Chapter 6: Chapter 6 Invasion
Soon, the throng of people that had been blocking the area had dissipated, leaving the scene quiet, even eerily so.
The dim, flickering flame of the oil lamp swayed, casting all the shadows in motion.
Only two persons remained on the scene, one fixated on the Purple Shining Nebula above, the other intently watching this person.
The former was Shi Chun, his gaze exclusively on the nebula.
After taking a few glances at him, the Supervisor still found him somewhat unfamiliar. His eyes paused momentarily on the injury on his arm before he asked again, "Which group are you with?"
Shi Chun utterly ignored him. Not just ignoring, but with an agile leap, he landed on the ribcage framework, lightly stepping on the Dragon Bone for support, then gracefully sprang up to the sinister-looking serpent skull, tiptoeing a few steps to closely inspect the Purple Shining Nebula with curiosity.
The incredulous Supervisor demanded, "What are you doing?"
While he asked his question, Shi Chun was asking his own, "What is this thing?"
Supervisor: "How would I know? Perhaps only Mr. Shen has the answer to that."
Time was running out, and Shi Chun dared not hesitate any longer. After a brief observation, he reached out to attempt to touch the Purple Shining Nebula.
Seeing this, the Supervisor sharply cautioned, "What are you doing? Didn't you say you were going to wait for Mr. Shen to come?"
"He hasn't arrived yet, has he?" Shi Chun turned to face the Supervisor below him and tempted him, "Do you think Mr. Shen will let us know what this is when he comes? Don't you want to know what it is?"
The Supervisor was momentarily taken aback and then, in a flash, leaped onto the Dragon Bone himself, staring at Shi Chun, and then again at the Purple Shining Nebula.
After their gazes met several times and seeing that he no longer spoke, Shi Chun no longer hesitated. The hand he had extended finally slowly sank into the Purple Shining Nebula.
The Supervisor watched intently, occasionally turning to check the passage behind, as if he was more worried than Shi Chun that Shen Youkun might suddenly appear.
After stirring his hand inside the nebula several times, Shi Chun couldn't help but exclaim, "Huh?" At last, he understood why the other Supervisor had been so perplexed because he felt nothing. It seemed as though his hand had entered the nebula, but there was no sensation whatsoever, and the nebula remained undisturbed by the foreign object, like an illusion of emptiness.
Blowing on it vigorously proved to be futile.
The Supervisor, who had been watching from the Dragon Bone, looked back at the tunnel, and seeing no one, also zipped over to the opposite side of the Purple Shining Nebula and extended his hand to touch it, both of them stirring away on either side.
His previous doubts about Shi Chun had been cast aside, at least for the moment.
He himself probably hadn't expected to so quickly consort with another in such questionable antics—as Shi Chun hardly had to persuade him.
At that moment, both men had a palpable sense of watching over and pilfering simultaneously.
Seeing no sensation, Shi Chun examined the area above and below. His other hand also got busy, touching around the empty space of the nebula, trying to detect the source of the power that held the Purple Shining Nebula floating there.
Suddenly, both men uttered a simultaneous "Huh?" as they noticed the nebula swayed slightly as if stirred.
The Supervisor stood still, lost in confusion.
But Shi Chun swiftly fixed his gaze on his left arm, focusing on the wound that felt cold and stinging.
As his hands wandered, the injured left arm had inadvertently touched the nebula, seemingly stirring it.
He tried shaking his left arm again, and sure enough, the Purple Shining Nebula moved once more, roiling like a cloud of mist.
Through the nebula, the Supervisor saw and realized what was happening and immediately inquired, "What's going on?"
"Who knows..." Shi Chun voiced his shock and then suddenly gasped in pain as the injury sharply pained him and bled again. An intense chill pierced through his body like it reached his very nerves, making him shudder. The sensation was like his soul was being torn away, and sensing something was very wrong, he hurriedly withdrew his hand and retreated.
The Supervisor was startled by his reaction and quickly withdrew his hand as well, stepping back a pace from the nebula.
As Shi Chun retreated, his alarm grew when he saw the Purple Shining Nebula being pulled taut like a curtain by his wound.
Shi Chun's right hand frantically tried to snap the connection between the nebula and his wound, sensing something burrowing into his body. But just like before, no amount of effort from his right hand could affect the nebula.
He immediately attempted to use his abilities, but he couldn't sever the connection. The fear of the unknown filled his heart.
Suddenly, the nebula, as if activated by the nourishment of fresh blood, abruptly shone anew. Starting from the wound on Shi Chun's left arm, it swiftly spread across the entire nebula, clearing away its murkiness and dimness, instantly becoming even more brilliantly Purple Shining, bursting with a fresh and radiant vitality.
More terrifying still, Shi Chun's body felt like a funnel, with the nebula pouring in like water through the wound on his left arm.
"Hmm…" Shi Chun looked up at the sky in agony, emitting a painful groan.
Although he was wearing a mask, the Supervisor could feel the intensity of his pain. Shocked and afraid of being implicated, he quickly jumped down from the snake's head bone and landed on the ground between the ribs of the Dragon Bone, taking two steps back and looking up with full of apprehension and uncertainty in his eyes.
The Purple Shining Nebula quickly finished streaming into Shi Chun's body.
Shi Chun, his arm dripping with fresh blood again, felt as if his entire spine was being eroded by countless insects, and his head hurt like it was about to split into thousands of pieces.
The extreme agony made him unstable on his feet, and he slipped down from the already uneven snake's head bone. With a thud, he crashed onto the Dragon Bone, and then fell from between the ribs, clanging to the ground.
The pain from hitting the ground was negligible compared to the unbearable pain inside him. He was drenched in cold sweat from the agony, curled up on the ground, clutching his head and emitting growls from his throat like a wild beast, his eyes painfully wide-open, yet seeing nothing.
The watching Supervisor was truly frightened. He wanted to go help but didn't dare to approach, as if he feared contagion.
Just when Shi Chun thought he was done for, he suddenly realized that his consciousness seemed to be returning—yes, the pain seemed to be less intense.
He could clearly feel the unbearable pain receding like a tide, coming suddenly and leaving just as fast. But the aftermath it left on his body didn't vanish in an instant; his body felt alien to him as if it had been torn apart.
The Supervisor, still in shock, noticed that his colleague seemed to be in less pain. However, faint purple light seemed to emanate from the right eye below the mask, but it was slowly fading.
Shi Chun, regaining consciousness on the ground, also noticed that his vision was blurry and couldn't see clearly.
In a panic, he realized it was not that he couldn't see clearly, but that with his right eye closed, his left eye's vision was normal, and the scene in the mine was exactly as before.
But when he closed his left eye, his right eye saw a strange, blurred vision, a translucent feeling where various colors merged far and near. Occasionally, there were graceful, colorful streaks passing by, with twinkling or wriggling elements. The overall background of the vision was an ethereal bluish-green, profound and deep.
This illusion seemed unaffected by the light inside the cave—the bright was bright, and the dark was dim.
In his right eye at the moment, apart from the outline of the Dragon Bone, everything else like the cave walls seemed to have disappeared, vaguely transparent and far-seeing.
He knew this must be the consequence of the Purple Shining Nebula. Without the time to think further, feeling some control over his limbs, he immediately reached out to the Supervisor, who was still looking on in astonishment. Shi Chun gasped, "I feel so terrible, quick, help me see Mr. Shen, he should be able to save me, hurry, help me get to him quickly…"
The Supervisor noticed that the purple light in his right eye had completely vanished. He hesitated for a moment, then cautiously used his toe to prod Shi Chun before slowly squatting down and touching him. Finding no harm done, he checked Shi Chun's pulse, noting that the pulse and blood were indeed chaotically abnormal. He clicked his tongue, "Who asked you to mess with it? You brought this on yourself."
That said, he still helped Shi Chun to his feet and assisted him out of the cave.
It wasn't out of kindness that he felt obliged to help, but he had to deliver Shi Chun into Shen Youkun's hands to prove himself. Otherwise, he couldn't explain the disappearance of the Purple Shining Nebula to Shen Youkun, and he couldn't afford to mess with someone of Shen Youkun's family background.
He estimated that once he handed over Shi Chun to Shen Youkun, Shen Youkun would be furious to know his body had absorbed the Purple Shining Nebula. It was uncertain whether he would save him or deal him a deadly blow.
They hadn't gone far when, as the Supervisor's thoughts drifted and he let Shi Chun fend for himself, he suddenly staggered with a grunt and separated from Shi Chun—with blood spraying between them.
The Supervisor clutched his neck desperately, staggering back against the cave wall, his eyes wide open in shock as he stared at Shi Chun. Blood gushed from between his fingers like a fountain, from a deep and gaping wound in his neck. The man shook violently against the wall, sliding down with gurgling noises.
Shi Chun, who had swung the knife, also overexerted himself and lost control, spinning several times and crashing into a rib of the Dragon Bone, unable to stand firm, collapsing with a clatter.
After gasping on the ground for a while, even though his body felt terrible and his vision was still confused by the strange images, he still struggled to his feet and quickly stumbled towards the exit, daring not to delay any further.
He couldn't afford to waste time. If Shen Youkun caught up with him, he feared he couldn't bear it.
He had once wanted to make Shen Youkun's life worse than death, but hadn't managed it. This time, if Shen Youkun caught him, Shen Youkun would surely pay him back, truly making his life worse than death.
He pocketed the dagger, dusting the soil from his body to avoid looking too disheveled.
He also grabbed handfuls of dirt to smear over the bleeding whip marks again; appearing blood-soaked again might arouse suspicion.
He knew his complexion must be terrible, which would raise doubt upon being seen, but fortunately, the mask concealed it.
He soon reached a "T" junction in the mine, where he tried his best to steady his shaking form, trying to appear as if nothing was wrong.
Around the corner, he immediately saw a group of people waiting, and he also saw a sight that startled him; with his right eye closed, he saw a group of normal people, but with his left eye closed, he saw a group of human-shaped, white, misty figures.
The group looked at him, especially Wu Jinliang.
Before anyone could speak, Shi Chun was the first to say, "Step aside, I have to report a situation to Mr. Shen."
This time, no one made it difficult. Although some people looked at him askance, they quickly cleared a path for him.
There were people sitting on either side of the path, not looking particularly hopeful. After all, they were not expecting the good stuff, and if they could avoid work and wait for their meals, that was a joy in itself.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone