“Does it really not work without the ‘Laser Rain’ soundtrack?” Finn stared at him in surprise. “That’s a pretty strict condition for activating your ability.”
“Uh… Why don’t you check your phone and see if you’ve got the song ‘Laser Rain’?” Jimmy scratched his head.
No way my phone has that song, Finn thought, inwardly shaking his head. I’m into symphonic metal. My taste is way too refined and underground for this kind of cheesy mainstream pop.
Even so, Finn still opened his music folder and searched for “Laser Rain,” ready to prove it to Jimmy right then and there.
The results popped up instantly, and there it was—Laser Rain sitting right in the list.
Jimmy leaned over, eyes lighting up. “Whoa, Bro, you’re into street dance too?”
Finn: “…”
“Cough, I must’ve just downloaded it by accident back when I was grabbing a bunch of tracks.” Finn honestly couldn’t remember when he’d ever added that song to his library.
Up on the rooftop of the squat two-story building, the sunlight felt warm and gentle. Finn tapped play and cranked the phone volume all the way up. The explosive, surging beat blasted out, restless notes pounding through the air.
To the pounding, high-energy track, Jimmy struck a flashy hand pose and started dancing with a weird, rhythmic twitch—head, arms, waist, legs all twisting and popping in perfect sync.
His hands spun out afterimages, weaving illusions in the air. His steps were light, bursting with energy, the rhythm fierce and unstoppable.
He was basically the spirit of youth itself, the coolest thing in the whole damn era, an elf dancing in the sunlight. Finn was straight-up stunned.
Below the squat building, the Demon Gang members who had been hanging out in the courtyard all heard the wild, pounding music. They crowded together, staring up at Jimmy dancing on the rooftop with curious looks.
These Demon Gang guys with their red-and-green hair clutched all kinds of weapons—everything from heavy-duty firearms to rotary grenade launchers and rocket launchers.
Any one of them could have pulled the trigger and blown Jimmy into a red mist in a heartbeat, but none of them did. Instead, they watched him dance and tossed out whatever crude comments came to mind.
“These two idiots for real? Coming here just to dance?”
“Holy shit, what the hell kind of dance is that?!”
“Gotta admit, this song’s pretty hype… I’m starting to feel it too…”
“Hey, come check out these dumbasses dancing, hahahahaha!”
“I get it now—he’s doing street dance!”
Suddenly, dark clouds rolled across the clear sky, blocking out the sunlight and casting broad shadows across the ground. The Demon Gang members downstairs didn’t notice a thing; they kept craning their necks to watch Jimmy’s performance.
The thick clouds tore open, and a storm of rainbow-colored laser beams poured down like violent rain, stabbing straight into the earth! The sky had unleashed Laser Rain!
The savage beams slammed into the Demon Gang members’ heads, punching through their foreheads, ripping through their arms and cheeks, and burning out their eyes.
It was like ten thousand steel needles shredding their bodies at high speed. Every single one of them started bleeding from their noses and mouths, collapsing in heaps. Their skin was covered in charred black spots from the lasers. Some of the weapons got hit too, superheating and exploding in chain reactions.
Finn stood on the rooftop, looking down at the gruesome scene below. He couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath. “Other people dance for money… but you dance for lives, man!”
Jimmy slumped to the ground, gasping for air, sweat pouring down his forehead. Activating his ability just now had clearly sucked most of the strength right out of his body.
“Let’s go collect the loot,” Finn said, leaping down from the two-story building. He waited three full minutes before Jimmy finally dragged himself down the stairs. The guy’s face was ghostly pale, looking totally drained and wrecked.
The two of them stepped into the Demon Gang’s outpost and started tearing through boxes and cabinets. They dug up a pile of brass bullets, three grenade launchers, and a few bottles of second-grade purified water. Unfortunately, none of it was worth anything to Finn.
What Finn really wanted were things that would actually sell in other worlds too—like unique animal samples, finely crafted artifacts, rare mineral elements, and stuff like that.
The mutant powers in this wasteland were definitely worth digging into. Finn had thought about collecting some genetic samples for research. Plenty of scientists out there were obsessed with gene-based abilities.
But if the power was too ordinary, there wasn’t much to study. In the Endless Worlds, all kinds of freaks and superhumans were everywhere. Plus, because the rules of each world were different, something that worked perfectly here might be completely useless somewhere else.
Luckily, the physical and mathematical laws in a lot of worlds were pretty similar, almost like twin brothers. That was probably why—only worlds with similar, life-friendly rules, ones actually fit for life to survive, could birth intelligent beings and get properly developed.
Celestial Sojourners preferred heading to worlds that already had tons of data and huge populations of native residents. Those places were way safer, and jumping back and forth between them wouldn’t risk everything falling apart from sudden shifts in the basic rules.
Humans—or rather, humanoid races—were the most adaptable creatures in the Endless Worlds. Think about it: if a world was all ocean, humans could slap on diving suits and plunge straight into the depths. If a world was nothing but sky, humans could build airplanes and soar through the clouds.
And people like Finn, who strengthened their own inner power without relying on external stuff, were even more of a hot commodity among Celestial Sojourners.
“Relying on external stuff” meant depending on a world’s specific rules—like fish that couldn’t survive without water, or birds that couldn’t fly without wind.
For example, mages from certain worlds would go completely blank if their mana or magic network vanished; they wouldn’t be able to cast a single spell. Cultivators from other worlds couldn’t train at all without spiritual qi, to the point where they had to wait for a spiritual qi revival just to get started again.
They were like freshwater fish dumped into a vast ocean—they’d dehydrate and die. Or deep-sea fish yanked into shallow water, bursting apart from the sudden pressure change.
Creatures that fragile could never hop between worlds and rule the heavens.
But the Fire Profound Divine Art that Finn cultivated could refine anything and everything into his own power. Any kind of energy could fuel his training. Countless people envied him for it. Finn had even tried sharing his technique with others before, but he discovered none of them could practice it.
That was the part that puzzled Finn the most. So while he roamed the Endless Worlds strengthening himself, his other goal was to track down the creator of the Fire Profound Divine Art—the one known as Venerable Flame Spirit.
They ransacked the entire outpost from top to bottom. Finn found two gold watches and five or six hundred bucks. He stuffed the loot into his pockets without a second thought, then discovered something from the Radiant Path—twenty Relic Marrow Bullets and five “Holy Light” grenades.
The tips of the Relic Marrow Bullets were made of strange blue stones, harder than any metal and glowing with a soft blue light. The moment Finn touched one, he felt a unique surge of energy. The “Holy Light” grenades gave off the exact same vibe.
The energy was pure and crystal-clear. Finn couldn’t tell what type it was, but… it was perfect for cultivation.
Without wasting another second, Finn dropped into a cross-legged position, struck his cultivation pose, and ten Relic Marrow Bullets floated up from his palm. They spun slowly in the air, looking downright mystical. Thin threads of energy were drawn out from the glowing blue tips, refined into Profound Energy, and poured straight into Finn’s dantian(energy center
/core reservoir).
Jimmy stood off to the side, clutching an assault rifle. When he saw what Finn was doing, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Bro… are you seriously refining bullets right now?!”
Finn didn’t even glance at him. After he finished draining the bullets, he picked up one of the grenades, held it in his palm, and started cultivating again.
Jimmy looked even more lost. He stammered, “You’re… you’re refining grenades now?!”
Finn kept his eyes shut and ignored him. Two or three minutes later, he finished his session and opened his eyes. Jimmy was standing there respectfully, holding out an anti-tank missile with both hands like it was some sacred treasure.
“Refine this one, Bro,” Jimmy said eagerly. “This thing’s got some real kick to it.”