Hell on Earth

"Very good."

The Grand Arbiter froze for a moment. He had not expected Gu Shen's answer to be so crisp and decisive.

This boy had been remarkably steady ever since entering the room... completely unlike the description in his file. He had assumed Gu Shen was an introverted, shy, weak-willed kid, but the truth was the exact opposite. Meticulous thinking, a calm way of handling matters, and beneath that youthful face, a heart as mighty as a lion.

"Then... let's continue."

Tang Qingquan slowly extended his palm, pushing the Cage of the Netherworld Phantom before Gu Shen and making an inviting gesture.

He was not deliberately making things difficult for Gu Shen.

Over more than ten years in Yinghai District, he had handled countless thorny cases on his own and seen an untold number of out-of-control individuals in the Extraordinary Tribunal. There were heinous criminals who claimed their innocence, and perfect victims whose disguises were flawless... Over the years, there were times when he looked at himself in the mirror and found himself unfamiliar.

It was as if he no longer possessed human emotions like "mercy" or "sympathy." Everyone in court could be emotional, but he, as the Grand Arbiter, had to maintain the last vestiges of calm and reason.

From the moment he received Gu Shen's file, he had vaguely sensed that something was wrong... It was a doubt he could not reason his way through. It was intuition, feedback from his instincts—this boy was definitely not as simple as the file made him out to be.

This assessment was not merely evaluating Gu Shen's potential.

That was why he had insisted that Gu Shen complete the test for the third Sealed Item.

He wanted to use his Cage of the Netherworld Phantom to see what the darkness lurking in the depths of this boy's heart truly looked like.

The Cage of the Netherworld Phantom's trait was very simple.

Those who Enter Dream would see their darkest emotions within this lantern. The greater their Evil Thought, the more ghosts there would be inside the lantern, and the stronger they would become... Upon awakening, the dreamer would be drowned by the netherworld phantoms inside the cage. The only thing they could do was use their willpower to fight against their own "Evil Thought."

In other words... Ghost Slaying!

Though this trait sounded simple, it was actually incomparably intense.

The ghosts manifested from Evil Thought within this lantern were not something ordinary people could fight.

Those capable of slaying their own Evil Thought within the "Cage of the Netherworld Phantom" were people of great resolve—truly extraordinary individuals.

Beneath the lantern's oiled-paper skin, a faint flame burned, as if a living person dwelled inside, breathing slowly.

Just from his first impression, this lantern gave him a far stronger sense of oppression than the other two Sealed Items!

He reached out and grasped the slender handle attached to the top of the lantern.

With a hiss.

The instant he touched the lantern, the flame within seemed to burst through its oiled-paper skin, nearly filling Gu Shen's entire vision.

This time, Enter Dream was even more frightening than the previous two.

And Gu Shen awoke even faster than before.

The flames that burst from the cage seemed like an illusion, or a magic show. Once the sparks faded, Gu Shen found himself standing in an endless expanse of darkness, with tides seemingly washing back and forth beneath his feet.

He carried the lantern. It was the only light in this world.

The flame inside the lantern was gradually going out... The tides beneath his feet surged back and forth, showing signs of rising.

After unsealing the Azure Dice and the Hourglass of Time, Gu Shen's mind was already quite exhausted.

As he gazed into the pitch-black world, an overwhelming sense of danger welled up within him...

He instinctively called out, "Chu Ling—"

This time, Chu Ling Appeared a step before Gu Shen even spoke.

Countless jet-black strands of code spread like wings. Because the world was so dark, the code seemed as though it had been born in this dreamscape, without any trace of disorder or incongruity.

Chu Ling floated in midair. At the sound of him calling her name, Both Hands gently settled upon the boy's shoulders. "I'm here."

The lantern flame flickered violently.

Gu Shen's expression was grave. He Looked Down at his chest and muttered, "I feel like... something inside my chest is being pulled out. Is it an illusion?"

"..."

Chu Ling did not answer directly. She softly asked, "After breaking through two dreams, do you still have any strength left?"

Gu Shen shook his head. He did not force himself. "On my own... I'm afraid it'll be difficult. I have a feeling that this dream will be more dangerous than the previous two."

"The Cage of the Netherworld Phantom... was once an S-rank Sealed Item, though it is severely damaged now."

Chu Ling's voice was uncharacteristically solemn. "But even so, it remains more dangerous than the previous two dreams... than the Azure Dice and the Hourglass of Time combined!"

An S-rank Sealed Item?

Gu Shen's expression tightened... Based on danger classifications, even the Tall Lady he had encountered on the light rail had only been A-rank.

A single Sealed Item could actually receive an S-rank danger rating?

As the two spoke, the lantern's flame had almost completely gone out.

The tides beneath his feet rose higher and higher. Gu Shen felt himself being swallowed by boundless darkness, while his calves were seized by a freezing chill. The water had already risen to that point and was still climbing... At the same time, the sensation of something being dragged from his chest grew increasingly intense. It was as if a hand had gripped his heart, exerting force with every wash of the tide, trying to wrench his very soul out of this body!

"Once the lantern's flame goes out, the evil ghosts pour forth."

The girl's voice echoed through the darkness. "The greater a person's Evil Thought, the stronger the ghosts in the cage..."

Gu Shen took a deep breath, steadying himself as he resisted the unseen force tugging at his soul.

Honestly speaking, he neither stole nor robbed. At most, he could be considered a little sly and calculating.

The evil ghost in the cage probably would not be particularly powerful, right?

"Gu Shen, haven't you always been curious about what your Transcendent Ability is?" Chu Ling slowly said. "You'll see it very soon."

Next—

The final sound in that deathly silent world was:

"Pfft..."

The wick went out feebly.

The entire world plunged into darkness. Yet at that very moment, the utterly black world slowly lit up in another way.

Before Gu Shen's eyes, a massive...

Vertical pupil slowly opened.

That vertical pupil resembled a crimson sun, burning with an endless sea of bloody flames. The instant it opened, a powerful impact burst forth, reducing the lantern in Gu Shen's hand to ashes in an instant.

Blinding light shone down.

Gu Shen finally saw clearly what the evil ghost before him truly looked like...

One vertical pupil after another lit up in the distance.

An endless tide flowed from a gaping maw. Gu Shen stood before that enormous mouth, as if the entire world were about to be swallowed by the evil ghost... And at that very moment, soul bodies the size of infants surged continuously out of its mouth like Locusts.

The dream shook violently, teetering on the verge of collapse.

Gu Shen's face turned pale.

These were... his Evil Thoughts?

This was simply Hell on Earth.

The review team fell into absolute silence.

Even the Grand Arbiter was included.

Everyone stared at the lantern-holding youth who had used Enter Dream with expressions as though they had seen a ghost.

In the Real World, the flame at the core of the Cage of the Netherworld Phantom burned with extraordinary vigor. It even let out a mournful wail like boiling water. Waves of firelight splashed outward, casting themselves across the oil-paper exterior... and revealing one vertical pupil after another.

The vertical pupils were crimson as blood.

Every one of them was shocking to behold.

And they kept Appearing, Appearing, Appearing, until they finally piled atop one another... densely packed, densely packed.

Countless evil ghosts coated the lantern's surface in a thick layer.

The Cage of the Netherworld Phantom could project the true forms of the evil ghosts within the dream onto its outer skin.

And this phenomenon... had appeared for the first time.

Just how immense were these Evil Thoughts?

Boundless and limitless! They had nearly swallowed the entire dream world!