Infection

Before Luo Jun, Li Ying's body began to change. The bloodstains from the piercing wound quickly disappeared, and his skin and clothes merged into one. The hole in his chest, pierced by a fist, transformed into two hands gripping Luo Jun's wrists. Moments later, he became a tall, smooth-bodied Chaos Creature.

The difference is that this smooth humanoid figure still retains Li Ying's facial features, which, in contrast to the other smooth body parts, gives it an indescribable eeriness.

Looking at the monster before him, Luo Jun sneered.

The previous attempt to have Lilith verify Li Ying's authenticity was merely a performance for Old Yuan. His first summoning of Lilith, with its talk of verifying soul abilities, was nothing more than empty boasts to deceive his Master.

Luo Jun could tell that Old Yuan still held onto some old friendship. Even if he had Lilith determine that Li Ying was problematic, Old Yuan might not be able to bring himself to be ruthless, and might even suspect that Luo Jun had tampered with the determination. After all, Luo Jun had always suspected Li Ying, and could very well have used Summoned Creature to forcibly pin the blame on Li Ying.

So Luo Jun simply did the opposite, having Lilith say that Li Ying was fine. In Old Yuan's eyes, this dispelled Luo Jun's doubts about Li Ying. After that, although Luo Jun never relaxed his attention to Li Ying, on the surface, he had eliminated his suspicions. Knowing that they would part ways here, he naturally gained the opportunity to be alone with Li Ying.

Since we can't convince Old Yuan that Li Ying is problematic, let's take advantage of Old Yuan's absence and act first, then report to him later.

"My disguise should be good enough, how did you find out I had a problem?" Li Ying, in his monster form, looked at Luo Jun, his voice still carrying Li Ying's accent, but noticeably hoarse.

"Just a gut feeling," Luo Jun chuckled, looking at Li Ying's face.

"Just because of this?" The monster Li Ying was also somewhat surprised, his expression quite vivid. If it weren't for its smooth and eerie body, it would really look just like Li Ying.

"Otherwise what?" Luo Jun said with a mocking smile. "You can say I don't like you, that's fine too."

"It seems you haven't realized the seriousness of the problem." Monster Li Ying sneered, "I originally didn't intend to attack you, but you actually revealed it when we were alone together. You've got some nerve."

As it spoke, the hands that had gripped Luo Jun's wrists suddenly began to liquefy, spreading upwards along Luo Jun Luo Jun's arms and instantly enveloping his entire body.

"Hmph, overestimating humans..." The monster Li Ying wore a mocking smile, but soon that smile turned into surprise.

"This is..."

Before the words were finished, a loud explosion was heard, and the semi-liquid tissue enveloping Luo Jun suddenly burst open, revealing Luo Jun wrapped in Gathering Origin Protective Qi.

"What's going on with your protective aura?" Monster Li Ying asked incredulously. "It looks so thin, why is it so hard?"

Luo Jun looked at the monster Li Ying with a cold smile, "I heard you're immune to physical attacks? But sorry, I only know physical attacks!"

As he spoke, Luo Jun took a step forward, his fist wreathed in qi, and struck the monster squarely in the face!

Boom!

There were no fancy special effects, just pure Violence. The immense force blasted out, and the unreleased kinetic energy blasted the monster's entire head into dust, with even burn marks on the severed neck!

Luo Jun certainly doesn't have the ability to generate fire, but when his energy is powerful enough, even the most direct attack can produce extremely high temperatures!

The monster lost its head but remained alive. Its limbs began to deform, transforming into four sharp longswords that simultaneously stabbed towards Luo Jun.

Luo Jun changed his fist into a palm, Gathering Origin Protective Qi at his fingertips transformed into a sharp blade. With a light swing, he cut the monster's long sword in half, and then with a vertical slash, he split the monster in two.

The monster's body, split in two, suddenly began to move, transforming into two smaller monsters that attacked Luo Jun from both sides.

Even if you split it in half, you can't kill it; this thing is really difficult to deal with.

However, Luo Jun was not in a hurry to end the battle. With his Gathering Origin Protective Qi protecting him, he fought the monster while testing its abilities.

These Chaos Monster are rarely encountered, and currently they can only be defeated using elemental and energy-based attacks, with physical methods being almost ineffective. With this opportunity, Luo Jun can test its characteristics and see just how strong a physical attack it can withstand.

And so, sometimes with a knife, sometimes with fists, the monster was like a punching bag in Luo Jun's hands, being rolled and crushed at will. After nearly ten minutes, the monster finally collapsed in the corner, exhausted, and stopped moving.

"I see..." Luo Jun flexed his wrists. "The body can change shape at will, and after splitting, it can move autonomously under the control of the main brain, but it needs to meet a certain mass requirement. Currently, it seems that at least one-third of the total mass is required for autonomous movement, which means it can be divided into a maximum of three parts."

"Moreover, after splitting, the strength and speed of each clone are greatly reduced, and in one-on-one combat, the overall threat is actually less than that of the combined state."

"The severed pieces of flesh are immobile; unless they are absorbed and integrated into the main body, they are just dead flesh. Repairing the body and changing its form obviously consumes energy. If physical attacks continue, even if they cannot cause fatal wounds, the energy will eventually be exhausted, resulting in the current state."

As he spoke, Luo Jun looked down at the monster that resembled a puddle of mud.

"You're definitely not an ordinary student!" Li Ying's face reappeared from the mud. "You're not some Elemental School either, you must be Martial Combat Faction, probably with near -Peak strength! You've been hiding your strength all along, just who are you?"

"Approaching the Peak?" Luo Jun chuckled. "Looks like I was really underestimated." He raised his fist. "We've gathered enough intelligence; it's time to settle some things."

"Speak, how did you impersonate Li Ying, and what are the purposes of you Chaos Creature?"

"Hehehehe..." Muddy let out a mocking laugh, "You are indeed very powerful, but so what? You will never get out of this maze!"

Seeing that this guy was completely unyielding, Luo Jun simply used the Dice of Heavenly Secrets to extract information.

"Ding, this event is Mandatory Event and cannot be determined. The number of dice rolls is reduced by one."

"Huh?" Luo Jun was taken aback. This was actually Mandatory Event?

Does the fact that success is not guaranteed mean failure is inevitable?

Is this guy really that stubborn? He can't even pry open a die?

No, even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance of communication, it can't be considered a Mandatory Event failure. It suggests that something is likely limiting it... Is it the mission rules? Or something else entirely?

Whatever it is, since we've determined we won't get any information from it, there's no need to keep it.

Luo Jun raised his hand, Gathering Origin Protective Qi slowly condensed.

"You can't kill me with physical attacks alone..." the monster said, looking at Luo Jun with a fierce but weak expression.

Luo Jun shook his head with a smile, his inner energy condensing into an invisible blade. "Less than a third of the flesh cannot move on its own, so if I cut you into enough pieces, wouldn't you be essentially dead?"

"That will only silence me at most!" the monster gritted its teeth. "I'll revive again when the time is right!"

"That's true..." Luo Jun nodded. "Then let's try another approach."

As he spoke, he clenched his fist from a hand chop, and the qi attached to it suddenly expanded. "As long as it's fast enough and strong enough, even a rock hitting the ground can unleash the power of a nuclear bomb." Luo Jun's eyes were fixed on the monster. "Since entering, I've been holding myself back. Now I can finally see just how sturdy this maze really is!"

As he spoke, he gathered all his strength and slammed his fist down!

"Boom!!!"

"What happened?"

The group who had just opened the treasure chest suddenly felt the ground shake violently, as if a bomb had been detonated deep within the maze.

"The floor and walls of the maze have started to shake, something that has never happened before," Zhuge Zi frowned. "Something terrible must have occurred."

"In that direction!" Mao Xintong pointed and said, "The vibration is coming from that side."

"You could feel that?" Ma Qiao asked in surprise. "I just felt the ground and walls suddenly start shaking together."

"There are still slight differences," Mao Xintong said. "It's hard to explain to you, but the senses of the Insight Faction can roughly detect the source of the vibration."

"Wait, that direction..." Sun Xiaowei suddenly said, "Isn't that the direction Luo Jun went? Could they have encountered some terrifying monster?"

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"No... no way..." Ma Qiao was also sweating a little. "Look at the map, that monster spawn point is quite a distance from our treasure chest spawn point. How could it travel this far across such a sturdy maze? What level of monster must it be? Is Little Luo already dead?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Sun Xiaowei glared at him. "My junior is so clever, he'll definitely be able to get out of trouble!"

"There's been no sign of the tremors stopping..." Mao Xintong lay on the ground, listening intently with her ear to the ground for a while. "We can't sense any other movement right now... Let's go back and meet up with the others, and see Old Yuan first."

The group immediately set off back to the square intersection, only to find Luo Jun already waiting there.

"You're back?" Sun Xiaowei asked in surprise. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks to my Senior, I'm back alive," Luo Jun replied.

Ma Qiao exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be even faster than us! Did you feel that huge tremor over there just now?"

"I felt it." Luo Jun nodded. "However, it seems the epicenter is further away..."

"By the way, where's Li Ying?" Mao Xintong asked. "Wasn't he with you?"

At this point, Luo Jun sighed and then took out a Gold Ingot.

Meanwhile, deep within the fork in the road Luo Jun had chosen earlier, the Dead Alley had suddenly opened up. A huge hole had appeared in the wall, which was over a meter thick, extending all the way to the ground to form a large pit. In the pit, semi-liquid lava could still be seen, and Li Ying, who had been slumped in the corner, was now nothing but bones...

However, as time goes by, the crater that was blasted out is recovering at a visible speed, and it is estimated that it will be back to normal in just a few minutes.

"What? They perished together with the Chaos Monster?"

On the other side of the square, the four people looked at Luo Jun in surprise.

Luo Jun nodded with feigned regret. "Yes, we had just killed that Gargoyle when suddenly a Chaos Monster appeared out of nowhere. It was very difficult for the two of us to defeat it. In the end, Senior Brother Li Ying was devoured by the monster while covering me. At the last moment, he used some kind of treasure to Self-Destruction, perishing together with the monster... He didn't even leave a corpse behind, only this Gold Ingot was brought back by me."

Upon hearing Luo Jun's description, everyone showed expressions of regret.

"By the way, haven't Old Yuan and the others returned yet?" Luo Jun looked in the direction of the fork in the road Master.

"That's right. With Old Yuan here, it should be easy to deal with the monster." Sun Xiaowei looked at Mao Xintong: "Sister Mao, why don't you try contacting them using that Talisman Paper?"

"No need, they're back." Mao Xintong shook her head and looked at the intersection. At the same time, Luo Jun frowned and ran towards the intersection.

That footsteps... something's not right!

Upon reaching the intersection, I could see in the distance that Old Yuan was helping Ling Jian back...

No, it's not Ling Jian!

Luo Jun's pupils suddenly dilated.

The man that Old Yuan was supporting, although he looked like Ling Jian, was clearly not quite right. There were signs of liquefaction in several places on his body, and he trembled slowly as he walked, as if he would fall off like two pieces of mud if he stomped his foot even slightly...

This state... it's somewhat similar to those Chaos Monster, isn't it?

What's even stranger is that although Ling Jian can walk on his own, his eyes are tightly closed and he doesn't say a word, as if he has no reaction to the outside world except for instinctive actions.

Luo Jun ran a few steps to meet him. "Master... Old Yuan, what happened? Ling Jian, he..."

Old Yuan waved his hand. "We'll talk about it when we get back..."

The group returned to the plaza, and the others were startled by Ling Jian's condition, asking him what had happened.

Old Yuan placed Ling Jian on the ground, looked at his motionless body, and sighed, "Ling Jian seems... to have been infected."

"Infected?" The group was taken aback. "Infected by what?"

"Chaos Creature, perhaps?" Luo Jun narrowed his eyes. He recalled Li Ying and Ling Jian's bodies, which were clearly undergoing a transformation into Chaos Creature in this maze, while Li Ying was obviously in a state of complete transformation.

But why? They were both infected by Chaos Creature, yet he could identify Li Ying with the dice but not Ling Jian?

Luo Jun suddenly remembered that when he verified Ling Jian, Ling Jian had just killed Chaos Creature. If he was infected during the battle with the Chaos Creature, then at that time, he had not yet changed and was still the "real Ling Jian". But Li Ying had obviously been infected for who knows how long and was no longer the "real Li Ying".

But the question is, how did they get infected? Having fought the Chaos Creature themselves, could they have also been infected?

(End of this chapter)