Chapter 543: Mother

Wu Pifu calmed his heart and felt the state of his own body.

One head, two hands, though the fingers numbered six and seven respectively. At the same time, his chest, back, and especially the skin below his neck were covered in a large number of tentacle-like fleshy protrusions. There was also a tumor the length of an arm on his spine... In truth, these were just chaotic fleshy bumps formed from a mass of muscle, not structures similar to octopus tentacles.

And the lower body...

Wu Pifu pulled down his pants to take a look, let them go, then pulled them down to look again...

Hmm, no change...

There was no change to his lower body.

Wu Pifu stood in mid-air and sensed for a while. He could confirm that the closer to his head, the more severe the distortion he suffered, yet his head and neck showed absolutely no reaction to the distortion.

"...Louis XVI?"

Wu Pifu’s "clueless index" was very high. Since this exploration mission began, although he had often been clueless, it was clear that the number of times and the scale to which he left others clueless was far greater, especially in the Android world.

Right now, his clueless index was a full 230,000!

This was a huge sum, meaning his head and neck were incomparably tough!

It was just that Wu Pifu hadn't expected the Louis XVI title to be merely physically solid and tough. This encounter made him realize that this title was equally solid and tough on the mysterious level, the spiritual consciousness level, and even the distortion level.

"...But these tentacles on my body?"

Wu Pifu pinched a fleshy protrusion and pulled it out by the root without blinking.

Although this protrusion had tactile sensation and could make him feel pain, he could not exert any control over it. Even his true qi could not sense it. Rather than calling it a body tissue distorted from himself, it was more like some kind of parasite.

When he pulled the protrusion out, under his control, the flesh and blood quickly closed and healed. But the next second, he felt as if a worm were under his skin, and then, under his very eyes, a small new fleshy protrusion grew out again.

"...Physical distortion caused by negativity?"

Wu Pifu had powerful control over himself. When he slashed the Light Chaser to pieces earlier, and that spiritual scream affected him, he had already perceived the mechanism of that spiritual scream: it triggered a negative backlash in the sea of life consciousness. If one did not have a sufficiently strong resistance in spiritual consciousness, or the ability to exempt or forcibly resist it, then no life could maintain its form and personality.

In short, this scream could directly force all sentient life into varying degrees of spiritual negative backlash. Although it only caused an impact for a short time, it was fatal to almost all life. Even with "Tiger" suppressing and bearing the load for him, the sudden explosion still caused him to suffer a slight distortion.

If it were an ordinary distortion, his spiritual negative backlash could resolve it, but the biggest difference with this distortion was... the negativity that caused the distortion was controlled!

"A spiritual civilization?"

Wu Pifu stopped pinching the protrusions on his body. He descended from the air and returned to the vicinity of the different-dimensional space where Huang Rong was.

The different-dimensional space was very wondrous; it could place those within it into a different space-time dimension. However, according to the control of the holder of the different-dimensional space ring, one could independently see the outside and hear sounds from within. So, seeing Wu Pifu approach, Huang Rong finally opened the different-dimensional space. But the moment she came out, she felt the surroundings were incomparably hot, as if she were standing next to a furnace.

Wu Pifu didn't speak. He tucked Huang Rong under his arm and flew through the air, stopping only after several minutes. By the time they reached this place, the temperature was still somewhat scorching, feeling like being in the dog days of summer, but at least it was a temperature that ordinary humans could withstand.

Only then did Huang Rong gasp for air a few times. Then, with teary eyes, she said to Wu Pifu, "Brother Pifu, how are you?"

The distortion on Wu Pifu's body was already visible to the naked eye, especially the huge tentacle-like fleshy protrusion on his back, which was directly connected to his spine. It waved automatically, looking very terrifying.

"A minor injury."

Wu Pifu said expressionlessly, "If I had enough time, I could use spiritual negativity to slowly offset it. For me, this can actually only be counted as a minor injury, and it does not damage my pure-blooded human identity."

Huang Rong was originally a young girl of fifteen or sixteen. The battle just now had already frightened her; this scene, which was like something out of a myth, was something she had never experienced or imagined. Her only reliance was Wu Pifu, and now, seeing Wu Pifu's appearance, she was also thoroughly terrified. As a result, Wu Pifu's mention of "pure-blooded human" directly choked off whatever Huang Rong was about to say next...

Wu Pifu frowned. He saw his clueless index increase by a few hundred again and fell into deep thought for a moment. However, after only a few seconds, he said to Huang Rong, "I don't have time to use spiritual negativity to slowly offset it now, and this kind of distortion and damage is cumulative. If I don't heal, this damage will continue to increase in subsequent battles. So I must use other means to heal... Huang Rong, help me."

Huang Rong immediately said, "Brother Pifu, how should I help you? By the way, Brother Pifu... you can call me Rong'er."

Wu Pifu nodded and said, "Rong'er, use the different-dimensional space to wrap me inside as well. Then, you must think that it is absolutely dark inside the space, without a single glimmer of light. Then, count silently in your heart for thirty seconds... just count thirty heartbeats, and then open the different-dimensional space."

While speaking, Wu Pifu took out another ring from his personal space. This was a fantasy object he had obtained, named Mother.

"Mother."

"Darkness is the primordial silence, darkness is the mother of all things, darkness gave birth to everything, and darkness will also reclaim everything... if that pollution did not exist."

"Find a place of darkness, wear this ring and place yourself in the darkness. Its efficacy is determined by the degree of darkness. If you are in absolute, lightless darkness, its efficacy will reach its limit."

"When wearing this ring in darkness, it can recover all physical, spiritual, and even soul-level pollution, distortion, damage, parasitism, and mutation... but be careful, the darkness has already been eroded by the initial pollution. Once you wear this ring in darkness for more than ten minutes, this 'recovery' will begin to tend toward perfection, a special kind of 'perfection'."

This fantasy object was obtained from the Castlevania dream world. Just looking at its description made Wu Pifu feel terrified; if things went wrong, it could be a suicide bomb, so he had never taken it to heart. Although he had used it before, his understanding of its efficacy remained at the "healing" level, until this exploration mission faced the lost pollution directly, and he learned from the Magic Conch that the Mother ring could even heal the distortion caused by lost pollution. The value of this thing skyrocketed, almost becoming the top-tier fantasy object in his hands.

Hearing this, Huang Rong did not hesitate and immediately picked up the different-dimensional space ring to use it. Wu Pifu said again, "Rong'er, remember, do not listen to or think about the movements in the darkness. Don't worry about anything, just focus and count."

Huang Rong's expression tightened, and she immediately thought that this action must be abnormal. However, she couldn't care about anything else at this moment. Looking at the fleshy protrusions and the tentacle on Wu Pifu's back, she nodded immediately and directly activated the different-dimensional space.

The next instant, Wu Pifu entered a completely dark, lightless environment.

"...Truly a good thing. After I go back, I'll have the Chairman make me a few hundred of them."

Wu Pifu exclaimed in admiration, then he put the Mother ring on his finger.

The moment the Mother ring was worn, Wu Pifu suddenly felt the surrounding darkness seem to turn into something that could be specifically described, only he couldn't describe it.

Darkness was originally formless and qualityless, but at this moment, it felt like a gentle breeze brushing against his face. The soft darkness wrapped around him, infiltrating the distortion on his body surface, smoothing it out bit by bit, while simultaneously beginning to recover the "damage" concept of his wounds, flesh, and even spiritual consciousness from the battle...

This feeling was extremely comfortable. At first, it felt like a breeze on his face, then it was like soaking in an extremely comfortable and warm liquid. A very soothing feeling simultaneously infected his spirit, giving Wu Pifu a lazy feeling of wanting to fall asleep. Afterward, he felt as if he were being held by a mother, and at the same time, the mother was whispering in his ear not to be afraid, patting his back with her hand while protecting him.

Gradually, both body and mind became more and more comfortable, and the environment became even better. He felt as if he had returned to an infant state, slowly floating in amniotic fluid, completely without having to consider all the injuries from the outside world. Everything would be protected by his mother, and she would make him stronger, better, and more perfect in this state of gestation...

The next instant, all these feelings vanished like smoke. Wu Pifu stood on the shattered earth, and beside him, Huang Rong was kneeling on the ground, vomiting sour water in large mouthfuls.

"Brother Pifu, just now, I..." Huang Rong struggled to say something. Her face was pale, as if she had received a terrible fright, but her face also carried confusion, as if she didn't know what that fright was.

Wu Pifu walked to Huang Rong's side and gently patted her back. The soft force reached her body, and especially Wu Pifu's steady movements made Huang Rong gradually calm down. Only then did she say, "When I counted to twenty heartbeats, I felt something was wrong. There seemed to be something gestating in that darkness. I can't describe it, but I felt very afraid, very afraid, so when I counted to twenty-two heartbeats, I released the different-dimensional space..."

Wu Pifu nodded silently. He touched his body; all the injuries had completely healed, including that distortion that couldn't be removed, but...

There was a layer of viscous liquid on the surface of his skin!

This liquid was a thin layer, and as he left the absolute darkness environment, this layer of liquid was quickly evaporating and dissipating, but it could indeed be touched and felt...

A layer of liquid like amniotic fluid!

In the darkness, what exactly happened?

And... did Huang Rong really only count to twenty-two heartbeats? Did only a dozen seconds pass?

(Or is it that counting simply doesn't work in that darkness? The time used this time felt far longer than the first time I used this ring...)

Wu Pifu didn't know. The entire dream world was filled with too, too many mysteries. What exactly was the darkness of the Mother ring? It was just one of these countless mysteries...

"Let's go, the exploration continues."

Wu Pifu once again tucked Huang Rong under his arm, while Huang Rong held the Samoyed, the Chirp-chirp, and Beelzebub, while also clutching the Golden Tree bonsai.

After identifying the direction, Wu Pifu put the Mother ring back into his personal space, then leaped up, taking Huang Rong toward the research institute obtained from the memory flash.