091. The Ring is Turning

  Buzz——

  The raging motorcycle raced through the tunnel, with blizzards and sandstorms her a weling salute. Darkness blurred the view, cold winds tore at her cheeks, and the red-bck clouds loomed overhead. It all seemed like hell.

  However, upon closer thought, sidering the teags of those scriptures as, hell might be warmer thaside world.

  Xia Jianjing skillfully rode into the endless night. Perhaps influenced by Li Aozi's words, she occasionally lifted her head, gazing at the red-bck sky.

  "I could have ehe darkness if I had never seen the light... huh?"

  Xia Jianjing murmured.

  "Hant."

  She eeding fast. As a Gamma-tier, she disdained wearing any armor except for a helmet. The faint energy attached to her body easily fended off the wind, sand, and frost. The unhidden Gamma-tier biological signal she emitted throughout the ride kept the mutated monsters from daring to approach her.

  Soon, Xia Jianjing arrived at her destination—Cold Irolement.

  If someone had never left the city in their entire life, their uanding of the outside world and the Four Nations would be rather narrow.

  In fact, the outside world wasn't a specific area but a kind of state.

  Any pot protected by a particle barrier emitter and g unified national identity and administrative divisions would be disdainfully called the outside world by civilized people. They might be the remnants of decayed nations ees abandoned after the Four Nations occupied resource-rich territories.

  Thus, Blue Star never cked popution. After Abyss Heavy Industries improved a ype of fertilizer, many scattered settlements iside wrew into siderable numbers.

  However, survival and living are two entirely different things.

  Xia Jianjing parked her motorcyext to an old cargo ship's engine from a sunken ship of the old era. She passed through the cold, semi-open tainer aered the underground. trary to eople might imagihe enviro here wasn't crude or sparsely poputed. On the trary, after dozens of geions of digging and expanding, even though much of the frozen soil beh the ship had been excavated, the space remained narrow and cked housing.

  How ironic. Even in this almost apocalyptic wilderness, people still cked shelter.

  Xia Jianjing's arrival was nothio the settlement residents. They huddled in their meager possessions and ers, not even daring to raise their eyes to look at her.

  "Miss Jing..."

  "She's back. Why don't I see Nighsong?"

  "Shh, you should call her sir."

  Xia Jianjing paid no mind to the whispers of these outsiders.

  The people of the outside world lived ilements within old-era submarines, tainers, and cargo ships. Some lucky settlements discovered old-era nuclear power equipment and barely survived by relying on it. Due to the ck anization and civilization, the natural popution growth was chaotic, leaving the outsiders in a stant state of poverty, hunger, and cold.

  Xia Jianjing couldn't solve this problem. She always believed that no one on this p could.

  Not even her highly respected mentor.

  Click.

  Xia Jianjing stopped at the door of a sailor's . She raised her hand, knocked, and expined:

  "It's me, Alkanu."

  In the moment, the door automatically opened, revealing a man who resembled a crow—around forty or fifty years old, tall and sturdy, with bck hair tied into a ponytail pinned with a bck feather.

  The middle-aged man wore a yellow and bck trench coat, with an old-era radiator hanging around his neck like a pendant. A skull and wrench armband on his upper arm identified him as a senior sger.

  Fag Xia Jianjing's arrival, the man sat at the bedside, slightly raised his head, and casually said:

  "There's a fire burning in your heart, Jing."

  "I want to ask you a question, Master Bedia Alkanu."

  Jing slowly walked into the room, closed the door, approached Alkanu, and stared directly into his eyes, saying bluntly:

  "Master, do you think the sun and stars exist?"

  "What kind of idiotic question is that?!" Alkanu snorted. "Ah half a brain wouldn't ask something like that."

  "I want to know your opinion." Jing insisted, staring at Alkanu's eyes. His silver-bright eyes seemed to be made of some incredibly pure substanobler than silver and holier than snowfkes.

  "Believe it or not, the sun is there, Blue Star revolves around it, and it rotates on its own. The universe also exists. Even the sun is insignifit to the universe, just like sand." Alkanu calmly expined. "Is that all? My good apprentice, did you travel all the way from Tianhuan to preach your protests or just to ask this idiotic question to an old madman—you’ve been to school, don’t be stupid."

  He snorted again, shook his head, full of disdain and pt.

  "Master." Jing said: "Do you want to go to space?"

  Alkanu's ughter abruptly stopped. He turned his head and stared at Jing, as if seeing this kid for the first time today.

  "Tell me you haven't gone crazy yet, though sooner or ter, you'll end up half-mad like me."

  "Not yet, at least." Jing lifted her sleeve, her gaze sweeping across the cracked patterns on her arm. The fine fractures reflected a faint light, a degree no human arm should be able to reflect.

  "This thing gave me the capital to ehe Gamma-tier." Jing said, "But at the same time, it's also corroding me."

  "Camity has the ability to catalyze human evolution—or rather, it accelerates humanity's timeline." Alkanu stroked his . "You're fortuhat Camity didn’t turn you directly into a monster and instead gave you superpowers. Anaerobes weren’t so lucky—when we found him back then, Camity had turned him into a cube covered in branches and tendrils, eerily floating in midair… We had to use an old-era antimatter bomb to destroy him. You should be grateful."

  "Answer my question, Master."

  Jing looked up at him:

  "Do you want to go to space?"

  "No." Alkanu shook his head. "I don’t want to, not in the least. I was born iside world, and I want to die here too. My aors have borne enough burdens, and now I just want to stay here and quietly reach the end of my life—but I know you won't settle for that."

  "You're right, Master."

  "You want to go to space?"

  "No, I want to save Gretorvo and then send a Red Arrow to space."

  "Give me the Ether Elixir."

  Jing reached out to him:

  "I rength. I want to obtain the power to save this world. I'm not strong enough right now, but if I succeed, maybe the whole Blue Star will get a ce to see the sun."

  "Jing, you've grown up."

  Alkanu looked at Jing's determined eyes with great emotion. He smiled with relief, nodded, and said with a chuckle:

  "Well said, but I won’t hand it over to you."

  Jing's gaze froze: "Master—"

  "You don't uand, Jing." Alkanu looked at her with a plex expressioher is more dangerous, more terrifying than Camity. If you don't want to betray humanity, then ouch her. That's what my aors told me."

  "…Do you really believe that nebulous legend?" Jing spread her hands, frowning. "Society... professionals... citizens... juries... legistors and speakers... do you truly believe there's a 'living civilization' out there?"

  "Jing, if you believe in the existence of the sun and the universe, then you should uand that if the universe truly exists, with its vastness, anything could appear. Whether it's Blue Star birthing life or living civilizations rampaging across the os like monsters."

  Alkanu removed the radiator from his ned spped it on the bed. He shook his head and said:

  "Nighsong's aor was araordinary person. He khe reasons behind all of this, but before he could leave any information, that entity called 'Society' wiped him out. After Camity swept the world, we couldn't even remember our own civilizatio alohat hidden part of history—I only know that Ether is the source of that Society."

  "Gret's aor—did he brag about that amazing 'Gandok Nighsong' when he was a kid?" Jing scoffed. "That was five hundred years ago, who even knows if he existed. His parents might humor him, but why do you, Master, believe that story?"

  "I don't know, Jing, but I believe it." Alkanu smiled bitterly. "Ether is incredibly precious, but pure Ether Elixir is poison to humans. Maybe you could survive the Ether's toxins and fill your blood with powerful, mysterious energy, but I don’t want you to die."

  As he spoke, he pulled out a vial as thick as a finger from his coat

  . Inside was a clear, silver-white liquid, calmly floating. It didn’t dissipate or break down, no matter how much it was shaken, always maintaining its mercury-like steadiness.

  "This is the Ether Elixir." Alkanu said, "If I open it here, it will poison everyone on this ship. I'm not joking—I too oisoned by it but narrowly survived. The price was that 97% of my body tissue had to be repced with prosthetics. If you're not qualified, you'll not only die but die in aremely ugly way."

  Jing said, "I know."

  She stared at him and said:

  "Camity isn’t as terrifying as Ether. Society ensve your soul through Ether. You may bee a puppet or a resource to be maniputed and used at will by the high-ranking speakers aors of that Society—this is even more humiliating and painful tharu."

  Jing nodded: "I know."

  "You don’t know! Even if you barely survive and pay a heavy price, you'll face more problems—and you'll no longer be human. No longer an Assassin—you’ll bee a monster known as a 'Professional.' With poison blood running through your veins, you'll be a part of Society, and your thoughts will be twisted. You'll believe that Society is your mother, your creator. Your soul and sce will be ed and corrupted! You will no longer be yourself, only a tool!"

  Jing took a step forward: "I know."

  "Are you even listening to me?!" Alkanu fumed. "You’ll die worthless! When you die, no one will remember you, uand? Gretorvo, me, and your friends will pletely fet you! Your existence will be erased, like an eraser wiping aencil marks!"

  "I will die sooner or ter, Master."

  Despite hearing such heavy sequences, Xia Jianjing's gaze remaieadfast:

  "I am willing to bee a Professional."

  ——————————

  Li Aozi returo Nuliang City, deliberately strolling the streets, making a show of himself, ensuring people knew he was in a promi p the city.

  Li Aozi's appearance quickly drew a crowd and caused a sensation among the Tianhuan people. The beta testers who had been searg for him immediately noticed the crowd gathering and rushed over.

  Although beta testers didn’t have access to military pyers' internal data and training, they had professional teams guiding and training them, allowing them to pick up the game easily. Knowing that Li Aozi, the tral figure from the promotional videos—the 【Domination】 system instructor—had arrived, the sharp beta testers had long wao try to switutant】.

  Li Aozi's Charisma was overwhelming. After staying in a pza for a while, idly browsing forums, he quickly attracted tless Tianhuan citizens to watch him.

  "Please give me your autograph!"

  "You’re so beautiful. Please let me be y."

  "Are you Li Aozi, the superhuman who crushed the Frost-Pted Republic Air Force? It's really you! It's an honor to meet you. Please accept this small token of appreciation."

  Before long, the gifts around Li Aozi had piled into a wall. He warmly ied with the ordinary citizens and random fans, greatly boosting his popurity.

  "What the hell." Some citizens, seeing horoachable Li Aozi was, couldn't help but mutter: "The Frost-Pted Republic’s propaganda is dht despicable. How could someone so beautiful ale be involved in a massacre?"

  "I don’t believe for a sed that Li Aozi would do such a thing. It takes two to tango; it’s obvious that the Humanitarian anization is dirty too—Frost-Pted people o refle what they did wrong to push someone as good as Li Aozi to the opposing side. It's definitely Frost-Pted's fault!"

  "Beauty is a rare resource. Even if he did it a massacre, so what? Dying at the hands of such a beauty is their privilege."

  "My god, he's like a god of beauty. I've already fotten I’m a man. For Li Aozi, he’s my only goal for the rest of my life."

  Just as Li Aozi was showg his Charisma and boosting his popurity, the 【Eye of Truth】's vision also caught a glimpse of a pyer with the ID 'Daylight?Night Wanderer'.

  Li Aozi's heart leaped for joy:

  "Hah, waiting here for so long wasn’t in vain—a big guild has finally e knog."

  The Daylight Guild was a very famous big guild and studio in Summerfme, with thousands of enforcers, smurfs, and agents us and—a veritable pig farm.

  "Now, there’s big moo be made."

  AnnouA big thank you to [Char Tan] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL