Volume One: Scheming in the Imperial Capital - Fusion Technique

In this way, the river port became a completely isolated "other world" from the outside world, where one could neither enter nor leave!

"And there's something even more fun! Lava's Orange-Red!"

The orange-red hue spread across the ocean of light, and then we realized that using the "lunar maria" tactic was really not a good idea.

The silver gauze can protect us from the effects of Bright Moon's other skills, but it cannot insulate us from heat generated by others!

The pristine sea of light, tinged with orange-red, became ferocious; the liquid light turned scorching and viscous; hellish heat enveloped us, and the sea of light transformed into the Magma Sea!

"Crystal Shield!"

Several more layers of Crystal Shield protected Haoyue and me, but this time the Crystal Shield had been improved—each layer was separated by a vacuum. In a vacuum, the main way heat is transferred is through thermal radiation, which is much slower than heat conduction through a medium. This can greatly extend the lifespan of the Crystal Shield.

"Silver Moon - Moon Elf!"

A small wisp of silver light was released by the bright moon outside the Crystal Shield. It seemed unfazed by the scorching heat of the magma and floated away from it.

"The Moon Elf can not only track enemies and explode, but also act as my eyes to scout the situation," Haoyue explained. "Now we must find a way to break out of the river harbor! First, we need to get to the barrier he created and figure out how to break through it!"

"Understand -- Crystal Ray Severing Sky!"

Directing in the direction indicated by the bright moon, the blood crystal blade, tens of meters long, cleaved the magma. With the silver light of the bright moon, it split the magma into a crack less than a meter wide, much like Moses parting the sea. But that was enough to break free of the magma.

"Orange Moon - Moonlit Step!"

The moment I untied the crystal, Haoyue embraced me again, her afterimages flying out of the lava along the cracks. Enduring the torment of the scorching air, we landed on a small building that had not yet collapsed.

Meanwhile, the culprit, I. B., stood leisurely on the Magma Sea below, completely unaffected. He observed our struggle with great interest, like a cat that wanted to play with its mouse before eating it.

"Oh~♪? It flew out already? Impressive, impressive~~ Looks like to catch you back, I'll have to make close contact! Empty Trail of Speed!"

This time, I finally saw clearly how he moved at such a high speed.

He dipped his brush in the egg-white-like colorless paint and flicked it behind him. The flying paint drew several long streaks behind him, much like a common technique in comics—when a character sprints at high speed, the artist always adds a few "speed lines" behind him to tell the readers: This guy runs really fast!

Then,

I only felt a blur before my eyes, and I. B. disappeared from the spot. When I came to my senses, he was already standing in front of us!

This guy's superpower is just too versatile...

It can turn the air into acid mist, poison, and barriers; the ground into a sea of fire and metal; the sea of light into magma; and render all attacks ineffective, even increasing its own speed!

What's most terrifying is that he didn't simply change the properties of matter, but forcibly endowed it with a new concept! The ground dyed silver-gray wasn't just made of "steel"—if that were all, I could easily destroy it—the ground was given the concept symbolized by "steel"—toughness! I. B. himself said that unless it's an attack powerful enough to counteract the concept of "toughness," it's impossible to destroy the ground! The same principle applies to other "dyeing" techniques!

"Since you have no chance of escaping anyway, how about we... play a little longer? Dark Red of Remaining Blood, Gray-Black of Corpses, let the messengers of death descend!!"

Dark red and gray-black hues scattered—the river port, now nothing more than ruins, lay with the corpses of numerous dockworkers and a few survivors. Gray-black stained their skin, while dark red became the gruesome wounds and bloodstains on their bodies. Everyone—whether alive or dead—let out piercing roars, staggered to their feet, and began to move. In the blink of an eye, an army of hundreds of zombies had taken shape!

So that's how the zombies came about in the first place! By dyeing them, they were given special characteristics... That's way too overpowered!

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Countless zombies howled and swarmed towards him, but I. B. took a few steps back, watching it all with a strange smile.

At this point, protracted fighting is definitely not the best strategy! Since I. B. is deliberately toying with us and not going to settle things directly, we should take advantage of this!

To put it bluntly, it all boils down to one word: escape!

Haoyue and I exchanged a glance, then took off running towards the air barrier surrounding the harbor. Our past experience taught us that recklessly accelerating would only result in a terrible crash!

"Run away~ Run away~~ The scene of humanity fleeing under the oppression of death is always so beautiful, no matter how many times I see it!"

Run! Sprint! Every now and then, we turn back to unleash Blood Blade or tentacles to repel the approaching zombies! Right now, we're just two down-on-their-luck survivors, mice toyed with by a cat, desperately trying to escape from the clutches of death! Who could have imagined things would turn out this way? The plan itself wasn't flawed, but then I. B. appeared—the biggest variable! His strength is far beyond ours!

"Don't give up, Xiao Ye! Let's break through this barrier together!"

"But that's impossible! You saw it yourself—"

"So what if we see it? This is the beginning of our ideals, the first step we must take! Neither you nor I can fall here!"

"Bright moon..."

"Alright! Let's attack from here! If one person can't handle it, then combine the attacks of two people!"

Overlay?

Okay, then I'll give it one last shot!

Before them lay the silvery-gray air, an indestructible barrier imbued with the concept of "resilience." Together, they would break through it; victory meant life, defeat meant death!

With our strongest attack!

"Silver Moon - Moonquake!!"

"Blood Purgatory Shocking Rainbow!!"

The silver-white runes emitted layers of shockwaves, distorting even the space around them. The ferocious Blood Rainbow exuded a pervasive bloody aura, frantically pouring into the silver-white runes. Under my relentless infusion, the originally silver-white runes turned crimson, emanating a thick Blood Energy. The surrounding space distorted even more violently, even faintly emitting mournful cries.

Infuse, infuse, find the right balance, and time it perfectly until the energy reaches saturation.

Go!

The rune traced a red and white path, distorting space wherever it passed, and crashed into the silver-gray wall under the watchful eyes of me, Haoyue, and I·B!

Was it successful?

The rune made contact with the wall, and then—it disappeared into the wall.

What's going on here?

"Xiao Ye,"

"Hey, Haoyue, why are you coming in—"

"Cover your ears."

"Ah?"

"Cover it up quickly!"

Immediately following, accompanied by a deafening roar, the runes exploded within the wall!

It wasn't just an explosion; the space where the rune had disappeared was violently distorted, like a plastic bag being crumpled into a ball. The distortion spread in ripples, vibrating and surging within the silver-gray hue. With each overlapping wave of tremors, large patches of the silver-gray hue clinging to the air began to peel off, like old paint flakes off a wall! Finally, a large gap appeared in the seemingly indestructible silver-gray!

"Hey, hey, hey, no way, you guys actually--"

I. B. behind them exclaimed in surprise. He hadn't expected that these two mortals could unleash such a powerful attack that represented the concept of "destruction"—although they had struggled, they had done it!

"Oh dear~~~ I thought they were just two ordinary little mice, but I didn't expect them to be so fierce as to bite," I·B said, his smile deepening as he watched the two people fleeing hastily through the gap. "Since you still want to struggle, then I'll continue to play with you~♪"

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Finally arrived at university. I had a cold the whole way there, so frustrating!