhong Li's dragon-patterned left eye was still faintly shimmering; the blood tears had dried, but that newfound power brought a sense of stability to everyone. They knew their strength had vastly increased.
"What can we do now?" Zhao Yang asked. "Herlens," Zhong Li murmured. "I want to see him."
The others were startled. Chen Mo frowned, "Are you crazy? He's..." Zhong Li shook his head. "I have the Panoramic Playback. After upgrading, it can see cause and effect. Perhaps I can find his weakness."
Lu Ye was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Give it a try. But be careful."
Zhong Li closed his new eye; his eyelashes crystallized into starlight, geometric totems appeared, and the blood tears once again transformed into a microscopic galaxy. The Panoramic Playback unfolded, a 360-degree perspective slowly spreading out, overlaid with causal tracing. Their vision was pulled into another layer of space.
Herlens appeared.
He was sitting in a dark prison, his hands stretched out, the magnetic field vibrating, seemingly suppressing something. That something continuously struggled, emitting a deep roar, as if trying to break free from its confinement. Herlens' face was stern, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his actions were clearly not easy.
"He's... imprisoning something," Lin Lan whispered. Hu Hao frowned. "That thing... shouldn't exist."
Lu Ye immediately activated his Eye of the World, attempting to identify Herlens' rank. Light flashed, the vision expanded, and the rank information sequentially surfaced. But Herlens' values were blank.
No rank. No level.
There was only a palpable sense of oppression, as if the entire space were squeezing in on them.
Lu Ye's face changed drastically. "Impossible." "My Eye of the World can detect powerhouses fifteen ranks higher than me." "But him... there's nothing." "Yet, I feel this oppression."
Just then, Herlens slowly looked up. His eyes pierced through space, looking directly at them. The corner of his mouth curved into a chilling smile.
"You're observing me, aren't you?" The voice was deep but clearly entered everyone's ears. "I sensed it."
Zhong Li jolted violently, his heart nearly stopping. He immediately shut down the Panoramic Playback; the starlight and geometric totems before his eyes instantly vanished. But the sense of oppression didn't fade. It remained imprinted in everyone's mind, like a brand.
The air was heavy; no one spoke. Until Lu Ye finally broke the silence: "He's too strong. We can't match him right now."
Zhao Yang clenched his fist. "Then what? Wait to die?" Chen Mo said coldly, "Impossible. He can't leave Egypt." Lin Lan nodded. "Because he has to confine that thing." Hu Hao whispered, "So he can only send people to kill us."
Zhong Li looked up, his new dragon-patterned pupil flashing. "We can only continuously advance our rank." "Only that way can we last until the end."
They didn't speak again. But everyone understood in their hearts—Herlens' class far exceeded their comprehension. He was the shadow pressing down on all of them. And that sense of oppression served as a reminder: the real battle was still far off. They had to keep advancing their rank until they were worthy of facing him.
The wind swept over the scrapyard; the dust had not settled. But the squad's eyes were different now. They began to think about how to survive while constantly advancing their rank. Because they knew that the Journey in the Ashes had to continue. Even if Herlens stood in the way.