In the first cell, a person was chained by the hands to the cave wall, motionless.
Only half of his body remained, severed at the waist, with dense, tiny flesh buds growing from the wound, a truly repulsive sight.
“Wu Yi?” Gu Ya approached him and asked softly.
Remarkably, the man was still alive. He slowly opened his eyes and rasped, “Itchy…”
Without hesitation, Gu Ya split him in half vertically.
The second cell held a baby-like figure confined in a small cage, glaring ferociously at Gu Ya as he entered.
“Wu Yi?” Gu Ya inquired.
“Look closer, you fool! How could I be that scrub Wu Yi!” the infant’s voice, surprisingly, was that of a middle-aged man, filled with disgust.
There was nothing more to say. Gu Ya’s hand moved swiftly, severing the cage and its occupant in two.
In the third cell, a girl with delicate features and a slender build was meticulously applying lipstick in front of a mirror.
“Wu Yi?” Gu Ya asked calmly.
The girl slowly put on an ancient-style long skirt, her ethereal presence captivating as she turned, feigning innocence and asking, “Wu Yi?”
A chill ran down Gu Ya’s spine. Her other half of the face was heavily corroded, a mechanical visage with internal components in disarray.
“Wu Yi is in cell 0327,” the girl replied with a chilling yet somewhat cute smile.
As Gu Ya turned, the girl suddenly bared her teeth like a wolf and lunged at him.
Swift as thought, Wangchuan appeared behind Gu Ya. With a sharp, sinister glare, he drew his sword and cleaved off half the girl’s face.
The girl’s perfect half bore an expression of shock, splattering onto the ground like a bloodied steamed bun with a wet thud.
“Cell 0327,” Gu Ya murmured.
Following the cell number plate, Gu Ya quickly located Wu Yi’s dwelling.
“Wu Yi!”
Inside the cell, a youth, slightly younger than Gu Ya, with a face as calm as still water, was engrossed in reading a book nearly five fingers thick.
A holographic white lamp floated a short distance above his head.
Facing Gu Ya’s murderous intent, he showed no surprise. He closed the book and asked composedly, “Sha Lang · Fei She sent you, didn’t he? You’re the twenty-third person to come for my life in a hundred years.”
“I guess you’ll go find him to fulfill his promise after you kill me?”
“Was the commotion outside just now also your doing? I bet that prison guard is dead by now, right?”
Gu Ya had no time for his rambling. He strode forward and grabbed him by the hair.
With the activation of 【Xie Shen Ning Wang】, inexplicable characters, similar to those on Shen Jingming’s body, appeared on Wu Yi.
What differed was that his body was hazy and ethereal, like smoke. His hands, feet, and head were gone, leaving only a small portion of his torso.
“The overseer of the first detention zone sends someone to end my life every term. It seems to have become a custom, or perhaps a ritual,” Wu Yi stated calmly.
“No time for your nonsense,” Gu Ya retorted grimly, raising his light sword and decapitating Wu Yi.
The ethereal sensation made Gu Ya believe he had struck air.
Holding Wu Yi’s bloody head, Gu Ya breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to leave, a low murmur echoed in his mind.
“...you hear… me…”
Startled, Gu Ya quickly opened the 【Void Package】 and addressed Xu Jie’s head, sealed within lead alloy, “Be quiet!”
Xu Jie’s faint voice emanated from the half-meter thick lead alloy, but it was clear the previous voice hadn't come from her.
“Wangchuan!!”
Gu Ya summoned his consciousness avatar and stared at it, asking, “Can you talk now?”
A bad premonition surfaced in Gu Ya’s mind. If his consciousness avatar could talk and develop independent thought, then Gu Ya would have no choice but to execute him.
Wangchuan’s expressionless face remained fixed ahead, its gaze unfocused, showing no reaction.
Gu Ya suddenly found it amusing. He knew his own consciousness best.
If Wangchuan could speak, he would be the first to know. What was there to doubt?
Gu Ya then lifted Wu Yi’s now lifeless head, shaking his head and dismissing the suspicion.
“Who was speaking just now?” Gu Ya clutched his head. “Something’s not right, something’s really not right…”
After attempting to communicate with the voice in his mind without success, Gu Ya stopped dwelling on it and quickly exited the cell.
“A bunch of immoral monsters. What use is there in them being alive? Just to satisfy someone’s collector’s urge?”
Gu Ya glared fiercely around the third detention zone and re-summoned his mech.
As torrents of flames engulfed the gasoline splashed on the cell floors, ceilings, and cave walls,
The entire third detention zone transformed into a fiery inferno.
Accompanied by the roaring crackle of the raging flames, countless burning “monsters” crawled out of the hundreds of cells along the cave walls.
The “monsters” wailed in agony, struggling to grasp anything they could reach—rocks, cliffs, iron bars, even the flames engulfing their own bodies.
Gu Ya walked steadily towards the narrow tunnel exit, his back to the inferno.
With each step he took, bags of cement, absorbent, and quick-setting agents appeared behind him, neatly stacked to form a wall.
Reinforcement bars, as thick as wrists, emerged and were interleaved at various angles within the cement bags.
The entire ten-meter-long rocky tunnel was sealed tight with steel bars and cement.
Gu Ya summoned a water pump to draw water from a deep pit and pour it onto the cement and quick-setting agents.
As the water was rapidly absorbed by the absorbent, the cement and quick-setting agents reacted chemically, completely sealing the third detention zone.
“This place will be forgotten by humanity forever.”
The ascent was unobstructed. As the temperature and pressure returned to normal, Gu Ya finally flew out of the cave entrance.
Upon his return to the first detention zone, he tossed Wu Yi’s head onto the floor of the prison hall. The ravenous prisoners dared not even approach for a glimpse.
The torchlight cast their shadows on the walls, dancing with the flames, like countless demons in a macabre ballet.
Gu Ya stepped on Wu Yi’s bloodied head and sat on the chair in the center of the hall, facing the dancing “demons,” roaring, “Sha Lang · Fei She!! Come out!”
With a *thump*, a body plummeted from high above, bouncing twice on the ground before lying still, face up.
Sha Lang · Fei She was dead.
“Hehehe, kid, the divine position of the first detention zone has changed hands.”
The scrawny man who had accompanied Gu Ya yesterday emerged from the shadows, hands clasped behind his back, hunched over.
Behind him, dozens of female inmates, their hands bound, filed out of the second-floor staircase with their heads lowered.
“My subordinates!” the scrawny man roared with glee, “Sha Lang · Fei She has been killed by me! I am your new god!! Hahahahaha! Tonight, they are your prey!”
As soon as he spoke, the male prisoners erupted in frenzied roars, charging towards the female inmates like mad beasts.
Chaos and depravity ensued, screams, cries, and roars echoing through the hall.
With his back to the utterly repulsive scene, the scrawny man smiled and called out to Gu Ya, “I’ve planned for twenty years and finally reached the position I desired. You even played a part in it.”
Gu Ya replied coldly, “I don’t care about your damned plan. Since you’ve replaced Sha Lang · Fei She, you must guarantee my safe exit from the second detention zone.”
“Ha! Why should I honor the promises of the dead? Hahahaha! I am the god of this prison now! Urk!!!”
The scrawny man, who had been laughing arrogantly a moment before, suddenly looked at his chest with bewilderment.
A crimson light sword was plunged into his heart. As Gu Ya twisted his wrist, the scrawny man let out an even more agonizing laugh: “Hahahahaha……”
He died with a laugh, his head tilting to the side.
“I’ve had enough of this place!”
Gu Ya drew his light sword, flicking off the burnt blood, his gaze indifferent as he looked at the horrific spectacle.
Countless men and women mingled together, like a horde of zombies. No word of depravity could adequately describe the scene.
“Wangchuan, let’s end this.”
Wangchuan slowly emerged from Gu Ya’s body. Two crimson light blades flared to life in their hands. They stepped forward, their speed increasing, and charged towards the inhumane beasts.
Just then, a dark figure lunged from the side, an icy metal rod thrust between Gu Ya’s arms.
As the figure’s hands twisted the rod, Gu Ya’s light sword was precisely disarmed.
The figure then tripped Wangchuan and kicked the light sword far away.
“What is it?” Gu Ya stabilized himself and calmly addressed the god-like figure, “You want to die too?”
The man calmly and softly stated, “If you kill them, you will never be able to save Mu Ye · Xing Chen.”