Dew from the rotwood fringe still clung to Chen Yuan's brow as he stared at the distant gray‑black silhouette—the outer wall of Mist‑Hidden City loomed like a cloud that would never blow away. Every ten paces along its battlements hung a preservative‑treated monster skull, empty eye sockets gazing at the bushes where he crouched.
[Large human settlement detected]
[System suggests: disguise as a Cthulhu cultist, use "Silence Talisman" to mask magic‑path aura]
"Easy for you to say—where do I get a cultist robe?" he muttered, fingers brushing the eyeball amulet in his pocket still red‑stained with mill‑ritual gore. "Should I dig up a corpse? All the nearby bones are already refined into bone‑whistles."
Hidden amid leaf litter, he inspected his makeshift garb—an ashen robe smeared with mud, a charm of rotwood‑beast ribs at his waist—looking less like a dignified acolyte and more like a derelict wild‑shaman. The Silence Talisman he'd redeemed lasted only two hours, and the city gate guards clearly weren't to be trifled with.
"No choice." He crushed his last Spirit‑Purifier herb into powder and rubbed it at the nape of his neck, sending a fleeting chill through his corruption‑tossed nerves. "If I get found out, I'll bolt. And I've got Bone‑Vein Resonance—there must be skeleton trails in the sewers."
Approaching the great gate, he slowed his breathing and imitated the cultists' measured "three‑long, two‑short" cadence he'd learned from the mill fragments. Two guards barred his path: one's pupils were vertical slits, and beneath his skin writhed subtle tentacle‑like ridges.
"Offering." The spear‑wielding guard prodded Chen Yuan's satchel. Mud and wild‑berries tumbled out.
"Just this?"
"First‑level cultist, first time in the city." Chen Yuan lowered his head in feigned terror, fingertips brushing the Bone‑Fang Blade at his side. "Seeking a higher contract with the Shadow Circle."
The second guard leaned in, nostrils almost grazing Chen Yuan's neck. He heard the guard swallow—and saw his own system flashing a dire alert:
[Chaos‑energy scan detected; corruption disguise fails in 10 seconds]
At that critical moment, Chen Yuan activated the Bone‑Banner Fragment. Three ghostly corpse‑puppets crawled up from the wall's shadows, their nails scratching stone in an urgent clamor. The guards spun to face them as bloody light flickered on their spears—while Chen Yuan slipped into the milling crowd, heart pounding against his ribs.
"System—can you give a heads‑up?" He ducked behind a spice‑vendor's wagon, noticing faint cloud‑and‑thunder sigils glow on his wrist—an emergency camouflage from the jade token. "My heart can't take many more scares."
The twisting thoroughfares of Mist‑Hidden City felt alive, sinewy walls pulsing as though breathing. Windows glowed crimson, filtering sunlight into uncanny scarlet. Iron and spice scents mingled in the air. At a corner, shadow‑cloaked figures clustered around a monster carcass, slicing luminescent organs with a silver blade.
"Shadow Circle members." Chen Yuan recognized their tentacle‑patterned cloaks from the compendium's descriptions. "Better find a safe vantage—and redeem Shadow Perception—so Lilith doesn't stab me in the back without warning."
Passing a shop named "Flesh‑and‑Blood Workshop," his gaze locked on a window display—a telescope made from Cthulhu‑creature eyeballs, its lens reflecting a warped starfield. The system for once chimed:
[Astral‑resonance artifact detected—usable to locate Starborn enclaves]
"Perfect." He fingered the bone seed in his pocket—his last refined rotwood‑beast core before the city. "Hope the owner barters. I'm not handing over a human sacrifice core; that's outlawed."
The shopkeeper, a one‑eyed dwarf with bandages covering everything below his nose, clicked in greeting.
"Bone seed? Decent material." He dropped Chen Yuan's dark‑red seed into a slime‑filled vial. "Trade for the astral‑eye, but I need a favor—fetch a special cadaver from the western mortuary."
"Mortuary?" Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. The system immediately flagged risk:
[Mid‑level contamination area—recommend carrying 2 Spirit‑Purifier pills]
"Fine—figured I'd scout that area anyway."
The western district mortuary reeked of formalin. Rows of iron hooks held corpses in various stages of mutation. As he swung open the heavy door, he spotted a figure curled in the corner—silver‑white hair veiling half a face, the left forearm wholly merged with writhing shadow energy, seeping into a corpse.
"Lilith?" he whispered and darted behind a mortuary slab. This was the Tri‑Ocular Emissary of the Shadow Circle from the backstory. "Is she fusing with the corpse? No—the Circle's pact is sensory sacrifice, not corpse‑refinement..."
[Special energy reaction detected: shadow energy rejected by human soul]
The system alert showed Lilith's black energy fracturing into tiny sparks against the cadaver's resistance. He recalled the jade slip's "Soul‑Body Harmonization"—could help—but only if he stayed hidden.
He deliberately kicked a copper basin, sending it clattering. Lilith whirled—her liquid‑metal left eye rotating alive.
"Newcomer?" she said, voice edged in frost. Shadow‑energy coalesced into a short blade in her palm. "Mortuary access is forbidden."
"Apologies—I'm here for the cadaver." He lifted the mortuary pass the dwarf had carved. His eyes flicked to Lilith's shadow‑fused arm. "Your pact… seems unstable."
Her pupils narrowed, and she pressed the shadow blade to his throat.
"How do you know that?"
"I… saw a similar rejection in the rotwood. A cultist tried to fuse tendrils and was torn apart." He forced calm, pressing the jade token's cloud‑thunder sigil beneath his sleeve. "Perhaps your issue is lack of 'soul resonance,' not brute fusion."
Lilith stared at the token, silver eyes rippling.
"Ancient script… not Cthulhu‑standard."
"Found in rotwood ruins." Chen Yuan withdrew the jade slip fragment etched with cloud‑thunder. "I'm only a first‑tier cultist—my knowledge is limited."
Suddenly the mortuary doors burst open—clang of metal and bestial roars. Lilith frowned, looking out.
"Blood‑Pool cultists—they hunt heresy." She gripped his wrist; shadow energy enveloped them both. "Follow me through the sewers."
Enveloped in her shadow‑veil, he felt his body grow translucent, able to phase through stone but not solid matter. This spiritual intangibility reminded him of invisibility magics—yet far more potent and perilous, for he sensed Lilith's energy's corrosive bite.
Stopping underground amid dripping, bone‑strewn walls, Lilith studied the cloud‑thunder watermark on his wrist.
"Your energy… is unique. Neither cultist nor thrall."
"Just a man trying to live," he replied, eyes on the skeletal map woven into the walls via Bone‑Vein Resonance. "I'll deliver the cadaver to the workshop as promised."
She stepped close, breath cold at his ear.
"You carry the rotwood's scent… and something intimately familiar." Her finger traced the still‑warm residual flow in his palm—the refining heat signature. "Next time… be truthful."
Released, he found himself on a backstreet. In his arms lay the mortuary's prize: a pristine human corpse, faint golden veins beneath untainted skin.
[Special cadaver detected—uncontaminated human body (usable for high‑tier corpse‑puppets)]
"Lilith's intuition is terrifying." He ducked into an alley and checked his status: corruption rose to 18% from shadow exposure, but he gained Shadow Adaptation +5%. "Lucky she didn't see through me."
As night fell, he made a broken temple at the city's edge his refuge. He set the corpse on a stone slab and followed the jade slip's corpse‑refinement rites. When he inlaid the Bone‑Fang Blade's seed into the forehead, the system flared:
[Cadaver resonating with magic‑path primal energy detected]
[Unlocked Skill: Soul‑Lock (temporarily lock a corpse‑puppet's human remnant consciousness)]
"I should've realized—a pure human body is the key to corpse‑refinement." He watched the corpse's unseeing eyes open. A wry smile tugged his lips. "Others collect pets—I collect corpse‑puppets. Cthulhu World's newbie gifts sure are unique."
Outside, the rain murmured on the temple roof. Chen Yuan retrieved the astral‑eye from his belt—it reflected a shattered starfield. He knew Mist‑Hidden City was just the beginning: Lilith's suspicion, Old Mo's bargaining, the Blood‑Pool cultists' hunt—all blades hanging above him. Yet he watched his new corpse‑puppet heft its bone cleaver and felt a flicker of solace. At least he wouldn't fight alone.
"System, open realm panel." He whispered, watching his Level‑3 Qi‑Refinement bar inch forward. "Next stop: Iron Fortress. They say mechanical limbs meet corpse‑alchemy there—might snag some formidable gear."
In the steady patter of rain, the faint jingle of caravan bells drifted through the streets—Old Mo's wandering wagon had reached Mist‑Hidden City too. Chen Yuan touched his jade token; its cloud‑thunder glow pulsed in the dark, reminding him of the dangers and opportunities ahead.
"Come on, Cthulhu World." he murmured into the storm. His corpse‑puppet bowed at his side, its joints clicking like clockwork. "This magic‑path cultivator will carve a path of his own within your rules."
A raindrop slid across the astral‑eye's lens—and unnoticed, the reflected starfield cracked with a flash of cloud‑thunder light, rewriting these world's constellations. In a high tower of Mist‑Hidden City, Lilith gazed at the residual heat in her palm, silver eyes glinting with unprecedented resolve.