Someone Else's Shape

Inside the hall, the candlelight flickered, casting long shadows of the emperor and his minister on the cold floor.

"How was it arranged?"

"I have ordered all personnel involved in the Mana research to remain silent for the time being. As originally planned, Her Highness the Princess will be the first to learn Mana. I have also conveyed my entrustment to that otherworldly mage, asking him to take good care of Her Highness, so that more opportunities for contact can be created..."

"However, Her Talent the Princess is exceptionally gifted. Before my arrangements could even be put to use, she had already cultivated Mana on her own and should be in contact with that sorcerer at the moment."

The emperor almost burst out laughing.

"Such childish play? My Minister Wang, you want my daughter to seduce him?"

Wang Shouye glanced helplessly at the emperor.

This guy makes it sound so high and mighty, but wasn't it he who personally arranged for his daughter to be placed in Hudu as bait to attract Dongli Cang's attention?

Since you've already sold your daughter, why pretend to be virtuous now?

"Although that person claims to be an otherworldly mage, his actions are unlike those of a mage... What's more noteworthy is that his appearance is exactly like ours. Doesn't Your Majesty find this strange? How can a being from another world resemble us? I suspect that it's merely a facade; perhaps the being inside is entirely different. How could such a being feel affection for a mortal?"

"Based on our observations, this 'monk' seems to possess some kind of spiritual bewitching power that is difficult for ordinary people to resist. I sent Your Highness to make contact with him to see what would happen if Your Highness developed feelings for him instead?"

The emperor finally couldn't help but burst into laughter, which echoed throughout the hall.

"Ha, Minister Wang, now that you put it that way, I'd like to see what kind of expression Dongli Cang will have if he comes to snatch my daughter, only to find she's already someone else's! Hahaha..."

He laughed so hard he almost fell over, as if he had heard something extremely funny.

They wanted to shift the conflict between the visitor from another world and the so-called system host.

Whether the mage ultimately wins, Dongli Cang benefits, or both sides suffer heavy losses, it will be advantageous for them.

If that mage has some other world's power behind him, that would be even better.

Since we're all going to die anyway, why not cause these people some trouble before we die?

As the laughter subsided, the emperor and Wang Shouye exchanged a glance, and the hall suddenly fell silent.

"Others' shapes..." the emperor murmured, a strange light flashing in his eyes. "I suddenly have a thought... the records of the Great Yong Beauty Ranking should still be there, right?"

"..."

"Ugh, that's a bit perverted."

"There's no other way, it's just disgusting." The emperor shrugged.

"That's true, there's nothing we can do anyway, so we might as well annoy them a bit."

Wang Shouye's gaze drifted to the table beside him, his tone flat and indifferent.

On the table, there was a head laid out in a blaze of glory.

The head of the third prince.

The emperor personally took off his son's head, his dragon robe still stained with blood, and then sat there calmly, dining and chatting with his ministers.

All of this seems absurd, but in the face of the impending apocalypse, it seems all too natural.

There's nothing wrong.

Everyone dies eventually; we just indulge in a little madness and revelry before we die.

Everything is normal.

Su Luo transformed into a streak of light, moving away from Hudu at top speed. The powerful air currents howled, but Su Luo blocked them out. He felt an unprecedented clarity.

After being geographically away from Di Yubing, Su Luo's thinking gradually returned to normal, no longer affected by the "Protagonist Aura".

Su Luo was still shaken. The feeling of his thoughts being subtly altered by an invisible force was more terrifying than facing any powerful enemy. He had almost willingly become a puppet of "Heavenly Mandate".

During the flight, he suddenly felt the malice surrounding him rapidly dissipate and eventually disappear completely.

It seems that Di Yubing has obtained the knowledge from the USB drive, and the World Will has given up on continuing to harass him and withdrawn its malice.

Then Su Luo should have nothing to do with this.

Su Luo is no match for the so-called World Will right now.

I'll swallow this anger for now.

If I have the chance in the future, I'll come back and train the world's World Will to be a dog.

The most urgent task is to find a suitable place to continue my research and wait for the Dungeon to end.

Of course, it would be even better if we could create a Superpower Orb.

It flew swiftly southwest.

Several hours later, Su Luo slowly landed beside a long-abandoned mountain road.

This place was once an important transportation route, but now only broken guardrails and overgrown weeds remain. He found a cliff with a wide view, carved out a cave, and began to tinker with Mana Conversion Device by hand.

Since the device was primarily controlled by him, it naturally didn't need to be as complex as the automated systems in the research institute. After three hours of Spell stabilization and adjustments, a simple yet effective device was completed.

However, new problems arose.

Energy.

Without electricity supply from human industrial areas, energy has become a major problem.

There was nothing to worry about while he was at the research institute; before he joined, he had been stealing electricity.

Now, being in the wilderness, this problem becomes especially difficult.

It is now the nineteenth day since Su Luo arrived in this world, and she is once again in the troublesome situation of having no Mana supply.

After cursing the World Will in his heart once more, Su Luo turned his gaze to the endless stream of Mutated Beasts outside...

Half a day later, Su Luo stood in the center of the newly opened mountain Laboratory. He had reinforced the surrounding rock walls with Spell and fixed them with multiple Abjuration Spells.

Su Luo had actually considered setting the mountain on fire and converting the energy from the Burn into Mana, but the area of the forest that needed to be Burn to supply enough Mana was too large, and Su Luo couldn't possibly chase after it.

Looking out of the cave, at the wilderness ruled by madness and mutation, countless twisted figures wandered among it.

Even the endless Mutated Beasts outside still retain their charm.

Su Luo immediately set about making the Mutated Beasts her energy source.

First, there's the "bait".

This step is very simple.

Su Luo's figure flashed, appearing in front of a lone Mutated Beast that resembled a rotting giant lizard. He did not launch an attack, but simply stretched out his palm, from which a wisp of pure Mana emerged.

The next second, the Mutated Beast's dozen compound eyes were instantly filled with blood. It let out a sharp roar that was completely unlike any living creature. Its huge body, which had been moving slowly, was whipped violently as if by an invisible whip. With a frenzied speed that was almost tearing its limbs apart, it rushed towards the Mana in Su Luo's hand.

The greed and desire contained in that gesture far exceeded the instinct for fresh flesh and blood.

Su Luo nodded.

The fact that Mana, a special form of energy, is not on the "blacklist" of "Aberration Energies " makes it extremely attractive to them.