Chapter 96: I’ve Found You!

"Why am I here?"

Su Miao gazed at the miniature magic circle on the *Blood Magic* grimoire, listening to the cacophony of gunfire, wailing, and screams emanating from within. She couldn't help but feel a surge of tension and dread.

As someone who would never leave her home if she didn't have to—and would certainly never leave a safe zone if she could avoid it—Su Miao found it hard to believe she had the courage to command a horde of zombies to assault a massive installation like the Star Base.

There was definitely something wrong here.

But she was already here; turning back now would likely lead to her discovery. Moreover, with the Star Base currently in turmoil, she might be able to use this opportunity to resolve the threat it posed, escape, and find a temporary shelter suitable for surviving the extreme blizzard before December 1st.

As the slaughter continued inside, the blood mana gathering on the *Blood Magic* book grew increasingly dense, its aura becoming ever more terrifying. In a trance, it seemed as if it were about to spontaneously unleash its "Universal Equality" blood hell once again.

"What are you doing?" Su Miao asked, frowning as she noticed the massive amount of crimson mana being channeled by the grimoire. This blood mana was so concentrated it was nauseating.

[Your Highness, this is to protect you, to prevent anyone from taking potshots at you.]

[Furthermore, this is beneficial for gathering blood mana for Your Highness. With just a little more blood, a Blood Crystal will be able to condense.]

"A Blood Crystal?" Su Miao looked puzzled.

[Yes, Your Highness. A Blood Crystal contains extremely pure mana, allowing you to cast much more powerful spells. For instance, with your current mana levels, controlling over 200 corpses is likely your limit, is it not? But with me and a Blood Crystal, controlling over 2,000 corpses would be no problem at all. You could wipe out this base of parasitic living corpses with a mere wave of your hand.]

Su Miao stared at the blood-red text emerging on the *Blood Magic* grimoire, her brow furrowed in silence. Currently, she could only condense 20 small blue fireballs a day to pour into her magical space array; trying to go beyond that left her with a faint, tearing pain in her head—the classic symptom of near-total mana exhaustion. Because of this, when using *Blood Magic*, she usually regulated her mana output to avoid such depletion.

She had not expected the grimoire to calculate her mana capacity after only a few uses. Was this an innate ability of the book? And furthermore, was *Blood Magic* perhaps becoming a little too intelligent?

However, she needed its power for now. Otherwise, it would be impossible for her to easily dismantle the Star Base and leave. December 1st was drawing ever closer.

"Fine. Take them out." Su Miao’s body trembled slightly.

With her consent, *Blood Magic* accelerated the pace at which it condensed the Blood Crystal, and the number of corpses falling in the Star Base—only to be reanimated and controlled—continued to rise.

...

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Dense gunfire echoed throughout the Star Base. Screams and wails were incessant. The security teams rushed out, confused, only to see their own kind holding the weapons. Just as they were about to ask who was attacking them, these "compatriots" opened fire. In an instant, bullets flew and blood splattered, causing heavy casualties among the parasitic living corpses.

Hearing the gunfire, Shui Kun stepped out of his office, demanding furiously, "Can someone tell me what is going on?"

Since the founding of the Star Base, this was the first time he had heard such intense gunfire within its walls. Had a human army launched an assault? Why was there no warning?

Hardly had he finished shouting when he saw a "tribesman" rush toward him and open fire. Looking closer, he realized the man’s head had already been blown open. The host inside was long dead. This was nothing more than a reanimated corpse.

Shui Kun dispatched several corpses in succession and strode forward. He had heard the Mother God’s call; the Star Base could fall, but the Mother God must not be harmed.

"Enemy attack!" someone finally shouted, belatedly raising the alarm. A large number of the Jellyfish tribe picked up weapons to fend off the onslaught.

But it was a battle between corpses on one side, and living corpses and a few humans on the other. It was far from an equal fight. As the battle wore on, more living corpses and humans were wounded, while the number of corpses that fell only to rise again kept growing.

Before long, several corpses carrying heavy firepower reached the exterior of the Mother God Hall, erupting into an even more intense firefight with the guards. However, the parasitic living corpses here included several ability users, preventing the horde from advancing further.

One person waved their hands to condense a flurry of ice shards, piercing the heads and bodies of the corpses and freezing them in place. Another periodically spat out jets of water, shattering any corpse caught in the torrent in the blink of an eye. One was a sharp-eyed marksman who prioritized shooting the hands of any armed corpse, preventing them from firing back. Another danced through the fray with a dagger in each hand, showing off incredible agility.

Even though the corpses charged without fear of pain or destruction, they could not gain another inch.

Watching the miniature magic circle, Su Miao noticed the red dots representing the corpses disappearing in large numbers—as if no matter how many arrived, they were simply wiped out. She roughly estimated that in ten minutes, at least 50 corpses had been destroyed. Moreover, there seemed to be a strange interference in this area that prevented her Undead Resurrection spell from acting directly upon these living corpses. Otherwise, controlling just one of these parasites would have easily torn their defensive line apart.

[Your Highness, the enemy’s firepower is intense. We can overlay the 'Unstoppable Hemorrhage' spell to increase the effect of the mana absorption,] *Blood Magic* suggested.

Su Miao nodded and raised her hand, layering the "Unstoppable Hemorrhage" magic circle over the "Undead Resurrection" and "Mana Absorption" arrays. At that moment, a blood crystal with a diamond-like structure began to slowly condense above the miniature circle. Its presence made the scarlet magic array look even more sinister.

"Ahhh!"
"Why won't the bleeding stop?"
"Someone help me, I've lost too much blood!"
"My... my body won't obey me, what is happening?"

The terrified screams grew louder. Standing outside the base, Su Miao found that hearing these cries actually triggered an inexplicable sense of pleasure. She looked at the grimoire, her body shivering slightly.

She was certain now: *Blood Magic* was influencing her. Because Xia Xiao'an had awakened mind-reading, Su Miao had become extremely sensitive to such things. In fact, she had felt something was off the very first time she used the Undead Resurrection spell. The second time was at the astronomical research center; according to the book, it made the spell more effective, but it had subtly made her bolder. This was completely against her principles.

She was only letting *Blood Magic* continue because she needed its help, but it seemed to be spiraling out of control. Whether it was her own boldness in coming here or the emerging craving she felt upon seeing the Blood Crystal, everything felt incredibly dangerous.

"If I just hold this Blood Crystal, will I gain unimaginable power?" Su Miao muttered to herself.

That was the thought that had just crossed her mind. The more she felt it, the more terrified she became.

[That is correct, Your Highness. If you wish, you could even swallow the Blood Crystal...]

*The truth comes out?* Su Miao shivered, and cute, small blue fireballs appeared around the grimoire.

The blood-red text on the page changed immediately:

[No, no, no, Your Highness! I meant that this Blood Crystal can provide you with a massive amount of mana. Once it is fully formed, you can store it and use it in a moment of crisis.]

Su Miao nodded. She was now certain that the grimoire was losing control. Her trial membership for "slaughtering through the apocalypse" wouldn't last much longer. Her body couldn't help but tremble again.

*So scary.*

At this moment, *Blood Magic* was working even harder to extract blood mana and condense the crystal, making the slaughter within the Star Base even more horrific. As some of the corpses brought mortars to the exterior of the Mother God Hall, the outcome of the battle became clear.

"Are these... corpses?"
"Dodge!" the ability users among the parasites shrieked.
"We cannot dodge! The Mother God is behind us!" The guards charged forward without hesitation.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The mortars fired in unison. The charging guards were blasted to pieces, and the two ability users who couldn't escape in time were similarly shredded. Worse yet, the walls of the Mother God Hall were breached, revealing the slumbering prime specimens inside.

"Mother God!" the parasitic corpses screamed in fury.

No matter how angry they were, the emotionless corpses simply kept firing. *BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!* The outer wall crumbled, revealing more slumbering specimens and the deep water pool at the center of the hall.

"You... all of you deserve to die!"

Shui Kun appeared on the battlefield. Frigid water materialized out of thin air, sweeping through the corpses and pulverizing them into dust.

"Brother Kun!" The two surviving ability users bowed before him, still shaken.

Shui Kun ignored them. He turned to the pool in the Mother God Hall and said, "Mother God, please rest assured. I will resolve this."

A tidal wave swept forth. With a single strike, another twenty or thirty corpses were obliterated. As the bodies shattered, more blood misted into the air, drawn toward the exterior of the Star Base by the mana absorption array. Shui Kun looked up into the void and saw the hidden crimson threads shimmering in the air.

"Thank you, Mother God. I see you now."

He took a step forward and rushed out of the hall. Several corpses opened fire the moment they saw him. But in the next second, Shui Kun transformed into a violent surge of water, shredding them all.

Suddenly, the hidden crimson threads in the void grew brighter. A cruel glint appeared in Shui Kun's eyes. He looked toward the gate of the Star Base and said calmly, "I've found you."