The silence that followed the Titan Giant Ape's departure was more deafening than the roar that had preceded it. The forest, usually a cacophony of life, seemed to hold its breath. Zhao Wuji was struggling to stand, his golden light dimmed, while Flender looked toward the canopy with a helpless, bird-like frustration.
But Li Wei wasn't looking at the trees. He was looking at the empty space where Xiao Wu and Xiao Ling had been standing only seconds ago. His 6'7" frame was trembling—not from fear, but from a molecular resonance that was spinning out of control.
"They're gone," Oscar whispered, his voice cracking. "Both of them. The twins... he took them both."
Li Wei's silver hair suddenly flared with a violent, deep-violet electricity. The ground beneath his boots didn't just crack; it turned to fine powder as he vibrated at a frequency that defied the laws of the Douluo Continent.
"San," Li Wei said, his voice a low, terrifying hum that vibrated in the chests of everyone present. "I'm going. Now."
"Wei-ge, wait!" Tang San shouted, his own face a mask of cold fury and desperation. "We need a plan! That was a hundred-thousand-year beast!"
"I don't have a plan, San," Li Wei turned, his eyes glowing with a solid, blinding white light. "I have a speed. And right now, that's the only thing that matters."
The Third Ring: The Filtered Essence
As Li Wei prepared to leap, the purple-black ring that had been forming around him finally snapped into place. It was his Third Spirit Ring.
[System Notification: Third Ring Integrated]
[Attribute: Molecular Vibration]
[Fusion Level: 31%]
[Current Spirit Power: Level 31]
The ring didn't come from a specific beast he had hunted, but from the Speed Force "filtering" the sheer kinetic trauma of his clash with Er Ming. It was a ring born of the friction between a mortal and a Forest God.
"Yiran," Li Wei glanced at their tenth member, who was still shaking from the encounter. "Stay with the group. San, follow the trail. I'll meet you at the center of the storm."
With a sound like a thunderclap, Li Wei vanished.
The Chase and the Demon Spider
Li Wei wasn't running; he was Phasing. At 31% fusion, he could finally feel the gaps between the atoms of the trees. He didn't swerve around the massive oaks; he went through them. Each time he passed through an object, a burst of violet static was left behind.
But even at four hundred miles per hour, the forest was a labyrinth. His "Speed Mind" was working overtime, calculating the trajectory of the Giant Ape's leaps.
Suddenly, a massive, multicolored web blocked his path. It wasn't just a web; it was a trap of high-tensile, poisonous silk.
From the shadows emerged a Man-Faced Demon Spider. It was at least two thousand years old, its eight legs tipped with obsidian-sharp points, its back bearing the haunting visage of a human face. It was a killer of the forest, and it had scented the blood on Li Wei's smoking duster.
"I don't have time for a bug," Li Wei growled, his 20% Hemsworth bravado replaced by a cold, clinical efficiency.
The spider lunged, its legs moving like pistons. Li Wei didn't dodge. He activated his Third Spirit Ability: Molecular Phase.
The spider's leg passed straight through Li Wei's chest as if he were a ghost. The beast's eyes—all eight of them—widened in confusion. Li Wei reached out and grabbed the spider's main thorax. He didn't punch it. He began to vibrate his hand.
"Internal resonance is a bitch, isn't it?"
Li Wei's hand vibrated at the exact frequency of the spider's exoskeleton. Within two seconds, the spider didn't just die; it shattered. Its internal organs turned to liquid, and its shell cracked into a million pieces.
As the spider's spirit energy began to dissipate, Li Wei didn't stop to look. He felt a pull in his ring—the "Small Star" space was reacting to the proximity of the twins.
The Lake of Life
Deep in the heart of the forest, in a place where the air felt like pure spirit energy, Er Ming—the Titan Giant Ape—set the twins down.
Xiao Wu and Xiao Ling stood together, looking up at the massive creature. To anyone else, this was a death sentence. But Xiao Wu's expression was one of sorrow, not fear.
"Er Ming," she whispered. "You shouldn't have come. You've put everyone in danger."
Xiao Ling, the quieter of the two, looked at the horizon. She could feel the ozone in the air. She could feel the static electricity that always preceded him. "He's coming, sister. And he's not going to be happy."
Er Ming let out a soft huff, a sound that would have leveled a house, but here it was almost a purr. He nudged them toward the Lake of Life, sensing the danger approaching from the shadows—not from Li Wei, but from the deeper, darker parts of the forest that were stirred by his presence.
The Reunion
A sonic boom shattered the peace of the lake.
Li Wei skidded to a halt on the surface of the water, the violet lightning at his heels evaporating the liquid into a thick mist. He stood there, 6'7" of silver-haired fury, his Godspeed suit crackling with an intensity that made even Er Ming sit up straighter.
"Get. Away. From. Them," Li Wei commanded.
He didn't care that he was outmatched. He didn't care about the 100,000-year gap. He raised his fist, the air around it beginning to distort as he prepared an Infinite Mass Punch—or at least, the 31% version of one.
"Wei-ge, stop!" Xiao Ling screamed, running toward the edge of the lake.
Li Wei froze, his vibration slowing just enough to become solid again. "Ling? Are you hurt? Did he—"
"He's a friend!" Xiao Wu shouted, standing in front of the Ape's massive leg. "Wei-ge, please! He didn't hurt us. He was... he was saving us from something else."
Li Wei blinked, his white-hot eyes fading back to silver. He looked at the Titan Giant Ape, who was looking back at him with a strange, ancient curiosity. The Ape didn't see a human; it saw a flickering flame of the multiverse.
Li Wei lowered his hand, the violet lightning receding. He looked at the twins, then at his own trembling hands. The "Speed Force Syndicate" could buy empires, but it couldn't buy the relief he felt at seeing them safe.
"Fine," Li Wei panted, his 20% Hemsworth charm flickering back into existence like a dying bulb. "But if he wants to be friends, tell him he owes me a new duster. This one was custom-tailored."
He collapsed onto the grass, the 31% fusion finally taking its toll. He had traveled half the forest in minutes, phased through solid matter, and killed a Demon Spider.
"Chapter ten is going to be a long one," he muttered to the sky.
Current Status:
* Chapter Count: 10/100
* Team: Shrek Ten (Xiao Wu and Xiao Ling rescued).
* Level: 31 (Spirit Elder).
* Fusion: 31% (New Ability: Molecular Phase).
* Wealth: Still a billionaire, currently missing one expensive coat.