Still Not Enough

Early morning in the wilderness, the thin mist had not yet fully dissipated.

Two corpses, a man and a woman wearing identical outfits, lay silently on the ground, both long dead.

The girl's sweet smile was frozen in place, while a trace of shock still lingered in the young man's eyes.

The spatial fluctuations in the surrounding area slowly settled, and the labyrinth dissolved.

Yue Shi stood beside the bodies, casually flicking away the bloodstains on his fingertips.

Although his brow was still thick with malice, he wasn't quite as manic as he had been a moment ago.

The Ghost breathed a sigh of relief and drifted over, asking, "Are you back to normal?"

He was truly afraid that Yue Shi would start acting like a lunatic again in the next second.

Yue Shi shot the Ghost a sidelong glance. "What's that supposed to mean? I've always been normal."

He did indeed have a lot of junk in his head now, but not enough to turn him into a complete moron.

The Ghost circled him once and finally concluded that he still didn't seem quite right.

Choosing to skip the topic, the Ghost turned to look at the two fresh corpses. "What's the deal with these two?"

"Just a couple of idiots," Yue Shi said with a biting, caustic tone.

"They were from an organization called 'Ark.' They wanted to recruit me."

The Ghost was somewhat surprised. "So they weren't enemies? I thought they were here to cause trouble."

"If they were here to recruit you, why did you kill them?"

Yue Shi sneered. "One played the good cop, the other played the bad cop. They had zero talent but dared to act so high and mighty, playing such pathetic games and acting out in front of me."

He kicked the young man's corpse. "I hadn't even agreed to join, and they were already trying to manipulate and break me down, treating me like some disposable thug."

"Speaking even one more word to them would have been a waste of my time. Better to just clear them out and save myself the eyesore."

The Ghost understood instantly. Their attitude was poor, and they happened to catch Yue Shi when his mood was at its worst. They had walked right into the line of fire and were treated like trash.

"Well then, 'Ark.' Looks like we've made another enemy," the Ghost said calmly.

Yue Shi didn't care at all. "When you're already in debt, a little more doesn't hurt. I've already offended headquarters to the point of no return; why should I care about some civilian organization I've never even heard of? They certainly didn't have good intentions coming to find me at a time like this!"

The Ghost nodded. "True. Your reputation right now is genuinely stinking to high heaven. Anyone trying to recruit you in the eye of this storm must be after something."

The Ghost seemed to think of something and continued, "The internet is flooded with people cursing you. Especially the survivors from Fluorite Valley—they aren't just cursing you, they're going after that headquarters captain too."

"Word is they've teamed up with the survivors from Chijing City to form a 'Revengers Alliance,' swearing to kill you as a sacrifice."

Yue Shi waved a hand dismissively. "Who cares? I'll just find some time to kill them all."

To him, threats were only divided into two categories: "needs immediate removal" and "can be removed later."

"Where are we going next?" the Ghost asked.

Yue Shi turned his head, his gaze fixed toward the northwest. "To find the 'Life Vine.'"

...

Bureau headquarters affiliated hospital.

High-level ward area.

Intermittent wails broke the hospital's silence.

The Resonant Daoist lay on the hospital bed, his former transcendent and immortal-like image completely gone. His face was deathly pale, and his hospital gown was soaked through with cold sweat.

First it was his chest, then his head, and then his groin followed suit.

The three points of agony took turns, tormenting him so severely that he lost all sense of composure.

The hospital took the situation very seriously, urgently applying conventional pain management measures.

But they were completely ineffective.

Subsequently, The Resonant Daoist consumed a healing potion.

Still, it was completely ineffective.

Several specialist doctors arrived promptly, all of whom possessed healing or purification-type supernatural powers.

The specialists quickly performed a comprehensive examination of The Resonant Daoist's body.

After all, he was a headquarters captain; his health had to be a priority.

After a long time, the doctors' expressions grew increasingly grave as they whispered among themselves.

Tormented by the pain, The Resonant Daoist's temper had soured. "Stop wasting time! What the hell is wrong with me?"

A senior purification-type doctor provided the conclusion: "Captain Resonant Daoist, you seem to have been entangled by an extremely vicious curse."

"A curse? Then hurry up and break it!" The Resonant Daoist roared, his hands clutching his agonizing groin.

The doctor shook his head helplessly. "Our deepest apologies. This is a type of curse we have never seen before; it is incredibly cunning and difficult to handle."

"We cannot find any source of curse power within your body. We are powerless."

"Useless trash!"

Hearing the doctor's words, The Resonant Daoist became violently agitated. He slammed his hand against the edge of the bed, causing the entire frame to collapse.

His eyes were bloodshot as he gnashed his teeth. "It must be Yue Shi! It must be that shameless bastard's doing!"

"He couldn't beat me in a fair fight, so he resorted to such underhanded tricks to ambush me. How despicable!"

The surrounding medical staff remained silent, none of them echoing his sentiment.

No one mentioned who it was that had been covered in blood from an explosion just last night...

Besides, in the world of transcendents, the winner took all. The process was often unimportant; who cared what methods were used?

The fact that Yue Shi could defeat The Executioner and leave The Resonant Daoist in such a wretched state was a testament to his strength.

"Aaaargh!"

The Resonant Daoist let out another scream as a wave of agonizing pain hit his nether regions, making his vision swim.

The intense pain caused dizziness and palpitations. He could barely catch his breath, and his head was covered in cold sweat.

"Quick! Bring all the doctors from headquarters, everyone skilled in curses and purification! Bring them all here! Now!"

The Resonant Daoist roared in fury, his face contorted. There was a hint of panic in his voice that even he didn't realize was there.

...

Inside a hidden stronghold, a group of people was gathered, the atmosphere heavy.

"Boss, Xiao Tong and Zhang Wu have been gone for so long without a single word. Could something have happened?"

A man wearing glasses spoke up, his face filled with worry.

The middle-aged man addressed as the boss frowned slightly, his tone still somewhat steady. "Unlikely."

"Yue Shi just went through several major battles; his state must be poor. Xiao Tong's ability leans toward control, and Zhang Wu's combat strength is very formidable. With the two of them working together, even if they couldn't bring Yue Shi back, they should have had no problem protecting themselves."

"Besides, no matter how arrogant Yue Shi is, he would have to consider the reputation of our 'Ark.'"

The man in glasses shook his head, not sharing the optimism. "That guy clearly isn't normal. You can't use a normal person's logic to predict his behavior."

"Look at the things he's done—which of them would a normal person do? I always felt that sending Zhang Wu was a mistake..."

He trailed off, but everyone present understood what he meant.

Sending Xiao Tong to do the recruiting was fine. She was a beautiful young girl with a pleasant way of speaking and high charisma; there was a decent chance of success.

But Zhang Wu was hot-tempered, foul-mouthed, and had a severe prejudice against handsome men. How could someone like that be the organization's recruiter? He was practically asking for trouble.

Most likely, instead of a successful recruitment, they would end up making an enemy.

The boss's decision was a bit inappropriate, but no one dared to say that to his face.

At this moment, the boss was also feeling a bit irritable.

He didn't truly want to recruit Yue Shi as a comrade; he was more interested in Yue Shi's power.

Yue Shi was a dangerous blade. He wanted to use that blade to achieve certain goals.

He had specifically sent a duo of soft and hard approaches, hoping to take advantage of Yue Shi's poor state to either trick or pressure him into joining their ship.

As long as they could bring Yue Shi back, he had plenty of strength and methods to break him and train him like a dog.

No matter how fierce the beast, it would turn into a house pet in his hands.

Of all the people in "Ark," who among them hadn't once been a rebellious thorn?

But now, they were all his slaves!

They did as he commanded, following his every whim.

Xiao Tong and Zhang Wu were strong; they shouldn't have been delayed this long.

Had something really happened?

...

"Don't kill me! I'm begging you, don't kill me!"

A middle-aged man collapsed on the ground in a panic, his face covered in tears and his body riddled with injuries.

He was truly heartbroken this time, weeping for his own tragic fate.

He had been lucky enough to awaken a supernatural power, but before he could even taste the benefits of the era, he was snatched into Lab 0 and subjected to endless torture.

Later, when the lab was destroyed, he was taken away by the calamity that was Yue Shi and locked in a dark room.

Last night, he had finally been released, but before he could take more than a few breaths of fresh air, he was swept into that bloody melee.

Having barely managed to survive thanks to his supernatural power, he thought he might live a few more days, only for Yue Shi to start clearing out his "inventory."

He seriously suspected that becoming a transcendent had used up all the luck of his entire life.

Otherwise, how could he be so consistently unlucky!

With a squelch, Yue Shi killed another supernatural creature.

The monsters and ghosts brought out from Lab 0 had suffered losses in last night's battle, but a portion of them had stubbornly survived.

Yue Shi intended to kill them all.

"What exactly are you doing? These things might be chaotic, but they still count as a source of combat power," the Ghost asked in confusion.

He couldn't understand Yue Shi's logic.

Yue Shi answered dismissively, "These messy things are making my space a total disaster. It's foul and an eyesore; better to just clear them all out."

The Ghost still didn't understand.

After thinking for a few seconds, he decided that Yue Shi's brain definitely hadn't returned to normal!

Yue Shi killed with efficient focus.

He even went as far as to carve out an independent space to pile up the corpses, letting them rot and stink.

Such vile materials would be useful for screwing people over later.

The Executioner and that brat were both Rank 4 transcendents. However, the source power absorbed after killing them was not enough for Yue Shi to gain a new ability.

Even the two "Ark" members he killed later were Rank 4 transcendents, but the source they provided was still insufficient.

So Yue Shi had no choice but to clear out his warehouse, killing everything he could.

Aside from a few individuals with extremely special abilities, such as The Ripper, almost all his collectibles were slaughtered by Yue Shi.

But the "progress bar" still failed to push to the next milestone.

Relying purely on quantity seemed to have reached its limit; it was no longer useful. He needed higher-quality "food."

'Being so gluttonous... just how powerful will the next ability of this pathway be?'

"Alright, I'm not killing you. Stop your damn crying!" Yue Shi turned his head and barked at the sobbing middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man trembled violently and immediately bit his lip, not daring to make another sound.

Yue Shi indeed didn't plan to kill him. This man's ability, 【Let's Hurt Each Other】, had some hidden effects.

Simply put, if Yue Shi stabbed him, Yue Shi would not only suffer the same wound, but the damage would also ignore all defenses, be untreatable, and always mirror the middle-aged man's state of injury.

Only if the middle-aged man's wound was healed would Yue Shi's reflected wound be healed simultaneously.

This already involved causality, which was a huge pain.

Keeping him around might prove useful in certain situations.

Yue Shi was about to send the man back into his space and provide him with some supplies.

But the man looked up and pleaded, "Don't... please don't lock me in that dark room again! There's no food or water, no one to talk to, nothing at all... I'll go crazy!"

"Where are you going? Why don't you take me with you? I'm a transcendent, after all; maybe I can help."

Yue Shi looked him over for a few moments and said casually, "Fine. Come along then."

The middle-aged man felt as if he had been granted a divine pardon. He scrambled to his feet and patted the dust off his pants.

At that moment, the Ghost leaned into Yue Shi's ear and whispered, "Someone is following us from behind."

Yue Shi's eyes lit up. "Oh? Really? That's great~"

...

"Boss, the target has entered a supernatural domain. Should we continue tracking them?"

"Wait a moment. I'll report the situation first and wait for instructions from above before we act," the leader said.

Another person spoke in a low voice, "I know this place. This domain was originally called the 'Orphan's Grudge.'"

"According to the records, this domain has been taken over by a vine-like supernatural plant. It's extremely dangerous."

"Surely those above won't make us go in there to die, right?"

"The domain itself is dangerous enough, let alone that wanted criminal. Even the captains died at his hands."

Hearing this, the others felt their hearts tremble.

Last night, two captain-level transcendents from the Bureau headquarters were deployed; one died and the other was injured.

This news couldn't be suppressed, showing just how strong that S-rank fugitive was.

Those above had ordered them to monitor and track the fugitive's movements, a job they didn't want to do at all.

But they had no choice.

Their boss was the Director of the Fluorite Valley Investigation Bureau, and they were all his trusted subordinates.

Last night, the Director sensed something was wrong and led them out of the city in time.

They escaped the massive explosion, but they didn't escape the reckoning from headquarters.

Now, they were in the phase of "atoning for their crimes through service."

"That brat Li Hua always looked so honest and simple. I never expected him to be the one to ruin everything and screw us all over."

These words immediately ignited the emotions of the others, who also began to badmouth Li Hua.

Everyone knew the real culprit was Yue Shi, but they still had to curse Li Hua.

At that moment, Director Wang put down his communicator, his face dark.

"Boss, what did they say?"

Director Wang was silent for a moment before he sneered. "A great man is born between heaven and earth; how can he spend his life bowing and scraping under another's thumb!"