Minutes had passed since Adamant had landed in this strange world, and due to the chaotic situation of his circumstances, he had no choice but to make a decision that he was sure would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts of regret, the villain Oblivion quickly shouted, "Snap out of it, man! Behind you!"
Quickly responding to the warning, he dodged the incoming attack from behind, and once his attacker was in sight, his fist quickly got into motion, connecting violently to the cultivator's skull, which then flung the poor cultivator—whose life or death was unknown—out of sight.
Adamant scowled in frustration. He and the few of his team members he had found had teamed up with the villains. Though the choice was forced by the dire situation they were in, it didn't stop weighing on him nonetheless.
"Come on, Ben! What the hell? We've been busting our ass trying to buy you time and you still have nothing to show?" Rebel screamed in frustration toward Mind Bender.
Irritated by the disturbance, Mind Bender grunted, "It's not like hurrying me will do any good… just buy me more time, okay?"
Mind Bender was actually one of the core reasons that Adamant decided to join hands with the villains. His ability of the mind was just too valuable in this situation to pass up.
After all, what could be more priceless than information in the strange alien world that they had been forced to vacate to?
So the plan they had was simple: they just had to capture a native and leave him to Mind Bender to do his work, while they formed a circle protecting him so that he could remain uninterrupted.
This small alliance didn't actually contain all the heroes and villains—it just consisted of those who had landed in relatively close proximity to each other.
So this small group only consisted of Rebel, Adamant, Mind Bender, Stormbringer, X, Oblivion, Titan, and Reaper.
Of these eight, seven stood in a circle with only Mind Bender in the center.
Splat!
And just like that, another native's head exploded in Mind Bender's hands. His face morphed into a scowl—this was the sixth native that had died in his hands.
It was as though each native had a defense mechanism that immediately killed them the moment he got into their minds to extract information.
Wiping the bloody remains off his face, he sighed in annoyance. This was the first time he had encountered such a thing.
"Since getting vital information isn't working, we should just settle for less… why don't you just try extracting their language only?" Titan voiced stoically as he threw another captive toward Mind Bender.
Mind Bender's eyes lit up. "Yes, that should be feasible."
"Just hurry! The longer I spend with you vermin, the more I feel polluted. Be fast lest I snap!" Stormbringer warned loudly.
"Hmph! Working with you isn't that much of a pleasure to me either," Mind Bender retorted, while quickly getting to work.
All ten of his fingers quickly pierced through the native's head, and the third-eye symbol on his forehead lit up as he began channeling his mental energy into the native's mind.
His glowing blue eyes squinted. This time, he didn't try reaching deep into his victim's mind. He didn't want to activate that dormant energy embedded in the native's mind. Instead, he just rummaged through the outskirts of the mind—the part in charge of the subconscious and muscle memories.
And quickly, after roaming a bit, he found it—the language of the victim. Smiling, he pulled, immediately extracting the information he needed.
"Hnnngh!" he moaned in ecstasy, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. To him, feeding off the mind was the same as finally drinking refreshing cold water after several days in the desert.
And suddenly, what was once incoherent shouting and yelling in his surroundings began to make sense all of a sudden.
Smiling, he spread his mental energy in an attempt to transmit this information to the others. "Do not resist, and just accept the influx!" he warned.
Just as he was transmitting the energy to them, he sensed a few familiar auras in the distance. Hesitating slightly before making up his mind, he muttered beneath his breath, "Fuck it! I'll just be doing you guys a favor then." Leaving this piece, he increased the reach of his mind, contacting every other villain and hero all across the terrain. Then he began transmitting the language to them also.
This action of transmitting information did not take as long as one would imagine. In a couple of seconds, he was done and up on his feet.
"Finally, we can now at least clear any misunderstandings," Adamant sighed in relief.
Shaking his head, Rebel disagreed. "No, I doubt it would be that easy. After all, we've killed quite a bit." Pausing for a bit, he pointed upwards. "And it seems we've caught the attention of some higher-level individuals."
Following Rebel's finger, everyone looked upwards—and above, floating in the air, were eight individuals: four dressed in black Daoist robes and the other four in white. Differentiating them from the rest of the similarly dressed natives they'd faced so far was a silver embroidery pattern that ran through the edges of their attire, signaling a difference in status.
The eight newcomers looked down at them condescendingly, and one of them finally spoke. It was a man among the whites. "Who are you and where do you come from? I don't recognize your attire."
The group of villains and heroes below glanced at each other in dismay. How were they supposed to reply? "We come from another world, we were forced here against our will, and we didn't mean to kill any of your comrades—they were attacking us and we had no choice but to retaliate." It sounded crazy and unbelievable. Heck, if they were in the natives' shoes, would they believe such ridiculous statements?
But unfortunately, before they got any chance to reply, one of the black robes spoke. "Wang Jun, it is because of stupid things like this that your righteous path is always easy to take advantage of." Chuckling sinisterly, he continued, "You can interrogate all you like, but for me and my brothers—we kill first and ask questions later!"
Immediately after he finished speaking, he and the other black robes burst into action, their eyes filled with a crazed lust for slaughter…