Chapter 164-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Wen Xiaoxing shuttled through the dark corridor covered with crystals. He didn't reveal a trace of worry or fear; instead, he felt extremely comfortable. He had never been here before, yet he felt as at ease as if he were home.

Saying he had never been here wasn't accurate. His consciousness retained memories from before he became "Wen Xiaoxing." He clearly understood that his life originated here.

The so-called S-rank Demonic Domain [Spatial Turbulence] actually had a danger level of Double S-rank. To prevent the public from questioning the safety of the station, the Empire Central Station claimed to the outside world that it was built on the foundation of an S-rank Demonic Domain.

It was said that when it was announced as a station modified from an S-rank Demonic Domain, most of the public held opposing attitudes. The Empire Station once suffered from dismal passenger flow, let alone publishing its true rank.

But no matter how dangerous it was, it posed no threat to him, Wen Xiaoxing.

The brown-haired boy touched the Green Crystals beside him casually. They actually stretched forward like living plants, as if greeting him.

Cheerful humming echoed in the silent corridor. Wen Xiaoxing's steps were jaunty, and his remaining right eye blinked excitedly at a very high frequency.

Soon, as long as he dug out a part of the core and put it into his left eye, maybe [Fate Singularity] would come back immediately!

Wen Xiaoxing's steps became more and more urgent. When he turned into another dark corridor, he suddenly felt an abrupt sense of urgency. A strange human heart was beating thumping-ly. He pressed his chest and looked back. Except for the Green Crystals emitting fluorescence in the darkness, there was nothing else.

He tilted his head in confusion. He had come to this place on a whim and had been very careful along the way, shaking off the people the Pope sent to supervise him.

It was impossible for anyone to follow him into this place.

This place had always been closed off, and it was unlikely for anyone to come in specially, let alone choosing the same time slot as him. How could there be such a coincidence?

Wen Xiaoxing slowly turned around and continued forward, his pace quickening, but his expression became much more vigilant. His right eye rolled up, down, left, and right, patrolling the surroundings.

The deeper he went, the more vigorously the Green Crystals grew. It was even difficult for Wen Xiaoxing to find a footing. His trouser legs were torn in several places, but his speed didn't decrease, and his expression became more eager.

When the translucent green fluorescence illuminated his face, his right eye flashed with light, as if a cluster of ghostly green fire had suddenly risen, carrying obsessed ambition and desire.

"...I'm back."

The end of the corridor was a huge space almost filled with Green Crystals. A green glass figure reaching straight to the ceiling was sitting right in the center. The surrounding Green Crystals surrounded it like thorns, and countless mirror-like crystals were reflecting Wen Xiaoxing's appearance.

"Double S-rank Demonic Domain, [Space-Time Turbulence]."

Wen Xiaoxing shouted the true name of this Demonic Domain in admiration.

The surface of the huge Green Crystal figure was flat and smooth. It didn't have human facial features, only a rough humanoid shape. Looking closely, its body had many pits and hollows, as if someone had gouged out its flesh.

Wen Xiaoxing looked up. It supported several flat mirror surfaces extending from the ceiling like tracks. He saw the boy in the mirror surface curling his lips into a cunning smile.

"[Fate Singularity] only inherited your spatial characteristics. This was the reason for my defeat. If I could master space and time simultaneously, no one would be my opponent."

The boy's words were filled with high-spirited desire, but his feet stopped at the exit of the corridor, motionless.

"As long as I take away more of the core, I will be the most perfect creation in this world..."

Wen Xiaoxing's right eye stared at the figure's green mirror-like body the whole time. He saw his own exaggerated expression. Just as the next exclamation was about to pop out of his mouth, a figure quietly emerged behind him.

The newcomer was dressed in black, almost merging with the gloomy environment. Wen Xiaoxing turned his head, revealing a shocked expression.

His arm was suddenly grabbed, and his body was yanked backward. At the moment he lost his balance, his eyes widened as if unwilling, but a trace of a cunning smile flashed in the depths of his eyes.

No one would enter here with him so coincidentally unless that person was Ye Zheng!

Saintess, when you wanted to play the mantis stalking the cicada to calculate him, did you ever think that he was the final hunter?

Wen Xiaoxing thought triumphantly. Seeing Ye Zheng rush in front of him, her black hair sweeping past him, just as Ye Zheng was about to step into that space covered with Green Crystals, Wen Xiaoxing reached out his hand behind her back, attempting to give her a push—

The next moment, Ye Zheng suddenly turned her head. Her black eyes were exceptionally bright against the fluorescence, so bright they seemed to speak.

She gripped the hand he extended. When his body was violently flung forward by Ye Zheng, Wen Xiaoxing thought that those eyes must be saying some vicious and contemptuous words to him!

With a muffled sound, the boy's body plunged into the space covered with Green Crystals, falling face down not far from the figure's feet.

Ye Zheng clapped her hands and laughed, "You overacted. You aren't even qualified to be a minor extra in a theater."

According to Wen Xiaoxing, the true name of this Demonic Domain was Double S-rank [Space-Time Turbulence]. How could the core of a Demonic Domain with a Double S-rank danger level be approached so easily?

Wen Xiaoxing pretended to be so eager just to stimulate her sense of urgency; he had already discovered she was tracking him.

Ye Zheng stood at the end of the corridor, scrutinizing the hall where the figure was. There was no door or barrier between the two spaces. Anyone groping their way here from the corridor would naturally step into the green figure's territory. And then what would happen?

The boy who had fallen at the feet of the green figure squirmed a few times and slowly crawled up from the ground. His body had been pierced with several holes by the Green Crystals on the ground, and dark blood flowed slowly.

No, the color of the blood and the speed of the flow were wrong. This wasn't a reaction that a living person's body would have; it was more like piercing a corpse.

...Right, if Wen Jian could use [Mother of All Things] to create human life at will, then the Hope Project wouldn't need to exist. After all, the purpose of the Hope Project was to use Demonic Domain creations to birth stronger humans.

Wen Xiaoxing couldn't be considered a human at all. He was just a patchwork of the deceased Yin Xing and this green figure before her eyes. Ye Zheng remembered he had said that Wen Jian paid a considerable price to maintain his existence. Wen Xiaoxing's vitality probably came from Wen Jian's continuous provision.

This provision might not be cut off unilaterally. Since Wen Xiaoxing's plan to assassinate her had failed and he had lost [Fate Singularity], Wen Jian had no need to keep him, unless he couldn't do anything about Wen Xiaoxing.

Wen Xiaoxing, who had already crawled up, followed Ye Zheng's astonished gaze and looked down at the bloody holes in his body. He gritted his teeth and looked up, staring at Ye Zheng with venomous eyes.

Meeting his venomous gaze, Ye Zheng took a step back in astonishment, as if she was a bit frightened.

She wasn't scared by his venomous emotion, but by his eyeball—the eyeball standing erect on his right cheek.

Wen Xiaoxing's originally intact right eye had actually slid down to his cheek after the fall, half-embedded in the flesh like a glass bead, while only a pitch-black socket remained at the right eye.

Ye Zheng was puzzled. Was the body Wen Jian made for this guy so shoddy? The eye broke just from a fall... or was her strength too great?

However, when Ye Zheng saw Wen Xiaoxing's left arm suddenly pierce out from his abdomen, she immediately realized it wasn't a problem with Wen Xiaoxing's body.

It must be this Demonic Domain with the true name [Space-Time Turbulence] at work!

As blood gushed out of his body again along with the arm piercing his abdomen, Ye Zheng stared at the dislocated arm. She suddenly noticed the brown bloodstains on Wen Xiaoxing's white shirt, which were from when his body was pierced by the Green Crystals on the ground earlier.

His blood flowed slowly and was a dark red that wasn't fresh. But only a few minutes had passed, yet the dark red bloodstains on the white shirt had already turned brown.

This was unreasonable. In such a dark underground environment, the speed of blood changing color should only be slower; it couldn't transform so quickly—

There was only one possibility: the time flow of the bloodstains was different from normal time!

Ye Zheng's pupils trembled slightly. She saw Wen Xiaoxing spit out a section of intestine from his mouth, which fell into the Green Crystal clumps under his feet.

She stared at the Green Crystal clumps emitting ghostly light in the darkness. Three hundred years had passed since the Empire Central Station tamed this Demonic Domain. Who knew how many human bones it had buried? Would those Green Crystals digest corpses as nutrients like plants?

Time and space on Wen Xiaoxing's body began to fall into disorder. His blood was drying up at an accelerated rate, and his body parts were scurrying around wildly.

Ye Zheng finally understood the reason why this Demonic Domain was called [Space-Time Turbulence].

"Ye-Ye Zheng, get me out of here quickly!"

Damn it, damn it. If he had known, he would have swindled Percy and the others into coming over to help him. Even if his core belonged to this Demonic Domain, a human body would be rejected!

If this body completely disappeared, what was the difference between that and death?

Wen Xiaoxing walked toward her with staggering steps. If he were a normal person, he would have died long ago, but he could still move.

"I'm going to fall apart if this goes on! Didn't we agree to deal with Wen Jian together? I even helped Wu Shu win the championship for you!"

Was this degree merely falling apart? Ye Zheng stared thoughtfully at Wen Xiaoxing, whose body had become terribly deformed.

"Just now you wanted to push me into this ghost place. That was you deciding to continue being my enemy."

"No! I just, just... Anyway, you can't kill me. If you keep me, you can weaken Wen Jian!"

"Really?"

Ye Zheng stared at him with a faint smile. Wen Xiaoxing's right leg bone had mutated; he could only hop on one foot in a wretched state now.

"...As long as I'm alive for a day, Wen Jian has to use a month of his lifespan to support me. Him losing lifespan is always good for you, right!"

Ye Zheng looked down and fiddled with her fingers, showing no surprised expression on her face, as if she had guessed it long ago.

"Only a month for a day?" Her tone was a bit disappointed.

Wen Xiaoxing was furious. He felt like he was going to vomit his exploding lungs out the next moment. Clearly, he wasn't far from the exit of this space, but for every moment he stayed longer, he would be several steps slower due to his deformed body.

"I also know the way to obtain [Mother of All Things]!" His speech was extremely fast. "One of the inheritance conditions is that the holder's life must be exhausted and they must die a natural death. Do you understand? Unless you wait for more than ten years, there is only me!"

"Only my existence can suck his life and accelerate the progress of his death!"

"You can't let me die here..." Wen Xiaoxing's left leg also underwent mutation. He fell completely to the ground, the green eyeball embedded in his cheek staring at Ye Zheng not far away.

Ye Zheng's expression finally loosened. She murmured, "Must be the user's life exhausted and natural death... this condition is interesting."

If this condition didn't exist, in the face of such a tempting ability as [Mother of All Things], it would be impossible for every holder to pass it on to the next generation peacefully. Who knew how much bloodshed would occur to fight for it?

"But once Wen Jian dies and you lose the source of support, won't you die?"

Wen Xiaoxing, lying on the ground, curled the corners of his mouth strangely, regaining some of the lively and mysterious temperament from their first meeting. "It's not Wen Jian who supports me, it's [Mother of All Things]."

Ye Zheng stared at his twitching body. Their gazes were deadlocked for a moment, then she laughed. "Alright, I'll keep you alive for now."

A water stream suddenly wrapped around Wen Xiaoxing's neck. He revealed a surprised expression and looked at Ye Zheng expectantly.

Suddenly, spots of light drifted down before his eyes. Wen Xiaoxing suspected if this body was hallucinating. He suddenly had a bad premonition.

The water chain fluctuated unstably, as if it would dissipate in the strange aura of space-time turbulence the next moment. Ye Zheng, however, was unhurried. She called out, "Muqing."

A pale figure walked to Ye Zheng's side. From her hair to the tips of her shoes, there wasn't a spot that wasn't white. The falling white light spots appeared holy and awe-inspiring in the gloomy green, oppressive space.

"Mn, I already understand the method the Empire Central Station uses to stabilize space," Bai Muqing said.

After discovering that Wen Xiaoxing intended to lure her out, Ye Zheng let Bai Muqing use her ability to probe the design of this underground level first, while she faced Wen Xiaoxing alone. After all, Wen Xiaoxing didn't need the two of them to be in full battle array.

[Space-Time Turbulence], as the name suggested, was a place where both time and space were full of randomness. Yet the Empire Central Station had a way to use this Demonic Domain to build a stable passage for trains to travel safely back and forth.

"That's great."

Ye Zheng said, her eyes curving into a smile.

If Wen Xiaoxing lived one more day, Wen Jian's lifespan would decrease by a month.

But Ye Zheng wasn't satisfied. If the time flow on Wen Xiaoxing could be faster, that meant Wen Jian would reach his twenty-five-year death date even faster.

From the moment of holding [Mother of All Things], the holder only had a lifespan of twenty-five years, and could only pass it to the next generation upon natural death. But Ye Zheng couldn't wait for Wen Jian to die naturally more than ten years later.

"Ye Zheng, hurry up and save me—"

With the boost of Bai Muqing's [Divine Domain], the water chain yanked violently, and Wen Xiaoxing's body got stuck at the exit.

"They paved the path with Green Crystals in the interlayer above the ceiling and below the tracks. The surface of the Green Crystals maintains absolute smoothness. The smoother it is, the more stable the space."

Ye Zheng looked down at Wen Xiaoxing, then looked at the Green Crystal figure not far away whose surface was as smooth as a mirror. She thought she had found a destination for Wen Xiaoxing.

She didn't plan to kill Wen Xiaoxing, nor did she plan to save him. She needed Wen Xiaoxing to remain in a stable state where he wouldn't die, while simultaneously accelerating the passage of time on him.

"Muqing, can your [Divine Domain] increase the boost?"

Bai Muqing frowned imperceptibly and nodded. The violent and chaotic energy field here interfered with her ability, but she was also a Double S-rank.

After receiving an affirmative reply, Ye Zheng soon felt vigorous and warm power rising in her body. She let go of the water chain around Wen Xiaoxing's neck. A thin water line probed toward the hollows on the Green Crystal figure's body, forcibly carving out a neat humanoid space inside the figure.

Amidst Wen Xiaoxing's noisy crying and shouting, she threw him into the body of the figure. Wen Xiaoxing fitted seamlessly inside the figure.

It satisfied his wish to live, and at the same time let him be with his real "family."

More importantly, it satisfied her needs.

"Time is about to start accelerating."

As the two left this forbidden area, Ye Zheng smiled faintly and said pointedly.

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