Chapter 614 - Black Mist Accelerates (Part 1)

Upon seeing Dark Crow’s wretched appearance, Lu Ran knew it had definitely caused trouble.

“But speak freely. I pardon you.” Lu Ran waved his hand.

Inside the palace, he was dressed casually, having just finished a bath and wearing a bathrobe; he could be called Emperor Bathrobe.

Dark Crow wiped away tears and said, “It wasn’t really my fault to begin with. I was just following your orders to scout the edge of the star domain. The clones had already produced some results, and the black mist was relatively stable, but not long after I arrived, the black mist’s expansion speed increased. My King, what do we do?

Wuwuwu,

it wasn’t my intention to make you heirless.”

Lu Ran was speechless.

“What does the black mist accelerating have to do with me being heirless? Were the clones even doing their jobs seriously? Wait, black mist accelerating... You didn’t say something to the black mist, did you?” Lu Ran suspected.

Dark Crow chuckled. “I just said, ’Unless the black mist’s expansion speed suddenly increases, we still have plenty of time to prepare?’ A perfectly normal sentence, my King! Surely you can’t take it out of context and say that I told the black mist expansion speed to increase! The Spiritual Speech attribute can’t possibly misinterpret my meaning, right?”

Lu Ran felt mentally exhausted. He had a feeling that it should be related to Dark Crow, but not caused by its Spiritual Speech.

“Maintain contact with the clones and keep observing the black mist situation. If I’m not mistaken, the black mist probably only accelerated a bit.”

Dark Crow stopped talking nonsense and was about to continue observing when it suddenly remembered the discoveries made by Manager Ying’s clone.

It turned back and also told Lu Ran about some clues discovered by Manager Ying’s clone.

“Inside the black mist and outside the black mist are on two different time axes?” Lu Ran fell into thought.

Under what circumstances would two regions be on different time axes?

For example, Lu Ran was currently on Blue Planet. At this moment, the time flow on Blue Planet and Stellar Moon was the same because they were in the same universe. However, if #18 summoned the Torch Dragon heroic spirit and used the Torch Dragon’s power to stop time flow on Blue Planet, then at that moment, Blue Planet and Stellar Moon would be in different time dimensions.

Lu Ran thought about it, and his expression changed slightly. He had another feeling, but couldn’t be sure as the intelligence wasn’t enough.

“Manager Ying, as a reincarnation of the timekeeper, probably didn’t misjudge. Continue the investigation. Also, we cannot trust the current expansion speed, nor the original expansion speed.

“The current slower expansion might be because the Four Divine Dragons are blocking it, but the Four Divine Dragons’ energy is finite. While they have energy, the black mist expansion speed might maintain its current rate. But the moment their energy is exhausted, the black mist speed might instantly increase ten-thousandfold, and our world could be swallowed in an instant.

Lu Ran looked at Dark Crow. “So... we still have to grow stronger.’

“Got it!” Dark Crow indicated it understood.

***

The black mist was a calamity even the Four Divine Dragons found difficult to resist. But currently, the known intelligence was that Limitless City’s rank should be higher than cosmic-level beings, which means higher than the Four Divine Dragons.

Therefore, if the black mist really did swallow Blue Planet and Stellar Moon one day, Lu Ran very much wanted to know if hiding inside Limitless City could potentially avoid the black mist’s erosion.

Now, most people on Blue Planet and Stellar Moon with the aptitude to become beastmasters had already obtained permission to enter Limitless City. Those without the aptitude were also trying to obtain it, as it was already the Beastmaster Era.

The identity of a beastmaster was like a diploma for ordinary people. You might not use it, but it’s best to have one, making everything more convenient.

After mechanical familiars were introduced to Blue Planet, even internet companies there started having mechanical familiars work. Many professions had been killed off by intelligent AI machine lifeforms, let alone some old manual labor industries.

The identity of a Limitless City beastmaster was largely a matter of fate for most people. However, for Lu Ran and the few others who had Limitless City admin privileges, they had limited card-issuing permissions, making it easier to arrange things.

After changing, he made a call to Dr. Gu. Soon, Dr. Gu’s headshot appeared on the virtual optical screen, and it looked like she was dressed in a black formal suit.

Upon seeing Lu Ran, Dr. Gu... or rather, President Gu, smiled slightly.

Lu Ran also smiled and got straight to the point. “Dr. Gu, remember to use your Limitless City card-issuing permissions for your own relatives and friends first. Don’t use them for selling or scouting for talented newcomers anymore.

“From elderly relatives and friends down to infants drinking milk, even if they aren’t currently suitable to become beastmasters, first give them permission to enter Limitless City and assign them a protective familiar with some strength.”

“What’s wrong?” Gu Qingyi asked.

“Nothing big. Things on the Stellar Moon side have made me reflective. If a truly unstoppable disaster really occurs, Limitless City should be the final ark—the best refuge.”

“Okay.” Gu Qingyi nodded, knowing Lu Ran was hiding something from her.

She could see he was preoccupied, but if he didn’t say, it meant she couldn’t help anyway. Then it was best to just do everything according to Lu Ran’s request. It’s not like Lu Ran would harm her.

Actually, Lu Ran wasn’t sure if Limitless City could avoid the black mist either. However, notifying familiar people to arrange an extra escape route for their own relatives and friends was always good.

As for more people, Lu Ran wasn’t a savior, so he was powerless. If, after clearing the final secret realm, there was hope to normally resolve the Black Matter, then everyone would be happy, and it would also accumulate some good karma. If not, then his best solution was to protect his acquaintances as much as possible.

Lu Ran found that as long as he didn’t impose moral shackles on himself, he could face disasters relatively more easily. Not sacrificing all unrelated lives to increase the success rate of clearing the final secret realm was already his greatest kindness.

However, since the final secret realm involved the risk of death, to ensure the survival of himself and his familiars, he would definitely get rid of those who bore him ill will, and those judged as evil by his talent to extract their souls as backup sacrifices. This was also the greatest love he could give himself and the familiars fighting alongside him.

Of course, if conditions permitted, Lu Ran also hoped Blue Planet, or at least Xia, would remain safe and sound. After all, it was his hometown where he had lived for over ten years. Lu Ran had traveled to all the mountains and rivers of Xia with his parents since childhood and quite loved this land.

***

More time had passed, and the Primary-Divine #18 finally finished purifying the mixed blood. To allow Sudden Death King to smoothly absorb the Divine blood, #18 also had to do the work previously done by the Divine Turtle, slightly weakening the Divine mixed blood.

However, to ensure the effect of the Divine mixed blood, #18 didn’t weaken it too much. After all, although Sudden Death King wasn’t a Primary Divine, it was different from ordinary beings below that level.

Six-Path Flower had the Life Link ability. As long as Sudden Death King was life-linked with #18, Six-Path Flower, Baby Cloud, and Dark Crow, then it undoubtedly possessed Primary-Divine level lifeforce and would be very hard to kill.

—The five of us together really have great power!

This alone was enough to prevent Sudden Death King from dying too quickly during the blood fusion. Besides, Lu Ran could also use a soul clone to give it a soul evolution, enhancing its physical fitness. And he had ultimately also learned the Guardian’s Contract beastmaster skill, which could provide Sudden Death King with undying vitality.

#18, using its Divine-level computational power, calculated the limit of mixed blood intensity that Sudden Death King could withstand at its peak state. There was still a slight gap from perfectly withstanding the mixed blood, but as long as it was weakened just a little bit, it would be about right.

After completing this series of operations, Sudden Death King began to absorb the Divine resource.