Chapter Fifty-Four: I'm New Here, Please Don't Take Offense

The sound of rain intensified, merging into a torrent that crashed down from the heavens with a deafening roar, as if the sky itself were collapsing. What had once been a dim and gray world was now swallowed by darkness, the downpour so fierce that it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.

"The last rainfall wasn't nearly this strong. Could it be that the containment objects are sensing each other?"

From a distance, the food processing plant was surrounded by a column of black water. Suspended in midair, Mu Chen's body remained motionless, allowing the black rain to wash over him. Before him, a massive and sinister figure had taken shape—an evil infant ruler had manifested.

The enormous head scrutinized Mu Chen, as if surveying a new toy. Its grotesque face twisted into a faint smile, revealing a row of brown teeth. Subconsciously, Mu Chen was startled. It hadn’t triggered instant death! Then he realized that the black rain, battering his body, was somehow restricting and suppressing him; the "see to die" characteristic was being subdued.

In contrast, the evil infant seemed completely unfettered in this environment, its wicked eyes fixed intently on Mu Chen. At that moment, countless strands appeared in the rain—translucent threads violating the laws of physics, darting through the downpour and rushing toward Mu Chen from every direction.

"What are you waiting for? If those threads touch you, you'll be controlled!"

His consciousness watched the outside world, anxiety rising within. The threads gradually vanished into his body, but thankfully, no wounds appeared afterward.

Suddenly, the silent Mu Chen lifted his head, and in the next instant, all the probing threads around him shifted from translucent to dark. At that moment, the evil infant’s smile froze.

Countless threads frantically tried to withdraw from Mu Chen, but the darkened portions no longer responded to their master’s command.

With a sharp snap, the dark threads broke themselves apart.

Throughout the ordeal, Mu Chen didn’t blink or move. The more he remained still, the more terrifying his presence became.

The outcome was clear.

The black rain began to subside, shrinking to a moderate shower.

"I'm new here. Please don't hold it against me..."

A conscious voice entered Mu Chen's mind, cold and eerie, but surprisingly sincere.

Mu Chen's body remained still, the dark threads around him being steadily devoured. Within his mind, he could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

"The evil infant ruler is conceding?"

For the first time, he realized these resurrected entities were capable of communication.

Still, Mu Chen made no response, continuing to absorb and consume the threads.

The evil infant, seeing this, faded in the air, its vast form dimming, and even the surrounding rain diminished. As it was about to disappear, the light vanished completely, and Mu Chen, who had been devouring the threads, appeared suddenly before it, reaching out toward its enormous head.

In an instant, the violent black rain returned, but this time, though the rain intensified, the evil infant did not reappear; instead, it used the downpour to flee once more.

In the black rain, Mu Chen fell into silence, as if his mind had crashed. Only when the rain lessened did he recover.

Upon gaining clarity, he once again flashed to the evil infant’s location. The chase and escape continued nearby for another hour, until the evil infant’s maker entered the red mist and left the area, finally putting an end to the pursuit.

Within his mind, Mu Chen gained a deeper understanding of the containment objects.

"They possess logical capabilities, can communicate, and have territorial instincts."

If monsters were to be ranked by strength, the most formidable would be the resurrected bodies, for they not only possessed ordinary abilities but also mastered the power of rules; next would be the abyssal species, with their efficient lethality; lastly, the mutated species.

As for the resentful entities, they were unfinished resurrected bodies—a separate category. Unlike the resurrected, they had not formed rules, and at times, could be easier to deal with than abyssal species.

Mu Chen analyzed the monster rankings, and by then, his body had returned to the ground.

A wave of dizziness swept over him and he collapsed, limp.

"Has my sanity value recovered?" was his last thought.

His vision blurred, his head throbbing as if stirred by a blender. Weakness overcame him, and even moving a finger felt impossible.

He lay on cold ground slick with black mud.

Mu Chen wasn’t surprised by his current condition. After all he’d been through, as long as he was alive, he could accept any state his body was in—nothing worth making a fuss about.

Only the manner of his collapse made him uncomfortable.

His entire face was buried in the mud, making it hard to breathe, and it took all his strength just to turn his head to the side.

"There shouldn’t be any living things within two kilometers, so I don’t need to worry about being attacked. But how can I recover quickly? If I stay prone in this environment for too long, I really might die. He knew well how dangerous hypothermia could be..."

Mu Chen understood his surroundings and knew exactly what needed to be addressed.

[Stop worrying about your environment. The temperature is three degrees Celsius, while your body temperature has dropped to thirty-four degrees and is lowering by 0.1 degrees per minute. You're halfway gone. We recommend deleting your phone's memory in advance; it'll make your departure more dignified.]

"My phone’s long gone! Can’t you offer some useful advice?" Mu Chen grumbled inwardly.

[Constitution.]

"Gone?"

Suddenly, inspiration struck—he still had unused potential points!

He quickly selected [Personal Information].

[Name: Mu Chen]
[Race: Human]
[Title: None]
[Contained Object: ???'s Eyeball (click to view)]
[Level: Lv11]
[Territory: Level One]
[Skills: Mental Entry: Fusion (click to view), Expulsion]
Mental Entry: Fusion (fused soul artifact: Soul Calming Nail*1)
Constitution: 5
Spirit: 11 (3)
Potential Points: 5

If he allocated all his potential points to Spirit, he would only be four points short of the maximum twenty.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option now; he could only assign some points to Constitution.

As he increased Constitution by one, he felt a warm current flow through his body, though it still wasn’t enough to give him the strength to stand.

"Add another..."

Struggling through a series of negative states, Mu Chen managed to stagger to his feet.

Looking around, he realized he wasn’t too far from the grain storage base.

He had agreed to meet Ivy in the residential area two hours later; if Ivy couldn’t find him, who knew what unforeseen consequences might arise.

...