Winred, the City of Corruption.
Completely different from the morbidly fervent hymns of the believers in the square.
Deep within the Evil God Temple at the city's heart, it was so deathly silent that only a clammy throbbing sound remained.
That was the heartbeat produced by countless flesh conduits as they transported Divine Power.
Cold, greasy bronze pipes were tightly entwined by continuously writhing blood-red vines, like the tangled blood vessels and nerves of a living temple, delivering both power and desire to every corner.
In the center of the main hall.
Before a giant console forcibly pieced together from over a hundred display screens and living biological tissue, a man was impatiently tapping his knuckles against the cold panel.
He wore ornate Pope's robes, with blond hair and blue eyes, and a handsome face.
This was Cain, the mastermind behind this "Genius Graveyard" conspiracy.
The self-proclaimed "Prophet."
On the console's tactical map, the three lights representing the Broken Dragon Mountains region had completely turned to a deathly gray.
"Target lost for 62 minutes, life signals disappeared, self-destruct command no response."
"Unit... confirmed lost."
The console's cold synthetic voice sealed the fate of that patrol squad.
A deep crease formed between Cain's brows.
He brought up the last data stream sent back before the mecha lost contact.
The image, violently shaking to the point of tearing, left only a few frames of blurry pink afterimages.
And a segment of extremely demonic audio, judged by the System as "high-frequency cognitive contamination."
"Professionals..."
Cain muttered to himself, his knuckles tapping lightly on the console, making a soft da, da, da sound.
That China Squad, which was like a virus, turning believers against him and constantly disrupting his perfect "Faith Matrix."
They had finally clashed head-on with his Mecha Legion.
Interesting.
Cain's first reaction wasn't anger, but a cat-and-mouse curiosity.
What kind of means could make those believers, who had been blessed by the "Mother Goddess" and had their brains deeply formatted, regain that ridiculous rationality?
Was it some kind of unheard-of advanced purification spell?
Or an extremely rare mental-type rule-based item?
It wasn't as if his own forces lacked aces.
Those Professional squads, also from Earth but blessed by the "Mother Goddess" and "optimized" by his own hand, had long been refined into true weapons of war, far beyond the capabilities of any Russian brute.
But he was in no hurry.
Within the business model he had meticulously crafted, the "Mother of Rebirth" product, through his branding and promotion, had already attained combat power and Divine Power levels that far exceeded what any dungeon of this type should possess.
The loss of a mere three patrol mechas was but a negligible expense in his operational costs.
He preferred to believe that this was a last-ditch struggle, a desperate burst of strength from an opponent with their back to the wall.
The best hunters are always the most patient.
Cain's gaze swept across the dark screen, which reflected his own face, wearing a cruel, faint smile.
He looked forward to those arrogant rats, after winning a minuscule victory, foolishly charging into Winred City.
That would be the perfect case of "home delivery."
He had already prepared the grandest welcome ceremony for them.
-
Meanwhile, deep within the Broken Dragon Mountains.
Inside a cave sheltered from the wind and facing the sun.
In stark contrast to the cold and sinister atmosphere of Cain's Temple, this place overflowed with an outrageously leisurely afternoon tea vibe.
The cave entrance was simply camouflaged with vines and rubble.
But inside, it was a world of its own.
A mahjong table, pulled out from who knows where, sat in the center, surrounded by four girls in a lively circle.
The air was thick with a joyful atmosphere.
"Pong! Three of Wan!"
Lin Xiyue slammed her tiles down, her eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
"I'm waiting for the win! I'm definitely going to hit a huge one this round!"
"One of Bamboo." Su Wan lifted her black tea, took an elegant sip, and played a tile with a cool, aloof demeanor.
"Nine of Dots," Xia Lian said softly, staring nervously at the tile pile.
It was Lin Qingyue's turn.
She yawned, lazily lifting herself from her lounge chair. Without even looking, she reached back and drew a tile from the end of the wall.
Then, she slapped the tile onto the center of the table.
Clack!
A crisp sound.
"Haidilao Yue, Gang Shang Kai Hua, Full Flush Concealed Kong, Self-Drawn. I win."
"Huh?!"
Lin Xiyue's eyes widened as she stared at the perfectly aligned set of tiles Lin Qingyue had just laid down, her brain completely crashing.
"Sis! Are you cheating?! What kind of god-tier luck is this? How many rounds have you been the dealer in a row?!"
"Can't help it, that's how talent works."
Lin Qingyue threw up her hands with righteous indignation as the passive skill in her skill bar, [Celestial Jade (MAX)], flashed with a golden light beyond mortal comprehension.
"Alright, a bet's a bet."
On a piece of paper, she added a heavy stroke to the tally marks behind Lin Xiyue's name under the "Losses" column, just completing a large character "正" (tally mark).
"Tonight's dishes, and tomorrow's too, all belong to you, my dear sister."
"Waaaah—"
Lin Xiyue let out a cry of despair and slumped into her chair, staring lifelessly at her older sister's triumphant expression.
Su Wan and Xia Lian couldn't help but chuckle at the sisters' daily routine of sabotaging each other.
Over the past two days, the entire Dungeon had been on edge, tense as if it would explode at any moment.
Only with Lin Qingyue could one find such a bizarre and contrasting atmosphere.
Time had passed for a full two days in this mahjong game that "gambled on chore duties."
Outside, the world had already descended into a boiling mess.
Just as Lin Qingyue had calculated, China, Russia, Japan, France...
The top geniuses from every nation, without exception, flew into a Rampage upon receiving the "Slaughterhouse" warning.
Retreat?
What a joke!
For these arrogant, chosen ones, this was nothing short of a profound humiliation.
America wanted to slaughter them like pigs?
Then it had better be prepared to have the entire pigpen overturned by enraged wild boars!
In an instant, blooms of resistance erupted everywhere within the Dungeon.
One "Anti-Fraud Victim Rights Team" after another transformed into the iron fist of justice, raising one grand-scale Purification Storm after another in the various towns and strongholds controlled by the Mother of Rebirth.
They turned the followers against her, destroyed the altars, and attacked the supply lines.
There were even several hot-headed Russian teams that ignored all precautions and charged straight into the Cultists' cities, slaughtering everyone in sight.
At dusk.
Xia Lian, who had returned from a reconnaissance mission, walked back into the cave with a strange expression on her face.
"The patrol density of mechs around Winred City has plummeted by over 70 percent this afternoon."
Su Wan immediately reached a conclusion after integrating the intelligence Xia Lian brought back with her own observation data from the past two days.
She pointed to several cities marked on the map.
"Based on energy trajectory analysis, at least five batches of mechs have been urgently dispatched to 'Ironthorn City' and 'Wailing Town'."
"Over there is where the Russian and French teams are running wild."
"Robbing Peter to pay Paul. He's getting desperate."
Lin Qingyue rose from her lounge chair, her pink eyes curving into crescent moons, radiating the own pleasure of someone about to watch a great show.
"Under the [Gravity] rules, these iron cans are like fuel hogs. If the 'Prophet' wants to rely on them to suppress the 'Rebel Army' across the entire Dungeon, endurance is his fatal weakness."
"Now he's forced to send out his home guards to extinguish the fires," Lin Xiyue said, clapping her hands in excitement. "Doesn't that mean his nest, Winred City, is wide open!"
"Exactly."
Lin Qingyue stood up and gave a long stretch, her joints popping with a series of crisp cracks.
She glanced at her teammates, whose eyes burned with fighting spirit, wearing that familiar smile of someone who thrives on chaos.
"Fellow 'Anti-Fraud Elites', our colleagues have already set the stage for us."
"If we keep being such slackers, we'll really miss out on the final wrap-up and the profit-sharing."
She walked to the cave entrance, gazing in the distance at that City of Corruption, which still glowed with a pink aura of desire in the night.
"Let's go."
"Let's go meet that 'Prophet' from America who sent us the 'Genius Graveyard' gift pack."
She paused, her smile growing even brighter.
"And while we're at it... let's burn down the pet he worked so hard to raise, along with his doghouse!"