novelraw Chapter 272: Surround Him
Chapter 272: Surround Him
Su Zhan lunged forward to the right, dodging an energy beam that swept in from the side, and practically rolled along the wall into that dead-end alley.
"The target has entered Alley Three! It's a dead end! Surround him!"
The shout from the Aberrant Purge Division members came through the communicator.
Several members closed in from the alley entrance.
"Screech—!"
A massive garbage truck, just as predicted by the Future Vision, indeed panicked and slammed on its brakes upon hearing the distant explosion. Its huge body ended up perfectly blocking the narrow alley entrance, completely obstructing the pursuers' line of sight and firing angles.
"Damn it! This piece of junk! Go around it, quick!"
The pursuers were furious.
And in those precious two or three seconds of opportunity.
Su Zhan, relying on the Future Vision's foreknowledge and enduring excruciating pain, had already used his sharp claws to violently tear open the pile of foul-smelling waste at the end of the alley, revealing a dark, broken pipe opening beneath.He dove in without hesitation.
His body fell into the filthy, stagnant water.
The sewer was filled with a nauseating stench.
Su Zhan felt helpless in his heart.
He could only pay his respects to Liu Ziming now.
He suppressed all his aura, leaving only his nostrils barely breathing.
The Future Vision was still operating, sensing the movements on the ground above the pipe.
Disorderly footsteps sounded overhead.
The Aberrant Purge Division members circled around the truck and rushed into the dead-end alley, only to see a pile of torn-open garbage and an empty, gaping pipe opening.
"Report! The target has infiltrated the underground pipe network! Requesting support to block downstream exits!"
However, the underground pipe network system of Lincheng was intricate and maze-like, coupled with years of disrepair. Many passages weren't even marked on official maps.
Relying on the Future Vision's predictions, Su Zhan moved through the dark pipes, avoiding several areas prone to collapse or equipped with monitoring sensors.
He didn't know how long it had been when he finally crawled out from a derelict river channel drainage outlet far from the waste yard.
This place was located at the fringe between the city and the suburbs.
Su Zhan collapsed on the weed-covered riverbank, his body covered in mud. His wounds still throbbed with stinging pain, and his recovery speed had slowly begun to normalize.
Icy rain pelted down on his head and face.
Outside, a downpour had begun.
A thick curtain of rain connected heaven and earth. Everything's outlines blurred in the rainwater, and the loud, crashing sound of the rain masked all other noises in the world.
Su Zhan warily scanned his surroundings. This was a dry, barren riverbed, overgrown with weeds, far from any roads, and completely deserted.
The icy rainwater instantly soaked through his tattered clothes, washing away the foul stench covering his body.
The wounds stung upon contact with the rain.
But the feeling of being cleansed of the filth brought a sense of relief.
Su Zhan struggled to his feet, raised his head, and spread his arms, letting the torrential rain wash over his body freely.
After a long while.
Su Zhan slowly lowered his arms and wiped the rainwater from his face.
Time to move.
He detoured through the wild, desolate hills for a long time before finding a hidden cave.
The entrance was concealed by dense vines. The interior was dry and relatively safe.
Su Zhan walked deep into the cave. Only after ensuring he couldn't be seen from outside did he slowly deactivate his aberrant form.
The black scales receded, revealing the lean, muscular body beneath, covered in scars.
The golden vertical pupils also returned to normal black eyes.
Su Zhan carefully used his fingertip to slice open a piece of skin on his chest that appeared perfectly intact.
In reality.
One of the scales there had left an extremely fine seam after the form was deactivated.
He retrieved the piece of paper recording the summoning ritual from the flesh layer beneath that scale.
The edges of the paper showed signs of being dampened by the rain, slightly wrinkled, but the patterns and text on it were still clearly legible.
Su Zhan gently spread it out on the dry ground before him. Using the faint daylight filtering through the gaps in the vines at the cave entrance, he studied it carefully.
The content was obscure.
The core lay in needing to use a special meditation method to combine one's own spiritual power with Mist Energy, to communicate with the elusive Mist Will that existed in the unseen.
It stated.
A pious heart and a pure soul were necessary conditions for communication.
Su Zhan shook his head helplessly.
This 'pious heart and pure soul' was absolutely nonsense to fool ghosts.
The essence was probably requiring sufficiently powerful spiritual power as a bridge.
"Hah..."
Su Zhan took a deep breath.
Following the description on the paper, he began to adjust his breathing, sank his consciousness into his body, and guided that Mist Energy—completely different from Spiritual Energy—to circulate along a peculiar path.
Simultaneously, he separated a wisp of spiritual power, attempting to merge it with this strand of Mist Energy.
This process was extremely dangerous!
Mist Energy itself carried chaotic properties, almost fundamentally incompatible with the high degree of spiritual power required.
Su Zhan immediately felt a stabbing pain in his head as if pierced by needles.
That wisp of spiritual power nearly got assimilated by the Mist Energy.
Su Zhan grunted.
He forcibly stabilized his mind, using his powerful willpower as a buffer, and tried to blend them into a single fluctuation carrying his personal imprint.
Following the instructions on the paper.
He sent this wisp of Mist fluctuation mixed with his own spiritual imprint out into the void, toward that unknowable existence.
Su Zhan's perception seemed to penetrate the cave's rock walls, pierce the boundaries of the material world, and enter a realm of chaos, of nothingness.
The next second.
Su Zhan's entire body shuddered violently.
He felt that deep within that endless chaos, some vast, ancient will seemed attracted by this faint spiritual imprint, and cast over a trace of... attention.
Even across the infinite void.
Su Zhan's soul trembled.
He felt like an ant looking up at the starry sky, suddenly realizing a certain star was gazing back at him.
Had the communication... succeeded?
Or had he... attracted something even more terrifying?
Su Zhan abruptly severed that spiritual connection. His whole person collapsed backward as if drained, gasping for breath in huge gulps. Cold sweat instantly soaked his entire body.
He looked at the paper on the ground, his expression incredibly complex.
This method was indeed extremely sinister.
But without a doubt, it pointed to an existence that transcended ordinary power.
After resting for a long time.
Su Zhan recovered his strength. He used his body heat to dry the damp stains on the paper and hid it again beneath the scales on his chest.
Though perilous in the extreme, he had taken the first step.
How to summon a Mist event next.
Would require more practice as described.
He rested in the cave for the entire night.
Su Zhan's injuries were completely healed.
The next day, the sky remained overcast.
Su Zhan wasn't in a hurry to leave. He decided to attempt the ritual again.
With the experience from the first time, he was more cautious, but also bolder.
Su Zhan went to a relatively open clearing in the woods outside the cave.
He took a deep breath, cleared his mind of distractions, and once again entered that peculiar meditative state.
His consciousness sank into his body, guiding the Mist Energy to carefully merge with a wisp of spiritual power.
This time, he was more proficient, and the process went much smoother than the first attempt.