TYMIMA Chapter 3

“Has our young master been moved by compassion?” This time the teasing didn’t come through the earpiece, but fell genuinely beside Lance.

 

Under normal circumstances, human glands mature at sixteen, completing attribute differentiation. Only then can one cultivate abilities of that attribute. An Alpha who is only eighteen, even if S-level Awakened, would at most have cultivated first-tier abilities. Against another S-level ability, it’s hard to say whether they would have the advantage.

 

Lance often had a saying on his lips—the miserable death of those who get carried away is the highest form of art.

 

But just now, Lance had chosen to press the button early, commanding him to activate the control-system A-level Awakened’s second-tier ability [Shadow Anchoring].

 

This ability used fragments of the caster’s soul as anchors, fixing them to the shadows of objects, thereby forming pathways between anchor points that could be moved at will, like God’s hand controlling an entire chess game.

 

Lance had used the opportunity of the freshman level test to place an anchor on Erdiff’s shadow.

 

Just now, the anchor had received a forced command, the shadow was recalled, and Erdiff was compelled to transfer along with his shadow. It was by this method that he could instantly transport Erdiff from the campus into the ‘trap’.

 

However, they could have waited until Zhan Pingchuan died before making their move. Now, to save that person’s life, they had to bring in two more troublemakers.

 

Unfortunately, when the lightning flashed, the shadows of those two school workers happened to overlap with Erdiff’s, so they were anchored together.

 

In the darkness appeared a face painted with an eerie clown makeup. He wasn’t originally ugly, but his makeup was extremely exaggerated—green paint covered his eyelids, yet his eyelashes were a creepy white. Two streaks of deep red tears were smeared from the corners of his eyes, and those deep blue eyeballs flickered with fanatical light.

 

“What’s so special about him that made you softhearted?” The clown’s bright red lips curved high upward, the paint brush outlining them to the roots of his ears. As he spoke, perfectly white and even teeth showed between his red lips, his laughter sharp and penetrating.

 

Lance raised his hand and pushed the clown’s icy cheek aside: “Shut up.”

 

To think there could be such a stupid S-level in the world. He hated stupid people, and hated even more when stupid people’s deaths were connected to him.

 

The clown didn’t get an answer, but was sensible enough to put away his manic smile, leaving only a meaningful wink before excitedly looking into the deep darkness.

 

The surroundings were terribly quiet, with only a bone-chilling cold that penetrated to the marrow.

 

“Dean, what just happened?” One school worker kept rubbing his exposed arms. It was too cold here; he could clearly feel his body temperature rapidly dropping, yet he remembered it was still midsummer.

 

“We seem to have… been dragged here by something.” The other school worker’s teeth chattered as he swallowed hard. He carefully felt for Erdiff’s position, afraid of being left behind.

 

In the darkness, Erdiff remained silent.

 

He clearly remembered that his attack was about to reach Zhan Pingchuan’s back when he suddenly felt an irresistible force unceremoniously pulling him into a nauseating vortex.

 

That force came from beneath his feet, as if sticking to his skin, impossible to break free from.

 

In the last moment, he transformed his feet into magma, burning through his shoes, but not only did this fail to break that force, the magma’s light revealed a scene that chilled him to the bone.

 

The thing that dragged him into the vortex was his own shadow!

 

Now the feeling of detachment was gone. Erdiff’s feet stepped on something sticky and ice-cold. He vigilantly gripped the bone whip, transforming one arm into burning magma to illuminate a corner of their surroundings.

 

“This, this is…” The school worker peeked out from behind Erdiff, eyes widening.

 

They were at the bottom of a huge ice crevasse. Above their heads were stalactites piled densely like tumors. On both sides were honeycomb-like ice caves leading in all directions. No one knew where these ice caves led, or how far they were from the surface.

 

Under their feet was years of accumulated silt, damp and cold. The ground seemed to bear traces of unknown creatures’ twisted crawling, hasty and rough, abruptly ending at one of the ice caves.

 

Around the ice caves were blue-green ice walls containing indistinct black shadows. Behind these ice walls came the faint sound of an underground river’s roaring flow.

 

Looking back, there was a rusty old iron door, tightly closed. The carving on it resembled an old man’s face, with deeply sunken wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. His mouth gaped greedily, revealing a strange, dark throat.

 

In the old man’s throat was written a crooked line of ancient, unknown text—Locus ubi moritur (Place of Death)

 

“It’s the A-level underground city Glacier Corpse Forest!” After recognizing that line, the school worker finally shouted in realization.

 

Since the underground cities emerged a hundred years ago, humans had classified them by danger level into six grades: S, A, B, C, E, and F, with higher grades representing greater danger.

 

In the underground cities, humans encountered unknown entities beyond imagination—ferocious, cold-blooded, emotionless things that would eliminate any creature entering their territory.

 

Only those with ability levels higher than these unknown entities had a chance to escape the numerous dangers, obtain resources from the underground city, and return safely.

 

For this reason, human awakening talents were also divided into six levels.

 

“Isn’t Glacier Corpse Forest controlled by the Black Lantern Society?” The other school worker frowned.

 

Just a month ago, the assassination organization Black Lantern Society had publicly announced that they had named the newly emerged A-level underground city as Glacier Corpse Forest, and that Black Lantern Society’s third executive, Mad Clown, and seventh executive, White Pharaoh, had completely controlled this underground city.

 

This news had caused an uproar in the Federation network because, according to current Federation law, underground cities were public resources. Any guild with a Federation government license could enter underground cities to extract resources in fair competition. But now the Black Lantern Society wanted to claim the underground city for themselves.

 

Despite the anger, the Federation government was temporarily helpless—first because they hadn’t found the entrance to Glacier Corpse Forest, and second because to this day, only the code names of seven executives within the Black Lantern Society had been publicly revealed, with all other information being completely blank.

 

So some suspected that the Black Lantern Society was being protected by a major guild, or rather, that a major guild was actually the Black Lantern Society’s public disguise. Otherwise, such a rampant illegal organization couldn’t have hidden until now, let alone grown stronger.

 

Just then, cracking sounds came from all around. The tumor-like stalactites overhead suddenly split open and began to shake violently.

 

Each “tumor” shed grayish-white fragments like a python shedding its skin, dripping salty fluid, revealing bloody, mangled corpses inside!

 

These corpses fell to the ground, then crawled up from the mud puddles. Their eye sockets, covered with ice fragments, slowly turned toward Erdiff and the two men.

 

“Aaaaahhhhh! Ghosts! They’re ghosts!” The school worker hiding behind Erdiff screamed in terror, beside himself with fear.

 

The other school worker was much calmer. With a vicious expression, he raised his hand and drew a dagger [Black Mamba’s Fang] from his waist, which carried the Black Mamba’s deadly poison.

 

“Damn it, they’re just a bunch of dead people. What’s so scary!”

 

With that, he swung his dagger at the foremost corpse. This corpse was already half-decayed, its internal organs spilled on the ground. Just as it was about to reach for the school worker, the dagger split it in two from top to bottom.

 

In an instant, the corpse froze. After a few seconds, its bones scattered on the ground, turning into foul-smelling black smoke.

 

The school worker turned around arrogantly, cleaning the filth from his dagger with a flick, and boasted: “What Glacier Corpse Forest? I think it’s nothing but—”

 

His words suddenly stopped, and the smug expression on his face slowly faded. He looked down in disbelief to see a hand covered in purple-blue corpse spots protruding from his heart. The five fingers, like insatiable giant mouths, were tearing at his chest without restraint. In moments, his chest was ripped to shreds.

 

He tried to speak, but only managed to form a shape with his lips before falling to the ground with a deathly pale face, his eyes still open in death.

 

Blood gushed to the ground, quickly forming a layer of ice crystals. Before death, his eyes showed unprecedented terror.

 

“He’s, he’s, he’s… dead! Dean, he’s dead!”

 

The other school worker felt a warm flow between his legs. His legs gave way, and he fell to his knees before his colleague’s corpse.

 

“Silence!”

 

Erdiff’s face darkened. By now, he knew he had fallen into a trap, though he still hadn’t figured out when exactly the enemy had made their move.

 

With his high-grade awakened power, it was impossible for him to be completely unaware of an enemy’s close-range sneak attack.

 

But now there was no time to think further. With a wave of his large hand, surging magma immediately poured forth, burning several approaching corpses into black ash.

 

Yet he wasn’t satisfied with this. Erdiff let out a great shout, and a huge ball of magma formed in his palm, growing larger and larger until it finally expanded to a size that could envelop a grown man.

 

Elemental system A-level Awakened second-tier ability [Magma Erosion]!

 

Erdiff violently hurled the magma ball toward the hanging stalactites. Those tumors melted under the scorching heat, dripping into the ankle-deep water on the ground. With a sizzling sound, they turned into tar.

 

In an instant, the stalactites wrapped with corpses were completely gone, revealing a wide, pitch-black passage. The thick stone walls on both sides were also half-melted, covered with charred oil after the magma extinguished.

 

“Amateur tricks,” Erdiff mocked.

 

No matter how grand the spectacle, it was still just an A-level underground city. As an elemental among A-level Awakened, escaping unharmed wouldn’t be difficult for him.

 

He flicked out a few more magma balls, using those severed limbs as lamp oil to completely illuminate the ice crevasse.

 

“Ghosts! There are ghosts… Dean, save me!” The school worker, with one ear burned off by the magma, had completely lost his mind.

 

Erdiff looked at him with disgust, cleanly and efficiently piercing his throat with the bone whip.

 

The school worker’s screams abruptly stopped. He clutched Erdiff’s bone whip with both hands, mouth agape in terror. But soon, the small black insects on the bone whip swarmed over him, instantly sucking him into a desiccated corpse.

 

“Useless trash,” Erdiff withdrew his whip. The school worker’s body scattered like sand, becoming fuel for the magma.

 

Erdiff felt no guilt. F-level Awakened in an A-level underground city would only hold him back. He had many such useless people; none worth cherishing.

 

Suddenly, crisp applause came from deep within the cave. Reflected by the ice walls on both sides, the echo traveled long and far.

 

“The dean is so ruthless even to his own people.”

 

The voice was pleasant, crisp, carrying ill-intentioned mockery, perfectly designed to provoke.

 

Erdiff’s face turned ashen. Finally, by the vigorous flames on the school worker’s body, he could see the figure deep in the cave.

 

The person sat on a tall mammoth skeleton, one knee bent, right hand supporting his chin. The firelight illuminated his porcelain-white profile and that smile at the corner of his lips—captivating and confident.

 

He had removed his modest disguise and tied up his reddish-brown hair. His gaze had completely changed, no longer reserved, enduring, or bewildered. Instead, there was an almost bewitching enjoyment.

 

He seemed to be savoring a cup of authentic black coffee, or watching a wonderful musical. It seemed that only when executing a mission could he truly experience the pleasure of being the White Pharaoh of the Black Lantern Society.

 

The clown in evening dress stood guard beside him, the corners of his bright red lips raised high, casually spinning a ring necklace in his hand.

 

The ring turned once per second, as if counting down the final moments.

 

“It’s you.” Erdiff spat out these two words sinisterly, his gaze cold as a blade.

 

In the classroom, he had completely failed to see through this person’s disguise, let alone connect this sickly Omega with the ruthless White Pharaoh.

 

“Surprised?” Lance asked casually.

 

“What does the Black Lantern Society want?” Erdiff narrowed his eyes, while the small black insects on his bone whip silently crawled toward the shadows, slowly approaching Lance.

 

Lance stroked the mammoth’s huge skull, smiling methodically: “To kill you, of course.”

 

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