Blind Spot
Chapter 244 - 228 Awakening 4

Chapter 244: 228 Awakening 4

For a moment, the Mud Monster and the four of them looked at each other, none of them making a move.

They observed each other for over half a minute.

Only when they were certain that the Mud Monster showed no signs of aggression did they slowly relax.

Li Chengyi walked slowly forward, standing in front of the Mud Monster to observe it up close.

This guy had arms and legs, but they were extremely thick; its neck was as wide as its head, and it was nearly a meter thick, looking like a wall up close.

The mud on its body was still slowly flowing naturally, like sesame paste with too little water, filled with lots of granules.

"Hello?" Li Chengyi tried speaking to it.

Mud Monster: "Gurgle gurgle."

"Move left?" Li Chengyi tried to control it, both mentally and verbally at the same time.

But it was no use. The Mud Monster showed no reaction, still standing there dumbly without moving an inch.

On its stout cylindrical face, there were no facial features, only a flowing black smear.

"Can you move?" Li Chengyi reached out to touch the Mud Monster.

His finger touched its surface, cold and chilly, like touching modeling clay.

The Mud Monster still didn’t react, letting him touch it.

Suddenly.

Hiss...

The entire body of the Mud Monster began to emit smoke, releasing a large amount of black smoke that dispersed upwards.

The black smoke drifted about half a meter then faded into invisibility, disappearing without a trace.

Along with the smoking, the body of the Mud Monster started to shrink rapidly. In just five or six seconds, it became smaller and smaller until it turned into a puddle of black mud, smearing on the ground.

A few seconds later, the mud on the ground also began to change color, fading away.

In the end, the whole Mud Monster seemed as if it had never appeared, completely vanishing.

"Two minutes, twelve seconds!" Xiao Zhong reported the duration, "From the moment this creature appeared and took form to the moment it completely disappeared, it took a total of two minutes and twelve seconds!"

Li Chengyi nodded, squatted down to check the floor, and his hand couldn’t feel any trace of the mud anymore.

Clearly, the Mud Monster had completely disappeared.

"It seems that Dark City still hides many secrets..." he said in a deep voice.

"If we could find a way to control these creatures, could we form a combat team that’s entirely our own in reality?" Rainbow Candy asked excitedly.

"It’s difficult." Li Chengyi shook his head, "This Mud Monster isn’t very strong, and it doesn’t last long, nor is it fast. It can only deal with slow-moving enemies. It’s not very useful."

"Its greater value is for research. If we can figure out how it takes form..." Xiao Zhong was equally interested.

Even for Blind Spot Individuals who have encountered many strange things, such anomalies occurring in reality were still very rare.

"Later I’ll go back in and bring out more of these stones. But now, back to the main topic, how’s the search going for the prototype?" Li Chengyi stood up and asked solemnly.

The group had all weathered great storms and quickly came back to their senses.

"No clues whatsoever!" Rainbow Candy said gravely, "We’ve leveraged Uncle Xindela’s channels and haven’t found any trace of the original model. But..."

"But what?"

"But, we discovered that Dark City isn’t a new Blind Spot; it’s actually had records from a long time ago. One of Uncle Xindela’s contacts helped us find some archival records at White Star. They’re from over a decade ago and mention several Blind Spot Individuals who had entered and exited Dark City," answered Rainbow Candy.

"Over a decade ago... The fact that Lien could enter indicates that Dark City has existed for a long time; this doesn’t prove anything," Li Chengyi said.

"Yes. What’s valuable is the information they left behind," Rainbow Candy said as she took out a projection pen and pressed it, aiming at one side of the wall.

A circular screen immediately appeared on the wall.

The screen clearly displayed two young men with brown curly hair, lying on a white hospital bed, gasping for breath, with oxygen masks on their faces, covered in blood on their necks and bodies.

"Hopkins and Li Jiade, these two were the Blind Spot Individuals who entered Dark City back then. Unlike many who vanished within the Blind Spots, they emerged only to die from full-body organ failure, the cause unknown," Rainbow Candy introduced.

"The records they left claimed they had escaped through an intangible door within Dark City. And fundamentally, Dark City has no real-world prototype! According to their accounts, the Blind Spot changes with every passing moment, adapting and shifting with the city’s changes. The key point is the absence of a prototype."

"They didn’t find a prototype either?" Li Chengyi shivered.

"That’s right," nodded Rainbow Candy. "So, Brother Yi, you must be careful this time, the records don’t mention what this intangible door is or where it could be..."

"The intangible door... I’ll try to search for it," Li Chengyi nodded.

"If Lien could survive in Dark City, there must be some rules to make it less dangerous – you have to find them," Xindela reminded from the side, "The Blind Spot where Lien disappeared isn’t Dark City, which means he successfully escaped from there. If he could do it, I believe you can too!"

He looked seriously into Li Chengyi’s eyes.

"Rest assured, boss!" Li Chengyi nodded firmly.

The atmosphere grew heavy, the dangers of Dark City unquestionable, and everyone was somewhat anxious.

The company and the team’s core was Li Chengyi; if anything happened to him, everything they had worked for could collapse in an instant.

And they had all grown accustomed to trusting in Li Chengyi, always moving forward under his leadership.

Now, with the situation as it was, many were feeling unsettled.

"Next, let’s discuss the matter of biological Armor," Li Chengyi shifted the topic. "Speaking of which, I hadn’t expected Dragon Gate Crane to be the first to activate the Armor."

"Boss, what do they call this kind of biological Armor? What functions does it have?" Xiao Zhong was more interested in the details.

"You can call it the Fantasia Floral Armor," Li Chengyi replied, observing the thoughtful expressions of the three, and continued, "It utilizes ultra-microscopic particle robot technology and the robots’ self-replicating capabilities. It collects impurities from the human body and materials from the external environment and then, through biochemical reactions, condenses into a special Armor matrix."

"That sounds quite mystical..." Rainbow Candy listened with a puzzled look.

"It’s perfectly normal. Everyone knows about trees, right? Trees are hard because they are made predominantly of carbon. But a large portion of this carbon comes from carbon dioxide in the air. If trees can turn carbon from the air into sturdy wood, then for more advanced particle robots, it’s even less of a challenge," Li Chengyi earnestly explained.

"..."

The three of them looked at him with calm faces, their eyes saying ’do you take me for a fool?’

"Anyway, you should know, the Fantasia Floral Armor can amplify all your physical attributes except your mental faculties, and the more you wear it and the longer you use it, the more your physiques will improve until they reach a certain limit," Li Chengyi explained seriously.

"That advanced!? Uncle Xindela, does White Star have such technology?" asked Rainbow Candy immediately, turning to Xindela. White Star was known for its highly advanced technology.

This man was once a part of the top echelons of capital in White Star.

"Hmm, I have heard of it, but it’s still in the lab stage. It’s a project combining bioengineering and exoskeleton armor technologies. However... this is the first time I have seen a technology that remains invisible and then suddenly appears," Xindela remarked somewhat emotionally, "Perhaps it’s a new advancement that surfaced after I left..."

After saying this, he gave Li Chengyi a slight blink.

The gesture was quite secretive; only Li Chengyi caught it, and the other two didn’t notice it.

Immediately, Li Chengyi understood that his boss was smoothing things over for him!

Just as expected from the wily old ginger.

And such convincing acting!

"Based on the situation with the Dragon Gate Crane, stimulating the Fantasia Floral Armor requires time accumulation as well as an emotional surge of a certain intensity. This is our biggest assumption, so everyone may try more when you are free," Li Chengyi advised.

"Understood."

"All right!"

Xiao Zhong and Rainbow Candy responded.

After finishing their business, the trio didn’t stay overnight but left for a nearby luxury hotel.

They did this to avoid a Flash Appearance that would take them all into the Dark City together.

Although the chance of a Flash Appearance happening was very low, they feared the off-chance occurrence.

In Dark City, if they were unlucky enough to run into monsters, it would mean instant death for them.

Thus, for safety, it was better for everyone to stay far apart.

In the middle of the night... in the basement of the villa.

Li Chengyi stood in the middle of the empty space holding the Green Light Greatsword, calculating that the time was nearly right, so he prepared everything in advance.

Under conditions of sufficient Evil Thoughts, and fully charged Flowers with Purple Magnolia and Wisteria Flowers in the Divine Flower Position.

He planned to enhance the Wisteria Flowers first.

The Wisteria Floral Dress, which offers balanced enhancement in all areas, was his initial support in starting up; as his opponents became increasingly strong, he used it less and less.

Now it was time to strengthen it.

’Evil Thoughts: 163%’

Li Chengyi focused his thoughts, his index finger lightly tapped the Wisteria cell of the Mark of the Evil Flower.

Hiss.

The Evil Thoughts of the Wisteria surged from 0, rapidly soaring to the full value of 100.

A faint purple light illuminated from the first cell.

The third evolution of the Wisteria, completed within just ten seconds.

The purple light faded, extinguishing.

A strand of feedback flowed from the Evil Flower, pouring into his mind.

’Wisteria Floral Dress: Fourth evolution progress 0%, Evil Thoughts: 0. Available number of evolutions: 6.

Flower Language Technique: Hand of Obsession (Fear Altered Form. Any living being you touch will enter a forced state of obsession, with the obsession target predetermined by you in your mind; the duration of the obsession depends on the combined strength of the living being. Against life forms far weaker than oneself, there is a chance to cause permanent fear dispersal.)’

Impressive!

Li Chengyi rejoiced in his heart.

The third evolution clearly came with all-around enhancements; the requirement of touching twice with Flower Language Technique: Drunken Flower Hand was changed to just once, and Hand of Obsession could be pre-set with a target in mind.

This significantly increased the ease of operational convenience.

This was simply a powerful control technique for close combats!

And this fear dispersal effect, whatever it was, clearly wasn’t weak, but testing was needed later.

He was about to wear the Floral Dress to test out the enhancements.

Suddenly, his vision swirled with dizziness.

Li Chengyi’s heart tensed, he quickly gripped the Green Electric Greatsword, took a deep breath, and steadied his mind.

Tzzzt.

In an instant, his vision blurred.

Countless snowflake dots abruptly filled his sight.

After lasting a few seconds, the snowflake dots slowly faded away.

And at this moment, everything in front of him had drastically changed.

The previous basement had transformed into a desolate and dim street of an empty city.

He was standing in the middle of the road. On both sides, dilapidated tall buildings, like rotting trees, cast shadows all the way to the horizon at the end of his vision.

Wooo~~~~

A piercing alarm sounded over the city.

The faint ash fog in the air started thinning and dispersing.

’Here it comes!’

Li Chengyi gripped his sword hilt tightly, and suddenly numerous Wisteria Petals appeared around him.

The fluttering petals circled him like a purple sandstorm, converging into an exquisite, artful dark purple Armor around him.

Compared to the previous Floral Dress, the Armor now featured elongated ventilation slits resembling knife cuts on the back of his arms and legs.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, purple-red particles jetted out from the slits, casting the surrounding ground in a faint purple light.

Boom!!

In the distance on the street, a familiar black figure, the Armored Mud Monster, carrying the Green Electric Greatsword, was sprinting full speed towards him.

Click. Li Chengyi likewise lifted his greatsword, holding it vertically by his side, as he focused on the rapidly approaching monster.