Chapter 31: Comprehensive Enhancement

What does it feel like to run across a tangled mass of corpses, piled one atop another? With each step, the first thing you feel is the yielding softness of flesh and blood, followed by the jarring hardness of bone. Sometimes your foot sinks deep into a corpse’s abdomen, making it impossible to push off, and it’s all too easy to twist an ankle.

Li Nanke didn’t have a moment to ponder why that intense electromagnetic signal from the depths below lacked any interference or pulse characteristics. He sprinted forward, and the black-and-white striped prison uniform on his body suddenly transformed into a black apprentice’s overcoat, a vest, shirt, pointed winged hat, and tall black leather boots.

The high-quality leather boots wrapped tightly around his ankles, protecting them from injury as he ran.

Bodies were piled before the gap in the metal gate, and even the narrowest crevice was jammed with prisoners who had died halfway through crawling. Seeing the violent mutations wracking so many corpses, Li Nanke gritted his teeth and began dragging bodies aside, trying to clear a passage big enough to squeeze through.

But his physical strength was meager, and the bodies pressed down heavily, tangled and stacked, so his progress was painfully slow. Even with Alba, who had caught up, helping him, they could not clear the way quickly. At this rate, the mutated corpses would be on their feet long before a passage was open.

His mind raced. He quickly reached into his coat pocket and took out the node reward he’d just received but hadn’t yet had time to examine.

[Source Energy Crystal]

[Type: Item/Consumable]

[Quality: Common]

[Score: 37/100]

[Details: A gift from the Far Shore as a reward for clearing a node. The amount of source energy stored depends on the difficulty of the node; the higher the crystal’s quality and score, the greater its reserves.]

[Note: My Nightmare’s power is all thanks to my extraordinary talent... Far Shore, max it out!]

He didn’t hesitate. He absorbed the source energy from the crystal in one go. Torrents of energy surged into his core self like floodgates opening, and the depleted crystal crumbled into countless grains of sand, slipping through his fingers.

His primary essence, “Abyssal,” had never been upgraded before. According to the Far Shore, the primary essence is akin to a vocation or path; upgrading it enhances all aspects of its traits. Enhancing “Abyssal” would strengthen his physical power, agility, nerve reflexes, the durability of his internal organs, and gradually grant mastery over underwater combat.

He poured all the source energy straight into his primary essence, “Abyssal.”

As the energy surged through him, Li Nanke’s body underwent a profound transformation. He entered a brief, uncanny state of “inner vision,” in which he could clearly see his fast-twitch muscle fibers multiplying, while his slow-twitch fibers grew more resilient.

The increase in fast-twitch fibers heightened his explosive strength, allowing his muscles to generate immense force more rapidly, while the optimized slow-twitch fibers improved his endurance, reduced lactic acid buildup, and delayed fatigue.

Even the myelination of his nerve fibers increased, meaning that bioelectric signals could travel faster between neurons—his reactions and coordination sharpened, and his fine motor control became more precise.

Every internal organ was reinforced, especially in their resistance to pressure. His cardiovascular system adapted: his heart muscle cells hypertrophied, allowing the heart to pump powerfully even under high pressure, and the valves grew sturdier to prevent backflow. His digestive tract walls thickened, with enhanced mucosal barriers to guard against the hostile environment—everything from stomach to intestines became more resilient...

[Primary Essence: Abyssal]

[Level: 0 → 3 (13%)]

Upgrading primary essence consumed several times more energy than traits. Even the vast reserves in the Source Energy Crystal were just enough to push “Abyssal” to level three. If all that energy had gone into a zero-level trait, it might have maxed it out entirely.

Though the energy expenditure was immense, the gains were just as dramatic.

Li Nanke could feel raw power coursing through his once-ailing body. Numb limbs, weakening muscles, atrophy, failing body systems—all were swept away by this newfound strength.

He seized a corpse by the back of its neck, and with savage force, tossed it aside like a rag doll. His hands worked rapidly; one after another, the bodies blocking the metal gate were flung away, and soon he had cleared a narrow path.

Alba, who had been helping but was already winded, stared in disbelief.

“Hell, did you take something?” he gasped. “Malk, if you had that kind of strength, why bother laboring with me to move bodies just now?”

Li Nanke ignored him, squeezing through the gap and into the gate.

Alba glanced nervously at the writhing, mutating corpses. The air was thick with menace. Shivering, he hurried after Li Nanke.

Beyond the metal gate, the mine entrance was also littered with mutating bodies, sprawled everywhere, stretching out from the entrance into the dim depths of the tunnel.

A long line of massive, trackless transport trucks waited at the mine entrance. They could reach speeds of up to sixty-five kilometers an hour and were used to ferry large numbers of prisoners deep into the mine. Even with a truck, it took nearly an hour to reach the main freight elevator at the bottom.

These trucks were huge but crude—each platform could hold hundreds standing, with only low rails for safety, more like open-air lorries. Only the narrow driver’s seat at the front had bulletproof glass and a steel cage for protection.

Two trucks were missing from the line—it was obvious someone had hacked the control system and driven them away. Many of the remaining trucks had their steering wheels and electronic control panels smashed in, likely by prisoners venting their frustration after failing to break the lock.

“How long will it take you to hack the truck?” Li Nanke asked.

“The truck and the elevator use similar ID systems—two minutes,” Alba replied.

“Then get on with it!” Li Nanke snapped.

Alba, understanding the urgency, scrambled over the railings and squeezed into the cab of an intact truck, quickly setting to work.

Li Nanke didn’t get in. Instead, he circled the vehicle, dealing with the violently mutating corpses.

Most of the bodies had turned a ghastly gray, their limbs thickening, upper arms and hands twisting and melting into elongated, blade-like shapes. Their bodies trembled and convulsed—soon, these corpses would rise again as mutated revenants.

But the most terrifying thing was not the mutation of a single corpse. Li Nanke saw several piles where limbs intertwined and began to melt like candle wax, fusing together into something even more monstrous.

He hefted his chainsaw sword and decapitated corpses, silencing their spasms and snuffing out threats before they could be born.

With “Abyssal” enhanced, the chainsaw sword, once a bit unwieldy, now felt like an extension of his arm, easy to swing and far more lethal.

But there were simply too many bodies in the tunnel; he could only prioritize those mutating nearby and the most dangerous fusions.

As the seconds ticked by, the first corpse-shambler slowly rose to its feet.

Then, in a black, surging wave, the others began to stand, one after another.

In an instant, the mine was filled with a cacophony of roars and howls.