Life Game In Other World
Chapter 571: Array (Super Long - Asking for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 571: Chapter 571: Array (Super Long Chapter Asking for Monthly Votes)

Purple streams of light flowed along the crimson blood, racing upwards, while tendrils danced in the sky like an eager downpour, barreling down head-on.

The use of Super Memory also came with a price, which is why He Ao did not keep it activated for extended periods. Though these tendrils were powerful, their attacking consciousness and soul happened to be areas where He Ao had greater resistance. Therefore, He Ao could afford to relax some defenses, allowing for mistakes during the fight.

Thus, when using Super Memory, he would briefly activate it, take a glance at the position of the tendrils, then, relying on combat intuition and sensation, he would roughly determine the direction in which the tendrils were likely to swing next, before allowing his Divine Sense to attach to the bone axe and strike.

But such a fight could not last.

Although He Ao’s soul could withstand the contamination and babble brought by these tendrils, Jess’s body could not.

With the battle’s continuation, more and more blood began to seep from He Ao’s skin; a fine, intense sensation of pain also swept across his consciousness.

Inside this body, chaotic and frantic thoughts crashed and surged. While He Ao’s will could suppress them, in the process, the body’s muscles and internal organs endured a strange, twisted depletion.

Even though He Ao could not feel any clear injuries, he could distinctly sense his life force withering away as these thoughts swept through.

A few more strokes had been added to the patterns on the wooden box, the flowing purple radiance growing ever more intense.

He Ao briefly activated Super Memory, glanced at the densely packed tendrils closing in, as well as the faint outline of the walls behind them.

Then, grasping the wooden box, he leaped forward, flipping like a fish in the dark into the living room, avoiding the tendrils’ attacks by slipping through the gaps between them.

His body landed near the front door; he immediately leaned the wooden box against the wall, drawing with one hand, while lifting the bone axe with the other to cleave through the void.

At this moment, he had already deactivated Super Memory, and the space around him appeared as an empty void within his field of vision.

However, when the bone axe imbued with Divine Sense sliced through the void, a clear resistance was felt in his hands.

In He Ao’s mind, the movement trajectories of those invisible tendrils naturally began to be simulated, then following his intuition, he chopped forward.

His simulation was not as perfect as the battle model created by Super Memory—it was mostly built on his intuition and experience.

The tendrils brought no sound as they swept in. Without activating Super Memory, there were no scenes to be seen; He Ao could not rely on his eyes or the sensations of his environment to capture the movements of these tendrils.

To him, these tendrils were like an invisible and terrifying soul.

He could only guess the movement patterns of these tendrils based on the scenes he saw during the brief moments when Super Memory was activated.

He still could not fully determine the movement direction of the tendrils, but this was better than standing still and taking hits like he did at the beginning.

Relying on the complete memory provided by Super Memory, he could remember the original positions of all the tendrils and continuously ponder where they would strike next.

In such dire circumstances, his comprehension of battle rapidly increased.

Only one or two arcs had been outlined on the wooden box when the tendrils once again crowded in densely.

He Ao again briefly activated Super Memory, quickly using Soul Power to touch the tendrils he had ’blindly’ severed, absorbing the knowledge hidden within, then grabbed the wooden box and leapt to the other side of the living room.

Although these tendrils lacked higher intellect, it was quite possible that they were part of a Higher Being. The pollution and suppression from a higher order, along with their formless bodies, were in fact immensely horrific.

If He Ao didn’t have Super Memory to see these tendrils or Divine Sense to harm them, even with some mental resistance, he would have left without hesitation.

The damage caused by these tendrils was not bloody like that from terrifying exotic beasts or weapons. It was silent and inescapable suppression.

Not knowing where one’s enemy was, or how they attacked.

In the bright light, in one’s own home, in places invisible to the human eye.

These intangible tendrils watched over those living there, standing densely in every corner. On the other side of the world, they encircled the bodies of the ignorant, whispering secrets.

If one remained oblivious, one could still walk peacefully and happily toward death.

But if one discovered their existence, unable to see or defy them, only to wait in desperation for death, that oppressing fear would be enough to shatter one’s soul.

Yet Jess’s father, knowing that in every corner around him, invisible and terrifying ’eyes’ watched him, still managed to calmly set up a contingency.

In fact, all he had to do was to give in, and all this oppression and despair would disappear. He could even receive a handsome reward from the Mysterious Person.

The only thing that needed to be sacrificed were the lives of those wandering on the streets, unrelated to him, uncared for by anyone.

······

He Ao added a few more strokes to his drawing, the will that was sweeping over his body had grown increasingly powerful, which meant that many tentacles had broken through the house, winding around his body and soul.

As the purple glow on the wooden box grew more intense, the shadow tentacles became crazier, trying desperately to destroy He Ao’s body and soul.

At this moment, He Ao’s body was covered in blood, appearing like a bloodied person dotted with red patches.

His body was rapidly weakening, a tremendous feeling of exhaustion swept through him, hindering his movements.

The snow-white bone axe moved through the air, wave after wave of resistance transmitted to He Ao’s wrist, indicating that one after another, the tentacles were being severed by him.

These feedbacks also told him exactly how many tentacles he had hit—this time, only a few of his attacks missed their mark, with most landing precisely on the tentacles he had aimed for.

His judgment was becoming more and more accurate.

But there were simply too many tentacles in this room, and the attack range of the bone axe was not as broad as a long sword, making it suitable for single-target attacks but somewhat lacking for these dense group attacks.

Even though He Ao’s speed was so fast that he almost formed an invisible axe barrier in front of him, more and more tentacles swept towards him from all directions.

He Ao activated his Super Memory again, and after accepting the knowledge from the limbs that had fallen to the ground, he swung his bone axe, cleaving through a swath of tentacles, rolling forward into the master bedroom.

The curtains of the master bedroom were not drawn, and the bright moon was directly opposite the window at this moment, the tranquil moonlight streaming in from outside.

The scene was exceptionally quiet and beautiful at this moment.

If the hazy light hadn’t passed through those dense, nearly room-filling, ethereal tentacles hanging from the ceiling.

The shadow tentacles in the master bedroom were more numerous than those in the rest of the living room and second bedroom combined, and when He Ao rolled in here, those dense tentacles surged and fixed their gaze on him.

Then they attacked him without hesitation.

And at this moment, behind He Ao, the tentacles from the living room, second bedroom, and study were also converging, twining towards his soul.

He Ao glanced down at the wooden box in his hand, bit the handle of the bone axe with his mouth, allowing his hand that held the axe to let go, and then immediately raised his hand to draw on the wooden box.

There were no open wounds on this hand, but at this moment, he was covered in blood, so there was no need for wounds to draw blood.

The artistic foundation from Vian and the powerful bodily control of a C-level Transcendent kept his hand remarkably steady.

Pattern after pattern was drawn in blood, connecting with the original purple patterns on the wooden box.

Terrible power flowed through these purple patterns, a faint glow flickering within them as if an ancient heart was beating.

In the knowledge of the mystic arts, blood is one of the most spiritually potent substances within the human body, as well as one of the most basic mystical materials.

The blood of a Transcendent possesses even more hidden power.

However, different materials have different attributes, and while blood can be said to be the most versatile of mystical materials, in certain Arrays or Rituals, it may not be as effective as some specific mystical materials.

The original Array on this wooden box was supposed to be drawn with some kind of mystical material that was more effective, and since He Ao didn’t have any mystical materials on hand at the moment, he had to use his blood as a substitute.

Those purple lights traveled along the blood-drawn patterns, and although the glow faded somewhat because blood was not the best material, they still propelled the Array’s operation.

The chaotic thoughts echoing in his mind grew more intense, those twisted thoughts playing out like a disorderly symphony in his mind.

Two streams of bloody tears flowed from his eyes, and under these chaotic thoughts, a vast will seemed to be awakening from a long slumber.

The struggle and tug-of-war here had finally caught the attention of the Higher Being’s true self, who was gradually coming to, focusing his gaze on He Ao.

This time, his awakening was even closer, and despite the vast distance, the pressure it placed on He Ao’s body surpassed the previous attention.

The thoughts dancing in He Ao’s mind became more turbulent and excited with the awakening of this Mysterious Person, starting to show some intellect, abandoning the almost unaffected will of He Ao and beginning to attack his body with all their might.

And with the oppressive feelings brought by that Mysterious Person, even more chaotic powers were transmitted.

These surging powers interfered with He Ao’s body, with his actions, contending with him for control over his body.

He Ao forced his will to suppress the restless thoughts within his body, his originally steady hands now trembling slightly, and his smooth movements becoming slow.

Yet his movements did not stop; they continued, slow and steady, as he traced the final stroke on the wooden box.

The purple glow on the wooden box converged in an instant, then burst forth with a brilliant light, making the ordinarily plain box shimmer like a magnificent gem.

Faint purple streams of light emerged from under He Ao’s feet, illuminated by this brilliance, and then spread to the walls, the ceiling, to the master bedroom, living room, second bedroom, and study, reaching every corner of the room.

Lines crisscrossing and covering the entire house appeared in He Ao’s field of vision.

He Ao watched the purple streams of light, focusing on the intertwining patterns.

This was an Array, one evolved from the Ritual Array for transmuting power, but it was completely different from that original Array.

Even though he had guessed it, He Ao was still captivated by the intricate and magnificent Array.

Relying on the Array knowledge he had glimpsed in his moments of madness, he quickly understood the specific function of this Array.

This was the contingency plan left by Jess’s father; this was how he integrated that final secret knowledge into these tentacles.

At this moment, He Ao had completely understood the actions of Jess’s father.

Although Jess’s father could not see these hidden tentacles, he felt the invisible force trying to contaminate him, pervading the entire house.

This force originated from the tentacles and was connected to all tentacles in the house, and ultimately would return to the bodies of these shadowy tentacles.

Jess’s father took advantage of this circulation of power; he wove a new Array, based on the Ritual Array he had always studied, but with many modifications.

This Array would naturally absorb the energy leaking from the tentacles in the void, and as this force followed the lines of the Array, it would undergo a ’transmutation’, embedding what Jess’s father wanted to insert.

Then this force would flow out from the Array and return to the bodies of the tentacles, eventually merging into them.

And the lines depicting this Array contained only a tiny trace of Transcendent Qi. Jess’s father had used some Transcendent material to craft paint with a minuscule amount of Transcendent essence, and then painted this Array that spanned the entire house with it.

According to Jess’s memories, not long before his father was murdered, there was a simple redecoration at home, including a retouch of the walls.

It was just an ordinary repaint, with nothing noteworthy.

The Federation’s wall paints were easily damaged, so if one wanted to maintain a clean house, frequent repainting was necessary.

After his father’s death, Jess also arranged for several repaintings.

But it was probably during that repaint that Jess’s father engraved the Array into the walls and then covered it up with paint.

As for the Array on the floor, Jess’s father ingeniously traced it out using the gaps between tiles.

This was an Array custom-designed for this house.

Even when He Ao used Super Memory, he could only sense something amiss with the walls but couldn’t determine whether there was some kind of constructed Array on them.

After all, Super Memory could only record what He Ao’s eyes saw, not what was concealed inside the walls, invisible to him.

At that moment, the words Jess’s father had said to young Jess echoed suddenly in He Ao’s ears,

"Everything that has a pattern can be utilized through scientific methods."

This was the research philosophy of Jess’s father. In a sense, Jess’s father truly practiced this research philosophy through action.

From the perspective of a scientific researcher, he was a genius.

He Ao looked down at the wooden box in his hands.

The reason these originally invisible Arrays had lit up was because they had absorbed too much power.

And that power came from the wooden box in He Ao’s hands.

The supplementary pattern that He Ao had just drawn on the wooden box was not to complete the Array, but an Array pattern he had created himself based on the knowledge left by Jess’s father.

The wooden box maintained stability by using a nested Ritual Array to ’deceive’ the power inside the box, making the forces flow along this Array, thinking the ritual was still continuing.

However, the circulating energy would destroy the Array inscribed on the surface of the wooden box, eventually causing the box to fail and the energies to go out of control.

Among the knowledge left by Jess’s father was the structure to stabilize the Ritual Array. Although He Ao had only acquired a small fraction of this knowledge in the recent battle, with it and his own understanding of Arrays, he had managed to deconstruct some of the principles behind Jess’s father’s stabilization of the ritual.

Then, using this principle, he created a new Array. By simply adding some lines to the original Array, he was able to form a new, stable Array.

This Array could directly utilize the energy within the wooden box to strengthen it. Now, the wooden box was no longer bound by any time limit of the seal.

The energy absorbed by the Arrays spread throughout the room was the energy that leaked out when He Ao’s newly constructed Array took effect.

As a result, through this Array, He Ao obtained a wooden box that could stably contain those uncontrollable forces and could also be controlled to some extent.

But this method could only be used by He Ao, who, with the bonus of Jess’s frenzied state, was probably the person who understood this Array best in the world, second only to Jess’s father.

Therefore, he could quickly grasp Jess’s father’s mindset and modify it accordingly.

He Ao slowly and laboriously moved the wooden box horizontally, activated "Super Memory," and looked around.

At this moment, his surroundings were filled with tentacles densely packed like walls. These tentacles entwined around him, enveloping his head and body, wrapping him up like an ethereal rice dumpling.

His arms were also wrapped in these phantom tentacles. On the back of his hand, he could see bright red blood seeping out from his pristine skin.

He Ao’s movements were slow, but he did not stop. He grasped the top and bottom of the wooden box and slowly applied force. This long-sealed box, which had never been opened, cracked open for the first time.

At that moment, He Ao felt nothing but intense ringing in his ears.

It was like a gust of wind whistling past his ears, and the air pressure of the entire world seemed to drop.

The terrifying force erupted like boiling steam, swiftly dissipating, and then surged into the invisible tentacles around him.

In that instant, He Ao felt as if the unseen shadowy tentacles were about to detach from the illusory world and reveal their shape.

Then, these tentacles, caught between reality and illusion, burst suddenly like overstretched balloons.

He Ao quickly used his Soul Power to touch the remnants of these tentacles, and fragmented knowledge rapidly entered his mind.

The actions of these tentacles were silent, as was the sound of their demise.

He Ao felt as if he was watching a grand silent play, in which villains were being shattered one after another.

He turned around and looked at the wall of the master bedroom. On the bedside table, there was a simple framed photograph.

It was a family portrait.

The man in the photo held his child and wife, looking forward with eyes that seemed to penetrate through time, gazing at the very spot where He Ao was standing.

He was smiling.

When the last tentacle shattered, He Ao closed the wooden box.

The consciousness that was trying to awaken fell into slumber once again, and the illusory limbs on the ground gradually dispersed.

He Ao turned off "Super Memory" and looked out the window of the master bedroom. The bright moonlight spilled onto the silent floor and the old bed.

In the hazy light, it seemed as if a somewhat haggard man was sitting on the bed reading a book. He turned his head, looked at He Ao standing in the doorway, and revealed a gentle smile.

His figure slowly faded away until it completely vanished.

It seemed like an overlap of time and memory, or perhaps it was the remnant desire of that person left in this world.

He Ao turned back and took another glance over the familiar yet unfamiliar room.

He packed the wooden box and the bone axe back into the cloth bag, turned on the lights, and the bright light drove away the darkness.

He Ao walked into the bathroom, took out cleaning tools, and quietly and carefully cleaned the house.

His wristband vibrated with a message from Heish.