At this very moment, deep within the Hollow...
On an empty street, a tall and slender young man, his features strikingly handsome, walked along the main road of Twelve Street. In his hand, he gripped a golden spear, his gaze constantly shifting as he surveyed his surroundings.
This young man was Sam Li.
Just moments ago, when he was swallowed by the Hollow, he had instantly realized that he had stepped into a bizarre and unfamiliar space.
The rules here were vastly different from the outside world.
A strange substance filled the air, capable of invading one's body, eroding both mind and flesh, and inflicting severe damage.
Had it not been for Sam Li's elemental protection, that substance would have seeped into him the moment he entered the Hollow.
He came to a halt, glancing around at the surrounding buildings, which looked oddly familiar. A hint of confusion and curiosity flickered in his eyes.
"Wait… I've been here before? Did I get lost?"
He had been walking straight down the street, yet strangely, after all this time, he had somehow circled back to where he started.
Sam Li was certain—he had never deviated from a straight path.
Pausing to think, he quickly realized the problem.
This Hollow wasn't just filled with a corrosive substance—it was also spatially unstable. Unlike the outside world, where space was fixed and orderly, this place was in a constant state of chaos and distortion.
No wonder the people outside were so terrified of it.
"System, can you mark the birdcage's location again?"
[Ding! System prompt: Task target—birdcage—has been successfully marked.]
[System prompt: 40 minutes remaining until mission failure (Total mission time: 1 hour). Please complete the task as soon as possible.]
As soon as the message appeared, a new marker indicating the birdcage's position materialized in Sam Li's vision.
"Just as I suspected—the chaotic streets have distorted, shifting the birdcage's location as well."
In other words, within this Hollow, space itself was constantly changing.
One second, the birdcage was right in front of him.
The next, it could be off to the left.
No matter how Sam Li moved or how precisely he used the system's tracking, he couldn't directly reach the birdcage's location.
Sure enough, this mission wasn't as simple as it seemed.
Instead of panicking, Sam Li fell into deep thought.
If Zhongli himself encountered this situation, how would he solve it?
Give up on the search?
Ask the Traveler for help?
No—there was no way such a problem could stump a god.
"My greatest strength right now is my mastery of Geo… and the ground beneath me is full of stone."
Sam Li knew exactly what to do.
Lifting one foot, he lightly tapped the ground, channeling a portion of his Geo energy into the earth.
Immediately—
The entire area, including the ground, buildings, and scattered stones, mapped itself out clearly in his mind.
Like an intricate topographical blueprint, it displayed every structure, every rock, and even the precise position of street signs.
More importantly—
As long as the Geo energy he had infused into the ground remained, no matter how the Hollow distorted or reshaped itself, the Geo traces would shift along with it, keeping his mental map continuously updated in real time.
It was like having a navigation system, guiding him through the ever-changing labyrinth.
"Just as I thought—Geo is truly an amazing thing."
The moment those words left his lips—
The mental map in his mind suddenly cracked, fine fissures spreading through it. Certain areas warped into looping pathways resembling a maze, while others shattered like broken glass, only to reassemble into a new, chaotic landscape.
As expected, space had shifted once again.
But this time, with the guidance of his Geo element, he wouldn't lose his way.
Following the path dictated by the shifting terrain, Sam Li advanced carefully, all the while keeping an eye on the Hollow's erratic changes.
He quickly noticed that these distortions had no discernible pattern.
Sometimes, minutes would pass before a change occurred. Other times, space would shift multiple times within a single second, catching him off guard. Some transformations were drastic, others so minor they were nearly imperceptible.
If he hadn't marked the terrain in advance with his Geo element, even while playing the role of Zhongli, he might have struggled to determine whether he was moving in the right direction.
Suddenly— With a loud bang, a chair crashed through a window above and plummeted onto the street right in front of Sam Li.
"Ah—no—don't turn me into a monster...!"
A hoarse, pain-filled voice echoed from upstairs, followed by the sound of frantic struggling and destruction.
Then, a middle-aged man tumbled down from the upper floor, landing in a twisted heap before Sam Li. His body was covered in strange crystalline growths—his arms, shoulders, and back were riddled with them. His face, contorted in agony, barely resembled a human expression.
His body lay broken from the fall, yet somehow, in a grotesque, unnatural motion, he forced himself back onto his feet.
Writhing in agony, he let out a guttural moan as he staggered toward Sam Li.
"Help—help me... I don't want to turn into a monster..."
As he lurched forward, the crystalline growths spread rapidly, engulfing his chest and back.
Then, just a few steps later, his face twisted unnaturally—like a swirling black vortex, it devoured his features before consuming the rest of his body.
The surrounding energy surged wildly, converging in a frenzied storm.
With a deafening boom, a violent explosion erupted from the man's body, sending nearby trash cans flying.
When the dust settled, the man was gone—what stood in his place was a monstrous being.
"It corrodes the human body just like the remnants of an Archon's power... but it's different."
Sam Li studied the creature with curiosity, trying to decipher the nature of the crystalline energy—how it had transformed a human so quickly into something inhuman.
Before he could come to a conclusion, the monster leapt into the air, raising a jagged blade formed entirely of black crystals.
It swung down at him.
Sam Li furrowed his brow, gripping his spear tightly.
"I've been looking for a target to test my skills on… Let's see how powerful the Vortex Vanquisher really is."
With that, he raised his weapon.
In an instant, the golden spear clashed against the crystal blade.
Boom!
The force of the impact shattered the monster's weapon, sending black crystal shards scattering across the ground.