Chapter 1098: Welcome

Chen Ling did not look back.

He knew that the methods of that World-Ending Calamity were quite bizarre. If he looked back and made eye contact with it again, who knew what would happen... Even though he knew he was the Calamity of Mockery himself, he didn't have the fierce combat power of the Calamity of Mockery right now.

If he were killed by the Calamity of Thought here, he would still die... or worse, be better off dead.

The good news was that this time, the big hand that blinded their thoughts seemed to have malfunctioned and did not affect them. Zhao Yi and the others sped away for who knows how far, completely leaving Storm Island behind.

They didn't stop, but ran wildly for nearly half a day more. Looking back, the storm had completely disappeared.

"Phew..."

Zhao Yi let out a long sigh, patting his chest. "Too scary, too scary..."

"Why are you shouting? You were sitting on me, you didn't run a single step!" Old Wolf was out of breath and couldn't help but complain. Perhaps because he had just escaped death, he temporarily forgot about Zhao Yi's status as the Holy Son.

"So close, we almost fell for it just now." Another Fusionist was also terrified. "No wonder few witnesses of Storm Island have survived... If Chen Ling hadn't shouted to stop us this time, we would probably be finished too."

Everyone turned to look at Chen Ling behind them, and that red theatrical robe was sitting quietly on top of the centipede's head, wondering what he was thinking.

"We are very close to the Mother Tree now... We should be able to arrive in at most an hour."

"That's good..."

"After we go back, I must report this to Teacher Ye." Old Wolf's expression was rarely serious. "Witnessing Storm Island is no small matter..."

Hearing this, Chen Ling asked Zhao Yi in confusion:

"Who is Teacher Ye?"

"He is the founder of the Calamity Fusion Theory, and the boss of our Fusion Faction!" Mentioning this person, worship appeared in Zhao Yi's eyes. "Let me tell you, Teacher Ye is really amazing. He was the one who led the construction of the entire theoretical system and found the Mother Tree in the Grey Realm to establish the sanctuary... Almost all the Fusionists in our Fusion Faction were saved by him personally."

"The leader of the Fusion Faction, huh..." Chen Ling looked at Zhao Yi with a strange expression. "Aren't you the Holy Son of the Fusion Faction? I thought your leader would call himself the Holy Lord or something."

"Uh... no."

Zhao Yi scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. "Teacher Ye is very low-key. It is said that before the Great Cataclysm, he was also a very famous PhD in biology, and seemed to be some kind of professor... But he doesn't like people calling him Doctor, Professor, or Leader or anything. He says these titles are too floaty... 'Teacher' sounds more grounded.

As for my title as the Holy Son... I suggested it to Teacher Ye myself, hehe..."

Chen Ling: ...

When he first heard Zhao Yi say he was some Holy Son, Chen Ling thought the Fusion Faction was an organization with strict hierarchy and talent-first principles. Now it seemed it was purely because Zhao Yi himself was too chuunibyou...

After resting for a while, the group set off again.

Just as Old Wolf said, they were not far from the Fusion Faction's base camp. Not long after, Chen Ling saw the outline of a towering giant tree slowly taking shape at the end of the horizon.

This giant tree looked as if it had rotted and died, its withered black branches pointing to the sky like messy spikes. After getting closer, one could see dense tree holes all over it, like a honeycomb, extending in all directions.

"This is your Fusion Faction's base camp?" Chen Ling was incredulous.

"...How did that Teacher Ye find such a place in the Grey Realm back then?"

"I don't know about that, you can ask him yourself." Seeing the Mother Tree, Zhao Yi visibly relaxed and smiled at Chen Ling. "They will be very happy when they know you're here."

Chen Ling lowered his head, noncommittal.

The next moment,

In Chen Ling's shocked gaze, Zhao Yi took a deep breath...

Then he cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted with all his might:

"Brothers and sisters!!! Chen! Ling!! Is!! Here!!!!!"

Chen Ling: ???????

Zhao Yi's loud voice echoed in the Grey Realm. After a brief silence, figures walked out of the dense tree holes. They looked in this direction with confusion and curiosity. A rough glance showed more than a hundred people.

"Are you crazy?? What are you doing??" Chen Ling covered Zhao Yi's mouth and widened his eyes.

"Telling them you're here!" Zhao Yi said as a matter of course. "Let them all come out to welcome you... I told you, they would be very happy to see you come."

Chen Ling held it in for a long time before squeezing out:

"I... don't need such a grand welcome..."

"Oh, it's too late for that." Zhao Yi smiled and pointed toward the Mother Tree. "Look, they're all out."

Chen Ling looked up and saw many figures walking out of the Mother Tree. After getting closer, Chen Ling could finally see their figures... A flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

Not all Fusionists had normal human appearances like Zhao Yi and the powerful Fusionists who accompanied him. Most of those who walked out still retained traces of Calamity fusion.

Some had skin as black as ink, some were three or four meters tall like giants, some had unknown animal ears and tails, some had seven-colored pupils, and some had furry wings on their backs...

The common point among these people was that they were all very young. The oldest looked to be only about thirty, and most of the others were teenagers in their teens or twenties. Even though their appearances were unique, their eyes all shone with purity and vitality.

At this moment, all their gazes were focused on Chen Ling, and the eyes of the teenagers were full of curiosity and surprise...

At the entrance of the Mother Tree, two girls had already quickly written a line of large characters on the door lintel:

"Warmly welcome Mr. Chen Ling to the Fusion Faction!!!"

Another girl saw this line, ran over in a hurry with a newspaper, scolded the two clumsy girls, changed "Ling" to "Ling" (correcting the character), and then dragged the two of them to bow and apologize to Chen Ling from afar, muttering something.

Chen Ling had never seen so many Fusionists.

He sat on the back of the shadow centipede and arrived at the entrance of the Mother Tree with Zhao Yi and the others. Finding that the teenagers at the entrance seemed a bit afraid of the shadow centipede beneath him, he patted the centipede's head, and the latter immediately burrowed into the ground as if granted amnesty, not knowing where it had escaped to.

Zhao Yi leaned close to Chen Ling, nudged him with his elbow, and smiled lightly:

"Chen Ling, welcome to... the Fusion Faction."