Chapter 209: Sacrifice Is Needed!
The voices of several men nearby were filled with excitement—they didn’t care at all about the pain from the spikes beneath their feet.
On the contrary, when they heard that Leng Feng could siphon the life from every living thing in the dungeon to strengthen himself at will, they could barely contain the thrill welling up inside them.
They’d been repressed for far too long over these past years.
When Leng Feng found them back then, he’d already run the necessary tests—tests to ensure they would dedicate themselves wholly to humanity, willing to sacrifice everything, even their lives.
And indeed, they could give everything they had, including their own lives.
But all these years, the Dark Star had hung over them like a guillotine hovering at their throats.
At any moment, someone might die.
If the Dark Star was in a foul mood, it might reclaim two seeds. If in a good mood, it reclaimed two seeds anyway. Sometimes just to check the progress over the years, it would retrieve two more, just to see.
Any time, they could see comrades around them abruptly collapse.
At first, they felt pain. But after a while, they’d grown numb to it all.
The blade at their throats would never disappear; instead, it could fall at any time.
Yet Leng Feng always reminded them—this was their mission.
Becoming seeds of the Dark Star wasn’t a noble path, but it was the quickest route to strength.
All they had to do was hold out a little longer, endure until humanity produced its own true powers.
Meanwhile, the Dark Star was an insurmountable mountain towering before them.
All of them were like rocks and grains of sand stolen from that mountain’s slopes, never able to climb or surpass it.
But now, Leng Feng could extract others’ power just like the Dark Star did.
In this moment, they saw hope in Leng Feng.
When Leng Feng stands higher than the Dark Star, who’s to say they can’t win?
Who says the mountain the Dark Star raised can’t be toppled in return?
"Boss, my guess is, with the Dark Star splitting off so much power, it must be greatly weakened."
"If you absorb everyone in the dungeon, I bet you could become even stronger than the Dark Star! Maybe, we’ll be the ones who get to drain it!"
"Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone split off so many seeds, so often, and retain their strength."
"It’s just a shame we can’t know what state the Dark Star’s really in. If only we could..."
"Once the passage opens and those wraiths arrive, maybe we’ll learn something."
...
Hearing his men talk, Leng Feng froze for a moment.
That’s right, the Dark Star had never revealed its own state to them.
Because the wraiths would never tell humanity how weak they were now.
But he knew someone who just might know.
Jiang Che.
If Jiang Che could help investigate, they really might find out what condition the Dark Star was in right now.
The despair in his heart seemed to ignite in an instant—a spark of hope flaring up.
"You guys really don’t think my dungeon ability is evil?" He looked uneasily at his assistant, who paced back and forth handling tasks, checking incidents in the two regions, unfazed by the pain at his feet.
"Evil?" The assistant turned around, looking at the dazed Leng Feng.
"Boss, I’ve never seen you so lost before."
"I’ll never forget when you first found me, asking if I’d give my life for the survival of humanity."
"Back then, all I knew was—the man standing before me shone with light."
"You said what we were about to do could, in the future, earn humanity’s scorn, maybe even see us branded as traitors and nailed to pillars of shame."
"At the time, I didn’t know what you were planning. But I knew someone who could say all that could never be truly evil." His assistant set down his data pad as he spoke.
One by one, people around him stood up.
Even staff still handling affairs paused their work.
The swelling crowd grew larger and some even started hopping in place, as if the spikes piercing their feet didn’t exist at all.
Leng Feng still couldn’t ignore the lives in the dungeon—he’d gathered these people to protect them, not kill them.
He couldn’t bring himself to reap their lives.
He especially couldn’t kill them just to make himself stronger.
As he thought this, he felt utterly devoid of humanity.
Standing there motionless, people gathered around him, all of them laughing and recklessly sprinting across the ground.
"Hahaha, isn’t this just a 24-hour foot massage?"
"I don’t feel a thing! Are you sure you guys aren’t just weaklings? At our rank, your kidneys should be stronger than that."
"Who’re you calling weak?"
"To be honest, when I heard the boss say he could use our lives as fuel, I breathed a sigh of relief. It’s much better to let our own get stronger than the Dark Star."
Leng Feng slowly raised his head and looked at his deputy—the very first one he found.
"Boss, all these years, the Dark Star’s seed mark on me has never stopped hurting. I always felt that was worse than the spikes under my feet now."
"My feet hurt now, but it just keeps reminding us—this is what freedom feels like."
Hoarse, guttural roars sounded nearby—no one knows who shouted first, but then the chant swept through the crowd.
"Humanity will triumph."
...
"Humanity will triumph!"
Leng Feng walked toward the monitoring room. Unlike Flying Eagle’s city, which was crammed with eyes, here surveillance cameras were everywhere.
He watched as people all over the city limped grimacing through the streets, cursing at the bizarre spikes underfoot.
"Let’s wait—let everyone grow first."
"Wait until the moment truly comes." Leng Feng looked at the crowd, feeling himself no different from the Dark Star.
"Boss, even if they die, it’s for the sake of more humans."
"I’ll arrange for everyone to find ways to get stronger, so when the day comes, you can draw on greater power."
"Even if, in the end, you can’t kill the Dark Star..."
"The Dark Star wants to consume? Then let’s stuff it till it bursts!"
"Wouldn’t that be our way of killing the Lord together?"
The deputy’s words echoed in his ears.
If we can’t make it burst...
The deputy didn’t finish. If it came to that, who knows what power the Dark Star would have...
He felt that, by then, humanity would have no hope left; whatever happened after—that wasn’t their concern.
When that time comes, if everyone’s dead, what’s the point of worrying further?
"If we really fail, then let them curse us, haha." Leng Feng laughed; he’d already accepted damnation. Now, all that remained was to let the scorn grow even louder.
By then, he’d probably be dead anyway, unable to hear it anymore.
With that in mind, he took out his phone.
He stared at Jiang Che’s name in his contacts, and pressed the call button.