Zhong Li stood in the back, but he wasn't recording anything this time.
Lu Ye walked over: "Why no log?"
Zhong Li looked at the ground, his voice low: "Em, I'm… I'm tired of just logging."
Lu Ye: "You wanna jump in?"
Zhong Li: "I don't want to be the guy on the sidelines anymore." "I want to actually… fight."
Lu Ye didn't say a word. He just gave a nod.
Lu Ye walked over, reached down, and picked up the enemy's Crystal Core, feeling a slight hum in his palm.
He didn't study it. He just turned and walked toward Zhong Li.
"You're up." Lu Ye held out the core.
Zhong Li froze for a second, his eyes showing hesitation mixed with raw craving.
"Can I really do this?"
"You can." Lu Ye's tone was level. "It's time for you to get in the game."
Zhong Li took the core, his hands shaking slightly. He didn't say thanks, just nodded, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and started absorbing.
Energy rushed into him like a flood. Zhong Li's body convulsed violently. His left eye started burning, followed by blinding pain.
He let out a deep groan, and his left eye exploded, blood spurting out.
Everyone was shocked, but nobody moved closer. They knew this wasn't death; it was a total overhaul.
The blood hung suspended in the air, then was consumed by the raw energy. In Zhong Li's empty socket, a swirl of silvery-gray light slowly condensed, as if some unknown structure was rebuilding itself.
The new eye was born.
The pupil was pitch black, the iris silvery-gray, and a dragon-like pattern emerged in the center. The lines looked carved, stationary yet seeming to undulate slowly. The moment he activated it, his eyelashes crystallized into star-like points, complex geometric sigils surfaced on the eyeball, and bloody tears traced down his cheek—only to dissipate mid-air, turning into miniature, spinning galaxies before fading.
The old eye didn't even hit the ground; it had already turned to ash.
Zhong Li opened both eyes and stood up, his presence washing over them like a tide. He didn't speak, but everyone felt the sheer pressure.
"Tier 7," Zhao Yang whispered.
"Straight to Tier 7." Chen Mo watched him, his expression complicated.
"Did you enter the Ability Space too?" Lu Ye asked.
Zhong Li nodded: "I picked one that… fits me."
He wasn't showing off; he was just stating the facts about his ability.
"The Eye of All Forms," he said softly.
He lifted his left hand and pointed at a piece of debris far away. The new eye pulsed faintly, the eyelashes crystallized again, the geometric patterns flared, and a low-frequency vibration hummed in the air.
"The main power: Heaven's Cage," Zhong Li continued. "Stare for three seconds, and the target enters a 'simultaneously dead and alive' quantum state. Their energy signature goes haywire, and they self-destruct in a rampage."
"What's the catch?" Lu Ye asked.
"Must maintain a steady line of sight and full psychic concentration. And it's strictly single-target," Zhong Li explained. "It's useless in a chaotic brawl, but perfect for a finisher."
Zhao Yang inhaled sharply: "That ability… that is brutal."
"Looks like we got ourselves a precision assassin. Serious firepower," Lin Lan commented.
"I also got a secondary ability," Zhong Li added. "My original full-spectrum playback has been upgraded."
"Now, I can see the precursors of a target's actions." He paused. "For example—why he showed up here, and exactly what he did before."
Hu Hao raised an eyebrow: "Causality tracing?"
Zhong Li affirmed with a nod.
No one spoke. But they all understood: this was now the strongest ability on the team.
Lu Ye looked around at them and suddenly spoke up: "We should name our squad."
Zhao Yang: "A name for what?"
Lu Ye: "In case this name someday echoes across the whole world." "Or even the whole cosmos."
Chen Mo laughed: "Dreaming big, huh? The cosmos?"
"Who knows," Lu Ye replied casually.
They were silent for a moment.
Zhong Li quietly suggested: "Ashen Pathfinders."
Zhao Yang: "What does that even mean?"
"We walked out of the ruins," Zhong Li looked toward the distance. "And we can walk to places even further than that."
Chen Mo nodded: "Sounds like a solid team name."
"Alright, it's settled then," Lu Ye said.
They didn't cheer. They just exchanged looks and grinned.
The wind swept through the mine site, the dust unsettled. But they finally had a name.