Chapter 489: Legal Affairs

「Hmm? 」

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow; unlike other quality-upgrading items, the Holographic White Bone Corridor didn't just change its name—it underwent a complete transformation in its specific effects.

It shifted from recording and fusing skills to permanently collecting life fragments of extraordinary beings, like capturing Pokémon.

「Though I can't use the fusion skill anymore, I can now summon them fully and directly—probably, maybe, perhaps a major upgrade? 」

Li Cheng reached out and grasped the 【Thermal Death Corridor】; it lost its skeletal form, becoming a pale green, transparent cube resembling aerogel—so light it had no weight, yet incredibly durable.

The instant he touched it, the 【Thermal Death Corridor】 instantly reshaped, subtly shifting according to Li Cheng's will.

It freely switched between wristband, belt, watch, and hat forms, but could not become larger objects like cars or ships.

「Then what about its interior? 」

Li Cheng paused, gently stroked the cube, and it immediately flipped and folded inward-out, transforming into a plain, unadorned doorframe.

He pushed open the door; beyond lay an endless space. Compared to the former white bone corridor, this space was boundless, illuminated by light whose origin was unknown.

Stretching before him, countless black stone pedestals floated in the space, shaped like Mayan temples (pyramids with their tops removed).

Above each pedestal, suspended in stasis, hung the extraordinary lifeforms Li Cheng had previously defeated.

The black-water-shaped curses of resentment, the Disney park puppet princess, Jiang Zhihui and her white fox spirit, the blind and foolish Frog God, and now the Black Pharaoh from this mission—grinning broadly, his mouth full of white teeth.

「??? Holy shit, you can even collect the Black Pharaoh? 」

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched as he muttered, 「Now I can send them out to take selfies with WeChat merchants and make money. 」

In the real world, Guan Hai had gone insane with money-grabbing after retirement; through an agency's connections, he shook hands and took photos with a hundred WeChat merchants at some ridiculous "Global SME Alliance" event in the Eastern Nation, charging 250,000 to 300,000 yuan per photo—netting twenty to thirty million yuan in one go.

He still had to preserve a shred of American dignity, otherwise he'd already accepted invitations from games like "Greedy Moon" and "Bloody Legend" to film ads like "If You're a Brother, Come Cut Me" or "Daoist Fifteen Dog."

Oh wait, didn't "Greedy Moon" and "Bloody Legend" lose their former popularity? Was "Dragon Nest Mobile" offering higher pay?

Li Cheng imagined the Black Pharaoh in a sharp suit, grinning with his full white teeth, shouting in broken Chinese: 「Soul Manifestation! Level 99 Legendary Douluo! 」—and his scalp prickled with revulsion.

He shook off those ridiculous thoughts, gripped the Levitation Engine, and floated anti-gravitationally into the cube's space, closely examining the black stone pedestals, which now displayed more detailed information.

「So that's how it works. 」

The new version of the 【Thermal Death Corridor】 had a unique summoning mechanism: there was no limit to the number of extraordinary beings summoned, no time limit, and no distance requirement.

But all spiritual energy consumed by the summoned beings had to be paid for by the user.

The Curse of Black Water was manageable—Li Cheng could afford it, even keep the black water lurking in a water park for 365 days, scaring tourists on purpose.

But if the Frog God from the Return Home mission remained active for long, it would drain spiritual energy rapidly.

「So the most efficient use is treating collected extraordinary beings as off-field support tools—summon them for one skill, then recall them. 」

Li Cheng pondered, continuing to read. Beyond the battle notes, the 【Thermal Death Corridor】 had many hidden rules.

For instance, the holder possessed partial control over collected items—not full brainwashing; the items retained memories from outside their stasis periods.

When the holder recalled a collection, there was zero cost within a one-kilometer radius; beyond that, extra spiritual energy was required.

The Corridor could repair lightly damaged items, but if damage was extreme, repair time could span months—or even years.

Collections were unique; no cheating or bug-exploiting duplication was allowed. For example, killing a Lv33 Nine-Lives Cat Demon and forcing it to use its origin ability to revive would create two cats—one inside, one outside the Corridor.

Li Cheng carefully read through over a hundred detailed rules, rubbing his temples.

The 【Thermal Death Corridor】 was not a simple, brute-force weapon like the 【Levitation Engine】; it was more of a logistical device.

The more collections he had, the more options he could draw from for different situations.

He could easily imagine many uses: buying from the 【Thousand Throats Beast】 Guild—one each of water, fire, ice, earth, wind, lightning, and grass-type summons.

Summon them when needed to trigger elemental reactions.

Or collect a high-charisma, telepathically-capable cute pet; when communicating with NPCs, let the pet speak for him instead.

「Another money pit. 」

Li Cheng scratched his head, yet inwardly felt quite satisfied.

Collecting books, teacups, figurines—you had to worry whether your living room was big enough, whether you had the right shelves, agonizing over which item to display prominently.

But the 【Thermal Death Corridor】 was boundless, with endless black stone pedestals; as long as his strength and money were sufficient, and he had enough free time, he could keep expanding his collection, organizing different types into separate exhibition zones.

Different-colored nine-tailed foxes, Godzilla from alternate universes, every X-Man, the Death-Bringing Three-Headed, Four-Headed, Five-Headed Sharks, all the "runners" desperate to become Dalit supervisors, labubu—

Wait, scratch the last one.

The last global hype toy was Bearbrick, now its price has crashed to street-level trash. Collecting overpriced toys is worse than collecting "runners."

At least watching the "runners" go mad, claiming they'd kill to enter WWII-era Japanese-American internment camps—where medical care, education, food, and lodging were all free, and quality of life far exceeded modern standards—was still entertaining. Pure modern psychiatric case studies.

Li Cheng exited the museum, thought of a shape, and transformed the Corridor into a sphere, then casually tucked it into his backpack slot.

Expanding the museum's collection could wait; he'd just stepped into his study when he heard Hui Yu cackling.

She had already uploaded several artistic works to the Fei Network, setting them as low-resolution free and high-resolution paid streaming modes.

After watching sequels like 【District Ten】 and 【Pacific Rim 3】, many forum users confirmed these were legitimate pirated films—not AI-generated garbage—and flooded the comments demanding more uploads.

【Ran Fanshuang: OP is a good person, may you have a safe and peaceful life】

【Humorous Fatty: Brother, please upload one more—I'm itching like ants are crawling on me】

【Disney Legal Department: Hello, are you Mr. Terminator T-X (Hui Yu's forum ID: ID8654130)?】

Li Cheng's eye twitched, but said nothing; he changed into a disguise outfit from his closet, then logged into the Killing Ground and headed for the Evil Science Alliance headquarters.

He needed to ask the Truth Side about the information given by the Oracle.