466: Chapter 462 Heading East

Lu Jianchuan looked up at the giant eye.

Electricity reconverged in his palm. The eye contracted sharply, and countless tentacles shot out from the building's depths, lashing toward him from all directions.

Lu Jianchuan did not dodge; he raised one hand and grabbed the thickest tentacle. Electricity surged from his palm into the tentacle, rushing straight toward the main body along the pathways of flesh and nerves.

The eye trembled violently, and the tentacles twitched frantically before it severed the captured tentacle itself.

Black liquid sprayed from the stump. The remaining tentacles retracted like a startled nest of snakes, then shot out again, grabbing the unconscious crowd on the ground.

One tentacle wrapped around one person, then two, then three... dozens of tentacles moved simultaneously, curling the unconscious people off the ground and stacking them into a thick human wall in front of it.

Flesh and bodies intertwined to form a living shield. *Come on then, try shocking me again.*

Lu Jianchuan charged. Electricity burst from his entire body, bypassing the gaps in the human wall and striking the main body directly.

The eye jolted from the shock, the tentacles tightened in spasms, and the people being held let out unconscious groans.

Lu Jianchuan had already reached the human wall. He grabbed a tentacle wrapped around a person, and electricity exploded in his palm, tearing the tentacle in two from the middle.

He pulled the person out of the severed limb, threw them behind him, turned to grab another, tore it, grabbed again, and tore again. Electricity leaped across his body and shot from his fingertips, burning through, tearing apart, and shredding the tentacles one by one.

The tentacles flailed wildly, trying to shake him off or use the hostages to block him. He ignored it completely, punching through a tentacle, tearing it open, and pulling the person inside out.

Another punch, another tentacle, another person. His armor was covered in black liquid—on his hands, face, and hair.

The people he threw behind him rolled on the ground; some were still unconscious, while others began to groan weakly. None were dead.

He tore away the last tentacle holding a person, pulled them from the severed limb, and tossed them behind him.

The giant eye was before him—no more tentacles, no more human wall. Only the eye, its pupil narrowed to a slit, faced him.

He braced his legs and leaped high, adjusting his posture in mid-air. He pulled back his right foot as the electricity from his entire body surged toward his sole. With his right foot pointing down, carrying his full weight, all the electricity, and all the power within the dark-gold patterns, he kicked down at the eye.

Rider Kick.

Light exploded, brighter than ever before. The eye melted in the light, the building collapsed in the light, and the flesh evaporated in the light. The ground shook, debris flew, and dust rose. Light and smoke mixed together until nothing could be seen.

The dust slowly settled.

In the center of the ruins, Lu Jianchuan stood there. The dark-gold patterns on his armor had faded, and the silver-white surface was covered in cracks.

He held his landing pose for a second, then two—the armor peeled off him piece by piece, like the last leaves of autumn falling from a tree.

He collapsed forward, his face hitting the pile of rubble, motionless.

[Consciousness Space]

Han Chengyu stared at the set of data that had stopped jumping on the light screen and remained silent for a long time.

"I didn't expect..." he spoke slowly, his voice carrying an unidentifiable emotion, "that the method of self-evolution would be even more perfect than what I designed."

[This is normal.] The System's voice was calm. [Life will always create its own miracles and find a way to survive.]

On the light screen, every part of the armor's structure was disassembled, labeled, and analyzed. The dark-gold patterns, the reshaped pauldrons, the laminated structure thin as a cicada's wing, and the core mechanism using itself as a magnetic field. Every part was more sophisticated, more efficient, and more dangerous than his original design.

"Many aspects adopt excellent ideas." Han Chengyu's finger slid across the light screen, zooming in on a set of data. "But the only drawback—this armor burns the user's factor concentration."

[The Aptitude Holder's own concentration is currently in a state of slow increase, which can offset some of the consumption.] The System paused. [But the burning speed will gradually increase with the duration of the transformation.]

Han Chengyu nodded, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

"Keep it," he said. "But a safety lock must be added."

He brought up another set of data and drew a line.

"When the concentration drops to the initial value—0.038%—forcefully deactivate the Sublimation Form."

He pressed the confirmation key.

[Safety protocol established. Form naming pending input.]

Han Chengyu looked at the armor model floating quietly on the light screen. The dark-gold patterns were still pulsing slowly, like a heartbeat, like breathing.

"Let's call it—"

He paused.

"Silver Skeleton Ascendance Form."

Han Chengyu stared at the data on the light screen, tapping his fingers on the armrest a few times.

"The Sublimation Form can currently only be transformed into from the base form," he muttered to himself. "When using the Explosive Combustion Form or other forms, it will forcibly switch back to the base form for specific reasons before changing into the Sublimation Form."

He sat up straight and swiped his fingers across the light screen, pulling up several other sets of data.

"I need to make an adaptation for the other forms. At least let them enter the Ascendance state too." He shook his head as he looked. "Load the Vibration Form data first and do a basic adaptation. As for the Explosive Combustion Form... I need to make one for that too."

He paused, then pulled up the data for several other people.

"Should I design Ascendance for the others as well?"

He thought about it, then shook his head again.

"It definitely can't burn factor concentration. This factor burning must be unique to Lu Jianchuan. The others don't have high concentrations, nor do they have the trait of slowly increasing after medication like he does."

He closed those data sets and reopened Lu Jianchuan's armor model.

"Well, that'll do for now." He pushed the light screen aside and leaned back against the chair. "The design is finished."

[Reality World]

Lu Jianchuan felt like he was trapped somewhere. Something was pressing down on him, very heavy; he wanted to move but couldn't, wanted to shout but couldn't make a sound. After struggling vaguely for a while, he finally broke free from that nightmare.

Something was pressing on his chest, heavy, making it hard to breathe. He struggled to open his eyes and turned his head to look down—a fluffy white thing was lying on his chest, its long ears drooping down and covering half his face.

"We meet again."

The Rabbit King's voice rang in his mind, flat and devoid of emotion.

Lu Jianchuan waited for a few seconds, his voice a bit raspy. "We meet again. That was really dangerous this time."

"Yes, very dangerous."

Lu Jianchuan looked down at the white furball lying on his chest.

"By the way, why are you lying on my chest?"

The Rabbit King flicked its ears.

"Because I felt you were about to wake up. This way, you'd wake up faster."

Lu Jianchuan was silent. In the nightmare he just had, a mountain was pressing down on him, impossible to push away no matter how he struggled, preventing him from waking up.

"Gosh," he sighed, "It's because you were lying here that I had a nightmare about sleep paralysis."