Chapter 147: The Scalpel

At this moment, Li Zhinan had already encountered the so-called mechanical monster spoken of by the vines. It was completely unlike Earth’s human robots; it was a puppet forged by another civilization using magic patterns and mana crystals, much like a war chariot.
Fortunately, it seemed someone had been there before; the hall was scattered with the remains of mechanical puppets and humans, with only one bloodstained large machine still operational.
Faced with these roaring, rolling mechanical constructs, Li Zhinan’s entire body trembled. In the past, he had at most encountered wild beasts like jackals—when had he ever witnessed such terrifying scenes in recent days? If not for the calming scent of flowers within him, this young man would have long since teetered on the brink of mental collapse.
{Don’t be afraid; I’m here.}
The bandage that had been mentally linked to him had just spoken when, with a squelch, the skin on Li Zhinan’s chest was pierced from within by a sharp blade.
Looking down at his chest, Li Zhinan saw a scalpel with tiny red eyes extending its handle outward.
{Grasp it, and prepare to unfold your model to inject the Amplified Chrono.}
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The ground trembled. Li Zhinan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his right hand, gripping the scalpel, was abruptly yanked upward into a raised position, facing the oncoming mechanical charge.
“M-my hand is numb.”
The bandage chuckled and said:
{Keeping the limb numb will better suit the conditions under which the sterile knife holds sway.}
The foremost mechanical puppet closed in rapidly, its several spear-like, blade-arm limbs glinting coldly as they were raised.
[Physician Bandage has invested 6000 N. into me.]
The scalpel suddenly moved, and Li Zhinan’s hand was naturally dragged by it forward. All timing was invested into the blade. When this terrifying machine approached within one meter, the scalpel abruptly jerked, dragging Li Zhinan out of its crushing range before shooting off and being released.
Bang! Crack! Crack! Crack!
It precisely stabbed into the gaps of the machinery, producing several harsh screeches, and the machine crashed down with a roar.
A strange sound rang out from the shattered debris.
{The success probability of the surgery is 93%, the remaining 7% is considered the normal loss~ in other words, 100%!}
[I’ve gained 1000N.]
{Come on, pick me up now.}
The scalpel, with its little eyes looking up, spoke as if giving orders to a servant.
Li Zhinan took a step forward; suddenly, dazed, he stood still as a station platform emerged behind him.
“Woo~”
The surrounding hall rapidly twisted as energy surged forth.
Having lost the Woodstem, energy flowers reappeared on Li Zhinan. He quickly opened his eyes from the daze, grabbed the Skull Hookup Scalpel, and rushed towards another stone staircase nearby.
“Who are you!”
Li Zhinan turned his head in terror, staring at the strange subway train that had materialized beside him.
The Phantom and the small light cluster appeared in the air at the same time.
Starlight flickered in the Phantom’s eyes; as energy violently surged, the hall folded in on itself from the center, like a closing open book intent on crushing those within.
{Ah!}
The spirit within the small ball of light let out a tense shriek.
“This is just an illusion!”
Yang Zicang yelled at Luo Bin, who was on the verge of losing himself, but the rotund man was already contorting his face as if in an epileptic fit, completely deaf to the words.
With several incense pellets on him, Yang Zicang flashed a look of madness in his eyes. He pinched one pellet and shoved it into his mouth. As his lungs pumped, air surged in, carrying the fragrance into his viscera, abruptly clearing his mind.
The train, on the verge of manifesting, became invisible once more.
Boom!
A golden radiance blanketed everything, cascading down from above.
The sprinting Li Zhinan turned his head in despair, but suddenly a hand from the train yanked him up and flung him into the air. The next instant, Li Zhinan’s body involuntarily flew out, darting straight toward another stone staircase nearby.
“You go up first; I’ll cover the rear.”
As Li Zhinan swayed in midair, he saw—by the train door that kept flickering between nothingness and reality—the figure of the owner of that arm. Beside him, a massive white creature resembling a centipede surged forward with a red tide, charging at the phantom figure.
“In an A-class space, there can’t be anything invincible,” Yang Zicang bellowed, as if trying to convince himself. “Even if you’ve loosened some constraints by coming to the frequency-lost zone and grown stronger, you’re still beatable!”
[Groar!]
In the white shadow that was the Ancestral Dragon Demon Seal, it was wrapped in a red phantom, fiercely gnashing and charging forth.
“Illusion fade. Don’t think you can fool me!”
Yang Zicang shouted, grabbing the train door and vanishing into the wind in an instant as the White Shadow Thought-Dragon sank its fangs into the body of the phantom.
[I counteracted 2000N.]
The phantom dissipated.
The nostrils of the White Shadow Thought-Dragon suddenly expanded fivefold.
Its eyes looked down — as the Thought-Dragon’s sharp teeth tore at the phantom, the fangs snagged onto half a tattered purple autumn shirt riddled with holes.
Li Zhinan, who had just reached the top floor, saw that the illusionary figure had twisted into existence and stood before him, calmly and indifferently staring at him, exuding an aura of unmatched strength.
{You managed to get here, good. How about we make a deal?}
By the black stone platform behind the phantom, a corpse already beginning to rot held in its hands a transparent crystal resembling a small pyramid, inside which was a humanoid figure like the one standing before him.
But this figure in the crystal was not as domineering and imposing as the phantom; instead, he looked eager and impatient, his attire utterly ordinary, barely better than the ordinary people Li Zhinan often encountered entering this world.
[I’ve discovered the Chrono Weapon.]
Li Zhinan heard a voice inside his heart, “The Chrono Weapon?”
{There’s actually a Chrono Weapon here, how lucky. Hurry up and pick up those items; once you do, stick with me from now on.}
Hearing this, the normally calm, unwrapping bandage-like mouth finally carried a hint of joy, and Li Zhinan felt a spark of hope that he might finally escape from this hell.
His gaze fell on the corpse’s waist, where a long, sharp-pointed object hung — that must be the Chrono Weapon!
{Ignoring me?}
The phantom radiated an overbearing aura with a boom.
{Do you really think I can’t kill you useless things protected by the Lord Agent?}
Faced with the sudden outburst of powerful might, Li Zhinan was momentarily stunned. A sharp pain shot through his hand, and the red scalpel crawled up his arm like a parasite.
“Ah!” Li Zhinan screamed in agony as he snapped back to his senses.
“Woo—”
A gale swept in from behind.
Li Zhinan was drenched in fragrance, a grimace twisting his face as he stepped forward.
“Such a waste. I’ll just take it myself.” From the ferocious Li Zhinan’s throat came a calm voice.
The phantom finally showed an impatient, angry expression; it had clearly twisted his will, yet it still couldn’t force this human before it to kill himself.
{Get out of my way!}
The pyramid crystal pulsed with fluctuating energy, stubbornly trying again.
A gale surged up from the stone steps, and a semi-transparent train sped toward the standing Li Zhinan.
Something seemed to wriggle up from Li Zhinan’s neck; suddenly, a golden-red phantom light burst from his entire body. With a faint smile, his chiseled face looked up as the train that sought to devour him passed through him instead.
Little Ma Chao, who had intended to consume Li Zhinan, exclaimed in terror:
“He has so many time threads, I dare not consume him.”
Li Zhinan dashed towards the stone platform while quickly shouting to the phantom inside the crystal, “Stop the train! I’ll take you out and preserve your soul from perishing.”
The phantom, possessing power but unable to achieve anything, changed expression urgently.
Though the other might be deceiving him, he had no choice. Even if he drove these people away tonight, without a physical form, remaining here would only mean the vine monster, which had already obtained permission to leave, would seize the treasure storing his soul.
He could only take a gamble—first meet the controller behind this person when the time came, then find a way to escape.
In an instant, he made a decision. He released Li Zhinan charging towards him and redirected all his energy to whirl against the crazily approaching train.
“Little Ma Chao, swallow the treasure!”
“This crystal has no psychic entity, I can’t do it.”
The train twisted and materialized in the illusion. The space ahead seemed stretched, and Li Zhinan, who had been thrown off, surprisingly surpassed the subway’s speed rapidly.
Yang Zicang grew anxious and suddenly shouted, “Xue Lao’er!”
The surging energy stalled.
Taking advantage of this brief pause, Luo Bin, who had a fragrant pill stuffed in his mouth, lunged out from the train doorway.
A gleam of sharpness flashed in Yang Zicang’s eyes. This Luo Bin was decisive indeed!
This fleeting moment was exceedingly short; the two hardly had time to communicate. But Luo Bin felt his body surge forward as Yang Zicang activated his model to alter the trajectory, sending him charging toward the small pyramid-like crystal perched on the stone ahead.
But Li Zhinan was one step quicker; his fingers had already grazed the edge of the small pyramid, while Luo Bin was still over twenty centimeters behind.
Yet at this moment, the pyramid crystal before them suddenly rose from the stone platform and vanished without a trace.
The bandages controlling Li Zhinan’s body paused momentarily, then twisted his stumbling form to immediately grab at the Time-Controlling Artifact strapped to the corpse’s waist.
“Eighty years?” He exclaimed in disbelief.
Thud! Luo Bin slammed heavily into the stone platform.
[Gravitational Arc Light!]
A silver spear carrying a red glow suddenly shot out from a black hole that appeared spinning in midair, blasting Li Zhinan’s arm, which had been grasping the weapon, into pieces. At the same time, an Ability Sphere crossed a distance of several meters and landed in Luo Bin’s arms.
The bandages broke out in cold sweat as they watched the silver spear twist and retract into the black hole.
“What the hell is that!”
Utterly unprepared, he was stunned beyond measure. The severed arm scabbed over quickly, and Li Zhinan’s face displayed pain, yet his eyes immediately regained calm as he stepped back a few paces, a golden-red phantom aura flickering from his body.
“Who else is here?” Li Zhinan said coldly. “Is it Wuying? Hand over the item.”
Luo Bin, clutching his stomach and gasping in pain, sat down against a stone platform. He had already reached out and grabbed hold of this Chrono Weapon, which packed 80N per strike.
“Little Ma Chao,” Luo Bin said through clenched teeth.
Wind stirred, and a car door appeared beside Luo Bin, with the fat man being pulled inside by Yang Zicang, who held a balm pill in his mouth.
“Ah, I’ve finally got a weapon closest to a Century Weapon.”
As soon as Luo Bin sat down on the ground, the young man beside him handed him a balm pill.
“Quick, put the balm pill in your mouth.”
“No hurry.”
Gripping the Chrono Weapon, Luo Bin pressed his obsessed face against the ancient bronze patterns on the tapered sword: “Let me first savor the taste of time~”
Yang Zicang’s face twitched, and he turned his head to look at the young man beside the broken wall, muttering vaguely:
“Should I call you Li Zhinan, or Bandage?”
“Heh, in sixty years, this body of mine could restore his original consciousness. We have no deep grudges. Just let me leave, and the grudges between us this time will be settled.”
Yang Zicang’s brows furrowed, “OK, but you’ll have to let Li Zhinan get in my car.”
“Hmph, that’s impossible. However…”