From the experimental instruments scattered everywhere and the white lines marked with scales on the ground, it was easy to see that this was the boundary between the Lost City and the real world.
After some discussion, the master and disciple decided not to delay. They would immediately begin the subjugation of the King Insect.
The longer they waited, the greater the chance that the powerhouses isolated in separate spaces would encounter danger.
“Do you understand what the first thing to do after entering is?” Letisia asked as she packed items into the tactical bag one by one.
“Understood! Immediately use ‘Gun Counter’ on Teacher!” Ashley replied loudly.
“If Gun Counter doesn’t work, then use the copied ‘Time Sequence Heterostructure’ and be sure to kill ‘me’. Don’t hesitate.”
The girl swung her arm in a full circle and tossed the tactical bag over. Ashley caught it steadily, like catching a football.
“What if I still can’t kill her?” she asked.
“Then the one who dies will be you,” the girl answered coldly, pointing at the tactical bag. “The enemy’s spatial ability is extraordinarily powerful. Things not connected to the main body might not be able to be brought in, including relics and medicine. Moreover, if powerful items are brought in, they might be seized by the opponent and become a boost for the King Insect.”
Next, her palm flipped elegantly, and several lotus-seed-shaped silver metal pieces clamped between her fingers shot out like hidden weapons, piercing through the skin and remaining inside Ashley’s body.
The struck areas stung with cold for a moment, but soon returned to normal. She felt them fuse with her flesh and blood.
This method might circumvent the Lost Corridor’s spatial ability to strip items from the main body, but she couldn’t carry too many.
“Are you ready? 3, 2, 1…”
As Letisia finished counting down, a mild dizziness washed over her. Then, Ashley’s vision shifted, and she found herself in a place shrouded in gray mist.
The dilapidated streets and buildings were steeped in the dark, sunless Turbid fog. Not a soul was in sight. Visibility extended only dozens of meters before being blocked by writhing, rolling darkness that seemed alive.
Teacher was still by her side, but Ashley knew full well that this wasn’t the real Teacher—it was a copy from the Wind Traveler.
Due to the information gap, the enemy didn’t know about ‘Gun Counter’, so there was no possibility of luring them into a trap by teleporting their main bodies together. Moreover, the Time Bird had recorded a copying ability: I copy your copy.
The reason the master and disciple entered simultaneously was that their greatest threat to each other was actually themselves.
Of Letisia’s three forms, only the latter two could potentially be countered with ‘Gun Counter’. Once she shifted to loli form, even Teacher herself didn’t know how to deal with it.
And if Ashley broke free and teamed up with other copies, with full magazines and unlimited firepower, she would be equally unhandleable.
So, regardless of whether new copies appeared, they had to first take out the one beside them.
Gun Counter!
Ashley activated the ability without hesitation!
After a satisfying explosive confirmation of the counterstrike, blood spurted from the cracks in the rules. The corpse shattered into over a dozen pieces and collapsed to the ground. The girl’s little head lay neatly atop the pile, pupils dilated, her beautiful long hair soaked in the viscous, glistening blood.
“Teacher! Waaah… How could you die… I’m so heartbroken…”
Ashley kicked the girl’s little head flying into the distance, afraid she might revive.
She checked the chamber. One round of “Time Sequence Heterostructure” remained, and the instant she entered, two extra bullets had appeared—exactly the abilities of two Lords of Insects.
Ashley’s heart raced with excitement. The situation matched her and Teacher’s guesses perfectly. Moreover, the Time Bird could copy the Lord of Insects’ abilities!
That morning on the Hades Train, they had been too far to copy the death ray or purple lens. This fully confirmed that the Lord of Insects’ abilities could be copied.
But before she could celebrate long, a foot suddenly extended from the thick fog and stepped on Letisia’s head, which was rolling around!
“Who’s there?!”
Ashley assumed a combat stance. When she saw the intruder’s face clearly, her pupils shrank in shock!
That familiar hair color, slender and graceful figure, deep and bewitching gaze, and the big parrot on her shoulder…
Little Cousin!
Though she knew it was fake, Ashley still felt her nose tingle, her breathing shaky.
“Long time no see, my little Ashley. Come, let me hug you…”
Xixi’s little face bore a sweet smile, her eyes brimming with doting affection.
Ashley’s expression stiffened. Too fake. Cousin would never say something like that. She would only disdainfully push away Ashley if she tried to get close, occasionally granting permission to rub against her out of mercy.
After all, it was just a copy. It didn’t understand the human heart at all.
But… but, with a copy, anything was fair game, right? She had to punish the enemy harshly…
Ashley licked her lips repeatedly, her heart pounding.
No, secretly rewarding herself wouldn’t help her grow up…
Snapping back to reality, she glanced around. The dismembered corpse pile had vanished without a trace at some point. Little Cousin’s ability had already activated!
No need to check the chamber—Ashley was very familiar with that ability: “God’s Palette”!
In simple terms, it dissolved corpses into paint, then mixed multiple paints to construct a fused zombie beast.
Zombie beasts could use the extraordinary abilities from their lives before death. And if fused from multiple corpses, they could use more than one ability!
Ashley looked around. No more enemies. The X-numbered Lost City she was in was newly generated and hadn’t fused many people yet. In cities with lower numbers, the copy Xixi had probably already organized other copies into a squad, becoming the big boss.
Not far away, two paint bottles floated in Xixi’s palm. The left held a mixture of bug pulp, shell fragments, and tiny limbs. The right was packed solid with corpse chunks, like the girl’s body kneaded into putty, squeezed against the bottle wall into soft curves.
As the two paints mixed on a pure white illusory palette, a new body materialized out of thin air!
With the girl’s torso as the base, the neck stretched into a centipede with a thousand legs. The head swayed leisurely two or three meters away. Needle-like sharp spines protruded from the snow-white, creamy skin. The chest thrust forward and split open crimson ribs, revealing slick, moist, dark red root-like tubes coiled inside. Eyeballs of various sizes crammed into the muscle crevices, swiveling rapidly in different directions…
“I won’t allow you to insult Teacher!” Ashley shouted in grief and fury.
“Huh? Wasn’t it you who kicked the head over?”
Little Cousin stood before the insectified girl, who hugged her from behind. The centipede-like neck wrapped around her little body two or three times like a khata, necks intertwining.
Smiling, she extended a hand and said in a sweetly tempting tone:
“Isn’t this form beautiful? Come on, join us. We’ll be together… forever and ever… together…”
“Aaah… Nooo…”
Ashley clutched her hair in breakdown. Though she had secretly fantasized about living with both Little Cousin and Teacher, this kind of cuddling was a hard pass!
“Come on… Come on…”
The fusion monster staggered toward her. Bird calls, bug chirps, and the girl’s melodious throat sounds mixed together, sending chills down the spine!
However, Ashley found it odd. Copies were pure dumb muscleheads. Mixing Teacher and bugs hadn’t made it stronger—it was weaker than using just one paint.
Ashley stayed calm. The range of “Time Sequence Heterostructure” was 12 meters. Beyond that, the enemy had no other attack methods. So as the zombie beast advanced, she retreated, never letting it get a chance to activate its ability.
From another angle, once it entered the 12-meter range, the zombie beast would trigger “Time Sequence Heterostructure”.
The frame-perfect Gun Counter wasn’t hard. Even if the zombie beast delayed its strike, the follow-up second “Time Sequence Heterostructure” would finish it.
Ashley feigned an opening, deliberately slowing her step to enter range…
Gun Counter!
Another explosive confirmation rang out, immensely satisfying. Teacher’s corpse shattered into pieces again, blood mixed with mucus and bug eggs spilling across the ground with a splash!
At the same time, Ashley lunged forward, her body stretching like taffy, instantly closing in on Little Cousin!
Her right arm entwined with the Metal Lifeform swung upward, fingertips popping out sharp multi-edged blades, extending the instant strike range by half a meter. It plunged straight in!
Gray Impatiens!
A muffled boom erupted from Xixi’s chest. Black seeds sprayed out, piercing flesh and rapidly corroding a pitch-black, rotting cavity. Black blood mixed with shattered organs gushed from her mouth. Her eyes fixed deathly on the Blue-Haired Loli’s little face, unblinking even in death.
