Calamity Transformation

Corrupted Crystal.

In the game, Liao Ji usually referred to these as experience fodder.

They were the most common items used by players to catalyze and cultivate their subordinates, the Corrupted.

Depending on the concentration of "Corrupted" energy within the crystal, they were divided into four grades: small, medium, large, and extra-large, providing a tiered increase in experience points for the Corrupted.

A single [Small Corrupted Crystal] could raise a lowest-tier "Common" grade Corrupted to level 10.

In the game, Liao Ji only needed a few clicks of his mouse, but now that it had become a real-life version, he wasn't sure how to use the item, so he had to resort to the most direct method.

However, it seemed.

It actually worked.

He saw that the [Small Corrupted Crystal] he had thrust into her didn't physically enter her body; the moment it touched the female scavenger's skin, it dissolved like water, beginning to merge with her.

Pain.

So much pain.

Irin felt as if the blood throughout her entire body were burning, as if countless ants were crawling inside her, gnawing at her flesh.

In an instant, her vision was flooded with blood-red, and everything she saw began to twist, stretch, and become chaotic and bizarre, making her world spin.

The whispers and madness from the abyss, the pollution of the Corrupted that Irin had experienced before, echoed in her mind once more, and this time, it was even more intense.

Those insane voices became sharper and more piercing, filling her mind like a tide, wave after wave, as if they were about to swallow and drown her consciousness.

"Ugh, ahhh!"

Irin's head felt like it was splitting apart, her entire body drenched in sweat, and the brownish-red patterns symbolizing the "Corrupted" faintly emerged on her skin, flickering with an eerie and dangerous glow.

The drastic change in the female scavenger startled the Kobolds in the secret chamber, especially when they felt the Corrupted aura overflowing from her; several of the nearby Kobolds immediately retreated in fear.

Of course, Irin herself was unaware of this.

At this moment, all her energy was focused on fighting against the "Corrupted."

In Irin's mental world, blood-red chains that seemed to reach out from hell wrapped around her limbs and tightened around her neck, dragging her forcefully toward the abyss.

Irin struggled desperately, fighting against these blood-red chains, because her instincts told her that if she were dragged over to "that side," she would never return.

She still had her sick mother at the settlement who depended on her; she absolutely could not die here.

But willpower alone was clearly not enough.

Irin's resistance grew weaker, the blood-red chain around her neck tightened continuously, the intense sensation of suffocation stripping away her remaining strength, and Irin's vision began to blur.

Is... is it over?

Not yet.

Because in Irin's blurred vision—perhaps it was a hallucination from her fading consciousness—she suddenly saw the figure of a black-haired young man appear before her.

In this mental world, already filled with blood-red and nearing collapse, the young man seemed unaffected; on the contrary, the Corrupted energy that had been rampaging here began to scatter and flee upon the black-haired youth's arrival.

And when the youth finally approached her, until he finally touched her, who was imprisoned by the blood-red shackles.

At that moment.

Click.

Crack!

First, some tiny fissures appeared, then at an incredible speed, they turned into cracks, spreading like a spiderweb across the chain wrapped around her neck.

Finally.

Bang!

The shackles on her neck, which she had been unable to break free from no matter what, actually shattered on their own.

In an instant, the mad whispers fell silent, the blood-red retreated from her mental world, and the force trying to drag her into the abyss vanished.

However, the chains and shackles wrapped around her limbs remained.

Except for.

The segment that had broken off at her neck.

In its place.

On the female scavenger's physical body in reality, without even Irin noticing, a complex and profound "Contract" mark, like a tattoo, quietly appeared on the lower part of the back of her neck.

"Ha... huff... ha."

As her consciousness returned to the real world, Irin, feeling as though she had just walked through the gates of hell, greedily gasped for air.

Irin didn't know what that had just been.

But she knew who had caused it all.

When the female scavenger looked toward him, Liao Ji did not offer much explanation, instead pointing behind her.

When Irin turned her head back.

What met her eyes was a Kobold face, its narrow eyes flashing with brutality, rugged and wild.

Hot white mist exhaled from its wide nostrils, and the messy beard covering half its face was still stained with the blood of battle, making it look all the more ferocious.

The shovel, still caked with bits of flesh, was swung through the air by its thick arm, rapidly enlarging within Irin's field of vision.

As the scent of Corrupt Calamity faded from the scavenger, the retreating Greedy Kobold Miners surged forward once again.

While Irin caught her breath, these monsters were not about to just stand by and watch; they took long strides and arrived right in front of them in the blink of an eye.

The leading kobold raised its shovel high, preparing to treat Irin exactly the same way it had treated the Scarred Man's group earlier.

However.

After a brief moment of panic, Irin quickly noticed something strange.

The monster's movements.

Why were they so slow?

In Irin's eyes at this moment, the kobold's attack seemed to have been hit with a slow-motion button; she could easily track its trajectory and dodge accordingly.

With a small sidestep, Irin effortlessly caused the kobold's shovel to smash into empty air.

The whistling wind kicked up by the shovel told Irin that it wasn't the enemy that had slowed down, but rather herself. Had her perception become extraordinarily powerful?

No, that wasn't it.

It wasn't just her sensory abilities; this feeling of being filled with power from head to toe in her body was...

"Roar!"

After its first strike failed, the kobold opposite her quickly raised its shovel again, ready for another go. Although these low-level Corrupted monsters had their physical attributes greatly enhanced, their intelligence remained extremely low.

This time, realizing that her body was "different," Irin chose not to dodge again.

She took a deep breath and seized the moment. On the back of her neck, hidden from her own sight, the brand symbolizing the "Contract" flickered with a faint glow, and brownish-red lines flashed across her eyes.

Before the kobold's shovel could descend, Irin tensed her body, focused all her strength into her right leg, and struck first, whipping her leg hard against the monster's broad chest.

Swish!

The sound of breaking air rang out, followed immediately by a dull thud!

The kobold's several-hundred-pound body was kicked into mid-air by Irin as if it were a ball, tracing an arc before, unfortunately, landing squarely on a sharp, protruding rock on the ground.

The kobold's body, now like a pile of mush, twitched a few times before falling completely still.

At the same time.

In the back of Liao Ji's mind, a corresponding notification sounded.

[Ding, your Corrupted "Irin" has successfully killed [Greedy Kobold Miner], you have gained 10 experience points.]

[Distance to next level: 10/100]