Chapter 47: Losing Consciousness

Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Losing Consciousness

Xiang Yi breathed painfully, as if he could hear his lungs wailing with every gasp.

His body, no stronger than that of a healthy, ordinary man, was on the verge of complete collapse after non-stop, high-intensity exertion and repeated injuries.

His vision was completely blurred, but he could at least still make out the Laser Rifle that had just slipped from his grasp.

Amidst the dust kicked up by the collapsing building, Shi Tie had already caught the scent of blood and began to close in on Xiang Yi.

But from within the dust cloud.

An orange-red laser beam suddenly shot out.

The torrent of energy instantly tore through Shi Tie’s grotesquely thick left arm, precisely severing it at the point where the black stone was embedded.

The black stone and severed arm fell to the ground, and the stone once again looked like an ordinary rock.

Xiang Yi clutched his head with one hand and leaned on a nearby piece of rubble, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

It was blood from where he had bitten his own tongue.

He had not only used the pain to stimulate his mind; he had also used his last sliver of Spiritual Power to accelerate his consciousness, and then used that accelerated state to adjust the angle of his shot.

And that was how he had achieved this result.

It was the most effective use of the Laser Rifle’s last bit of energy—an absolute triumph of technology and Spiritual Power.

The weapon in his hand, obtained through Spiritual Enhancement, was undeniably powerful.

It was only his body that was weak.

Pushing off the rubble with one hand, Xiang Yi propelled himself toward the black stone.

Although the taste of blood kept rising from his lungs into his sinuses, making him desperate to stop and rest for a moment, he knew he had to keep moving.

He had to do it, even knowing how dangerous it was.

Because not doing it was even more dangerous.

The Spiritual Fluctuation on that black stone was building up again, about to be released.

Once the Dead Spirit Dust swirled in again, Xiang Yi wouldn’t know how to fight Shi Tie with a rifle that was no better than a club.

One was an unknown danger with an unpredictable outcome; the other was a known danger that would certainly get him killed. He would rather choose the former.

Xiang Yi stumbled his way over to the black stone and reached down to pick up the very object that had almost gotten him killed.

For a moment, nothing happened.

He breathed a small sigh of relief. But just as he was about to place the stone in the same container as the Blood Crystal Egg...

His Spiritual Power and Spiritual Fluctuation suddenly activated on their own, blanketing the black stone.

This wasn’t the black stone affecting him; rather, his own power was actively affecting the black stone.

Ordinarily, this might have been a good thing, but now...

Xiang Yi’s already meager Spiritual Power was instantly depleted. His consciousness overloaded from the intense Mental Shock, and he couldn’t help but sink to one knee.

The black stone slipped from his hand, but the link between his Spiritual Power, his Spiritual Fluctuation, and the stone was not severed.

Xiang Yi summoned all his strength, trying to reach for the stone, but another fierce Mental Shock erupted in his brain and consciousness. He lost his balance and crumpled to the ground.

The exhaustion that had been accumulating since his prison break finally exploded through his body. He completely lost all control.

The pain in his brain made it nearly impossible to think.

But he could hear the footsteps of Shuffling Monsters beginning to close in.

The sound of the collapsing building had attracted them.

Xiang Yi knew he had to get away, had to leave this dangerous place.

But his body refused to obey him, and his consciousness was sinking into darkness.

"I can’t... die like this... I have to... get somewhere safe..."

Xiang Yi’s muttering drifted through the ruins of the building.

It seemed no one was there to hear his last words.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

Xiang Yi finally regained consciousness. He stood up, eyes squeezed shut, clutching his head in pain.

He seemed to have had a vague dream while he was out.

He had seen a pitch-black world, a pitch-black pedestal, and a pitch-black... sphere?

And a large hand, a single black hand, had pulled him out of the dreamscape.

Xiang Yi shook his head, forcing himself to stop thinking about the dream.

The moment he tried to think, a sharp pain shot through his head.

It was a side effect of his depleted Spiritual Power.

He slapped his cheeks hard and forced his eyes open.

He found he was no longer beside the collapsed building on the commercial street, but inside a strange, abandoned building.

Through the window, he could see the rain outside had stopped. The Dead Spirit Dust and the dark clouds in the sky seemed to be dispersing as well.

There was no moonlight outside; it had to be sometime before dawn.

"I’m still alive..."

Xiang Yi kept rubbing his eyes, which threatened to close on their own.

Fatigue still clung to him. He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right then and there, but he didn’t dare.

He needed to figure out where he was and why he hadn’t died at the hands of those Shuffling Monsters.

Xiang Yi glanced around his surroundings.

For some reason, there was a messy-looking campfire beside him. Embers still glowed faintly on the charcoal, as if the fire had burned out not long ago.

He reached out to poke at the firewood, but suddenly noticed that his arm was covered in numerous blood-colored crystals.

His heart hammered in his chest for a moment before calming down.

Because these Blood Crystals didn’t seem hostile; in fact, they had helped stop his bleeding.

And it wasn’t just his arm. Every wound on his body was covered in Blood Crystals.

There was even a mask of Blood Crystals covering his face from the bleeding on his forehead, completely obscuring his features and leaving only two small holes to breathe through.

Xiang Yi immediately checked the container holding the Blood Crystal Egg, confirming it hadn’t leaked.

That left only one possibility.

He must have been infected by Blood Crystals back when he was in the mines beneath the Asteroid Prison.

It was just that the exposure was too small, or perhaps because he was a Spiritual Ability User, the infection had been suppressed.

But now, because he had become so weak, the Blood Crystals had reappeared.

But if that were the case, he should have been completely infected and killed by the Blood Crystals while he was unconscious. Reality, however, had not played out that way.

’Was it because, as a Spiritual Ability User, his condition recovered while he was unconscious, suppressing the Blood Crystals again? Or was it the influence of that black stone?’

’Speaking of which, where is that black stone?’

Xiang Yi brushed the dust from the ruins off his clothes, then glanced around him and patted his pockets.

Nothing. The black stone had vanished. Of course, it might have been left behind where he had collapsed.

"So how in the world did I get here?"

Xiang Yi found a few pieces of wood nearby and tossed them onto the extinguished fire, relighting it.

The warm glow of the fire immediately illuminated the dusty room, which looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years.

He then got up and went to the window, looking outside once more.

"Where on earth am I now?"