Chosen: Beyond Fate

It felt like plunging into a freezing lake.

Amid the suffocating sensation of the world spinning around him, Lian Cheng lost all awareness. It felt like only a moment had passed, yet it could just as easily have been an eternity.

When Lian Cheng finally lifted his head from that dazed state, he saw a dim, desaturated world, a world where everything lay shattered. The sky was covered in abscess-like sores. The earth was riddled with measles-like eruptions. High above, the sun wore a twisted grin, while the moon howled in agony. They were kissing in the heavens, biting and tearing at each other, recklessly spilling blood that turned into a cascading flood across the mortal world.

Where that blood touched him, clusters of mushrooms sprouted. The mushrooms melted into thick, viscous blood, and bubbles rose from within. They swelled from rotting flesh, bursting to reveal countless human faces. The faces drifted around him, weeping and laughing, rising and falling like drifting smoke.

Within the corruption of the Undying Disease, the malice of Rampant Slaughter ran wild.

From flesh that could not die grew tangled branches of bone and sheets of sinew, all warring against one another. Parts of him struggled to kill the rest of him, while he ‌sought to destroy those other parts of himself.

When the final barrier was broken, the aura of the Lord revealed itself from within. At that moment, the three forces began to swirl like a vortex, locked in an endless cycle of slaughter, rivalry, and conflict. His body had become the battlefield, the end of infinite transformation, the end of infinite life, the source of infinite struggle.

The three forces intertwined, scattering dazzling yet nauseating phantom light into a vast kaleidoscope. He sank helplessly into an endless sea of hallucinations and agony, dying and reviving over and over as he was subjected to relentless torment and abuse. He wailed until his voice turned raw.

When he opened his mouth to retch violently, shattered ancient sword blades spilled out in heaps. More blades of white bone burst from his twisted body, only for his living, aberrant flesh to extend again, swallowing those bone blades and spirit swords back, as if it were chewing on steel.

In a single second, he was torn into pieces, yet the remnants of his flesh stubbornly pulled themselves back together, dragging his fragile soul away from the abyss and back to the edge of the cliff.

“Sa... save... me...” Within the restraints of the chair, Lian Cheng writhed in madness. Countless mouths grew and decayed across his body, producing fragmented cries. From innumerable broken eyes, blood tears flowed as he wailed, “Sa... save... me...”

What answered him was a chorus of jubilant cheers.

“It’s done!” Ji Jue spread his arms wide, exclaiming excitedly, “Congratulations, sir. You did it!”

The surrounding physicians swarmed in eagerly. Their hollow faces were filled with ecstatic joy. They clapped, cheered, and even shed tears of excitement, shouting in wild celebration, “He’s dying! He’s dying!”

“He’s really about to die!”

“What a glorious death! What a wonderful death!”

“Come on! You can do it!”

“Believe in yourself! I know you can do it!”

“You’re almost there!”

“Haha, you swallowed it! How do you feel? How do you feel?”

Ji Jue clenched his fist in encouragement, laughing as he cheered Lian Cheng on. “Just a little more and you’ll finally die, sir. You have to let the disease defeat you!”

“You... you...”

From the hellish torment, Lian Cheng’s many mouths opened as he tried to scream in fury, but the moment he opened them, he vomited up another cluster of blood chunks. The blood hit the ground, writhing like worms for a moment before evaporating into nothingness. He stretched his distorted fingers, trying to grab Ji Jue. But the distance was too great. Ji Jue was just a little too far.

Ji Jue bent down to examine Lian Cheng’s miserable condition. “What a pity, the current dosage is still a bit too conservative. How about we do another course of treatment?”

Every eye on Lian Cheng’s body flew wide open. They bulged from their sockets, bloodshot and swollen, wriggling like insects, as though they were about to tear themselves free from his flesh. His screams became louder as he struggled frantically.

“Or we could take it a step further...” Like a magician, Ji Jue pulled out a massive syringe from behind him. It was dozens of times larger than the previous one, as thick as an arm, filled to the brim with blinding crimson. He seemed eager to use it. “Why don’t we just apply it directly to the patient?”

The doctors were brimming with renewed confidence. Their eyes gleamed brighter than ever, their laughter turning into shrill, manic cackles that echoed throughout the room.

A piercing screech of twisting metal erupted from the chair.

Lian Cheng was struggling, and he let out a savage, desperate howl. From the bloated mass of flesh, the outline of a human form emerged. Misshapen limbs writhed like swarms of worms as he threw back his head and screamed.

Then, a jade-green eye buried deep within the flesh snapped open atop the crown of his head. Blood vessels crawled across its surface, and it burned with murderous fury.

Endure. Endure. Endure. Endure. Endure... He had endured enough. Those fools had actually dared to lay hands on the vessel through which the Lord’s blessing descended.

“You forced me to do this! All of you forced me to do this!” Lian Cheng bellowed at the top of his lungs. No longer holding back, he tore away the final seal within his body. Mouth after mouth opened wide, their voices merging into a single thunderous roar. “YOU ALL MUST DIE!!!”

Beneath the gaze of the jade-green eye, the entire Time Ruin came to a standsill. All things became motionless, as though under the might of the Ruins, but this was fundamentally different from the Ruins’ power. For what had been halted was not flesh and matter, but something far more elusive, something as fleeting and intangible as dew or lightning: one’s spirit, will, and even... the soul.

A formless ripple spread from that shifting gaze, expanding and stirring up an invisible storm and tidal surge beyond the reach of human sight. In an instant, it swept across the entirety of Time Ruin.

From Lian Cheng’s shattered body, the authority of a higher Abomination manifested, enveloping everything.

Ji Jue felt a sudden jolt through his body, as if an unseen wave had just washed over him, but Pacifier, which had already wrapped around his body to seal off the aberrant infection, reacted with great power. It forcefully drained spirit matter from the watch on his wrist, rejecting and deflecting every change that tried to take effect on him.

Then he realized something even more alarming. All the aura and influence of the Supreme Benevolence was being completely isolated and expelled. Within the massive inpatient building, under the radiance of that gaze, it had become a forbidden zone of the Supreme Benevolence’s power, rejecting all external interference and transformation.

It wasn’t just the Supreme Benevolences being erased, but also the interference of Time Ruin.

Around Ji Jue, the figures of the physicians suddenly turned illusory, flickering and stuttering like a low-quality videotape. They became unstable, fragmented phantoms that could no longer be touched.

Above their heads, the massive tumor made of endless human faces began to pulse viciously, like a blood-engorged heart. Once again, it swelled.

With the suppression and interference of Time Ruin gone, the Undying Disease ran completely wild. It spread without restraint, expanding without restraint as flesh that had been rotted away or dried to husks regenerated once again.

This time, it was even more rampant than before. The grotesque eye slowly rose into the air and embedded itself within the massive tumor.

At once, the black swords piercing through it dissolved completely, melting into the flesh and becoming streams of dark radiance. The process accelerated its transformation, hastening the growth of the calamity-bearing vessel nurtured within the Undying Disease.

Countless whispers and murmurs echoed from all around. They were scattered and impossible to make out clearly, yet they reverberated in one’s ear without end. It was as though they spoke of every mystery and secret in existence, revealing truths beyond human knowledge and understanding, or incomprehensible principles that defied description yet seemed utterly valid somehow.

They chanted, praised, revered, and worshiped. Anyone who listened could feel their consciousness growing heavy, their minds slipping toward madness.

Meanwhile, the proliferating flesh continued to spread and twist, eventually forming a gigantic wheel of bone that revolved around the tumor without end. It turned slowly, looking both sacred and horrifying. It radiated a black and red glow.

Countless tendrils of flesh descended from the bone wheel, wrapping around Lian Cheng. In an instant, they shattered his restraints and freed him. Then, blade-like flesh organs and bone structures were forcibly expelled from his body, pushed out as if ejected.

The Rampant Slaughter Poison was completely purged from his body.

As flesh reconnected and fused together, Lian Cheng, whose appearance had long since become utterly unrecognizable, could no longer contain himself. He threw his head back and laughed manically.

“Heh... hehehe... hahahahaha... This is all your own doing!” The countless bloodshot eyes covering his face locked onto Ji Jue. “You brought this upon yourself!”

With his declaration, the bone wheel expanded once more. Unfortunately, it seemed incomplete, as if it was still underdeveloped. It only swelled slightly before a series of ear-piercing cracks echoed from within, as countless fissures appeared across it.

Without sufficient nourishment and cultivation, even the authority of the aberrant could not complete its final transformation and fracture the domain to form a true vessel. It failed at the last step.

Lian Cheng’s face twisted with hatred, becoming even more ferocious.

Only now did he realize what Ji Jue had been holding. The substance in the massive shattered syringe was not Rampant Slaughter Poison at all. It was nothing more than a bucket of contaminated blood. He had been completely played.

But it didn’t matter. Even now, the Lord’s medium was still enough to overwrite the old rules and seize control of Time Ruin.

Lian Cheng raised both arms high, looking down at Ji Jue’s tiny figure below him.

“Now, you worthless insects, feel the authority of the Lord.”

The bone wheel spun faster. The tumor at its center throbbed furiously. It rose above the inpatient building, blazing with blinding radiance. Under the corruption of the aberrant, endless blood rain poured from the sky, drenching the distant outpatient building and awakening all the sleeping patients. It drove those eternally insatiable souls completely into madness.

In the empty corridors, one hunched patient after another collapsed to the ground, letting out final, despairing screams. Their bodies rapidly swelled and mutated, fully transforming into dependents of the aberrant. Amid the sounds of bones and fascia distorting and growing into grotesque forms, hungry shrieks rose without end.

Inside the wards, those near-dead monsters suddenly became violently active again. With the physicians gone, with suppression and control gone, they broke through all restraints. They smashed out of their rooms, rampaging through the empty corridors, storming into abandoned offices, and wreaking brutal destruction. They knocked open the doors to the basement, searching for the scent of flesh among hissing, leaking pipes. Eventually, they devoured the feast in the morgue greedily.

One crimson eye after another lit up, all turning toward the central chair and toward the struggling and weeping cult member bound tightly to it. They surged forward like a storm.

As the screams went on and on, blood poured everywhere, and flesh and bone tore apart. Only a broken radio fell to the ground, left completely ignored.

Endless hungry howls echoed from the previously silent outpatient building, rising and falling in waves. The starving monsters rushed in response to Lian Cheng’s call, eagerly breaking through layer after layer of cages and restraints.

“Hahaha... hahahahahaha...” Listening to those countless starving shrieks, Lian Cheng looked as if he were enjoying a grand symphony. His bloodshot eyes gazed down at Ji Jue with delight. “Do you see now? I’m going to tear you to pieces!”

But no one answered him. It seemed that Ji Jue had gotten distracted.

In such a solemn and chilling moment, at a critical point between life and death, Ji Jue slowly lifted his head and looked at Lian Cheng. He tilted his head in confusion, like he hadn’t heard a word of what he just said. “Ah, sorry. Just a second.”

He lowered his head and rummaged through the items in his pocket, pulling out a modified air-conditioner remote control. Then, he pointed it toward the outpatient building behind him, where the monster horde was coming through, and pressed the power button.

In what had once been the obstetrics ward, an old air-conditioning unit hummed to life. Its panel vibrated as it activated. On the exposed live wire, sparks suddenly flared from a short circuit. The sparks jumped to the ground, igniting the alcohol nearby. Flames spread, rose in the air, and leaped as they burned through piles of chemical substances.

It wasn’t just the obstetrics ward, or even just the third floor. The fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor, and even the basement—every area within reach of the spirit matter spiders responded in unison. All electrical devices let out abnormal, synchronized buzzing sounds.

As dust drifted down, broken pipes leaked thick gas. In the oxygen production room, massive oxygen cylinders had been opened. Oxygen generators still hummed as they ran at full capacity. Gasoline pooled across the floor. And in hallways and equipment rooms alike, several tube-shaped devices flashed with an eerie red glow.

After a distant signal was given, they all began emitting synchronized beeping sounds. What followed was a thunderous explosion, so powerful, it seemed the Time Ruin would be torn apart.

At first, it was a small tongue of flame bursting from a shattered basement window. Then it became a crimson inferno, like an enraged dragon filling every passage, corridor, and office.

Finally, the blaze erupted from the depths, spinning and unfurling like one of those cheap lotus birthday candles[1] bought for a few bucks. Petal by petal, it opened as deafening shrieks of destruction and flames spread with terrifying speed all around.

Fire engulfed the place. The flames burst, rushed forth, and rose into the air, swallowing and illuminating everything.

An unprecedented shockwave swept across the area. Countless windows in the main hospital building shattered and exploded. As the foundation gave way, the massive structure broke apart piece by piece. Like a giant with its back broken, it bowed its head amid the flames, as though kneeling in submission.

Dust billowed everywhere, and thick black smoke rolled into the sky.

Severed limbs, shattered remains, and torrents of blood were hurled into the air. They fell back to earth alongside chunks of rubble, raining down like a grisly storm and staining everything crimson.

Facing the searing wave of heat, Ji Jue couldn’t help but whistle. He put his hands on his hips and said, “Phew! Now, that was satisfying! I’ve been wanting to do that for ages!”

He turned back to look at the dumbfounded Lian Cheng. “Right, what were you saying just now?”

T/N: Ji Jue must be the most unserious and UNHINGED mc i’ve come across. I like the fact that he’s literally even more unhinged and crazier than the monsters in the Time Ruin, despite the fact that he’s supposed to be terrified lol. He’s beating crazy by being even crazier!

1. A lotus birthday candle is a novelty cake candle that is especially popular in parts of Asia. It starts out looking like a closed flower bud, but when the central fuse is lit, the candle gradually opens up into a blooming lotus flower. As the petals unfold, multiple smaller candles on each petal ignite, creating a circular display of flames. Many versions also spin and play a musical tune, such as "Happy Birthday." I’ve attached a picture for your reference. ☜