Unlimited Void

"Domain Expansion-"

As those words dropped from above the platform, Gu Yanzhi was pulling his fist out of a transfigured human's face.

Seriously, dude?

"Unlimited Void."

The instant those words rang out, Gu Yanzhi's pupils contracted sharply.

During the Shibuya Incident, Satoru Gojo had faced the trap Mahito and Jogo had set alone, with transfigured humans mixed in among ordinary people.

But Satoru Gojo hadn't buckled under the pressure. He had expanded his domain, immobilizing everyone present with 0.2 seconds of Unlimited Void, then slaughtered every last transfigured human within minutes.

I'm screwed.

He opened his mouth to shout, but before his throat could even vibrate, he felt his entire being freeze.

His fist remained suspended in midair. The transfigured human before him froze mid-lunge, its misshapen face instantly locking in place.

Then the junk information flooded in.

Countless strings of characters, without origin or meaning, poured into the depths of his consciousness like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

There was no logic to this information, no purpose. It simply kept piling up, piling up, piling up, filling his mental space layer by layer.

But something's wrong.

He could still think. Though his thoughts were squeezed into a tiny space, he really could retain a measure of awareness.

The sensation was familiar.

Gu Yanzhi paused. Junk information flooding his brain, streams of data that weren't his washing through him-he had experienced this before.

Every time he reincarnated, the system poured the original owner's memories into his brain. It felt just like this, except the system's infusion was faster and gentler, not nearly as brutal as Unlimited Void.

So I'd already gotten used to it. Every reincarnation had been a miniature training session for Unlimited Void.

Under the system's protection, his soul had developed some resistance to this kind of information infusion.

But that sliver of self-awareness didn't give him control of his body. He still stood frozen in place.

Then he saw the back of his own head.

His perspective suddenly rose. He saw his body-that misshapen body, with one shoulder higher than the other and a spine that bowed outward at the small of his back-still standing where he'd been.

There was nothing above the neck.

His head was gone. Blood spurted from his carotid arteries, splashing onto the transfigured human beside him, still frozen in midair.

"They really made you ugly."

His consciousness began to dissipate.

The familiar blue screen appeared before him.

[Host death detected.]

[Identity: Tokyo office worker · Tanaka. Cause of death: decapitated by Satoru Gojo.]

[Calculating inheritable abilities-]

Gu Yanzhi plopped down in the void and raised a finger at the screen.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. It took several attempts before he finally worked past the breath caught in his throat.

"System." His voice was far too calm for someone who had just died.

[Here.]

"The first time, Suguru Geto massacred a village, and I ended up as the guard who abused the twins. I lived nineteen minutes. The second time, during the Shibuya Incident, Mahito turned me into a transfigured human and stuffed me onto a train. Then Satoru Gojo cut my head off. I lived forty-seven minutes. Sixty-six minutes total."

"Two reincarnations, two identities, and my combined lifespan wasn't even as long as a movie. What kind of hellish starts are you giving me?"

"I seriously can't take this anymore! Send me somewhere decent!"

The system didn't answer.

The blue screen hovered in midair, its cold glow lighting his face. Not a single word appeared. He was getting the silent treatment.

Gu Yanzhi cursed for a while before finally sitting cross-legged and slowly calming himself down.

Angry as he was, the gains from this life weren't bad.

He recalled that moment when he'd lost control just before Satoru Gojo decapitated him-his consciousness actually hadn't collapsed amid Unlimited Void's torrent of information.

This was a hidden resistance. If he encountered Unlimited Void again-or a similar attack targeting his consciousness-he might be able to withstand it better than anyone else.

And after this experience, he had a vague sense that Toji's physical strength probably wasn't so high that he'd need to stack the physiques of a hundred adults.

A few dozen people's worth. Somewhere around that scale.

Stacking physiques wasn't simply adding strength together. Muscle density, bone strength, explosive power, and durability all increased together. The improvements were comprehensive.

With his current physique equivalent to six or seven people, his actual explosive power might already approach that of more than a dozen ordinary people.

The further he stacked it, the greater the gains from each addition would become.

There was also the problem of cursed spirits.

Right now, he couldn't see cursed spirits at all. He had reincarnated twice, both times as an ordinary person with very little cursed energy.

Being unable to see cursed spirits meant he could only ever take hits without fighting back-when Suguru Geto had unleashed a cursed spirit to kill him before, he hadn't even been able to see what killed him.

But before the transfigured humans surrounded him on the platform at Shibuya Station, he had sensed something. When the air grew thick, goosebumps had risen on his skin. When Mahito approached, every hair on the back of his neck had stood on end.

That wasn't cursed energy perception. He had no cursed energy. It was pure bodily instinct, like animals growing restless before an earthquake.

After his physique reached the equivalent of six or seven people, that instinct had become sharper than before.

In other words, he didn't need to put any thought into cursed energy.

It didn't matter if his cursed energy slot stayed empty forever. He only needed to keep stacking his physique. His body's own perception could replace both sight and cursed energy perception.

"Calculate," he said.

The screen refreshed.

[Inheritable abilities from current identity:]

[Physique: transfigured human physique]

[Cursed energy: transfigured human cursed energy reserves]

[Cursed technique: none]

Gu Yanzhi stared at those three lines for three seconds. Then he smiled.

It was a genuine smile, the kind that came with an unexpected windfall.

The physique of six or seven adults, with potentially even greater explosive power.

Mahito's bodily transfiguration had taken him straight from a physique equivalent to roughly two adults to his current level, saving him who knew how many reincarnations.

And this was only the first transfiguration-if he ran into Mahito again and let him do it a few more times, his physique could keep stacking higher.

"Mahito, my good buddy, I'll gladly take your transfiguration. Hope I run into you again next life."

He stood up and rolled his neck. "Choose physique."

[Selection confirmed.]

Gu Yanzhi's physique value surged.

"I've gotten stronger."

[Begin the next transmigration?]

"Transmigrate." Once again choosing physique for slot one, Gu Yanzhi decided to continue without hesitation.

[Randomly selecting identity...]

He closed his eyes. Orange light surged up and swallowed him.