Shangri-La's projection radiated ten thousand miles in an instant, but looking down from higher in the heavens, it was merely a spark of light emerging from the dense storm of gray-black on the satellite cloud imagery.
So minuscule.
"Finally..."
Inside the Tacheng garrison base, Fan Yun stood with his hands clasped behind his back, raising his eyelids a sliver to glance at that faint glimmer.
"After beating the grass to startle the snake, something has finally jumped out."
He sneered and turned to leave.
"A dying struggle after all."
***
"I feel like I'm about to die."
Since dusk, the sky had been murky and gray, weighing heavily on everyone's chest. Damp gusts of wind failed to dispel the sweltering heat, only making it harder to breathe.
In the frontline base, Liang Mo, frontline commander of the quick reaction force, sprawled across his chair, sighing incessantly as he poured one bottle of soda after another down his throat.
"..." Beside him, the Riot Cat hesitated to speak, an emoticon expressing disdain flickering across its screen. In the end, it hoisted another crate and stuffed it into the modified refrigerator in its chest to chill.
Then, on Liang Mo's official system tags, right behind "slacker bum" and "slack-off fiend," it silently appended another: "carbonated invalid."
Who in the world invented humans anyway?
What a pain to raise.
Brittle, tiny, frail—drop your guard for a second and they're dead.
Blow them up and they turn into a smear; lay them down and they're just a strip, still wriggling...
Recalling the human-rearing advice other cats had shared, the cat felt a sudden pang of concern: if he kept lying around like this, would he really become a useless vegetable?
At that thought, the colossal mechanical frame tilted slightly.
It sighed in sorrow like an old father.
Several times its hand rose and fell; finally, it reached out in resignation and patted Liang Mo on the head.
As a gesture of comfort.
*Human, don't be afraid. Even if you turn into an invalid, I'll work odd jobs to buy soda and support you...*
Liang Mo looked back listlessly at the Riot Cat crouching beside him, his expression conflicted. "Doggie, are you taking advantage of me?"
Without a second thought, "Doggie" slapped him hard upside the head.
Liang Mo's vision went black. The strike nearly sent him flying off his lounger, leaving him face-down eating dust on the floor for a long time, coughing continuously.
"Holy shit! Are you trying to fucking murder me?! Couldn't you be a little gentler?!"
The cat raised a middle finger.
Cold indifference.
On its screen appeared Haian Tech's user manual and warnings: *Strictly prohibited from performing any unauthorized modifications on this unit, including but not limited to lethal functionality...*
"Dammit, I almost forgot. The likes of you aren't allowed to kill... Heh, not being able to kill is nice. Way better than being a stinking soldier."
Liang Mo shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh, collapsing back into his chair. "I wish I could be like you. Recharge a bit, soak in some sun, and survive. No need to point a gun and go rat-a-tat-tat at people, and no one trying to throw bombs at me on the street... Heh, once this dogshit life is done, who doesn't die anyway? Fuck!"
He crushed the empty can in his hand and waved at Doggie: "Give me a beer."
The cat popped open its chest hatch and tossed a bottle of beer over.
Then its movements froze stiffly.
The screen flickered violently.
Immediately after, a shrill, piercing alarm blared from inside the Riot Cat's chassis, jolting countless people awake throughout the barracks. Bewildered heads poked out, peering warily around.
A technical sergeant ran out while pulling up his pants, barking curses: "Liang Mo, you dog! Did you break Doggie?! I told you that fridge couldn't be installed! You insisted on—"
Liang Mo froze, speechless.
Soon, the tech sergeant realized it too.
The alarms echoing over the base right now weren't coming from just the Riot Cat in front of them. Every single Riot Cat had erupted into piercing sirens in unison, echoing one after another.
The screens overhead flushed blood-red.
—【Calamity Alert】!
Rumble!
From the dark clouds in the sky came a terrifying roar that shook the earth.
Howling gales whipped up countless grains of sand and dust, rolling toward the frontline base like an enraged beast crawling out from the deepest depths of the White Nation.
Then, amid the quaking ground and sky, the tech sergeant finally looked up, staring into the heavens alongside the stunned Liang Mo.
Countless pale branches extended across the sky, a spectral colossal tree blanketing the firmament. Behind the withered boughs, the heavens had turned blood-red.
A torrential rain of blood engulfed the wilderness!
Throughout the frontline base, brilliant radiance erupted, forcibly carving out a clearing and barrier against the overwhelming blood rain. But out in the wilderness drenched in gore, shrill, piercing shrieks rose higher and higher.
Bordering on madness, howling in ravenous thirst!
The Calamity of Mutated Blood Rain showered mutant vitality and endless wolf blood onto the earth, driving every living creature in the wastes into insanity.
Chilling howls and roars echoed from the thick crimson deluge. Liang Mo, stiff and frantic, fumbled into his exoskeleton just as he heard thunderous rumbles from the outer perimeter wall.
The defense system's machine guns had been triggered. The murky darkness of the night was instantly torn open by scorching tracers. The fleeting light offered no sense of security; instead, it illuminated swarms of insects, colossal beasts, and monsters writhing out of the dark.
In the sky, amid the thunderheads and lightning, a grotesque shadow appeared, like a gigantic serpent peering from behind a curtain. It opened its jaws, spewing out storms and dust.
Dense mist surged and descended, clashing with the base's Tianyuan Domain with sizzling hisses.
"Don't panic! Hold the line!"
Liang Mo hoisted the heavy machine gun fitted to his exoskeleton. "Everyone await orders and be ready to deploy! Don't panic, the base's wall is still standing! Those bastards won't get—"
Smack!
Doggie couldn't take it anymore and slapped the back of his head.
Answering the unspoken prayer of every squad member:
*What fucking time do you think it is to be raising death flags?*
*—Shut the fuck up!*
Liang Mo cursed, hopping in indignation.
With a stifled chuckle, the tense squad members gradually relaxed.
Until, amid the chaotic din, heavy whistling winds sounded. Through the sheets of rain and howling gale, shadow after shadow emerged from the clouds, gliding toward them.
In the sweep of the searchlights, grotesque silhouettes drifted into view.
When the giant serpent in the clouds hissed, bizarre silhouettes plunged downward like a tidal wave.
Meteors falling from the heavens.
Incessant roaring shook the air.
While everyone watched in stunned disbelief, the Riot Cat suddenly raised its heavy shield, unfolding it layer by layer to stand in front of the line. With a loud crash, the shrill screech of scraping steel sounded, and a horrifying dent appeared on the shield.
Shattered flesh flew everywhere.
Mangled scraps fell to the ground.
"Holy shit, what is that?!"
Liang Mo felt sick to his stomach. Squinting at the remains, an ominous premonition struck him.
Across the frontline base, gunfire erupted and screams rang out everywhere.
A swooping shadow smashed through a wall, swimming through the air with maw wide open, lunging toward Liang Mo and his men.
Then it crashed head-on into Liang Mo's machine gun and was instantly torn to shreds by heavy fire.
Before that happened, in the lights, he finally got a clear look...
The iconic gray-and-white coloration, the sharp fin, the mouth of jagged fangs, the layers of carapace growing over flesh, and a chassis-sized body...
Was that... a great white shark?!
In the storm, a frenzy of sharks ran amok, howling through the sky.
Liang Mo looked up blankly at the chaotic base, then down at the terminal ordering him to clear the invasive organisms. His vision went dark:
"What kind of fucking dogshit day is this?!"
If you don't want us to live, just say so!
If we can live, we live; if not, we die! Why the fuck unleash some dogshit B-movie monsters in the Mid-Continent to torture me?!
Boom!
Amid the confusion, a tremendous explosion sounded.
The machine guns on the outer wall overheated and burned out. The cracks in the fortifications expanded under the battering of colossal entities until the wall finally gave way.
The outer perimeter defenses were completely torn apart.
Liang Mo didn't even have the energy to get angry. He sighed numbly: "Motherfucker... could this get any worse?"
Yes, brother. Of course it could.
Three minutes later, the inner perimeter sealed off. The blast doors slammed down.
Over the radio, a stirring command to fight valiantly came through, mixed with a strange high-pitched static, before abruptly cutting off.
"Fight my ass!"
Liang Mo stomped the radio into pieces, his face ashen:
"Fuck me, we're done for!"
Boom!
Half an hour later, as Little Niuma sped through the blockade of blood rain and crested the ridge to return to the frontline base, Ji Jue—amid the faint fragrance of Bodhi leaves—saw it...
In the ruined base in the distance, a crimson tempest erupted into the heavens.
Countless corpses piled high like mountains.
And...
Ji Jue froze in place.
Too late.
***
More than half an hour earlier, when the sirens had just begun to blare, Yan Fei was still dozing over a number theory textbook on the counter, drool winding across formulas and handwriting.
Beside him, Yan Chang sighed helplessly, glanced at his brother's answers, and reached out to alter two digits, barely keeping the error rate hovering at the dangerous threshold of twenty percent.
Just a few simple formulas, yet he couldn't wrap his head around them no matter how many times he tried... Did Embers really pick the wrong guy?
Still, they were brothers. How could he just sit by and watch his own flesh and blood get strung up and beaten?
All he could do was try his best!
*Well, when Mr. Ji strings you up later, I'll close my eyes and look away.*
Yan Chang shook his head and sat behind the counter. Picking up his water cup, he saw a smiling face approaching and spoke first: "I'm sorry, sir. All prices for the workshop's products are set by Mr. Ji. We really can't offer discounts."
"Aw, come on, we've been doing business for so long. Knock off a little, will you?"
"I really don't have the authority. How about this instead?"
Yan Chang smiled warmly. "Those decommissioned Blessed Creations you brought in last time—Mr. Ji thought they weren't bad. If you come across anything similar in the future, bring them over, and I'll bump up the purchase price by a tier for you. As for this time, if you're really interested, I'll throw in half a box of alchemical bullets as a goodwill gesture."
"Deal, fair enough! Young man, you've got quite the knack for business."
Skillfully ringing up the bill, Yan Chang watched the customer leave with a smile, then picked up his book again. But this time, he couldn't read a single word.
For some reason, his heart was pounding violently and his breath caught in his throat.
A wave of unease churned within him.
Startled, the boy realized what it was. Without hesitation, he punched his brother awake: "Bro, something feels off. Should we close shop?"
"Huh?"
Yan Fei yawned groggily, glanced outside, thought for a moment, and pressed the buzzer: "Let's close up then."
"You're not going to ask why?"
"Doesn't matter. You think through things way more than I do, Ah Chang. Besides, getting to rest is fine by me. If Mr. Ji blames us later, don't use me as a scapegoat!"
"...I was actually touched for a second, Bro," Yan Chang sighed. "The last sentence was the point, wasn't it?"
"Heh, pretty much the sa—"
Rumble!
Before he could finish, thunder crashed, howling winds swept through, and alarms blared inside the temporary workshop. Shelves rapidly retracted, morphing into crouching iron beasts. Immediately following, the shrill Calamity Alert pierced everyone's eardrums.
In the pandemonium, both brothers and the remaining customers froze.
Only Old Tom, dozing by the doorway, jumped up like he'd been electrocuted, rushed in, and began frantically stashing things away, pulling down the blast shutters and activating security measures.
After shooing out all the customers, he slammed the door shut with a heavy clatter and locked it.
Then, with practiced familiarity, he rummaged through the weapon racks and tossed over two heavy firearms that neither boy could normally wield: "What are you two fools staring at?! Get ready, quick!"
"Uh..."
Yan Chang was bewildered. "Mr. Tom, aren't you overreacting a bit?"
"How the fuck is this overreacting?!"
Old Tom yelled. "It's called being prepared! You two don't know that dog Ji Jue. Ever since I met him, everything that happens is batshit insane and bizarre! When the time comes, I'm worried even this won't be worth a damn!"
Before the words left his mouth, the entire base shook under the bombardment of countless falling shadow meteors.
A massive swarm of grotesque giant sharks and marine creatures surged in alongside the blood rain, hunting with reckless abandon. As the walls collapsed with tremendous crashes, Yan Chang's face drained of color.
A tidal wave of giant insects, lizards, and mutated beasts drove straight into the frontline base, leaving wails and screams in their wake.
"See! What did I tell you?! What did I fucking say?!"
Old Tom glared, brimming with resentment. "Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with that guy named Ji! Look at that—he's only been here a few days, and the entire frontline base is about to be jinxed out of existence! It's all Ji Jue's fault!"
"Screeech—!"
A rotting, giant-winged bird descended from the sky, snatching a screaming, fleeing figure before taking flight again and vanishing. Numerous monsters drawn by the scent of blood prowled the base's perimeter, hunting for prey.
Some of the bolder ones even gathered around the workshop, clawing at the iron doors and windows in an attempt to break in.
Scraping, high-pitched noises grated endlessly against the metal...
Yan Fei pressed down hard on the defense system's standby button, not daring to release it.
Right now, it was only a few mutants scratching at the door; even with ten thousand years, they wouldn't breach it. But once the countermeasures fired, the racket would draw every monster in the surrounding sector!
"Don't worry, Ah Chang. Your brother's here!"
He patted his younger brother on the shoulder, offering comfort: "It's just a small skirmish... The base was caught off guard. Once they pull themselves together, they'll surely..."
"That's exactly what worries me!"
Yan Chang held back the mounting dread and premonitions, taking a deep breath.
"Bro, let me ask you something—"
He gripped Yan Fei, his expression grave. "The frontline base is a critical hub. No amount of security would be an overstatement... How could it crumple like wet paper and let a bunch of monsters break through so easily?"
"Huh?" Yan Fei stared blankly.
"And don't you find it suspicious how the outer perimeter wall collapsed?"
Yan Chang narrowed his eyes. "What's more, the inner sector sealed off almost immediately, completely cutting off the outside, and now the command network is entirely paralyzed. Do you really think this is normal?"
He could feel it: the boundless ferocity, malice, panic, hunger, despair, and confusion inside and outside the base... In the blink of an eye, the defense had dissolved into scattered sand!
Yan Fei looked horrified. "You mean... there's a traitor?"
"I fear it's worse," Yan Chang said grimly. "There are wolves!"
There had to be wolves!
The frontline base saw an influx of Celestial Chosen every day, making it the easiest place to infiltrate. With wolves existing, sneaking in was child's play.
Under the coverage of the Law of Tianyuan, the situation could previously be suppressed. But now, with a Calamity outside, wolves within, and not even a Celestial-Human holding the fort...
Cold sweat broke out on Yan Fei's forehead.
At that moment, amid the screams, the broadcast urging the entire base to fight valiantly cut off abruptly. In the dead silence, only spreading firelight and hissing remained.
Amid the spreading flames, crashes of collapsing structures sounded continuously.
Wails rose one after another.
More and more people tried to flee, yet had nowhere to run.
Outside the door, the scraping grew sharper and shriller.
Lured by the spiritus, countless mutant strains gathered, circling outside and slamming into the walls to break in.
Dents on the iron walls multiplied, and something sizzled as it dripped down.
The lights flickered.
They couldn't wait any longer!
Yan Fei silently calculated the workshop's damage threshold. Gritting his teeth after lingering hesitation, he finally released the button.
The unremarkable workshop erupted with brilliant light.
Dozens of machine gun turrets rose from the ground, barrels spinning frantically as they spewed tongue after tongue of fire. Amid the scorching metal storm, blood and minced flesh flew in every direction.
In a flash, the mutants around the workshop were wiped clean. But the gunfire attracted even more mutants, which swarmed in an endless stream.
The pungent stench of blood in the air was the ultimate stimulant.
Whether feeding on their own kind or others, they feasted voraciously, mutating once more. Grotesque, writhing bodies instinctively charged, only to be torn apart under the barrage.
Mutilated corpses littered the entire street, staining everything crimson. Yet amid the squirming flesh, more insects converged.
Between gunfire, hisses, and wails, a faint flute melody sounded.
Plaintive and mournful, like a soft weeping.
Like a bleak wind blowing from reeds and riverbanks, twisting with melancholy sorrow on a leaf flute. The eyes of every mutant and calamity beast flushed deeper crimson, completely overtaken by instinct.
A moment of stillness—and then, like a bursting dam or roaring tsunami, countless giant bugs and lizards surged toward the workshop with suicidal abandon!
Too many!
So many they seemed to blot out the sky...
Their vast numbers flooded the monitors, making the formidable firepower appear frail and thin. The ground vibrated relentlessly.
A house-sized mimicking monitor lizard flared the frill around its neck, lunging forward and crushing a machine gun in its jaws before being blown into flying chunks of meat.
Buzzing giant insects exploded mid-air, their grotesque fluids splashing against the workshop's walls, corroding through the metal to create a split.
Immediately after, roaming giant sharks plummeted down, tearing at the steel.
In this brutal storm, the temporary workshop groaned, issuing sounds of imminent collapse.
Yan Fei was drenched in sweat. Even wearing his power armor, he felt no sense of security, instinctively shielding his brother behind him.
To make matters worse, Old Tom was still lying on his chair, half-dead, panting feebly...
Yan Fei couldn't hold back his frustration any longer: "Uncle Tom, it's do-or-die time! Put some damn muscle into it!"
"You think I don't want to?!"
Old Tom was so furious he nearly laughed. Spreading his hands, his spiritus rose with great difficulty, looking so feeble it couldn't even match Yan Fei's: "Who's to blame for this?! What kind of decent person has to lug around a... Dammit, Ji Jue, you dog!!!"
Old Tom, with a fusion bomb swallowed inside his Swarm belly, suffered in bitter silence.
Tears he could not shed, misery he could not voice—all he could do was curse.
"I've really been dragged to death by you this time!"
"Bro, I found the flute player."
Yan Chang spoke up suddenly. He was slumped back in his wheelchair, pale as paper and drenched in sweat, pointing decisively: "Over there—eight o'clock, seven hundred meters out!"
"Good!"
Yan Fei steeled his resolve, took a deep breath, and asked, "Can you disrupt him? Just for a second."
Yan Chang nodded. "I'll wait for your signal."
"Good Ah Chang!"
Yan Fei grinned. Raising an armored hand, he gently ruffled his brother's hair. "Once I head out, go down to the basement and lock the door. Don't open it for anyone unless Mr. Ji comes back, got it?"
"Yeah."
Yan Chang nodded.
The two brothers shared one last look. Yan Fei smiled, donned his helmet, and drew two hand axes, two longswords, and a war hammer from the weapon crate, sliding them into the slots across his armor.
He skillfully calibrated the armor, preheating the matrix as spiritus circulated.
Amid the grating screeches of crumbling walls, Yan Fei stood silently, gripping his weapons. Suddenly, the fear evaporated. He felt as though he had become a ball of fire.
Once again, he began to burn.
Flames swallowed his consciousness and soul, incinerating all dread and hesitation.
The Red Anvil vibrated violently; his soul sang with joy.
*Come on, then. Come on—*
*Simple enough: charge out, slaughter through, fight back, slaughter through, fight back—*
Behind the visor, Yan Fei silently repeated his rudimentary battle plan, dropping into a charging stance toward the wall. Behind him, the flames in the thruster engines built up, growing white-hot.
Until the entire workshop shuddered violently.
The fissure in the wall suddenly widened and collapsed.
A swooping mutant great white shark squeezed through with a hiss. Before it could even bare its teeth in triumph, a searing red glare met its eyes!
Boom!
Like a colossal cannon firing.
The power armor, burning red like charcoal, shot forward.
Head-on, it smashed directly into the maw before it could snap shut, followed immediately by a deafening sonic boom.
In less than a heartbeat, the red-hot armor drove forward inch by inch, cleaving the great shark straight down the middle.
Vaporizing blood, shredding flesh, crushing bone.
He hadn't even drawn a blade.
Relying purely on sheer mass and velocity, he pulverized the giant shark as effortlessly as popping a bubble.
The armor hurtled forward!
A searing red line cleaved through the gore on the avenue, crushing severed limbs, smashing through walls, unstoppable and plunging straight ahead!
The flute notes trembled for an instant, growing more urgent. Countless giant insects stirred, sweeping forward like an encroaching storm cloud.
What answered them was a sudden torrent of blazing light.
Slash!
The armor drew a sword. The Guild standard alchemical weapon fractured under the strain as the spiritus and matrix within, supercharged a hundredfold by the Red Anvil, operated in self-destructive overdrive.
Surging spiritus churned into a searing blade of light, cleaving forward. Wherever it passed, giant insects detonated mid-air, severed cleanly in two.
Tearing through the cloud, the glowing red figure surged ahead. Discarding the fractured hilt, he drew another blade, slashing into empty air ahead!
With a sharp shattering sound, layers of defenses manifested. The seated figure of a flute player materialized in mid-air, eyes wide, the flute playing ever more piercing and shrill.
Space creased, and a gigantic hairy hand reached out toward Yan Fei at the flute's call. Yan Fei charged straight into the grasp, spinning, sweeping, and abruptly rocketing straight up!
In the spin, the searing blade flashed once more, cleanly lopping off all six fingers and half the colossal hand.
Before the blood could even spray, it dissipated into nothingness.
The sharp flute notes plunged into his brain like daggers, nearly suffocating Yan Fei and blacking out his vision. His spiritus unraveled, his mind reeling—yet in the next instant, clarity surged back into his heart, piecing his consciousness back together.
Yan Fei couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Thanks, Ah Chang!"
Hovering in mid-air, the armor dove downward, accelerating with everything it had!
Two hand axes ejected from the armor, spinning with a screech. Across the crumbling axe heads, spiritus detonated, cleanly severing the grotesque elongated tongue launched by a monitor lizard.
Yan Fei roared.
*Breach—now!*
Smack!
Back in the workshop, the frail boy slammed his fist into his palm with all his might, bellowing:
"—Sever Affliction!"
A low voice thundered inside the flutist's head, shaking his spiritus and shattering his focus.
A sharp enlightenment strike!
Exerting full strength lasted only an instant, but in that instant, the faltering flute notes exposed a crucial opening. The diving power armor had already closed the distance, within a hundred meters.
When the flutist snapped back, the charge was already unstoppable.
His eyes widened.
Yet amidst the shock, a sneer suddenly crept across his face, entirely devoid of panic.
He merely raised his gaze leisurely to watch the incoming assault.
The armor's speed was slowing...
Slowing at a visible rate until it hung suspended in mid-air, struggling to advance an inch.
No matter how furiously the thrusters spewed fire.
A faint shimmer illuminated threads of spider silk dancing in the storm, along with eerie shadow spiders flickering in and out of the void.
This place was already a spider's nest.
No way forward, and no way back.
Then don't run!
Without hesitation, Yan Fei gave everything—the Red Anvil's Radical Change erupted once more, this time aimed at the very armor protecting his body, pushing every thruster into total overload.
*Mr. Ji was right after all.*
Yan Fei laughed silently.
*This self-destruct button really is a wonderful thing!*
Boom!
The glowing-hot armor detonated mid-air. Accompanied by massive torrents of flame and phlogiston, waves of fire expanded outwards. Countless iron shrapnel pieces, supercharged by the Red Anvil, shot out like razor-sharp blades.
In the metal tempest, infinite spider silks were incinerated by the flames.
And as the quicksilver protective layer evaporated, propelled by the gale, a scrawny figure burst through like lightning, expanding rapidly in the flutist's stunned eyes.
Until a charred face was inches away.
The last thing he saw was a broken smile exposing bare gums, hideously fierce.
A hand raised, pointing straight at the enemy before him.
And between two fingers, a quicksilver bullet glowed faintly.
Containment, guidance, restriction, transmutation, radical stimulation... and then, detonation!
A streak of lightning like the blazing sun shot out in a straight line.
Piercing through that frozen face.
Immediately after, with a dull thud, the body fell backward, silently crumbling into ash.
—The flutist was dead!
And then...
It was Yan Fei's turn.
Crashing to the ground, Yan Fei twitched. He tried to crawl up, but stumbled and hit the dirt face-first, eating another mouthful of grime. He realized his legs were probably broken.
Spiritus drained, matrix overloaded, consciousness fading.
In his daze, he heard countless rustling sounds. Ravenous giant insects gathered again, circling warily around this dangerous morsel of flesh, unable to resist their appetite.
They lunged!
From the distance came familiar cries and frantic shouts, weeping in choked despair.
Yan Fei wanted to lift his hand, but had no strength left.
Only a helpless, soft sigh echoed through the wind.
"...How did he end up training such an idiot?"
Silence.
A sudden, absolute stillness.
It was as though the entire world had abruptly ground to a halt, frozen solid. Only slender threads of illusory light covered the earth and veiled the sky, dense as cobwebs, enfolding everything.
With effortless grace, threading like needles, a single delicate strand pierced through every mutant's joints, brains, ganglia, hearts, flesh, and even souls down the long street.
Thousands of strands trembled ever so slightly, and countless mutants silently dissolved into ash.
As if they had never existed at all!
That was Three-Phase Alchemy, brought to absolute perfection like second nature!
Overjoyed, Yan Fei felt a great hand of flowing quicksilver grab him roughly by the scruff of his neck, dragging him back into the quiet workshop.
He was dropped onto the floor.
"Mr. Ji?"
"When did you get b—"
Yan Fei coughed, looking up, and froze.
It wasn't Mr. Ji.
Surrounded by an escort of endless quicksilver threads was a hazy silhouette woven of starlight.
Glimmers flared, shifted, and dimmed in the void like a constellation.
The faint face turned slightly, its eyes casting down in cold detachment. "0012, if you want to lie around, go lie next to that useless Swarm. Don't get in my way."
"What did our Swarm ever do to you?!"
The 'useless Swarm' flew into a rage, jumping up like a war god to defend his kind. But after meeting that cold gaze, he cleanly lay right back down—war god going back to sleep.
*Hmph, so what if I'm useless!*
*What's it to you if I'm useless!*
Cold sweat broke out across Yan Fei once more.
That voice was so familiar, cold, indifferent, and completely flat—so much so that it dredged up countless agonizing memories and deep trauma associated with his studies.
"You're... I..."
He swallowed hard, unable to believe his eyes:
"...Miss Isis?!"
Chapter 624