Chapter 00198: Endless Regret
# Endless Regret
Chapter 198
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 198: Endless Regret
The moment those eyes locked onto him, Ji Jue, sitting inside the car, felt a chill run down his spine, his entire body going cold.
But then, he was plunged into confusion...
You chased me all this way, pounced on the window like some vengeful ghost, and now you're inviting me to eat? What kind of meal is this?
Only then did he realize something was off.
Everyone in the car silently turned their heads to look at him, including Lou Feng beside him, who, in his shock, instinctively moved away a bit, his eyes filled with suspicion:
—Are you with them?
Wait, did you lead the enemy here?
No...
Ji Jue glared in frustration.
I just managed to join the team, how did I suddenly become the traitor?
Before he could even voice his indignation, someone else couldn't wait any longer.
On the roof of the car, Ji Liu, who had been waiting for the signal for a long time, descended from the sky the moment he received Tong Shan's signal.
"—Thunderbolt Strike!"
Though only two meters away, it felt like a meteor crashing down, stomping!
Instantly, the strange figure that had pounced was crushed underfoot.
What seemed like a simple stomp unleashed a crimson wave, spreading out and distorting everything around in the shockwave.
Blessing·【Whirlwind Devastation】!
Immediately after, blood and fire swirled, covering his right hand as he reached out, grabbed the figure by the neck, and slammed it down!
The spiritual essence turned into flames, instantly engulfing the writhing, twisted figure.
It was like pouring gasoline; the blood and fire spread rapidly, consuming everything in its path, turning it to ash.
Such a shocking spiritual fluctuation, and the terrifying destruction aimed at all tangible things, wasn't just a legacy technique.
Its foundation was another crucial high-level blessing—【Annihilation】!
In the blink of an eye, the screaming, writhing figure was gone, only ashes falling from Ji Liu's hand.
"What the hell..."
Ji Liu snorted disdainfully.
But then, his expression changed drastically, and he turned around sharply.
Only to find that the eerie doorway with tattered curtains had somehow appeared behind him.
Behind the curtains, a figure identical to the one before emerged, smiling eerily, a hand reaching out to pull him in.
"Come in, come in, come in..."
Ji Liu's figure suddenly retreated at high speed, but the doorway followed him like a shadow.
Until a loud boom erupted, an invisible force appeared in the air, a terrifying pressure descending from the depths of the ocean, locking the doorway in place.
Tong Shan had finally made his move.
In Ji Liu's hand, a curved blade materialized out of thin air, slashing down from above, cutting the laughing figure in half.
With his sister's support, he flipped back onto the car.
The split figure rapidly regenerated in mid-air, turning into two, laughing maniacally as they pounced again.
Then, they suddenly froze.
It was as if a nail had been driven into their feet, causing the split shadows to convulse violently, their high-pitched laughter turning into screams and roars.
It was a streak of silver light.
Just as the others were about to act, Ji Jue, having reacted, waved his hand, and a drop of mercury shot out from the car window's crack.
Infused with a large amount of spiritual essence, the mercury, propelled with perfect precision, flew between the two shadows, spreading out like spider silk.
The strands that landed on Ji Liu broke instantly in the strong wind, but the few strands that touched the two eerie figures tightened and contracted.
Strong as steel cables.
An invisible spiritual vortex erupted from the mercury, like an unseen mouth, pulling the shadows in, sucking them into the storm!
The two shadows stiffened, their movements slowing rapidly, flickering intensely.
But what made Ji Jue frown was that the shadows seemed rooted, the gravitational pull of solid alchemy unable to drag them into the mercury's grasp.
Something's wrong!
Completely wrong!
Even in a hurry, for safety's sake, Ji Jue had used double the amount of mercury after estimating the volume.
Based on past experience, such residual spirits, let alone two, even four or five would have been dealt with.
But now, they couldn't be moved at all.
It was like bending down to pull out weeds, only to find that beneath the surface lay a deeper, more extensive root system.
The maniacally laughing shadow was just a facade; behind it lurked something enormous, so much so that even after being annihilated and burned to ashes, it could quickly reappear, haunting relentlessly.
But under the mercury's restraint and pull, even a momentary delay was enough.
Tong Shan decisively stepped on the gas, speeding away.
Two seconds later, the mercury exploded and evaporated, but the eerie, laughing figure had lost its target.
No matter how it searched, it couldn't find any trace of the outsiders.
On the empty street, it screamed and laughed maniacally, crying out, but in the end, a hand reached out from the tattered curtains of the doorway, beckoning it.
Amidst the wails and laughter, it was dragged into the darkness like a mad dog on a leash.
The curtains fluttered slightly in the wind, and finally, along with the broken doorway, disappeared.
Or perhaps they just returned to silence, waiting for the next visitor to come.
"What the hell was that?"
In the car, Ji Jue wiped his sweat, having only been in Quan City for less than ten minutes, yet he had already witnessed two shocking sights.
The seemingly ordinary shadows were projections of eerie entities, the relentless, weak residual spirits that couldn't be killed, haunting endlessly.
"Have you seen horror movies?"
Ji Xue sighed, "Just think of them as the vengeful ghosts in those movies. Once they latch onto you, it's a fight to the death. Sometimes, if you're lucky and find a way to counter them, you can drive them away. But if you can't, an exploration mission is ruined, and you might even lose team members. You've both read the safety manual, right? If you encounter strangers inside, don't talk to them, don't engage, leave immediately. Even teammates who leave your sight need to be verified; who knows if they've been replaced in the blink of an eye. The second team in Tide City suffered a disaster. When they realized it, there were three extra people in the team, and they couldn't tell who was who. In the end, they had to ask Lord Tao to intervene."
Ji Jue, seeing how accustomed they seemed to this, felt a chill, "Are these things... common?"
Ji Xue paused for a moment, then looked back at him, saying softly, "They're everywhere."
Decades ago, when Quan City fell, Lord Tao made a decisive move, ascending to the Heavenly Realm, standing like a pillar, holding up Quan City for two hours, giving all the citizens a chance to survive.
But besides the survivors who escaped Quan City in those two hours, there were many who couldn't escape due to accidents and various mishaps.
They fell with Quan City, struggling to survive in the dark descent.
Some lucky ones were found by subsequent search and rescue teams, but others had already completely mutated or perished long before that.
Their bodies rotted, weathered, turned to dust; their souls twisted, shattered, or dissolved into unrecognizable forms in the distortion.
The countless regrets, madness, hatred, and despair scattered with the wind, merging with everything that had become unrecognizable over the long years.
Finally, many years later, a tiny fraction, catalyzed by the Cult of Corruption, formed a malignant tumor, drifting towards Cliff City...
Ji Jue sighed silently, having nothing more to say.
On the roof of the car, rhythmic knocking sounds came.
Tong Shan waved his hand, and Jiang Xuan got up from his seat, climbing onto the roof, while Ji Liu came down, his face twitching, sucking in cold air, "Damn, something's wrong, sis, take a look."
With that, he stuck out his butt.
"Get lost!"
Ji Xue was furious, about to kick him, but then she saw the black handprint on his protective suit...
Xu Guan couldn't help but laugh, "Big Liu, did someone grab your ass? Should we crown you Cliff City's Best Butt?"
"Get lost," Ji Liu rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth as he took off the protective suit, revealing the clear handprint on his pale butt.
Then, no one could laugh anymore.
Corruption mark.
No, more like a brand.
If left alone, who knows when that ghostly thing might come looking for him.
"At this point, there's no other way," Ji Xue's expression changed, showing a pained smile as she pulled out a dagger from her boot, ignoring Ji Liu's shocked and fearful expression, "We have to cut it out."
"Wait, hold on..."
"No time to waste, we can't wait!" Ji Xue glared, "Don't worry, I'll make it quick. My blade is big, bro, just bear with it."
As the gleaming blade hovered over his butt, Ji Liu grew more terrified, but before he could stop her, Ji Xue's hand was caught.
By Ji Jue.
"Sis, don't rush, it might not have to be so brutal."
He pushed the dagger back, and Ji Liu immediately beamed, "Ah, Little Ji is such a good guy... Holy crap!!!!"
Before he could relax, he saw Ji Jue pull out a bone dagger even more exaggerated than the previous one, and without hesitation, stabbed it into his butt cheek.
"Hiss—"
A collective intake of cold air sounded.
Everyone in the car felt a phantom pain in their butt.
Before Ji Liu could struggle, he felt a cool sensation on his butt, and the burning pain disappeared.
Ji Jue pulled out the dagger, wiped the non-existent blood off the blade with a piece of mercury foil, and sheathed it, "Done."
"Huh?"
Ji Liu stiffly turned his head, using his phone screen as a mirror, and saw that the black handprint on his butt was gone.
Not only that, there wasn't even a cut on his body; it was as if everything just now was an illusion.
Done!
(End of Chapter)