Chapter 116: Gray

Xi Renjie’s body crashed heavily to the ground.

The figure opposite him, gripping a steel sword, slowly advanced towards him. Meanwhile, the steel sword in his hand transformed continuously: a broom, a torch, a tentacle, a toilet plunger… They were bizarre objects, switching between forms with frantic speed, like a malfunctioning television screen, dazzling anyone who watched.

Before Xi Renjie could even get to his feet, the red phantom suddenly appeared before him, raising its transforming blade high and thrusting it down forcefully!

Clang—!!

A terrifying force transferred from Chen Ling’s hands to the fishing rod, slowly piercing through the surface of Xi Renjie’s skin. Xi Renjie was pinned firmly to the ground, all his strength focused on concentrating his protective aura to defend against the tennis racket. Even so, his face visibly paled.

Just then, the ground beneath everyone’s feet suddenly trembled.

Chen Ling tilted his head slightly. His hollow eyes turned towards the charred warehouse. On the wall in the deepest part, a hint of gray gradually spread from nothingness…

He released the steel sword in his hand and turned to leave. The countless red paper butterflies in the air gradually receded, swirling back into his wide sleeves.

“Officer Xi!”

“Officer Xi!! Are you alright?”

A few law enforcers still standing nearby immediately dropped the bananas they were holding and rushed over.

Xi Renjie, having narrowly escaped death, gasped. He pulled out the sword blade that had already embedded several centimeters into his chest. Blood spread across his clothes. If it had gone in a little deeper, his heart would likely have been pierced.

“…I’m fine,” Xi Renjie said, standing up with the others’ help. His eyes, watching the retreating red-clad figure, were filled with terror.

Although the battle just now was brief, the impact it had on them was immense. They had never heard of any divine power possessing such bizarre abilities, and their opponent had only used this single ability from beginning to end.

Xi Renjie could tell that the opponent actually didn’t possess strong killing intent. Otherwise, he could have killed everyone here within thirty seconds.

“He just left?”

“Wait, why did he go back into the warehouse? Isn’t that a dead end?”

“…The Gray Realm convergence! It’s the Gray Realm converging!”

Someone with sharp eyes saw the hint of gray in the depths of the warehouse and immediately cried out in alarm. Xi Renjie’s heart sank.

Wasn’t the Gray Realm convergence point supposed to be at the steel mill? How could another convergence point appear here?!

A Gray Realm convergence appearing in two places simultaneously… Such a situation should be impossible within the Aurora Domain.

The red-clad figure moved through the charred centipede corpses, stopping before the wall stained with gray. Then he slowly raised his hand and pressed it against the wall… As a ripple spread across the wall, he stepped into it, his form vanishing completely.

“He entered the Gray Realm,” Xi Renjie said slowly.

“A human entering the Gray Realm? Isn’t he afraid of death?” A law enforcer’s face was filled with astonishment. “The Gray Realm is the territory of those calamities. If a human enters, they’ll be discovered and besieged immediately… And the Gray Realm convergence points are unstable; what if the entrance disappears midway?”

“That’s not what we should be worried about.”

Xi Renjie shook his head. Since the red-clad figure wasn’t a law enforcer, where he wanted to go was none of their business. Besides, they couldn’t control him anyway; the opponent’s strength was unfathomable. Instead of worrying about others, they should worry about District Three itself.

Xi Renjie’s gaze fell to the side. He saw the many bananas scattered on the ground, which, under his gaze, transformed back into firearms. This time, Xi Renjie still couldn’t discern how they changed.

“This guy… what exactly is his origin?”

Xi Renjie murmured to himself.

“So this is the Gray Realm…”

After a slight sensation of dizziness, Han Meng’s feet landed steadily on the black ground.

He looked around. The grayish-black sky pressed down like heavy lead above his head. In the distance were rugged mountain peaks shrouded in darkness, and strange, unidentifiable structures embedded randomly across the land. The spot where he had just landed was a gray vortex in the void above him.

Han Meng looked down. His body seemed as if a filter had been applied: his black trench coat remained unchanged, but all other colors had been erased.

The red trim on his shirt, the dark brown of his shoes, and even the silver patterns at the hem of his trench coat, had all been reduced to monotonous shades of gray.

This world seemed to accommodate only black, gray, and white; no other colors existed.

This was Han Meng’s first time entering the Gray Realm. Although he had long heard legends about it, it wasn’t until he personally stood within this world that he truly experienced that ethereal, distant “otherworldly feeling.” This place was completely different from the world where humanity resided.

Han Meng glanced at the shadow centipedes rapidly crawling in a certain direction on the black ground, then took flight again, pursuing them closely!

As Han Meng gradually ascended, his view became wider. He could see distant, continuous mountain ranges and faint, swaying colossal shadows on them… But what concerned Han Meng more were the nascent vortexes forming all around him.

These vortexes were still quite small compared to the crater where Han Meng had landed, but they were steadily expanding and should fully form with a little more time.

Each nascent vortex here was an impending convergence point between the two realms.

“How is this possible…” Han Meng’s heart sank as he gazed at the countless nascent convergence points.

It was important to note that Han Meng had entered the Gray Realm from the factory district in District Three. The space corresponding to this area encompassed District Three and several surrounding major districts. If such a large-scale Gray Realm convergence truly occurred, it was something these few law enforcers couldn’t possibly contend with… This would be a catastrophe for all seven major districts!

Just as Han Meng was tracking the shadow centipedes, a colossal dark shadow suddenly engulfed him. Han Meng’s eyes narrowed.

The next moment, a mountain-sized bony claw descended from the sky!

Thud—!!

A colossal skeletal eagle crashed down, smashing Han Meng’s body into the black ground along with it, sending dust and sand flying everywhere.

In the shattered ground, Han Meng’s body was tightly wedged between the gaps of the bony claw. A massive skeletal head hung low, staring at him, and a fierce aura, no weaker than that of the Mother Shadow Centipede, surged forth!

He had been targeted.

Han Meng’s heart immediately sank.