Chapter 63: The Final Challenge
In the monitoring room, Marcus saw that Tomie's armor had been opened, and he knew that Ray had succeeded.
He had removed the tape from Tomie's mouth when he placed her in the containment chamber.
Only Ray would know the numerical code on the armor's face; of course, it was possible that Tomie might guess the eight digits correctly.
However, with a probability of 0.00000001, Marcus was willing to accept his bad luck if she actually guessed it.
However, a notification confirmed the plan's success.
[Completed Story Mission 1: Kill Tomie, gained 3000 survival points, exploration progress and story score increased]
[Completed all story missions, can choose to return early]
Tomie is dead. The old Tomie, through torture and infection, transformed an ordinary girl into a new Tomie, a Tomie whose body and consciousness had not yet split, is now dead.
The most difficult thing about Tomie was that her consciousness would constantly split along with her immortal body; as long as the body existed, her consciousness would endure.
However, Tomie's consciousness has now been completely extracted from her body and resides within an ordinary snail. The snail was destroyed, and without the means to split Tomie's consciousness during her physical rebirth, Tomie is dead.
This new Tomie, born from Emma Mitchell's body, is dead, but her body is still alive—it's no longer Tomie's, but Ray's.
Marcus considered the difficulty of this mission; it was both difficult and easy.
First, it required a newly transformed ordinary girl to become Tomie, whose consciousness and body hadn't split. Furthermore, the participant needed the means to obliterate consciousness. For some powerful individuals, this would be a simple task.
But for an ordinary participant without the means to obliterate consciousness, without Ray's cooperation, it was absolutely impossible.
Because a newly transformed Tomie, if her consciousness wasn't obliterated in one strike, would be stimulated and split into two or more Tomies. The second strike would only succeed if all these split consciousnesses were obliterated.
Without a way to completely obliterate the girl's initial Tomie consciousness in one fell swoop, no matter how many times Tomie is killed or burned, it will only result in one initially transformed Tomie splitting into countless Tomies, causing the mission's difficulty to increase dramatically, making completion impossible.
Ray was in the containment chamber, thinking he had escaped, only to find it was still a containment chamber.
Hiss hiss hiss!
A spray of liquid erupted from the ceiling, like a downpour, drenching Ray completely.
Less than five seconds later, Ray screamed in agony. This wasn't water; it was acid, highly corrosive acid!
The new body he had just possessed, which he was very satisfied with, was burned and destroyed!
Ray was extremely angry. If he were allowed to escape this time, he would definitely not use his abilities only for pleasure.
Marcus did this because he didn't want to preserve Tomie's perfect charm. He feared that Ray, like in the story, would become too obsessed with Tomie's body, subconsciously unwilling to possess others, thus rendering Ray completely useless.
Marcus had already begun evacuating the research facility. He was running at superhuman speed, pressing a button as he did so.
In the second containment room where Ray was, the projector lit up again, a beam of light shone out, and the puppet wearing a theatrical mask reappeared on the wall:
"Mr. Body Snatcher, congratulations, you have reached the final level. I believe that through this experience, you will truly understand the meaning of existence and receive redemption!"
After saying this, the image on the wall disappeared.
Marcus was now over half a mile away from the research facility. He took out a monitor, which was showing the footage from the monitoring room.
Two hours earlier, he had conducted a risk check, completely clearing everyone within half a mile of the research facility, and thoroughly checking three times to ensure that no one was left behind.
Inside the containment room, as the image ended, countless sharp blades sprang out from the wall, and then the entire wall, like a trash compactor, slowly approached the opposite wall.
"The final level, the final level!"
Ray kept muttering, looking around.
He suddenly looked at the iron door in the middle of the opposite wall. There were two holes the size of peas in the door, the distance between the holes seemingly exactly the distance between two eyes.
Ray hurriedly went over, lay down in front of the holes, and peered inside.
Sure enough, on the other side of the iron gate were two vacant eyes, pressed tightly against the opening, also peering into the containment chamber on Ray's side.
Ray immediately used his possession ability, trying to take over the other person's body, but failed; the ability didn't work.
He tried three more times, unwilling to give up, but still to no avail.
He didn't switch places, remaining in place, using this body scorched by acid rain.
Why? Why?
What went wrong? Was the other person dead?
The wall, sharp as a blade, had slowly advanced halfway, leaving only half the containment chamber. If he didn't switch places within two minutes, he would be turned into ground meat.
Ray anxiously tried again, still no luck!
He looked around in panic, then looked down and saw a bucket in the corner of the wall, filled with a clear, pale yellow liquid.
Ray was very familiar with this liquid; it was what had just drenched him.
He hurriedly read the note stuck to the bucket lid, which read:
"In this container, there is something that, when consumed, can temporarily enhance your abilities tenfold, but in three seconds, your current body will melt like wax."
"You only have one chance; salvation or destruction depends on your resolve!"
After reading the note, Ray leaned into the bucket.
In the center of the bucket, beneath a foot of acidic water, lay a transparent test tube containing a small yellow candle, about the length of a finger and as thick as a marker.
Ray glanced at the hydraulic wall of sharp blades, which had already traversed two-thirds of the containment chamber, then at the ravaged skin on his scalded arm. He had to hurry.
Ray quickly spat, wiped his right hand, wrapped his hand in the hem of his clothes, and reached into the bubbling water to retrieve the test tube.
The acid had corroded his arm, creating fine, porous lines, but he couldn't care less.
The test tube opened, and a strong, putrid stench assaulted his nostrils.
"Is this the item that can enhance my abilities tenfold? Only three seconds!"
With a resolute determination, Ray first focused his eyes on the hole in the door, then shoved the entire yellow, foul-smelling candle into his mouth and swallowed it.
The next instant, his mental energy surged like a flood, his consciousness flashed like lightning through the night, and a flame seemed to ignite within him, allowing him to clearly perceive the surrounding atmosphere and movements.
Ray could sense that he could instantly possess anyone within 60 feet.
But unfortunately, there was no human presence within his perception range, only a pair of eyes before him.
Ray was familiar with human fluctuations; he didn't know what kind of creature's eyes these were, but even if they were the eyes of a demon, he had no other choice.
Ray's thoughts raced in a fraction of a second.
Then, with a focus he hadn't shown in countless years, and with his mental abilities amplified tenfold, he focused his possession ability on the eyes before him.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds!
Ray felt his entire body soften and deform before he completely lost consciousness.
Only a pool of yellowish, melted wax remained in the sealed chamber.
(End of Chapter)
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