Chapter 319 - 316: Another Cyclist

Chapter 319: Chapter 316: Another Cyclist

What swirled around the bizarre cyclist was not black mist, but fine grains of black sand.

The roiling grit made Mo Ling feel as if he were back in the sandstorms of the 2nd Floor of the Abyss. The only difference was that the black sand around the cyclist now constantly emitted an unpleasant, grating sound.

The black sand was constantly roiling, slowly closing in to surround Li Luo.

"Cyclist?"

Li Luo asked again in a low voice. Although she was still testing the waters with her words, her hand had already crept to the end of her purple wrist cord.

This bizarre cyclist before her made it impossible to let her guard down.

The surrounding black sand seemed to be roiling faster, drawing closer and closer to Li Luo.

’He’s hostile.’

If he were friendly, he would have tried to communicate by now. But instead, the cyclist before her just kept manipulating that strange sand, as if trying to block her path.

Watching the black sand spread, Li Luo hesitated no longer.

"Run!"

She yelled at the Block, then immediately spun around and took off running.

’Run? Not fight?’

Mo Ling, who had just been about to make a move, was startled by her shout. But he quickly came to his senses and followed Li Luo in her retreat.

As Li Luo ran through the streets, she kept glancing back, only quickening her pace with relief after she saw the Block had caught up.

However, the darkness hampered her escape.

The electronic screen only illuminated a short stretch of the road ahead, and Li Luo wasn’t very familiar with Paradise Island. She had no choice but to slow down intermittently to watch for obstacles.

In the dark, the irregular, bizarre buildings looked like misshapen behemoths blocking her path, forcing her to stop and change direction repeatedly.

The cyclist, riding that strange bicycle, stayed close behind Li Luo, forcing her to constantly change direction and weave through different streets.

The sand itself didn’t drift quickly, but the cyclist rode fast.

As he moved, he left a trail of suspended black sand behind him, like a black wall.

Before long, the entire area was filled with dense black sand. Only then did Li Luo realize that her escape route had been unknowingly sealed off.

"He wasn’t failing to catch me—he was herding me in circles!"

Li Luo stared in shock at the swirling black sand before her.

It was already hard to get her bearings in the dark. Without realizing it, Li Luo had circled back to a place she’d been before. Ahead lay the telltale signs of the cyclist’s chase—the suspended black sand.

"We can’t escape. This stuff is everywhere," Li Luo panted, speaking to the Block.

At that moment, Mo Ling’s entire field of vision was filled with black sand. It had completely surrounded Li Luo and seemed to be constantly contracting toward the center.

Meanwhile, the cyclist still trailed Li Luo, hidden in the darkness and keeping his distance.

Mo Ling felt a chill run down his spine.

’This is a premeditated hunt.’

From the moment he appeared, he never intended to catch her. He was just forcing her to run, draining her stamina and using the chase to lay a trap with the black sand.

Without even realizing it, Li Luo had fallen into his encirclement.

And he was a skilled hunter; this clearly wasn’t his first time.

’He’s intelligent? Then why does he refuse to communicate?’ Mo Ling couldn’t understand.

Li Luo had called out more than once, but the bizarre cyclist had remained completely silent, attacking without a single word.

’This is too weird...’

Mo Ling was completely baffled, but he knew one thing for sure: this was definitely not the same cyclist he and Li Luo had met that morning.

This was a different one.

Whether he had been corrupted or it was for some other reason, the cyclist before them now was an enemy.

With that thought, Mo Ling hesitated no longer. He targeted the drifting black sand and activated his teleport ability.

Once inside the Block, the black sand seemed to lose whatever held it aloft. It fell to the ground with a SWISH and quickly dissipated.

Before Mo Ling could even get a good look, the black sand had already turned to ash and vanished without a trace.

’What in the world is this stuff?’

It had the form of grit, yet it was pitch-black and vanished the moment it was removed from the cyclist’s control. Mo Ling was thoroughly confused.

It wasn’t mist, and it wasn’t sand. It was like some unknown material.

But Mo Ling had no time to dwell on it. He quickly focused his vision on the encroaching wall of black sand.

He teleported another batch. Once again, the black sand scattered onto the metal ground, bounced a few times, and vanished.

It was the same result every time he teleported it.

The black sand outside seemed endless; all Mo Ling could do was continuously teleport away the batches that drew near.

Not only that, but despite his teleporting, the sand wasn’t diminishing. In fact, it was growing more and more plentiful, and the surrounding darkness grew ever deeper.

When he looked for the cyclist in the darkness again, the man’s figure was gone. All that remained was a rapidly moving Black Shadow, darting back and forth through the sand.

Wherever the Black Shadow went, the black sand in that spot would instantly become exceptionally dense.

As the Black Shadow zipped around, a black sandstorm began to whip up around them.

The sudden, fierce wind blew Li Luo’s hair into disarray, and her expression grew increasingly grim.

"There’s more and more sand..."

She was like a lone boat in a sandstorm, completely helpless.

’We have to end this, and fast. I can’t let him keep making more sand.’ Mo Ling made up his mind and locked his focus on the swiftly darting Black Shadow.

He hadn’t wanted to attack the strange cyclist. Mo Ling knew what his abilities were capable of; if he acted, there could be unforeseen consequences.

Even the normal cyclist from that morning might be affected.

But the situation was critical, and he saw no other way.

The sandstorm was growing larger and larger. Teleporting away the sand was like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water. He had no choice but to target the source of the black maelstrom.

The Black Shadow moved incredibly fast, but it couldn’t escape Mo Ling’s lock-on.

His vision pierced through the roiling black sand, and Mo Ling saw the high-speed Black Shadow.

The cyclist, black sand pouring from his body, was hunched forward, pedaling so furiously that his movements were a blur.

Driven by his frenzy, the bicycle became like a gale, constantly lunging forward. Lines of black sand burst from its frame, trailing out behind it. With a CLANK-CLANK-CLANK of its wheels, the entire bike was pushed up into the sky.

Through the black goggles, Mo Ling saw the cyclist’s savage face.

It was a look of utter, obsessive madness.

Black sand, like drool, streamed from his mouth, forming more black lines that trailed backward in the wind.

His blackened eyes were locked straight ahead, veins bulging on his forehead. Man and machine had become one, like an overloaded engine.

Gears spun to the breaking point, the chain pulled taut, parts flew off into the chaos...

Mo Ling sighed, and his teleportation frame locked onto the crazed machine.

’Stop...’