Chapter 313: The Intruder

Chapter 313: The Intruder

Regarding the formula, although the Sanctuary Church was reasonable, they would not leave their possessions unguarded. So they were not worried about Zheng Yichen leaking the formula. Unless he planned to fully join the Sanctuary Church’s cause in the future, if he leaked it, the Sanctuary Church had many ways to “bring him over.” Currently, it was just a mid-level Magic Potion formula. Although it was special, it was not important enough for the Sanctuary Church to make a big fuss over it.

Still, from this item, they could see Zheng Yichen’s potential. This was only a mid-level Magic Potion. What if it were a high-level one? What kind of thing could this guy create? Like the Fixation Potion that appeared before? That potion’s effect seemed simpler compared to the Body Purification Potion. Yet, that single effect could achieve a huge impact that other potions could not.

At least, after the Fixation Potion appeared, previously body-harming forbidden moves became semi-restricted. They could rely on the Fixation Potion to avoid the damage from forbidden moves. Without that damage, forbidden moves no longer counted as forbidden.

As for how the Sanctuary Church worried about it, Zheng Yichen was not concerned at the moment. According to his own planned schedule, today was the weekend, a time for fun and rest. Unfortunately, Lily did not have the concept of a weekend. After some development and with the fresh seafood Zheng Yichen bought from the Online Store, the beach area was almost complete. When no one was around, small animals could be seen on the beach, and there were also fish in the sea.

Originally, setting this up would have been troublesome. But with Annie’s help, a small marine Ecological Circle was easily created. As long as the environment here did not collapse or the Underground Base was destroyed, this place could truly continue to develop. Zheng Yichen considered whether to create a new entertainment spot after some time—not a beach like this, but something similar to an amusement park.

Thinking about it, building an amusement park seemed like a nice idea. Before crossing over, whenever Zheng Yichen went to a park, he could not help but ride roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and other thrilling rides. But now, he looked at his own body and sighed wistfully. An amusement park would have to wait for now. Games suitable for this body would take up too much space, and he could not master Spatial Expansion yet.

“Hmm… which one should I choose for practice?” Zheng Yichen muttered while holding a book. The Stitched Abomination was indeed a basic starting point, but it did not mean it had to be the foundation. There were simpler things below that. At least something like the Stitched Abomination involved whole living creatures, not just a pile of messy flesh stitched together. It also needed a “brain” to control it, not related to Alchemy, but from the Life Domain.

So Zheng Yichen planned to start practicing with individual body parts first. “Eyes? Qilin arm? Or legs or internal organs?”

As he pondered what to choose as a starting point, Loris, using her Alchemical Avatar, arrived at his Workshop in Kaja. She was dragging an unconscious person with one hand. “Huh? Who is this?”

“An intruder.” Loris casually tossed the unconscious person in front of Zheng Yichen and said calmly. This guy was unlucky; he invaded the wrong place and ended up right at Zheng Yichen’s doorstep. As a result, under the intense scrutiny of four Witches, he had no chance to send out any information before being effortlessly subdued. “He’s from the Dark Church.”

“Ah? I don’t think I have any connection with them, right?” Zheng Yichen asked, confused. This Alchemical Avatar, which looked like his true self, had always kept a low profile. Especially after the Online Store existed, he went out even less. Usually, when Deya came here, besides doing experiments, he would drag the Saintess of the Sanctuary Church to browse the Online Store together. She had few needs, but Zheng Yichen had many…

Particularly during experiments, he would “ask” Deya to help buy some things. By now, the Saintess spent half her time more than before holding the Magic Weapon Summoning Book—a huge improvement.

“Having no connection doesn’t mean they won’t notice you.”

The fake identity information Dan Marina got for Zheng Yichen was extremely detailed and real. Overly detailed and authentic information would not let anyone find anything out of place. But because it was too perfect, those who paid attention could still uncover information about Zheng Yichen from certain facts.

After Dan Marina “interrogated” this intruder, she knew everything he knew and even learned things he did not know. Ultimately, it was the Magic Potions Zheng Yichen created that attracted them. Several new types of Magic Potions appeared in Zheng Yichen’s hands. Which investigating force would not be interested after discovering his identity?

Even if their influence was far less than the Sanctuary Church’s, having discovered someone as special as Zheng Yichen, the Dark Church naturally would not miss this genius. Of course, they would try to take him away if possible. Even though he was currently noticed by the Sanctuary Church, as long as they took him first, everything afterward would be easier to handle. Once he was taken, even if the Sanctuary Church criticized them later, so what?

Getting this person was enough. As long as Zheng Yichen could continue producing related special Magic Potions in the future, they would profit. The value brought by a highly skilled Magic Potion master was far greater than that of Professionals of the same level. Destruction was easier than creation, so the value of creators naturally surpassed that of Destroyers.

Destroyers appeared frequently, but creators were not so easily found. As for methods to control people, the Dark Church had plenty… The simplest was using seduction. If one person did not work, then ten; if ten still did not work? As long as you could show enough value and your body could handle it, a hundred would be no problem!

“Just one person? That’s too confident, isn’t it?” Zheng Yichen rubbed his chin and muttered. Thinking one person could take him away was probably naive.

“…Without us here, he really would have been enough alone.” Loris shook her head. This subdued intruder was a High-level Stalker with exceptional stealth skills. When he infiltrated here, he bypassed all the Sanctuary Church’s surveillance nearby. Many areas were difficult to infiltrate without being detected, yet he did it effortlessly.

Moreover, with his set of equipment and his own strength, it would not have been hard to silently knock Zheng Yichen out, pack him up, and take him away.

“I’m not that weak, am I?” Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched.

“That’s because you’ve interacted with high-level forces, giving you the illusion that others are weak.” Loris directly pointed out the oversight in Zheng Yichen’s mindset. “The Witches are strong, but that doesn’t mean others are weak. In this world, many people can actually fight against Witches… After all, Humans have a long history, and with their large numbers, every now and then, someone emerges who achieves in a few or even a dozen years what others could not in a century.”

“Plus, few strong individuals die of old age, so there are plenty of powerful Humans. Besides, he also brought this.” Loris tossed a gray Ring to Zheng Yichen. “A very rare type of ring. Using a term you once mentioned, this is a Spatial Ring.”

“Hah!? They actually have those?” Zheng Yichen immediately grew curious about the ring. How to use it? In the Otherworld, as long as magic artifacts did not have special security mechanisms, the way to use them was to mix Mental Energy with Mana and channel it into the artifact. This “Spatial Ring” was also a Magic Artifact, and Zheng Yichen easily activated it using this method.

The space inside was about two square meters, rectangular, like a coffin… Squeezing in, it could probably fit three or four people. “So small…”

“That’s because making such things also requires Space Fragments as raw materials. Generally, if making artifacts, one would not use the entire Space Fragment. Splitting it for detailed use is best.” After all, turning a Space Fragment directly into such an artifact meant it had no room for growth. Unlike creating a Personal Space, which reshaped the Space Fragment into a new complete space. Such a complete space was inseparably linked to its owner, and as the owner grew stronger, the Personal Space would naturally benefit and grow.

But artifacts could not do that.

The advantage of artifacts was their maximized utility—multiple people could use them. A Personal Space could only bind to one person. The downside was an extremely high loss rate. When a Space Fragment was used as raw material to make Spatial Artifacts, the loss rate was over a hundred times higher than for Personal Spaces! Of course, once made, as long as it existed long enough, it could have over a hundred owners. If the owner of a Personal Space died, the Personal Space would be lost somewhere, with almost no chance of reuse.

“Alright, one person really could have done this easily.” Zheng Yichen tossed the ring. With two square meters of internal space, after knocking him out, stuffing him inside, and taking him away would have been no problem at all. The space inside did not have the restrictions seen in some other fiction’s Spatial Artifacts, like only storing inanimate objects.

The space inside had no gaps; after being made into an artifact, it was still a complete space with operational mechanisms. The temperature inside was not like a Personal Space, which, due to the user’s conscious control, stayed close to the outside temperature, suitable for storing normal items. Zheng Yichen sensed the temperature inside this Spatial Ring—about 0°C. But since air could be let in, it meant the internal temperature could be raised.

It wouldn’t be too troublesome; toss in a Fireball, keep some Fire Element inside, and the temperature would rise immediately. With enough air, throwing someone in for ten or eight minutes would be no problem at all.

“Using something like this for kidnapping is an absolutely perfect tool.” Zheng Yichen said sincerely.

“A Personal Space is more convenient. Now, he’s your research material.”

“…Hah, forget it.” Zheng Yichen waved his hand dismissively. Even if this was an enemy, he was not at the point of experimenting on a living person. Even though the other party came intending to kidnap him, humans were just that squeamish. Since the other party was subdued early and Zheng Yichen was unaffected, under these circumstances, it was even harder for him to experiment on this person.

He felt unless it was someone he deeply hated, it would be difficult for him to willingly perform live experiments on anyone. Dead people… dead people were another matter. Knowing that after death, the Soul disperses and the True Spirit returns to the River Styx, his reservations about using corpses decreased a lot. Without the Soul, the remaining body was just an empty shell.

“Then you deal with him yourself.” Loris left after saying this, leaving Zheng Yichen alone staring at the intruder on the ground, a bit distracted. Hey, hey, wouldn’t it be better to take him away? Killing someone with no ability to resist—as someone from Earth… Well, mainly because the other party posed no threat to him now—Zheng Yichen felt it was hard to deal with such an enemy. Of course, if the other party still posed a threat but was powerless, he would not hesitate to pull out the Sword of Promised Victory and blast a Light Cannon at them, regardless of extra costs, wiping them off the map first.

After watching for a while, Zheng Yichen flipped the intruder over and realized this person, who had been face-down, was not unconscious but had a look of baffled horror. From their face, they looked young, maybe in their twenties, with a tender appearance. Zheng Yichen wasn’t sure if they were actually that young or if their Talent was high enough that their strength kept their body at this perfect age.

“Can you speak?”

The intruder lying on the ground rolled their eyes in response, opening their mouth futilely without making a single sound. Carlin was full of frustration inside. As a young and promising High-level Stalker, this world had vague level divisions, so he dared to call himself “High-level”—a sign of confidence in his strength. Others could claim the same; if they met someone clueless, they might be fooled into thinking the claimant was powerful. But if they met someone knowledgeable and bragged without matching strength, they would surely be beaten up!

Prefix titles were not to be used casually. Ordinary people just called themselves Professionals. Even daring to add “Mid-Rank” required sufficient validation, at least with enough known achievements… Such prefixes were a special honor in themselves.

So Carlin was confident… But why did he fail so inexplicably this time? It should have been an easy target. Previously, when the Sanctuary Church’s Saintess was in Kaja, he had been cautious. Now that she was confirmed to have left, the number of people in all of Kaja who could detect him… was not many!

But now… he wondered if everyone who could detect him was gathered right here, like they were purposely hiding in the grass waiting for someone, and he foolishly ran right into it, face-first.