The beginning was in the sound of cries.
In just a fleeting mont of confusion, the world seed to beco completely different.
When the light of the Lighthouse illuminated Ji Jue at that instant, the burning flas slowly opened like an eye. It awakened from the flas and gazed at him.
Without anger, without compassion, just calm and indifferent, overlooking.
Looking at Ji Jue.
Ji Jue was also looking at him.
Then, those distant cries once again surged in like a tidal wave!
"It's all fucking lies!"
In the chaotic slum, a desperate man shouted at the collectors, grabbing a shovel and swinging it wildly, screaming madly: "You all knew! You knew the water wasn't clean, you knew there was sothing wrong with the disease, even buying your dicine requires loans from you, owing you money...
I have nothing left! Damn it, nothing left! What more do you want!"
Bam!
"Don't talk nonsense, buddy, no one forced you to borrow money. When you signed the contract, didn't I advise you to think it over carefully!"
The collector's expression turned grim, and his subordinates sward in, pressing the indebted man into the mud, pinning him down terribly. An iron rod ca down, shattering teeth, bringing forth blood and broken tongue.
"Accept your losses, pay your debts, you personally signed your na, you borrowed the money yourself, even the dicine was lent by us. And now you say you can't repay it, how can it be so simple?"
The collector waved coldly, pointing to the man's rundown shack behind him, "Take it all away."
The crowd surged in, screams of horror and crying children arose, but soon, all sounds disappeared. Only the man in the mud whimpered, struggled futilely, was dragged up, stuffed into a vehicle, and shut in.
Between the dead silent shacks, no one dared to speak. Only the collector flipped a page in his hand, looking at another address.
Next house.
Soon, cries rose up once more.
At the docks, gunfire resounded, and the chaotic crowd suddenly hushed. Under the army's barrels, the futilely resisting ship owners stared at the clearance order before them, trembling, their expressions twitching repeatedly, finally lowering their heads wearily and closing their eyes.
Signing their nas on the repaynt agreent.
Selling away everything in their future lives.
Or, hysterical rebellion, hit on the head with rubber batons, falling awkwardly to the ground, trodden over, watching helplessly as their final belongings are chained up and handed to a tugboat to be taken away...
More sailors with nowhere to go wandered the streets, looking around blankly, watching as once welcoming smiles turned cold as ice, unreachable.
In a narrow alley, a disheveled man skillfully tied a tourniquet, gritting his teeth, injecting the dicine into his wrist, soon sinking into a dreamy blissful slumber.
In the stench of decomposing Disaster Beast flesh, bent, emaciated poor people curled up in their shacks, gasping and turning over, scratching at their wounds, digging out chunk after chunk of sharp scales, moaning in pain.
Closing their eyes in the dimness, wanting to sleep, but the cries outside grew so noisy.
Soone was shouting hoarsely, roaring.
Madly smashing everything in their hands, wanting to deny everything before them, deny the outco of this reckless gamble, yet unable to stop the incessant barrage of bad news.
Until the final straw that broke the cal's back, silently fell.
"It's all fake!"
The crazy woman held her dead child, kneeling on the street, crying out desperately, "Those dicines are just flour tablets, completely useless!
They're all liars…"
In her arms, the corpse of the dead infant was covered in scales, face distorted, thick foul liquid seeping from its mouth and nose, maggots crawling out.
Selling all property, wagering all future, even selling herself cheap, the end result was a pill that lacked any effective ingredient.
Just counterfeits compressed from starch and painkillers in low-quality workshops.
"Where's the dicine!"
When the enraged crowd stord into the workshop, the man hung up was tearful: "The real dicine was long sold off by those beasts… I had no choice, I really had no choice… I was forced into it… I, I didn't…"
"Burn him! Burn him!!"
Faces twisted in anger, completely insane, surged forward, setting the entire workshop ablaze, amid cries the flas spread.
In those crowded shacks, small flas quietly spread, growing, until finally turning the entire sky scarlet with fierce light, thick smoke billowed, shrouding the sun, the roaring sound echoing continuously.
The fla illuminated Ji Jue's eyes.
He saw the grand crowd surging, flooding the streets, angrily waving weapons in their hands, destructively tearing down everything in front.
Riots, riots are spreading.
Toward the splendid City Lord Mansion, toward the seemingly tranquil Upper City District, the crowd surged like boiling, throwing out Molotov cocktails and stones.
Bam!
Flas crossed the array, landed before the Commander, a weak fla crawled to the edge of his boots, extinguished cruelly in mud by the raised boot.
"Open fire."
When the order from the City Lord Mansion ca through the intercom, the Commander coldly raised his hand, chopping down!
Thus, gunfire broke out in quick succession, roaring sounds filled the air, blood splattered, the densely packed crowd fell like straw in the wind.
The sounds of roaring and shouting vanished, leaving only screams and wails.
The streets were dyed red with blood, those dirt-covered corpses lay on the ground, their rotting faces still bearing pustules and scar-like scales.
Ji Jue bowed his head, seeing those empty eyes.
Their lips moved as if still talking, but no sound ca out, only tearless eyes staring at the sky burnt red, gradually dimming, losing its luster.
In that instant, a desperate shriek sounded.
From amidst the crowd, from the injured and dying, the spreading blood seed drawn by an invisible force, converging toward the center.
Toward the long-mutated sick...
The dry skin rapidly expanded, flesh writhing as chaotic carapace and scales grew from flesh and gun barrels, broken arms swiftly elongated like tentacles and arms. Exposed bones sprouted sharp barbs.
Mutation and transformation!
Amidst corpse and blood, disfigured mutants rose, their voices shrieking!
On the face lost of human features, only beastly resentnt and madness remained, roaring, charging towards the machine guns and soldiers.
Mutations spread like a storm.
Right before Ji Jue.
But this ti, those wailing crowds no longer scattered or fled, nor did they retreat in shock as usual...
Instead, they bent down, picked up the weapons on the ground, and followed behind their mutant compatriots, charging toward the resplendent districts!
Like spreading flas, utterly uncontrollable.
Hatred, resentnt, pain... Those desperate, reduced to beasts, bloodthirsty and crazed, even as their remaining consciousness and sanity rapidly faded, their crimson eyes were firmly fixed on the highest point.
Loud cries!
They ran wildly, destroying, wielding the force of their pain.
One wave after another, they rushed toward the once-unreachable palace, climbing the walls recklessly, ignoring the barrage of bullets, feasting on those high and mighty nobles.
No matter if they beca utterly disfigured mutants, it didn't matter; sacrificing everything, they wanted those people to pay the price!
But, there was no price—
Ji Jue closed his eyes.
Boom!
When the sound of shrill cries broke out amid the llifluous lodies and dances, soone in the opulent hall frowned, waved expressionlessly.
Then, among the guests, soone wiped their mouth, rose from their seat.
And drew their sword.
The mutant beast, cut in half!
When the light of the Superior erged from the chaos, all disturbances abruptly stopped; under the blades of the Chosen Ones, the uncontrollable beasts lay dead on the ground.
Carapaces and scales shattered beneath iron and stone, bones and blood burned in flas.
Hatred was aningless, so were resentnt and pain.
Even if reduced to beasts, it ant nothing.
The burning bones turned to char, the wailing crowds scattered once more.
Throughout, the songs and dances never ceased.
Just as always.
"Understood, then clean it up."
The Yan's Governor listened to the report, interrupted impatiently, waving his hand, "It's just an endless supply anyway, don't waste my ti."
He smiled, raised his glass, and toasted the returning guests.
Before Ji Jue's eyes, the songs and dances continued.
This ti, no sound interrupted the jubilant lodies, no voices disrupted the feast.
It wasn't even a riot, just so mild disturbance, occurring countless tis over the years, not even worth ntioning, no cries to be heard.
Under the suppression of the reorganized military, the crowds were completely dispersed, and the city returned to silence once more, as cartloads of corpses were taken to the incinerators.
The once mournful whimpering crowds were stirred up again.
Rushing to the streets to claim the rcy and compassion from the City Lord, cartons of dicine and expired food appeared in the black market, t with a frenzy.
Ji Jue watched their eager faces, flattering with cash, still bearing bruises and bloodstains,
He saw those dying infected, the mutants in the sewers, the holess shivering in the cold wind... and many more, many more who dared not step outside, counting how long their household supplies and savings would last.
They accepted reality.
Despairing or numbly bowing their heads, sucking on whatever dew might keep them lingering even a day longer.
Ti and ti again, countless tis before, countless tis ahead...
Once innurable tis, and countless tis yet to co.
In the distance, smoke rose from the burning corpses.
Rising to the sky reddened by flas.
From start to finish, he saw no abnormalities, no Great Evil, no Destruction, no redemption, nor did he find his enemy.
Only, at so unknown point, he could no longer hear cries.
"Dad said when he cos back, we'll move into a house where we won't freeze." The innocent child looked up, full of curiosity, at the haggard old woman: "Grandma, will it get better in the future?"
In front of the extinguished heater, the pair of muddled eyes lifted blankly, shaking her head: "I don't know."
"Then... will it get worse?"
"I don't know."
She held the bewildered child, nestling together, stroking her yellowed hair, whispering softly: "Probably, it'll be just like now."
"I don't understand what Grandma says."
"When you grow up, you'll understand."
The old woman's expression twitched slightly, unsure whether it was a cry or a laugh, as if devoid of strength, only numbness remaining.
"It's all the sa, always the sa."
Living is to be taken for granted, suffering is to be taken for granted, enduring is to be taken for granted, and finally, dying is to be taken for granted...
Hasn't it always been this way?
Why be troubled and confused then?
Thus, those hollow eyes opened once more, finally awakening from a series of dreams and fantasies never destined for them, vaguely regarding everything before them.
The final realization ca.
Perhaps...
This is just the way the world is.
In the distant darkness, a laughter that waited for decades rang out, uncontrollable.
The final sacrifice, thus offered!
Ji Jue finally saw...
The world sank into silence, like a dead sea, once again ripples erged.
The bitter sea stirred.
The true corrupt flas belonging to this world were ignited from the Lighthouse!
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