Chapter 224: Friends Through Thick and Thin

The apprentices scattered in every direction through the fire and choking smoke..

With an earth-shaking roar, the reborn monster greedily devoured the corrupted miasma drifting through the air and consumed every living thing within reach. Then, it grew, yet within its enormous, red eye flickered the tiniest hint of confusion.

Why did everything seem to have changed so suddenly?

This still seemed to be the workshop, yet it wasn’t the same workshop. There were still many people around, yet they weren’t the same people he once knew. It felt as though it had only just opened its eye, but something appeared to be missing from the time in between.

Right, right, right... No, no, no...

Contradictions piled upon each other inside the little brain it technically didn’t possess. A creature possessing reason would have been confused by inconsistencies, but instead they only drove it into an ever-greater rage. Ravenous, it devoured everything in its path, rampaging as it grew larger and larger.

Among the panicked crowd, there was only one person who neither ran nor fled. The cripple whose legs could barely carry him remained seated calmly at his workbench. Ji Jue leaned back slightly, smiling as he patted President on the head and watched his “old friend” make its triumphant return.

Yes, this was the very same aberration he had sealed away with Solid Alchemy back in the Craftsmen Association’s Recycling and Processing Department. As the saying went, there was no joy quite like rain after a long drought, or meeting an old friend far from home.

In just a few short days, they had both relocated from the Association’s Recycling and Processing Department to the Depths’ garbage dump. The work was still the same, and the environment was still the same. The two of them were still exactly the same, too, even though everything else had changed.

The twists and turns of fate truly were impossible to predict. Somehow, fate brought everything full circle.

“Thanks for your hard work.” Ji Jue pushed the handle of the toolbox beneath the table into the President’s mouth, then gave it one last pat on the head and watched as it slipped away without a sound. “Just stash it somewhere nobody will find it.”

BOOM!!

The ceiling collapsed, and flames engulfed the area. The fleeing apprentices cried out in terror, only to find themselves running back the way they had come. There was nowhere to escape. The instant the alarm sounded, steel shutters had dropped throughout the underground workshop, sealing off the entire place. It was the same measure used for any sewer to keep the filth from backing up into the levels above.

The area was completely cut off, isolating the disaster from the outside world. Apprentices could do nothing but scream and run, desperately playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the aberration.

Fortunately, the underground complex was enormous. There was also an abundance of food, scrap, and contaminated material for the creature to feast upon. As a result, apart from the supervisor and the apprentice who had died without ever understanding what had happened, no one else had been killed... yet.

As things deteriorated, some naturally tried to fight back, while others attempted to band together for protection. None of it helped. The scattered attacks merely enraged the aberration. Even carefully coordinated assaults accomplished little more than blasting apart the outer shell of scrap metal covering its body. The creature itself remained unharmed.

Worse still, it finally began paying attention to the insolent little insects daring to resist. Its savagery was set free.

Metal limbs assembled from discarded machinery lashed out in every direction as it charged through the workshop, smashing production lines and workbenches alike. It chewed through containers, swallowing contamination in vast gulps. Then it skewered one overconfident apprentice after another upon its jagged appendages and lifted them into the air, flinging them about and tearing them apart as it greedily sucked down their blood and souls, shrieking louder and louder.

“—▇!!! Don’t panic! Everyone, attack together! Together!” one of the supervisors shouted at the top of his lungs, his arms trembling as he tried to rally the apprentices.

But it was too late. Everyone had scattered in all directions, leaving them in complete disarray.

They launched multiple futile attacks. Scattered bullets, beams, blasts of frost, and surges of flame struck the creature from every direction. Unfortunately, nothing could penetrate its defenses. Its metal shell rendered the attacks completely ineffective. Even the occasional shot that slipped through a gap couldn’t damage the core buried beneath layer after layer of protection.

As everything devolved into utter chaos, no one noticed the cripple hobbling leisurely through the battlefield on his crutches. Every so often, Ji Jue would bend down with visible effort to pick up a discarded part lying on the ground, such as twisted springs, rusted iron plates, and broken steel pipes.

In his hands, the items fitted together as effortlessly as children’s building blocks while he assembled them. Under Pacifier’s precise manipulation and processing, they underwent transformation within the invisible furnace and were reborn. Some pieces were repaired, while others were cut down to size. Metal filings scattered as components shed its rust and locked neatly into place.

Those dependable little companions—a firing pin, cartridge lifter, hammer, trigger housing, slide, and grip—came together once more, taking on a crude yet exaggerated shape. It sat heavily in Ji Jue’s hands, looking utterly adorable.

At last, he loaded a bullet as thick as his thumb, and with that, the weapon was complete. Ji Jue whistled lowly.

Professor Ye had once told him that, when it came to cruelty and oppression, the Ember Path and the White Deer Path were fundamentally the same. Those at the top held absolute power over everyone below them. The difference was merely in the methods. One achieved it through theory and ability, while the other relied on violence and intimidation.

The Ember Path was far too profound for Ji Jue to claim any real mastery over it. But when it came to the White Deer Path, he had personally taken part in a struggle for supremacy. On that subject, he did have a few modest insights.

As the saying went, every position had room for only one person. Sometimes, unless those above made way, how could anyone below them hope to move up?

Ji Jue smiled as he watched the panic-stricken Sun Ci in the crowd. Your turn to shine, Mr. Sun.

“Out of the way! Move!” Sun Ci fumbled frantically with the controls, trying to activate the workshop’s restraint and suppression systems. Instead, the console burst in a shower of sparks, driving him even further into despair.

A short circuit? Now, of all times?!

His vision went dark for a moment until screams exploded around him. As a gale of wind swept through the workshop, the apprentices ran in all directions.

When Sun Ci turned around, he saw the aberrant creature charging straight toward him, its blood-red eyes staring hungrily as it lunged forward with claws and fangs bared.

Fear seized him completely; he couldn’t even think. Instinctively, he drew his pistol and emptied the magazine in frantic succession. But it was useless; every bullet bounced away harmlessly. On the verge of tears, he threw the pistol and grabbed anything within reach and threw it at the creature. Nothing worked.

As Sun Ci panicked, someone shoved a gun into his hand, and he raised it without thinking, as though an unseen will had taken control of his body. In a sudden flash of inspiration, he took aim and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!!!

An unimaginably violent blast erupted from his hands. The thunderous sound echoed through the underground workshop, battering everyone’s eardrums.

The crudely assembled pistol exploded the moment it was fired. Agonizing pain shot through Sun Ci’s arm, as though his bones had nearly shattered. He didn’t even have time to scream, because an even more horrifying cry rang out directly ahead.

The grotesque aberrant creature charging toward him cried out in pain. Its many limbs went limp, and it crashed to the ground, skidding forward under its own momentum as it convulsed. One of the sharp limbs jutting from its massive shell stopped mere inches from Sun Ci’s deathly pale face. It had missed him by a hair.

A torrent of thick fluid then burst from the creature’s chest like a violent downpour. Its core slipped from the ruptured cavity like a dislodged organ, an enormous crack running across its surface. The monstrous eye fixed itself on Sun Ci as more fractures spread over it. Yet in its final moments, its gaze shifted past him toward one of the apprentices standing in the shadows behind him.

Its wail faded away, and the creature fell silent forever.

“Is... is it dead?” He stared at the lifeless aberrant, then turned around, finding row after row of equally stunned faces staring back at him. Each expression was filled with shock, confusion, awe, fear, and envy.

At last, realization dawned on him. He lowered his gaze to the shattered grip still clutched in his hand.

“Me?” Sun Ci murmured in disbelief. The corners of his mouth twitched before he failed to suppress his smile. “Was it me who killed it?”

“Yes, it was you.” Ji Jue declared with absolute certainty and a nod. “I saw it with my own eyes. You fired one shot, and that enormous aberrant dropped dead on the spot!”

“That’s right!”

“It was you!”

“Mr. Sun is incredible!”

Cheers and cries of admiration went off from every direction. The apprentices who had narrowly survived finally let out the breaths they’d been holding. Overcome with joy, they crowded around Sun Ci, cheering and shouting jubilantly.

No one paid any attention to the mangled corpses in the corner or the blood slowly turning cold.

***

Three minutes later, a craftsman from the upper levels arrived in haste. He swept his gaze over the devastated workshop, frowned, and asked a most important question. “Will this interfere with the work that still needs to be done?”

After receiving a definite answer, he relaxed slightly.

The furnace had merely ruptured. It could be repaired, and the other losses could still be made up for. As for the dead and injured, they were no concern at all.

“Please, have a seat, Lord Cun Ling. Please sit.” The surviving supervisors hurriedly brought over a chair for the newly arrived craftsman. They had never expected someone of such high standing to come in person.

The tension that had eased after their narrow escape instantly returned. They became nervous and cautious, terrified of showing even the slightest lack of courtesy.

The craftsman known as Cun Ling was Master Jian Yuan’s second disciple and the man in charge of internal affairs. He paid no attention to their fawning hospitality. With his hands clasped behind his back, he made a circuit of the workshop and quickly pieced together what had happened.

When he heard that the supervisor had died, his expression darkened further. “Useless fool. He deserved to die!”

One look was enough for him to understand the cause of the incident. In the supervisor’s eagerness to rush production, claim credit, and skim off as much as he could, he had neglected even the proper filtration and storage of corrupted spirit matter. As the workers dismantled and cleaned the mountains of scrap, that negligence had allowed such a massive aberrant creature to hatch in only a few days.

Fortunately, the creature had possessed little intelligence. Had it continued hiding and growing for a while longer, there was no telling what kind of catastrophe it could have caused. And if the disturbance had drawn his teacher’s attention and led to an inquiry...

Cun Ling’s face turned ashen at the mere thought of the consequences.

And that worthless fool simply died? Just like that? Damn it. That bastard got off far too lightly. Which idiot recommended him for the supervisor’s position in the first place?

Seeing Cun Ling’s expression, one of the craftsmen who had hurried over behind him paled noticeably. He took several steps backward, wisely choosing to keep his mouth shut.

Cun Ling merely cast a smiling glance across the crowd and said nothing. His footsteps came to a halt. Lowering his head, he plucked a bullet embedded deep within the aberration’s remains.

His eyebrows rose ever so slightly. “Interesting.”