Lin Ye swung his blade, severing a writhing tentacle. The second-rank Red Blade proved far more effective than its first-rank counterpart. Thankfully, he hadn't impulsively rged his two Red Blades during practice—the best outco would've been a diocre one-and-a-half rank weapon.
Rain leaked through increasingly nurous gaps in the ceiling as multiplying tentacles steadily reduced the supermarket's safe zones. A raindrop splashed onto Ding Wei's combat suit, seeping through the fabric. A grotesque red-and-white muscle sprouted from his arm, piercing through the suit and lunging toward his head.
Ding Wei jerked aside, narrowly avoiding the stabbing muscle. At point-blank range, an eye-like structure ford on the twitching flesh, locking gazes with him. Lin Ye's blade flashed, excising the parasitic growth from Ding Wei's right arm—the wound ran deep enough to reveal bone, the tendrils already burrowing inward.
"Thanks!"
Ding Wei hastily wrapped the injury with a spiritual energy bandage, an item that could rapidly stabilize wounds. As he finished first aid, cold sweat drenched his back. Unlike Lin Ye's surgical precision or decisiveness to amputate, hesitation would've ant his death.
"Don't ntion it. But continuing like this will kill us soon. Any ideas—even impossible ones?"
For once, Lin Ye had no solutions. Though more resilient than Ding Wei, even he couldn't withstand the cursed rain. If they lost this shelter, he'd have to abandon his team and flee via Safe Route—but temporary safety didn't guarantee survival through the night amidst unknown horrors.
"I can manipulate spiritual energy items. Technically, this building qualifies now—but it's too massive for precise control. Once its mutation crosses a threshold, I'll lose command entirely. Plus, my ntal energy's insufficient!" Xia Xi dodged raindrops frantically, desperate to avoid Ding Wei's grueso fate.
"Take this." Lin Ye tossed her a ntal energy potion from his loot space. "Control the building while I inscribe runes on its surface. Just keep it from interfering—I'll handle defense and slowing the mutation."
"I'll shield you!" Liu Rui moved beside Xia Xi, unfurling a cloak from her loot space above them. Raindrops birthed crimson threads across the fabric, but the makeshift canopy held.
Kneeling, Xia Xi pressed her palms against the floor, attempting to command the supermarket—sothing impossible earlier when it wasn't yet a spiritual energy item. She saved the potion for when her energy depleted, clinging to this slim hope over certain death.
Under her influence, nearby tentacles stilled. Lin Ye reinforced mutated spiritual energy shields across the ceiling, gradually plugging leaks.
"Can you control just a section? Like the restroom?"
With the supermarket crumbling everywhere, spot-fixing their imdiate area wouldn't prevent doom when full mutation occurred. Lin Ye bitterly regretted not choosing a restroom as their stronghold.
"No. The supermarket's becoming a unified organism now." Xia Xi's drenched back testified to the strain of controlling sothing this scale—one misstep ant losing control.
"Disaster! That monster at 9 o'clock noticed us—it's charging!" Ding Wei's warning ca as a building-sized abomination covered in gaping maws and black spikes barreled toward them, spewing deford mutation creatures from its orifices.
"What the hell is that?!" Liu Rui shrieked.
"Probably an apartnt complex originally," Ding Wei muttered, gripping his spiritual energy rifle helplessly. With the lethal rain outside, escape was impossible.
"We must move! Xia Xi, make the supermarket move!" Lin Ye tugged his hair in frustration. Even if they mobilized this crumbling shelter, the monster-infested city offered no lasting refuge.
"What? I can theoretically move it by controlling mutation levels, but how? I can't even ride a bike!" Xia Xi nearly broke down—she wasn't so ani high schooler piloting a ch. Controlling a legless supermarket was infinitely harder.
"Leave movent to ! I'll assist!" Liu Rui embraced Xia Xi from behind, their minds syncing through ntal energy as both activated their talent abilities on the building.
"Boost mutation! Make it grow limbs!"
Xia Xi gulped the potion, forcibly commanding the supermarket. Lin Ye had prepared—he removed spiritual energy shields from designated zones, inscribing mutation runes to transform those areas.
Under his guidance, thick crimson tentacles erupted from mutation zones, intertwining into pillar-like limbs. Empowered by Liu Rui's ability, the supermarket lurched upright, skittering forward like a colossal centipede.
"Where to?" Xia Xi voiced the critical question.
Deepening mutation would soon break her control, and their limited ntal energy couldn't sustain this state long. Since entering Station No.5, Lin Ye had pondered its connection to Station No.4.
Logically, when Station No.4 was in night phase, Station No.5 beca safe. Did that an Station No.4 turned safe during Station No.5's night? Could they sohow cross over? If they waited for Station No.4's next night phase before returning, would that complete their Station Mission?
But how to find the crossing thod? Special skill—Safe Route. The real challenge was ensuring the path led to Station No.4.
This seed impossible—they weren't desperate enough yet. Nurous temporary safe spots remained around them. Lin Ye had always sensed sothing ominous beneath Safe Route's benign surface.
True safety routes existed everywhere during safety. Perhaps only in absolute desperation could one find the genuinely secure path.
"To the city center—beneath the blood moon."
Only by embracing certain death could they find survival.
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