Splash!
The rain in Tsukiyama City had completely spiraled out of control. Bean-sized droplets hammered against the ground, splashing half a foot high as if trying to scour the entire city clean.
The heavy curtain of rain acted like frosted glass, blurring the distant neon lights of the city's night into fuzzy halos. Only the red signal beacon atop the skyscrapers could pierce through the rain, casting down a wary, crimson glow.
On the streets outside the Star Envoy Association, the corpses of Parasitic Star Envoys lay scattered in every direction. Some of these bodies remained in mid-beastification, their azure scales torn apart. Others still retained human features, yet dark green saliva hung from the corners of their mouths, and their unclosed eyes reflected the endless threads of rain.
The rain washed away the blood and filth, much like a scene from a classic gangster film, funneling the monsters' pale green blood into the city's sewers, where it vanished to parts unknown.
"So, is this... a Star Envoy from headquarters?"
Beside Mitchell, the short-haired Star Envoy, Lina, watched the scene. Even though her voice was somewhat muffled by the downpour, it couldn't hide the shock in her tone.
Half an hour ago, dozens of Parasitic Star Envoys had suddenly appeared. Yet, faced with these creatures that could easily crush them, Tendo alone had turned them into the cold corpses now lying before them. And they... they had witnessed this near-unilateral suppression with their own eyes.
In this battle that could be described as a massacre, Tendo hadn't even used any proper techniques. A simple lift of the hand, a turn of the body, a flick of the finger... and the pouncing Parasitic Star Envoys were sent flying by an invisible force. Some smashed through walls on the spot; others were twisted into bizarre angles by vector force fields.
The most terrifying instance involved a female Star Envoy capable of spitting acid; her acid was forcibly redirected by Tendo and poured back into her own mouth.
"Are they both Third-Class Star Envoys? How can the gap be this large?" Mitchell muttered to himself as he gazed at the figure in the rain.
In his memory, the former Captain of the Third Squad, Elias, was the pinnacle of "strength" he could imagine himself one day becoming. Yet, such a powerhouse from his imagination was as weak as a child before Tendo, this Star Envoy from headquarters.
However, the stronger Tendo appeared, the more likely it was that the chaos hidden in Tsukiyama City's shadows would end! At this thought, Mitchell looked at the silver-haired back with eyes full of hope.
In the middle of the rain-slicked street, Tendo stood amongst the bodies. Despite just finishing a "battle," his black tactical suit remained spotless, showing no signs of combat. An invisible vector force field formed a translucent barrier around him; rain automatically diverted around him, leaving the ground beneath his feet perfectly dry.
After confirming no other "guests" were arriving, Tendo walked up to one of the Parasitic Star Envoys. At the back of the corpse's neck was a minute needle puncture, suggesting something had been injected.
Beyond that, there were other "abnormalities" about these corpses.
Through Tendo's Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye, he could clearly see pale green spores floating in the air. Though these biological spores were tiny, they acted as if they were alive—constantly splitting, reproducing, and spreading to every corner of the city. They were the source of the nauseating "stench" Tendo had mentioned earlier.
Tendo didn't rush to leave. He observed the situation of the Tsukiyama Star Envoy Association while waiting for someone to arrive. As he expected, roughly an hour after his arrival in Tsukiyama City, a pale purple spatial rift tore open beside the street.
"Tendo, I'm he—woah!"
Jing Liuli's figure stumbled out of the rift, clutching a bulging bag of snacks in her arms. The moment she regained her footing and saw the ground covered in corpses, she was so startled she nearly threw the snack bag away.
After a brief moment of "shock," Jing Liuli approached Tendo and asked curiously, "Tendo, is this the 'small trouble' you mentioned?"
"If people knew better, they'd know this is a Star Envoy branch; if they didn't, they'd think this was some kind of Star Beast nest!"
To this, Tendo replied calmly, "In a sense, there really isn't much difference between this place and a Star Beast nest."
Seeing Tendo's stoic demeanor, Jing Liuli curled her lip. She had realized that whenever strangers were present, Tendo seemed to enjoy putting on this "cold" front—as if this aura was a "standard requirement" for the powerful.
"Alright, Liuli, business first."
"The host of the Parasitic Star Beast is very good at hiding. I don't want to waste time searching for its location. I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me!" Jing Liuli patted her chest.
Then, regardless of whether Mitchell was willing, she directly treated him as a little assistant, shoving the large snack bundle into his arms. To finish, the gluttonous Jing Liuli didn't forget to pluck out a strawberry-flavored energy bar and pop it into her mouth.
"Hold this for me. And hey, no touching the strawberry ones!"
"Oh, r-right, okay." Mitchell obeyed instinctively, temporarily acting as Jing Liuli's snack bundle custodian.
With her "worries" settled, Jing Liuli closed her eyes on the spot. In the next second, pale purple Star energy overflowed from the tips of her hair, coalescing in the air like fireflies into translucent Dreamlight Butterflies.
These butterflies took flight, quickly scattering to various parts of the city. Soon, a pale purple halo rapidly expanded outward with Jing Liuli as the epicenter. The edges of the halo shimmered with fine light; as it passed through the rain, it even dyed the droplets with a faint purple glow—a wondrous sight.
"Come on, let me see where that fellow is hiding."
Jing Liuli's voice carried the light hum of Star resonance. The surrounding air grew warm, and even the freezing rain seemed to soften.
The light butterflies flew in different directions, slipping into the windows of residential buildings, the cracks of streetlamps, and even sewer entrances. Every place they passed left a trail of pale purple light, weaving a dream network that covered the entire city.
Clutching the snack bag, Mitchell watched the purple specks of light floating around Jing Liuli, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. He could clearly feel a warm power surging through his nose and into his mind. It wasn't invasive at all; instead, it felt as comfortable as soaking in warm water.
In the next moment, his vision suddenly "split." Besides the rainy scene before him, several images simultaneously appeared in his mind.
In these images, a little girl next door was leaning over a desk drawing stars. A bakery owner was organizing freshly baked toast. Even a stray cat at the end of the street was curled up in a cardboard box, paws hugging a warm milk carton.
Without exception, these images had a blurry, dream-like quality at the edges, with a tiny purple butterfly watermark floating in the bottom right corner. This was the dream perspective shared by Jing Liuli—every image was a real consciousness projection of a Tsukiyama City resident.
"This... this is..."
Experiencing this miraculous sensation, Mitchell nearly bit his tongue in surprise. Driven by a bit of curiosity, he tried to "recall" the refrigerator in his own home. Instantly, an image of the fridge packed with cola jumped out clearly, scaring him into shaking his head quickly.
While Mitchell was still reeling, Jing Liuli abruptly opened her eyes.
"Found it!"
Countless shifting images were reflected in Jing Liuli's pupils as she slowly raised her hand. In the next second, a massive swarm of pale purple light butterflies suddenly flew back from all directions, gathering at her fingertips into a spinning orb of light.
Floating in the center of that orb was a 3D image of Tsukiyama City's abandoned observatory.
"Tendo, it's hiding in the abandoned observatory," Jing Liuli pointed to the most glaring gray area within the light orb, her tone carrying a hint of disgust.
"Its consciousness is like a mass of rotting cotton. Normal human consciousness is a warm yellow, but its is a murky gray, and it's constantly devouring the surrounding conscious energy... look here."
Jing Liuli suddenly pointed to a spot in the light orb and enlarged it. Then, not just Tendo, but even Mitchell and the others could see a "gray mass" within the orb that was constantly tearing at the tiny white specks of light around it. Those tiny white specks were fragments of human consciousness.
With Jing Liuli's help, Tendo immediately turned his gaze toward the abandoned observatory. Very quickly, Tendo's Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye detected a massive yet extremely well-hidden energy fluctuation. That energy was mixed within the city's background noise; if not for Jing Liuli's precise positioning, he could have found it eventually, but certainly not this fast.
"Let's go."
Wasting no time, Tendo grabbed Jing Liuli's wrist, and an invisible vector force field enveloped them both.
"You lot stay here. Other people from headquarters will come to clean up later."
"Oh, okay!" Mitchell nodded vigorously.
Though he was curious about what the monster hiding in Tsukiyama City was, his own weakness made him realize that he and his partners were simply not qualified to join that final battle. After all, forget Tendo—even this newly arrived purple-haired Star Envoy felt unfathomably deep in power.
Connecting the dreams of an entire city... a method like that was already indistinguishable from the legendary "Natural Disasters," wasn't it?
Under the complex gazes of Mitchell and his companions, Tendo leapt into the air with Jing Liuli. The vector force field formed a transparent platform beneath their feet, allowing them to ignore gravity and fly toward the abandoned observatory.
As they flew rapidly, the rain was parted by Tendo's force field, leaving a clear wake behind them.
"Hey, Tendo! Slow down!"
"I haven't even had the chance to eat an energy bar to refuel!"
Jing Liuli clung tightly to Tendo's arm, her white dress billowing in the wind.
"Eat when we get there."
Tendo's gaze remained locked forward. His azure Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye could already "see" the gray mist at the top of the observatory. Within that mist, countless tiny fragments of consciousness were struggling—the lingering minds of the parasitized Star Envoys.
As they drew near, the sight of the abandoned observatory came fully into view. The walls were covered in creeping vines, and the glass dome at the top of the observation tower had long since shattered, looking utterly dilapidated. The mysterious gray mist was perched right in the center of the observatory's dome. It was like a mass of living thunderclouds; with every squirm, pale green spores drifted out of the mist, scattering across the city via the rain.
"That's it."
Tendo landed on the observation tower's platform, the old wooden floorboards emitting a "creak" from the age. The gray mist seemed to sense the intruders and contracted sharply, then transformed into a giant face covered in compound eyes, letting out a piercing shriek.
"So noisy... its consciousness is a mess. It's full of thoughts like 'devour' and 'purify.' There's no communicating with it at all." Jing Liuli covered her ears, her pale purple Star energy forming a barrier to block the sonic attack.
"There is no need for communication."
Tendo took a step forward. An invisible vector force field condensed into a translucent longsword before him, the light flowing over the blade sharp enough to easily cleave the air.
"After all, my mission... is simply to purge the source of the anomaly here."
Perhaps sensing the arrival of a powerful foe like Tendo, the originally ethereal gray cloud began to slowly solidify. Before long, the deathly silent observatory became restless. In the next second, a massive amount of white bones erupted from the ground, forming dense, airtight bone walls that surrounded Tendo and Jing Liuli.
These bones belonged to the creatures devoured by the "Parasitic Star Beast," and their skeletons were being used as weapons against Tendo.
Faced with this sudden attack, Tendo swung casually.
Thump!
Wherever the translucent vector sword passed, the seemingly hard bone crumbled instantly like tofu. Simultaneously, Jing Liuli cast aside her usual laziness and immediately entered a combat state. Deep purple light shimmered from her hair, and the Star energy around her surged, transforming into thick ropes of light.
With a twist of her wrist, the light ropes flew toward the gray mist as if they were alive. The moment the ropes pierced the mist, an inexplicable roar erupted from the cloud. Then, a massive "flesh ball"—looking like a patchwork of countless organisms—was forcibly dragged out of the thick gray fog by Jing Liuli.
Seeing this disgusting, distorted thing, Jing Liuli couldn't help but frown. "Tendo, this thing feels so strange. It clearly has power comparable to a 'Natural Disaster,' but its mind is incredibly chaotic and frenzied. It doesn't have a singular, coherent whole."
Tendo nodded. "It's likely an experimental subject. I can see... many images related to 'experiments' coming from it."
"You can see that too?" Jing Liuli looked at Tendo in surprise.
Though she knew both Tendo and Caroline had undergone significant changes since the Longevity Island trial ended, she still wasn't quite sure what those specific changes were.
Just as Jing Liuli was wondering when Tendo became able to see others' past "memories," the large flesh ball she was restraining suddenly launched a counterattack. It let out a shriek of agony—but this cry wasn't just a physical soundwave; it was a howl that acted directly upon the mental plane.
But the mental plane... was Jing Liuli's specialty!
As the mental shockwave struck the purple light shield around Jing Liuli, patterns of countless butterfly wings immediately surfaced on the shield, reflecting the mental impact back at the mist like a mirror.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
Watching the large flesh ball begin to scream in pain, Jing Liuli tightened her grip on the dream ropes. Emulating Tendo's usual cool demeanor, she spoke in an incredibly pretentious tone:
"Your mental power is decent, but in this field, I am the true 'Master'!"
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