Chapter 285: Who Says We Have No Chance?

"B-but..." Zhou Hui hesitated. "Even if the plan goes smoothly and we wipe out the nine Temple Knights, then what? The bishop is a Gold powerhouse! You all know what that means, right? How could a few Silvers like us possibly defeat a Gold!"

The words "Gold powerhouse" pressed down on them like a mountain. It was an insurmountable chasm. Never mind that none of them had even reached Silver 3—even if their entire team consisted of Silver 3 experts, no one would dare dream of defeating a Gold powerhouse.

"Captain, why don't we give up on this mission?" After a long hesitation, Zhou Hui finally spoke her mind. "Once we return, we can pass the information to the other teams. If all ten squads attack the Twisted Divine Cult together, we might actually have a chance."

Her words echoed what everyone else was thinking. There was simply no need to fight to the death in a battle they had no chance of winning.

"No!" Su Qing shot to her feet, her delicate face set in absolute resolve. "The General Law Enforcement Bureau's technology isn't as advanced as you think. They can't drop us accurately into a specific Nightmare within the Nightmare World; they can only roughly lock onto a region. That means if we leave now, it'll be incredibly difficult to ever come back here. The intel on the First Red King is right in front of us. How can we just give up?"

"That's still better than dying for nothing! We don't stand a chance against a Gold powerhouse!" Zhou Hui also stood up, refusing to back down.

As the two reached a standoff, Su Mu offered a faint smile. He pushed up his Tinted Glasses and asked gently, "Who says we have no chance?"

Everyone froze, their gazes snapping to him.

Su Mu maintained his calm, unhurried smile, exuding a powerful confidence from the inside out. Even the threat of a Gold powerhouse couldn't shake it.

"A Gold powerhouse is still human. And humans can be killed."

The others held a deep, overwhelming reverence for Gold powerhouses, but he did not. As Pride, the Head of the Seven Deadly Sins, he had fooled—and even killed—more than a few Gold experts in his time.

"Captain, do you have a plan?" Lin Nanxing asked, his face lighting up with wild joy.

"Naturally. It will just take some time."

...

...

The following night.

When Su Mu returned from his excursion, he made no grand movements. He merely tapped his Cane against the ground, and his shadow instantly rippled like water.

It spat out ten unconscious twisted ones.

"Captain, why did you capture these twisted ones?"

Su Mu smiled faintly. "Yan Wu, they're all yours."

Yan Wu, having long since been reduced to a puppet, nodded silently. He then activated his Life and Death Arena on the twisted ones one by one.

As he slaughtered every last one of the twisted ones, his physique grew noticeably stronger.

Su Qing noticed the change in Yan Wu and stared in surprise. "Are you trying to strengthen Yan Wu this way so he can fight the bishop?"

Su Mu knew King Chi wasn't much of a thinker, but he hadn't realized it was this bad. Yan Wu was only a Silver 1. Even if he slaughtered all 100,000 cultists, he still wouldn't stand a chance against the bishop.

"I'm just luring the snake out of its hole. The disappearance of the twisted ones will definitely draw the Temple Knights out to investigate, which will give us the perfect opportunity to strike. Feeding Yan Wu is just a convenient side benefit."

Su Qing's face stiffened awkwardly. She pretended to look away, clearly realizing just how stupid her question had been.

"Captain, what if we draw the bishop out too? We can't use the Void Key right now."

"It doesn't matter. I have other methods. Bubai."

At Su Mu's soft call, the shadow beneath his feet immediately rose from the ground, shifting into the form of a towering Shadow monster.

"A Shadow Dimension is hidden inside Bubai. When the time comes, I'll have it transport you all."

Following its evolution, Bubai had long since gained the ability to hold multiple people and travel through the shadows.

The Twisted Divine Cult's methods were certainly bizarre, but there was no shortage of bizarre powers in this world. They weren't the only ones who possessed them.

Everyone's faces lit up with pleasant surprise, having never expected Su Mu to keep such a trump card hidden. Truly, the longer they spent with him, the more they realized just how terrifyingly capable their captain was.

"That's perfect. We can strike and immediately reposition," someone said excitedly.

But Wen Xuan's expression remained grim. "Captain, I'm afraid we won't have enough time for that. The Twisted Divine Cult has a massive advantage in numbers. If we only rely on hit-and-run tactics, we might wake up from this Nightmare before we even manage to put a real dent in their forces."

"You didn't think I went out there just to bring back a measly ten twisted ones, did you?" Su Mu laughed. "Don't forget what my ability is. Some of you must have seen my fight with Yan Wu back then."

Wen Xuan suddenly understood, his eyes widening in realization. "Captain, did you use your Illusion Technique to secretly take control of some of the twisted ones?"

Su Mu smiled and nodded. "Exactly. Under normal circumstances, these twisted ones can't be controlled. The sensory information they receive from the outside world—including my commands—is completely distorted. Even if I commanded them to attack their own people, they would just act contrary to my orders. But as long as I enter their distorted perspective and use my Illusion Technique to hypnotize them, I can bypass that problem."

"But... Captain, wouldn't using your Illusion Technique on such a massive scale place a severe burden on your mental strength?" A flash of worry appeared on Wen Xuan's face.

The way he saw it, no matter how powerful Su Mu's mental strength was, he could control a hundred—maybe a thousand people at most. But against a total force of 100,000, a thousand was a mere drop in the bucket.

Su Mu pushed up his Tinted Glasses, lying without batting an eye. "I've stockpiled a massive amount of mental recovery potions. It will be more than enough."

Everyone fell silent at those words. As they looked at Su Mu's smiling face, a deep sense of admiration welled up in their hearts.

None of them were novices; they all knew the horrific toll of repeatedly overdrawing one's mental strength in a short period. It was a kind of damage that no amount of recovery potions could truly mend. The slightest misstep could lead to permanent damage.

It was like a gigolo popping pills at a nightclub to keep going—constantly consuming, constantly burning himself out. Anyone with a slightly weaker constitution could easily drop dead on the spot.

"They're here!" Lin Nanxing suddenly barked, a hand pressed over one of his eyes.

Everyone immediately tensed, snapping into combat readiness.

"How many?"

"At least five hundred. There are two Temple Knights, and a larger main force further out."

"Prepare to engage. Lin Nanxing, keep your Eye of the Sky active. If the bishop makes a move, we retreat immediately." At Su Mu's command, everyone drew their weapons.