Thunder rolled in the black clouds, and blue-white light illuminated the dark earth.
Faintly visible was barren, broken land, where sand and shattered rocks showed a ghastly reddish-brown color.
A viscous squirming sound arose, drawing Berry's gaze toward its source.
Only when the electric light flashed did Berry see everything clearly.
In the darkness, there was a reddish-brown bed of flesh, stretching out like a mountain range.
Its massive scale was terrifying to behold, dominating the barren land like an insurmountable chasm.
Upon it, pale faces contorted in silent terror, forming a blasphemous web that writhed and squirmed across the mountain of flesh.
The spine-tingling squirming sound originated from the huge, tree-trunk-sized blood vessels and abscesses pulsing between the bed of flesh and the human faces.
Suddenly seeing this sanity-draining scene, Berry, who was completely unprepared, lost her composure; her face turned pale, and large beads of sweat rolled down her temples.
After only a few seconds, Berry could not suppress the physical revulsion and disgust, and she bent over, dry-heaving.
The dense, dark eyes that seemed to be staring right at her were utterly unbearable.
It felt as if endless malice was pressing down on Berry through those lifeless eyes.
Just as Berry was still reeling in shock, a hollow electronic voice sounded.
The electronic voice was distorted and stretched, sounding like a skipping tape, but the meaning it intended to convey landed clearly in Berry's ears.
"...This is the future of the Asura Path."
"Is this truly what you desire?"
"You are one of us; you should appreciate the grandeur of life and the chaos of nature, not interfere with it."
"Bullshit!"
Berry gasped, clutching her stomach. Despite her weakness, hearing the electronic voice ignited a fury within her, and she couldn't help but retort.
How could she create such a future?
Now Berry finally understood.
Although she didn't know what the other party was, nor did she know why they knew her plan.
But the other party was trying to intimidate her.
They were denying her plan.
Berry suppressed her nausea, angrily raising her head, wanting to find that bastard who was playing god.
"Bullshit! How could I create such a future? Humanity can only have a future if we unite as one."
"Haven't you seen it? The massacres, the wars, the poor dying in garbage heaps, while the few own the world."
"Even if I do nothing, this world will destroy itself."
"Rather than let the world collapse in decay, I'd rather smash it all and create a new one!"
Finally, Berry finished speaking, almost roaring.
After that, there was only silence around them.
Only Berry's gasps and the slow peristalsis of the towering, sky-high Mountain of Flesh.
"...You are wrong."
After an unknown amount of time, perhaps a few seconds, perhaps a few minutes, the vanished electronic voice came from the void.
As soon as these words were spoken, everything began to collapse.
Along with the Mountain of Flesh and Berry's body, everything shattered into fragments.
Berry didn't panic; she knew this was the reaction of exiting the braindance world.
When everything dissipated, and Berry felt her limbs again in the darkness, she knew she had returned to the real world.
The moment she opened her eyes, Berry sharply drew her gun, pointing it in the direction where the Monk had been.
But there was no Monk in that spot, only a stack of banknotes quietly placed on the stone bench, and the Monk was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it..."
Berry wiped the sweat from her forehead, panting heavily as she cursed helplessly.
What the hell was going on?
Berry's heart was filled with uncertainty and suspicion.
Although the other party didn't explicitly say it, Berry knew they knew her plan.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have spoken that way.
However, she believed her secrecy was impeccable; even V hadn't discovered her true objective.
Who exactly was the other party?
Berry pondered this unanswered question.
Was it a corporation, or someone else?
It couldn't be that someone had mind-reading abilities, revealing her thoughts before they even became actions.
And what was this about the other party saying she was one of them?
Wasn't she just herself?
Neither in her previous life nor this one had she encountered anything strange or joined any organization.
What was all this about?
Everything confused Berry. She held her pistol, her body slumped weakly onto the stone chair, her chest rising and falling as she gasped for air.
It wasn't until a clear, cold female voice rang out that Berry was roused from her state of shock.
"Berry, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Berry tiredly opened her eyes and saw that it was V, who had returned with two ice creams.
V frowned in confusion, looking at Berry, who was sweating profusely and looked exhausted, feeling somewhat at a loss.
She had only been gone for a moment; why was Berry like this?
"Nothing, just a bit dizzy."
Berry shook her head, indicating she was fine, and casually made up an excuse to brush it off.
Everything that had just happened was too surreal and bizarre; she didn't want V to know.
In the game, that Monk merely organized a few braindance meditations, but with what had just occurred, Berry naturally couldn't underestimate him anymore.
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