Undying and Indestructible — The Rampaging A-Grade Aberration Entity

The soft voice echoed through the core zone, and the Evolution Cube inside Lu Yuan's body began to vibrate furiously.

He stared in bewilderment at the door from which the voice had come. Through the small window set into it, he could make out nothing.

"Big brother, big sister outside — can you let Yueyue out? It's so dark in here, Yueyue is so scared…"

Lu Yuan glanced uncertainly at Li Qinghe.

"Sister Qinghe — what is this?"

Li Qinghe's expression was stern.

"Do you remember what I told you? In the core zone, no matter what you hear, treat it as if you heard nothing. Don't believe a word they say. Let's go take a look."

The two moved to the doorway. Peering through the window, Lu Yuan saw what appeared to be a little girl of five or six, standing right there with one small hand raised, knocking at the door.

As if sensing his gaze, the girl lifted her head toward the window. Her pitch-black eyes were utterly, heartbreakingly forlorn.

"Big brother, big sister — did you come to let Yueyue out?"

A sudden wave of disorientation washed over Lu Yuan. A thought surfaced unbidden in his mind: keeping such an innocent little girl locked away in a place like this was nothing short of cruelty.

Then he snapped back to himself. He studied the pitiful-looking child with wary eyes.

"Is this also an Aberration Entity? How can it be a child?"

Li Qinghe's face was cool and impassive.

"Do you genuinely think she's an ordinary child? This is an A-grade Aberration Entity. Over six hundred years ago, following her Aberration, she devoured every resident of an entire small town, then entered a major city and consumed hundreds of thousands more. Had the White Demon Battle Emperor not intervened, the tens of millions of people in that city would likely have been eaten down to the last soul."

Ice crawled across Lu Yuan's scalp as he absorbed this, staring at the adorable little girl.

So this child had eaten… several million people, all told?

Then another thought struck him, and he asked in startled disbelief:

"Sister Qinghe, you said over six hundred years ago? She hasn't changed at all this entire time?"

"Not in the slightest. She's been exactly like this from the very beginning — and she still is today. And furthermore…"

A grave weight settled over Li Qinghe's expression. "No matter what injuries she sustains, she recovers immediately. The White Demon Battle Emperor himself once tried to destroy her utterly — even after shattering her to pieces, she regenerated in almost no time at all. She is, in every sense of the word, undying and indestructible."

*Undying and indestructible?* A jolt ran through him. "That seems different from the Aberration Feral Beasts we encountered in the Forbidden Zone of the Endless Mountain Range. Those could be killed."

Li Qinghe smiled faintly. "This is an A-grade Aberration Entity — naturally in a different category from ordinary aberrated creatures. Even a living being that has undergone Aberration wouldn't normally end up like this. That's precisely why they're called Aberration Entities rather than merely aberrated creatures."

Lu Yuan nodded slowly, beginning to understand.

While they were talking, the little girl appeared to be growing impatient. She began pounding on the door — **thud, thud, thud** — with enough force to make the whole door shudder. Then her pitch-black eyes slowly bled into an eerie crimson. Her tiny rosebud mouth split wide open, stretching until it nearly swallowed half her face, packed edge to edge with rows of jagged, savage teeth.

Her voice remained as soft as ever. But it was soaked through with killing intent.

"Let me out! Let me out now! I'll eat you! I'll eat every last one of you!"

Lu Yuan found she was considerably less adorable now than she had been a moment ago.

His interest in her evaporated on the spot.

Just then, a cool stream of unknown aura seeped into his body.

*Oh.* A quiet thrill moved through him. The volume of unknown aura was enormous — even greater than what had come from the Soul-Devouring Orb.

That Soul-Devouring Orb, in hindsight, hadn't yielded that much — it hadn't yet reached its complete form at the time. It paled against this A-grade Aberration Entity in front of him.

What genuinely surprised him, however, was that the little girl — who had only been moderately impatient a moment ago — suddenly let out a piercing shriek. In the next instant, strange crimson light began churning around her entire body, the dense blood-red radiance wrapping her completely. Both Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe could faintly make out twisted silhouettes writhing within it. The shrieking grew more frenzied, and a terrifying pressure began leaking slowly from behind the sealed door.

Both of them stiffened. Li Qinghe stared at the contorting blood-light with undisguised alarm.

"What is happening?!"

Lu Yuan blinked. "Sister Qinghe, you don't know either?!"

*I assumed this was normal behavior.* Apparently it wasn't??

*Wait.* Something cold dropped through his stomach. He'd just absorbed the unknown aura, hadn't he?

Could the loss of that unknown aura have driven the A-grade Aberration Entity into a frenzy?

But why? Was the unknown aura somehow vital to it?

He had no idea.

What he did know was that things were looking distinctly unpleasant.

**BOOM.**

**BOOM.**

**BOOM.**

From within the cocoon of blood-light, the writhing silhouette thrust out massive, grotesque crimson tentacles that hammered against the door with thunderous force. Simultaneously, a piercing alarm tore through the entire core zone.

In the other rooms nearby, strange sounds had begun to stir.

Lu Yuan could feel it — the atmosphere had gone wrong. Several other rooms were now ringing with their own deafening crashes.

He and Li Qinghe exchanged a taut glance.

Moments later, figures came rushing toward them: the Battle King-rank elders who had been standing guard outside, with the Battle Sovereign elder at their head.

They drew up at a distance from Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe. Their eyes swept between the two of them and the sealed door with unmistakable wariness.

*They're guarding against us.* The realization landed with a jolt.

The Battle Sovereign elder's expression was iron-hard.

"What happened?"

Li Qinghe said evenly, "We made our way here to the core zone. I was in the middle of briefing my little brother on A39 when she suddenly went berserk."

The Battle Sovereign elder and the other Battle King-rank elders traded looks, their faces grim.

"Elder Li," he said, "you know we have protocols to follow."

"I know," Li Qinghe replied with a nod.

Lu Yuan looked between them, puzzled. "What protocol?"

Seeming to recall that Lu Yuan had only just joined the Night Watchmen and wouldn't know the procedures, the Battle Sovereign elder explained gravely:

"In the past, there have been Night Watchman elders who were mentally compromised by Aberration Entities — they were used to lure in other guards, and the resulting chaos cost several guards their lives. To prevent such incidents, we must first confirm whether you have been influenced. Elder Bu Na will perform a purification Combat Technique on you both. Even if the purification cannot clear an existing influence, your reaction during the process will be sufficient for us to judge whether something is wrong."

*So people have actually been enthralled by these things before.* Understanding clicked into place.

Lu Yuan smiled. "No objection from me."

He possessed a powerful Sovereign Grade light-element gene himself. If purification was ever truly needed, he could handle it on his own.

Seeing that neither of them objected, the glamorous Bu Na stepped forward, her expression serious as she regarded them both.

In the next moment, she raised her Staff and swept it through the air. Dazzling golden light blazed to life and cascaded down over Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe.

Lu Yuan felt a pleasant warmth suffuse his body — comfortable, with nothing the least bit unusual.

Seeing no abnormal reactions from either of them, the Battle Sovereign elder and the other Battle King elders visibly relaxed.

Then the pounding on the door dragged everyone's attention back.

The Battle Sovereign elder approached and studied the twisted silhouette enveloped in blood-light, along with the crimson tentacles pushing through the glow. A deep furrow formed between his brows.

Li Qinghe asked, puzzled: "Elder Zhang, what exactly is going on?"

Elder Zhang shook his head, his expression sober. "I have guarded this underground for over a thousand years, and I have never once seen A39 behave this way."

The friendly-looking portly man nearby — whose expression was equally grim — glanced around at the other rooms.

"This doesn't seem limited to A39 anymore. The other rooms are showing irregularities as well."

Everyone nodded.

Elder Zhang turned to Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe.

"Elder Li, Elder Lu — did either of you notice anything unusual earlier?"

Li Qinghe thought it over carefully, then gave a small shake of her head. "Nothing that stood out. A39 seemed entirely normal at first. I was introducing her situation to my little brother here, and then she just suddenly became like this."

Lu Yuan also shook his head. "Nothing on my end either."

*Naturally.* He could hardly tell them he might have absorbed the unknown aura and sent the Aberration Entity into a frenzy. They'd have him locked up as an Aberration Entity himself.

He was inwardly panicking — more than a little.

Looking at the state of A39, something felt deeply off. He still didn't know whether his absorbing the unknown aura was beneficial or harmful to her. And apparently the other rooms had reacted too.

*Please don't let her evolve. If that happens, I'm finished.*

He could only hope nothing catastrophic unfolded.

The group watched in taut silence. Gradually, the blood-light surrounding the rampaging A39 began to dim. The frenzied activity quieted.

Everyone stood rigid with weapons in hand, staring hard at the fading radiance, ready for anything.

Then the crimson light fully dissipated, and the little girl's form reappeared.

This time, though, her face was bone-white. She swayed once, then crumpled to the floor, eyes closed — unconscious.

Stunned silence fell over the group.

They stared at one another. The commotion from the other rooms had also subsided. The entire core zone was eerily still.

After a long pause, Bu Na asked, thoroughly bewildered:

"Is A39 — did she just… faint?!"

"You can't be serious." The thin man's voice was flat with disbelief. "This Aberration Entity is undying and indestructible. She doesn't need sleep or rest. How does she faint?!"

"Then what's your explanation?" Bu Na pointed at the unconscious girl inside the room.

The thin man opened his mouth. Then closed it. He had nothing.

The others stared at the collapsed girl with equally baffled expressions.

Lu Yuan, meanwhile, was frowning.

She looked… hollow. Like something had been scooped out of her.

*Could it be that the unknown aura is precious to Aberration Entities — and losing it causes them this kind of severe damage?*

But then why hadn't the lower-grade ones reacted the same way? He'd absorbed their unknown aura before too.

Was it a matter of grade? Did only A-grade entities react this strongly?

He had no idea. His mind was running in circles, full of half-formed theories with nothing solid to anchor them.

For a moment, he felt genuinely at a loss.

Still — the situation, as it stood, didn't appear to be catastrophic. Not ideal, but not catastrophic.

At the very least, A39 hadn't evolved. She hadn't grown more dangerous.

If anything, there was a silver lining: a severely weakened Aberration Entity was surely easier to contain. Less likely to cause trouble.

*Actually, thinking about it that way…* The last of his internal alarm quietly drained away.

*So the Evolution Cube and these gaudy little freaks of Aberration Entities really are a different kind of creature entirely.*

Elder Zhang spoke gravely: "I believe today's events need to be reported to the Chairman."

He paused, then added with measured weight: "Aberration Events have been surging in frequency of late. Perhaps A39's sudden change is connected to these recent developments."

The words rippled through the group. They exchanged glances, and the worry in every pair of eyes was plain.

After a moment of silence, the portly man let out a long sigh.

"Let's hope this doesn't spiral into something catastrophic."

The others nodded quietly.

Elder Zhang looked at Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe.

"Elder Li, the core zone seems to be experiencing some instability today. Let's continue Elder Lu's introduction to the Aberration Entities another time."

Li Qinghe turned to Lu Yuan. "What do you think, little brother?"

"Let's come back another day," Lu Yuan agreed. "Something's clearly off today."

*Even if I'm the reason something is off… I should at least look like I have nothing to do with it.*

He also had a secondary concern: if he absorbed more unknown aura and triggered further reactions, even an innocent bystander would start drawing suspicion.

*Why does nothing go wrong for everyone else, but the moment you show up, all the Aberration Entities go haywire? Are you their patriarch or something?*

The thought gave him a headache.

Better to stay away for a while. If something went wrong again, there would be no room for regret.

He made up his mind.

That said — he couldn't quite suppress a quiet undercurrent of satisfaction.

After all, he'd managed to absorb the unknown aura from the vast majority of the Aberration Entities stored down here. Most were D, C, and B-grade, with only one at A-grade — but they compensated with sheer numbers.

He could feel it: the Evolution Cube was hovering right on the edge of metamorphosis.

Before long, it would undergo its second transformation.

He was very curious what new capabilities it might unlock.

Just then, Elder Zhang spoke again: "Luo Lou, Sari — stay here and keep watch on A39. Monitor her for any further changes."

Luo Lou and the thin man, Sari, both nodded.

The rest followed Elder Zhang out of the core zone.

As they were leaving, Lu Yuan suddenly felt something watching him.

He turned toward the source. It came from deep within the core zone — a darkened room, lightless and sealed.

He looked through the small window set into the door. The sensation was already gone.

He frowned, wondering if he'd imagined it.

He didn't dwell on it, and had no intention of going to investigate. The last thing he needed was to absorb more unknown aura and set off another incident.

After that, Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe bid farewell to Elder Zhang and the others, left the underground containment facility, and returned to the first floor.

Li Qinghe looked at him and smiled.

"I didn't expect something like this to happen. Let's head up to the top floor — we should let Chairman Gu An know what occurred."

Lu Yuan nodded. Since Elder Zhang needed to remain guarding the underground, he had asked the two of them to relay what had happened to Gu An, which they had readily agreed to do.

"Then let's go see the Chairman first," Lu Yuan said with a smile.