What Else Do You Know About My Body? (6K)

Assistant Luo Bo stood in front of the factory manager's office with the documents in his arms. He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock on the door when a deep and indistinct voice came from inside. "Come in directly, Luo Bo."

Luo Bo was not surprised by the factory manager's proactive reaction and slowly pushed open the door.

The office was dimly lit; although it was broad daylight, the curtains were drawn.

A foul stench filled the office. A huge, dark figure was writhing in front of the desk, making loud chewing noises. Luo Bo knew that it was his factory manager, Da Ke.

"Factory Director." Luo Bo, enduring the stench, bowed to Da Ke before closing the door and entering. "There are new instructions from above."

The massive black shadow stopped writhing, and then a pale face rose from below, its mouth stained with blood.

"Above?" Da Ke spoke slowly, his voice hoarse and indistinct, as if something was still stuck in his throat. "Which 'above'? Is it Bishop Wei Sen or..."

"It's the New Pursuit Society," Luo Bo quickly replied.

Da Ke said "Oh," and then said in a rather dissatisfied tone, "In that case, you should explain it more clearly."

"Yes, yes." Luo Bo casually wiped the sweat from his forehead. "But Bishop Wei Sen hasn't contacted us for ten years."

"Oh... ten years already?" Da Ke repeated the time, seemingly somewhat relieved. "Looks like the results are about to be decided... What did the New Pursuit Society Association say?"

"They told us to continue increasing production capacity this month."

"Continue to increase production capacity?" Da Ke raised his furrowed brows with some difficulty. "How come I remember this month's production capacity is already 10% higher than last month's?"

"Yes," Luo Bo nodded, "But they said it wasn't enough and they wanted us to add more."

"They want us to keep adding more..." Da Ke murmured, his thoughts seemingly wandering, but he quickly came back to his senses and said calmly, "Then let them have their way, keep adding more."

As he spoke, he lowered his head again.

Luo Bo quickly said, "But our production capacity is already at its limit. The workers are working non-stop. If this continues..."

Da Ke paused in his bowed head movement, as if he had caught the key word. "Worker?"

Then, Luo Bo saw Da Ke raise his head and look at him with a half-smile, "You actually still consider those things... as human beings?"

Luo Bo was momentarily speechless.

"Let's be realistic, Luo Bo," Da Ke said calmly. "Those things that don't need sleep or food, and can survive just by drinking source oil, can no longer be considered human. You can treat them as tools, machines, anything, but never as people, do you understand?"

Luo Bo lowered his head and remained silent.

Then, as if remembering something, Da Ke slapped his forehead in sudden realization. "Oh, I almost forgot, your father was among them too."

Luo Bo pursed his lips tightly.

"No wonder you've always felt sorry for them." Da Ke made a gurgling sound, as if he were laughing. "But it's a pity, Luo Bo, your father... has become one with this factory forever. Oh no, no, no, this shouldn't be a pity. Your father was always an excellent employee of this factory, always wanting to give everything for it, and now, he has succeeded, hasn't he?"

Da Ke's body began to wriggle again, as if he were stretching his body.

"He has become a part of this factory, helping this factory... no, helping this city move towards New World. As his son, you should understand him, support him, and help him. As a human, there are limits; you can't do so many things. But now, he can do far more than he could when he was alive. You understand what I mean... Humans can't operate at [overload], but machines can."

As he spoke, Da Ke gently patted Luo Bo on the shoulder.

Luo Bo's body trembled slightly.

Because Da Ke's body was at least three meters away from his, but Da Ke just lightly patted his shoulder.

"I... understand." Luo Bo lowered his head again, knowing he had no other choice. "I will do as you wish."

"Very good." Da Ke nodded in satisfaction. "Your father will be proud of you."

Luo Bo didn't say anything and was about to leave when he realized that Da Ke's hand hadn't loosened.

"Actually, I've always felt that you should join us too?" Da Ke stretched out his other hand in front of Luo Bo.

Luo Bo's eyes widened as he saw that Da Ke had presented to him was a rotten, gnawed leg of meat.

The strong stench and bloody smell almost made Luo Bo vomit.

"Now you're the only one in the factory who hasn't come over here, right?" Da Ke's voice rang in Luo Bo's ears. Luo Bo subconsciously turned his head and saw Da Ke's face was already beside him, looking at him with a half-smile. Da Ke's body was still in the office chair three meters away. "Whether it's your father, you, or me, we should all move closer to the new era, shouldn't we? Come on, just one bite, just one bite."

Luo Bo watched as the rotting fleshy leg slowly approached him. He tried to escape, but Da Ke held him down firmly with her other hand, and despair welled up in his heart.

But at that moment, Da Ke's movements suddenly stopped.

Luo Bo saw that Da Ke's smiling face gradually turned into surprise, and then from surprise into anger.

"Who!" he roared, his voice like that of a wild beast. "Who is destroying my factory!"

Luo Bo didn't understand what was happening at first, but he soon did.

Because the fire has spread here.

Ina stood in front of a prosthetics shop in the fourth district and took out her pocket watch for the third time to check the time.

It had been more than ten minutes past the time she had agreed to meet De Ni.

This made her feel somewhat irritated and... uneasy.

The Devil Squad were probably the most time-conscious people in Lyra, because those without a sense of time would all be dead, thanks to the Emergency Device. The ticking of the hands was as unsettling to them as the countdown from the Emergency Device.

Therefore, being late is almost impossible among members of the Devil Squad.

But De Ni was late.

Last night, Ina went to assist the Skeleton Corps in searching for Jie La Er's whereabouts, while De Ni went to report to his superiors. They then agreed to meet at this time today.

But De Ni has yet to appear.

Just as Ina began to wonder if something had happened to De Ni, she noticed a person dressed in Tower of Babel uniform walking towards her.

"Your Excellency Ina."

Ina looked over. "Who are you?"

"I'm just an ordinary employee of the Tower of Babel," the other party said politely. "I'm just here to inform you that Lord De Ni has a new mission and cannot meet with you. Please return to Fifth District on your own."

Although she had already guessed what the other person was going to say, Ina still frowned slightly when she actually heard it. "He has a new mission? What is it? Why can't he tell me himself?"

"I'm sorry, Lady Ina, this is confidential."

"Secret?" Ina looked into his eyes. "You should know the special nature of the Devil Squad. There are only three people who can directly call upon the Devil Squad. Now that Bishop Holman is gone, who sent De Ni on this secret mission—Bishop Tower of Babel or Bishop Ethan?"

"I'm sorry I can't answer that," the other party said calmly, "But I can guarantee that all operations were compliant."

"All of these are compliant? Who made these rules?" Ina pressed on, "Was it those two Bishop I just mentioned, or the 'Yong Xin' you've been talking about?"

Ina kept staring at the employee's face, trying to glean some information from his expression.

But the employee maintained the same expression throughout, repeating like a machine, "I'm sorry, Lady Ina, I cannot answer your question."

This made Ina even more uneasy. She could sense a conspiracy, but had no way to verify it. So after a long silence, she asked, "Don't I need to continue the mission of searching for Jie La Er?"

"No need," the employee said politely again. "That's the work of the Skeleton Corps. You should return to Fifth District as soon as possible and do your job."

"This is different from what you said yesterday," Ina said coldly.

The employees just smiled.

Just as Ina was thinking about what else she could do, she suddenly caught a glimpse of thick smoke out of the corner of her eye, accompanied by screams from passersby.

"Ahhh! There's a fire over there!"

"Really?!"

She subconsciously turned her head and, sure enough, saw thick smoke rising in the distance, which startled her.

"That direction is... Fifth District?" She thought for a moment, then quickly came to the answer, "The Source Oil Processing Plant?"

Is there a fire at the Source Oil Processing Plant?

Could it be...?

The familiar figure quickly flashed through Ina's mind, so she pursed her lips and immediately ran in that direction.

Only that employee remained standing behind her, smiling in a formulaic manner, while muttering, "Please return to Fifth District as soon as possible, please return to Fifth District as soon as possible."

Ina glanced back at him, but said nothing, and quickly disappeared into the chaotic crowd caused by the fire.

"How could this happen! How could this happen?!"

Da Ke's roar was deafening.

"Who is vandalizing my factory!?"

The once orderly factory has now been transformed into a crimson inferno.

Flames raged everywhere, engulfing everything.

But the workers continued working, sitting obediently at their workstations, meticulously carrying out their tasks, and they would not stop until the flames climbed onto their bodies and burned them to ashes.

"Idiot!" Da Ke grabbed one of the employees pushing a cart of raw oil and roared into his ear, "It's on fire! Get out of here!"

Then he threw him aside, but accidentally threw him into the sea of fire.

The flames instantly engulfed him, but he seemed oblivious, slowly standing up and then mechanically limping toward the cart, the flames on his body dripping off like wax.

Luo Bo hadn't expected this to happen. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, whether from the heat or nervousness, and instinctively wanted to leave to check if his father was alright. But before he could take a step, Da Ke grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him away roughly.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Dark roared at Da Ke Luo Bo. "If this factory is destroyed, none of us will escape! None of us will escape! Go contact the security department... no, that's not right."

Da Ke narrowed his eyes slightly.

The fire has already spread this far, yet the security department has barely reacted and hasn't seen a single person. This is clearly abnormal.

Something happened.

This fire was clearly not an accident.

Da Ke's eyes, almost invisible from being piled up with fat, darted around rapidly. Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he muttered, "An uninvited guest has arrived. Go contact the Skeleton Corps... no, go directly to those guys from the New Pursuit Society and see what they're like... huh?"

He originally wanted to pull Luo Bo to his side and talk to him properly, but suddenly he felt his body become much lighter. Then he turned his head and saw that Luo Bo was still standing in the same place, his face full of terror, and his hand was still gripping the back of Luo Bo's neck.

But it was a broken hand.

Da Ke looked down and realized that his left hand had been severed at some point, and was now oozing gray blood.

"Factory Director Da Ke, it's been a long time."

A familiar yet unfamiliar voice rang out.

Da Ke looked in the direction of the voice, and when he saw who it was, his pupils contracted again, and his expression gradually became ferocious. "So it's you... Jie La Er."

Jie La Er slowly emerged from the sea of fire, holding a worn-out Chainsaw Sword in his hand. Grayish-red blood was seeping from the Chainsaw Sword, a concentration that clearly indicated he had killed more than one person.

"I found this in your security office." Jie La Er pointed to the Chainsaw Sword in his hand. "If I remember correctly, this should be a souvenir I gave you more than ten years ago, Da Ke."

"Ah, yes." Da Ke laughed, seemingly reminiscing about the past, but his smile was full of malice. "Back then, I was just an ordinary employee in the security department, while you weren't even the captain of Xiaoxing yet, just a newly recruited Knight."

"Yes, we were all young then." Jie La Er paused, then looked again at Da Ke's clearly inhuman body and said softly, "But now, how did you become like this?"

"That's evolution, Jie La Er. Outdated things will be eliminated, just like the Chainsaw Sword in your hand," Da Ke laughed. "Only by constantly evolving and embracing new life can people survive better."

Jie La Er didn't show much emotion in response to Da Ke's statement. He simply looked at him calmly and asked, "Can you still be considered a human being?"

"Why can't it be considered?" Da Ke slowly unfolded his body, and tentacles tore through his clothes one by one. "People in the past used machines to repair their bodies, while people in the future can embrace more limbs. Isn't this a kind of progress? Isn't this a kind of rebirth?"

Jie La Er looked at Da Ke, seemingly trying to find some trace of the naive guard from his memories in this monster.

Unfortunately, it's already too blurry.

Jie La Er shook his head and sighed softly, "You're beyond saving."

"Don't talk big, Jie La Er!" Da Ke commanded his tentacles to attack Jie La Er, roaring, "You are no longer the Evening Star Knight you once were, and I am no longer the person I once was!"

Seeing the approaching tentacles, Jie La Er leaned down slightly and gripped the Chainsaw Sword in his hand even tighter.

Although his body is now unable to perform "overload" due to the lack of too many components, this has also reduced his weight, making his body lighter.

So he easily dodged the tentacles before they attacked, and then charged toward Da Ke.

Da Ke has clearly modified his body to resemble the pollutant, and these tentacles are the best proof of that. However, he is not the pollutant after all, so these tentacles move even slower than the pollutant.

This allowed Jie La Er to easily dodge without using Overload and while still wielding the Chainsaw Sword.

In the blink of an eye, Jie La Er was in front of Da Ke.

Da Ke's expression instantly shifted from madness to shock; in his eyes, Jie La Er's unusable Chainsaw Sword was rapidly enlarging.

Then, with a "pfft".

Da Ke's head leaped high into the air, then rolled several times on the ground like a ball, before falling silent.

His mountain-like body also crashed to the ground.

This is so easy?

The swiftly concluded battle left Luo Bo stunned.

Although he knew from their previous conversation that the newcomer was none other than Xiaoxing, Luo Bo did not expect the battle to end so quickly.

After all, Da Ke was no longer human.

But Jie La Er easily killed that guy with just that Chainsaw Sword that couldn't be activated.

This made Luo Bo feel like his decade-long fear of Da Ke was a joke.

"Brush".

The next second, Luo Bo saw the blood-stained Chainsaw Sword pressed against his face.

"You're that guy's assistant, aren't you?" Jie La Er said coldly. "I can tell you, you're the only living person left in the entire factory. I'm going to ask you a few questions. If you're willing to answer, I can let you live; if you're not willing to answer..."

Jie La Er paused.

"That doesn't matter. Anyway, those people from the security department told me a lot of information before they died."

Security Department?

Luo Bo finally understood why the security department hadn't reacted at all despite the fire burning for so long.

So, he killed them all?

Luo Bo swallowed the saliva stuck in his throat, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly caught something out of the corner of his eye, his eyes widened, and he shouted, "Watch out!"

Jie La Er heard the whooshing sound behind him and immediately turned around, but it was too late; two mechanical chains had already flown in front of him.

"Clang"!

He raised his Chainsaw Sword to parry, but only managed to stop one chain; the other climbed up his body and bound him completely.

Jie La Er immediately looked up and saw a scene that horrified him.

At this moment, Da Ke stood up again. His mountain-like body was now undressed, his clothes torn to shreds, revealing his belly.

No, not a stomach, but a... blender.

A blender in operation.

Jie La Er was familiar with this stuff because in Contaminated Land, they used such mixers to turn contaminated bodies into source oil.

Da Ke had actually sewn such a mixer into his stomach, and it was now emitting a piercing roar. The mechanical prosthetics binding Jie La Er were also extending from the sides of this mixer.

"Jie La Er!"

Da Ke's voice came from behind him. A short while later, Jie La Er saw Da Ke grab the head that had just been chopped off with his tentacles and then press it back onto the still bleeding neck!

Throughout this time, his expression remained ferocious and crazed.

"I told you, you should have been eliminated long ago!"

He roared and pulled the chains, quickly dragging Jie La Er toward the mixer.

Jie La Er tried to break free, but as mentioned before, he was no longer able to perform "Overload," which meant that his current strength was only slightly greater than that of an ordinary person, making it impossible for him to contend with the mechanical prosthetics.

So he was instantly pulled in front of the blender.

He immediately held the Chainsaw Sword horizontally in front of him, and the Chainsaw Sword "bit" into the mixer, instantly producing a series of crisp sounds and sparks.

But this obviously couldn't hold out for long. The powerful force of the mixer caused the Chainsaw Sword to vibrate wildly, and Jie La Er could hardly hold it with his current strength, as if he would be swallowed up by the mixer at any moment.

Seeing this, Da Ke went even crazier. Shaking his already unsteady head, he roared at Jie La Er again, "I told you, Jie La Er! You can't beat me! You don't know that at all! You don't know that at all!"

"You have no idea what's inside my body!"

Da Ke roared again, his voice like that of a mad beast.

Then he heard a sigh.

"Then do you know what's inside my body?"

Da Ke was somewhat stunned. He looked at Jie La Er again, only to find that a smile that was completely out of character had suddenly appeared on Jie La Er's bitter and resentful face...

Luo Bo grabbed an iron rod and quickly approached the two men.

Absolutely, absolutely we cannot let Da Ke succeed!

Thinking of his father, Luo Bo gripped the iron rod tightly.

He didn't know what he could do, but in this stalemate, giving Da Ke a good thrashing might be useful.

With this thought in mind, Luo Bo approached Da Ke and witnessed a scene that shocked him.

Jie La Er suddenly reached out and grabbed Da Ke's head.

Then I just pulled it off!

Amidst Da Ke's wails and screams, they grabbed his head, aimed it at the blender, and slammed it down hard.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Da Ke let out a scream that echoed throughout the factory. The sight terrified Luo Bo, who dropped the iron bar in his hand at just one glance.

A few seconds later, the mixer stopped working, the chains loosened Jie La Er's grip, and Da Ke's mountain-like body collapsed once again.

But this time, he clearly couldn't get up again.

Because only a small part of his head remained, which Jie La Er held in his hand like a melon rind.

The rest was converted into source oil.

Luo Bo sat there, stunned, watching Jie La Er casually toss the melon-headed man aside, then pat the blood off his hands as he approached him and looked down at him.

Then he smiled.

"Alright," Jie La Er said casually, "Let's continue our previous topic."