Establishing a Stronghold

Without hesitation, Lu Li immediately purchased the module. He already had an idea for optimizing this skill, and it seemed he could even combine it into an incomplete minor skill.

After buying the skill, Lu Li originally intended to experiment with it immediately, but after checking his surroundings and sensing his own state, he realized his mental energy recovery speed was agonizingly slow, leaving him feeling dizzy and lightheaded. His Shadow Magic was plentiful, however; now that night had fallen, the Shadow Magic that usually took about an hour to recover now only required half an hour.

Touching his empty stomach, Lu Li abandoned the plan to optimize the skill right away. Thinking that it was already dark and his uncle's family wouldn't leave food for him, and there was nothing to eat back home, Lu Li stretched his body, walked out of the small woods, and headed toward Hexi.

"Ugh..." With a single hook punch, a yellow-haired punk clutched his stomach and collapsed in pain. Nearby lay several other thugs who had also been incapacitated. Lu Li bent down, searched the yellow-haired punk's wallet, pulled out the only two hundred-yuan bills inside, tossed the wallet back onto the punk, and turned toward the internet cafe with the glowing sign not far ahead, his shadow stretching long behind him.

"Bastard!" The yellow-haired punk cursed at Lu Li's back with hatred. This bastard had just found his group and started fighting without saying a word. He hadn't expected that even with seven people on their side, they would all be easily knocked down by that guy. Glancing at his companions—some unconscious, others unable to get up from the pain—the yellow-haired punk stood up while clutching his stomach. He understood that if he didn't do something today, his position as the leader would be gone.

Pulling a folding knife from his pocket, the yellow-haired punk roared to bolster his courage and chased after Lu Li. Running faster and faster, he felt the wind whistling past his ears, and his grip on the folding knife grew tighter. He felt as if something was awakening; combat instincts appeared in his mind, and his eyes slowly turned vacant. This is... this is a genetic lock! Damn it, I'm the protagonist!

The yellow-haired punk pulled his arm back to build momentum, his heart filled with excitement. He was about to reach that bastard. Thinking of the painful, desperate expression the bastard would have after being stabbed, his pace seemed to quicken even more. A bastard like this should just be a stepping stone for me, the protagonist: "Go, to, hell... ah!"

Lu Li turned around and looked at the yellow-haired punk sprawled on the ground. He was likely stunned from the fall, lying there with a dazed expression. Not far beneath his feet, a pitch-black tentacle retreated into Lu Li's shadow. Lu Li glanced at the punk and shook his head before walking toward the internet cafe. That guy's heart rate was high, his pupils were dilated, and he carried a peculiar scent; he was likely on some hallucinogenic drug, suffering from delusions.

After Lu Li entered the internet cafe, his keen hearing faintly caught the yellow-haired punk's shouting: "Which bastard tripped me? I was just about to unlock my genetic lock..."

Opening a terminal, Lu Li asked the attendant to order him some takeout and began searching for information. He continuously planned his skills, listing the various flaws discovered during previous tests and whether there were ways to improve them. If they couldn't be improved, he looked for ways to circumvent these flaws during use, then readjusted the module.

Recording the information he had found and finishing the last bite of his takeout, Lu Li checked out and logged off. When he left the cafe, those thugs were nowhere to be seen. Something seemed to be churning within the shadow in front of Lu Li; even if outsiders noticed, they would just assume it was a simple play of light and shadow. In reality, this was Lu Li constantly manipulating the shadow's movement. Like before, extending a tentacle from his normal flat shadow was something Lu Li could now accomplish with a single thought.

Walking through the dark alleys on the outskirts of the city, most of the houses here were empty. Leping was not a large city, and many young people chose to develop in the provincial capital. Those who remained in Leping mostly lived in the more prosperous areas of Hedong and Hexi. Here, there were mostly old houses with intricate, complex alleyways that gave off an insecure feeling. Aside from a few habituated elderly people and those who truly had no other choice, the area was sparsely populated—at least for now.

Looking at the houses marked with red "demolition" signs, Lu Li estimated that it wouldn't be long before this area became prosperous too, but that had nothing to do with him. Walking in the darkness, Lu Li could feel the comfort radiating from his shadow, and the Shadow Magic in his body became active. After strengthening his shadow earlier, Lu Li discovered that his vision had changed; in the darkness, even without light, he could see his surroundings to a certain extent.

A stray dog sensed Lu Li's approach and let out a low, buzzing growl of threat. The next moment, a pitch-black mass on the ground surged up, covering the dog's mouth, and two shadow tentacles wrapped tightly around it.

Lu Li approached the stray dog, reached out to pat its head in a comforting manner, and then turned to leave. The shadow tentacles slowly flattened. Freed from the shadow's restraint, the stray dog collapsed to the ground, incontinent from fear, its mouth emitting continuous whimpering sounds that betrayed its extreme terror. After a while, regaining its senses, it immediately fled the area, not daring to look back.

Lu Li stood at the back door of a derelict, vacant house. He had roughly checked the surroundings; none of the houses in this area were inhabited, and the paths were overgrown with weeds, looking as if no one had been here for a long time. Standing before the door crack, Lu Li tested his shadow; he could freely control it to enter a flat or three-dimensional state. The shadow behind him moved along the flat surface, slipped behind the door, and a tentacle rose to pull back the locked bolt.

Pushing the door open, dust flew into the air. Lu Li glanced inside the house—a common small bungalow. The floor was covered in traces left by those who had moved out, and moss grew in the corners. Aside from some nearly broken furniture, nothing remained.

The shadow tentacles closed the back door, and another tentacle wiped a chair clean. Although these two shadow tentacles appeared separated, they were actually still connected through the shadow on the ground; otherwise, Lu Li could not guarantee his consciousness remained connected, and the shadows would dissipate.

"This place seems pretty good, so this will be it!" Lu Li observed for a moment, and then the shadow tentacles began to tidy up the room. Lu Li estimated that he would need to test and research skills frequently in the future and also needed a hidden base. The current conditions were poor, so he would have to make do with this abandoned house for now; later, he would find a way to open a better one.

Tomorrow we enter a new dungeon. Everyone can guess what plot it evolved from. The hint is the volume title, "Bubble."