Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 656 The Dead World

The crimson mark disappeared into the air, the space began to tremble violently, and a crimson vortex was formed.

[Executioner, please enter the interdimensional teleportation array within 1 minute and prepare to withstand the impact.]

Li Xia and the three little ones, who were originally eager to try, suddenly changed their expressions.

What does it mean to be well prepared to withstand shocks?
A threat, a blatant threat!
Even Li Xia's eyes twitched, and he walked towards the vortex without saying a word.

The three little ones, filled with a sense of tragic heroism, lined up behind their leader, giving off a feeling of "the wind howls, the Yi River is cold, the hero departs, never to return."

The moment Li Xia entered the vortex, he felt as if he had been roughly stuffed into a rubber tube, and was being squeezed forward forcefully from behind.

Not only that, there was also a strong tremor, as if a giant hand was pulling on the rubber tube and swinging it wildly.

Until the shock exceeded a certain limit, everything went black and silence returned.

Executioner, you have arrived on the Steel Continent.

A strange whistling sound echoed in my ears, sharp and even somewhat piercing.

Li Xia slowly opened her eyes, feeling a bone-chilling coldness around her, and all she could see was a hazy whiteness.

Ice and snow?

No, that's not right. The hand supporting the ground has a unique feel, icy and cold, not the cold of ice and snow, but the chill of metal exposed to extreme conditions for a long time, penetrating to the bone.

He stood up. There was no afterglow of the teleportation array as he had expected. Instead, there was only a gray sky and an all-encompassing alloy wasteland stretching to the horizon. The ground was covered with mottled, dark silver armor plates, and a layer of frost-like grayish-white substance condensed in the gaps. When the wind blew across the ground, it made a "squeaking" metallic friction sound, which was the sharp and piercing noise he had heard.

Steel Continent
Li Xia took a breath. This was a strange world he had never seen before. He had never imagined that there was actually a world made of steel.

"Holy crap! It really is a continent of steel!"

The three little ones also recovered from the dizziness after being teleported and stood beside Li Xia, staring dumbfounded at the scene before them. Everything in sight was gleaming with a metallic luster, and the sunlight shining on the cold, icy world was particularly dazzling.

[Enter the World: Steel Continent (Resource Star, Reward World)]

World Difficulty: D—SSS+ (Normal—Ultimate Forbidden Zone)
Global environment: 2.23 times standard gravity

World Introduction: Hundreds of years ago, a meteor streaked across the sky, its dazzling trail drawing the attention of the entire world. As a result, various kingdoms dispatched people to investigate the meteor's whereabouts.

They eventually discovered the meteor's location in a valley, and what shocked the kingdoms even more was that the entire valley had been 'metalized,' including the rocks, trees, and even animal carcasses.

This metal possesses unprecedented and excellent properties; weapons forged from it are exceptionally sharp, armor hammered from it is remarkably sturdy, and shields cast from it are indestructible.

Furthermore, the closer to the meteor, the stronger the metal becomes, and even objects that are thrown in later will be metallized.

Thus, this meteor was named the 'Steel Source', and the various kingdoms waged a life-or-death war to seize the inexhaustible treasure of the 'Steel Source'.

Whoever controls the 'Steel Source' will possess an endless supply of high-quality steel. The protracted war lasted for nearly a century, during which many kingdoms briefly occupied the valley.

They threw the corpses of their enemies and their own people into the valley, turning them into metal, which they then melted down and made into weapons. As the number of corpses increased, a mutation finally occurred.

The first corpse stood up, followed by more and more. These resentful, metallic corpses launched indiscriminate attacks on all countries, even triggering an unprecedented 'metal plague'.

One hundred years after the meteor's arrival, metal covered the entire world, and all life was wiped out.

[Hint: Executioner, you have descended upon this world using special disciplinary authority]

Main Quest: Blade of Retribution

Mission objective: Kill members of the Hell Echoes and Time Scavengers guilds. Earn 1 point for each kill.

Task Rewards: Final rewards will be calculated based on the accumulated points.

Task deadline: 15 days

Mission failure: No penalty
[Note: Under special disciplinary privileges, killing members of the disciplinary guild will now drop Bloody Keys as normal.]

The world—begins!
The faint text disappeared, the task was simple and brutal: kill guild members, as expected of a special disciplinary authority.

But this world is already a free world for Li Xia. If he doesn't enter it, he will definitely have to advance to the next level when the next world ends.

Once your attributes reach their limit, there will be no further attribute bonuses when you experience other worlds. As for other rewards, they're just so-so at the fourth tier.

"You've granted disciplinary authority, so why aren't you marking the location?"

Aowu complained a couple of times, floating in mid-air and looking at the metallic ground. He felt that the whole dragon was not doing well. In such a big world, where could they find a group of more than a hundred apostles?

As soon as he finished speaking, a small map suddenly appeared in front of Li Xia's eyes, with a dense cluster of red dots flashing on it.

[Executioner, target location indication activated]

Awoo:
I'm sorry, I was being too loud just now.

Li Xia stared at the red dot on the map, which was extremely far away from him. According to the scale marked on the map, it might even be more than 10,000 kilometers away.

This world is bigger than Earth!

At the same time, a sense of horror rose in his heart. What kind of power did this so-called meteor possess, capable of metallizing a planet larger than Earth!

This involves the transformation of matter. Li Xia is no longer the ignorant beast of burden he once was; he is now studying, and at a very fast pace.

To give a simple example, everything in this world is metallic, even vegetation. Scientifically speaking, for wood to be transformed into metal, it requires a 'full microscopic level of transformation'.

1. Nuclear level: nuclear transmutation (changing the number of protons to transform a non-metallic atom into a metallic atom)

2. Atomic level: Eliminating existing chemical bonds and recombining them into metallic bonds.

3. Crystal/Molecular Level: Destroying organic structures and constructing metallic crystal structures.
4. Macro level: Maintaining form

Even in reality, realizing the 'turning mercury into gold' requires a super-large collider, which consumes an enormous amount of energy.

But a meteor falling from the sky can easily reshape the entire world.
This immense power can even be said to have surpassed conventional limits.

Li Xia suddenly thought of SSS+ in the world difficulty, another 'god-level' existence?
Only those individuals who have mastered the 'rules' possess such unreasonable power.

I just don't know if this god is easy to kill. God!

Kill one and get a huge loot! Kill one and you'll have a feast!
Li Xia pondered for a while before reluctantly bringing her attention back to carefully assess her situation.

The distant metal plains were obvious, but the place they were in was man-made, resembling an abandoned alloy port.

Behind me was a partially collapsed tower, its body riddled with rusted holes, the outer metal having long lost its luster and displaying dark, mottled rust.

Broken metal supports and twisted pipes were scattered in front of him, and the ground was covered with scattered metal. Some of the things could still be vaguely discerned from their original shapes, mostly the skeletons of vehicles, such as cars or boats.

"What is that thing?"

Awoo, also stretching its neck and pointing to the edge, asked. Li Xia turned around and looked over. He saw a pool of silvery-white liquid in the low-lying area at the edge. The surface shimmered with a fine metallic luster, like molten silver, but with a more eerie fluidity.

Li Xia simply walked towards the low-lying area, and after only two steps, she immediately noticed the difference.

More than twice the gravity is no burden for him now, but it is a real burden for the explosive power.

Compared to the previous zero-something times gravity, twice the gravity will undoubtedly weaken the burst of power. It seems that it will take some time to adapt to the gravity.

Li Xia thought to herself, but her steps never stopped. She walked to a low-lying area and stared at the mirror-like metal, which looked like water but had no ripples.

Xiaotian curiously moved closer, looking at the somewhat distorted reflection on the mirror, his nose getting closer and closer.

"do not move!"

Li Xia's eyes narrowed, and just as Xiaotian's dark, wet nose was about to touch the mirror, she called a stop. Although the puppy was still a little dazed, it was absolutely obedient to the command and stopped immediately.

After gesturing for the three little ones to move away from the mirror, he picked up a fist-sized piece of alloy from beside his feet and threw it forcefully into a low-lying area.

The moment the fragment fell into the mirror, it was as if it had fallen into rolling lava. There was no splashing sound or ripples, but instead a hissing sound of corrosion. Tiny bubbles appeared on the silvery-white surface of the liquid. The alloy fragment melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in just a few seconds, only a small black residue remained, which sank below the surface of the liquid.

The three children shrank back, instinctively moving closer to Li Xia. Li Xia's expression darkened; this level of corrosiveness, if accidentally spilled on their skin...
Li Xia narrowed his eyes, walked to the surface of the liquid, and gently poked his finger into the liquid under the astonished gazes of the three children.

Amidst the sizzling sound, Li Xia felt a burning sensation on her fingers, which was actually quite comfortable.
[Executioner, you have been corrupted by 'mercury steel']

[Calculating relevant resistance.]

You will suffer 2 points of erosion damage per second.

Li Xia took out his hand and placed it in front of him. The liquid mercury steel was rapidly rolling down and condensing under the influence of gravity, forming a drop of mercury that hung on his fingertip and swayed slightly.

Two points of damage is basically nothing. It's normal that this metal can't corrode you. With such terrifying resistance and physical strength, it would be strange if you could be corroded.

However, from another perspective, even someone like myself, who is far beyond the fourth level, would be harmed by contact with mercury steel, which shows just how corrosive this liquid metal is.

"Turtle!"

Awoo's eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed:
"This silver liquid is potent; if you splash it on someone, they'll be completely silent!"

The little dragon's whiskers fluttered as it tried to use its water control talent to respond to the puddle in front of it. To the astonishment of the two little ones, the pool of mercury steel actually swayed and produced several silver streams of water, which converged in mid-air to form a metal water sphere the size of a human head.

incredible!
The two little ones gaped in amazement, their eyes shining as they watched their older brother's actions.

"That actually works!"

Aowu excitedly manipulated the sphere to float up and down. Although it was far from being as good as real water, it was still quite impressive that it could control it.

But it soon ran into a problem: how should this thing be stored?
The corrosiveness is so high that conventional containers would probably be quite difficult to use. Dragon eggs would certainly work, but those are the little dragon's cozy little house, so how could they be used to hold mercury steel?

"Do you have another water cup? Try using that."

Li Xia's voice drifted over, and the little dragon was startled; it did indeed have a water storage device.

[The Endless Water Cup]

[Grade: Blue - Ultimate]

【Durability: 40/40】

Infinite Water Cup: Can store 1 cubic meter of water (Mental + Intelligence).
Void Cup: Water stored in the cup is in a peculiar state and does not cause additional weight.

[Synopsis: Once upon a time, a person found this magical water cup in the desert and successfully drowned himself.]

"But what if it breaks?"

"Blue support equipment, it's not a big deal if it breaks, just replace it."

Li Xia didn't care at all; it was just a blue support item.

"okay!"

Xiao Long took out a water cup. This cup was not made of metal, but rather resembled opaque glass. Under Ao Wu's control, a huge stream of water rushed out of the cup, turning into a gentle drizzle.

The dusty and rusty metal floor looked much brighter after being washed by the water. However, Xiaolong's attention was not on the floor at all. Instead, he carefully poured a little mercury into the bottle, eager to get started.

As Xiaolong accumulated more and more mercury steel, he gradually calmed down and even became somewhat elated.

This stuff is way more potent than water!

The mercury steel in the puddle gradually sank, revealing the blackened walls that had long been corroded. Li Xia bent down and observed carefully for a while, and found that there was nothing unusual about it. It was just that the black waste produced by the corrosion had condensed into a special coating, preventing further erosion.

He had previously wondered if the walls of the puddle had something special about them that could prevent mercury steel from corroding, but now it seems he was overthinking it.

Seeing that Xiaolong had collected all the mercury in the puddle, leaving only a dark, bowl-shaped pit, he held his water cup with great affection.

Li Xia nodded, glanced at the densely packed red dots on the map, and then the rest was simple.

Find them, then kill them all!
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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

I'm having a bit of writer's block. I've been working on it all day, and it's finally almost done. Yes, it's all just something I came up with on the fly again.
This instance won't be long, probably a dozen chapters at most; it's just a transitional instance.

(End of this chapter)