Volume Six: What She Lost and I Gained - The Membrane Mage Who Staved Off Death (3)

"Thank you for your hard work, Chi Ying- chan. Now... let's 'return to the beginning'!"

After the voice of "Fiser"—which was clearly a pseudonym—proclaimed this, there was no further sound.

Don't panic.

In this situation, my mind actually calmed down somewhat.

Take no more than a second to analyze the situation.

The silver-gray barriers on the container ship should be two-way, preventing entry from the outside and exit from the inside, so "Fiser" only shouted from the outside and did not come in.

In other words, she doesn't need to physically eliminate us.

"Chi Ying"—a strange name. She must be her companion. If nothing unexpected happens... her companion is likely also on the container ship. Judging from what "Feiser" just said, Chi Ying is the one who immobilized us. That guy's job is to strip us of our mobility and confine us to the container ship's deck.

In other words, if they wanted to kill us, it would have to be Chi Ying who did it? But I'm still lying on the ground, and no suspicious person has approached me to take my life, nor have the others.

My eyes rolled downwards, and I suddenly noticed something strange about the deck. The ground was a deep blue, a very dark hue, and on this deep blue surface, there was a layer of faint black floating on it.

"...?"

A faint blackness, like a stretched-out shadow or ink slowly spreading in clear water, covered the entire deck, blending seamlessly with the deep blue ground—something we hadn't noticed before. This thing must be related to our current state, but what about that blinding searchlight earlier? Why did it flash before us unnecessarily? What's the connection between the bright light and the "shadows" on the ground?

"Ah... Ah... Ye..."

A clear, melodious girl's voice suddenly rang in my mind, and I immediately perked up. It was Winnie! As expected of our savior Divine Teammate, Winnie is awesome!

But why is her voice crackling? It sounds like a malfunctioning radio.

"A Ye... I'm... sorry... to... bother you..."

Her voice was intermittent, as if it might disappear at any moment, and the flame of hope in my heart was instantly extinguished by cold water. Winnie's voice had a hard time penetrating here; could it be that the unfolded silver-gray barrier had a shielding effect on mental signals? If so, it would be difficult for her to support me.

If she were to use her true form to blow up the barrier and rescue us in a moment of panic, her betrayal would be immediately discovered by "Fiser" outside, and she would be added to the "traitor list," leading to endless trouble.

"Chi Ying... Can't help... You... Anyway... Escape..."

The sound grew fainter, while the rustling became increasingly noisy.

"Break... Escape... Quickly... Otherwise... Shh... Shh... Shh... Shh... Shh..."

Her voice finally disappeared completely, leaving only a rustling sound, and then even that rustling sound could not be heard.

"--Tsk!"

On the rooftop of a hotel, Givinia suddenly opened her eyes.

Her disconnected consciousness returned to her mind, and her head throbbed with pain, causing her great discomfort.

"Consciousness... is blocked..."

Feeling something was off, she tried again, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't project the image onto Ye and the others, as if there was a huge source of interference there.

At first, she thought the interference only existed around Ye, but with each attempt, she discovered that the entire belly of the Sea Beast was within the interference's range. Not to mention moving into the water to avoid the attacker's line of sight and sinking the container ship with Air Bomb, she couldn't even help Ye scout out the surroundings and find the location of another enemy.

It has been confirmed that the attacker's real name is Yu Xun, one of the Extra Weapon, nicknamed "The Origin Tracer," and also one of the very few Extra Weapon whose abilities Winnie knows. Yu Xun's ability is very subtle, extremely subtle. In some ways, this ability is very weak; it is impossible to kill the opponent unless they are unconscious or unable to move. However, it is also ridiculously strong. If one is completely trapped by her ability, even the strongest physique and the most impenetrable defense are useless. Even the strongest human, Gustav, would die a gruesome death.

Winnie bit her lip in annoyance. Yu Xun was definitely a meticulous person. She didn't know how he had managed to block the transmission of spiritual energy over such a large area.

Now there's nothing she can do.

"I clearly said I would definitely be your help this time... Ye... but I did nothing!!!"

Yu Xun sat cross-legged on the small airship, watching the situation below.

"Yu Xun, may I ask...?"

"Let's stay here a little longer; I don't want to become complacent because of this last bit of relaxation."

"Yes, sir..."

The airship pilot was obsequious, not daring to offend this young woman of unknown origin. The Gray Starling Group had constructed a new order in the entire Spirit Star economic sphere, within which a so-called privileged class existed. And what she possessed was the highest-level "Golden Feather Badge," which was only qualified to be held by the distinguished guests of the legendary "Big Figure" at the top of the Spirit Star economy. Wherever she went, as long as she presented this badge, any person or group even slightly related to the Gray Starlings would have to fulfill all her demands.

Yu Xun naturally didn't care about the pilot's thoughts. In her hand, she held a sleek bracelet with many buttons and dials. Accompanying the bracelet were countless small drones floating inside the belly of the Sea Beast. These machines were shaped like dragonflies, no bigger than the palm of a hand, and hovered in the air almost without making a sound.

These are some of Julia's works, which Yu Xun from her after much effort. The official name is quite long, commonly known as the "Mental Power Shielding Device." As the name suggests, it can block mental abilities in areas where drones are deployed.

While this device couldn't possibly counter someone like the Madam, who was at the pinnacle of mental abilities, it could easily sever mental transmissions from afar. Yu Xun was always very cautious; she believed that Ye and her group's repeated escapes from danger weren't entirely due to their own efforts, but likely involved "external assistance." And the most obvious candidate for this assistance was a mental ability user.

So, in order to eliminate this possibility, Yu Xun brought this thing.

"The superpower has been activated; we should be able to take them down in five minutes, barring any unforeseen circumstances..."

Chi Ying is still inside the sealed container ship. There's nothing that can be done about it; they can't exactly let her deploy her Shadow Domain outside. Besides, they still need her to use her mimicry shadows to create the image of the crew and put their guard down. Yu Xun was most worried about Chi Ying from the beginning because this girl always cowers under cardboard boxes or whatever she can find, never speaks on her own initiative, and when you ask her to do something, she just mumbles in agreement in a voice barely audible.

Surprisingly, she did a pretty good job.

After successfully trapping Ye and his group, Chi Ying's only remaining task was to monitor them.

The Shadow Domain is both the medium of the seal and the eyes of the Chi Ying.

"...(Mmm mmm mmm)"

Now he can barely make a sound.

My body was like a dead body; although I could still breathe, I couldn't move even a millimeter.

If the body cannot move--

(Blood... my blood!)

If you can't move your body, use Blood Blade or something similar to break through the barrier and get out!

Driven by consciousness, blood seeped from the skin of the ankles and extended into the air.

(It's done--)

Just as I was thinking I had succeeded, my blood suddenly slowed down halfway through. I felt a sense of unease, and the flow of my blood became extremely sluggish. Even controlling it to move forward a centimeter in the air was a huge burden!

(Give it your all... don't...)

I poured all my will into it, but my blood flowed slower and slower until it finally broke free of my control and spilled onto the ground covered by shadows.

It won't work...

If I could unleash my full power, I could just burn my blood and melt this ship right now. But right now I can only use the power equivalent to what I had in the capital. Back then, I didn't have the ability to make my blood burn, let alone create Blood Beast. If I use Blood Flame... that would be a breach of contract, Little Butterfly would be in big trouble.

I strained to move my eyes and noticed that Haoyue, Xiao Wu, and the Sin Annihilation in the corner of my vision were also working hard. A halo of runes, arranged in layers, emerged from beneath Haoyue, but before the runes could fully form, the halo flickered and faded, quickly disappearing. Xiao Wu seemed to be trying to break through the seal of the shadow with her own power, but she clearly dared not exert herself too much, otherwise she might accidentally exceed her limit.

Where are their weapons?

Snow Moon fell at the feet of the bright moon, and Black Star and white night were beside Xiao Wu's cheek; unable to move, they were completely out of reach.

As for Sin Annihilation, whose ability is physical transformation, she is probably the one whose abilities are most severely restricted.

How are the Sick Spider and Little Ying doing? I can't see them from my angle, but they're probably in similar situations.

(...)

But what's the point?

Are they just keeping us here? Why haven't they attacked yet? "Fiser's" colleagues are definitely on the container ship, but why haven't they shown up? Or is that Chi Ying just monitoring us, besides keeping us immobilized? The "crew" we saw on the ship before were humanoid figures created from shadows. However, the fact that they served me tea and water shows that these figures have some ability to interfere with physical objects, but they obviously can't do much. Otherwise, why wouldn't that guy immediately create new humanoid figures to kill us?

No! Getting out of there as quickly as possible is the top priority. Even if we can't break through the barrier, we must at least escape the deck using ropes or rope ladders...

...? etc.

Rope ladder?

I suddenly noticed a small detail.

How did we go from small boats to container ships?

It was a rope ladder, a humanoid creature that guy created. He lowered the rope ladder from the deck, and we used it to climb up to the deck.

Furthermore, I, who had been on the ship's side the whole time, did not see anyone retract the rope ladder, which means that the rope ladder should have been kept in the "extended" state.

But now--

(Has it been retrieved?)

From my angle, I could see the rope ladder neatly coiled up, perched on the deck railing.

No one touched it.

And--

Suddenly realizing something, I strained to turn my gaze to the other side, to the spot where the shadowy figures who had brought me tea had vanished, a place I could barely see from my angle. They were holding teacups before they disappeared; after they vanished, the teacups must have fallen and shattered, spilling tea everywhere...

!!!

The teacup is repairing itself.

The fragments gathered together at a speed visible to the naked eye, perfectly reassembling into their original shape, and the spilled tea automatically returned to the cup.

What surprised me most was that the teacup actually rose into the air, stayed there for a few seconds, and then flew away, probably towards the cabin, where the tea seemed to have come from.

Think about it again...

What were the last words Fiser uttered as the barrier completely sealed the ship?

"Thank you for your hard work, Chi Ying- chan. Now let's 'return to the beginning'!"

... Returning to the origin?

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It's getting late today... Meow!