Chapter 555: I'm About to Die

Right, but let's not worry about those for now.

Ying Duo doesn't think there's any need to hide his dealings with Min Tianyou; instead, he tries to pull the few of them into his own line of thought.

He still attempts to recite the clichéd lines with feeling, but his tone remains that mechanical, flat delivery.

"Young lads, are you after this Ying Guang Lu, or this Luo Jinyou..."

No, that's a mix‑up.

"Young youths, crisis lurks, the era calls! Now is the time for you to shoulder the great responsibility!"

Almost as soon as he opened his mouth, Meng Kexin understood what Yang Yixie was scheming.

Although she was surprised to see Shen Zexi and his group in this large force, they were, after all, only sixteen.

Ying Duo, a pseudo‑sixteen but truly eighteen, being dragged in was already absurd, and Yang Yixie still wants to pull even younger ones into the mess!

Meng Kexin began to wonder if she was being too conscientious, but honestly, people's ages in this wasteland world are indeed generally low; she even looked into some statistics.

Here, the age line is almost on par with ancient times—being in one's forties is already considered old.

Ah......

Meng Kexin closed her eyes; at least Chen Mo Zhi didn't need to go.

"Switch to manual."

A slightly irritated Meng Kexin interrupted the Ying Duo possessed by Xi Rensheng; having seen Xi Rensheng act clownish so often, she should have realized that Yang Yixie isn't anything good either.

Shen Zexi and Qi Hengyu blinked; their impression of Meng Kexin had always been that of a softly spoken, delicate, pretty girl, but now her words no longer float frivolously—they carry a few more breaths of vigor.

"...... Want to form a party?"

Yang Yixie stopped searching for words in his head and asked directly.

If his team truly formed, he could say they might not be the highest level, but they'd certainly have the strongest mechanisms.

There are ten slots for a ten‑person party: Ying Duo himself, Xi Rensheng, Xie Jingyan, the four‑person Version Answer group plus Meng Kexin, already making eight.

Among the eight, there are four Divine Oracles, and a Ying Duo with a tag.

Perfect lineup.

"Young master needs to take the item back, sorry I can't accompany."

If it were only Meng Kexin herself, it would be fine—after all, the fate of the two worlds hinges on this one action; if she just stayed far away, patiently waiting for an answer to emerge, she wouldn't want to hand destiny over to others.

But Chen Mo Zhi has to go.

That's fine.

Chen Mo Zhi's own strength isn't great, and he has no special title; freeing up another party slot for him is also beneficial.

Speaking of Eternal Silent Abyss, he still needs to figure out a way to deal with Chi Jinan.

Later they'll inevitably act together in a large force; Chi Jinan's existence is a total liability. Ying Duo, whose hair is a Mutation Source, has already begun pondering how to eliminate another person afflicted by the Oblivion Curse, whose mental state is "good".

"Alright, what about you?"

Ying Duo, while turning his head to ask Shen Zexi and Qi Hengyu, also sent an invitation via the familiar Ying Guang Lu popup.

He had previously stormed out of Tianmian City with such fanfare—so how is Ying Duo now facing them again with a completely non‑chalant expression?

No, Ying Duo never showed any change in expression......

Is it really an illness?

"Is it really no problem?"

Shen Zexi looked at the long‑unseen popup before him and raised his eyes to ask Ying Duo.

"In Party Status, we indeed cannot harm each other, that's true, but as soon as one side leaves the party, the grouping becomes useless."

"Are you sure that we can still trust each other now, entrusting our backs?"

As soon as Shen Zexi spoke, everyone fell into silence.

Whether Ying Duo is a spy, forced or voluntary, the charges the Church pinned on him are part truth, part falsehood.

One thing is certain: Ying Duo really did kidnap Luo Jinyou together with the Co‑Absorption lunatics and fired a cannon at Tianmian City.

Those words also triggered some unpleasant memories for Qi Hengyu; when he learned that the shot was aimed at the ground, he was both shocked and angry.

You say let Co‑Absorption and the Church fight—it's not a fresh dispute—but why would such a massive cannon not target the Pale Throne Cathedral and instead aim at ordinary people in the slum's ground level?

To those unaware, that shot seemed rather inexplicable.

That shot landed in the Slum's District Eight, and we don't know how many perished because of it......

Qi Hengyu opened his mouth to question the incident, but Ying Duo spoke first.

"Then just press the exit button."

Ying Duo seemed to have truly just considered the issue; he planned to let an unlucky customer service rep try it later, and if the rep fails, then Xi Rensheng will do it.

But this still doesn't seem to restore their mutual trust to a good level.

Now they have to honestly play the victim.

Thinking that way, Ying Duo's brows drooped, and Qi Hengyu and Shen Zexi, recalling Ying Duo's past deeds, grew wary, only to be abruptly controlled by his words a second later.

"In fact, I'm about to die."

Ying Duo said the terrifying line with a blank stare; he had simply skipped countless scenes inside here.

Meng Kexin also didn't expect Ying Duo to blurt that out, and she was stunned on the spot.

"My teacher Fang Zhiyan, also the head of the Dome Mutation Department and the leader of Co‑Absorption, might target me and Luo Jinyou in this mission."

Ying Duo's face showed neither sorrow nor joy; from it one could not discern any hint of fear of death.

"After failing to strip a deity of its power, he turned to creating a new god himself; for that, he may seize Luo Jinyou's Aberrant Species Core and fully transform me into an Aberrant Species."

Yang Yixie could probably guess what Fang Zhiyan intends, but he has no idea how he plans to do it.

They specifically warned Yang Yixie that if Ying Duo's body were to become fully an Aberrant Species, it would greatly affect his real‑world self.

If the Ying Duo of this world and the Yang Yixie of reality are linked by countless tangled threads, those threads could be explained by the 【Sync Value】 Yang Yixie previously calibrated.

The thread they linked cannot be broken; if we say that the current Ying Duo draws energy from this humanoid puppet, then after Ying Duo fully becomes an Aberrant Species, the line between them turns into a contract with the monster.

Yang Yixie's soul will also become twisted under an excessively high Mutation Value.

...... If it's external aid, I can only think of you.

The words fell, and another wave of eerie silence followed.

Shen Zexi and Qi Hengyu instinctively exchanged a glance, their eyes dim and indistinct.