Crack!
Li Aozi’s head was instantly swallowed.
Crunch, crunch...
As the sound of chewing and grinding arose, Aiwens expressed confusion:
"Why... does it taste so strange?"
This felt nothing like a Blockade Body, it was just an ordinary piece of rotten at.
"Your head—"
Just as Aiwens started to mutter, Li Aozi was already in action—disconnecting the head’s implant link, ripping open a space rift, and imdiately activating gravity.
Spaceti freeze!
Aiwens’s confusion was suspended midair; the Void Energy bullet, just out of the barrel and spiraling, halted in motion.
[This is the advantage of fewer Pathway people.]
Zhng—
Even so, Aiwens managed to flick his eyes in the frozen spaceti, staring intently at the void spatial ripples above Li Aozi’s head.
[Warning, you have been—]
In a split second, Li Aozi stepped into the spaceti rift, transferring thousands of miles away.
Bang!
Li Aozi plumted from several kiloters high, crashing straight into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Phew, luckily, most humanoid targets instinctively think the head is a weak point, not knowing that the Echoer Pathway has no brain at all."
Li Aozi collapsed on the ground, not having felt such a near-death experience in a long ti, which actually made him a bit exhilarated.
"Escaping from a group of Eta Rank (7) isn’t a big deal, fleeing from Iota Rank (9) isn’t without precedent either. But escaping from a group of Eta Rank led by an Iota Rank, oh my god... this is way too thrilling!"
Li Aozi unconsciously rubbed his heart, though he had twelve hearts, six lungs, two turbocharging airbags, and a spine-assist brain, he still felt a lingering fear.
He never considered himself the adventurous type. In his youth, he might have rushed in with hot-headedness, but at 28, being a president, he no longer took uncertain risks.
Experiencing this a few more tis, Li Aozi felt he might actually suffer a heart attack.
"That was really close..."
He propped himself up with his left hand, preparing to stand, but suddenly felt sothing wrong.
Lowering his head slowly, he found his entire left arm hanging limply like noodles on the ground.
The feeling that had always been surrounding him, the sense of being favored by the planet, suddenly vanished.
Moreover, when he stepped on the ground, the protection of {Gravity} was also gone. The angels and demons called by {Dark Light} did not respond at all.
"...No way?"
A bad feeling welled up in him. Li Aozi tugged at his mouth, lifting his sleeve—sure enough, his arm was covered in purple traces that, at first glance, looked like tangled seaweed, but upon closer inspection, they revealed themselves writhing with each breath he took.
Void Markings.
"I am infected."
Li Aozi held his forehead, quickly scanning through his system records.
After repeated checks, he confird that the cause of his infection was a re glance from Aiwens.
Just that glance had collapsed his entire immune system, his organs infiltrated like traitors, ignoring the void infection, letting it progress this far.
Li Aozi glanced at his system panel:
[Warning: You have acquired the status—{Void Infection·Mild}]
{Void Infection}: You have indirectly contacted a Void Creation and have been enlightened by nihilism, your thoughts will be continuously influenced, and your genes will gradually be ground to ’Void Crystals’.
Current infection level: Mild (Mild-Severe-Critical), mandatory checks every ten hours.
[Mild Infection]—You will experience the following effects:
①: The void has severed your connection to your Pathway, all skills, specialties, talents, divinity, arcane energy, magic, chanical creations, and prosthetic puppets will cease to function.
②: The void is imposing nihilism on you, every 24 hours, you will lose one of the following: nation, ethnicity, faction, gender, life, energy, wealth.
③: The void will continuously irradiate you with void energy, gradually transforming your body into a void creature, granting corresponding attribute enhancents.
④: The void has locked your soul; because your body is an implant gear, you cannot change implants until the infection is cured.
⑤: The void shrouds your fate, your main attribute will not participate in any checks.
——————————
"Now this is a problem."
Li Aozi scratched his head.
Though not a complete failure, it was still quite disgusting.
The void narrative is the most destructive among all narratives, including the void itself, which possesses a magical infectious ability.
Simply put, it can spread like a plague through water, air, contact, blood, and can also infiltrate through gaze exchanges, brainwave communications, and written thoughts.
This terrifying ability is even more absurd than so Secret Societies. The void, being the Sixth Narrative, had antagonistic roles across six continuous versions in Starry Abyss, and in version 14.0, it directly unveiled its truly evil and brutal nature, launching a massive invasion against other narratives, forcing players to invade its ho territory.
Unlike the Secret Society with its tyrannical instant kills, the void’s purpose is to continuously expand its army of Nihilities.
When infected by the void, it doesn’t easily kill you but constantly lures you to abandon your Pathway powers and embrace the void. In so sense, the void even strengthens individuals.
It’s a bit like Stockholm Syndro; the more the void tornts, the more you need power to resist it, and naturally, the void grants you that power.
In this one-way cycle, you are trapped in an information cocoon, constantly enhancing your understanding of the void. The more you hate it, the harder it is to escape, the more you crave power, and eventually, you completely fall.
However, fortunately, Li Aozi had returned from the 14.0 version and had extensive experience dealing with the void.
First, he needed to find where people were.
Obviously, this wasn’t going to be easy.
Li Aozi looked around, surrounded by lush mountains, not knowing where he was.
He had teleported blindly, moving to this place at the extre distance of his teleportation range, but in his past life, he had never been to the Dragon Satellite, not knowing which direction to take.
Want to find Zhi Xiang? Leaving aside that Zhi Xiang’s whereabouts were unknown, even if found, it would probably drown him in a torrent of Substance Rain.
Thanks to the basics "rid" taught him over a few days, Li Aozi had no idea where to go.
As for flying up to scout—without {Gravity}, he really couldn’t fly.
Moreover, flying would make him a target. Did he think the Dragon Satellite wasn’t already swarming with void-crazy lunatics?
His being a Blockade Body and encountering a Knight like Aiwens again, Li Aozi would have to decide whether red-braising or steaming would be less painful.
He escaped once because no one knew Echoers had no brains.
"What should I do now?"
Li Aozi scratched his non-existent head, feeling quite troubled.
Given the current circumstance, he thought the most reliable solution was to have the X Fleet send soone to retrieve him, then get a Kappa Rank (10) to co and clear the void on the planet, allowing him to access Zhi Xiang.
But the problem was, if Li Aozi could really get such a person... would he have needed to co to the Dragon Satellite himself?
Just as Li Aozi was at a loss, a voice of astonishnt ca from behind him.
"You... could it be, Li Aozi?"
[No, it’s Leoz—he’s saying Li Aozi!] Only those from Azure Star and the players knew his na.
"Who? Who’s there?"
Li Aozi imdiately got alert, turning towards the direction of the voice.
Rustle...
The bushes rustled, and then soone completely unexpected slowly erged.
"What a surprise, Li Aozi."
Gray hair interspersed with a few fluorescent nerve link tubes fluttered in the breeze, a pair of green cat-like eyes showing astonishnt. She stepped barefoot on the grass, her long eyelashes gently fluttering, extending a hand towards Li Aozi:
"Long ti no see, here to answer your questions wholeheartedly."
Li Aozi opened his mouth, it took him quite a while to ask the first question:
"Who are you?"
The smile on the beautiful woman’s face froze and then faded. She said calmly:
"It seems you are quite forgetful; having ventured into the cosmos, you’ve forgotten those who helped you before—but for the sake of the birthday gift, I won’t hold it against you."
"Birthday gift?" Li Aozi recollected, suddenly realizing: "Miss Alicxia, it’s you!"
"...Unfortunately, no."
The woman put one hand on her waist, naturally exuding the aura of a Zeta Rank (6), the cell origin energy of a Biochemist slowly dispersing, indicating her identity:
"It seems you indeed forget things related to Azure Star. Allow to reintroduce myself."
She extended her hand, her voice crisp and pleasant:
"Prophet of the Mingji Path—N4."
"..." Li Aozi’s eyes widened.
"Don’t be so surprised." N4 chuckled, spreading her hands: "After entering the Starry Abyss, I seed to enter an unknown node, erging from which, I found myself here. Coincidentally, I encountered an old acquaintance, in a way, quite lucky."
"No, that’s not why I’m surprised."
"Curious about my experience? Actually, it’s nothing magical. After gaining your knowledge, I broke through the Gamma Rank limit and secured a spot to leave Azure Star through the Star Gate—quite an effort, given that only Descenders could use the Star Gate to leave."
N4 twirled her hair tips, seemingly relieved to et an old friend from afar:
"Nevertheless, glad to see you again, Mr. Li Aozi. Perhaps we could resu our previous cooperation?"
"Hold on a mont."
Li Aozi cradled his chin, pondering for a while, and then, gazing at N4, said:
"Let think for a mont—who is N4?"
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