In this murky place where day could not be distinguished from night, the silence reverberated with the tender cries of a child.

Seemed like an infant.

Ji Jue felt a wave of numbness wash over him.

No way.

An embroidered shoe, two red lanterns, a creepy large mansion on a rainy night, a pale bride with a red veil over her head, and other scenes suddenly emerged from his mind. It was all Lu Feng's fault, that bastard always downloaded horror movies on his computer and liked to play them out loud, causing Ji Jue to almost develop a psychological shadow.

At this moment, the silence made the faint sounds even more evident, and what made Ji Jue feel cold all over was... they were coming from behind him.

In the dead silence, he stiffly turned around.

And then he saw a calf trembling like a dog!

Noticing Ji Jue's gaze, the shrinking, scared motorcycle approached as if seeking warmth, utterly terrified!!!

Why the hell are you so pathetic?

Ji Jue wished he could slap it hard, you're a motorcycle spirit, what ghost are you afraid of!

"Want to go take a look?" Xiao An asked in a low voice.

Ji Jue decisively shook his head.

Without hesitating!

Joking aside, those characters in horror movies who hear strange noises and want to check them out always die first, right?!

Yet not looking also felt wrong, after all, sitting in this sinister ruined place with background music, everything felt eerie.

But fear not, it was time to pull out a magical gadget…

Ji Jue rummaged through the pocket of his backpack in front of his chest, excitedly lifted the thing at the very bottom:

—A drone!

Ever since experiencing the convenience of this thing last time, Ji Jue had gritted his teeth and ordered a high-end military version from Sister Laila, rotor reconnaissance type, stealthy and silent; the Empire of Central Earth's military even praised its ability to withstand small caliber semi-automatic weapon fire after being enhanced with the Superior Emblem.

To prepare for this trip, he had been detained at the security company, modifying guns for them all afternoon.

Ever since Ji Jue had serviced Lu Feng's sidearm with a spiritual overhaul, everyone who used it had been ecstatic; it was said that Master Ji's blessing service at Laila's was booked until next year.

At this moment, with a thought, the drone had already soared into the air, the screen in his hand lit up, displaying footage. The small drone silently flew past without disturbing the creatures lurking in the dark, relieving Ji Jue of his worries.

However, just as it flew around a corner, it almost collided face-to-face with a spider monster, which seemed not to have seen it at all, unresponsive. This made Ji Jue even more puzzled about their frenzy mechanism—could it be that the locals all preferred fresh meat and didn't go vegetarian?

Thus, cautiously covering a not-so-long distance, they found the source of the crying behind the ruins, an apartment riddled with cracks.

Behind the collapsed and ragged walls, the light dimly flickered, intermittently.

A family sat around the dining table,enjoying dinner after a day's labor, soft laughter filling the beautiful reunion... If only that were all.

The ragged husband was barely recognizable in human shape, but his head dangled from his neck, the blood at the split site congealed and long since dried.

It seemed as though he was using his long-vanished right hand to pick up food, his stiff face twitching as if forcing a smile: "Eat, eat, eat, it's good, what a hardship."

The table was empty, dust left behind in the shattered dishes.

The busy housewife turned with a gentle smile, revealing the deep hollows in her face, thick black liquid slowly dripping from her eyes.

"Chi-ld, chi-ld, chi-ld is crying, crying, crying, let's go see…"

In the broken cradle, the infant wailed shrilly. The mother's mutated claws brushed across its face softly, caressing yet leaving another bloody gash.

"Mama, pain, mama, it hurts."

"Yes, baby, mama, mama, mama loves you too." The mother picked up a piece of tattered cloth, gently asking: "Do you like the new clothes daddy bought for you?"

"It hurts, mama, it hurts."

The infant in the swaddle cried out, making sounds, "It hurts, hurts, hurts—"

Beneath the rotting flesh of the baby, it seemed as though invisible insects or something else were writhing intensely, surging, repeatedly pushing up vague outlines.

The cries turned increasingly pitiful, sharp, resounding through the entire apartment.

But it seemed different now… or rather, increasingly inhuman. From once tender voices, they gradually became hoarse, pitiful, sharp, deep, or numb!

As if countless people were hidden within that small shell, repeatedly screaming in despair, growing more frantic.

Until at last, when the wails abruptly ceased, the broken baby in the cradle burst open, tentacles and insect-like limbs growing from beneath the plasma and flesh debris, writhing and crawling out of the cradle, shrieking into the darkness.

Vanishing under the dark dome.

And the mother continued smiling, facing the empty cradle, soothing a non-existent baby. Then, she tidied up the dishes, arranged the housework, and finally, turned off the already extinguished light, joining her husband in the broken bed for a peaceful sleep.

In their dreams, beneath the couple's broken shells, invisible entities writhed, surging like parasites extracting nutrients from their host's shell, awaiting the day of birth.

The drone slowly flew back, landing in Ji Jue's hands.

The two exchanged silent glances.

At least, Ji Jue now knew where all those messy things had come from...

Unearthly creatures spawned from other unearthly beings.

Butterflies, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even that monstrous insect capable of snacking on Ji Jue without burping a few bags' worth—these chaotic, ghostly entities likely all originated this way!

Although it was unclear why those 'people' were so insistent on imitating the lives of normal humans, without doubt, all of these were masterpieces produced by Mercury!

Turning materials temporarily into fluids, complying with their nature and essence, adjusting them to their optimal state according to their innate properties, or catalyzing the creations in reverse through a transformation of spiritual quality, advancing them a step further in transformation.

This was the proof that allowed Mercury to ascend to the rank of Grandmaster, to challenge for the position of Saint. It was the now extinct 'Fluid Alchemy' in the history of alchemy!

Even this title stemmed from this very technique.

The creations crafted through Fluid Alchemy often had a strong concealment ability, showing no trace of any external processing, and could even possess multiple shapes and appearances.

Thus, it was called the Transformation Skill.

The scene Ji Jue had just witnessed was likely another transformation met by the creation amidst the chaos of spiritual qualities.

And according to the information Ji Jue had hastily gathered, this transformation, if left unrestricted, would definitely not occur just once. They could continue to grow like living beings, turning into even stranger entities, until the overload of spiritual qualities and the self-collapse of their physical properties!

Even more horrifying was the fact that, despite the chaos and loss of control to this extent, within the entirety of the Crack Realm, there were still no traces of mutants.

Not a single flaw tainted by mutant pollution.

The Hell before him was entirely crafted by the Power of Superior!

"What the hell did he end up creating?"

Ji Jue sat on the rubble, his scalp tingling as if a newly graduated junior programmer had accidentally opened decades worth of data crap accumulated by former generations.

No starting point, no thoughts to ponder, no solution.

It was unclear what mechanisms were hidden inside, nor was it clear what kind of mysterious big surprise was lurking underneath that was enough to stop his heart, only thoughts of wanting to die surged stronger each time.

Xiao An sat quietly on the ground, still maintaining a kind of bewildered expression as if something had happened but he completely didn't understand. After all, Sister Laila said to follow Ji Jue in any situation, so didn't that mean he didn't have to use his brain?

This was the easiest exploration of the Crack Realm so far!

Yay!

Brother Ji Jue was great, no need for words!

Feeling the admiring gaze from the teenager, Ji Jue wanted to say something but then, he wished to die even more.

And then, amidst the silence, he finally felt a slight tremor in his arms.

The Ghost Work Ball, which had been overheating for hours, seemed to have finally cooled down.

It emitted a faint response.

The moment Ji Jue realized it, he hurriedly scooped it up, frantically pouring all of his spiritual quality into it, allowing the Ghost Work Ball to swallow it like a whale drawing in water. Draining not just Ji Jue's spiritual quality but also taking a large part of his cousin's spiritual reservoir, it finally emitted a faint sigh.

"Ball bro, you good?" Ji Jue was delighted.

[... Barely alive, but I guess it works.]

The still-warm Ghost Work Ball groaned in response: [I didn't expect that after surviving so many big storms over the years, I'd almost get flipped in the gutter.

Bringing an apprentice out for a field trip almost turned disastrous.

They tried to deceive and ambush right at the doorway, picking on a helpless old ball like me, almost kicked open my joint line, despicable and utterly vile!]

The Ghost Work Ball trembled furiously, cursing: [That damned Mercury, what kind of Grandmaster is he!]

The moment it entered the Crack Realm, the instant it switched to detection mode according to its underlying circuit's logic... it was detected by another signal, powerful enough to astonish.

Like in the deep sea, two sonars observing each other.

The moment it sensed the other's existence, the Ghost Work Ball felt something was wrong and wanted to shut down, but it was already too late. The malice from the other end surged forth.

The moment it picked up the second signal, the workshop's guard module left by Mercury was activated. Tides of aggression stirred directly from the fluctuations of the spiritual quality.

Across thousands of miles, it began invading the Ghost Work Ball's Spiritual Circuit, even attempting to completely overwrite the Ghost Work Ball's basic instructions on top of Professor Ye's foundation.

This was also a mandatory lesson in the struggle within the workshop from the Ember series, suppressing the opponent's alchemy items and even hijacking control for a counteract.

Regrettably, four hundred years had already passed.

The outside era was still changing continuously, and modern alchemy's foundation caused the versions to be completely different. Coupled with the uncontrolled guard program's rigidity, it was ultimately completely shaken off by the Ghost Work Ball.

The cost was that it had crashed for who knows how long.

Sadly, it couldn't launch a counterattack.

In such disputes, Ji Jue was useless too! If Ye Xian was here, not to mention being at a disadvantage, by now, the workshop on the other side would have been renamed Ye!

But at least, in that moment of confrontation, it had grasped some basic understanding of the workshop left by Mercury.

"Found it so quickly?"

Ji Jue's eyes lit up, "Such speedy efficiency, Ball bro! Where's the workshop?"

[Have you still not realized, you silly boy?]

The Ghost Work Ball sighed deeply, akin to how Professor Ye once expressed regrets about others' intelligence: [We've been inside Mercury's workshop the whole time.]

It declared: [The entire Crack Realm is her workshop!]

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