The Gentleman at the End

The drizzling rain washed over a unique city where divinity and science were combined,

Casting images of gods and buddhas into the air through various neon lights, seemingly illuminating the night and future for the people, yet also watching over their every word and deed.

Skyscrapers and temples,

Factories and churches,

Trains and temples,

Various elements that shouldn't coexist are stacked vertically like LEGO blocks in this city.

Diverse individuals wander here, with different appearances and even different genetic makeups, as if they come from different worlds.

However, besides the vibrant individuals, there are actually some puppets mingling among them.

But these puppets are not controlled by anyone, and when they walk on the streets, those vibrant individuals yield to them, nodding in greeting, or even lying flat on the ground in respect. Some go as far as becoming steps for the puppets to ascend.

These puppets seem to have very special identities.

Currently,

In a steel temple built atop a hundred-story building.

Metallic hoses crisscross the temple, diverging and connecting to the altars hosting bionic puppets.

Besides their daily tasks, the building's employees arrange for some to take the elevator to the temple for worship, offering, electrical maintenance, and routine care every day.

Boom!

A golden lightning bolt struck through the clouds, hitting the temple's pinnacle, electricity flowing through two hoses into the corresponding bionic puppets.

Crack! The puppet's joints began to move.

A trace of divinity surfaced on the puppet's exterior, until their eyes became spirited.

The chest of one puppet bore the characters [Vajra], speaking impatiently, "Hardly rested for a few days, and we're assigned recruitment again… Even if we are just incarnations, we need rest."

Another puppet, unmarked but with eyes clear as water, said, "This recruitment mission is quite special, we are to go to the edges of an unregistered plane, seeking the peculiar plague universe. Cheer up, perhaps it will be a very interesting journey."

"To recruit in such a place, thousands of years since the last reckoning.

Can a world deprived of rules develop? The most basic fertility can't even be achieved, regardless of how special it is, there shouldn't be many who survive, right? Would there really be any talent born?"

The puppet with clear eyes calmly said, "As far as I know, not long ago, Lung Venerable's incarnation found some unique young talents there that were not plague masters but fought against malignant urban legend themed [Storybooks] with their divine-less blood and flesh.

They even received a commander's seal and a purple lung left by Lung Venerable's incarnation, and there's a rumor that those people controlled the storybooks."

This statement surprised the nearby Vajra puppet greatly,

"Youngsters dealt with malevolent carriers corresponding to urban legends? Books type… I believe handling malignancy suppressed by Lung Venerable's sealing.

After all, we lost quite a bit of force in that war back then, those infected were somewhat capable.

But how could this group control malevolent carriers, without faith, and the protection of gods, wouldn't they be backfired instantly? Why would Lung Venerable allow them to touch books?"

"I'm unaware, and it is just a rumor. We'll know the specifics when we go… Let's hurry and join the larger force. This recruitment is different from before, clearly commands from higher up.

Hopefully, the recruitment will find truly capable folks, things are getting worse."

The two puppets leaped directly from the top of the hundred-meter building,

The one with the Vajra seal didn't reduce speed, crashing vertically to the ground.

Boom! It smashed a massive crater over ten meters wide on the pavement, it seemed more than just a falling impact, carrying a pressure and extra weight.

However, the crater quickly self-repaired, leaving no trace.

Another puppet, as if aided by water waves to slow down, landed with zero speed, stood securely on the ground.

Perhaps to adapt to the puppet's shell,

Or because there's little time left till the gathering time.

Upon landing, they accelerated, transforming into beams of light heading towards a certain area at the city's fringe.

While sprinting at high speed, the divine glow attached to them gradually transformed into humanoid blood and flesh, making them shift from puppets to resembling humans, the mechanical actions also gradually fading.

The city's size is unexpectedly vast,

They ran for half an hour before finally arriving at the "Gathering Point", here also serving as the city's boundary, and there's a [Gate] existing in mid-air, supported by nothing.

Here, there were eight other puppets like them.

Huff… Hah…

With the sound of breathing, a wisp of golden aura drifted over, stirring the air, gradually forming a golden robe.

At the center of the golden robe, there appeared a flawless golden lung,

With the lung as the main body, exhaling a divine aura purer and higher rank than the puppets present, forming an elder with a long beard, fitting perfectly within the golden robe.

"Heavenly Venerate!"

The puppets on site all bowed their heads, either clasping hands, or making fists, or performing some special hand gestures, simultaneously calling out the same title.

"Thank you for arriving at the gathering point promptly upon receiving the divine scroll's command.

According to the divine scroll's information, this time we're heading to the edge plane, to the unmarked, unrecorded by the main material plane special living universe [Sick Focus] for recruitment.

According to the scouts, Sick Focus has completed a total parasitism of a small world, has acquired the world's rules and begun normal development.

Its danger level probably isn't as before, yet enough to draw our attention.

This is our first recruitment towards Sick Focus, the attitude must be upright, treat the infected living there kindly, respecting and rewarding exceptional talents.

Besides recruitment, there's another important matter, try to use this opportunity to establish a connection with Sick Focus, creating a world pathway.

The 'higher-ups' place great importance on this, therefore, please put aside your prejudices, take this recruitment mission seriously. Anyone who subjectively worsens the world relations will be held accountable, may even have their divine status revoked.

This is the first stage of recruitment, if all goes well, more recruiting plans targeting Sick Focus will follow.

Finally, this recruitment is different from before. You are not to screen through tests but directly engage in actual combat with patients there, and I will personally select people.

I hope everyone gets energized, don't disgrace our main material plane, the infected there probably have biologically transcended your understanding."

The puppets present all showed different expressions, their attitudes varied, yet primarily adhered to order.

"We will proceed through the plane gate to the closest world to Sick Focus, afterward utilizing no vehicles, traversing through subspace with your shell, trust that your divine concentration can easily accomplish the plane crossing journey.

If anyone's 'shell' shows signs of breaking during subspace traversal, I will directly expel you from the squad, and report the situation to your divine zone.

Lowly divinity is more feared than the enemy."

Opening the gate, the ten puppets followed the Heavenly Venerate stepping inside, arriving at the surface of a world nearest to Sick Focus on higher-dimensional coordinates.

Without pause, Lung Venerable gently inhaled, shredding the space, and vanished into it himself.

The ten puppets have essentially morphed into physical forms, successively enveloped in divinity, they flew inside, advancing swiftly in the utterly chaotic subspace's deep, following the golden streams.

Soon,

A spectacle came into view,

A world resembling a double-scoop ice cream appeared before them,

One is the most common small world, showing an ordinary planet form.

The other world resembled a swollen spherical abscess, tightly clinging to the small world. It even drove twisted world's feet deeply into the small world's interior, sucking energy, obtaining the world's rules.