Chapter 1097: Stormy Lone Island

Everyone watched as Chen Ling casually flipped, and the large red opera robe settled firmly on the head of the Shadow Centipede. The fierce-looking Fourth-Tier Calamity, capable of making a baby stop crying, was now sprawled on the ground like a quail, trembling as if stuck in vibrate mode.

As it trembled, Chen Ling, perched on its head, seemed uncomfortable. He extended his index finger and lightly rapped its head twice with his knuckle:

“Stop trembling.”

The Shadow Centipede immediately ceased trembling, sprawling on the ground as if dead.

The air fell into a dead silence.

All the Fusers, including Zhao Yi, were stunned. Chen Ling had tamed a Fourth-Tier Calamity from the Ghost-Mocking Abyss with just one slap. Was this the deterrent power of a World-Ending Calamity?

Since gnawing on a few audience members on stage, Chen Ling had felt changes within himself. His aura, body, and even spirit were different from before.

Most notably, he could now faintly sense the broiler chicken-like aroma of the Ghost-Mocking Abyss Calamity from dozens of meters away.

Chen Ling licked his lips, suppressing the deep desire in his eyes for the "broiler chicken" beneath him, and spoke calmly again:

“Crawl.”

Upon hearing Chen Ling's faint lip-licking sound, the Shadow Centipede's body shuddered. Then, at the command "Crawl," it immediately scrambled forward, terrified that even a moment's hesitation would result in a large chunk being bitten off its head.

“Hey… Chen Ling! Wait for me… Do you even know the way, rushing off so fast??”

Seeing this, Zhao Yi immediately mounted Old Wolf, who tacitly transformed into his Skeletal Wolf form and quickly followed.

Riding the Calamities, their speed instantly escalated. The barren lands of the Grey Realm rapidly receded beside them. Occasionally, other Calamities passed by, but perhaps due to the lack of human scent, these creatures showed no interest in them.

Without a clock, Chen Ling had no idea how long they had been traveling in the Grey Realm. However, judging by the vague domain map in his memory, they had now completely left all human domains and were venturing deep into the unrecorded desolation of this era.

So, the Fuser Faction's headquarters are located this deep within the Grey Realm?

The large red opera robe billowed in the Grey Realm. Unbeknownst to them, a cold wind swept in from the horizon, making their hair whip around. Simultaneously, it brought a slight dizzying sensation, disorienting them.

“This is…”

Chen Ling keenly sensed that something was amiss with the wind. He frowned and looked towards the edge of the lead-grey sky… Faintly, he could make out a massive, dark cloud vortex slowly churning in the air, resembling an oppressive fortress from afar.

At that moment, the black cloud fortress appeared to be moving in their direction.

Chen Ling had never witnessed such a celestial phenomenon in the Grey Realm. As they drew closer, the terrifying storm continuously battered all areas beyond the black clouds. Strange dark shadows darted through the cloud vortex like lightning. Looking closer, one could discern a massive dark silhouette enveloped within the tempest…

It resembled an island.

“Oh no… We can’t go any further forward; we need to take a detour,” Old Wolf’s voice immediately rang out.

“What is that?” Chen Ling asked, frowning.

“The Storm Island.”

“An island? An island in the Grey Realm's sky?”

“The isolated nightmare of the long-sleeping storm, the bizarre phantom at the edge of thought,” Old Wolf said, his gaze fixed intently on the airborne island shrouded in the storm, his tone extremely serious.

“That’s the territory of another World-Ending Calamity, ‘Thought Calamity’.”

“Thought Calamity…”

Led by Old Wolf and the others, Chen Ling immediately changed direction, detouring to the other side.

“Is that the legendary Thought Calamity?” Zhao Yi asked from the Skeletal Wolf’s back, unable to resist turning his head again to look at the Storm Island. "Why can its territory float?"

“The Storm Island has no fixed location. Some say it moves with the storm, others say it moves by seeking out the ‘thoughts’ of the Thought Calamity, and still others claim… that whenever you think of the Storm Island or the Thought Calamity, it can appear beside you at any moment.”

Old Wolf was drenched in sweat as he galloped, feeling a tension he had never experienced before.

Not only him, but the faces of the other Fusers were also grim. Even when they faced the Silver King and the Arbitrator’s Agents in the Infinite Realm, they hadn't been nearly this nervous.

“Damn it… How did we run into the Storm Island?”

“I don't know. The Fuser Faction has survived in the Grey Realm for centuries, and historically, there have been only a handful of reported sightings of the Storm Island, let alone in human domains… How could such a low-probability event happen to us?”

“Don’t panic. We’ve only seen the Storm Island from afar; our actual location is still very distant, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

The cold wind emanating from the Storm Island swept through every corner of the world. Being caught in it felt as though one’s thoughts had stalled… Chen Ling, sitting on the Shadow Centipede’s head, seemed to sense a gaze upon him. He instinctively turned his head to look at the turbulent, dark sky.

The storm raged, and black clouds pressed down like a siege. Gradually, everything else faded from Chen Ling’s sight, leaving only the dark, isolated island, emanating a suffocating aura amidst the tempest.

The isolated island grew larger and larger in Chen Ling’s pupils…

Faintly,

A pair of hollow eyes seemed to be silently meeting his gaze from the island.

Just then, a crimson flash appeared in Chen Ling’s eyes, and he somehow snapped back to his senses, immediately averting his gaze from the Storm Island’s direction!

No!

This route…

Countless thoughts flashed through Chen Ling’s mind. He immediately opened his mouth, activating the True Word of the Mind Character Secret Art to its extreme, his voice exploding like thunder in the air:

“Everyone, wake up!! We’re approaching the Storm Island!!!”

Zhao Yi, Old Wolf, and the others, who had been rushing straight towards the Storm Island, seemed to awaken from a deep dream, a hint of rationality returning to their hollow eyes… When they clearly saw the increasingly close airborne island directly in front of them, their expressions instantly turned grim!

In everyone’s perception just moments ago, they were clearly moving away from the Storm Island. In reality, however, they were rushing directly towards it, as if an unseen force had blinded their minds.

If Chen Ling hadn’t woken them in time, they likely would have rushed into the storm’s center within a minute…

What would happen then, no one knew.

“Run!!”

Old Wolf roared, and everyone simultaneously changed direction, sprinting frantically away from the storm!

Except for Chen Ling, everyone’s hearts pounded, and their backs were unknowingly soaked with cold sweat… They hadn’t felt this close to death in years.

The Shadow Centipede’s countless slender legs moved at extreme speed; as a fellow Calamity, it too was greatly frightened. Yet, even as they continued to move away from the Storm Island, Chen Ling, perched on its head, could still feel a gaze, watching him from afar behind them…