Editor: Junyans
Bai Jingan killed around six or seven pursuers—he couldn’t remember exactly how many—had been hit by two tranquilizer pellets, had a few ribs seemingly broken, and changed locations, all taking about half an hour.
He was now in a maintenance station on the way to the Lower City. In the darkness, the glow from numerous screens reflected on his face, making him appear fragile, like a specter condensed from the darkness—cold and eerie, as if poised to destroy everything.
On the hovering screen directly in front of him, there was an electronic watermark of the Ministry of Defense. The screen emitted a red light, resembling the eye of a beast gaping in the dark. Above it, the words “Annihilator Project” were written in a blood-red hue—these days, even the names of weapon projects were all styled after action films.
This was one of many projects that the Ministry of Defense had put on hold for many years. It was listed in the subcategory of “Siege Projects” and focused on the technology to destroy defensive networks.
There must be a large defensive force field where the bigwigs were. This thing was extremely expensive, but for them it was nothing. Bai Jingan thought that he must consider it.
The Weapons Department of the Floating Gold Group was all researching profitable projects such as genetic mutation. Arms dealers were obsessed with the development of small-scale individual weapons. Only the Ministry of Defense, which was about to be swept into the dust of history, would have such large-scale offensive weapons plans.
Sure enough, he found it immediately.
He went to check the catalog of weapons storage in the Seventh Service Department of Heaven’s Work Pavilion, unlocked the search program, and marked and annotated the inventory related to “Customized Autonomous Artillery Platform for the 190th Killing Show of the Floating Gold TV Station.”
He performed these series of actions with skill and precision, his movements as steady as if the numerous wounds on his body didn’t exist. His eyes were deep and bottomless, devoid of expression—a pair of hopeless eyes with little rays of light flickering and extinguishing in them. Deeper down, there was a ruthless desire to destroy everything.
Over the years, he had no personal life, and he would never love anyone again, but he always knew how to destroy.
When he had left the massacre and returned to the empty house in the Upper City… as he watched reality shows and documentaries, went grocery shopping, drove through the city and bridges, and gazed at this bustling world, only one thing occupied his mind: How to ruin it?
He abided by the law, never even committed a traffic violation, but he pondered over every loophole, weakness, force, and opportunity in this floating world to soothe the emptiness in his mind that could devour his soul at any moment. There, time was frozen forever, layers of decayed corpses piled up, his hometown… a hell with no warmth, no belonging, only silent darkness. It was an eternal hell of mourning and lamentation.
Under the sunshine in the upper city, Bai Jingan’s calm eyes were thinking about only one thing over and over unconsciously: How to destroy everything?!
He thought he didn’t really want to do anything, nor was it even possible. After all, he was a… rational person.
But now, without a second of hesitation, all the dark thoughts quickly gathered together and turned into an action plan.
In numerous floating screens, the Defense Department, Heaven’s Work Pavilion, Floating Gold Group’s Weapons Department, and private security companies, as well as the page of the God of Temple was lit up.
The God of War Temple’s website displayed astronomical numbers of logged in users, something unprecedented in the history of the upper city’s websites. He didn’t know who had built the God of War Temple, but it still stood firm at this level of refresh rate. It could also escape the media surveillance of the Floating Gold Group.
A live broadcast of the Guest Show was taking place there. This showed that more than one influential figure was involved.
The images on the Guest Show were the private properties on the tables of the powerful, strictly prohibited from being leaked. Once related codes were detected, the people involved would be severely punished. However, these people were evidently capable; they had cleared all monitoring codes. Although it was often transformed into text, it had never happened in the Upper City before.
Bai Jingan activated the filtering program; the God of War Temple was right behind him. He could hear the bustling discussions there. He needed to know the situation, but he couldn’t watch.
On the battlefield, he must maintain enough ruthlessness for clear judgment. He couldn’t afford any mistakes.
Obviously, Xia Tian had just killed someone five minutes ago. The comment section of the main hall was like a pot of boiling soup, overflowing and was about to explode.
“I uploaded the death scene, and there are two boats!” someone said.
“I can’t believe he can still kill in such a situation!” another person remarked.
“Only he can! Only he can! I’ve been saying he can destroy everything. There’s a fire of destruction burning in his bones. No matter what bigwigs—”
“I double-checked. Qi Dongying is indeed beyond rescue…”
“I just said, he won’t give in, he won’t die, he is Xia Tian!”
“Let’s be realistic. He’s in big trouble now! He can’t win, he knows it himself—”
“He will escape. No one has ever been able to trap him!”
“You don’t understand what the Guest Show is. He can’t get out,” someone said. “Do you want to know what Xia Tian sees when he comes out? It’s this!”
Without lifting his head, Bai Jingan retrieved the holographic image. It had taken him a lot of work to clear the monitoring code, but he needed it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Outside the cage, the sunlight was dazzling.
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The sky was a crystal-clear blue, and beneath the house stretched the ocean. Waves rhythmically lapped at the shore, occasionally revealing specks of white sails. They had indeed managed to create their own sea!
It was an island, with no exit and no floating shuttles in sight.
From the outside, the place where Xia Tian was being held was indeed a cage, golden and radiant in the sunlight but an impenetrable one where light couldn’t enter.
From the outside, every detail inside could be seen. The person who uploaded the image mentioned that each guest’s mask had a “deep viewing function,” allowing them to enlarge the parts they wanted to see or click on the home page to engage in discussions and vote on desired punishments.
In the holographic image, some highly stylized and elegant statues could be seen in the garden, each related to Xia Tian. This was a themed feast.
In the bright sunlight, it looked like a devil’s party, sending shivers down one’s spine.
Bai Jingan took a deep breath and accessed the website of the Ministry of Urban Development, contemplating everything he saw.
Size, location, weight distribution—
He could hear his own heartbeat clearly, each beat causing pain, accompanied by a dreadful hollow echo. His head still ached, his vision darkening at times. Sometimes he felt like he was still in the Lower City, searching for a way out in the darkness, once again… once again exerting all his effort to fight a battle he couldn’t win.
He reached into the bag beside him to find some energy potions.
In the small compartment, under his feet lay a pile of energy potions, nutritional supplements, and empty syringe bottles from some therapeutic injections. It looked like a pharmacy that had been ransacked.
He reached for the Death Type III stimulating potion. It was a bit too potent, but something he could manage.
He could endure one more injection until he found Xia Tian…
Once he found Xia Tian, everything would be okay.
He still didn’t look behind him.
Listening to the discussion of those people, he was aware that Xia Tian had left the premises. Turning around, Xia Tian apparently observed the massive cage and, with a single gunshot, appeared to have killed someone.
He injured three people, acquired another gun, and for some reason, headed straight for the control headquarters—no one could figure out how he knew. The broadcasters said many were startled. It was downright weird.
For a while, those people didn’t activate the control chip. They thought they could catch him—after all, he was alone, in the heavily fortified stronghold of the powerful—and diminish his edge.
Moreover, each of these people had a personal defense field. As long as they opened it in time, no one could hurt them.
Bai Jingan listened to the increasingly anxious discussion in the God of War Temple where curses were flying, and his heart sank as he realized that things were going from bad to worse.
Those people… ended up activating the punishment chip.
Perhaps Xia Tian, with victory right in sight, took a tumble into a pond filled with champagne. The pool was not deep, but he couldn’t move.
Someone pulled him out… he could only wait for someone to pull him out. He was an extremely powerful person, but with the chip activated, he was helpless. They just turned him into a plaything.
Some people erupted in angry curses, calling Qi Xiashang a bastard for licking the champagne off his body. Others expressed their disgust, saying they couldn’t stand it anymore.
Bai Jingan heard someone ask him where he was, and said that he must be thinking of ways to save Xia Tian.
Another person suggested that if Bai Jingan were smart, he should stay hidden. After all, he was a “guest,” and no one could rescue someone from such a place, not even pinpoint their location.
“There’s indeed no way to locate the place,” Bai Jingan heard someone say. “If you need it, the guest show is 300 kilometers south of the Third Satellite City, Bai Jingan.”
Bai Jingan quickly raised his hand to accurately locate the target.
In the guest show, a golden snake crawled out of the cage, which was over 200 meters long. It was likely there to give off a strange, terrifying, and extremely unnatural effect.
In the sun, it crawled over the stone slabs, grass, and the feet of the powerful like a golden stream. It wrapped around Xia Tian’s ankles and slowly dragged him back to the cage.
As if it was an exhibition, it dragged the God of War through every step of his escape route. The island was blooming with flowers, the aroma of fine wine filled the air, and the sun was sprinkling like snow.
Xia Tian couldn’t move at all. He could only helplessly watch the enormous custom-made cage reappear before his eyes as he was being dragged in inch by inch…
Bai Jingan couldn’t fathom what Xia Tian might be thinking at that moment.
He didn’t know what would happen next, and he absolutely couldn’t think about it.
He couldn’t look back.
His hands were shaking so badly for a while that he couldn’t control them, so he had no choice but to inject himself with a sedative again.
Amidst the chaotic curses, he heard the commotion quiet down, and someone asked, “What is that?”
“This is the ‘Brain Eater,’ the highest-level torture technology currently used in the Upper City,” someone said, “directly acting on the brain—”
Bai Jingan’s hand trembled again. He heard someone say, “They can’t do this, they—”
In that moment, he heard a burst of the most vicious curses directed at the hotshots of the Upper City from behind. Things were being smashed, and some people were crying.
But all that anger, crying, and hysteria slowly faded away, and the God of War Temple turned into a terrifying silence. It was as if some black substance had seized the entire world, and the lights seemed to dim, huddling together. He could hear every breath, and it took all his strength to find air.
Bai Jingaan involuntarily strained to listen, yet still, no one spoke.
Finally, he heard someone speak, saying, “He can’t scream anymore.”
Bai Jingan stared intently at the pile of plans and blueprints in front of him.
The silence behind him continued for a long time—he couldn’t help but look, it had been twenty minutes—the number of people who had logged into the God of War Temple was astronomical, but no one spoke.
A string in his heart kept tightening, becoming increasingly tense. The entire world seemed to shake, ready to collapse with the snap of the string.
Yet, he continued planning the blueprints. His hands were still quivering, but he didn’t make any mistakes. These were the design blueprints of the specific three-cylinder floating engines and their supplementary details. They were very detailed and were intended for engineering use.
These things were hard to come by, but if you had the highest authority from the Ministry of Urban Development, all you needed to do was type a name to begin the search.
This was the highest authority in urban development for this city.
Outside the van, there was a deathly silence, and the darkness was so thick it resembled a gelatinous substance that could envelop and devour all light. However, inside the vehicle, hundreds of floating screens converged around Bai Jingan, creating a busy and tense atmosphere.
Bai Jingan swiftly reviewed the plans, made adjustments, and refined anything that wasn’t perfect. The white glow of the blueprints burned in his eyes. What he was about to initiate was likely not a small-scale attack but rather an investment approaching the standards of a war.
Behind him, in the God of War Temple, there was still a deathly silence, as if the entire Upper City was burning and boiling in this silence.
The screen closest to Bai Jingan was the login homepage of Xia Tian in the God of War Temple. In the portrait column, the young God of War was wearing a handsome formal suit and smiling proudly and brightly.
The offerings on his golden plate had piled up like mountains in these brief twenty minutes.
Bai Jingan stood there. The hall was quite empty, and the lighting was dim. Outside light struggled to penetrate the thick stone walls, illuminating small areas in the darkness. It appeared pure yet extremely thin.
Unlike the astronomical number of login users, the holographic state of the God of War Temple always seemed to come from an era long forgotten by people, temporarily pausing here amidst a history littered with skeletons. It had experienced countless despair, madness, and unforgivable acts leading to wars, and there would still be countless wars in the future.
Today, it seemed the fire of the God of War was igniting once again.
Bai Jingan looked at the countless weapons laid out before him.
Silver-gray short knives engraved with the Ministry of Defense emblem, Floating Gold’s silver plates, Iceberg Private Security’s long sword, a pendant from Starlight Studio, Heaven’s Work Pavilion’s mechanical model, and the heavy artillery-like gun of the Ministry of Defense…
The hall was dark, making it difficult to see clearly. Only a faint sunlight gathered on the weapons, creating a suppressed and gloomy atmosphere, like molten lava surging beneath pitch-black stones, occasionally lighting up with a strange and aggressive red.
Direct access rights to the Tianxing 3 and H30 satellites, access rights to the D-series weapons depot of the Ministry of Defense, top-secret level query rights to the Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, monitoring rights to the Floating Gold Group headquarters, and unrestricted unlocking rights to the Heaven’s Work Pavilion Weapons Department…
The sacrifices had been offered and left for the God of War to use.
Bai Jingan stared at them, his eyes filled with darkness and the vision of destruction.
Countless gates to the high-end military power of the Upper City had swung open to him.
Bai Jingan had made all the preparations, knew the required passwords, understood the program functions, and calculated the attack equivalent.
The next step was to leave this place. Some things required on-site preparation.
The temple was still silent, but then he heard someone crying.
He froze for three seconds before turning to look.
The house where Xia Tian was imprisoned had completely turned into a cage even from the inside, only enough for the prisoner to see the clear blue sky and bright sunshine outside.
The iron frame of the torture rack entwined around the cage like thorns, with a part of it turning into an instrument, flashing with red and golden light.
Xia Tian’s body was pulled apart and bitten by the torture rack. His contours were stretched tightly, as if they would break if touched. Several of the tips pierced into his skull, as if penetrating into the bones and touching the brain. Emitting a frightening red light, this monstrosity, the culmination of Upper City torture technology, was now in operation, its maw turned inwards.
Xia Tian opened his lips but made no sound. His pupils were wide open, devoid of consciousness, only filled with pure agony. His right eye was bloodshot, and blood continuously flowed from his ears. The power shattered him from the inside, turning the once mighty and powerful individual into a small, bloody wreck who was being devoured alive.
He had been crying continuously, tears streaming down uncontrollably, his consciousness already lost.
The restraint finally loosened, and Xia Tian fell straight down.
He was a person filled with strength in every movement, carrying inherent lightness, coordination, and elegance. However, when he fell, he lacked even the most basic protective reflexes.
He fell to the ground motionless, and several snakes crawled over, biting his ankles, arms and neck, and injecting him with drugs.
The light continued to shine stubbornly on Xia Tian. Against the backdrop of the most depraved feasting and taming of the Upper City bigwigs, it really looked like sunlight had spontaneously gathered at something resembling a holy site.
The narrator began speaking, using some very explicit terms to describe Xia Tian’s reactions, before saying, “It’s time for the God of War to reflect.”
The medicine was very powerful. Bai Jingaan saw Xia Tian’s fingertips twitch. With the strength he had just regained, Xia Tian slowly curled up his body.
The light shone on Xia Tian. His eyes were very quiet, just looking at the carpet, as if he was looking at some distant place through the fabric.
Just yesterday he’d been sitting beside Xia Tian who had been describing an explosion to him, the man’s eyes full of smiles and a honey-like color.
At this moment, his vacant eyes were wide open, reflecting the metallic cage and the masked clients with smiles…
Xia Tian quietly lay in the sun, his pupils dilated.
The video ended.
Bai Jingan stared blankly for quite a while. The feeling was strange; the entire world around him started becoming surreal and blurry. All the light, shadows, sounds, and matter dissipated, and he descended into the darkness.
He had never moved. He had always been in a dark and corrupt hell where all the radiance in the world had vanished, forever a pitch-black place where light was impossible.
For a few seconds, he sat there, momentarily unsure of where he was or what he was supposed to do.
He heard the uploader hastily say, “Rescuing him!”
Bai Jingan’s throat seemed to be blocked by something. It was a large mass of stuff that had accumulated in his body a long time ago. It was dark and bloody, and it was enough to destroy him. He had to suppress it—
He still had to find Xia Tian. He would surely locate him and bring him back home, just as they agreed—
After a while, he heard the person saying, “Rescued him, the medical team says not to touch him anymore… Pause for two hours, and further decisions will be based on the recovery situation.”
Bai Jingan sat for a while, then fumbled for the medical bag and grabbed another injection.
He needed to stay calm, he needed to be calm. Ths was not the first time he had hallucinated. It was just an effect of excessive medication. He was always like this; his brain couldn’t be relied upon, the doctor had said…
But now wasn’t the time for slipping up. He had to stay calm, he had to be clear-headed. He couldn’t afford any mistakes—
His hands were shaking badly, but he quickly gained control.
He opened the van door, walked towards the driver’s seat, and started the van.
The car turned a corner and drove onto the highway. The darkness receded behind it, and the white lights ahead could be seen in the distance.
He was going to find Xia Tian.
I hope he can save him..😢