novelraw Chapter 90 : Orange Light
Chapter 90 : Orange Light
Chapter 90: Orange Light
In the pitch-black darkness, the flashlight in Zhang Wenda’s hand flickered rapidly in red and yellow, the beam tracing the edges of a polyhedron in the void.
He silently repeated the chant from 2826 in his mind.
「Triple Burner—————Triple Burner Light Track Brands the Star Mark, Left Three Crimson Dye Earth, Right Two Dark Devour Dust, Center Polyhedron Rends the Void Gate Left Lung Three Crimson Stripes, Scorching through Riemann Scar One Right Lung Two Dark Yellow, Orbit Spins Inward Sink One」」
As Zhang Wenda chanted, the flashing light of the flashlight no longer vanished with each click, but instead solidified and lingered in midair.
The red and yellow light illuminated everything around, forming a sunset-like orange hue that also lit up the shadows around them.
The shadows seemed fearful of something, lifting their heads to stare at the increasingly bright orange light in the sky.
Suddenly, as if reacting all at once, they charged toward Zhang Wenda who held the flashlight.
In an instant, Zhang Wenda seemed to be at the eye of a black storm, on the verge of being torn apart.
Just as a sharp black fang was about to pierce into Zhang Wenda’s eye, he clenched his teeth and swiftly pressed the flashlight switch.
Red—Red—Red—Yellow—Yellow—Red—Yellow. With Zhang Wenda’s rapid seven flashes, the surrounding shadows exploded and were blasted away.
At that moment, Zhang Wenda holding the flashlight high resembled a deity wielding the sun, with no shadow able to approach within five meters of him.
The ritual was complete. The orange light in the sky shone like a miniature sun, illuminating and driving away all surrounding darkness.
Under the orange glow, all the shadows began to emit black smoke, retreating in fear of Zhang Wenda, vanishing into the dark.
Witnessing this, Zhang Wenda shuddered uncontrollably. He felt as if he now possessed extraordinary power beyond that of ordinary humans.
The sensation of wielding power was exhilarating. At this moment, he felt omnipotent, incomparable even to the strength-enhancing red core or the thought-switching yellow core.
Sure enough, his previous theory was right. The three cores used in tandem could unleash a force far greater than 1+1=2. This power far surpassed the limits of the human body.
Right then, Zhang Wenda resolved firmly in his heart—no matter what it took, he had to master them all.
But before he could savor the moment, a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him. The bright orange light vanished swiftly, and brightness around him was once again swallowed by darkness.
Zhang Wenda, nearly losing his balance, looked to his arm and realized that in that short time, his red core had been completely depleted, with only a sliver of yellow core remaining.
"The consumption’s that fast? It burned out in such a short span." But Zhang Wenda had no time for complaints. He quickly helped up the injured 2826 who was lying nearby. "Do you have any healing abilities? Teach me to heal you."
2826 shook his head. "You don’t have a blue core. You can’t use it."
"Then where’s your mouth? I’ll give you candy." Zhang Wenda had just pulled out the candy when Song Jianguo rushed over, snatched it, and stuffed it into the mouth of the blind injured cat in her arms.
"I’m too old for candy. It doesn’t help me. Let’s get out of here. I can feel they’ll be back soon." 2826 looked miserable, his body covered in wounds.
"Alright then." Zhang Wenda supported him forward, but not before he collected the Oil Tyrant he’d spotted earlier.
"Two drops now. That’s 400 bucks," Zhang Wenda thought, eyeing his haul.
"No wonder it’s worth so much. This place is insanely dangerous. You can’t spend money if you’re dead."
They were still a bit short, but one look at 2826’s condition told Zhang Wenda they couldn’t stay. With one less fighter, remaining here would be too dangerous. He promptly said, "Let’s go. Let’s leave this place first."
"Aren’t you from Bureau 507? How did the shadows manage to ambush you so easily? Are you really that weak?" Zhang Wenda asked as they walked.
"I’m from the scouting team, not the combat unit. And that was an ambush—you know what an ambush is?" 2826 said with irritation.
Hearing the strong tone in his voice, Zhang Wenda felt slightly reassured. It seemed the other wouldn’t be dying anytime soon.
"What was that technique called earlier? I want to remember it."
"Orange Light."
Upon hearing that, Zhang Wenda immediately began repeating the tongue-twisting incantation over and over, deepening his memory to avoid forgetting.
After leaving the area, the group made a brief rest. They tore off parts of their clothes to wrap 2826’s wounds and stop the bleeding.
"We can’t stay at the bottom. We need to go up," Zhang Wenda said, holding the flashlight.
"Easier said than done. How do we go up?" Song Jianguo looked up at the pitch-black ceiling above. The massive bottoms of the floating islands blocked out all the light.
"If I could fly, maybe I could carry you up. But I can’t now," 2826 said.
The cats nearby began forming a human pyramid, but they were far too few. The stack collapsed quickly, accompanied by a chorus of meows.
Zhang Wenda pointed the flashlight upward and roughly estimated the nearest floating island was over a hundred meters high.
"Whatever we do, we better do it fast," Song Jianguo said hesitantly, glancing around the darkness. She seemed to sense something, and rustling sounds began echoing nearby.
"I only have the yellow core left. Is there any way using just that to get us out?" Zhang Wenda asked 2826.
Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Wenda added, "Don’t hold back now. You’ve already taught me one. What’s the harm in teaching another?"
Footsteps approached from the darkness. Zhang Wenda swung the flashlight hard, scaring whatever was lurking back.
It wasn’t a cat shadow—they didn’t make footstep sounds. Something else was in the dark.
"It’s not that I won’t teach you. Single yellow core abilities mostly relate to switching thought streams, which is useless in this situation."
Zhang Wenda swung the flashlight again, driving back the encroaching shadows, but this deterrence wouldn’t last. Once the enemies realized he couldn’t summon Orange Light again, they would attack, and the situation would turn dire.
"Wait, switching thought streams? Maybe I can————" Zhang Wenda looked at the yellow core on his arm and pressed hard, but nothing happened.
"It’s useless. In front of the unique Thought Stream Creatures of this place, switching thought streams is impossible. That’s common sense."
Hearing this, Zhang Wenda suddenly recalled the earlier problem of being unable to switch thought streams in front of the airplane.
"Says who? I clearly switched in front of those monsters before—————" Zhang Wenda froze mid-sentence, a realization dawning on him. Back then, whenever he successfully switched thought streams—it had always been in front of people.
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