For the first time, Lu Yuanming felt that the darkness of his vegetative state didn't seem so unbearable. The warmth and fullness he felt as his soul grew stronger filled the emptiness of that state. And once his soul had strengthened, he could return to the world after death at any time, absorb White Light Particles to his limit again, and repeat the process. In the end, he would surely awaken from his vegetative state.
That was hope.
"But what is that Gray Light Particle? No, it's already more like a cluster of light. What is that Gray Light Cluster? The Colorless Light Particles are wishes, convictions, and faith; the White Light Particles are the essence that strengthens the soul, which could be called Spirit Substance. So what is the Gray Light Cluster?"
Lu Yuanming felt that the mysteries of this world after death—or the Dark Matter World, as it could also be called—seemed to be multiplying. The more he learned, the more questions he had.
But whatever the case, this had become a part of his life.
Lu Yuanming vaguely remembered seeing a line in some novel or online somewhere. He couldn't recall the exact wording, but the gist was that memories were life: if you lost your memories of the past, you were no longer yourself. And everything he was experiencing now, everyone he had met, had also become part of Lu Yuanming's life.
This soul-strengthening process hadn't lasted several times longer, or even longer still, as Lu Yuanming had expected. It had ended within a little over ten days, just like before. So he suspected that the rate at which he absorbed White Light Particles was based on a percentage. That was definitely good news for him. Every time his soul grew stronger, he could absorb more White Light Particles, and no matter how many he absorbed, they would all be digested and transformed into the essence of his soul in just over ten days. That meant he could save more time for hunting monsters.
This time, Lu Yuanming could feel more of his body. Though he still couldn't control it completely, moving his finger again was no longer so difficult. Now he decided to move his entire arm. One reason was to tell his parents not to give up hope and to wait for him to return; he wouldn't give up either. The other was to obtain more Colorless Light Particles.
Intense emotions, heartfelt blessings, and powerful wishes could all produce Colorless Light Particles.
If Lu Yuanming could go from moving one finger to moving an entire arm while still in a vegetative state, yet remain unconscious, the hospital would surely give him the most thorough examination possible. He was certain that his body was still in a vegetative state, and an EEG would confirm it.
In that case, the doctors might consider him a miracle. For some unknown reason, he hadn't awakened the way other patients in vegetative states did, because their brain function had returned to normal. His brain would still be in a vegetative state, yet his body would begin to wake up, first moving a finger, then an arm. What would come next? And how could this phenomenon, which defied medical logic, be explained?
This situation could very well cause a stir in the medical community.
Of course, all of this was just Lu Yuanming's speculation, and he hoped it would make a splash. After all, he desperately needed Colorless Light Particles; no amount would be enough. If he could attract widespread attention in the Material World—if dozens or hundreds of people learned about him, or if the news leaked and spread online until millions or tens of millions knew of him—then even if just one person in ten thousand provided him with Colorless Light Particles, he would have over a thousand. That was what he wanted.
As planned, after his soul had finished growing stronger, Lu Yuanming waited until both his parents and the doctors were there, then moved his arm. It was still incredibly difficult for him—not any easier than moving his finger the first time, and perhaps even harder. He nearly exhausted his soul to the point of passing out, but finally managed to move his arm twice. After his soul had recovered from its fatigue, Lu Yuanming returned to the world after death.
He appeared in the same place as the last time he'd returned: outside the large supermarket. The enormous Spider Monster was still in view, and all its limbs had been cut off. Ang had specifically given the order. He said the chitin in the spiders' limbs was harder and tougher than steel, yet weighed only one-tenth as much as steel of the same volume. They couldn't study it yet, but it was definitely worth storing as material for future research.
"Lord!"
A voice came from behind Lu Yuanming as he watched the giant spider. He quickly looked back and saw one of Charlie's men—someone whose name was something like Gou—running toward him with five newcomers he hadn't seen before.
The man brought the five over to Lu Yuanming, then seemed to remember something. He immediately brought his feet together and gave Lu Yuanming a Z Country military salute. "Corporal Margosas, leading a team stationed here while awaiting your return, sir."
The other five immediately gave the same salute. As well as saluting, they stared at Lu Yuanming in shock.
Lu Yuanming returned the salute at once. Alfred had insisted on it: a proper organization's army needed that kind of ceremony. He just hadn't expected to see such quick results in a little over ten days. They also had five new recruits, which meant there must be at least a hundred to a hundred and fifty new members, based on his estimate. The actual number had to be much higher; otherwise, they couldn't have stationed five new recruits here.
Margosas and the others were still staring at Lu Yuanming in shock. He was taken aback, then gave a wry smile. "I've grown taller again?"
"...Yes. You're probably two meters thirty now. No, maybe even two meters forty," Margosas replied hesitantly.
Lu Yuanming could feel that he'd grown taller, too. With Margosas and the other five standing in front of him, they reminded him of elementary school kids he used to see. After his soul had grown stronger this time, his body had started getting bigger and taller again, reaching a height of two meters thirty or forty from about two meters.
But the rate at which he was growing taller and bigger was slowing.
His soul had grown far more powerful this time than it had the last time. Before, he'd grown nearly thirty centimeters; this time, he'd grown only a little over thirty centimeters. That meant there was a limit to how tall and big he could get. The closer he got to that limit, the less growth his strengthened soul would bring, so it was unlikely he'd turn into Ultraman or Godzilla someday.
He didn't want to become Ultraman, either. Unless he could control his size, actually turning into Ultraman would be nothing but trouble.
Lu Yuanming and Margosas's group headed for the bank. Along the way, he asked about the organization's development.
"...While you were away in the Mortal World, one squad stayed here, with another squad rotating in every two days. The rest of the noncommissioned officers spend one day leading training and another exploring outside. So far, our organization has a total of 1,962 members. We've found supplies..." Margosas said.
Lu Yuanming was startled. "How many?"
"1,962!" Margosas immediately repeated.
Lu Yuanming was stunned. He hadn't expected those numbers. When he'd left, the organization had only a little over a hundred people. Now, on his return, there were more than 1,900. That meant they'd been adding about a hundred people a day while he was away. It was an astonishing rate.
Margosas turned to one of the new recruits. "This is Private Ryan, who just joined. Ryan, report the situation up above to the commander."
Lu Yuanming frowned slightly and repeated, "Private... Ryan?"
It was the rank of private that made him frown. It shouldn't be given to a new recruit. Above private came sergeant, then staff sergeant, then corporal. Based on his earlier discussions with Alfred, a private rank should only be awarded to the bravest and most decorated members once their army had at least a thousand soldiers.
But Private Ryan simply responded, "Yes, sir. The unit I was stationed with came under an attack from an unknown curse yesterday afternoon at 17:51. By the time I died, eighty-two people had gone missing; we can confirm they're dead. Even earlier, the unrest in New York City caused by the citywide lockdown was enough to kill more than fifty thousand people every day. Add the curse and the attacks by those monsters, and the daily death toll could well exceed a hundred thousand—and it's still rising every day."
Once Ryan had finished, Margosas immediately said, "There are more refugees within the area we've explored, sir."
Only then did Lu Yuanming understand why the organization had gained so many members—and why Ryan had been given the rank of private.
Lu Yuanming quickened his pace. Margosas and the others had no choice but to jog to keep up. Fortunately, they were all in good shape. Before long, Lu Yuanming was back outside the bank base, which now housed quite a sizable population. Alfred had heard the news and hurried back from the fields. The moment he saw Lu Yuanming, he asked excitedly, "How many? What's the number?"
"Two hundred and seven!"
Lu Yuanming smiled. "We can grow other grains, fruits, and vegetables in addition to potatoes. We can even put our earlier plans into action and build a few large machine tools. Then we'll be able to manufacture Melee Weapons and armor."
Lu Yuanming had confirmed on the way back that he'd obtained far more Colorless Light Particles than he'd expected: an astonishing total of 207. He'd also touched the Gray Light Cluster several times and had more or less figured out what it was.
It was a kind of distortion and change.
He could use the Gray Light Cluster to "enchant" an object, giving it this kind of distortion and change. In other words, the Super Giant Spider had dropped a piece of...
Equipment?
Before you continue