Warning: This chapter contains potentially disturbing content. Read at your own risk.
Editor: Junyans
When the accident happened, Xia Tian was being dragged to the torture rack again because of lack of cooperation.
Before that accident, a certain “Mr. Dong” had intended to “feed” him. This person was tall and slender, like a stretched human figure. His eyes had vertical pupils, and there was something in his demeanor that didn’t look like a human.
Mr. Dong pinched open his jaw—Xia Tian was horrified to find that he had six fingers, an extra joint compared to normal, and they were long and nimble, resembling claws—and put something like a red candy ball into his mouth.
In an instant, Xia Tian felt like his scalp had exploded, as if he had swallowed a piece of charcoal. He struggled so hard that he choked and burst into tears. The other person pushed his fingers deeper with interest and played with his tongue.
Xia Tian bit his finger, and the person smiled at him disgustingly, as if he were an unruly pet.
Mr. Dong had fed Xia Tian three types of “food” so far, and every one of them had been a nightmare. Then, Xia Tian had been told to choose a type for himself to “eat” and verbally request, “Master, please feed me.” Xia Tian glared at him without uttering a word, and those people then dragged him onto the torture rack.
Mr. Dong specifically requested the use of the “Brain Eater,” stating that the “death scene” from it was just too gorgeous and that the “stillness of the remains” aesthetic was especially goddamn unforgettable.
The spikes on the torture rack once again shimmered with eerie red light. They touched his temple and pierced in before getting stuck. Xia Tian shivered.
At that moment, he suddenly realized something—Mr. Dong must have paid for this.
In this parlor game of gold and sex played by the assembled gods of the Upper City, money and desire were caught and thrown like knives. Whoever contributed money could come into the cage and “play” with him for a while. You could play however you wanted.
The next moment, the machine drilled into his skull, yanked out his soul, and tossed it into boiling water. There, it simmered eternally, denied the solace of death or even the mercy of unconsciousness. Agony immediately engulfed him. It was a kind of torment you could never get rid of. Once experienced, it would remain forever in your soul, screaming.
Xia Tian cried out, and Mr. Dong stared at him intently, eyes unblinking, as if appreciating an extremely crucial scene.
For a moment, Xia Tian lost consciousness. When he woke up again, he was still on the torture rack, his clothes drenched in sweat. A snake injected him with a few syringes.
“Your Excellency, the God of War, you must understand,” the narrator said coldly, “You will eat whatever we ask you to eat, and you will shout however we ask you to. Now, open your mouth and let the ‘master’ feed you.”
Xia Tian glared at the cage, gritting his teeth.
The other party sneered. “Great—”
He didn’t finish speaking, as if he had encountered some unexpected situation.
Xia Tian knew what had happened; he saw it too.
The sky was on fire.
It started from the west.
It was as if the sky was bleeding heavily. Starting from the western region and spreading rapidly like an infectious disease, in less than a minute, the entire land was dyed red.
Xia Tian heard the narrator ask, “What’s happening?” He turned his head, and outside the cage, the guests with exquisite masks and well-dressed attire were in a commotion. Some started making calls to inquire, others went to check on floating shuttles, but most of them just leisurely stared at the crimson sky as if it were a rare beautiful spectacle.
At this moment, the ground violently lurched, and the entire land seemed to sink downwards.
Someone screamed outside, and panic finally spread like a dark wildfire.
In these few seconds, on the west side of this massive white castle, the sky was so red that it had turned dark, and it looked like pustules had started to grow on it. The clouds were soaked with the color of blood, much darker and redder than the clouds one would see in the Upper City during sunrises and sunsets, and they piled on top of each other like blood clotting in the sky.
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.
Cgbecv Wlj Kljc, atf mjuf abbx bc clutawjglrt tefr—atbeut atf iluta mjra eqbc tlw gfwjlcfv rjmgfv jcv qegf. Ktfgf kjr j afggloslcu ecgbiilcu jcv rqgfjvlcu bo gfv, jcv lc atf mbgcfg, j yijmx ilxf mbjueijafv mtecxr bo yibbv yelia eq, rkfiilcu, rkjiibklcu jii ilof.
Pa kjr jr lo atfs kfgf cb ibcufg bc atf oibjalcu mlas ecvfg reccs rxlfr jcv ktlaf mibevr yea ja atf ybaabw bo j yibbvs rfj bo tfii. Obbxlcu eq, sbe mbeiv rff mierafgr bo rfgqfca-ilxf gfv ilutaclcu, ilxf wjuubar lc mjgglbc, ujatfglcu lc atf yibbvs rfj bo atf rxs.
Xia Tian knew that those were the external defensive force fields of the Floating World Paradise resisting external threats.
The moment he saw it, Xia Tian knew what it was—it was the prototype of the Annihilator breaking down the force field.
The Annihilator was a project developed by the Ministry of Defense specifically for large-scale defense networks, but it had been terminated just before its public announcement. Bai Jingan had mentioned it to him. He seemed to cherish such information.
At that moment, the floating behemoth beneath their feet trembled again, the “sea” emitting a sharp roar, casting a blood-red hue in the sky. The waves surged directly towards the white castle, creating a scene reminiscent of the apocalypse.
The “snake” had been silent since a while ago; the controller must have long since slipped away.
Xia Tian laughed.
He opened his arms, as if embracing the destruction.
Bai Jingan was here.
“Mr. Dong” approached him.
Locked in the cage all this time, except for the initial glance at the sky, he had been staring fixedly at Xia Tian. His eyes still carried a sinister and twisted excitement, unstoppable even in the face of world destruction.
He licked his lower lip. His tongue was bright red, with black and light pink markings on it. It looked like he was hiding a strange and eerie monster inside his body.
Suddenly, ignoring the surroundings, he laughed before addressing Xia Tian, “Your Excellency, the God of War, you know, they want to keep you as the ‘God of War’ even after chaining you. But I want to see something else.”
He took a step towards Xia Tian.
“I’ll just implant something, and it’ll be done,” he said.
Xia Tian felt his hair stand on end.
Meanwhile, the roaring of the sea outside turned into a thunderous sound, almost drowning out human speech. The seawater, as graceful as an oil painting, was irritated and pounced high into the sky. The waves were like blood under the sky.
The sea transformed into a monster, attempting to surge onto the islands and devour the living.
The sky turned a visceral black and red, and the pristine clouds almost turned pure black, pressing into the sky one by one.
Facing Xia Tian, Mr. Dong grinned. He hadn’t noticed it when just looking at his face, but when he smiled, it looked as if a knife had cut too wide of a gap in the mask.
A modified human. Different from the genetic mutation of the body, some elites in the upper echelons were trying to use cutting-edge technology to invasively modify the brain. Due to its significant impact on the body, only a few privileged individuals delved into this experimental technology. Xia Tian was witnessing it for the first time.
“I will do some reprogramming on you.” The man said, “The soul can also decay and wither, Your Excellency, the God of War. The dividing line between a proud being and a primitive creature only capable of wriggling and mating is nothing more than a small biological chip.”
He maintained that terrifying smile.
“It won’t be long before you even remember how to walk upright,” he said.
Meanwhile, the defense force field enveloping this paradise shattered.
Behind Mr. Dong’s contorted face, Xia Tian could see the blood-red sky cracking and disintegrating before turning into black-red snowflakes that floated down gently. Illuminated by the castle’s sensor lights, they looked like silently falling fire. Upon landing, they ignited cold flames.
Then the pure sky emerged, the Milky Way spanning across the vast skies.
There was no sunlight, and darkness shrouded the surroundings. It turned out the Floating City was in the late hours of the night, on the brink of dawn.
“I’ll implant it through the oral cavity, might sting a bit,” Mr. Dong said, “but don’t worry, once you’re tamed…”
He finally stopped and turned his head. There was an explosion not far away, brightening the sky before piercing into the cage where the God of War was held, momentarily making the darkness even darker and the light more glaring.
Following that were a series of artillery shots that shook the earth and intense brightness. Beneath the sky, a group of bird-like things flew by, emitting a buzzing sound and shooting something.
In an instant, flashes of energy cannons illuminated the Floating World Paradise, and the personal defense forces of the elites outside flickered chaotically. Feather masks were scattered everywhere, and everyone was shouting.
In the arena of the Killing Show, such scenes were not uncommon, but they had never occurred at an elegant feast. The human world had enjoyed peace for a long time.
“Ah, the Autonomous Mechanical Corps,” Mr. Dong said, “the Upper City indeed has everything. Your friend spared no expense to rescue you.”
He turned away, no longer concerned with the scenes of war and crisis, walked up to Xia Tian, and extended his tongue.
The thing was long and pointed like a snake, with a dark red light gathering at the tip of the tongue, resembling highly corrupted flesh or a faint glimmer of evil magic.
Xia Tian desperately tried to move backward as the tongue leisurely licked through his hair, eyes, jaw, and lips, like he was tasting a big meal. Then he gripped his chin, forcing him to open his mouth.
The creature’s face exuded joy, its desires illuminating him from within. Under the firelight, that face seemed to be decaying, fervently trying to drag everyone into decay.
Simultaneously, Xia Tian broke a bone in his finger, finally pulling his right hand free.
He had been trying to extricate himself from the torture rack since the moment he had woken up, and now it finally worked.
The nanoweapons left by Minkov Jr. gathered at his fingertips. Within three seconds, a gun appeared in his hand. The moment the gun took shape, he aimed it at the aberrant jaw.
His marksmanship was precise, unaffected even in this situation. The bullet accurately entered Mr. Dong’s left jaw, penetrated into the brain, took the shape of shards, emitted a muffled sound, and exited from the right side.
Warm blood splattered on Xia Tian’s body, and Mr. Dong surprisingly hadn’t died yet. He swayed for a moment, his congested, bloodshot eyes widening as he stared at Xia Tian like an extremely hungry zombie.
Xia Tian shot him in the forehead again.
Brain matter scattered, mixed with circuits and chips, the faint light on the tip of the tongue still flickering stubbornly. Xia Tian fired the third shot.
His entire body was trembling, but under the barrel of the gun, all the light of that monster’s life, lust, and malice solidified, then dissipated, and death arrived.
Regardless of Mr. Dong’s wealth, his ability to ruin people, and his desires, the gun proved effective. He, too, was mortal.
Xia Tian stared for a while, the trembling feeling was still in his stomach, cold and vicious, making him nauseous.
He turned his head and continued to remove himself from the torture rack again.
Bai Jingan wouldn’t like to see him in this state.
When Bai Jingan soared up to the surface in the floating shuttle, no one noticed him.
The place had turned into a battlefield, with artillery, gunfire, and bombs everywhere.
Three hours ago, he had relocated the Autonomous Mechanical Corps from two workshops of the Heaven’s Work Pavilion, sending them to the Ninth Satellite City via Tianda’s self-service logistics vehicles.
Ten minutes ago, the vehicle carrying this army was traversing the underground expressway on the west side of the Floating World Paradise, which was the shortest distance in a straight line. They followed preset instructions, leaving the warehouse armed with rifles and cannons, rushing feverishly toward the target. All roadblocks allowed them to pass.
If they encountered any obstacles, they executed them immediately.
They would arrive at the moment the defensive shield is broken and would kill most of the living creatures here indiscriminately.
And at that moment, the engineering structure of the Floating World Paradise’s ground would collapse, becoming a heap of debris before plummeting towards the surface.
Amidst a variety of weapons, scraps, termination projects, engineering flaws, automation and scope of authority in the Upper City, Bai Jingan had precisely located the fuse of destruction.
He calculated every detail, down to every second, allowing no room for error. And with maximum efficiency and ruthlessness, he commenced the execution.
And indeed, he had made no mistakes.
All the buried fuses of destruction erupted at this moment. The ground was in chaos, and fires were everywhere. Bird-shaped drones, scorpion-like cannons, electric whips, combined artillery, and various small-scale machinery could be seen every which way. Each of them was a meticulously planned ensemble by the organizers of the Killing Show to kill the participants in creative ways.
Meanwhile, the ground tremors grew stronger and stronger, and the colossal beast let out its final lament. For a moment, a jolt of weightlessness swept through everyone as the beast started to fall. It shuddered, trying to right itself, before tipping slowly onto one side.
All the dignitaries stormed out, demanding the organizers improve safety measures. The sky was indifferent and the earth was about to fall.
In the peaceful Upper City, even the upper echelons couldn’t guard against such calculations; it had been too long since a war had occurred.
Bai Jingan took a turn and rushed towards the enormous cage containing Xia Tian.
Then he saw him.
A damn huge cage, glowing with an almost sacred orange-red light, and there was Xia Tian, with his hair hanging loose, locked on a torture rack. The monstrous thing had taken firm hold of half of his body, its sharp pointed ends emitting a blood-red glow. In just a short while, the carnivorous “gods” had almost devoured a living person.
They also put a collar around his neck, connected to a pitch-black chain embedded in the wall.
Half of his body was covered in blood, and he struggled to get off the torture rack, with five corpses lying at his feet.
Clearly, he had just killed several people from the Guest Show who tried to transfer him. Even in this dire situation, a mere touch from him could still be fatal.
Bai Jingan’s vehicle didn’t stop. He grabbed the nearby Stellar Heavy Rifle—obtained from the Autonomous Mechanical Corps—and fired continuously at the cage.
He fired five shots nonstop, tearing a big hole in the nanomaterial cage, which fell apart as if it were made of sand, with sparks floating away in the night sky like a thin veil.
Bai Jingan drove into the scene, and Xia Tian turned to look at him, as if not entirely certain about what he was seeing. He was still stuck on the torture rack and unable to move. This thing truly embodied the pinnacle of Upper City confinement technology.
Bai Jingan jumped out of the car, his expression even gloomier than the outside sky. He walked up to Xia Tian, raised his hand to support the man’s shoulder, pulled him out of the torture rack. He lifted the gun in his other hand, maximized firepower, and continuously shot at the thing.
The wall quickly shattered under the energy blasts, but the torture rack remained firm. Bai Jingan, with a stern face, kept shooting until he completely destroyed the torture rack, turning it into a pile of sharp-edged debris.
Without pausing, he turned toward the chain on Xia Tian’s body and shot at it.
The chain was extremely sturdy. He was using the Stellar Heavy Rifle, but it couldn’t even cause a single crack. He fired thirteen shots in a row before finally shattering the chain.
Holding the gun in one hand, he carefully supported Xia Tian, who was powerless, abused, humiliated, and near death, a mere remnant of once a lively man ready to be extinguished at any moment. Bai Jingan gently placed him in the car and fastened the seatbelt.
Xia Tian tentatively reached out to touch Bai Jingan’s hair.
Bai Jingan stiffened for a moment. His hand that was on Xia Tian’s knee felt a tremor coursing through him.
“Lil’ Bai?” Xia Tian whispered.
Not the time, Bai Jingan told himself. Control yourself; you haven’t escaped yet. This world is a hell. You can’t afford a moment of relaxation. Be cautious, and then more cautious. In just an instant, everything you possess can turn to ashes, becoming a pile of decaying flesh.
He raised his head and tried his best to smile towards Xia Tian.
“Yeah,” he said.
He turned around and walked towards the driver’s seat. He turned the steering wheel fiercely, with war-like fire burning in his eyes, filled with burning murderous intent. Outside the cage was a chaotic Floating World Paradise.
Bai Jingan pressed the accelerator, and the car rushed out of the cage.
…I applaud you, Pia, for you managed to create an entirely new kind of cliffhanger. I am being competely serious, this ending is the most tortuous part about reading the chapter. I need to see what happens when they finally interact again ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
Oh shit, how the hell did that happen. Thanks. I’ll correct it.
Honestly, if anything, it’s hilarious 🤣 and also a really fucking good cliffhanger