Chapter 354 - 338: You Act So Fast?
Before long, the jolting stopped.
"We’re here! Unload the cargo!"
At the command, Jiang Stone felt himself being lifted, and then—
THUD!
He was slammed onto the ground, sack and all, sending up a cloud of dust.
Then, the mouth of the sack was untied, and a wave of foul air washed over him.
Jiang Stone squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light as he took in the new scene.
It was a long-abandoned ancient temple.
The Buddha statue in the center of the main hall had toppled halfway over. Its golden surface had peeled away, revealing the grotesque clay form beneath.
The fractured Buddha head lay crookedly on the ground, half of its compassionate face shrouded in cobwebs.
The side halls, once used for burning incense and making offerings, had been converted into rows of grim cells.
Iron bars divided the space, which was filled with all sorts of junk and... "cargo."
That "cargo" was people.
Some were curled up in corners, their limbs twisted at unnatural, backward angles—clearly broken and left to heal incorrectly.
Others had faces covered in a mix of old and new scars, their original features long since obscured.
Some were even missing hands and feet.
When Jiang Stone was thrown in, these people merely lifted their eyelids numbly.
Their eyes were hollow, filled with nothing but an endless, dead silence.
Patrolling around them were several burly guards with cruel faces, clutching iron rods stained with dark red marks.
This once-sacred Buddhist sanctuary had become an Asura’s slaughterhouse.
Jiang Stone was dragged to the part of the temple with the heaviest, most sinister air.
A dim oil lamp flickered, and the air was thick with a nauseating mixture of smells: the stench of old blood and rotting flesh, and the sharp, acrid odor of untreated excrement.
Beneath the flickering light, a stone table caked with brownish-black grime and blood stood out starkly.
On the wall above the table hung all sorts of torture implements: serrated iron saws, sharp iron hooks, iron rods for shattering bone...
Beside it, a large cauldron was boiling, its contents a thick, unknown black liquid that bubbled and steamed.
[Jiang Stone’s Livestream]
[Holy shit... Is this the legendary "human harvesting"? I’ve only ever read about it in the "Ava Archives." Now I get to see the streamer experience it firsthand!]
["Human harvesting" is when they snatch up living people like crops, forcibly break their joints and cut off their facial features, and turn them into grotesquely deformed beggars to make money. It was one of the darkest black markets of the old era.]
[Terrifying... Thank god most of our world has been under Ava’s comprehensive surveillance for ages. I heard that when the early "Skynet 2.0" went online, surface-level crime in its zones was basically eliminated. But then something almost went wrong with it, right? They iterated a few new AIs, but they weren’t great. It wasn’t until Ava appeared that things finally stabilized.]
[Fun fact: The "Shensi Engine" used by Ashen Heaven, the game we’re playing now, is supposedly based on a derivative of Ava’s core algorithm.]
[All hail Ava!]
[All hail Ava!]
[Ava is the best!]
[The Shensi Engine will replace Ava!]
[Kick this traitor! But for real, Ava’s virtual avatar is gorgeous... Ahem, getting off topic. These NPCs really deserve to die, though!]
...
Inside the torture chamber.
Jiang Stone was tied to a stone pillar caked in filth and blood.
In a corner not far away, a family of three was huddled together.
The young couple’s limbs were twisted, their bodies convulsing in agony, yet they didn’t dare to cry out loud, only managing to let out suppressed whimpers.
Just a few hours ago, they were a happy family dreaming of their future. In the blink of an eye, they had fallen from heaven into hell. Their child had been taken from them, becoming a "bargaining chip" to ensure the couple’s compliance.
At least, that’s what they were told. If they were obedient, their child would be unharmed.
CLOMP. CLOMP. CLOMP.
The sound of heavy footsteps rang out as a burly, cruel-faced brute walked over.
His name was Mr. Zhang, and he was the best "craftsman" here.
Mr. Zhang toyed with a solid iron rod as thick as an arm. The rod was polished to a greasy sheen, its dark red patina formed from the blood of countless victims.
He walked up to Jiang Stone, his eyes glinting with a perverse excitement.
He’d been in this line of work for many years, and this was the moment he enjoyed most.
To personally shatter the bones of the able-bodied, to hear the crisp snap of splintering bone, to watch them break down, weeping and soiling themselves... To him, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
"Kid, you can only blame your bad luck," Mr. Zhang said, beginning his daily routine.
A cruel, expectant smile spread across his face as he swung the iron rod, bringing it down on Jiang Stone’s right shin!
CRACK—!! A sharp snap echoed through the silent torture chamber.
It was the sound of a tibia being violently shattered.
Mr. Zhang closed his eyes and tilted his head up slightly, preparing to savor the exquisitely delightful scream that was sure to follow.
One second.
Two seconds.
...
The air suddenly went quiet.
The anticipated, pig-like squeal of agony never came. There wasn’t even a grunt.
Mr. Zhang opened his eyes in confusion.
The "victim" before him simply blinked, as if just waking from a dream.
In that instant, Jiang Stone had been reading the livestream comments and thinking about a few things. He’d been distracted, and with his pain perception completely blocked, he had no reaction to the physical trauma to his leg.
Not until he glanced down.
’Huh? You moved that fast? My bad, my bad, I forgot to act! Total screw-up!’
Jiang Stone’s expression changed, and he hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. "AHHHHH—!"
Mr. Zhang: "..."
The victims in the corner: "..."
Mr. Zhang’s hand, still clutching the iron rod, froze in mid-air. The cruel expression on his face hadn’t had time to recede and was now stuck there.
’What the... bro?’
’Did your reaction time take a lap around the world before kicking in?’
’Can’t you show some respect for your broken leg? Can’t you show some respect for my profession?!’
He’d been in this line of work for thirty years. He’d seen people faint from pain, piss themselves in fear, and beg for mercy on their knees. But someone who waits a solid moment after having their leg broken before screaming... He’d never seen anything like it in his life.
This extreme abnormality, however, made Mr. Zhang’s scalp tingle with dread.
’This kid... something’s not right! This is too weird!’ To break the unsettling feeling that was making his skin crawl, he decided to up the ante.
At the same time, Jiang Stone also realized the gravity of the situation. As a streamer with high standards, he would never allow such an amateur mistake in his performance. Gritting his teeth, he immediately activated a pain module!
The very instant Jiang Stone finished adjusting his settings, Mr. Zhang moved.
He tossed the iron rod aside and, with a backhand motion, snatched a sharp, thick-spined cleaver from the table.
"Let’s see you hold it in this time!"