Chapter 114: Distortion

“This region really has it out for me!” Fang Tang sighed once more, lying on the ground and staring wordlessly up at the sky.

Just moments ago, everyone had shared the rewards they’d received from the offering. Most people gained immunity to some kind of debuff, with the luckiest being Little Lucky Star Xie Ling, who managed to imbue an item with a spirit. As for Fang Tang, his reward was luxuriant hair growth.

In just this short time, Fang Tang’s hair had already grown to his shoulders.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Fang Tang wanted to cry but had no tears.

Su Mang comforted him, “Come on, there are plenty of people who’d envy your reward. Take the captain of Team Seven, for example—he started balding in his youth and would give anything for a head of thick, black hair.”

Fang Tang let out a long sigh and gazed emptily at Liu Yiran. “Captain, are we staying here any longer?”

Liu Yiran nodded. “If you want to keep improving, you have to stay until you can’t anymore. But if you want to go back now, you can.”

“Then let’s stay a bit longer.” After some thought, Fang Tang took off the Frost Rifle and tossed it to Liu Yiran. “I can’t build the igloo right now—this is your job.”

“Heh, a level five special technology—not something you see every day.” Liu Yiran pressed the snowflake patch onto her arm.

The snowflake turned into a stream of blue liquid, forming a square-mouthed spray gun, and she began building the igloo. With the temperature steadily falling, the construction went surprisingly smoothly this time, unlike before.

As soon as the temperature hit zero, the igloo was ready, and everyone hurried inside, breath steaming in the cold.

Fang Tang donned his lava armor, gradually adjusting the temperature to provide warmth for everyone.

Time ticked by, and soon, the third debuff hit them all.

This time, misfortune didn’t fall on Fang Tang. He was afflicted with Infinite Hunger: he would constantly feel hungry, and the more he ate, the hungrier he’d get.

“Fourth tier already…” Fang Tang felt the change in his evolution level, frowning deeply. This shouldn’t be taking so long!

He’d reached the second tier back in the underground, and though it took him a day, the concentration of distortion there was nothing like here.

Altogether, he’d spent twelve hours in moderate distortion before reaching tier four—an average of three hours per tier.

Of course, evolution levels didn’t really increase at such a steady rate; the higher you went, the slower it got.

It had taken him six hours to go from tier three, stage six, to tier four, stage one.

Based on that growth pattern, Liu Yiran’s tier six, stage seven couldn’t have been reached in just twenty-four hours.

After some deliberation, Fang Tang asked, “Captain, I’ve only just reached tier four, stage one. Why is my improvement so slow?”

Liu Yiran smiled. “That’s normal. This is only moderate distortion, after all. To go from tier four to tier five here would take about twenty-six hours.”

“What the… seriously?” Fang Tang was speechless. “Captain, maybe next time we should try severe distortion?”

Liu Yiran and Su Mang laughed, trying to reassure him. “Tang Tang, evolution tier four is already considered impressive in the underground. There’s no need to rush.”

“But isn’t there that saying about the Twelve Steps of God? Don’t people go above tier ten?”

Fang Tang was unconvinced.

Su Mang smiled. “I don’t know where you heard about the God Steps, but you need to realize what tier ten means. Even in severe distortion, you’d have to stay more than twenty days to reach that level. Honestly, no one in the entire underground would dare stay in severe distortion that long.”

Fang Tang felt utterly defeated.

Twenty days—one debuff every four hours—that’s a hundred and twenty debuffs. Maybe you could get some debuff immunity from offerings, but how many would you need to be fully immune?

Besides, the immunities he’d gained so far only worked in light or moderate distortion. In severe distortion, they were useless.

The Eye had said that when he reached tier twelve, he’d learn some secrets of the underground.

So reaching tier twelve was basically impossible in this lifetime.

Fang Tang looked at Liu Yiran, unwilling to give up. “Captain, didn’t you say you reached your level after spending twenty-four hours in distortion?”

Xu Lin interjected, “It was more than twenty-four hours. Captain never said exactly how long.”

“How long, specifically?” Fang Tang pressed.

Xu Lin looked at Liu Yiran questioningly.

Secrets like this shouldn’t really be shared with outsiders; even among teammates, all Liu Yiran had ever said was “more than twenty-four hours.” Now that Fang Tang was asking, even their three veteran teammates grew curious.

Liu Yiran smiled at Fang Tang. “I shouldn’t really tell you this, but since you’re so eager to know, I’ll make an exception. Just don’t go asking others the same thing.”

Everyone leaned in to listen.

“I spent seven days and fifteen hours in moderate distortion. I’ve experienced nearly every debuff you all are suffering now.”

Everyone gasped, the temperature in the igloo seeming to drop further.

Seven days and fifteen hours—that’s one hundred and eighty-three hours, which means forty-five debuffs if you get one every four hours.

No wonder the captain carried three debuffs so nonchalantly—he’d grown used to it!

Fang Tang asked curiously, “Captain, isn’t it much harder for you to improve now?”

Liu Yiran nodded slightly. “Exactly. To keep advancing, I’d need to go into severe distortion, or even—super distortion.”

Fang Tang suddenly felt an urge to rush into super distortion.

It was as if Liu Yiran could read his mind. She said, “Severe and super distortion aren’t places you can enter at your current level. At the very least, you all need to reach level five and have an extremely effective sequence talent for calming your emotions.”

Fang Tang blinked but said nothing.

The captain must have entered severe distortion before; after all, she has Sequence 306: Calm and Unruffled.

“Is it very dangerous there?” Xie Ling asked, full of curiosity.

Liu Yiran gave them all a meaningful look. “Before you consider how dangerous severe distortion is, you need to understand what distortion actually is. Once you grasp that, you’ll know whether it’s dangerous or not.”

“Distortion…”

Everyone lowered their heads, pondering the meaning.

Su Mang looked at Liu Yiran, her eyes flickering, and asked hesitantly, “In severe distortion, do things that break the rules already exist?”

Everyone’s spirits lifted at her words, and in an instant, the meaning of distortion became clear.

Liu Yiran looked at Su Mang with admiration.

“You’re right. In moderate distortion, you can still see traces of physical logic and rules, but in severe or super distortion, all those things—physics, logic, the laws we take for granted—are overturned.

There, light and heavy might be reversed, heaven and earth upended, mountains and seas inverted; anything you consider unusual becomes commonplace within. That’s what distortion is: it warps the rules of the world and shatters human understanding. In that place, any fluctuation of emotion can bring unnecessary trouble, so you must learn to control your emotions.”