Ji Jue did not let down his guard for an instant just because a familiar face had appeared. What immediately erupted in the office was a corruption bullet bursting from the gun barrel!
The thunderous roar even drowned out the wailing from the corridor.
The bullet tore through the air as the quicksilver containment released. Within those ten paces, the condensed corruption matter traced a brief straight line before smashing into an invisible barrier. It rapidly dispersed, yet failed to cause any contamination, vanishing without a trace as if absorbed by something unseen.
*Blocked!*
Ji Jue frowned. That was the flaw with corruption bullets—their properties were far too unstable. Once the primer ignited and impact occurred, they triggered instantly, and beyond ten paces they easily scattered without dealing damage. What was more, being essentially bone ash, their penetration was poor; even a bulletproof vest could stop them.
His own craft was simply still lacking. He had yet to stabilize the material so it would not ignite from the primer strike, while still triggering and diffusing rapidly upon penetrating a human body.
Seeing Ji Jue fire without hesitation, the figure that had suddenly materialized shrieked, instinctively crouching with hands over head in a defensive ball. Her wails were louder than the gunshot.
The sound set Ji Jue's ears ringing painfully.
Still, that gear really did look familiar...
"Aaaah! Help!" Tong Hua screamed, clutching her head. "It really is me! It's me!"
Seeing that she made no other moves, Ji Jue felt a flicker of surprise. At the same time, he strode forward past the boundary of her barrier, pressed the muzzle against her forehead, and fired off questions like rapid artillery: "What's Sister Wen's full name?"
"Wen Wen!" Tong Hua answered without thinking.
"Age?"
"Twenty-six!"
"Three—*ahem*, third question. Who am I?"
"Ji Jue, male, nineteen, School of Mechanical Engineering at Tianmen University, apprentice to Embers Master Ye Xian of Tide Sound Workshop, senior sister is A'chun..."
"What does Tong Ting carry in his pockets?"
"Dried fruits I bought for him!" Tong Hua bawled, whether from anger or terror.
Seeing the teary-eyed woman answer every question correctly, Ji Jue froze, his eyes widening. *Shit, it really is her?*
Didn't that mean he had nearly blown off the head of the Tong family's silly young miss? If word got out, if the Tong family found out...
*Should I silence her?*
Ji Jue's mind raced. *Nobody knows anyway. And in a Chrono Ruin, as long as the body is disposed of cleanly, nobody could ever trace it. Once I'm out, I can just claim I never saw her.*
Seeming to sense the murderous glint creeping into Ji Jue's eyes, Tong Hua clung to his leg and wailed piteously, "Brother Ji Jue, don't kill me! You know me, I respect you the most! I can pay you tribute! I'll give you all my monthly allowance from now on, wahhh! The company debit card PIN is 865—"
Before she could finish, Ji Jue clamped her mouth shut.
"All right, shut the hell up already."
The very last shred of doubt in his mind vanished. No one else could be this pathetic—this was unmistakably Tong Hua in the flesh.
Yet Tong Hua looked even more terrified, eyes wide. "I already offered you my money, don't tell me you're after my body?!"
In the long silence that followed, Ji Jue holstered his gun and let out a helpless, heavy sigh.
"Lady, do me a favor and look in the mirror."
He dragged her over to the mirror beside the sink, pointed at her reflection, and demanded with utter solemnity, "Are you better-looking than me? Why are you always dreaming about taking advantage of people?"
*Hah, what a clown. Total buzzkill.*
Fortunately, the water in the Chrono Ruin was still usable. At least after Ji Jue inspected it, he judged that using it would not cause any negative effects.
Once Tong Hua finally washed her face and regained some composure, he sighed and asked the most important question: "Why didn't you show yourself from the start?"
They were acquaintances. Being guarded against strangers was one thing, but following behind him for so long without dropping a single hint was another.
"No, Big Brother, no..."
Tong Hua froze, staring at him in a daze, opening her mouth several times only to stop herself.
From the bottom of her heart, she desperately wanted to ask:
"Do you genuinely not know how terrifying you look right now?"
"Huh?"
Baffled, Ji Jue instinctively reached for his phone, remembered he didn't have it, and turned to look in the mirror instead.
"Everything looks normal?"
In Tong Hua's eyes, a figure engulfed in crimson flames, resembling a skeleton burning in fire, stroked his chin and blankly studied the reflection of Ji Jue's face in the mirror, utterly perplexed. "What's wrong with it?"
No Eye of Aether was needed.
At this very moment, with her naked eyes alone, Tong Hua could perceive the terrifying essence nearly bursting from beneath that calm soul.
It was as though the unquenchable fire left in his soul by the Flametide Catastrophe had branded an indelible mark upon him.
Right now, across Ji Jue's body, an ordinary human appearance and hideous shapes constantly alternated and intertwined. Under the stimulus of the Chrono Ruin's aberrant aura, countless spark-like glimmers of light rose from his soul.
Beneath his feet, the crimson shadow shifted with his movements, expanding and writhing, as if indistinct silhouettes were struggling up from hell, reaching outward with their hands.
Despairingly wailing.
*Alright, say no more—you're practically on the verge of revealing your true demonic form, aren't you?!*
Even without her saying a word, Ji Jue could feel his spiritus, which had been overly active ever since entering the Chrono Ruin, flourishing as though it had entered ideal soil.
Soon, however, as Ji Jue actively reined in his spiritus and circulated the blessing of the Primacy of Mind, he returned to stability. Every bit of flesh, blood, and spiritus throughout his body fell back under his control, stripped of any wild frenzy.
In Tong Hua's eyes, all the unnatural phenomena vanished without a trace.
She could not help letting out a breath of relief.
Only then did she suddenly register something else...
"Wait a minute!"
Her eyes went wide, and she accused him indignantly, "When we just met, you shot right away—did you really want to kill me?"
*Tsk...*
*This is why I hate perceptive brats.*
"Of course not!"
Ji Jue turned around with a gentle smile. "Didn't I know you had defensive gear on you? You used it back when we fought that corrupted swarm! I remember it crystal clear!"
"Really?" Tong Hua looked suspicious.
"Really."
Ji Jue nodded, his smile oozing sincerity. "I was just worried someone had disguised themselves as you. After all, one can't be too careful in a Chrono Ruin. You know me, I value friends above all else. I wouldn't kill you just to test you, would I?"
"...I guess that makes sense."
Tong Hua nodded in realization. She was about to ask more, but Ji Jue steered the conversation away: "My search here is wrapped up. Did you find anything?"
In a sense, a Chrono Ruin was like a crucible, or perhaps more like a chaotic hodgepodge tossed together heedless of balance or hierarchy—a contradictory realm cobbled together from the essences of numerous Sovereign Virtues and the elements of phenomena.
Yet since it could exist, it had to operate on an internal logic, no matter how warped that logic might be.
The trouble was that Ji Jue wasn't an Aether; clues would not just land in his lap with a casual touch.
But hadn't a ready-made Aether just delivered herself to his door?
"About the same as you."
Drawn in by the topic, Tong Hua sighed fretfully. "There's too much corruption aura around, so I don't dare look too deeply. I can only narrow down suspicions and carefully sift for clues...
"What I can confirm right now is that the hospital regulations actually work. In this Chrono Ruin, they're our lifelines as explorers."
From the moment they entered the ruin, they had been assigned roles: resident interns shoved into the hospital to be worked like beasts of burden, the very bottom of the food chain.
Yet even at the bottom of the food chain, they were still part of it. As long as they followed hospital regulations and completed their duties, their safety was guaranteed.
The problem was... neither their so-called 'colleagues' nor their 'patients' would wait around for them to get the hang of things.
The moment a mistake occurred, or a hospital rule was inadvertently broken, a price had to be paid.
The hospital would demand 'fines,' and patients would demand 'compensation.'
And whether fine or compensation, the only currency they could offer was themselves...
A newly hired doctor, ostracized and eyed hungrily by colleagues, warily watched and coveted by patients, would gradually lose their flesh and soul in the endless competition and toil.
In the end, even their sense of self would fracture, swallowed and assimilated by this bizarre hospital until, unrecognizable, they became lifeless clay-and-wood puppets.
"Ugh, it's terrible..." Tong Hua sighed in despair.
"What's so terrible? Isn't it just like reality?" Hearing this, Ji Jue actually let out a sigh of relief and patted her shoulder. "Knowing that the hospital regulations are our lifeline is enough.
"At least our safety isn't an immediate issue.
"But in the long run, we'll eventually have to find a way to collapse the Chrono Ruin from within. Do you have any leads?"
Tong Hua shook her head.
Ordinarily, this kind of Chrono Ruin possessed a core that served as the anchor for all the contradictions and distortions of the Sovereign Virtues, like the very central thread in a tangled ball of yarn.
It could be a person, an object, or something else.
Visiting Celestial Chosen usually called such an entity the 'Lord.' The entire chaotic Chrono Ruin was constructed around it, and within the ruin, it typically wielded unimaginable power and authority, making it nearly impossible to defeat through brute force.
Likewise, once it was eliminated, the Chrono Ruin would collapse on its own.
That was the crux.
"Is it the Director?" Ji Jue suddenly asked.
He recalled the bloated figure standing at the front of the conference room, that grotesque, swollen monstrosity resembling a waterlogged corpse...
Tong Hua shook her head, unable to confirm.
The moment the Director had appeared, she had examined him closely. Although powerful and terrifying, he showed no deep connection to the Chrono Ruin as a whole.
Or perhaps it simply wasn't the critical moment yet, leaving that connection too faint for her to see clearly.
Or perhaps...
"What if the core of the entire Chrono Ruin—the 'Lord'—is the hospital itself?" she finally voiced her deepest worry.
If the entire hospital had mutated and become the cornerstone of the Chrono Ruin, how could any of this end?
Rely on the two of them?
One Embers, one Aether—even if they spent their entire lives on demolition, they couldn't possibly tear it all down!
Ji Jue answered her with a smile.
"Then that actually makes things easier."
"I took a look on the way here. The specifications of this hospital are quite high, and the departments are fully equipped," Ji Jue said. "From what I know, a hospital like this is usually fitted with an oxygen generation plant."
Not just an oxygen generation plant.
The water here was clearly running and in ample supply. With water, oxygen was no issue. At the same time, with water and electricity present, that meant... there was gas.
With Non-Offensive in hand, Ji Jue was a mobile workshop.
If necessary, blowing the entire hospital sky-high was hardly out of the question...
His smile grew increasingly cheerful, but it sent shivers down Tong Hua's spine.
Right then, they heard footsteps approaching from the end of the corridor.
Tong Hua froze for a second, tensing up.
The instant Ji Jue registered the sound, his expression changed dramatically. He sprang up, vaulted across a desk toward the rigid, vacant remains of Zhao Zhou, and yanked him up by the collar.
Then, in a frantic rush, he began... stripping off his clothes!
With blistering speed!
Chapter 153