Salvation

Across from him, the man atop the flesh mound froze for a moment upon hearing those words, then let out a low chuckle.

"That child from the Holy City... it seems he told you quite a lot."

That child from the Holy City?

Ren Yi was stunned for a second before realizing he was referring to the Old Pope.

The old man had indeed said plenty—and not just talking, he had even spat out a long string of insults specifically directed at Azure.

However, those words were a roundabout admission of his identity.

The Xin King was Azure?

The ages didn't quite match up. According to the Old Pope, Azure was an old monster nearly a century old, yet the Xin King before him looked to be thirty at the absolute most. The age gap was far too wide.

So, had Azure possessed the Xin King's body?

"No." Ren Yi's gaze swept over the squirming flesh mound beneath the man's feet, and further down to the flesh tower itself.

He was not unfamiliar with this building.

He had once seen photos of it on the Xin City "Fire Extinguishing Squad" forum back when it wasn't yet encased in meat.

He had been teleported to Xin City, but the city had become... this.

"I simply feel that this setting is more in line with my stereotypical impression of you."

This thing... gave him a very bad premonition. And that feeling wasn't directed at himself.

Even though his current situation was dire to the extreme, there wasn't a hint of tension on Ren Yi's face.

Tension was useless. The gap in strength was right there; he might as well save his energy and see what kind of tricks the other was trying to pull.

It was clear that Azure had a lot to say, perfectly fitting the classic image of a villain.

Might as well indulge him in a chat.

"You know my name?" Ren Yi spoke first. "From Lu Zihan? What did you do to him?"

He knew the effects of the protective charm Auntie Lu Qing had given him. In principle, as long as he wasn't directly targeted by the world's will, his tracks should have been completely hidden.

It was like no one would specifically notice a zombie ant creeping into an ant farm they kept.

Now that he had been precisely kidnapped and brought here, he was clearly being targeted.

Azure smiled. Setting aside the sanity-draining scene beneath his feet, his smile could be described as gentle and charming.

"Are you talking about that Anomaly with the 'Rebuttal' rule? I simply had his soul answer a few small questions, that's all."

"Don't worry. To gain your favor, I didn't harm your friend." He paused, his tone remaining warm. "Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"The rules of your world are too powerful. I could only temporarily suppress his memories. Once he returns, all the methods applied to him will be completely cleared."

Ren Yi didn't believe a single punctuation mark of the first half of Azure's sentence.

But the second half—the part about Lu Zihan being fine once he returned to the Alliance—was something he actually agreed with.

In that case, Old Lu should be safe.

"Favor?" Ren Yi acted as if he had heard something hilarious.

"Kidnapping me to this godforsaken place for no reason and then welding this skin onto me—is that your way of gaining my favor?"

The moment Ren Yi discovered the protective charm had vanished, he had immediately tried to revert to his true form.

But he found he couldn't.

The skin belonging to Mo Ming was like a cage forged of iron, firmly welded onto his body.

What was this? An Anomaly version of a sheep-skin man? No, it was more like a human-skin Anomaly, wasn't it?

"I am very sorry." Azure's expression was exceptionally sincere. "I had originally intended to choose your friend."

"Until I learned of your existence through him."

"You are more special than him, and more suitable—better suited to survive in your peril-filled world." His tone grew a bit more solemn.

Ren Yi was taken aback.

Peril-filled? What kind of nonsense was this guy talking about?

His confusion didn't catch Azure's attention. The man continued on his own, his voice carrying a hint of earnestness.

"But you were too far from me. The Holy City and Xin City are on opposite ends of this world. To bring you here smoothly, I could only use this method."

"Please believe me, Mr. Ren Yi." Azure leaned forward slightly, his eyes filled with a nearly pious expectation.

"I have a precious gift that I wish to grant you."

Ren Yi rolled his eyes internally.

Why did everyone in the Three Cities World talk like this?

The Pope was like this, and so was Azure. Couldn't they just speak like normal people?

Complaints aside, Ren Yi raised an eyebrow and put on an interested expression, his tone light.

"Sure, I love receiving gifts."

"Tell me, what 'good thing' have you prepared that warranted going through all this trouble to kidnap me?"

"You should have already guessed it." Mentioning this "gift," Azure's eyes visibly brightened.

His tone carried the excitement and mystery of a magician about to reveal the pigeon in his hat.

"The world's will."

"That child in the Holy City might have told you that I've been seeking soul-fusion experiments all these years, right?"

"He was wrong—fatally wrong."

"What I have been seeking was never ordinary soul fusion, but the fusion of a human soul with the world's will."

"The moment the apocalypse broke out, the will of this world was severely wounded and became incredibly fragile."

"And I was the one who seized that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, successfully tearing a fragment from the world's will and merging it with my own soul."

"Since then, I have become a part of the Three Cities World's 'Heavenly Dao.'"

"And now," his gaze fell back onto Ren Yi, his voice coaxing as he spoke one word at a time, "I am going to grant this fragment of the world's will to you."

Ren Yi blinked, a clean and somewhat nonchalant smile spreading across his face.

He nodded agreeably, his tone as casual as if he were asking for a piece of candy. "That's great, thank you."

After a pause, he even prompted, a touch of entitlement in his expression: "Give it to me, then."

Azure's perfect smile stiffened for a split second.

He clearly hadn't expected Ren Yi to react this way.

He took a deep breath, his tone barely maintaining its previous sincerity.

"...But as I just said, the fragment is inside my soul. Therefore, before that, I must ask you to save us."

"Us?" Ren Yi raised an eyebrow, his smile fading slightly.

"Yes, us. Everyone in the entire Xin City." Azure's tone was deadly serious.

Ren Yi withdrew his gaze and slowly lowered his head, his eyes landing on the pulsating flesh tower beneath his feet.

In the Three Cities World, soul mutation caused physical mutation, and soul fusion led to physical fusion.

This was the root of how mutant beasts were born, and why multiple mutant beasts would entangle together to form chimeric monsters.

Earlier, Lu Zihan had mentioned that a few hours ago, Xin City had begun a mass assembly...

The answer to what this "tower" beneath his feet actually was had become glaringly obvious.

Though he had already suspected it, Ren Yi still paused for a moment when the time came to say it out loud.

"You... fused everyone in the entire Xin City together?"