Chapter 1096: Playing Stones and Mounts

The Clown was bored... very, extremely bored.

For the past two days, he had returned to the Ancient Treasury of the Play Path to eat, but couldn't even see a shadow of anyone. Although the Eldest Senior Brother had told him in advance that he was going out, and the Third Senior Brother had told him that the food was cooked and left on the kitchen stove to be heated when he wanted to eat, and although he could still eat delicious meals every day...

He just felt that these two days had been as long as two years, and the amount of food he ate at each meal had changed from a bucket to half a bucket.

Tap—tap...

On the bare mountain peak, the Clown could only sit at the door alone, one hand supporting his head, the other playing a game of stones, a smear of white ash on his nose, revealing an indescribable loneliness amidst the comedy.

I don't know how much time passed.

A figure draped in a theatrical robe slowly stepped onto the stairs of the stone peak.

The Clown stood up abruptly from the ground, his eyes staring fixedly in that direction... When that familiar figure in the theatrical robe appeared, surprise immediately surfaced in his eyes!

"Yiya!!!!"

He kicked off the ground and pounced into the Red King's arms.

His speed was so fast that it even caused a sonic boom in the air, but when he collided with the Red King, he didn't push him back at all; instead, it was light, like an ordinary child acting spoiled toward an elder.

"Alright, alright..." The Red King gently stroked the Clown's head, smiling helplessly,

"It's only been two days since I went down the mountain, why make such a big deal out of it..."

"Yiya!!"

"Fine, fine, fine, Master knows, it's Master's fault."

As the Red King spoke, he seemed to sense something and turned to look at the sky behind him...

In that direction, countless kilometers away, a cluster of starlight was rising from the South Sea Domain, like a meteor flying across the ground, disappearing into the darkness beyond the sky in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, the smile on the Red King's face gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable complexity and depth.

He stroked the Clown's head, muttering to himself:

"Number Five, oh Number Five... this era is going to be in chaos again..."

The Clown didn't seem to understand what the Red King was saying. He looked up blankly, his beady eyes blinking, and then pulled the Red King toward the pile of stones, wanting him to play stones with him.

The Red King withdrew his gaze and waved his hand:

"Master won't play. Master still has things to be busy with... How about letting Number Four come and play with you later? Or... if you're really bored, do you want to try learning how to cook from Number Three?"

"Yiya yiya yiya..." The Clown was somewhat disappointed, but still gestured with his hands and feet to express something.

"Alright, alright, then Master is leaving first."

The Red King took a step and entered the Ancient Treasury of the Play Path, disappearing.

A breeze blew across the bare stone peak, and the Clown was left alone again, but this time he seemed very happy. He sat down by the pile of stones, humming a little tune, as if patiently waiting for something.

Time passed second by second, and by the time the Clown had finished playing with a dozen stones, a figure walked out of the Ancient Treasury of the Play Path.

"Yiya!!" The Clown waved his hand immediately upon seeing that unremarkable, familiar figure.

"Coming, coming..."

The End-Role patted his clothes and sat down in front of the Clown. "Still playing stones? You go first or I go first?"

"Yiya!"

"Fine, then you go first."

The Clown reached out to grab the stones, but suddenly seemed to remember something and tilted his head in confusion: "Yiya, yiya?"

"You mean the Junior Brother... he should still be busy outside for a while..."

"...Yiya?"

"He will." The End-Role paused for a moment, his gaze looking toward the distance. "He will definitely come back... When he returns, you can ask him to play stones with you too, okay?"

"Yiya?!!!"

"I didn't say I didn't want to play with you, I'm just afraid he'll be bored when the time comes... You should keep him company more too."

"Yiya, yiya~"

……

Lead-grey clouds drifted silently.

On the barren earth, several figures were moving forward slowly.

"Chen Ling, don't walk too fast. You've finally recovered a bit, don't go spitting blood again later." Zhao Yi's worried voice sounded.

The vibrant red theatrical robe beside him did not fade even in the Grey Realm, causing Old Wolf and several other accompanying Fusionists to cast sidelong glances; they couldn't help but pay attention...

They had been in the Grey Realm for so long and had never seen anyone who could retain color here. They looked at Chen Ling with the same curiosity one might have for a giant panda in a park, but seeing his ugly complexion and staggering gait, they were too embarrassed to approach him and could only follow silently behind him.

"...I'm fine." Chen Ling lowered his eyes and answered slowly.

It had been more than half a day since leaving the Infinite Domain, and Chen Ling had gradually recovered from the initial feeling of being better off dead. Now, he could no longer feel the fatigue in his body, only a dull ache in his head.

Chen Ling thought that humans were truly amazing creatures; no matter what kind of pain they experienced, they could always stubbornly repair themselves bit by bit and gain a new life in the process... Perhaps, this was moving forward.

"Do you really not need me to carry you?" Old Wolf, who had turned back into human form, couldn't help but speak up. "If I change into my Calamity form, carrying you would be quite easy."

"...No need, I can walk myself."

Chen Ling didn't have the habit of "riding people." Although he knew that those who changed were Calamities, riding on someone's head felt strange... Especially since he wasn't that familiar with the Fusion Faction yet, it was better to keep his distance.

Seeing this, Old Wolf didn't try to persuade him further. He exchanged glances with the others, shrugged helplessly, and continued forward.

"Oh, actually, you really don't have to be so polite. I told you that coming to the Fusion Faction is like coming home. I've ridden Old Wolf many times; although it's a bit hard on the butt, it's quite energy-saving..."

Before Zhao Yi could finish speaking, Chen Ling suddenly seemed to sense something and stopped abruptly.

When he stopped, Zhao Yi stopped, and the other Fusion Faction members behind him also stopped, looking at him with blank expressions.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" Zhao Yi asked, frowning.

Chen Ling shook his head. He crouched down slightly, placed his palm slowly on the earth of the Grey Realm, and narrowed his eyes, which were tinged with red.

Bang—!

He punched a spot on the ground.

The next moment, a shadow centipede screamed and crawled out of the ground dozens of meters away. It was about six or seven meters long, and upon seeing Chen Ling, it acted as if it had seen a ghost, frantically twisting and curling up on the ground, not daring to move an inch.

In the stunned gaze of the crowd, the red theatrical robe walked slowly to the shadow centipede and gently stroked that hideous, terrifying centipede head... The crowd saw clearly that the centipede was shivering frantically.

"I'll just ride this." Chen Ling said calmly.