088. The Children of Aether (Part 1)

  The cell is dark and damp. Sihis area is far from the artificial sun's reach, the temperature ihe prison often drops below zero. In such ditions, the guards at Tianhuan have developed a special way of disciplining prisoners.

  Each cell is equipped with beds, but every night before the prisoners sleep, the guards take away the bs and sheets, leaving only the cold bedboards. They then order you to mop the floor. Late at night, the cold creeps up from the ground, grasping you through the gaps and porous, loose boards. Hugging your shoulders, trembling all over, your rationality gradually erodes uhe torment of the cold. Just when you're on the verge of breaking, the guard will shout: "Hey, get up, time to work."

  At that moment, you're immensely grateful to the guard. At least in the workshop, you use the sewing maes or lean against the the, receiving warmth from the maery. It’s much better than freezing to death as your body temperature drops.

  After over ten days of torture, when the guard calls you tain, you naturally stop resisting, feeling a sense of relief instead.

  The cold is far more terrifying than the heavy bor.

  It's an ingrained fear of death etched into yenes. Iy, when hypothermia first sets in, you don't feel unfortable. In fact, you feel warm and start unsciously removing your clothes. After that es dizziness, numbness, heart failure, and finally, cardiac arrest. You lose sensation bit by bit, until death cims you.

  Throughout the process, it's as if your blood has frozen in your veins. At first, you shiver untrolbly, rolling on the floor in an attempt to warm yourself. But in the end, with your brain overheating, you're no longer able to think. The heat slowly dissipates, and though you faintly hear someone shouting at you, you 't make out a single word.

  After w long-term in the prison, the cold accelerates your metabolism. The fat on your thighs and buttocks gradually disappears, leaving you a skeletal figure. The gloomy vision and the narrow, closed-off cell destroy your emotions. bined with the long hours of intense bor, it severely damages your mind and body. tless prisoners have pletely broken down and gone mad after enduring the punishments of Tianhuan's guards.

  In a certain sehis is indeed a way out of the prison.

  However, what awaits them is not a mental hospital but the operating table—300,000 zhu for eas, 1,000,000 zhu for a pair of kidneys. Their torso be sold to the Hojo Family's security group to be transformed into cyberic soldiers. Due to the cold enviro and the carefully crafted prisohe prisoners' ans remaihy and mostly unpolluted, often stored in the freezers of corporate executives, ready for use.

  The Tianhuan guards are very fident in their methods. For twenty years, no one has been able to withstand this psychological and physical torment. They even anize singing and dang events for the prisradually building trust in the prisoually, the prisoners even start managing themselves, saving the guards a lot of trouble.

  However, when faced with the new prisoner in room K-202, their foolproof ma method failed for the first time.

  Drip... Drip...

  Two guards stood outside the door, listening to the sound of a leaking pipe, hands behind their backs, waiting for the prisoo break uhe cold ao be let out to work.

  "It's been four hours," one guard whispered. "Is he dead?"

  "No, a Beta-tier might be more resistant to the cold," the guard replied, uain.

  His words were vague—after all, anyone, regardless of their strength, would struggle in such a damp and freezing enviro. There was once a proud warrior who, despite enduring brutal torture thanks to his strong physique, couldn't st more than four days in the cold.

  The damp and ierates the joints, making it unbearable for anyone. bined with the cold bedboards, it quickly leads to agonizing pain. Even those with strong stitutions aren't maes. Moreover, before being imprisohey've been ied with muscle rexants, making their extraordinary senses even more sensitive to pain.

  The only response was silence.

  "Could he really be dead?"

  The guard felt a sudden panid immediately checked the surveilnce. On the bd-white s, a tall man sat calmly on the bedboard, his face serene and undisturbed. A yer of frost covered his body, but he remained pletely still. His eyes were closed, seemingly deep in thought. But ohing was clear—not only was he alive, but all signals indicated that he still maintaihe vitality of a Beta-tier.

  "Looks like we were w too much," one guard sighed.

  "This guy is not ordinary," the other added. "He might be close to Gamma-tier. Look at these signals; it's like he's a furnace."

  "Gretorvo ? Nightsong... almost Gamma-tier," the guard scoffed. "There have been more and mamma-tiers retly, haven't you noticed?"

  "What makes you say that?"

  "The Abyss Humanitarian Relief anization developed some kind of Gamma-tier biobeast. Grand Duke Grant, who never made a move, suddenly revealed himself aroyed half a city effortlessly. Gretorvo and his rades were able to hold off aire army. We saw it with our own eyes; he blocked the main on of a mobile armor unit... And Frost-Pted's Li Aozi is even more impressive—rumor has it he single-handedly wiped out Frost-Pted's air force."

  "You're overthinking it. Every era has its Gamma-tier rising stars, but after a few years, they realize that this p 't support their life form."

  The guards were well-trained in Tianhuan's official transdent system and khese issues well.

  "For example, you know that dinosaurs weinot because they were directly hit by a meteorite, but because the ecology that supported them was destroyed. Fer extinct—herbivorous dinosaurs that fed on ferns died out—predatory dinosaurs that fed on herbivores weinct."

  The guard lit a cigarette. Since Gretorvo ? Nightsong wasn’t dead, there was o pay him any attention. His panion, curious, asked, "What are dinosaurs?"

  "Don't worry about it—what's important is that Gamma-tiers are like that. The energy and enviro on this p 't sustaihat's why those who truly be called active Gamma-tiers, who wield Gamma-tier power, are incredibly rare and precious. Most are just lucky enough to asd by ce. Without a kingdom, they'd starve to death on the surface."

  "It's really pathetic... These people are the same. The King of the Ring, in his benevolence, allowed the oners of Tianhuan to survive, yet they shamelessly want more."

  "Who says otherwise?"

  He blew out a ring of smoke and sneered.

  "That's why they'll fail. The Akaban Squad thinks they've mastered Gamma-tier power and challehe army? They're uimating 20-millimeter depleted uranium armor-pierg rounds."

  "Let's go. Since he's fine, how about we head back for a drink?"

  "You’ve stashed some private liquain, haven’t you? Heh..."

  Their banter and ughter gradually faded away, but ihe cell, the tall man's brows furrowed even deeper.

  Cold, damp, dark.

  None of it could defeat him.

  Yet, deep down, he felt an eerie sense of unease.

  Closing his eyes, the world was silent except for the sound of dripping water and frost f. Even his powerful heartbeat was slowly swallowed by the quiet. Yet, his sciousness had never been clearer.

  "…… (whispering)"

  Gradually, a faint call echoed in his heart, like a gentle and familiar voice, finally taking shape in his mind as something resembling music.

  It was an indescribable melody, like the soft tickle of wind against skin, or the warmth of being enveloped in a hot spring as the steam gently bathed him. His sciousness soared higher, as if flying towards the sky. But humans aren't meant to fly—only when standing on solid ground do they feel alive.

  "…Awaken…"

  As his sciousness tio asd, he seemed to see a red and bck sky filled with Camity. And above it, the "blue sky" that oed in legends and history books. That intense uransformed into a burning call—not in any nguage, but directly etched into his soul.

  The strange echo finally veyed a plete meaning within the dark blue sky.

  "Wake up, member of the Jury."

  In that instant, his sciousness plummeted back to the ground, and in the darkness before him, a deep, raspy voice rang out like the csh of bdes.

  "Bck Whale, you still haven't uood your 'quality'. I'm disappointed."

  For some reason, whenever Gretorvo ? Nightsong heard that man's voice, his mind instinctively jured up an image of a creature that did on this p— a shark.

  "You're here again."

  Gretorvo opened his eyes, and in the blue depths of his gaze, a pale, twisted figure seemed to be reflected.

  "I've told you many times—I'm not Bck Whale. Do you wao start calling you White Shark?"

  Gretorvo's voice carried ion, but no matter who heard it, they wouldn't feel any malice from him.

  "You don't uand. You uand nothing."

  White Shark spread his arms, as if passionately deg something.

  "Your talent, your race, your name, your destiny—I must kill you, but not now. Only when you fully awaken, when you grasp the 'quality' of being a 【Bight】, will you be qualified to fight me."

  "I'm not ied in riddles," Gretorvo replied to the pale figure. "Nor do I want to kill anyone, uhey io harm others."

  "Exactly! Exactly!"

  White Shark shouted excitedly, but then desded into a hysterical denial.

  "No! That's nht! It's not enough!"

  "You must have burning love, the resolve to face death without fear. You must pce your life at the highest stake, and then discard it! That would be the greatest sacrifice."

  "It's a necessary sacrifice. To succeed, a certain price must be paid—yes, it's sacrifice, you fool, not prote—sacrifice!"

  White Shark's tone was sometimes frantietimes desote, like a stranded shark on a beach, struggling as he pleaded and raged.

  Gretorvo had no idea what he really was.

  If White Shark was ihen what did that make Gretorvo, who could see him?

  "Why do you keep haunting me? What do you want?"

  Although he had asked this question many times, White Shark always answered with the same tireless reply:

  "For sacrifice, Bck Whale. You don't uand—'quality' is sacrifice, and sacrifice is 'quality'. We all must sacrifice. Only through sacrifice we live, we live with crity!"

  Strahoughts, right?

  Gretorvo tinued asking.

  "Who are you really?"

  White Shark proudly replied, "【White Knight】, the 【White Knight】 of the Jury."

  FAL