Chapter 28: Beast Language of the Void Realm

At this moment, Li Yela could clearly feel a force surging into his body and flooding into his brain within the Void Realm.

Psionic energy permeated his muscles, meridians, and bones, strengthening his physique bit by bit.

He gained greater strength and faster reaction speeds.

If he were to battle the Lancer again, Li Yela would have the confidence to go head-to-head even without using his Mask.

This brought looks of joy to the faces of Yang Chen, Cheese, and the others in the outside world.

From the data on the instruments, they could see that Li Yela's physical body and psionic energy had begun to rise.

This meant that Li Yela had passed through the Well of Souls and had already survived the moment most susceptible to corruption by the Void Realm's power.

"Very good," Yang Chen breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, we just need to be careful of Void creatures until he gains his new ability and completes his ascension."

"That part is up to us," a member of the team chuckled.

"Indeed. Cheese, Team 3, and Doll, you continue to guard this place to provide support." Yang Chen smiled. "The rest of you, come with me into the Void Realm! Let's see who dares to disturb General Ye!"

"As we should!"

Subsequently, nearly ten psionic users projected their consciousness into the Well of Souls. One after another, psionic projections—some domineering, some beautiful, some solemn—appeared in the starry sky of the Void Realm, guarding against any potential Void creatures.

Yang Chen's psionic projection was a golden-armored giant dozens of meters tall. He looked toward a distant direction where a thick mist was emanating.

That was Li Yela's location within the Void Realm.

Yang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, looking around vigilantly.

Not only was he guarding against Void creatures, but he also intended to peer at the potential existence behind Li Yela.

Unfortunately, he saw nothing unusual.

"Is he hiding that deeply?" Yang Chen pondered.

Furthermore, he felt that something about this starry sky seemed slightly off.

But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

On the other side, after passing through the Well of Souls, Li Yela saw the starry sky flickering as countless stars descended, a force pouring into his body.

"Is this the ability I will obtain?" Li Yela thought to himself, then suddenly spoke aloud, "Mr. Shadow, what ability can I get?"

Although it was random, for Li Yela, "random" was synonymous with "the worst."

With his face, even taking a magic potion might not yield effective results.

Therefore, he intended to hear Mr. Shadow's opinion.

In an instant, the starry sky shook, and the force about to merge into Li Yela's body was forcibly intercepted.

Simultaneously, a voice rang out in Li Yela's mind.

'Oh? Is that a trade?' Mr. Shadow's tone was flat.

"No, you really are stingy! Being this stingy and still expecting me to think well of you?" Li Yela complained. Just asking for help choosing an ability required a trade?

Shouldn't this be considered after-sales service?

Li Yela naturally would not agree to a trade. Judging by the number of chains, he and the Black Shadow only had three trading opportunities left.

He had to be cautious. He had to save them for the most critical moments of life and death; these were equivalent to three life-saving opportunities. No, considering the bad consequences if all the chains shattered, he only had two opportunities.

Judging by the strength Mr. Shadow used to kill the Ghost Immortal, he was likely no less than any King of the Forbidden Zone. Such a trade could not be wasted.

As for the ability, Li Yela actually didn't care that much. Having a powerful ability was best, but not having one wasn't a huge problem. *All-Encompassing Faceless* was already very strong.

For the third and fourth awakenings, he could just use magic potions directly; he couldn't afford to use a trade...

Li Yela was calculating carefully, and as he refused,

The starlight descended once more, and the force within his body began to flow.

A natural stream of information surfaced in his mind, and Li Yela immediately mastered this power.

At the same time, the mist beneath the starry sky dissipated, and Li Yela's Void Realm projection appeared in the vision of all the handlers present!

"Good, General Ye's projection has appeared; the ascension is complete!" A psionic projection chuckled. "Let's go back and congratulate him."

"Mhm." Yang Chen nodded slightly. After gazing at the starry sky of the Void Realm once more, he departed the Void Realm.

He did not know that after they vanished,

The massive red star closest to them moved slowly, like an eyeball...

When Li Yela opened his eyes in the room, he was greeted by a thunderous round of applause.

The handlers who had returned to the physical world first were applauding enthusiastically.

Doll also happily held up a sign: [Success! (o▽)o]

"Congratulations!" The handlers smiled, congratulating their colleague on his ascension and celebrating the addition of another combat force for humanity.

Li Yela also nodded and smiled in response to everyone, and gave a hand sign to greet Doll, but his expression was truly strange.

After he had left the room and regrouped with Yang Chen and the others,

Cheese had asked, "Why the long face, kid? What kind of ability is it?"

At the same time, Doll also held up a sign to comfort him: [Is the ability not good? (ω)(._.`)]

"It's Void Beast Speech," Li Yela responded with a wailing face. "As I thought, my face is a curse!"

Everyone froze for a moment, then found themselves caught between laughter and tears.

Void Beast Speech was also simply referred to as Beast Speech.

This was an ability that psionic users of the *All-Encompassing* and *Babbling* paths might obtain during their first two awakenings.

Its effect allowed them to a large extent issue commands to animals, and even communicate with transcendent creatures.

Of course, it couldn't be too precise.

If you asked a monkey to write code, you would likely only get the result of it smashing the keyboard.

It was considered a support-type ability.

Most psionic users who obtained this ability would use animals to scout intelligence or assist in combat.

For example, using pigeons to keep watch for enemies from high altitudes, commanding venomous snakes to attack enemies, or having a wolf pack besiege an opponent.

They could even command a legion of countless ants to crawl onto an enemy's body and bite.

It seemed strong.

But it could only deal with ordinary people; for psionic users, conventional animals posed little threat.

With psionic barriers protecting them, they could even resist bullets; even if surrounded and gnawed at by a pride of lions, they could still escape.

Furthermore, the strength of this ability was related to the combat environment.

Since the descent of the Calamity, humans had been forced to hold onto the giant cities, and the vast stretches of the world outside had become a paradise for beasts.

The ecological environment was terrifyingly good.

Using Void Beast Speech in the wilderness might actually allow one to call a pack of beasts, which could be considered a combat force.

But in the giant cities, the most common animals were pet dogs, cats, or rats in the corners.

In terms of combat power, it was a step behind.

Of course, theoretically, if the user met certain conditions, the ability could indeed command transcendent creatures.

If there truly was support from a transcendent creature, it could cause damage to a psionic user; certain dangerous high-level transcendent creatures might even require an entire army to suppress.

But for that, would one have to keep a dangerous transcendent creature by their side at all times?

More importantly, for a psionic user to command a transcendent creature, their projection in the Void Realm had to be powerful enough.

In the Lava Mining City, there was a super powerhouse of the *Babbling* path who used Void Beast Speech to control a massive volcanic beast.

While feeding the giant beast, he relied on the minerals it exhaled to make money.

When necessary, he could even summon the beast's projection into the physical world to fight.

This was why the Lava Mining City was so wealthy; while other giant cities often had to dispatch tactical teams and psionic users to eliminate Void creatures, they simply used molten bombs and plasma cannons to sweep the area before sending in teams to harvest.

It sounded wonderful, but such opportunities were rare and required sufficient strength.

Otherwise, a reckless attempt to contact a transcendent creature would not result in control, but would instead make the creature feel like it had a bit too much to eat.

All these limitations made Void Beast Speech seem like a very mediocre support skill to most psionic users.

"My face really is no good," Li Yela complained. "Without a magic potion, I can only get a mediocre ability."

Li Yela had expected this; even without using an ability or triggering *Luck E*, his luck wouldn't be much better.

Given his luck of never once getting a "buy one get one free" when buying drinks,

Getting this kind of ability was only logical.

"Void Beast Speech, huh," Yang Chen responded after some thought. "Your current awakening rank shouldn't be enough, but there is hope later on."

Li Yela's eyes lit up. "Tell me more!"

"For example, that guy Furnace also has Void Beast Speech. Later, he reached an agreement with a strange ghost wolf imprisoned at headquarters. He can use Beast Speech to call upon the ghost wolf's projection to fight. Of course, that is related to his strength. You probably can't do that yet, but you can try. Maybe you'll get lucky?"

"Lucky? Captain, are you serious?" Li Yela grumbled, feeling that anything related to luck had nothing to do with him.

His teammates also chuckled. It was said that Li Yela's terrible luck had already become known even to the logistics department.

"But, why does our Handling Department have living anomalies?" Li Yela asked.

"Most transcendent creatures are sources of materials for magic potions or psionic armaments, so we also want to try ranching them. Otherwise, going to the edge of the Forbidden Zone or even entering it every time is too dangerous. Unfortunately, the success rate of ranching isn't very good."

Yang Chen explained, "As for some anomalies that cannot be effectively eliminated, they are suppressed by us.

Like Captain Furnace's ghost wolf, it is actually a derivative of a Taboo Object. Unless the Taboo Object is destroyed, it will keep resurrecting. So we can only suppress it. This is still too far beyond you; to be safe, look for an opportunity to check it out after your third awakening."

Seeing Li Yela nod, Yang Chen continued, "However, since you have successfully completed your second awakening, the most important thing now is to get used to your strengthened body and psionic energy."

"Mhm, I'll go spar with the Dual-Blade Knight tomorrow," Li Yela responded. The Dual-Blade Knight was very strong and a great training partner.

"Good, make more preparations," Yang Chen smiled. "In a few days, it will be our turn to guard the Black Prison. Familiarize yourself with your ability as quickly as possible during these days."

Guarding the Black Prison was a rotating duty for every team; certain Taboo Objects emitted danger at all times or even attempted to escape.

One could not underestimate such a job.

After giving a few more instructions, Yang Chen and a team of teammates dispersed to attend to their own work.

Cheese, however, stayed behind to tease Li Yela, "Luckily I had my third awakening a few days ago, otherwise I would have been overtaken by you, kid. Come on, I'll walk you back. Tell your sister that you'll be spending a month in the Black Prison with a beautiful senior. Hehehe~~"

"I feel like there's something wrong with what you're saying, you pervert!" Li Yela complained, and said to Doll beside him, "Well then, Doll, I'll be going now."

For some reason, Doll seemed a bit distracted and somewhat disappointed.

A second later, she held up her sign

[Okay~~ Be careful in the Black Prison (_)]

'That emoticon seems a bit strange, doesn't it?'

Li Yela thought to himself and said, "I'll be counting on you later."

This was something he had discussed with Doll previously: after he entered the Black Prison, she would help look after Li Yunyan.

Although the family apartments provided meal delivery services, asking an acquaintance was the most reliable way.

Doll suddenly became full of energy, and words appeared on her sign again.

[Don't worry, I'll definitely raise your sister until she's fair and plump! (ノ≧≦)ノ]

Watching from the side, Cheese raised a handsome eyebrow and gave Doll a strange look.

After going up to pat Doll's headgear, he led Li Yela away.

Only after they left did Doll start spinning around anxiously.

[What should I do? What should I do? (;Д｀)]

Over the next three days,

Li Yela first explained to the antique shop owner that he had to leave the giant city and wouldn't be back for a month, so he had to resign.

The owner, Old Jin, expressed shock and suspected Li Yela was planning to jump ship.

After considering it for a while, he replied to Li Yela that there was no need to resign yet and to talk again when he returned in a month.

This actually gave Li Yela a pleasant surprise.

In the following time, Li Yela transformed into a druid, testing Void Beast Speech in the streets and alleys.

Whether it was cats, dogs, sparrows, or even flying insects, they could all be controlled by Li Yela's commands.

But there were limitations; after executing a command, if no further command was heard for a period of time, the target would leave on its own.

In the future, to use this ability, he had to remain within the range where the target could hear his voice.

There was also the matter of command execution.

For instance, if he commanded a mouse to rush in front of a feral cat, the mouse would be extremely resistant. Although it eventually completed the command, it paused multiple times along the way.

The success rate of issued commands was related to the target's level of resistance.

Subsequently, Li Yela also discovered an advantage.

That was that using Void Beast Speech alone would not trigger a curse.

In other words, only when using the *All-Encompassing Faceless* given by 'Mr. Shadow' would he run into bad luck.

This was good news; if Li Yela obtained more abilities in the future, he might be able to completely move away from *All-Encompassing Faceless* and thus escape his misfortune.

Imagine if other psionic users had to bear a curse whenever they used their abilities, while he could use abilities outside of his Mask without any curse.

It was precisely because of this advantage that Li Yela could use Void Beast Speech at any time.

On the street, Li Yela uttered an obscure word: "Come here."

Immediately, a pigeon landed on Li Yela's shoulder.

Li Yela reached out to stroke the pigeon's head and issued another command.

"Go to my house first, then wait for me at the branch office."

The pigeon didn't seem to understand; after flying up, it circled once and returned to Li Yela's shoulder.

'It seems commands must be issued using information the target knows. It doesn't know where my house is, nor the location of the branch office, so it cannot execute the order,' Li Yela thought, and continued commanding: "Go get three leaves for me."

This time, the pigeon flew far away and soon flew back, but it only held a single fallen leaf in its beak.

'Hmm, as expected. It can't count. Commands must also be within the target's cognition,' Li Yela thought. After letting the pigeon go,

He heard a commotion ahead.

Several black luxury sedans were slowly driving along the highway, flanked by countless young people cheering.

Li Yela stopped at the edge of the crowd and listened for a while, learning that a band had crossed the wilderness to arrive at Border City No. 3.

Local fans had come out to welcome them. It was said the lead singer was very handsome.

Upon learning that a single ticket cost over eight hundred Giant City Credits,

Li Yela couldn't help but grimace.

No wonder; wouldn't this business earn more than merchant caravans taking the same risky journey across the wilderness?

Muttering to himself, Li Yela walked toward the branch office.

He was heading down to the Black Prison today and needed to go back early to prepare.

Meanwhile, in one of the luxury sedans, a handsome man sat cross-legged with his eyes closed in the back seat.

Then, when he opened his eyes, a cassette tape had mysteriously appeared in his hand.

"Brought it in... The Song of Extinction."

(End of Chapter)