Another Round

"Reporting to headquarters, dealing with ghost stories is actually quite simple."

Ding Lexin's voice was unusually calm. His eyes remained empty, but the invisible barrier formed by his Martial Will steadily covered his entire body, as if he were wearing a suit of armor.

The medical players who were supporting them have left; their situation is not currently urgent.

"Um?"

A puzzled voice came from the other end of the communication device.

Ding Lexin casually raised one finger and continued:

"As long as they don't die, that's fine."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the communicator.

"Damn, what nonsense." His teammate muttered, his hands pressed against his abdomen, where several bulges were slowly wriggling beneath the skin, as if something was searching for an exit.

It has now been six hours since Ding Lexin's team was entangled with the ghost story "Pupil".

For the first hour, the five people had only five eyes in total, all of them Black Hole, inhabited by that "ghost."

Later, the body began to "Eye-Growth".

First, it was the back of his hand. Ding Lexin that a thin crack appeared on the web of her teammate's right hand, and a moist iris squeezed out from the crack, blinked, and then withdrew.

Next came the forearms, neck, and back. The eyes varied in size and shape: some were oozing pus, some were half black and half white, some had vertical pupils like snakes, some had overlapping pupils... layer upon layer, so Mom no longer had to worry about running out of colored contact lenses.

"Report." Ding Lexin glanced at the New Life vertical pupil on her shoulder blade, which was rolling around. "As long as the vessel of the ghost story doesn't die, the ghost story can't free up its hands to hunt others. This thing is incredibly stubborn."

As a top-tier team trained by the Mutual Aid Association, the five members possess unparalleled strength and resilience.

Layer upon layer of eyeballs grew from the five people's bodies, with large eyeballs giving rise to smaller ones, and every now and then, extra eyeballs would fall off their bodies.

Their flesh and energy became nutrients for the growth of various eyeballs.

"Strange tales seem to have no physical form, so conventional methods are useless, but they can be subtly influenced by the mind, and Martial Will has a significant effect."

The eyeballs on Ding Lexin's body were the least affected, Martial Will covered her entire body, significantly delaying the Corrosion of the supernatural power.

"Why can the Martial Will resist?"

"I don't know. Perhaps in the face of ghost stories, the will of the vessel is more important, and the Martial Dao system is naturally suited to it."

Ding Lexin shrugged and continued her report:

"Currently, being entangled by the 'Eyeball' ghost story has two stages. The first is 'Eye-Fall,' where the original eyeball falls out and is parasitized by the ghost story to take over its original function. The second is 'Eye-Growth,' where the flesh and energy of the entire body are invaded, forcibly growing various eyeballs, which may shorten lifespan."

"Anything else?"

"And also... our internal organs are starting to grow eyeballs. Actually, if we can withstand it, we're fine for now. The existence of ghost stories is a mixture of illusion and spirituality, but the attacks are physical; our sanity hasn't been directly attacked."

Ding Lexin tested her sanity again and concluded.

"Okay, information received and summarized. There are currently seven strange creatures in the area, suspected to be derivatives of the [Blood Moon], and they have an energy supply relationship with the Blood Moon. The lowest mental Attribute in the currently unobstructed area has been affected and dropped to 18 points..."

After waiting for the information report to be completed, Ding Lexin raised her head and looked at the Blood Moon hanging high in the sky.

Six hours ago, it was a dark red sphere with blurred edges, but now its outline is much clearer, and you can even vaguely see the flowing patterns on its surface, much like blood vessels.

"Idiot, someone's coming to deal with you right away."

"Who are you talking to?" a teammate asked.

"Blood Moon."

"Why are you wasting your breath talking to it!"

His teammate crushed the eyeballs on his body, then walked out and began slaughtering the monsters enhanced by the Blood Moon.

Six-Eyed Giant Whale slowly swam at the bottom of the tower.

Its back was as broad as a mountain range, and its rough skin was covered with weathered wrinkles. At this moment, two corpses were placed on its massive back.

The Iron Guard's armor had cooled, the purple flames extinguished into ashes, and the Jingjing skull mask tilted to one side, its empty eye sockets gazing at the eternally silent sky.

A wisp of black seeped silently from the crevices of the armor on the Iron Guard's corpse.

It wasn't the twisted black of Devil, but something else entirely.

Quieter, deeper, Black Flames formed threads, threads formed a net, and flesh and blood grew within the net.

The flesh and blood proliferated and remodeled at an astonishing rate; muscle fibers clung to the bones like vines, blood vessels re-carved their riverbeds like streams, and the skin gradually changed from transparent to a warm ivory color.

The whole process took less than ten seconds, as if it were just taking off old clothes and putting on new ones.

Amidst the flames, a figure slowly rose to his feet, while the Iron Guard's corpse was reduced to a mere shell.

Su Luo opened her eyes.

"The Heartfire and the Devil fire do share some similarities."

Su Luo, who had been reincarnated, sighed softly.

He had just converted all the energy in the Iron Guard's corpse into Mana, while preserving his complete soul and some flesh, thus getting a small ride on the coattails of the magic.

That sounds a bit sinister.

Su Luo also modified her body, removing the previous Inner Circulation structure. Since it was just a power projection, it wasn't as difficult for Su Luo to make changes as it was in the real world.

Su Luo looked up and found the Six-Eyed Giant Whale staring at him, its six eyes fixed on him.

The Ancient Ones who were in charge of Resurrection the dead seemed somewhat puzzled.

"Ancient... Devil?"

"No, we just met recently."

The Giant Whale's gaze, like six amber moons, pressed heavily upon him.

The silence lasted a long time.

Then the Giant Whale ignored it and looked away.

It opened its enormous mouth and let out a long, melodious cry.

The Iron Guard's corpse lit up.

The Jingjing corpse also lit up.

Purple flames burst forth again from the Iron Guard's shattered chest cavity, and a halo of light flowed again from the Jingjing, cold fingertips. The two empty shells were like dolls that had been recharged.

At that moment, a strange movement came from above the clouds.

A blue-yellow figure plummeted from the middle level of the Tower, his body wreathed in runaway electricity, crackling and sparking as it exploded on his shattered metal frame.

He landed face down.

The Six-Eyed Giant Whale accepted all comers with a long cry.

The figure slowly stood up; it turned out to be a rather crude robot, draped in a blue cloth.

After a moment of Jingjing adjustment, he looked up and realized that there were four people in the room, including himself.

"Is everyone here today?"

"It should be... there are only four climbers in total, and there are already four on the field."

There was a strange crackling sound of electricity when the robot spoke, as if it were broken.

Throughout the endless years of climbing the tower, all the climbers who are still alive today know each other. Even though Resurrection would result in the loss of most of their memories, the total number is etched into their instincts.

The Iron Guard was more like a human than a robot, repeating the same conversation as before.

"Hello. My memories... seem to be mostly lost. But I remember I had to climb this Corruption Tower. My name is 'Iron Guard'. What about you?"

"Jingjing."

"Machine Fortress."