Scorching flames danced wildly within the punishment room, finally gathering before the hole in the incinerated wall to coalesce into a humanoid figure nearly two meters tall.
This figure was composed entirely of fire elements, possessing no facial features but a rough human silhouette, radiating intense heat from its entire body.
Clatter!
The ruins that had been buried by the collapsing ceiling were blasted aside by a force, pushed toward the periphery.
The hunched-back old man and the three dull-looking transcendents beside him stood perfectly unharmed in their original spots.
The two dark red beads in the old man's hand flashed steadily, seemingly forming an invisible barrier that blocked out all physical impact and high temperatures.
The old man first shot a cold glance at Yue Shi and Ghost, then turned his gaze toward the fire man. His wrinkled face showed no hint of panic; instead, a smirk curled on his lips.
Hmm?
This abnormal expression immediately put Yue Shi on high alert.
He remembered that the intelligence regarding Lab 0 had always mentioned an extremely mysterious Curse Master.
This person had never made a direct appearance, but Yue Shi had already encountered the curses they cast several times.
Could it be...
While Yue Shi’s mind raced with possibilities, the fire man moved again.
He seemed to harbor the same bone-deep hatred for the laboratory executives. With a wave of his arms, the flames within the punishment room roared, rapidly contracting and condensing with the hunched-back old man at the center.
The color of the fire was initially orange-red, but it gradually shifted to a blindingly bright white as the temperature climbed sharply.
The metal of the floor and walls began to melt and drip, and various precision instruments burst under the intense heat. The entire punishment room was transformed into the core of a furnace.
Yue Shi pulled Ghost in front of him, simultaneously raising a defense to block out the light and heat.
Yet, the hunched-back old man at the very heart of the firestorm still wore that repulsive, cold smirk, looking completely undeterred.
He even took a moment to wipe the two dark red beads in his hand with his sleeve.
Such composure could only mean he had something to rely on.
Yue Shi activated the Insight vision at the center of his forehead, scanning the surroundings for more information.
When his gaze landed on the fire man, the initial information that surfaced was simple and direct.
【Arsonist】: Capable of controlling, condensing, and enhancing the temperature and form of fire. Can also elementalize their own body, granting immunity to conventional physical attacks and high-temperature damage.
This informational note matched the other party’s performance perfectly.
But then, something unusual happened.
Beneath the entry for 【Arsonist】, new text actually began to emerge.
However, the new text overlapped and intertwined with the original text, flickering unsteadily as if fighting for display priority.
This was the first time Yue Shi had encountered a situation where two layers of information overlapped.
The newly appeared information read: 【Thousand Changes】: Every day at midnight, this ability triggers automatically and forcibly, ignoring the user’s will. It cannot be paused, delayed, or interrupted by any known means.
Once the effect is triggered, the user randomly transforms into a brand-new identity, simultaneously gaining the core abilities, relevant knowledge, memories, and some physical traits corresponding to that identity.
Throughout the transformation, the user fully retains all their memories, mind, and primary consciousness. However, their physical form, gender, age, and race may undergo unpredictable, random changes. The transformation lasts for 24 hours, refreshing again at midnight the following day.
Seeing such a bizarre supernatural power, Yue Shi was secretly amazed.
It was so strange, even somewhat absurd, filled with unpredictable randomness.
Its upper limit could be ridiculously high, granting some god-tier ability.
Its lower limit could also be terrifyingly low, granting an ability with zero combat power or even negative debuffs.
Everything depended entirely on luck.
Clearly, today’s random identity from Thousand Changes was the 【Arsonist】.
Just as the Arsonist controlled the bright white flames in an attempt to incinerate the hunched-back old man in an instant...
A sudden change occurred.
Several slender, pitch-black chains emerged out of thin air within the white flames.
These chains were not physical entities; they seemed to be condensed from the purest shadows and malice. Like living venomous snakes, they rapidly twisted and coiled, extinguishing the flames around the old man.
Then, the chains lunged at the Arsonist, forming a rotating circle that imprisoned the Arsonist’s towering flaming body within.
A strange sizzling sound rang out, much like the sound of a red-hot iron being plunged into ice water.
Within the range of the encircling chains, the flames on the Arsonist’s body continued to burn, but they seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall, unable to break through the confinement of the black chains.
Tongues of fire licked at the chains but could not burn them through, nor could they transmit the high temperature and destruction to the outside world.
The fire and the black chains fell into a stalemate, pitted against each other.
Seeing this, Yue Shi immediately heightened his guard.
This was not the first time he had seen these black chains; the Curse Master must have made a move from the shadows.
And with a single strike, they had suppressed the powerful Arsonist in this manner.
Yue Shi turned his gaze toward the hunched-back old man, who remained perfectly safe, and saw the blatant contempt and smugness on the old geezer’s face. It was as if everything was within his grasp; he hadn't been worried from the start, and his previous panic had all been an act.
The Arsonist, imprisoned by the chains, turned to look at Yue Shi and roared irritably, “Don’t just stand there watching the show! Hurry up and help me break these chains! This thing is constantly suppressing my power.”
The Arsonist’s voice was gruff, but Yue Shi only gave him a cold glance and did not respond.
In the next second, Yue Shi’s figure vanished from the spot and reappeared behind and to the side of the hunched-back old man.
This time, his target was not the old man himself, but the two beads in the old man’s hand!
The surrounding space rippled violently and then began to rotate and fold frantically. The three dull transcendents didn't even have time to react before they were sucked into this berserk spatial vortex.
Crack! Crunch! Squelch!
Hair-raising sounds of bones shattering and flesh tearing rang out in succession.
The bodies of those three transcendents were forcibly twisted into mangled, pretzel-like shapes. Blood gushed from their distorted joints, and fragments of internal organs sprayed from the ruptures in their chests and abdomens, killing them instantly.
The hunched-back old man’s expression changed drastically. The two dark red beads in his hand flashed frantically at an unprecedented frequency. The twisted space was mysteriously smoothed out and restored, allowing him to narrowly escape death.
Yue Shi stared intently at those two beads.
Good stuff~
This item is destined for me!
Just as Yue Shi was preparing to strike again to kill the old man and seize the gems for himself...
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that at some point, a circle of fine, phantom-like black chains had quietly emerged around his own body, rotating around him like planetary rings.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yue Shi directly activated the 【Traveler】 ability to teleport, pulling away from the old man.
Looking back at those black chains, they did not teleport with him but remained in place, rotating.
Perhaps having lost their target, the chains soon faded and vanished into the air.
The hunched-back old man looked at the distant Yue Shi, his face filled with terror and lingering fear, cold sweat soaking his back.
Just a little more! Just a tiny bit more, and he would have ended up like those three transcendents, turned into a pile of meat on the floor!
On the other side, the black chains encircling the Arsonist seemed to grow slightly paler under the continuous burning of the flames, showing signs of being weakened.
It was estimated that if this continued for a while longer, the Arsonist would be able to break free.
But just then...
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
A series of dense, orderly footsteps came from all the corridor entrances outside the punishment room.
The sounds grew from distant to near, gradually surrounding the entire punishment room.
Hearing these footsteps, the terror on the hunched-back old man’s face instantly turned into smugness and resentment.
His triangular eyes coldly swept over Yue Shi, Ghost, and the Arsonist as he snarled viciously, “The laboratory being infiltrated by the three of you rats indeed caught us off guard.”
“To deal with various incidents, we had to disperse our forces, which allowed you to luckily fight your way all the way to the core area.”
“But now, you’ve foolishly gathered together. That saves us the trouble of hunting you down one by one. It’s perfect for the laboratory to wipe you all out in one go!”
Yue Shi did not offer a verbal response; he only made an extremely disdainful and punchable expression.
The old man’s anger immediately flared. He pointed a withered finger at Yue Shi. “You’re just a mere experimental subject. What exactly are you being so arrogant about? Do you even deserve it? Have you forgotten how you were strapped to the lab table and tortured back then!”
“Since you were lucky enough to escape, you should have found a sewer to hide in like a rat in the gutter. Maybe then you could have survived a few more days like a maggot.”
His voice suddenly rose, filled with malice. “But what about you? You just had to seek your own death! Thinking you could come back for revenge?”
“Hahaha, how naive, how ridiculous! Tell me, if this isn’t walking right into our trap, what is?”
By now, the punishment room was completely surrounded.
Through the giant one-way glass wall, one could vaguely see that the corridor outside was packed with people.
Among the pairs of eyes looking in, most carried a sort of cat-and-mouse playfulness, along with undisguised killing intent.
The intrusion by Yue Shi, Ghost, and the Arsonist had turned Lab 0 upside down, causing immeasurable losses.
For the surviving members of the laboratory, simply killing the three of them would be far too easy on them.
Yue Shi calmly looked around. Even now, he had not discovered the figure of that Curse Master.
His gaze finally settled on the hunched-back old man’s smug face, his voice calm. “Are you really so confident you can handle me?”
The old man burst into loud laughter. “You think you still have a chance to turn the tables? Relying on your low-grade invisibility or your little trick of twisting space?”
“An inescapable net has already been laid out here, with both internal and external lockdowns. I suggest you get on your knees and surrender. Perhaps then you’ll suffer a little less during your execution!”
Yue Shi didn't show the slightest panic. The other party simply couldn't understand that his control over the laws of space had already reached a terrifying level they could hardly imagine.
Crack.
A clear shattering sound came from the side.
The Arsonist had finally completely burned through the black chains binding him, which collapsed into a cloud of drifting black smoke.
His head, composed of flames, turned toward the enemies surrounding them outside. “Cowardly rats who only know how to use underhanded, low-life methods. I’m going to burn you all to ash today!”
As the words fell, he threw his arms open, and an even more violent fire erupted, sweeping in all directions.
Hum!
The void trembled.
Countless denser and more solid black chains surged out from all directions.
These chains rapidly interlaced and coiled, forming a massive and complex black cage in the blink of an eye.
The area where Yue Shi, the Arsonist, and Ghost were located was trapped within the cage, sealed from above, below, left, and right.
The moment the cage took shape, Yue Shi could clearly feel that space had become extremely solidified, like water turning into ice.
Unfortunately, it was useless against him.
Ever since obtaining the 【Traveler】 ability, space was like a pile of toy blocks before him.
“Damn it, what the hell is this thing!” the Arsonist roared, controlling flames to blast the cage, but he couldn't burn through it at all.
He turned to Yue Shi and bellowed in a gruff voice, “Hey, what other trump cards do you have? Use them now! If you keep holding back, we’re all going to end up dead today!”
Yue Shi countered with a question, “What about you? You dared to barge into this lion’s den alone; don’t tell me you don’t have any decent trump cards?”
The Arsonist said irritably, “I performed a divination earlier. The hex was precise down to the specific date. Only today, only by coming here on this day, could I smoothly exact my revenge!”
His tone was very certain.
Yue Shi didn't fully believe the Arsonist’s claim, but he didn't plan to continue wasting time either.
Under the hunched-back old man’s playful gaze and the countless mocking stares from outside the punishment room...
Yue Shi’s figure vanished from the spot.
There was no spatial fluctuation whatsoever.
Only the teddy bear controlled by Ghost remained, raising its paws to act cute toward the people outside, looking not the least bit panicked.
This sudden turn of events left everyone stunned.
The smugness on the hunched-back old man’s face vanished, his eyes widening abruptly.
The besiegers outside the punishment room were still looking down on their prey one second, and the next, they didn't even have time to be shocked that Yue Shi could break through the Curse Master’s spatial imprisonment cage.
Death had already descended, light as a feather.
Wide-range spatial rifts flashed and vanished in an instant.
The crowd was like people thrown into a meat grinder.
The sounds of flesh and bone snapping and short, extreme screams mixed together.
Some had their heads separated from their necks, with mocking expressions still on their faces;
Some had their upper and lower bodies severed, their internal organs and intestines spilling all over the floor;
More were instantly torn into countless irregular chunks of meat.
Blood sprayed, staining the floor a deep crimson.
Chunks of corpses fell to the floor one after another, making dull thudding sounds.
The once-aggressive corridor fell into a deathly silence.
Blood dripped and flowed, and the few who were lucky enough to still be alive were now scared out of their wits.
“Haha, hahahaha!”
Looking at the bloody slaughterhouse before him, Yue Shi couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He loved this kind of bloodiness!
“A bunch of idiots. Actually, I was the one looking for a chance to attract all you scattered pests together so I could wipe you out in one go.”
“It’s just that I didn't expect you to be so cooperative, delivering yourselves right to my door!”
“Truly, you’ve saved me quite a bit of time.”
Rate on N.U.
