"What?!" Doberman froze at the sight.
Though he had spent years hunting aberrants beyond the domain, this was the first time he had ever witnessed anything like it.
At Chu Yunyi's wave.
A special spatial entrance, completely at odds with the surrounding scenery, appeared before them.
But that moment of stunned hesitation.
Was all it took for half his body to be dragged into the tumor, his entire body rapidly burning.
No one had time to react.
Only Golden Retriever moved. Still dazed, he charged straight at the tumor and grabbed hold, trying to pull Boss Doberman out.
But it was no use.
Not only did he fail to get Boss Doberman out, but his mechanical arm was also badly corroded.
The metal used in his arm was inferior to that of Doberman's Mechanical Arm, so the corrosion was already quite obvious.
At that moment.
Chu Yunyi glanced over, then activated his ability!
NO.14 [Welcome and Farewell], activate!
In less than the blink of an eye.
Chu Yunyi and Golden Retriever switched places.
The next moment.
Chu Yunyi reacted swiftly. His physical abilities had far surpassed those of an ordinary person. He drew his blade in a flash, and several streaks of blade light swept past.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The entire tumor was instantly sliced into several pieces. Immediately afterward, the shadow beneath Chu Yunyi split apart.
In an instant, it became a tangible shadow.
There was no need to communicate. NO.6 [Words of All Spirits] had already conveyed everything.
The shadow darted straight into the spatial entrance.
Chu Yunyi looked over, and NO.14 [Welcome and Farewell] activated once more!
Thud...
Chu Yunyi kicked over a box, and its contents spilled into [Portable Space].
There were fruits like apples and bananas, as well as foods like cured meat and pickled vegetables.
Chu Yunyi glanced around again.
In an instant, he and the cargo switched places with the pieces of tumor.
In the space of a breath or two.
Chu Yunyi had switched everything into place. He had made an ordinary ability astonishingly effective.
He quickly stepped forward.
"Close the spatial entrance!"
Chu Yunyi said it casually, and with a wave of his hand, he closed NO.15 [Portable Space]!
Whoosh!
A small clump of tumor inside tried to leap out!
Bang!
Chu Yunyi kicked it straight back in.
Before this.
Chu Yunyi had already closed the [Void Gate], so there was no need to worry about those things getting in there and causing trouble.
Greyhound was utterly stunned. The flood of information in his mind finally condensed into a single sentence:
"Th-this is over already?!"
Hearing that.
Chu Yunyi's expression immediately darkened. He opened his mouth and said:
"Damn it."
"Don't tempt fate like that. Don't you know that once you say something like that, you'll—"
Before Chu Yunyi could finish.
Two clumps of tumor charged at them. They were the two chunks that had split off from the tumor at the start.
One had attacked Golden Retriever and was quite large.
The other had been lying in wait the whole time. It was tiny, only about the size of a fist.
The smaller clump climbed up his trouser leg, trying to burrow inside.
Bang!
Chu Yunyi raised his left hand and fired a shot, but the expected explosion never came.
Quite the opposite.
When the tumor was hit by the bullet, it grew even larger.
For a moment.
A movie Chu Yunyi had seen came to mind: Evolution.
The monsters in it were nitrogen-based lifeforms, and fire was nourishment that helped them evolve. It couldn't hurt them; instead, it made them swell and grow.
Now it seemed.
Aberrants weren't carbon-based lifeforms at all. They were some other kind of lifeform!
Otherwise.
Why would one get bigger after being shot instead of taking damage?!
It all made sense now!
No wonder this world's technological development had gone so badly off course! With a group of unknown-based lifeforms like these around, if technology hadn't taken a strange turn, the world would have been destroyed long ago!
But.
He had figured it out too late.
The large clump of tumor instantly latched onto Chu Yunyi's head.
"Damn it..."
Chu Yunyi had just finished that last sentence when he was completely engulfed.
His entire head was now wrapped up, as if he were wearing an oxygen mask.
But.
This oxygen mask didn't supply oxygen. It sucked it away.
"Go help him! Hurry!" Boss Doberman ordered, paying no heed to his own injuries as he sent everyone to help Chu Yunyi.
After all, he knew better than anyone what it felt like to have your skin slowly corroded and digested.
If Chu Yunyi hadn't come to help him, using those incredible abilities to deal with the tumor's main body, he might already have lost his life inside it.
At Boss Doberman's words, everyone hurried over, trying to pull the tumor off Chu Yunyi.
Meanwhile, Chu Yunyi.
Thought about using NO.14 [Welcome and Farewell], but his other passive ability, NO.7 [Perfect Order], was still active.
Though he was a little panicked, he didn't make a rash decision.
NO.14 [Welcome and Farewell] allowed him to switch places with an individual in his field of vision.
But with his eyes open right now, all Chu Yunyi could see was the tumor!
There were several possible outcomes if he switched places now.
The first was that he would switch places with the tumor in his line of sight, leaving Chu Yunyi on the outside while the tumor ended up inside his head.
The second was that he would successfully switch places with someone outside his field of vision, leaving the tumor to gnaw on a rock somewhere.
But.
Chu Yunyi didn't want to gamble on that possibility.
If he made even the slightest mistake, the consequences would be irreversible, and he would lose his life here!
Zzzt!
The corroded skin continued to spread, and Chu Yunyi's thoughts raced.
But right at that moment.
Zzt...
The tumor... had stopped corroding him?!
Chu Yunyi went from shocked to composed. He reached into the tumor on his head and scratched his face.
He discovered.
The outer layer of skin had been corroded away, and the new skin beneath it was exceptionally smooth and tender, like a baby's skin.
Wait... Chu Yunyi had something to say, but his mouth opened and closed without a sound.
Fortunately, NO.6 [Words of All Spirits] was constantly at work.
Even though Chu Yunyi made no sound, his meaning was clearly conveyed to every member of Wild Dog House.
At those words, everyone froze, unsure whether Chu Yunyi had actually said them aloud.
"Th-this...?" Teddy didn't know what to do.
"Seriously, man?! What in the world is going on...?" Greyhound was astounded.
Boss Doberman wore a stern expression. Though his heart was in turmoil, he still had to keep up appearances.
After all, he was still the leader of Wild Dog House.
He turned and held everyone back.
"Not yet. Let's wait and see," Doberman said gravely.
By then, everyone had gathered in front of Chu Yunyi. They stared in amazement as the tumor clung to his face, unable to cause even the slightest bit of further harm.
Chu Yunyi thought it over.
NO.5 [Eidetic Memory] was at work, letting him review all his abilities in his mind.
"That's it. This one..."
Chu Yunyi was at a loss for words. He had figured out which ability was at work.
NO.11...[Environmental Adaptation]!
This was the first yellow-quality ability Chu Yunyi had obtained, and it seemed to have taken effect.
Its description said:
As long as an environment couldn't kill Chu Yunyi instantly, he would quickly adapt to it.
And now.
It seemed that he had... adapted to the tumor's corrosion?!
He waved for everyone to step back. After reviewing his abilities, Chu Yunyi decided to use one of them against the tumor on his head.
The one he had once had as a white skill, back when it was called [Size Merit].
After being strengthened four times.
It had successfully advanced.
It had become NO.10 [Food is Heaven]!
Before you continue