TYMIMA Chapter 4

Erdiff still remembered how he had burned through that girl’s heart with his own hands, gouged out her gland, and made her fall straight from the school rooftop, fabricating the appearance of a disgraced suicide.

 

Those rumors about her improper relationships were, of course, his deliberate creation.

 

Not only that, Erdiff had personally pulled that deformed spine from her mother’s body, watching the hunched woman who gnawed on steamed buns die in convulsions and agony.

 

To thank them for their “contribution,” he had fitted the woman with a clockwork mechanism and stuffed her into a mascot costume, allowing her to “cry for justice” daily on campus.

 

Erdiff began to laugh deeply, his laughter echoing and reflecting between the ice caves, as if countless voices overlapped in succession.

 

“The Black Lantern Society has gone to great lengths to kill me.”

 

Lance smiled, though his tone was somewhat complaining: “To get close to you, I had to work through a week of practice tests. If Star University’s protective network were a bit looser, it wouldn’t have been so troublesome.”

 

The reason this task of killing Erdiff fell to him was because everyone in the Black Lantern Society had studied hard for a week, only to discover that none of the others could qualify for Star University.

 

Erdiff asked with a cold smile: “Haven’t you forgotten that you’re just an F-level Awakened? How do you plan to kill me? With these useless zombies from the underground city?”

 

His hand, hidden behind his back, slowly closed. The small black insects crept along the mammoth’s bones, almost touching the tip of Lance’s shoe.

 

Lance, however, seemed already tired. He stretched lazily, yawning: “For someone about to die, you still look down on others.”

 

Erdiff’s hidden fingers suddenly clenched, his eyes revealing fierce light: “Who dies remains to be seen!”

 

Those small black insects received the command and instantly became frenzied. They surged toward Lance like a tide, their mouthparts making hissing noises.

 

Once they touched Lance’s skin, they could instantly suck him into a shriveled corpse.

 

Yet Lance continued to smile, not moving at all.

 

Those small insects charged up ferociously, yet very politely avoided Lance’s body, scrambling to crawl backward.

 

They quickly found a white skeleton lying on the ground, then happily sprawled on it, as if returning to a warm womb, becoming docile and quiet.

 

After that, no matter how Erdiff summoned them, the small black insects wouldn’t move.

 

A flash of astonishment crossed Erdiff’s eyes.

 

The skeleton slowly crawled up from the ground. Empty eye sockets gazed in Erdiff’s direction. Even though there were only two shrunken, withered eyeballs in those sockets, Erdiff could still feel the extreme hatred and resentment.

 

The skeleton opened its teeth, but having no throat, it couldn’t make a sound—only the jawbone creaked.

 

“Let me introduce you: former Star University sophomore, insect-system S-level Awakened, Deng Zhi.” Lance enjoyed watching Erdiff’s instantly ugly expression.

 

“Nonsense! Deng Zhi died long ago!” Deng Zhi had been cremated by his own hands; even her bones were charred.

 

Lance smiled: “As luck would have it, just before you burned her, she mastered the second-tier ability [Limb Regeneration].”

 

So even though her flesh was burned away, leaving only bones, Deng Zhi had survived this way, slowly repairing her body with what little pheromones remained.

 

Fortunately, when Erdiff harvested her gland, she didn’t yet possess second-tier abilities, so Erdiff couldn’t regenerate even with her gland.

 

With Deng Zhi present, Erdiff’s stolen S-level ability [Bone Erosion and Marrow Absorption] would be ineffective, though Deng Zhi likewise couldn’t attack Erdiff.

 

The clown removed his top hat, elegantly twirled it in the air, and performed a gentleman’s bow: “Now, it’s my turn to perform.”

 

He gave Erdiff an eerie smile, and immediately Erdiff’s massive body flew uncontrollably toward the ice wall. With just one impact, his head was bloody and broken.

 

Before Erdiff could recover, he flew up again, crashing into another ice cave.

 

Erdiff staggered out from the broken ice chunks, blood covering his face, his scalp torn, skull almost exposed.

 

He wiped the blood from his face, feeling his brain had been pounded into paste, waves of nausea washing over him.

 

But no matter how he resisted, he couldn’t control this force. It was just like…just like…

 

Erdiff suddenly thought of the strangeness of his shadow when he was brought here.

 

Through the bloody mist, he looked behind him. The human oil lamp light stretched his shadow long, casting it on the pitch-black iron door behind him.

 

He quickly discovered the anomaly—his shadow actually made a huge grimace at him, and immediately after, he involuntarily made the same grimace.

 

Erdiff’s face turned ashen.

 

He instantly realized this was Mad Clown’s ability.

 

Erdiff decisively concealed his true form, transforming himself into a mass of magma, hoping to resist the continuous impacts. But in his haste, he made a mistake—he forgot that even magma casts a shadow.

 

The clown’s eyes flashed with excitement as he spun the ring necklace in his hand at lightning speed. The magma mass crashed through the ice wall without looking back, plunging headlong into the underground dark river.

 

Sizzle!

 

Powerful steam instantly filled the entire space. Ice elements naturally countered fire elements, and the magma shrank smaller and smaller in the dark river. Erdiff was forced to resume his original form, crawling out of the river barely alive.

 

“Wait! Wait!” Erdiff shouted breathlessly. “I’m willing to pay several times the reward! I have no grudge with the Black Lantern Society!”

 

That request was laughably absurd—that ugly, lowly woman could only afford a pink butterfly hair tie.

 

So he hadn’t expected the Black Lantern Society would actually kill him for a hair tie.

 

“Oh my, I’m so tempted,” the clown said, but his hands showed no mercy. As soon as Erdiff resumed his original form, he was smashed until his head was bloody and broken. Whenever he turned into magma, he would be thrown into the dark river for a dip.

 

What made it worse was that all of Erdiff’s abilities required close combat, while the clown’s remote control perfectly avoided this. Both being A-level, Erdiff couldn’t gain any advantage.

 

Lance grew bored of watching and urged: “Stop playing. Kill him quickly.”

 

“All right, all right.” The clown put away his playfulness, about to have the shadow directly break Erdiff’s neck.

 

Unexpectedly, at that moment, all the magma in the ice crevasse extinguished simultaneously, plunging everything into darkness.

 

Without light, the shadows naturally disappeared as well.

 

“Damn it!” The clown cursed under his breath.

 

The biggest weakness of his ability was that it could only be used when shadows appeared. Once the shadows disappeared, his anchor points became ineffective.

 

And at their distance from Erdiff, flashlight beams could hardly accurately cast Erdiff’s shadow. Moving forward rashly could be dangerous.

 

The clown hurriedly used his first-tier ability [Night Raven Assault]. Countless black ravens flew toward Erdiff, carrying hundreds of pathogens that would cause instant disease upon contact with human mucous membranes.

 

He wasn’t afraid of Erdiff burning the ravens with magma—as long as light appeared, his [Shadow Control] would take effect again.

 

However, the ravens couldn’t reach Erdiff. Halfway there, they suddenly fell to the ground, turning into flattened meat patties.

 

From the darkness came Erdiff’s deep, hoarse laughter, echoing through the ice caves, rough and jarring.

 

He abandoned his previous embarrassment, walking forward on the ravens’ corpses, the sound of crushing bones incessant.

 

“Did you think I’ve only killed one S-level student?”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, Lance and the clown suddenly felt a pressure that made it hard to breathe, as if a mountain was pressing on their backs. A thick taste of blood immediately rose in their chests.

 

Elemental system Nature-class S-level first-tier ability [Strong Gravity Field]!

 

The mammoth skeleton could no longer bear such enormous weight. With a crisp sound, the spine collapsed with a crash. Nearby, Deng Zhi was also pressed flat against the ground, unable to move.

 

The earth shook, the ice layers trembled, and the underground city began to show signs of collapse.

 

Once the ice walls collapsed, the underground dark river would instantly flood this place. Without any water-related skills, except for the breathless white-boned Deng Zhi, Lance and the clown would likely face dire consequences.

 

“This dog still has tricks up his sleeve. Let’s go!”

 

The clown cursed as he turned on his flashlight, illuminating his and Lance’s shadows, ready to use his ability.

 

He could tear his soul into several pieces, with anchor points all over the world, instantly transporting Lance to a safe place.

 

Unfortunately, this mission had failed at the last moment.

 

But the clown wasn’t that stubborn—nothing was more important than his own life. He didn’t want to drown in the dark river for a hair tie.

 

Deng Zhi’s empty eye sockets gazed helplessly at Lance.

 

Since being found by the Black Lantern Society in a garbage bin and hidden in the underground city, she had endured humiliation and barely survived, just waiting for the opportunity to avenge herself.

 

Unfortunately, she was still too weak.

 

Her skull began to crack under the gravity. The small insects frantically filled those cracks, but Deng Zhi couldn’t summon any will to survive.

 

She wouldn’t die, yet it was no different from being dead. The little pheromones on her bones would eventually be exhausted, and she would become a terrifying skeleton, living on like a walking corpse.

 

Mother, I’m sorry.

 

Deng Zhi’s skull completely caved in, her ribs shattering one by one. Hope gradually disappeared from her eye sockets.

 

Lance tilted his head, taking in Deng Zhi’s reaction.

 

In a moment, the desperate Deng Zhi in his eyes overlapped with the woman trapped in the mascot.

 

In this world, some lives are as insignificant as ants, but he preferred the drama of defying fate.

 

Lance revealed a cruel smile. Suddenly, contrary to his usual behavior, he pressed down on the clown’s hand.

 

Under the pressure of gravity, he knelt on one knee. His eyeballs were filled with red bloodshot lines. His chest bones compressed his internal organs, and fresh blood flowed from his mouth and nose. The young master of High Tower Guild, the White Pharaoh of the Black Lantern Society, had never been so wretched.

 

Lance’s gaze fixed firmly on the darkness. His ring finger wiped away the blood from the corner of his lips as he smiled lightly: “Erdiff must die.”

 

“Wishful thinking! A futile struggle!” Erdiff sneered, increasing the crushing gravity again. The ice layer finally gave way, shattering into countless pieces that fell like an avalanche.

 

The two innocent school workers quickly became meat patties mixed in the muddy water.

 

Lance moved Deng Zhi’s shattered skull toward Erdiff, then looked at him with mocking and pitying eyes: “You see me as an ant sees the heavens.”

 

The clown suddenly realized something. His scalp tingling, he immediately tried to stop Lance in a shrill voice: “Don’t forget you nearly had a mental breakdown last time!”

 

But it was too late. Lance’s gaze gradually changed. His amber pupils were coated with a layer of light, his reddish-brown hair turning silver and spreading out. His skin became unnaturally snow-white, and two sharp, hard bone wings pierced out from his shoulder blades, flapping as if alive.

 

The S-level gravity field seemed insignificant before him. He easily stood up and walked toward Erdiff.

 

A strange, solemn totem gradually appeared around his neck, binding his throat like a spell. The totem came from an unknown place, indescribable and beyond question.

 

Where he passed, all sound ceased, the dark river suspended, and evil spirits retreated.

 

He looked at Erdiff with eyes that surveyed all things, as if watching the most insignificant ant.

 

Divine system Awakened, unclassifiable ability—[Eye of the Desolate God].

 

“What are you—” Erdiff stared at his eyes in shock for a second, instantly turning pale and falling to his knees.

 

It was an indescribable sense of oppression—chaotic, disorienting, terrifying—as if it would tear apart one’s five senses and drag the spirit into an endless abyss.

 

When Erdiff came to his senses, his head had already flown off. He watched helplessly as his large body crashed to the ground.

 

He didn’t know how he had died. His eyes turned gray and lifeless.

 

In terror, he used his remaining will to utter a few indistinct words: “You… rebellion suppression… escaped fish…”

 

Then blood flowed from his seven orifices, and he breathed his last.

 

Lance’s expression was strange as he kicked away Erdiff’s corpse, turned, and walked straight toward the clown.

 

The clown’s scalp tingled: “Fuck your ancestors! Wake up! I don’t want to die yet!”

 

Lance seemed to regain a bit of consciousness at the call. He stopped, using all his willpower to raise his hand and grab at the totem on his neck. Soon his skin was torn and bloody. He threatened “himself”: “Go back, or we die together!”

 

Cold sweat soaked through Lance’s clothes. Blood foam continuously gushed from his mouth. His pheromones were completely chaotic, the scent of star magnolia filling the entire ice crevasse.

 

In that instant, the light in his eyes grew even brighter, and the totem on his neck became scalding hot, as if silently venting its anger.

 

Lance leaned against the wall, seeming about to cough up all his internal organs. His body temperature soared to fifty degrees, his gland aching like it was being pierced by needles.

 

Deng Zhi didn’t know what this terrifying entity was, but she still gratefully knelt down, hands clasped together, silently and devoutly expressing her reverence and gratitude.

 

Seemingly satisfied with the faith and submission of an S-level powerhouse, It appeared somewhat pleased, and the light and totem began to fade.

 

Lance was dizzy with pain but still wanted to quip about how even gods could be so vain.

 

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