The First Shadow

The darkness in the hospital room was thick as congealed asphalt. Every breath carried the coldness of disinfectant and a faint, almost imperceptible rusty scent of blood. Yet Xiang Yi's consciousness was like a molten core burning at the bottom of an abyss, clinging with destructive stubbornness to the dark blue screen deep within his mind.

[Mental Power (Lv.0): 25.7/100 (slowly recovering)]

[Energy Points: 0]

25.7!

A night of nearly self-destructive, frenzied exertion had almost drained the last remnants of life from this badly injured body. The threshold of 50 points required for summoning was still an abyss of despair. Yet this tiny increase was the only spark visible in the pitch-black darkness, the first shard of stone he had carved from the cliff face of fate through sheer willpower.

"Not enough... far from enough..." His soul roared soundlessly. The system's notification last night and the nurse's footsteps during rounds were like an icy executioner's blade hanging above his head. This hospital room had become a transparent cage, and every heartbeat sounded like a death knell announcing his exposure. Leave! He had to leave! The thought was like poisoned thorns wrapped around his heart, bringing suffocating agony and cold fear.

His will gathered again! It was no longer a drill, but transformed into an alloy bit heated red by the flames of hell and spun to its absolute limit! With the madness to burn through every obstacle, even at the cost of destroying himself, it viciously bored into that void between his brows that carried all his hope! The mental circulation of the Returning to the Hidden Formula was forcibly driven, screaming like an engine spinning out of control on the verge of explosion!

Boom! Every violent impact of his will brought a devastating tremor to his soul!

The excruciating pain was like a red-hot iron poker viciously stirring his brain! His temples throbbed wildly, veins pulsing grotesquely beneath his thin skin as if they would burst the next second! The cold sweat on his forehead no longer flowed; it surged forth like an overflowing glacier, instantly soaking the icy pillowcase and spreading into vast dark stains of despair! The wound at the corner of his mouth, long ago bitten open, split again. The heavy, rusty sweetness of blood flooded his mouth, blending with the ultimate agony of his torn soul into a warped, cruel clarity.

His eyes were webbed with dense bloodshot veins! Thick, oil-like darkness began seeping in from the edges of his vision! Beyond the shrill ringing in his ears came the piercing hallucination of countless panes of glass being violently ground to pieces!

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

On the dark blue screen, the mental power number seemed brutally manipulated by an invisible hand, painfully and tremblingly climbing upward through unimaginable agony:

26.1 → 26.9 → 27.6 → 28.3 → 29.0 → 29.8 → 30.5...

The speed suddenly plummeted! Every tiny jump brought fiercer convulsions in the depths of his mind and vertigo so intense the world spun! His body's wails reached their peak. His bones seemed to groan under unbearable strain, while the dull ache at the back of his head became icy steel needles piercing through him. Every heartbeat tugged at the sharp pain of broken ribs deep within his chest!

"Ugh... hah..." A suppressed, agonized rasp, like the dying cry of a trapped beast with its throat seized, forced its way through his clenched teeth. His vision repeatedly dimmed, and the pale green light of the heart monitor twisted, stretched, and shattered into bizarre flickering specks. His consciousness was like a dying candle in a gale, swaying wildly in a desperate struggle between boundless agony and his final shred of will, ready to go out at any moment!

A cold torrent of absolute negation crashed into his mind like the judgment of doomsday! [Warning! Host's mental power is severely overdrawn! Forced cultivation will cause permanent brain damage/soul collapse! Mandatory interruption!]

The last strength supporting his mad exertion was mercilessly stripped away! An exhaustion like a bottomless abyss instantly swallowed him whole!

Bang!

His head slammed heavily back onto the pillow with a dull thud! His body convulsed violently beyond his control, each spasm triggering another wave of tearing pain! His vision was entirely consumed by spinning darkness and bursting golden sparks! Only a shriek sharp enough to pierce his soul remained in his ears! Cold sweat poured from him like floodwater through opened gates, instantly soaking three layers of clothing. The icy, clammy sensation clung to his skin, sending waves of chills through him! He gasped desperately, every inhalation carrying a strong stench of blood and a searing pain as though his lungs were being torn apart!

[Mental Power (Lv.0): 31.2/100 (severely overdrawn/recovery stalled)]

Looking at the glaring "31.2" and the status description "severely overdrawn," icy despair coiled around his heart like a venomous python, tightening with every loop! 31.2! There was still a gulf-like difference of 18.8 points before he reached 50! Was he really going to be trapped to death in this transparent cage, watching Tony Stark walk down that destined road to death, watching the world slide into the abyss, while he remained nothing more than an ant that could be crushed at any time?

"No... never..." The roar from the depths of his soul was weak as a dying breath in the wind.

Just as the icy sea of despair was about to completely submerge and freeze his consciousness—

[Ding!]

A crisp notification chime, like ice and jade striking each other, suddenly exploded in the silent depths of his mind! A faint yet incomparably pure golden light, like the first ray of dawn piercing heavy clouds, tore through the thick, inescapable darkness of despair within Xiang Yi's consciousness with irresistible force!

[Novice Guidance Mission (I): Take the First Step and Complete Your First Summoning!]

[Mission Description: Summon your first hero and establish your initial strength.]

[Mission Objective: Successfully summon any hero with Lv.1 authority.]

[Mission Reward: Energy Points x100! Permanently increase mental power limit by 10 points! Returning to the Hidden Formula (Advanced Chapter) fragment x1!]

Boom!

This sudden divine decree was like a blazing stellar core thrown into the icy ocean of Xiang Yi's drowning consciousness! The ice of despair instantly vaporized! His frozen blood boiled with a roar! His parched soul greedily drank in this light of hope like drought-stricken earth receiving rain!

Energy Points! 100 points!

Mental power limit increased! 10 points!

And... the advanced chapter of the Returning to the Hidden Formula!

This was not a reward! It was a divine lever offered by the god—or demon—of fate amid desperate circumstances, powerful enough to pry apart every heavy shackle binding him!

"System... mission..." Xiang Yi's pupils contracted to pinpoints in the deep darkness. Then a greedy blaze that would burn and devour everything erupted violently from them! That light pierced through the collapse of his body and the exhaustion of his mind, leaving behind only the most primal, ultimate craving for power!

His will, like a demonic dragon breaking free from the abyss, crashed toward [Hero Summoning] with the resolve of a final gamble! Lanling King's figure, entirely shrouded in dense shadows save for a pair of poisonously cold eyes, was instantly locked on!

[Confirm summoning hero: Lanling King!]

[This summoning requires: 50 Mental Power + 100 Energy Points.]

[Warning: Host's current Mental Power: 31.2/100. Energy Points: 0. Conditions not met!] (The glaring crimson text flashed wildly across the screen!)

This time, there was no hesitation left in Xiang Yi's eyes, only the frenzied calculation of burning his bridges and perishing together with the enemy!

"Mission reward! 100 Energy Points! As long as I complete the summoning, the reward will arrive immediately! The key is mental power! 31.2... I'm short by 18.8! The system only requires a 'successful summoning,' not 'immediate payment'! As long as I can endure those hellish five minutes of guidance, once the summoning is complete and I receive the reward, I can instantly make up every shortfall!"

A gamble so insane it was like walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss took shape in his mind! He would use the instant reward mechanism to forcefully complete the summoning through overdraft! Beneath the tightrope lay an abyss where his soul would completely collapse, beyond all hope of recovery! But... this was his only way out! The only crack in the darkness!

"I'll gamble!" His will fell like a shooting star, carrying the resolve to burn everything behind it. There was no turning back!

[Beginning summoning guidance! Host, maintain absolute focus! Countdown: 4 minutes 59 seconds...]

Bzz—!!!

A terrifying suction force, a hundred times more violent and a thousand times colder than the Returning to the Hidden Formula, erupted from the very core of Xiang Yi's consciousness! Its target was his remaining, precarious 31.2 points of mental power! That pitiful amount of mental power was like stardust cast beyond a black hole's event horizon, instantly extracted, compressed, and condensed by an irresistible power from another dimension! It became an incomparably condensed yet thread-thin stream of dark blue light—like a neural suspension bridge struggling through a violent energy storm, ready to snap at any moment—and stabbed viciously toward an incomprehensible, cold, empty coordinate deep within his mind!

"Ugh—ahh!!!"

The pain in his soul instantly surpassed the limits of human imagination! Xiang Yi felt as if his skull had been forcibly shoved into the singularity of a black hole! His thoughts were stretched, torn apart, and ground into the most basic fragments of information! Every nerve became a red-hot string pulled taut to its limit, emitting the most miserable shriek before breaking beneath the plucking of invisible giant hands! His body arched violently like a shrimp, convulsing hard! His teeth clamped down on his already mangled lower lip as warm blood gushed out, staining his pale lips and icy pillowcase red like crimson plum blossoms blooming desperately in snow!

The countdown ticked on mercilessly: 4 minutes 30 seconds... 4 minutes 00 seconds... Every second was like walking barefoot for a mile across mountains of burning blades!

3 minutes 15 seconds... 2 minutes 50 seconds... His consciousness was like a rag repeatedly dissolved in a pool of acid, torn into fragments!

His vision was completely devoured by spinning filthy darkness and torn, meaningless ribbons of color! The monitor's monotonous beeping warped into malicious cackling from the depths of hell! The agony at the back of his head became billions of red-hot steel needles repeatedly piercing his skull! Cold sweat washed over his body like a waterfall, bringing endless torture where ice and fire intertwined!

"Hold on... I have to hold on..." Xiang Yi's soul roared soundlessly from the deepest depths of this purgatory of absolute pain. He turned every shred of his remaining will, every instinct for survival, every towering rage and unwillingness into the only pillar supporting that fragile bridge! His nails had already sunk deep into the flesh of his palms, blood streaming freely, yet that trivial pain of torn skin was insignificant before the torture of his soul being ripped apart!

The mental power value on the screen fluctuated violently at the edge of [31.2], like a dying candle in the wind, flickering uncertainly and ready to extinguish completely at any moment!

Just as his consciousness was about to be utterly shredded by boundless pain and fall into eternal darkness—

Bzz!!!

The space above the hospital bed before Xiang Yi suddenly twisted and collapsed violently without warning!

Every source of light in the room—the pale green dot on the heart monitor, the deathly white halo of the emergency lamp in the corner, even the faint glow of distant city neon beyond the window—was seized by an invisible giant hand. All light twisted and wailed as it was forcibly dragged toward one point at the center of the room! A tiny black singularity emanating absolute deathly silence and devouring everything was suddenly born! It greedily sucked in every trace of light and heat around it!

Riiip—!!!

A grating wail, like the gates of hell being forcibly torn open in reality, suddenly rang out! The black singularity violently split apart to either side! A narrow spatial rift, its edges crazily dancing with dark blue arcs of death, was ripped open by a terrifying power so tyrannical it defied reason! The arcs lashed the air like venomous snakes, cracking sharply!

Inside the rift rolled and churned pure shadows, thick and cold like living creatures! They carried the dead silence of devouring all things!

The next second!

A hand covered in a cold, streamlined shadow vambrace suddenly reached out from the churning abyss of darkness! Its fingers were long and powerful, sharp ridges covering the knuckles, while strands of black mist capable of tearing space curled around its fingertips!

The temperature in the hospital room instantly plummeted below freezing! Xiang Yi's breath condensed into visible white crystals the moment it touched the air! The fluid flowing through his IV tube visibly thickened and slowed, while delicate frost-like crystals instantly formed along the tube's walls!

Then came another hand, likewise covered in a shadow vambrace!

Both arms exerted force at once! Muscles bulged beneath the vambraces!

Riiip—!!!

The spatial rift was brutally torn wider by a suffocatingly terrifying force! The churning shadows roared and surged like the boiling waters of the River Styx!

A tall, straight humanoid figure, entirely enveloped in flowing shadows as thick as ink, stepped out of the rift!

Boom!!!

The space in the hospital room groaned under unbearable strain, like glass on the verge of shattering! All light was annihilated around him! He was like a moving black hole that devoured everything! Xiang Yi felt his internal organs seized and crushed by an invisible hand, cold to the bone! His bones groaned as if ready to break! The extreme cold froze his thoughts nearly to a halt! The shrill alarm of the heart monitor was no longer a monotonous beep, but a dying, infinitely stretched scream so miserable it could pierce the soul!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The spatial rift silently closed behind him, as though it had never existed.

Within the hospital room, only that shadow sovereign remained, standing silently at the center of absolute darkness and radiating world-ending pressure.

Beep... beep... beep...

The monitor's warped, elongated shriek was the only despairing background sound within that dead silence.

Lanling King! The absolute king of shadows! Had descended!

Xiang Yi's pupils shrank to pinpoints! His heart seemed seized still by that invisible icy hand! His blood froze! The terrifying pressure was like ancient black ice, freezing his thoughts and his breathing! A living, destructive existence from another dimension! Merely being watched by those cold dark-blue eyes piercing through the dense shadows made Xiang Yi feel as if his soul were being cast into an ice prison at absolute zero, freezing and collapsing inch by inch!

The screen fluctuated violently as a line of crimson text silently emerged:

[Warning! Summoned hero consumes mental power: 1 point/minute!]

[Host's current Mental Power: 9.8/100 (severely overdrawn/rapidly consuming)] (The crimson numbers flashed madly, like a death warrant!)

The cold death knell jolted Xiang Yi awake from his extreme terror! 9.8 points! One point consumed per minute! The summoning was complete? Where was the mission reward?! Where was the notification?!

Overwhelming panic stabbed viciously into his frozen heart like a poisoned ice pick! Had he gambled wrong?! Was it all ultimately futile, just a cruel joke from the system?!

[Ding! Novice Guidance Mission (I): Take the First Step and Complete Your First Summoning! Mission complete!]

[Mission rewards issued: Energy Points +100! Mental power limit permanently increased by 10 points! Obtained Returning to the Hidden Formula (Advanced Chapter) fragment x1!] (A dazzling golden radiance burst forth in the depths of his mind, like divine grace descending!)

Bzz—!!!

A warm current a hundred times purer and more majestic than basic cultivation, brimming with newborn and incomparably tenacious vitality, surged forth from the core of Xiang Yi's consciousness like heavenly waters released from a dam! This power violently yet efficiently washed through the cracked ruins of his mind, which teetered on the brink of collapse! The dried riverbed was instantly repaired, filled, and expanded!

[Mental Power limit increased! Current: 110/110!]

[Mental Power recovering: 110/110 (full)!]

[Energy Points: 100!] (The number instantly surged!)

Looking at the instantly filled [110/110] and that crucial [100], the wild joy of surviving disaster surged over Xiang Yi like a raging tide, nearly drowning him completely! He had won! From hell to heaven, only one step apart!

The abundant power flowed through him like a gentle spring, swiftly driving away his physical agony and mental exhaustion, bringing unprecedented clarity and control! He abruptly raised his head, his gaze sharp as a blade as he met those cold dark-blue eyes piercing through the shadows once more. His former fear was suppressed, replaced by the appraisal of one in control and an unusual sense of connection rising from deep within his blood and soul.

"Show me your abilities." Xiang Yi's voice was hoarse and dry, yet it carried an unquestionable command as his will traveled through the invisible connection directly to the other's core. "Prove your worth." This is a blade! The first blade in my hand! It must be sharp enough, lethal enough, capable of killing with one strike!

Those dark-blue eyes flickered slightly. Fine ice crystals seemed to form and shatter in the depths of their pupils.

The dense, ceaselessly rolling shadows surrounding Lanling King like living creatures and obscuring everything suddenly collapsed inward and condensed! Like billions of shadow crows returning to their nest, they emitted silent shrieks and sank completely into his body! The shadows receded like a tide!

A tall, agile figure clad in a close-fitting dark-purple combat suit was revealed. Black leather armor covered vital areas like a second skin, outlining smooth lines that held explosive strength. His face was covered by an ancient, hard dark-gold mask that radiated a metallic chill. Old and mysterious patterns were engraved upon it, now flowing with a faint glow and emitting the cold aura of contract and slaughter intertwined. Two daggers, seemingly forged from dark crystals, hung at his waist. The space around their blade edges remained in an almost imperceptible but constant subtle distortion, as if the weapons themselves were continually cutting through the fragile membrane of reality.

He merely stood there, and every shadow in the hospital room seemed to come alive. Like the most loyal and humble servants, they gathered and flowed toward his feet of their own accord, making him appear like an uncrowned king emerging from the abyss of shadows.

The next second, Lanling King's figure did not "disappear," but instantly "melted" into the darkest patch of shadow on the wall beside him! It was as though he had always been part of the shadows and was merely returning to his origin! He vanished without a trace!

Xiang Yi's pupils abruptly contracted! Within his "system vision," an extremely faint translucent outline, rippling like water, moved silently through the room at a speed beyond the limits of visual perception! It nimbly circled the hospital bed, passed through the shadows cast by the IV stand, and clung to the cold, smooth wall... It moved so fast it was like teleportation! Its path left faint spatial ripples in the system's view, like marks left on water!

Just five seconds later, Lanling King's figure silently appeared at the foot of the bed as though precipitating from another patch of shadow. Throughout the entire process, there was neither wind nor sound. He had perfectly blended into every dark corner of the environment, as if he had never left.

[Stealth (Active): Blend into shadows, greatly reducing presence and slightly increasing movement speed. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Energy consumption: minimal. (Mental Power -1)]

"Still not enough." Xiang Yi's voice was low and oppressive. His blade-sharp gaze swept coldly across the sturdy reinforced plasterboard wall on the inner side of the room.

Beneath Lanling King's mask, the corner of his mouth rose in an almost imperceptible, utterly warmthless curve, cold as an icicle from the polar regions. His right hand casually rested on the hilt of the dark dagger at his left waist. The space around him rippled with an extremely brief blur, like a mirror scorched by intense heat!

His wrist flicked inward lightly at a tiny angle too subtle for the naked eye to catch!

Riiip—!

A faint but piercingly sharp sound of air tearing apart!

Xiang Yi did not even see any movement! He only felt the dim light before him twist very briefly!

A hair-thin "spatial cutting line," its edges crazily dancing with dark blue arcs, appeared out of thin air like a living venomous snake. It twisted and instantly extended across the wall three meters from Lanling King!

Everything in its path—the hard plasterboard, the thick steel studs within—was silently and completely "erased," as if an eraser from another dimension had passed over it! There was no explosion, no great crash, only total annihilation at the material level!

Crack... boom!!!

A massive hole large enough for a person to pass through comfortably suddenly appeared! Its edges were smooth as a mirror, reflecting a cold, deathly glimmer. Tiny strange fragments of light, like debris from the stars, could even be seen on its cross-section! The broken steel studs displayed an unusual crystalline state, as though they had been instantly melted by immense energy and then abruptly frozen!

The moment the hole formed, a faint suction force created by the damaged spatial structure briefly appeared, instantly drawing nearby dust and small debris into the void that had just been cut open!

Cold night wind carrying the scent of city dust surged in without obstruction!

[Shadow Dagger (Passive/Active): A projection of a rule-based creation condensed from shadow energy. Passive: greatly increases armor-piercing and magic-piercing effects. Active activation: releases the space-cutting power of "Shadow Erosion" (long cooldown). (Activation cost this time: Mental Power -5)]

Xiang Yi's heart pounded wildly in his chest, not from fear but from trembling, near-uncontrollable ecstasy! This power! This terrifying power that erased reality and ignored all defenses! This was the first true, deadly shadow blade he possessed in the peril-filled Marvel Universe!

"Very good!" Xiang Yi suppressed his surging emotions. His voice returned to icy calm, and his gaze was sharp as an eagle's as it pierced through the drifting dust and locked onto those cold dark-blue eyes. "Now, listen carefully to your first mission."

His thoughts surged. Target information—Liu Jinbiao, the greasy, greedy owner of Hongyuan Trading, the address of the office building, and the exact location of the luxurious top-floor office—was transmitted in an instant like a precise flood of data.

"Find him. Infiltrate his office. Find all original evidence of him framing Xiang Group for tax violations. Copy it, or..." Xiang Yi's voice carried a cold, murderous decisiveness no twelve-year-old child should possess, "...bring it out directly. I want him ruined beyond redemption, never able to rise again."

"Yes."

Lanling King finally spoke. His voice came through the cold mask, deep and hoarse, yet with the texture of metal grinding against metal. Every syllable seemed to condense tiny frost crystals in the cold air. Only one word, yet it was firm and final, containing absolute, unquestionable obedience born from the rules themselves.

He bowed slightly, his movement smooth and bearing an ancient sense of etiquette carved into his bones. Like a peerless blade restraining its final lethal gleam before entering its sheath, he was elegant and deadly.

"This subordinate will not fail you."

The instant his words fell, the shadow beneath Lanling King's feet surged upward like boiling, thick black ink, wrapping around him and instantly swallowing his entire body! It stirred not a single ripple and left not the slightest trace as he completely disappeared into the darkest shadows of the hospital room. Only the massive hole in the wall, smooth as a mirror and flickering with strange starlight around its edges, silently told of the inhuman power that had just descended here.

[Mental Power: 104/110 (consuming: -1 point/minute)] (Stealth -1? Shadow Erosion -5? This blade was incomparably sharp, but its cost was equally steep!)

Watching the numbers jump across the screen, Xiang Yi slowly and deeply exhaled a foul breath heavy with the scent of blood. His strength had been deployed, and the game had begun. Intense exhaustion washed over him like a tide, and the combined overdraft of body and mind weighed heavily upon him. Yet this time, a tenacious, unquenchable flame called "possibility" quietly ignited in the deepest part of his heart.

He closed his eyes wearily. Beneath his shut eyelids, however, his eyes moved faintly. His mind swiftly and coldly reviewed every detail Lanling King had displayed—the ghostly way he merged into shadows, the terrifying might that erased space, the cold absolute obedience born of their soul connection—precisely assessing the ultimate sharpness of this "shadow blade" and the heavy price required for every swing.

Within the hospital room, cold night wind passed through the massive hole in the wall, stirring plaster dust. Reflected in the pale green glow of the heart monitor, it resembled a silent festival of fluorescent dust. Tiny particles slowly drifted down. Beyond the hole lay the deep, boundless night and the indifferent lights of countless homes flickering along the city's distant horizon.

And at the center of this festival of wreckage and ghostly light, the pale corner of the boy's mouth on the hospital bed lifted ever so slightly into a cold, sharp curve. That curve was like a blade silently leaving its sheath in the shadows.