Chapter 650 Pre-War Preparations 5

Chapter 650: Pre-Battle Preparations 5

When Su Bai transformed the Nameless Society base into a puzzle piece, he moved almost on instinct. He didn't hesitate or second-guess himself, and no one told him what to do next, but a familiar feeling rose from deep within him, as if he had known how to do it from the very beginning.

Using his own body as a center, his power radiated outward slowly, seeping into every patch of ground, every building, and every inch of air within the base. The outline of the puzzle piece emerged clearly, silently merging the entire Nameless Society campus into one of Su Bai's puzzle pieces.

The moment the puzzle piece was completed, Su Bai could almost feel the soil and plants "breathing" within the academy—everything was under his control.

But when he turned his attention to the Mist Shop and attempted to transform it in the same way, things suddenly changed.

He channeled his power toward the small shop standing alone on the playground, but the moment it made contact, the smoothly flowing power seemed to fall into a bottomless black hole, getting devoured in an instant.

It was drained so fast that Su Bai felt a chill run down his spine—it was being drained by the bucketload. He could feel his energy rapidly draining, almost to the point of exhaustion, yet the puzzle piece outline around the small shop only flickered once before vanishing completely, as if his ability had failed to transform the Mist Shop.

Gritting his teeth, Su Bai wanted to hold on a bit longer, but he didn't have the strength. Once completely drained, he held his breath and abandoned the transformation for now. When he slowly opened his eyes, a hint of confusion lingered in his gaze.

He looked at Wu Hang beside him: "...Is there no other way?"

As his vision returned to earth, the feeling of abruptly plummeting back to reality left Su Bai dazed, his breath even feeling briefly weightless.

But the hand holding Wu Hang's became his anchor, keeping him steady.

"The transformation process might be pretty tough." Wu Hang seemed to have anticipated this outcome, his expression showing little surprise, but rather a hint of apology.

Su Bai looked at the quietly standing shop again, frowning slightly: "Is it because the Mist Shop is too special as a passageway?"

Wu Hang did not answer immediately. Instead, he gestured for Su Bai to look at the glass window with him. The window was spotlessly clean, reflecting the two of them, along with their tightly clasped hands.

"Actually, it's more than that," Wu Hang said in a low voice.

"Because I failed once before, this time I've been especially cautious, making more preparations and keeping more trump cards up my sleeve..."

Wu Hang turned his head slightly toward the window: "Just in case, I've always kept Mist Mountain hidden somewhere you could reach."

As he spoke, the reflection in the window quietly changed.

What was originally reflected was the reflection of the two of them standing quietly. But the next moment, the image in the glass transformed into a hazy scene—

A massive mountain, its slopes shrouded in thick white fog, its outline blurred yet still revealing the mountain's towering majesty.

"..."

Su Bai truly had not expected that this guy Wu Hang had silently hidden his stronghold—that towering Mist Mountain, forever shrouded in mist—inside the Mist Shop!

Su Bai was stunned for a moment, then quickly caught on, his tone nearly certain: "So, I wasn't just transforming the Mist Shop just now."

"Yes." Wu Hang nodded, his tone guilty. "To transform the Mist Shop, you have to transform Mist Mountain as well."

He didn't dare look at Su Bai again, his gaze shifting slightly outside the window. Clearly, he knew well what a challenging task this was for Su Bai, who had just achieved a breakthrough with his puzzle piece ability.

But Su Bai instead let out a light laugh, an understanding look in his eyes: "So it's not that my ability failed, but that this step requires far more power than I possess?"

"That's right." Wu Hang's voice lowered, but he no longer concealed it.

"To be honest," Su Bai looked at Wu Hang with a smile, his tone so relaxed it almost made Wu Hang pause, "this is actually good news."

"I'll lend you my support," Wu Hang said seriously.

But Su Bai looked at him with a meaningful look, a hint of teasing in his eyes: "If I really do transform the entire Mist Mountain, then Lord Ghost Witch's home... would be under my control?"

Wu Hang looked at him, a faint smile slowly curling at the corner of his lips, as if he had been waiting for this very line: "I wouldn't have it any other way."

He said it unhurriedly, as if he had long been ready to hand everything over to Su Bai.

After learning from Wu Hang the reason for his first failed attempt, Su Bai closed his eyes again.

He didn't know what specific form Wu Hang's assistance would take, but he suddenly remembered that although his internal power was exhausted, he wasn't completely without a backup plan.

Taking a steady breath, he closed his eyes and, through meditation, extended his consciousness toward the palm of his left hand. The mark indicating ownership of the Mist Shop was emitting a slight burning sensation.

With his eyes closed, Su Bai's consciousness seemed to step into that familiar shop, and before him appeared the glass jar on the counter, filled with the power-infused sand that he had yet to use.

The process of transforming the Mist Shop and Mist Mountain was like installing a massive, complex program—once the "progress bar" reached one hundred percent, the transformation would be truly complete.

Although his previous attempt had exhausted his power, Su Bai could feel that the transformation was already at least a quarter of the way done. And when he stood before that glass jar in his consciousness and reached out to touch its body, the sand containing immense energy began to flow rapidly, flowing back into his body through the mark, and the transformation process continued to advance.

However, the speed at which that power was consumed was equally astonishing. By the time the progress reached halfway, the sand in the glass jar was almost gone.

Su Bai frowned slightly. Did he already need Wu Hang's help this early, so soon into the external transformation?

Just as this thought crossed Su Bai's mind, he heard voices he hadn't heard in a long time behind him, their tone light and teasing—

"Master still isn't good at using his own power, as always."

His consciousness "turned around" to look, and saw those figures that had always lurked deep within the puzzle pieces standing quietly there—the very puzzle pieces he had been unable to summon or even borrow power from in his previous life, and which had also been waiting silently in the depths of the puzzle pieces in this life.

And now, these puzzle pieces had quietly gathered behind him without him noticing.

"Don't look so surprised, cute little master."

"Master gave us a place to stay."

"We really like the home Xiao Bai gave us, and we don't want it to disappear."

"So, it's time to pay some rent."

Each voice sounded like an old friend reuniting after a long time, teasing lightly.

Su Bai let out a soft laugh, warmth rising in his chest: "Then I'll leave it to everyone—lend me your power!"

The next moment, one by one, blurry and mysterious figures gradually approached, surrounding the glass jar in his "vision."

Their power did not directly surge into Su Bai's body, but instead flowed like streams of light into that jar.

The sand in the glass jar, which had been nearly empty, began to rise visibly, each grain of power-filled sand filling the jar again.

By using the Mist Shop as a "transfer station" to transmit their power, the puzzle pieces made the process smoother, avoiding the strain that a massive surge of power might cause. This allowed Su Bai to continue steadily supporting the subsequent transformation process.

Just as the sand in the jar was about to run out again, Su Bai felt that the transformation progress bar was almost full.

The next moment, a clear puzzle piece outline appeared around the Mist Shop.

At that moment, Su Bai felt that the entire "world" had undergone a fundamental change.