Chapter 98: Could You Please Stop Backing Away?

"Tap its sand jar, tap its sand jar! Sprinkle salt, sprinkle salt!" the myna bird hopped about in the tree, chirping its reminder.

Su Miao’s gaze drifted involuntarily toward the jellyfish girl’s cranium, as if she were seriously contemplating how to crack the sand jar and sprinkle salt on it.

The jellyfish girl was furious. She couldn't fathom how Su Miao’s mind worked; she actually believed the nonsense spouted by a myna. Specifically, the way Su Miao was looking at her made her deeply uncomfortable. It was chillingly reminiscent of tourists at an aquarium asking, "Is this edible?"

The jellyfish girl drew a sharp breath, and a ten-meter-high tidal wave manifested out of thin air, crashing down toward Su Miao. Yet, the moment the massive wave neared her, it dissipated into nothingness, as if it had never existed. However, the residual flooding outside the "Blood Hell" confirmed that the cataclysmic wave had indeed been real.

Su Miao was startled. The giant wave had been summoned by the jellyfish girl’s ability, and it was only natural for it to vanish upon approaching the Blood Hell. Su Miao looked down at the *Blood Magic* book.

The grimoire reacted instantly, manifesting a line of crimson text: [Your Highness, controlling the previous one already exhausted me. This one is too terrifying; even if you burn me to ash, I cannot control it.]

"Blood crystal," Su Miao said, her tone icy.

[Your Highness, the blood crystal was prepared for your—]

The *Blood Magic* book hadn't expected Su Miao to resist the temptation of the blood crystal. It tried to struggle, attempting to persuade her further. But Su Miao, having already tucked her empty Type 95 assault rifle back into her magic space, drew her umbrella sword from its silver sheath. A cold light glinted off the blade, the tip resting less than 15 centimeters from the book.

[Your Highness, I understand!]

The *Blood Magic* book dared not push its luck. It knew Su Miao would truly strike, and while the Blood Hell was active, it was at its most vulnerable.

The jellyfish girl watched Su Miao draw the sword. She sensed the lingering aura of Shui Kun on the blade; it was this very weapon that had slain her son. Rage drove her to attack once more, but it was futile. Su Miao did nothing, yet every attack dissolved upon entering her ten-meter radius, as if that space belonged to an entirely different world.

Su Miao stared at the jellyfish girl, deep in thought. Close-quarters combat with this entity was impossible. The only way to defeat her was through magic. At the very least, the jellyfish girl’s failed attacks confirmed one thing: inside the "Equality of All Beings" Blood Hell, her ability-based attacks were completely negated.

Knowing the creature's inhuman nature gave Su Miao the courage to stand up. With one hand cradling the open *Blood Magic* book and the other gripping her sword, she stepped toward the jellyfish girl. Meanwhile, she kept her magic space array ready to activate at a moment's notice, just in case the book tried to betray her; if the Blood Hell were suddenly dismissed, she would still be able to defend against a direct attack.

The jellyfish girl launched attack after attack, but every single one failed.

"Jellyfish, jellyfish, a jellyfish scared silly by a tabby cat, what a loser," the myna chirped gleefully from the tree, practically singing.

The jellyfish girl was incensed, but as Su Miao drew closer, she retreated. Her hive-mind, constructed of thousands of offspring, calculated a single conclusion: in her current state, getting close to Su Miao was extremely dangerous. Thus, for every step Su Miao took, the jellyfish girl took one back. Before long, she had retreated into the Star Base building, with Su Miao standing at the entrance.

The jellyfish girl felt humiliated. When had she ever suffered such indignity? She could retreat no further. Su Miao stopped, realizing how far she had walked. This was close enough. She pointed her sword at the girl. "You... can you stop backing away?"

The jellyfish girl’s expression was dark; she was in a foul mood. Test after test had failed. She still hadn't grasped Su Miao’s true strength and dared not act rashly.

The myna, ever fond of chaos, flew over and jeered, "Jellyfish, jellyfish, if you've got guts, come out and fight! Don't run away, squawk-squawk-squawk!"

The jellyfish girl ignored the bird. Thousands of thoughts collided in her mind, trying to deduce Su Miao’s next move, but she lacked sufficient information. Finally, her gaze settled on the blood crystal hovering above the grimoire. Was the key hidden in this evil object?

"Blood Hell, expand!"

Su Miao shattered the blood crystal with her sword, and a massive surge of blood-magic energy flooded the *Blood Magic* book. In an instant, the "Equality of All Beings" Blood Hell expanded, trapping the jellyfish girl firmly within its domain.

"Human, you..." the jellyfish girl looked as if struck by lightning. Her god-like power had vanished in a heartbeat. She stared at Su Miao in terror, her only thought to flee, just as she had done at the aquarium.

No one knew that her true form was not actually that powerful; the true strength lay in the host body she had parasitized. The girl had possessed formidable abilities, but she had been captured by the Star Base shortly after awakening, becoming nothing more than a vessel. After the giant jellyfish parasitized her, those abilities were amplified infinitely. Furthermore, the jellyfish used its "Mother Goddess" authority to mentally control all its offspring, siphoning their spiritual energy and powers to crush any opposition. With a flick of a hand, it could turn the corpses haunting the Star Base into blood mist.

With such absolute power, the jellyfish girl had believed she could stand a chance against the dangerous Su Miao. Yet, when truly facing her, she realized her imagination had fallen short. No matter how powerful the attack, it simply failed to take effect. Her composure shattered. She cursed her useless offspring in her mind—lacking real strength, how could they have provoked such a terrifying monster of a human?

She had been led to believe, through the reports of her offspring, that Su Miao was a socially anxious girl who habitually trembled in fear. It was nothing but a trap to lead her children to their deaths. Humans were far too cunning!

The jellyfish girl let out a shrill screech, trying to break free, but aside from the unpleasant sound, no power manifested. As the screech died down, Su Miao flicked her thin sword.

"Disengage!"

The *Blood Magic* book snapped shut, instantly dispelling the Blood Hell while frantically devouring the fragments of the blood crystal it hadn't had time to digest. The jellyfish girl noticed the book closing and seemed to realize something. Just as she prepared to move, she saw a blinding blue light.

The moment the Blood Hell vanished, the magic space array seamlessly took its place, expanding to its maximum extent. Su Miao pointed her sword forward, and the massive blue fireball, stored within the magic space like a miniature sun, appeared before the jellyfish girl.

Ever since leaving the tourist zone, Su Miao had been tossing small blue fireballs into her magic space whenever she had the chance. Though they dissipated slightly over time, the accumulated mass had grown to a radius of nearly three meters. Not only that, but a faint trace of purple had appeared within the blue fire, signifying a temperature of around 7,000 degrees Celsius.

The jellyfish girl was terrified. Instinct drove her to gather a massive amount of water for protection. Unexpectedly, she found she could use her abilities again. But her joy lasted less than 0.001 seconds; the purple-tinged blue fireball was already upon her, instantly vaporizing the water she had gathered—not even leaving a wisp of steam behind.

"Ah!" The jellyfish girl let out a scream, and her entire body was engulfed.

*BOOM!*

The fireball exploded. The building that had once been a grand shopping mall and then the Star Base crumbled into ruins. A devastating heatwave surged outward, forming a beautiful mushroom cloud over the wreckage. The parasitized bodies lying on the ground and those in the Mother Goddess Hall were reduced to charred, blackened husks.

"Squeak! Squeak! You scared the life out of me!" The alert myna flew behind Su Miao, trembling. It had only come to watch the show, not to be roasted alive. It never expected Su Miao to be this terrifying—was all this necessary just to kill a jellyfish?

But when the myna looked at Su Miao, it saw that she had tossed the magic book aside, crouched down, covered her ears, and was trembling uncontrollably. She even looked like she was about to cry.

The myna’s brain was too small to understand the situation. *Wait, you created this massive explosion, didn't you?*

Suddenly, the myna saw massive chunks of debris falling from above. It shrieked and flapped its wings, trying to fly away, but outside the calm bubble around Su Miao, the heat was still intense enough to roast it instantly. It had to huddle closer to Su Miao, covering its eyes with its wings, afraid to look.

One second passed, then two. It didn't hear the debris crashing down. It was still alive. It peeked cautiously at the sky and saw that all the falling boulders simply vanished into thin air just before they could strike Su Miao. Its small eyes blinked in confusion. *Bird-scaring stuff!*

Yet, Su Miao was truly terrified. Even she hadn't expected that releasing all the blue fireballs she had stored for days would cause such a massive blast. If she hadn't expanded her magic space array to its maximum defensive capacity, she felt she would likely have been killed by her own explosion. She felt as though her mind had gone completely blank the moment the blast began.

Over at the Physics Research Center, the two special operatives, Mu Cheng and Liang Jin, had hit the deck the moment the mushroom cloud rose. A split second later, the ground shook violently, and every piece of blast-proof glass in the center shattered. Even the walls shielding them developed spiderweb-like cracks.

After a few seconds, they stood up and cautiously looked toward the Star Base. The building was gone. Within a 600-meter radius, not a single green plant remained. In the center of the ruins stood only Su Miao, crouched and shivering.

Mu Cheng and Liang Jin quickly pulled back, exchanging a look of lingering fear. If they had dared to get any closer to watch the battle, they would have been dead. Now, they didn't dare stare at Su Miao any longer, fearing she might notice them and kill them in return. They would investigate the ruins after she left. Besides, according to their intelligence, there were around 6,000 survivors in the base. Could any of them have survived such an explosion?

In the area connecting the Star Base to the aquarium, zoo, and botanical garden, chaos reigned. The nearby tabby cat, in particular, had its fur stand on end; it shrieked and leaped over the wall, fleeing into the distance. In the botanical garden, the thorny vines on the periphery had grown wildly in a desperate attempt to block the heatwave, but they were reduced to charred remains all the same. Larger trees further away had their leaves withered and yellowed, their branches swaying as if in pain.

In the zoo behind the botanical garden, the animals lay flat on the ground, not daring to peek. They knew a battle had erupted at the Star Base. They had originally planned to see if they could scavenge a meal once it ended, but after such a terrifying explosion, they decided going hungry was better than risking an encounter with the human who had caused it.

Perhaps influenced by the explosion, a light, drizzling rain began to fall, settling the dust over the base. The myna stood behind Su Miao, curiously watching the sky. It saw the rain, but not a single drop touched them.

Meanwhile, the *Blood Magic* book, cast aside by Su Miao, began to glow with a crimson light and slowly floated into the air.

"The evil book is flying away! The evil book is flying away!" the myna shrieked, drawing Su Miao’s attention.

Su Miao turned, tears welling in her eyes, staring blankly at the floating grimoire. The book zipped away from her, flipping its pages autonomously and displaying lines of red text in the void:

[Su Miao, what a pity. I wanted you to consume the blood crystal and become my contractor, but you actually refused its power.]

[Regardless, thank you for your care during this time, allowing me to harvest three blood crystals in such a short period. From now on, no one can bind me! Hahaha!]

Su Miao reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. No one understood the horror of this book better than she did; it had been calculating against her all along. Trying to trick her into using the blood crystal to gain "power"? That was clearly an attempt to kill her. The book had previously mentioned that only the dead could sign a contract with it.

As the book arrogantly flaunted its intelligence, she quickly swung her umbrella sword, condensing a small blue fireball and hurling it at the grimoire. The *Blood Magic* book instantly expanded the Blood Hell, neutralizing the projectile.

[Tsk tsk, Su Miao, trying to ambush me? Not a chance!]

[Heh, I know your social anxiety is just an act. You might fool others, but you can't fool me.]

[Wipe away the tears you use for camouflage. I can't beat you, but I can run.]

[Goodbye, Su Miao!]

[You'll never be able to lock me in that static void again!]

With a *whoosh*, the book soared into the sky. But it had only traveled a short distance when a large eagle passing by snatched the grimoire in its talons and flew off into the distance. All that remained in the sky was a massive line of red text: [Your Highness, HELP!!!]

Su Miao tilted her head, watching the sky. She felt a twinge of regret at failing to destroy the book.

The myna stood nearby, watching the book being carried away by the eagle, and let out a happy chirp.

"The jellyfish isn't dead, the jellyfish isn't dead."

Suddenly, the myna noticed movement in the ruins ahead and flew up to warn her. Su Miao walked over with her umbrella, using her magic space array to clear away the debris. Before long, she found a giant jellyfish, nearly completely shriveled and half-cooked.

"Not dead yet, not dead yet, sprinkle salt, sprinkle salt," the myna chirped merrily.

The giant jellyfish raised a tentacle, seemingly trying to express something. Su Miao said nothing; she simply looked up and fired a few small blue fireballs, setting the creature's body fully ablaze. Minutes later, the scent of roasted jellyfish filled the air. As for the salt... it was the apocalypse, and salt was incredibly precious. Unless she had industrial salt, it wasn't worth wasting.

When the flames died out, the myna landed beside the carcass, hopping around to investigate. Ten seconds later, it found the roasted eyeball, plucked it out, and ate it. Su Miao stood nearby, watching the bird eat. She felt a bit hungry herself, but the battle had killed her appetite. She simply pulled a bar of chocolate from her magic space and ate that as her meal.

After a brief rest, Su Miao prepared to inspect the Star Base for any remaining parasitized corpses to eliminate. She also wanted to scavenge for ammunition.

"Gold! Gold! There's a lot of gold here!" the well-fed myna flew over to a pile of ruins and hopped about.

Su Miao walked over and cleared the debris. A few seconds later, she saw several large crates filled with assorted gold and silver jewelry and smelted gold bars—nearly 300 kilograms of it. She wondered how the corpses had collected so much. Perhaps someone had fled to the Star Base with a fortune, thinking they could live comfortably, only for them and their wealth to be absorbed by the base.

Su Miao looked at the gold. She didn't really need it, but she took it anyway. Unfortunately, there were no guns or ammo where the gold was stored.

"Food, food, there's a lot of food here!" the myna flew to the next spot, hopping excitedly.

Su Miao walked over and cleared the rubble, finding five shipping containers filled with food—nearly 120 tons. She checked them and noticed the inventory lists were dated before the apocalypse; the containers had remained unopened, untouched by the parasitic corpses.

She lifted two of the sealed containers into her magic space. She left the other three, which had already been opened, fearing the food might be contaminated.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps and wailing cries drifted from afar. Su Miao stood atop the ruins and turned to look.