Yang Zicang realized he was rapidly leaving Chin Mong behind, the distance between them widening by dozens of meters in just two or three breaths!
–What are you trying to do? Stop!–
A Paleshade Wyrm materialized, but the young man on the other side raised his open hands, signaling he meant no harm.
_-**My ability is ‘Puzzle Storage’—it’s a very, very weak ability.
–As a puzzle storage specialist, I can only store or unfold objects that contain the concept of a ‘puzzle.’ At the start here, I had no idea what I could do. I tried storing toy puzzles I found into the void, but beyond that, I couldn’t find any other use for my ability.–
Yang Zicang immediately grasped the true potential of that ability.
–It wasn’t until I entered the Crisscross Zone and saw the background scenes that I realized what I could truly preserve. Yet, in the city, I was still useless.–
Chin Mong’s silhouette was steadily fading into the distance, everything around him receding as the excess terrain under his feet expanded larger and larger, quickly carrying him over a hundred meters to a river.
–So, the land beneath your feet is the cross-background scene you preserved? That’s a powerful ability, Chin Mong.–
Yang Zicang took two steps forward and called out, –Here, you’ll have a huge role to play. You’ll become someone remarkable. Come over here.–
From the young man before him, he saw utter despair.
–A puzzle… a puzzle forever missing one piece.–
Chin Mong sighed, lifting his head to gaze at the blue sky, now adorned with a phantom moonlight. He looked straight at Yang Zicang: –Stop it, Brother Yang. There’s no scene backdrop here at all. Aside from using the puzzles I’ve gathered before, I’m utterly useless now.–
–You can converge the lost-frequency scenes and become an extraordinary man. Here, you’ll be a hundred times more useful than me.–
Woken by the tremors, the few inside the tent sat up, dazed, swaying as they rose, intending to step out—only to find the tent had appeared in a strange place.
–Where is this?– the dazed ones asked, still foggy with sleep.
–Thanks for the comfort…– Chin Mong recalled his past experiences. –No one was willing to take me into those Crosspaces. Until someone had me assimilate others’ scenes instead.–
That was… murder, wasn’t it?
–They’d use frequency crystals to find the passage, but instead of entering, they’d wait for the victims to go in. Then they’d have me ambush those who entered the scenes first, ‘devour’ their Chronos.–
Chin Mong spoke in agony.
–If I didn’t comply, they’d beat me, drive me to the brink of death, make my life unbearable. I’d had enough, so I swallowed them up.–
Suddenly, beneath Chin Mong’s feet, landscapes burst forth in all directions, spreading like a vivid painting and expanding into even more land masses.
[I feel extra terrain spawning.]
Yang Zicang sensed the resolve in Chin Mong’s eyes, as if he were walking to his death.
–There’s no need for you to make such a decision—stop, Chin Mong!–
Everyone suddenly heard a voice of thought, which was not Moxel’s, but someone else’s.
｛How amusing. I thought I would be imprisoned for a long time, but I never expected that the master of this cage would be the first to falter.｝
It was a language unknown to them, yet they could understand it directly.
Wang Chong’s eyes widened; Zuo Feixian cautiously stepped back, glanced around, and picked up a stone from the ground, gripping it in her hand as a weapon.
The feeling was all too familiar. Yang Zicang looked into the distance.
–Trouble—everyone, run!–
A soul-crushing pressure emerged from beneath a hill that formed part of the scene backdrop in the distance, sending nerves tightening.
There, a dark crimson patch of the scene landscape tried several times to surface but was suppressed by some unseen force.
–This is it.–
Chin Mong said grimly: –Too many scene fragments have pieced together a twisted terrain, and inside it, a moonshadow monster has been born. So I couldn’t let it loose. I could only keep strengthening the imprisonment nodes to seal it away while buying time for acceptance. But now, I can no longer suppress it.–
Heaven and earth lost their luster. Wang Chong and his companions scrambled outward in panic.
From chaos, the grasslands, forests, rivers, small lakes—along with a patch of snow—gradually took shape, as did a translucent camp at the foot of the mountains.
The camp was filled with countless bones—twisted bones of beasts and humans alike, weathered dry, dangling, or stockpiled as provisions…
Boom! The ground gave way with a heavy lurch.
Looking around, beyond this newly-formed zone, a blurry darkness shrouded the exterior, as though cut off from the outside world—a Crosspace that seemed penetrable to the eye.
–They won’t die right away.–
Chin Mong doubled over in agony, trembling uncontrollably.
–They struggle to survive within my ‘body.’–
The Moxel on his chest flickered furiously, its intricate lines weaving across that eerie, illusory ground.
–In nothing but despair…–
A hazy silhouette materialized from the distant camp.
Covered in black mist, this monstrous humanoid radiated an overwhelming, suffocating presence—like a walking bomb ready to detonate at any moment.
{Finally free from that nightmare, and right out of the gate enjoying a delicious meal… Not too shabby at all.}
Its long, steel pitchfork-like fingernails glinted as it set its gaze evenly on Yang Zicang in the distance.
……
With a grim expression, Yang Zicang stared solemnly at the figure, unfolding the Moxel on his chest toward Morris in Hubville, yet failing to connect.
It was still early morning; Morris and Popoly were likely still asleep.
Yang Zicang gazed at the humanoid silhouette. –That’s a humanoid creature born only within the Crosspace.–
{So many terrains exist. This place still counts as Crosspace, then.}
Suddenly, all the shadowy matter on the moonlight monster’s surface retracted into its body, causing it to grow a size larger, while emitting a dim mist tinged with an even redder hue.
[The Moon Lunar Tier opponent has recalibrated its strength.]
{So you are the new pinnacle being.}
The monster staring at Yang Zicang swept its claw, the energy gust it loosed crashing two human skulls hanging from the trees with a resounding clatter.
–Damn it!– Yang Zicang’s heart tightened with caution.
Despite being a kilometer away, its every move seemed enacted before everyone’s eyes. Even Chin Mong, gravely nearsighted, saw its actions with crystal clarity, as if they were etched directly into one’s mind.
{Forever stronger than the strongest here—that is my prerogative. Ha, I see you have beings that somewhat exceed these two.}
The aura it exuded far surpassed any opponent Yang Zicang had ever encountered.
Yang Zicang had no doubt that it could kill Lu Zhishen the moment it laid eyes on him.
{{「Comprehensive ability slightly stronger than mine… the shadow beneath the moonlight.–}_**}
Suddenly, the terrain beneath Yang Zicang’s feet vanished abruptly, but before it disappeared, his figure had already dashed beyond the edge of that piece of ground.
He glared furiously at Chin Mong in the distance, –What are you doing—trying to swallow me alive?!–
Chin Mong’s spiritual energy trembled, and he said, –No, I was trying to stop you. I’m sorry, Zicang Bro. I didn’t know this monster could still grow stronger even now. I—I thought you could handle it.–
–I can!– Yang Zicang charged forward.
In the sky, several floating specks of light suddenly appeared.
{{_Ah, breaking news, huh?}_}
{{_Let me see whose reputation just blew up this big.}_}
{{_So many prime spots—never been this many before.}_}
Whoosh! Yang Zicang turned into a blur, and in the sidelong glances of distant figures running and looking back, he dashed toward the barrier veiled by gray energy and flickering Moxel lines.
The monster stopped at the edge of the land, thrusting its hands into the ground.
{{_You think isolating me actually means you scraps can deal with me? Such a low-tier life-form mentality.}_}
Rumble!
Beside this illusory patch of land, countless twisting black brambles sprouted rapidly, each thorn as long as a finger, densely covering the ground. The nearby vegetation quickly withered, and the soil lost its vital essence, turning desolate.
All the nourishment of the land was gathered onto the swiftly growing brambles!
–Die!–
Yang Zicang halted his steps and kicked a stone from the ground; the moment it flew out, it was coated with a golden void-flame.
Thud! Thud!
The stone only penetrated one meter into the bramble forest before its onward momentum ceased.
[I nullified six 300N forces. I reckon each bramble nullifies 300N of my force.]
Up in the sky, a few drifting, tiny wisps of glowing light fluttered over, some casually bumping into each other in slight touches.
{Hey there, little cuties, from which city’s press are you, eh?}
{And you, big-eyed cutie-pie, are you a reporter from Crimson?}
{Yeah, that’s right.}
These luminous clusters, seemingly alive, scattered around this land that emerged from within Chin Mong, observing, until they all suddenly turned to face the area where the bramble scene had appeared.
A more formidable force emerged from the patch of land.
The clusters of light all swooped closer with a whisper.
The moonlight monster, its hands thrust into the ground, curled its lips upward, casting a look of undisguised mockery at Yang Zicang.
The monster suddenly lifted its head.
Before their expressions could change, a silver Lance, trailing a golden-red afterimage, suddenly appeared from above and pierced its forehead.
Smack! The monster’s head split in two! The Lance plunged straight into its body, piercing through and nailing it to the ground.
Several people in the distance stared in shock at the crimson-flamed Lance that had emerged out of nowhere.
Chin Mong in the center of the terrain stood frozen in place, dumbfounded.
–That’s… it, then?– Chin Mong muttered in bewilderment—this guy possessing the QuadMoxel was way too strong!
Two little specks of light flitted down, floating beside his face, chattering incessantly against his cheek.
{So, what’s on your mind now, my famous Master Mong?}
{Hey, did you know your fame score’s already over fifty?}
Chin Mong turned a deaf ear to them. He only stared at the monster’s figure beyond the thorny jungle opposite Yang Zicang, skewered by the spear.
That figure had always radiated an oppressive ferocity in his consciousness, one that felt insurmountable. Yet now, it was pierced through so effortlessly by the suddenly appearing Lance!
But Yang Zicang furrowed his brow.
He didn’t receive any feedback from Chronos!
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