Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 145 - 119. Cage Deathmatch (Part 2)

Chapter 145: 119. Cage Deathmatch (Part 2)

In a strict sense, the "Mysterious" occupation requires the most talent. Those who can awaken "Spiritual Energy" are already considered freaks and oddities in the eyes of the mundane.

The "Sovereign" occupation doesn’t rely on talent. If you still don’t know how to shoot, can’t beat people up, your arithmetic talent is lacking, yet you want flashy special effects — Aozi suggests that by hard grinding, you can join the "Meteor Fall Master" as one of the Supreme Paths.

If a "Mysterious" occupation follower pairs up with the wrong Deity, they’re done for. The only way to save yourself is to quickly delete your account and start over.

Orphans of the Void are a special type of Psychicers. Most of them, from birth, because of their inherently powerful Spiritual Energy, inadvertently kill their own parents. Hence, these individuals are called "Children of the Void" and "Orphans of the Void". Most of them, due to the lack of parental companionship, end up with distorted minds, venturing down the path of crime and leading a tragic and lonely life.

In the past, there were many NPC Orphans of the Void with backstories that brought tears to the eyes of those who heard them, and sorrow to those who saw them.

Xeno seems to fit this category — an orphan, adopted, then exposed to a large number of memories of criminals and the deceased, enduring massive amounts of mental and physical pain. Although her young mind didn’t turn dark, she couldn’t become a normal person in Mingji Humanity either.

At least she still had the heart to protect those she cared about — the previous two times she helped Aozi both proved this point.

However, what’s strange is that after reaching the second layer, he never felt Xeno’s assistance again.

The Ersha Infected Individuals disappeared without a trace.

Xeno no longer made a sound.

All electronics and communications completely short-circuited and collapsed.

Darkness enveloped the path they were traveling on, and all sorts of mysterious signs hung over them like an inescapable gloom, unsettling their minds.

Aozi glanced at the Task Settlement Conditions for "Imprint":

A. "Do Not Disregard the Small Evils": Slaughter all remaining members of the Mingji Humanitarian Rescue Organization, the progress has reached (108/109)

Reward: Title "Murderer / Butcher / Trampler / Catastrophe"

[This task has been almost completed by me, with only ’The Professor’ left in Mingji Humanity.]

It’s a pity that title-related tasks can’t distribute rewards in stages; they must be completed entirely before receiving them, otherwise, he would be more certain.

B. "Bestowing Demise": Requires the complete elimination of the "Mingji Professor".

Reward: For every Biochemical Avatar destroyed, award one perfect Mutation Option reset (guaranteed to refresh with at least rare-grade Mutation Projects)

[I have already annihilated two Biochemical Avatars and obtained two ’perfect resets’ for Mutation Options.]

Aozi looked at the accumulated experience — due to teaming up with Du Zexin, a level 40 "Mechanic", and with human race talent providing 150% experience gain suffering an 80% penalty, it only amounted to 120%, hence the combined experience from the Thriving Ones and Decayers was just 1.27 million.

Taking into account the Biochemical Soldiers killed along the way... all in all, he had only accumulated 1.6 million.

Unfortunately, no tasks were triggered, and if he had another 400,000 experience points, he could have leveled "Mutant" up to level 30.

As for C. "Uproot": It demanded the elimination of all funders and project leads of Mingji Humanity and required public disclosure of the deeds — not something that could be completed quickly, and he hadn’t considered going in that direction either.

Having overall reviewed the situation, Aozi noticed a problem.

"These tasks haven’t pointed out the final boss, nor do they have hidden branches."

An S-grade task, especially the special character Scary-level tasks, unexpectedly lacked these indications.

He had progressed this far, and destroying Mingji Humanity was only a step away.

Aozi stopped in his tracks and stood at the center of the hall, looking around.

In the darkness of his vision, this vast ward activity area, once the crowd and wards were relocated, had turned into an arena resembling a Roman Colosseum.

"A cage."

It was The Professor... she wanted to trap them here.

Various circumstances piled up, and even if his physiological tissues were aging, Li Aozi came to his senses. Du Zexin, having a higher rank, reacted even quicker and shouted first:

"Something’s not right, I feel a murderous presence nearby."

Crash!

The ventilation ducts above burst open, one after another, pouring down hundreds of tons of red-black liquid. Under the pale light of the emergency lamps, it was like an apocalyptic flood, with an overwhelming momentum.

Ding-ding-ding—

[High energy warning!]

The belated alarm sounded, but it was already too late.

Li Aozi and Du Zexin jumped to higher ground, and at that moment, within the red-black flood, began to slowly emerge a majestic and ferocious skeleton.

"What is that—emerging with the red-black liquid... Are those animal bones?!"

Du Zexin was terrified:

"45 meters long, 19 meters at the shoulder—what a joke, what kind of creature that can be born under the gravity and environment of Azure Star!"

The sinister skeleton stood tall within the red-black tidal waves, unmistakable like a steadfast pillar in the current. Because of its existence, it suppressed the flow of the waves, the depth of the water rising to four or five meters, blocking the debris at the door and preventing them from easily escaping.

This was a trap, no—more accurately, an overt plot.

The cold red-black liquid crawled over the second layer of railings in the ward, and under the light of the emergency lamps, several biochemical soldiers enveloped in sticky red-black vapor slowly climbed out.

They opened their arms, their forms completely distorted, with extra brains and arms growing out. Some opened their mouths wide, with teeth spinning rapidly like circular saws, and some had lost all humanoid shape altogether, with jar-like brains on top and floating like jellyfish, their gun-like weapons having turned into corrupted flesh, now acting as their tentacles and tails.

Ersha...

"Holy shit, what is all this?!"

Du Zexin, as a Mechanic, was utterly shaken. These aberrations, in defiance of scientific knowledge, could be said to be less like scientific creations and more like they were cursed by deities.

These biochemical soldiers were originally the living dead with cloned brains extracted, but now they had almost nothing left of what made them "human".

Moreover, he saw a creature with ossified armor plating, its lung lobes fluttering like the wings of mosquitoes and flies, bearing horns like a rhinoceros and a snake’s tail. The container for its brain forcibly stuffed with a dozen eyeballs and nerve vessels as thick as pencils, and even pieces of muscle tissue generating electricity, sparkling with dazzling electric arcs in the air.

Crackle!

This was no place for humans!

Flesh was like a millstone or machine parts; just one more glance at the physiological structure of these mutants would evoke severe physical discomfort. The foul stench of decay and the scent of blood were so overpowering they seemed to pierce the heavens and the earth. Combined with the visual impact of the red-black Ersha liquid, they left Du Zexin and Li Aozi numb all over.

This was the fear etched into the bones of their human ancestors.

The things they saw almost transcended the boundaries of scientific understanding, resembling the hell and underworld from myths reemerging.

"Nature limits the extremes of science."

The friendly female voice echoed through the hall:

"Dear friends, welcome to my Eden."

"Li Aozi, your Arcane Energy is but a plaything of genetic mutation, trivial under precise calculations."

"Du Zexin, steel and machinery will eventually rust, but only genetics and flesh and blood will endlessly thrive, marching towards immortality."

Amidst the surging red-black waves, the Professor’s voice grew more resolute, filled with a seductive and rousing passion:

"Viva la vida, amigos (Long live life, my friends)."