The skull of the corpse lying before him had been pried open, its Rune Essence plundered.
From a grim perspective, humanity was facing widespread death from an unknown spore infection.
If one had to find a silver lining, it was that this infighting would inadvertently lead to a high concentration of Rune Essence.
Wasn’t this, in its own way, a reshuffling of the deck?
Outside the conference hall.
Shouts and cries for blood had already erupted.
The campsite wasn’t particularly large. After three days, there were probably only a little over seven hundred people left inside; the rest had either left or perished in the forest.
Within the camp, it was generally known who was in the habit of consuming Hallucinogenic Mushrooms.
A witch hunt had begun.
It was all seen as deserved retribution, so no one tried to stop it.
"Ah, a mutated Parasite Body has appeared on the second floor of the clubhouse?" Just then, the announcer received a terrifying message over his walkie-talkie.
’Mutated?’
A flicker of interest appeared in Su Chen’s eyes. If the man wasn’t exaggerating, this Parasite Body might have some new tricks.
"Sir, could you please help..." the announcer began, looking at him with a pleading gaze.
He was cut off before he could finish his plea.
"Lead the way," Su Chen said.
Ms. Lin didn’t voice an opinion, simply tightening her grip on her small bag and following along.
As for the Bright Knight, seeing no opportunity to get involved, he didn’t stick around to embarrass himself further. When he quietly slipped away, no one even noticed.
The private clubhouse wasn’t far. In normal times, it was a place for VIP clients to socialize, relax, and enjoy massages and spa treatments. Since the city’s transmigration, it had remained untouched by bloodshed, but now it had become a slaughterhouse.
The clubhouse lobby was in chaos, with multiple figures rushing for the main entrance.
"Several people died upstairs!" someone fleeing from the second floor shouted in terror.
This shout made their guide, the announcer, tense up. As an ordinary person with no Elemental Power whatsoever, he was deeply unwilling to wade any deeper into this mess.
"This is far enough," Su Chen said, noticing the apprehension on the man’s face.
"Thank God."
The man was visibly relieved. As the only remaining announcer, if he hadn’t been bound by a pitiable sense of collective duty to prevent this borderland from becoming a communication dead zone, he would have fled back to the city district with the first group.
Ms. Lin nodded to him, then followed Su Chen up the powered-down escalator.
As soon as they set foot on the second floor, they saw the so-called mutated Parasite Body.
"This thing has a rather... unique look."
Su Chen raised an eyebrow. The creature’s head was swollen and deformed, its skull covered by a keratinous fungal shell. Its facial features had almost vanished, obscured by a mottled layer of fungus, and several forked tentacles protruded from where its mouth should have been.
What was most concerning was the powerful wave of Wind Element Rune fluctuations emanating from its body.
"It can even manipulate Runes!" Ms. Lin’s expression was one of slight shock.
Apparently, in its parasitic state, the mycelia could not only pull on muscle fibers to operate the body but could also use the host’s Rune Abilities.
It all happened in an instant.
WHOOSH!
The Parasite Body attacked. A crescent-shaped Wind Blade materialized and shot out, carrying a thick cloud of spores.
It charged forward as well. The creature had not only adapted to its new body, showing no signs of stiffness or jerky movements, but it even flew forward at high speed, propelled by swirling Wind Fluff.
The next instant, the air abruptly condensed and compressed. An invisible, extremely compressed Telekinesis Shell shot out, rendered visible by the fiery glow of a Flame Burst, making it look like a blazing meteor.
There was no stalemate in the collision—only pure, overwhelming power.
The Wind Blade and the billowing cloud of spores within it were annihilated, instantly vaporized by the high-temperature Strong Will as if they were made of paper. The attack barely lost any momentum as it brutally pierced the Parasite Body’s chest.
"Argh..."
The mutated body let out a faint, horrifying shriek as it exploded on the spot. The fungal shell covering it and the unreleased spore sacs were all completely evaporated.
Of course, to preserve the Runes in its head, this Strong Thought Burst had been fired at the lowest possible power output.
Even so, it carved a nearly fifteen-meter-long trench in front of him, plowing a path from the top of the stairs all the way to the viewing terrace.
The resulting shockwave swept out in a fan shape, blasting all the nearby glass windows into smithereens.
As the dust and smoke settled, only the charred, bisected corpse remained, glowing with a dim red light. The inextinguishable property of the True Flame meant that, without any effective way to put it out, it would continue to burn.
CRACK!
Invisible Telekinesis forcefully pried open the creature’s skull.
From amid the mess of mycelia and residual brain tissue, he extracted three Wind Element Runes. He also pulled a bottle from a pouch on its waist. Then, a handful of flames, ignited from a distance, intensified and consumed the rest of the corpse.
One was a Lv. 3 Wind Blade, the other a Lv. 2 Wind Element Shield. After all that, he had obtained these two Wind Element Runes again, just in a different way.
As for the small bottle, it contained a portion of Spiritual Dust Sand.
’Not bad luck,’ Su Chen thought to himself.
He then offered the other Wind Element Rune, whose effect was unknown, to the lady beside him.
"Thanks."
The lady wasn’t overly formal or hesitant; she accepted the Lv. 2 Rune directly. Shortly after, she cast a Purification Skill on both of them.
"You’re from the city district, aren’t you?" Su Chen asked suddenly after she took it.
Ms. Lin pressed her lips together, a ripple passing through her clear, bright eyes. From their brief time together, she realized this tall young man possessed some kind of powerful Telekinesis Perception. He could probably not only sense the gun in her handbag but might even be able to tell what color underwear she was wearing.

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