Chapter 14: Forced Regression

"Damn!"

Lu Yuanming watched as the crowd charged towards them. He immediately cursed and instinctively wanted to throw himself at them, to stop them from getting close.

But before he could act, Father Edward, who had been observing him, tackled him to the ground, while saying, "No! Lord, they've lost their senses. If you go to stop them, you'll be beaten or trampled to death. Peter, shoot! Shoot anyone who gets close. We can't afford to be soft-hearted now, or else we'll all die here!!"

With a pistol in hand, Peter hesitated. Before he could fire a shot, several burly men emerged from the crowd in the distance, armed with clubs and iron bars. They began to ruthlessly beat the people trying to approach Lu Yuanming and the others, paying no heed to gender, age, or size; anyone daring to rush at Lu Yuanming and his group received a relentless beating.

"Guys, shoot! Shoot these spiders! We're holding the front line; unless we're all dead, these spiders won't get anywhere near you!" shouted a sullen-faced man among the burly men.

Father Edward was overjoyed. He released Lu Yuanming and gave Keson a look before actually running towards the group of burly men, saying on his way, "Everyone, don't panic; I am with you, and the Lord will protect us all."

"It's Father Edward!"

"Father, please save us."

In the crowd, some people recognized Father Edward; as he quickly approached, they all began to cry out loud and kneel on the ground to pray.

This scene left Lu Yuanming astounded. He truly couldn't understand why these people were praying and seeking the Deity's help at a time like this. Wouldn't it be much better to pick up whatever was at hand and fight the spiders than to kneel down in prayer?

Yet there were indeed a few people who did just that, leaving their fate entirely to luck. As they took the lead, more people began to kneel down and pray, making it impossible for the burly men to continue their assault.

The burly men then looked to the sullen-faced man, who surveyed the situation and immediately ran to the rear of their group. There, the spiders were still attacking people. With him taking the lead, the rest of the burly men followed suit, using their clubs and metal bars to fend off and fight the spiders from a distance.

Such heroes.

That was the thought that crossed Lu Yuanming's mind. With the leadership of the sullen man, the group of burly men had become somewhat organized. Having organization was humankind's strongest weapon in defeating every wild animal on Earth, without any exception. Being organized versus being disorganized made all the difference for human groups.

Seizing the opportunity, Peter fired several more shots, emptying his magazine. Except for one stray bullet, all the other shots resulted in one spider per bullet. Then, Peter immediately ejected his magazine, and Lu Yuanming pulled out a handful of bullets from his pocket and handed them to Peter.

Peter began reloading and then continued shooting.

The spider creatures fell one after another, over a dozen in succession. During this time, Peter had emptied his magazine twice, and Lu Yuanming spared no bullets. As long as Peter needed them, he handed them over immediately.

And so, as Peter began firing the third magazine, Lu Yuanming felt a swelling sensation throughout his body.

With over a dozen spiders killed, even if he could only absorb one-tenth of the White Light Particles, the small amounts added up, and he had absorbed a substantial quantity. As he did so, Lu Yuanming felt his body swelling, as if being inflated to the point of bursting.

But this was only an illusion; his body neither grew larger nor smaller. It was just that with Peter's continued spider kills, the swelling sensation became more pronounced, to the point where his body started to ache.

At that moment, one of the burly men approached the sullen man and said, "Boss, that pistol..."

The sullen man glanced at him and replied in a low voice, "Don't worry about that for now. Let's figure out how to blend into this group of people first."

Just then, as Peter pulled the trigger again and killed another spider, Lu Yuanming clutched his chest and slowly squatted down, while the rest of the spiders suddenly turned and ran away, not even bothering with the bound human prey, each retreating quickly into the supermarket.

Seeing this, the crowd initially was stunned, and then they all broke out into cheers. Keson had noticed something amiss with Lu Yuanming and hurried over, squatting beside him and asking, "Sir, are you alright?"

"...I don't know." At this point, Lu Yuanming could hardly speak, feeling so painfully swollen that he thought he might explode at any moment.

Keson's face was full of distress; Peter likewise turned pale with fear and rushed to Lu Yuanming's side. Even Father Edward, upon turning back and seeing Lu Yuanming's condition, was shocked and came running back, yelling as he approached, "Lord, are you okay? Lord, what's happened?"

His exclamations left the crowd and the strong men utterly baffled.

In Europe and America, the title "Lord" is not a term that can be casually spoken, nor is it possible to refer to a specific individual as the Lord.

For a moment, the public and several strong men were all staring at each other with wide eyes, completely clueless about what the situation was with Lu Yuanming and his group.

It was then that a violent noise suddenly erupted from the distant supermarket; everyone reflexively looked over, only to see the supermarket's doors bursting apart. Several gigantic spider limbs stretched out from the interior, each limb at least ten meters long and so powerful that the doors were torn to shreds, and even the ceiling exploded. Then, an enormous pitch-black spider crawled out from inside the supermarket.

This spider was at least ten meters tall, its massive jointed limbs supporting its body, and its fierce maw could easily crush humans into pieces. Furthermore, its body was covered in human-sized spiders, dense and numerous, making one's skin crawl just by looking at them.

Everyone was stunned; even the strong men dared not to advance, while Peter immediately stood up and fired at the spider. However, the small bullets from the handgun were not enough to inflict substantial damage on such a massive spider. On the contrary, due to the pain, the spider was even more agitated and charged rapidly towards where Lu Yuanming was located.

The first to suffer were the members of the public, squashed one by one beneath the colossal limbs of the spider, which also spat out venom. A spray of venom and immediately seven or eight members of the public were screaming and writhing, corroded into skeletons within seconds.

On the other side, Father Edward came to Lu Yuanming's side, his face filled with panic, not even looking at the spider.

Lu Yuanming used his last bit of strength to clasp the Colorless Light Particles. Then thinking of a specific object in his mind, suddenly several large sacks appeared beside him, and Lu Yuanming said, "Plant these seeds..."

He couldn't finish his sentence; his body was completely immobile, and at the same time, he felt the sensation he experienced every time he traveled back, although this time, without reaching the seventy-two-hour travel time. However, having absorbed too many White Light Particles, it seemed he triggered another kind of return mechanism. He felt as if he was forcefully squeezing through something, and then the next instant, he found himself back in the familiar vegetative, pitch-black state.

In the afterlife world, what others saw was entirely different.

They saw Lu Yuanming emitting a brilliant light from his body, so dazzling that everyone was forced to close their eyes. When the light dimmed slightly, they saw space folds and ripples forming around Lu Yuanming's body, and through these spatial ripples, they glimpsed things difficult to comprehend and describe. It looked both like light and like a human, and everyone felt an immense pressure, indistinguishable whether it was a sensory or a real force. They were unable to understand, just shocked as they watched it all unfold.

At the same time, the giant spider suddenly howled in pain, not just that one, but all the smaller spiders as well. They leaped off the large spider and began to run back into the supermarket, and the large spider swiftly turned and also scurried back inside.

In a matter of seconds, Lu Yuanming's figure was no longer visible at the scene, the light and the pressure had also disappeared without a trace. What remained were stunned civilians, strongmen, and Father Edward, on his knees, praying.

Once Lu Yuanming returned to his original body, he immediately felt comfortable all over. The sensation of being about to explode disappeared instantly, and his entire body felt warm, as if he was soaking in a perfect temperature hot spring. Moreover, he had absorbed a vast amount of the White Light Particles this time, so he truly felt the sensation of his soul strengthening. With the warmth continuing, he even vaguely sensed the touch of his physical skin.

"It's effective, it really works. As long as I continue to kill those monsters and absorb the White Light Particles, I can truly recover from the vegetative state!"

Lu Yuanming was overjoyed; at this moment, he finally understood that the strengthening of his soul was not an illusion.

If that was the case, then after completing this round of soul strengthening, he would return to the afterlife world, but before going back, he needed to test something else.

How to obtain those Colorless Light Particles, which Father Edward referred to as the Power of Faith.

"Must I burn paper money, or can the thoughts and blessings of my relatives and friends also grant me Colorless Light Particles?"

Lu Yuanming didn't rush back to the afterlife world right away. On one hand, his soul was still strengthening, and on the other hand, he was waiting for an opportunity.

Relying on the ability to faintly hear the outside world, Lu Yuanming waited two days for the opportunity. From what he heard, it seemed his parents were washing his body. Seizing this moment, Lu Yuanming mustered all his strength, focusing all his attention on the skin of his little finger on the left hand, and slowly, powered by his strengthening soul, the finger began to move.

At first, his parents didn't notice, but it wasn't long before Lu Yuanming heard cries of surprise, followed by a flurry of noise and footsteps, and voices of doctors and nurses. He even heard his father and mother calling out his name loudly, urging him to awaken from the vegetative state.

I will awaken; I will awaken eventually...

Lu Yuanming thought to himself. He had only moved his little finger slightly, which already made his soul feel tired, but fortunately, the warmth continued, quickly dissipating his fatigue. It also informed Lu Yuanming that his current soul strength was not enough to awaken his body.

However...

Whether it was his parents or the doctors and nurses, they all made sounds, generating the thought in him that he would awaken.

That should earn me some Colorless Light Particles, right?