Chapter 00066: Fluid Alchemy (Bonus for Liang Buruo's Silver Alliance)
# Fluid Alchemy (Bonus for Liang Buruo's Silver Alliance)
Chapter 66
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 66: Fluid Alchemy (Bonus for Liang Buruo's Silver Alliance)
In this dim place, where day and night merged into one, a faint sound of crying echoed in the silence.
It sounded like a baby.
Ji Jue felt a chill down his spine.
No way.
Suddenly, images flashed in his mind: an embroidered shoe, two red lanterns, a gloomy mansion on a rainy night, a pale bride wearing a red veil, and so on.
All this was Lu Feng's fault—he always filled the computer with horror movies, and loved to blast the sound, leaving Ji Jue almost traumatized.
As the silence deepened, the broken sounds became increasingly clear, sending another chill through Ji Jue.
It was coming from behind him.
In the stillness, he turned around stiffly.
What he saw made him shudder like a frightened dog!
Upon noticing Ji Jue's gaze, the motorcycle hunched over, as if seeking warmth, looking more scared than ever!
Why are you so pathetic?
Ji Jue felt like throwing out some harsh words.
You're just a motorcycle spirit, what are you afraid of?
"Should we go take a look?" Xiao An asked softly.
Ji Jue shook his head firmly.
Without hesitation!
Are you kidding? The type that rushes over to see what’s making noise in a horror movie is always the first to die!
But ignoring it felt wrong too.
After all, sitting in this eerie ruin with creepy background music made him uneasy.
But fear not, for at this moment, he pulled out a magical little tool…
Ji Jue rummaged through his backpack for a while and finally pulled out what had been hidden at the bottom:
A drone!
After experiencing its convenience last time, Ji Jue had saved up and ordered a high-end military version from Sister Laila, meant for reconnaissance, silent and stealthy.
Even the Imperial Army of the Mid-Lands had praised its utility after being bombed.
Strengthened with the symbol of the highest virtue, it could even withstand small-caliber semi-automatic weapon fire.
To prepare for this trip, he had even been stuck at the security company all afternoon modifying guns for them.
Since Ji Jue had given Lu Feng's spare gun a major upgrade, everyone who used it went crazy over it.
Rumor had it that at Laila's shop, Master Ji's blessing service was already booked until next year.
At that moment, a thought crossed his mind, and the drone took to the sky, the screen in his hand lighting up to show a live video.
The small drone passed silently overhead, not disturbing the monsters lurking in the dark, which eased Ji Jue's worries.
However, just as it turned around a corner, it almost collided with a spider monster, which seemed not to notice it at all, leaving Ji Jue even more puzzled about their frenzied behavior—could it be that the locals only liked fresh meat and weren’t vegetarians?
Cautiously, they crossed the not-so-long distance, and found the source of the crying—a cracked apartment.
Behind the crumbling walls, dim lights flickered intermittently.
A family was gathered around the dining table, enjoying dinner after a long day of hard work, smiles lighting their faces… if it were just this, it would have been perfect.
The ragged-looking husband could barely be recognized as human; his head was drooped, blood dried up at the gash in his neck.
He seemed to awkwardly lift food to his mouth, his stiff face contorting as if forcing a smile. “Eating is good, you’ve worked hard.”
The table was empty, broken dishes filled with dust.
The busy wife turned back, smiling gently, revealing deep hollows on her face, black liquid seeping from her eyes.
“Child, child, the baby is crying, go see…”
In the tattered cradle, the baby wailed sharply.
The mother’s twisted claw-like hand grazed its face, caressing it gently, leaving behind a bloody mark.
“Mommy, it hurts, Mommy, I’m in pain.”
“Yes, baby, Mommy loves you.” The mother picked up a tattered piece of cloth, asking tenderly, “Do you like the new clothes Daddy bought for you?”
“It hurts so much, Mommy, it hurts.”
The baby cried out, “It hurts, it hurts—”
Beneath the baby’s rotten flesh, something invisible wriggled violently, rising, creating vague outlines.
The cries grew increasingly heart-wrenching, sharp, echoing throughout the apartment.
But slowly, it seemed to change… or rather, it was becoming inhuman.
Once a sweet, innocent voice, it faded into a hoarse, chilling scream, perhaps becoming numb!
It was as if countless trapped beings inside that tiny body cried out in despair, growing more frantic.
At last, when the wails stopped unexpectedly, the tattered form in the cradle burst apart, and from the blood and gore emerged writhing tendrils and insect-like limbs, scrambling out of the cradle and screeching as it fled.
It vanished under the darkened sky.
Meanwhile, the mother continued to smile, gazing into the empty cradle, soothing the nonexistent baby.
Then she tidied up the dishes, arranged her household chores, and turned off the already extinguished lights.
Together with her husband, she welcomed a peaceful sleep on their tattered bed.
In her dreams, something formless writhed and shifted beneath the couple’s damaged shells, like parasites drawing nutrients from their hosts, waiting for the day of birth.
The drone slowly flew back, landing in Ji Jue’s hands.
The two exchanged silent looks.
At least Ji Jue now understood where all those strange things came from…
Non-human beings birthed from non-human beings.
Butterflies, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even that terrifying huge insect lurking in the ruins that could devour him whole without a hiccup—those odd creatures all likely originated in this way!
While he didn't know why those 'people' were so intent on mimicking normal human life, it was clear this was all the handiwork of mercury!
Temporarily transforming materials into a fluid state, adapting to their nature and essence, adjusting them to the optimal state for their innermost nature, or catalyzing creations by reversing the qualitative change of the essence, granting them further evolution—that is why mercury could ascend to the rank of Master, reaching the heights of sagehood.
In the annals of alchemy, it has become the legendary “Fluid Alchemy!”
Even the title came from this skill.
Products created through Fluid Alchemy often possess a strong hidden quality, bearing no marks of external processing at all, and could even embody multiple forms and appearances.
Thus, it is called the art of transformation.
What Ji Jue had just witnessed was likely a product of chaotic essence—a new transformation of the original creation.
And according to what Ji Jue hastily read through the books, this transformation, if left unchecked, would not stop at just one instance.
They could continue to grow like living beings, turning into even more terrifying entities until the essence overloaded and the material nature collapsed!
What terrified him further was that even in this chaotic and out-of-control state, there were no signs of mutation within the entire fissure.
Not a single flaw of corrupted mutation was present.
The hell before his eyes was all crafted by the power of the highest virtue!
"What on earth has he created?"
Ji Jue sat on the rubble, his scalp tingling, feeling as if a freshly graduated programmer had accidentally opened a mountain of data accumulated over decades by previous generations.
He had no idea where to start, nowhere to ponder, completely helpless.
He didn’t know what mechanisms lay hidden inside, nor what mysterious surprises awaited him that could stop his heart, making thoughts of dying surge again and again.
Xiao An sat quietly on the ground, still maintaining that confused air as if something had happened but completely failed to comprehend.
Anyway, if Senior Sister Wen said to listen to Ji Jue, didn’t that mean he didn’t have to think?
This was his first easy exploration of the fissure!
Hooray!
Great Brother Ji Jue, no need for many words!
Feeling the youthful admiration in Xiao An's gaze, Ji Jue struggled between wanting to say something and just wanting to die.
In the silence, he finally felt a slight tremor in his arms.
The ghostly artifact ball that had been burning hot for hours seemed to have finally cooled down.
It emitted a weak response.
As Ji Jue realized this, he hurriedly scooped it up, frantically pouring all his essence into it, allowing the ghost artifact ball to drink in his essence like a long whale taking in water.
Just drawing from Ji Jue’s essence alone wasn’t enough; it even drew nearly half of his cousin’s essence supply before finally emitting a faint sigh.
“Is it okay now?” Ji Jue asked excitedly.
【… Mostly alive, somewhat functioning.】
Still retaining warmth, the ghost artifact ball groaned in response: 【Who would’ve thought after all these years of ups and downs, it was almost capsized in the gutter.
Taking an apprentice on an outing almost made it trip.
As soon as I opened the door, they came to deceive and ambush, bullying an old ball like me, almost kicked off the mold line, despicable and shameless!】
The ghost artifact ball trembled, angrily cursing: 【What kind of Master is mercury!】
At the moment it entered the fissure, when it activated its detection mode according to the logic of the lower-level circuit… it was met with a strong signal that was astonishingly powerful!
Like sonar systems viewing each other deep beneath the sea.
The moment it detected the existence of the other side, the ghost artifact ball sensed something was wrong and wanted to shut down, but it was already too late.
Malice came rolling in like a tidal wave.
As soon as it noticed the second signal, the workshop defense module left behind by mercury was activated.
The essence waves directly stirred a tide of invasion.
Thousands of miles apart, it began to invade the ghost artifact ball's essence circuits from afar, wanting to completely rewrite its foundational commands built on Professor Ye’s systems.
This was also a required lesson in the workshop rivalry: suppressing the opponent's alchemical items, even seizing control to counteract them.
Unfortunately, four hundred years have passed.
The outside world continued to change, and the establishment of modern alchemy meant the versions had become fundamentally different.
Plus, the unattended defense program was too rigid and ultimately failed to catch the ghost artifact ball.
The cost was that it also crashed and didn’t know for how long.
Regrettably, it hadn’t launched a counterattack.
Because in this level of struggle, Ji Jue wasn’t much help! If Ye Xian were here, it wouldn’t just be a defeat; at this moment, the opposing workshop would already have changed its name to Ye!
But at the very least, in that brief moment of confrontation, it gained a basic understanding of mercury’s remaining workshop.
“Found it so soon?”
Ji Jue’s eyes lit up. “That’s incredibly efficient, Brother Ball! Where’s the workshop?”
【Haven't you figured it out, silly boy?】
The ghost artifact ball sighed gloomily, like Professor Ye expressing his disappointment in others’ intelligence, 【We are already inside mercury’s workshop.】
It stated, 【The entire fissure is her workshop!】
(End of chapter)