Gerard!

Before they had walked very far, Chen Wuming finally understood why this place was called a construction site. It really was much the same as one. The entire island was filled with people across its hills and plains. Countless raggedly dressed people held all kinds of tools, working away amid constant clanging and banging in a feverish bustle.

All around them stood guards wearing strange round masks and leading red magic hounds by the leash. They held weapons as they watched over the laborers, occasionally barking orders or using magical tools to shock anyone working too slowly, urging them to move faster.

The sight thoroughly shook Chen Wuming! It reminded him of the Black slaves described in Earth's history books. Countless Black slaves had labored endlessly at harsh construction sites under their colonizers' oppression, until the day they died!

And now, what was the difference between this and the Black slaves of Earth's colonial expansion era?! If there had to be a difference, it was probably that the people working at this so-called construction site were not limited to those with dark skin.

He had never expected that something he could only see through research materials or movies in his previous life would now appear before his own eyes. Heh. Should I feel fortunate, or depressed...?

But regardless, Chen Wuming absolutely could not laugh! Because it was obvious that the reason they had been brought here was no different from those people being ruthlessly exploited. Unless something unexpected happened, he would probably soon become one of these "slaves" as well...

With a bitter laugh in his heart, Chen Wuming thought to himself.

At that moment, a commotion suddenly broke out among the crowd. Everyone began chattering noisily, clearly having thought of the same thing.

"What's all the noise?!" Tucker's eyes widened. With a wave of his hand, a massive circular magic array appeared above everyone's heads, and streams of purple lightning immediately came crashing down.

"Ahhh—!" Struck by the purple lightning, everyone cried out in agony.

"Bastard!!!" Feeling the intense pain of the purple lightning surging through his body, Chen Wuming nearly fainted from the shock. Even so, he was directly forced to his knees, his mind spinning with dizziness.

A ruthless light flashed through his heart. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the pain of the wound to force his mind temporarily clear. His hands clawed tightly into the ground as Chen Wuming viciously cursed Tucker, the crude man who had shocked him with magic. I'll kill you! I definitely will!!! Having lived a pampered life on Earth, when had he ever suffered such torment? For the first time, his desire to kill someone was more intense than ever before!

At that moment, the crude man named Tucker was placed directly onto Chen Wuming's kill list! No—strictly speaking, Tucker was already dead in Chen Wuming's eyes...

Being struck by magical purple lightning was truly agonizing. Chen Wuming had at least some magic power within him to resist it, yet he still suffered terribly. Ordinary people without even a trace of magic power had it even worse! The searing pain caused quite a few people to pass out on the spot.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chen Wuming immediately rolled his eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed unconscious onto the ground. Naturally, he was only pretending.

"Hmph! If I don't make you suffer a little, you won't behave yourselves in the future!" The fact that everyone had been shocked unconscious was naturally within Tucker's expectations. In fact, he had done it deliberately, intending to give them a warning and intimidate them! That way, these people would not entertain thoughts of resisting or escaping later.

He took out a round mask like those worn by the guards and placed it over his forehead. Then, after calling over several lackeys to send the unconscious people to holding areas in different sectors, he turned and left.

Chen Wuming kept his eyes tightly shut, but he naturally heard every word Tucker said to his subordinates. As he felt himself being picked up and carried briskly toward another location, he secretly opened his eyes to a narrow slit, cautiously observing everything around him and carefully memorizing the route they took.

After being carried for more than ten minutes, Chen Wuming was brought by the soldier holding him to a dark dwelling. The reason there had to be a question mark after "dwelling" was because the place was simply too run-down! It looked like a slum! No, even a slum would have been better than this place! Rather than calling it somewhere people lived, it was more fitting to call it a cage for livestock!

Chen Wuming was not surprised in the slightest. After all, his current identity was that of a "slave."

After throwing Chen Wuming into the shabby dwelling, the soldier carrying him turned and left. He still had the duty of supervising and guarding the construction of the Tower of Paradise. How could he have spare time to waste here?

Chen Wuming could not have asked for more. Once the soldier had left, he turned over and sat up, leaning against the filthy wall. After casually glancing around the shabby dwelling, Chen Wuming lowered his head and began to think.

For some reason, Chen Wuming was the only person in the entire dwelling right now. Such a large space could not possibly have no other residents—one look at the scattered personal belongings around him made that clear. He had no idea where the others had gone, but they were probably working at the various "construction sites," right? Wasn't that why those mages had captured them in the first place?

What exactly were those people building? From what he had seen while pretending to be unconscious, they seemed to be constructing something. But what could it be that they would risk breaking the law and commit such an outrageous act as capturing so many citizens to build it?! Wasn't that far too bold?! Didn't they fear being executed by the Magic Council? But those who dared commit such inhuman acts were clearly some unknown dark magic organization! Only evil mages who believed in dark magic would dare disregard the nation's laws so completely!!

Relying on the memories and knowledge that had fully fused within his mind, Chen Wuming came to a conclusion. Could they be constructing a launching device or controller for some terrifying Forbidden Magic? Judging from the scale of the construction, it had to be an exceptionally horrifying Forbidden Magic that violated all morality and human decency!!

With only the knowledge and memories fused in his mind, along with a tiny amount of incomplete observation, he had managed to analyze so many clues! Chen Wuming's reasoning and analytical abilities were truly extraordinary!

There was no helping it. Perhaps that was the advantage of every homebody? Those who stayed indoors every day, "studying hard" in front of computers and absorbing all kinds of knowledge, naturally had brains far more developed and active than ordinary people! Such formidable analytical and deductive ability was one manifestation of their active minds...

"However—" Chen Wuming muttered with a furrowed brow, "how am I supposed to escape? There's no doubt that the defenses here are much tighter than I imagined! And every single person guarding this place is a mage! This unknown mage organization is unexpectedly powerful! Then again, that makes sense. If they weren't strong enough, how could they possibly undertake something as monumental as building a Forbidden Magic System?" Shaking his head, Chen Wuming could not help sighing. The previous owner of this body, that useless fool named Achill, had heard plenty of interesting stories about this magic world from his academy headmaster grandfather. However, regarding Forbidden Magic, Achill had only vaguely known the term and its dangers. He had no idea what specific Forbidden Magics existed.

After all, Chen Wuming's reasoning skills were merely somewhat stronger than average. He was not a god, so he naturally could not guess that the structure being built on this island was the famous R System, a Forbidden Magic capable of reviving the dead from legend—also known as the Tower of Paradise!

Meanwhile, deep within the Tower of Paradise, a huge magic crystal stood in the center of a spacious, shadowy hall. Countless profound and incomprehensible magic arrays had been inscribed around it. At that moment, two mages wearing round masks, one thin and one fat, were chatting and laughing loudly.

"Creak—" Suddenly, the doors to the hall were pushed open from outside. Accompanied by several crisp footsteps, two middle-aged men in black robes and wide round hats strode inside.

"Oh, you're back?" Seeing them, the thin mage immediately greeted them with a smile. "How was the haul this time? You didn't run into any danger, did you?"

"Mm, it was average. Very smooth." One of the black-robed men casually tossed his broad hat onto the ground and replied indifferently.

"Hehe, you two must have worked hard capturing the sacrifices this time, right? Come on, let's have a few drinks and welcome you back properly." The fat mage smiled as he made the suggestion.

"What was so hard about it? Everything is for our great dream and pursuit!" The burly man laughed, stepping forward to pat the fat mage's stomach. "You just want a drink because you're greedy. Why make such a lousy excuse? Do you take me for a three-year-old?"

"Hahahaha—"

As for Chen Wuming, the pitiful bit of magic power within his body had been almost completely drained while resisting Tucker's magical purple lightning. Together with the injuries caused by the lightning, he soon fell into a deep sleep against the wall.

It had to be said that transmigration really was powerful, especially soul transmigration like Chen Wuming's. Not only had he completely inherited all of the original owner's memories, but even that person's magic and magic power had been fully passed on to him! Although this tiny amount of magic power seemed pitifully small, it was still better than nothing. Compared to when he had been on Earth, where magical things from legend could only be imagined, this was already infinitely better!

Although this body's magical talent seemed utterly worthless, that depended on who was using it, didn't it? Wasn't magic said to be a miracle born from the heart and soul? In that case, the owner of this body was now him, not that idiot Achill!

If it was him, things should be much better, Chen Wuming thought hopefully. Still, he could not be certain. No one could say for sure what magical talent was like. Maybe his talent was even worse than that idiot Achill's...

As he continued thinking, Chen Wuming gradually drifted into sleep. In his dream, he possessed unparalleled magic power! He also possessed the world's one and only Requip Magic! In his dream, he could summon all kinds of powerful Zanpakutō from the world of Bleach and use them as Requip weapons!

As he slept, he suddenly heard what seemed to be noisy voices near his ear, immediately startling Chen Wuming awake. Cursing himself inwardly for lacking vigilance, he abruptly opened his eyes.

What entered his sight was a young boy with beautiful blue hair. An oddly shaped marking was tattooed on the right side of his face, a dark brown pattern extending straight from above his right eye to near his jaw. The boy was staring wide-eyed at him with a concerned expression.

But none of that was the important part. What truly caught Chen Wuming's attention was the other boy's eyes! What pure and righteous eyes, Chen Wuming sighed inwardly.

"Um, can I help you?" After thinking for a moment, Chen Wuming took the initiative to greet him.

"Are you all right now? We couldn't wake you no matter how much we called. You seem to be new here, right? And you're injured too. Those hateful people must have hurt you as well, right?!" He first asked with concern, then the blue-haired boy began muttering through gritted teeth. Clearly, he hated that inhuman evil mage organization to the bone.

"Uh, hehehe..." Chen Wuming felt a little embarrassed that he had actually slept so deeply. After all, he was currently supposed to be a "slave," so he gave a dry laugh to hide his awkwardness.

"Whew... that's good." Hearing this, the blue-haired boy sighed in relief. Then he smiled and extended his right hand, introducing himself. "My name is Gerard! Gerard Fernandes. Since fate has brought us together, even if we met in hardship, we'll be friends from now on! We have to get along well during the days ahead!" As he spoke, he gestured toward the other people in the dwelling. Chen Wuming had slept for quite a long time, and it was already completely dark. The others who had been working outside had returned, and they were now looking at the newly awakened Chen Wuming with friendly expressions.

"Uh, Chen Wuming. Just call me Nameless..." Chen Wuming also extended his hand and lightly shook hands with the boy named Gerard, introducing himself with what seemed to be a rather pained expression.

He truly was pained. He was a grown man in his early twenties! Although his body after transmigrating seemed to belong to a brat around Gerard's age, his soul was undeniably that of an adult! Suddenly having someone who looked like nothing more than a child speak to him in such a mature, worldly tone was genuinely irritating...

I'm the adult here, all right? Little Gerard...

Rolling his eyes speechlessly, Chen Wuming thought with considerable irritation.