That was why replacing all the internal organs led to cyberpsychosis, and why people who had undergone such replacements experienced drastic changes in temperament.
"Um... miss, are you all right?"
The passing waiter had noticed that the tall, silver-haired beauty beside the table had been downing glass after glass of red wine as though drowning her sorrows. Wei's family was powerful and wealthy, and all of Lungmen belonged to him; a few bottles of aged wine were nothing. Still, the woman's mental state was worrying.
The people of Yan Nation liked auspicious things—lucky hours, lucky days, and good omens. Naturally, even a birthday celebration had to begin auspiciously. If something unpleasant happened, it would ruin everyone's mood.
However, when the woman turned around, the waiter was so frightened that he could barely speak.
She had a pair of crimson-gold pupils that radiated an intimidating aura!!!
"I'm fine."
After brushing off the waiter, Chlorine Sodium turned her head toward Chen Hui Jie, who was talking to Wei Yanwu.
Her eyes, glowing with an eerie light, were filled with murderous intent and amusement.
But it wasn't time yet.
There definitely wouldn't be time today.
Then remember her well.
You'll meet me again someday.
When that time comes, I'll deal with you.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the courtyard!!
"Yaaahhhh!!"
Several nearby ladies screamed as the wind lifted their skirts.
The hall instantly descended into chaos.
Fortunately, it was only a minor interruption during the birthday celebration. In the end, nothing happened. It was merely wind blowing in through the open floor-to-ceiling windows.
Amid the crowd, Chen turned around in confusion, looking toward the direction from which she had felt that intimidating gaze.
But there was nothing there—only the waiters and servants dealing with the commotion, along with the distinguished guests who had come to the celebration.
·····································
In a filthy workshop,
gray pupils slowly opened. A huge rat was crouched before the girl, its forepaws clutching and gnawing on something.
My head hurts...
All at once, her slowly awakening consciousness recovered the memories from earlier.
That demonkin.
That demonkin was strong. He wore a metal mask that covered his entire face, yet his vicious gaze had remained locked on Yelena the entire time!
Every attack she launched had been blocked.
He seemed like a veteran of the battlefield. Even the savagery of his attacks was something Yelena had never seen before.
When she had thrown a punch powerful enough to smash a person's skull at the man, the dagger in his hand had already been about to pierce her throat.
Unless she intended to die together with him, she had no choice but to abandon her attack and pull back to dodge.
His treacherous, slippery fighting style made Yelena extremely uncomfortable.
Even after she released her ice mist, that demonkin had actually endured it for two whole seconds!
An ordinary Ursus person would have been frozen solid long ago!!
In those two seconds, he had sent the girl flying with a single punch.
Kazdel had always been shrouded in eternal war. Smoke filled the land as far as the eye could see, and the mercenaries it produced were veterans tempered by countless battles.
Of course, they weren't warriors. They were butchers.
The twisted wars had long since twisted people into devils, and the Sarkaz were precisely such beings.
From the moment they were born, the first thing they learned wasn't how to eat, but how to hold a blade.
Although Ursus was known across Terra for its abundant martial spirit, the Sarkaz were actually the more battle-hardened people.
Unfortunately, there were no legendary figures among the Sarkaz.
That was because most of those who were about to become legends were already in their graves.
But this place seemed filthy and disorderly, like the kitchen of some impoverished district.
But why was she in a kitchen?
It was filthy and chaotic. The fat rat that had been in front of her had already fled, but the smell of blood still filled her nostrils, making it difficult for the girl to breathe.
Yelena had long since grown accustomed to the smell of blood.
Children born in mining areas all bore the marks of war and suffering. They weren't fledglings from the cities; they had long since grown accustomed to blood and death.
But she had never encountered such a heavy stench of blood before.
However, when the first object in her field of vision came into view, the girl realized that she had been wrong—horribly wrong!
This wasn't a workshop or a kitchen at all. It was a...
slaughterhouse.
And the things hanging from the iron hooks suspended from the ceiling weren't animal carcasses...
They were people.
P.S. Damn this garbage server. If the connection is even slightly bad, I can't upload a chapter at all!!!
Did Ciwai Mao spend all its money sucking up to whores?! Why does a slightly poor connection eat my formatting and swallow my published chapters, and then the verification on Ciwai Mao's author backend won't even display?!! Did it learn from Cyberpunk 2077's braindance black screens and expect me to drag a verification code around blindly?!!!
You're really something, Ciwai Mao!!!!
Section 46: Chapter Forty-Six—On the Way to Silence Someone.jpg
Was this... hell?
Her gray pupils stared at everything before her in terror.
Once she saw her surroundings clearly, the girl's stomach began to cramp.
Far away from her, a man stood covered in blood before an operating table. He wasn't wearing surgical isolation clothes, but a butcher's white apron.
The apron was covered in dried bloodstains that could never be washed clean.
A corpse lay on the operating table. The man was using one hand to hold a saw and the other to wield a pair of pliers, rummaging through the corpse's opened abdomen for something!
The blood had already flowed across the stone floor before finally entering the sewer grate along with the wastewater.
"Ugh..."
So disgusting!
A thick, nauseating sensation erupted in her stomach. She felt the hairs on her back rise as unease and terror spread throughout her body, finally clutching her heart in a vise.
Even though Yelena had been born in a mining area and believed she had seen the darkest, cruelest corners of the world, and had long grown accustomed to death and bloodshed,
the world's kindness had also shown her everything it had to offer.
Kind neighbors, a helpful uncle,
and... the older sister who had given her all the warmth in her life.
Just when she thought she had escaped her nightmares and broken free from their grasp, fate seemed to play an enormous joke on her.
Only after seeing all this clearly did she realize that the malice of this land wasn't directed at anyone in particular.
It treated everyone equally.
The suffering of this land seemed to have no end.
And the wet sound of flesh being torn apart instinctively made her feel sick.
"Welcome to our lair. Looks like you woke up a little early. I thought you'd be carried onto the operating table while still half-conscious."
A shrill voice came from somewhere nearby, as unpleasant as a knife scraping across a mirror.
It was that bastard who had caused trouble at the clinic on the very first day!
"Oh, oh, don't look at me like that."
The girl glared at him furiously. If her mouth hadn't been stuffed with something, she would have lunged at him and bitten the bastard to death.
But she couldn't. Her hands and feet were tied up, leaving her completely unable to move.
Yet the man wasn't frightened in the slightest. She was merely a defeated opponent. Even a ferocious beast was nothing more than a fish waiting to be butchered once its limbs were bound.
The man's oily gaze roamed shamelessly over the girl's youthful body, but in the end, he merely sighed.
What a pity. If I'm not mistaken...
You're infected, aren't you?
Seeing a flicker in the girl's eyes, the man grew even more delighted.
"What a brilliant disguise. If I couldn't smell the unique scent given off by the ore up close, I never would have realized that you were infected. Which raises the question: who gave you this disguise? It's truly remarkable. If I sold this method, I could make a fortune, hahaha..."
Suddenly, the man's relatively normal expression turned vicious to the extreme!
Only then did he reveal his true nature—a level of evil beyond imagination.
He was the manager here, after all. And what did he manage?
He sold human organs for money. This place was a slaughterhouse! The only difference was that they butchered their fellow humans instead of animals.
The man suddenly kicked Yelena in the abdomen.
"Uuuugh!!!"
As the girl curled up in pain, the man became even more frenzied.
"What a pity that you're infected. If you weren't as disgusting as a dog with rabies, I would have made you wish you were dead long ago."
As he spoke, the man ignored the girl's furious yet helpless glare, grabbed her by the silver hair, and hauled her upright, forcing her to look toward the other side.
That was the direction behind the girl.
There was a slightly empty corner there. A dim yellow lamp shone down from above, its dark, warm light making the area look somewhat different from the other places, which were cast in colder tones.
Although the floor was likewise covered in bloodstains, there was one difference: only a single iron hook hung there, and a woman's corpse was suspended beneath it.
Unlike the other pitiful victims, who had been gutted, skinned, and stripped of all their organs, that woman's limbs were at least still intact, and her abdomen had not been cut open.
Instead, she was covered in countless wounds. Some were clearly marks from beatings, while others were bruises and cuts left by a whip.
All five fingers had been severed, and the iron hook had been driven through both palms.
"See that? This is one of my little hobbies. This woman was quite tough at first. I tortured her for a week, and she only died yesterday. What a pity. I was sad that she died so quickly—I hadn't even had time to find the next one yet. But..."
The man looked at the girl with a savage expression. His lips split into a smile so twisted by desire that it no longer looked human.
"I seem to have found a very suitable new toy."
The girl suddenly began struggling, but the man didn't care about the cub's resistance. It was nothing more than a trapped beast's final struggle. These people, who specialized in trading human organs, had countless ways to control someone.
"Don't worry. You're worth considerably more than this woman. Once you're tortured to death, the Originium Crystals left inside your body can be dug out and sold for a good price. You know, there are plenty of wealthy beasts in fine clothing who love collecting things like that."
Seeing that the girl wanted to use Originium Arts but couldn't, the man finally explained.
"Don't worry. The thing around your neck won't allow you to use Originium Arts, so just obediently show us your value."
The man affected a pompous tone and spoke like a victor.
This was the pleasure of victory.
The victor gained everything, while the defeated lost it all.
And he could take everything with ease!
The girl struggled, but the more she struggled, the more excited the man became. After all, wasn't watching a defeated person rage helplessly while being left at another's mercy one of the most beautiful sights in the world?
Watching someone gradually lose hope—that was a pleasure in itself.
Before you continue