The play begins

Lin Ye raced through the deserted city. The theater was not far from the amusement park, which was one reason he had favored it.

His body grew hotter, his mind clearer. For the first time in his life, Lin Ye felt this lucid.

This prompted him to think about the Protection and Cutting runes. Things he had struggled to understand before now quickly made sense.

Psionic energy gathered around Lin Ye. Its concentration in this city was extremely high, far higher than in the Red Maze, and it was exceptionally easy to control.

A spiderlike Tier-1 Mutated Creature charged at Lin Ye from a street corner. Without even drawing his blade, he conjured a Psionic Energy Protection bristling with Psionic Energy blades in front of himself. The spider monster crashed straight into it and died.

It doesn't seem to be thinking clearly. Is that because it's a mutated creature? Or...

Without dwelling on it, Lin Ye continued racing toward the theater while contemplating the runes.

Creatures that were not thinking clearly kept attacking Lin Ye along the way. In the end, they all crashed into the Psionic Energy blades and died, no different from that spider monster.

The loot space really is convenient. I don't have to process the loot immediately or worry about running out of room in my backpack. Too bad I still have to process it when I get back to the shelter. If only I could process loot with one click.

Lin Ye's thoughts were far from satisfied.

He reached the theater without stopping along the way. The City Theater was a semicircular building with a strong artistic flair.

Outside the theater, Lin Ye finally encountered an enemy who did not feel quite so weak to his senses.

It was a burly man in a black robe. Lin Ye had seen similar robes before.

Neither spoke. The battle began the moment they met.

The burly man charged at Lin Ye at tremendous speed. His weapon was a greatsword, and from five meters away, he swung it down at Lin Ye's head.

Boom!

The greatsword, brimming with psionic energy, slammed into the Psionic Energy Protection. Rather than taking it head-on, Lin Ye tilted the Psionic Energy Protection and deflected the greatsword, sending it crashing down to his left.

At the same time, Lin Ye drew Red Blade and slashed at the burly man's vital points. The man reacted quickly. The instant the Psionic Energy Protection around his black robe was sliced through by the Psionic Energy blades, he turned sideways, trying to evade Lin Ye's Red Blade.

But Lin Ye had already anticipated that he would turn sideways to dodge. And since the greatsword had slammed down to the left, his opponent would most likely dodge right, so that was where Red Blade struck.

The slash severed the man's left hand, which he had raised to block, then sliced open his abdomen. Violent psionic energy shredded the mutation organs inside.

The burly man's corpse vanished. Lin Ye sheathed his blade and walked into the theater.

The theater had two tiers of semicircular seating and a very high ceiling. The stage gleamed beneath the overhead lights.

Lin Ye walked onto the stage step by step. Standing at its center, he continued contemplating the Protection and Cutting runes.

The Revelry Potion was extraordinarily effective. Questions that normally required long deliberation now quickly made sense, and there was no need to organize the jumbled knowledge. It arranged itself naturally in his mind, as though it, too, were reveling.

Taking out the Basic Rune-Collapse card, Lin Ye used it directly. A vast amount of knowledge about Collapse flooded his brain.

But this knowledge had no adverse effect on him. Just as when he had acquired the Protection Rune, someone bore the burden for him.

Lin Ye began taking in this knowledge, gradually studying and understanding what he received. He wanted to use this opportunity to assimilate the runes as quickly as possible. Once he left this place, studying rune knowledge would take many times the time and effort.

The theater was fairly peaceful. Occasionally, some muddleheaded Tier-1 Mutated Creatures broke in, only to leave patches of blood below the stage.

After killing the first mutated creature inside the theater, Lin Ye felt some sort of connection form between himself and the theater beneath his feet.

Afterward, every creature he killed inside the theater strengthened that connection a little. This was probably why Xiao Ye had told him to come here as quickly as possible.

As this connection strengthened, the range of Lin Ye's mental perception kept expanding, soon encompassing most of the theater. Once he killed a few more mutated creatures, the entire theater would be under his control.

Lin Ye continued studying rune knowledge. He was even tempted to use his two remaining rune cards here, but the thought of that unfortunate fellow from the Mutual Aid Association quelled his adventurous spirit.

Forget it. There's still plenty of rune knowledge I haven't fully absorbed. Once I've absorbed it all, I can study how to use the runes. There's no rush to use those two cards.

Lin Ye continued studying the runes while killing enemies that broke into the theater. As time passed, the intruders seemed increasingly frenzied. That frenzy was not confined to their minds; their bodies were no less affected.

After dispatching a mutated creature whose head had split in two, Lin Ye felt a trace of weakness.

It was not fatigue. His body and mind were both in a state of heightened excitement, and he felt no fatigue whatsoever, yet he sensed a trace of post-revelry weakness.

The sensation was not unpleasant. It was actually rather comfortable.

Even so, it also showed that his body was close to being unable to hold out any longer.

I can't keep going like this... A lair... Maybe I can inscribe some runes inside the theater...

Lin Ye began directing his Mental Strength, which already covered the entire theater, to inscribe runes on its walls. By now, the theater was no longer ordinary. Its walls were fully capable of bearing runes and psionic energy.

Lin Ye had crafted psionic items before coming here, but after his recent rune studies, his technique had undergone a fundamental change. To his current eyes, the psionic items he had made before were nothing more than crude scribbles.

While studying rune inscription techniques, Lin Ye inscribed various runes throughout the theater. This was an extremely valuable opportunity to experiment. Psionic buildings of such high quality were rare, after all.

Mutated Creatures kept breaking into the theater, but this time, Lin Ye did not need to act. Invisible Psionic Energy blades sliced them apart, leaving only patches of blood at the theater entrance.

Too bad all the corpses went into the loot space. Otherwise, I could try out the Splicing Rune while I'm at it.

Lin Ye had previously focused on studying the Cutting Rune and knew only the basics of the Splicing Rune. If he had something to splice, he could take the opportunity to explore it in depth.

After some more time passed, mutated creatures stopped entering the theater. It seemed all those nearby had been killed.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the theater's main doors.

"Come in."

Lin Ye extended the appropriate courtesy to those who were polite.

A fully armed humanoid creature walked into the theater. It took just one look inside, left a single remark, then turned and walked out.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

Lin Ye did not pursue it. He did not actually like killing people. It was just that, much of the time, violence was the only way to solve problems.

Afterward, some other rational creatures entered the theater, but after seeing the situation inside, none attacked. Instead, they chose to turn around and leave.