Shibeng was covered in molten rock. The hand gripping the Gray Ore Race mber was still dripping with red magma.
The magma flowed over the Gray Ore Race mber’s body, leaving black scorch marks in its wake.
Shibeng gave him no chance. With a wrench of his arm, he twisted the Gray Ore Race mber’s neck, then stomped the fallen body to pieces.
He watched for a long ti, but the Gray Ore Race mber’s body didn’t move again. It seed to be truly dead.
In his molten form, Shibeng stood amidst the black, superheated crystals, staring at his arm as if studying his current state.
’I wonder if killing this Gray Ore Race mber will also give that sudden surge of power.’
Mo Ling watched the Gray Ore Race mber, his heart filled with shock.
’This seems to be an Abnormal Vein Patient.’
But he hadn’t been infected by the Abnormal Vein malady, perhaps due to Shibeng’s Molten Armor.
Or maybe it was because this battlefield wasn’t real, so the Abnormal Vein malady couldn’t be transmitted here.
Moreover, Mo Ling had seen it clearly. After being grabbed by Shibeng, the Gray Ore Race mber’s expression had changed from regret to relief.
He maintained that relieved expression right up until the mont he was killed and his head hit the ground, as if he were very satisfied with Shibeng’s performance.
’He’s about to die, and he’s this happy?’
Mo Ling couldn’t wrap his head around it.
But now, it seed Shibeng had won the battle.
A blinding white light enveloped the entire Thorn Stone Forest. The ground suddenly transford into countless rainbow-colored gems that surged into Shibeng’s body.
Imdiately after, Shibeng vanished, and the surroundings plunged into darkness.
However, Mo Ling was still floating in the dark.
’Aren’t they sending back?’
As he puzzled over this, the scene around him rapidly reconstructed itself, returning him to the ground of the Thorn Stone Forest. Only this ti, there were no collapsed stone pillars, nor was the air thick with dust.
The slender Gray Ore Race mber was sitting on a rock up ahead. He was propped up on his four hands, his two feet dangling and swinging leisurely in front of him. He still wore that sa relieved expression.
He glanced at Mo Ling, and a white stone bracelet instantly appeared on Mo Ling’s arm.
Mo Ling raised his arm to study it for a mont and discovered that he could make sounds emanate from the bracelet with just a thought.
"You’re not dead?" Mo Ling blurted out the mont he understood the bracelet’s function.
"It’s all a simulation, so of course I didn’t die." The Gray Ore Race mber patted the rock beside him, gesturing for Mo Ling to co sit.
Although Mo Ling was suspicious, he checked and confird that he could leave the battlefield at any ti. So, he walked over and plopped down next to the Gray Ore Race mber.
Mo Ling hadn’t gotten a good look during the fight. Now that the great battle was over, he looked at the Gray Ore Race mber and noticed sothing strange about his body.
The gray basalt plates looked as if they had been copied and pasted; the pattern on each one was identical. It was the kind of detail you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it.
"No need to look, this is fake too." The Gray Ore Race mber seed very happy now, and his tone was light and relaxed.
"Then what does your real body look like?"
"I’ll tell you later. I’m not here," the Gray Ore Race mber said mysteriously.
’It seems most things in this simulated battlefield are fake.’
Recalling why he had entered the battlefield in the first place, Mo Ling asked, "Then where are you? That inciting signal... did you send it?"
The Gray Ore Race mber didn’t answer where he was. Instead, he nodded and admitted, "I did indeed send the signal."
’Ci Xing’s guess was right. There really is an unseen hand manipulating all the Mineral Race in the Thorn Stone Forest.’
"Why did you start a war? Does that an you caused the great earthquake too?" Mo Ling strongly suspected the being before him was the main culprit behind the destruction of civilizations.
But to Mo Ling’s surprise, the Gray Ore Race mber admitted it again.
"Yes, I did it all."
His face was still filled with joy, completely unconcerned with the destruction of civilizations Mo Ling ntioned. It was as if he were admitting to sothing trivial.
A chill ran down Mo Ling’s spine.
’He destroyed so many civilizations and used a signal to incite war, yet here he is, looking completely relaxed and unbothered.’
’How arrogant.’
"Why would you do that?" Mo Ling couldn’t understand.
Over this period, Mo Ling had truly co to feel that the Mineral Race was living a miserable existence.
They were intelligent beings, yet they fought like beasts every day. Even when they managed to create a civilization, it would be instantly destroyed.
And the main culprit behind it all had just admitted to it as casually as if he were making small talk.
The Gray Ore Race mber finally seed to notice Mo Ling’s serious deanor and dropped his leisurely posture.
After a mont of silence, he sat up straight. As he stared at the ground, the look of exhaustion and helplessness returned.
"Why did I do it?"
"Because... I’m going to die..."
The Gray Ore Race mber slowly began to tell Mo Ling the reason he had done all this.
***
He was an ancient mineral-based lifeform.
He had lived for so long that he couldn’t even rember how old he was. He only rembered being born from a piece of stone.
He had no companions and had never seen another of his kind.
Unlike the Mineral Race of the Thorn Stone Forest, who were born with intelligence, he only gradually built up his knowledge after many years of life.
He began to understand himself, to study himself.
His long life gave him ample ti to accumulate power. Although he lived in the dangerous Abyss, this power was enough for him to handle any disaster.
He’d had a long and storied past—he had t companions, explored the Abyss, and even faced the brink of death.
Through his continuous exploration of the Abyss, he gradually ca into contact with the world. Though he was slow to learn, over ti he accumulated a wealth of knowledge.
However, on one unremarkable night, he suddenly sensed sothing tragic
—he was going to die.
It was an extrely clear sensation. He could feel his abilities and consciousness slowly fading, growing dull.
It was like he was turning into a rock, into a "dead thing."
He panicked and began searching for a way to save himself, but the transformation seed inevitable.
Although the process was very long, he could clearly feel his powers slowly weakening. It would take him a long ti just to think about a single matter.
Sotis, he would even fall into a stupor, only to wake up and find that several years had passed, like an old man in his twilight years slowly losing his sense of ti.
This feeling caused him imnse pain.
While searching for a way to save himself, he t many other ancient and powerful beings like him.
But none of these beings showed signs of senescence like he did. They tended to grow more powerful with age and were helpless to do anything about his decline.
Even with his imnse power and profound knowledge, he was as helpless about his condition now as he had been at the mont of his birth.
He could only begin trying all sorts of thods, using various relics, and seeking the guidance of even older and more powerful lifeforms.
Until one day, he visited a being that resembled a veil of Purple gauze. The Purple gauze-like being said to him:
"There is no cure for your condition. This is the spread of death. However, you can try another way to escape it."
"Have you ever heard of the word... ’offspring’?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers