Chapter 454 - 435: Give Me More
The only sounds in the secret chamber were of blood gushing from chests and the agonized screams of its occupants.
GURGLE GURGLE.
Blood continuously poured from their chests, a gruesome reminder to those not yet dead of what they were enduring.
Lu Ping felt a boundless chill and darkness close in around him.
’It’s over.’
’Looks like I really screwed up this time.’
Just as his consciousness began to fade, the mission jade slip tucked in his clothes lit up.
A warm light gently poured into Lu Ping’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
Immediately after, a message from the jade slip flooded his mind: the mission was complete.
[Mission: Assist in the incubation of a new life (ovoid), complete.]
[Reward distribution in progress...]
’A reward?’
Lu Ping’s mind went blank. He couldn’t quite connect the events before him to his own situation.
’I’m about to die. What good is a reward? Are they going to give me a deluxe funerary urn with a complimentary "three kowtows and nine bows" full-service package?’
The thought had barely crossed his mind when a surge of life energy burst from the jade slip, enveloping his entire body.
This was the mission reward from Lin Qingfeng for the players. Conveniently, it meant they wouldn’t lose levels or anything. Completing the mission also came with a small experience point bonus.
The next moment, Lu Ping’s pupils dilated uncontrollably.
He watched, wide-eyed, as new flesh began to sprout within the mangled hole in his chest—a wound so deep he could see his tattered lung. Accompanied by an unbearable itch, the new tissue converged from the edges of the wound toward the center. His fractured sternum emitted a series of faint CRACKLING sounds as an invisible force brutally straightened it, realigning and fusing the bone.
In less than the time it took to draw three breaths, the fatal, penetrating wound was nothing but a patch of pink, new flesh.
A moment later, even that patch of new flesh vanished. His skin was as smooth as ever, as if the bloody tragedy from before had been nothing but an all-too-real nightmare.
And it wasn’t just Lu Ping.
The same miracle was unfolding in every secret chamber where someone had survived.
"I... I..."
In the next chamber, Wang pushed himself up from the floor, slowly straightening his body.
He looked down, his trembling hand reaching for his chest. It was smooth and warm, his heartbeat strong and steady. Where was the slightest trace of a wound?
’He wasn’t dead?’
’Not only was he not dead, he felt better than he ever had in his life!’
But the healing didn’t stop there.
Since this group of undercover agents was far weaker than the players Lin Qingfeng had anticipated, the life energy didn’t dissipate after repairing their injuries. Instead, as if it had found an outlet, it began to rampage through their bodies.
"Ugh!"
The undercover agents grunted. With each surge of energy, they felt stagnant impurities in their meridians get pulverized and then violently squeezed out through their pores.
Soon, their once-clean disciple robes were soaked through with a layer of black filth, which gave off a rancid stench.
But this foul stench made Lu Ping’s mind feel clearer than ever before.
He could clearly sense that after this ’great cleansing,’ his meridians had become several times tougher than before!
’This mission actually helps expand and perfect your meridians!’
What shocked him even more was that, spurred on by this energy, the Great Dream Leisure Scripture began to circulate wildly within him.
The Spiritual Power that had been suppressed by the toxic Spiritual Energy now galloped joyfully through his brand-new meridians. A single circulation cycle was now significantly faster than usual!
"This... is this ’the weight of life’?"
Lu Ping looked at his impossibly clean hands, then sniffed at the stench rising from his body—a smell potent enough to knock a person out. He was filled with a mix of emotions.
’This... This outcome is a little *too* good, isn’t it?’
’The process was extremely hardcore—a truly hellish experience—but the results... I guess... they’re not unacceptable?’
In another secret chamber, an undercover agent from the righteous path was experiencing a fierce internal conflict.
He climbed up from the floor, feeling the unrelenting power surging through his body and a clarity he had never known. His expression shifted from pale to flushed, a spectacular sight to behold.
’The demonic path! This truly is a Demonic Evil Skill!’
’Treating people like livestock, using them as vessels to incubate monsters, and squeezing every last drop of value from them... Such acts are an outrage to both gods and men!’
He righteously condemned it in his heart.
But the exhilarating feeling of his improved constitution was like a mischievous imp, tickling every inch of his body, making it utterly impossible to ignore.
His expression grew more and more contorted. After a long struggle, he finally stamped his foot and roared in his heart, his face a mask of grief and indignation.
’Damned demonic sect! To uncover your secrets, to protect the world from being corrupted by such evil skills, I... I have no choice but to endure this humiliation, offer my body to the demons, and... critically investigate this a few more times! Leave the upcoming missions to me! I am the perfect vessel!!!’
With that, he glanced down without hesitation at the [Repeat Mission] option on the jade slip, his gaze firm and resolute.
’If I don’t descend into hell, who will! Damned demonic sect! Let me see what you’re truly capable of!!!’
Meanwhile, the undercover agent from another demonic sect was having a completely different reaction.
’I have been a fool! I deserve to die a thousand deaths!’
’So that’s it! That’s it! This is how they truly teach us through practice! To feed the demon with one’s body, to be broken and then remade! Only after pain and destruction can there be rebirth! This isn’t just a test—it’s a gift! A supreme blessing! I thought they would just cast us aside like trash, like any other demonic sect! The Guixi Sect is truly worthy of its name! Incomparable to any common sect!!!!’
He raised his head. His face was streaked with tears, yet he was laughing like a madman.
’Miss Su! I was wrong to blame you! I should never have doubted your benevolent intentions! The love you taught... I understand it now! I understand everything! Rest assured, I will not fail to live up to your teachings! From now on, while my life still technically belongs to my original sect—there’s not much I can do about that!’
’But I’ll give this body my all for the Guixi Sect! So what if I have to incubate a monster! I exist for the sole purpose of incubating stronger life!’
𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
As for the resident genius, he too was now weeping.
’I was wrong... I was so wrong... To think I ever had doubts! I actually thought this was just some simple breeding farm!’
He slapped himself hard across the face, then began to laugh as if he’d achieved enlightenment.
’This isn’t a breeding farm, it’s a supreme sanctum of the Dao! "Chest-bursting" is "attachment-breaking," and "rebirth" is "Dao-attainment"! Only those who truly dare to "give their body and soul" and cast aside all thought of life and death are worthy of this incredible opportunity! I get it! The proctors are using this method to filter out the true seekers of the Dao! To select us, the indomitable elite!’
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. He stared at the now-empty stone bed with a fanatical glint in his eyes.
"Come on!" he cried, spreading his arms wide. "Please, let them parasitize me a few more times! I am the best vessel! For the Guixi Sect, I will gladly offer my body! Don’t hold back on my account!!!"
’Proctors, look at me! Give me some bonus points!!!’
At that moment, every undercover agent in the secret chambers looked at the stone beds, and their eyes once again glinted with a long-absent greed and desire.
’Finally! We’ve finally found a real opportunity in this demonic sect!’
Lu Ping stood up and stretched his limbs. The faint, lingering ache from before was long gone.
He stared at the alluringly flashing [Repeat Mission] option on the jade slip and fell silent for a moment.
’For the sake of getting to Broken Sword Ridge, for the sake of finding the truth...’
’This little bit of pain is nothing.’
He reached out and tapped the option.
At that very same moment, the faint hum of activated jade slips echoed from all the other secret chambers.
RUMBLE—
The stone bed slowly descended, and a brand-new, fleshy, tumor-like egg rose up from below, the veins on its surface pulsating with even greater force.
From the holes in the corners of the chamber, the colorless, paralyzing gas began to hiss out once more.
This time, no one panicked.
Lu Ping even took the time to fastidiously dust off a spot on the floor, found a comfortable position to lie down in, and laced his hands behind his head as if he were settling in for a nap.
In the next chamber, Wang casually took off his outer robe, folded it into a pillow, and started humming an unfamiliar tune.
The others all had their own methods, each settling into the most comfortable posture possible to welcome the impending ’baptism.’
The process of being forcibly implanted by the face-hugger was still agonizing, and the moment it burst from their chests was still soul-shattering.
This time, however, when the soul-shattering screams rang out, they were peppered with some rather unsettling phrases.
"Aaargh—! Yes! That’s the stuff!"
"Deeper... go deeper! Did you even eat today?!"
"It’s not enough! How can I be broken and remade with this pathetic amount of pain! Miss Su! More, give me more!"
...
「Meanwhile, outside the incubation chambers.」
The groups of undercover agents who had triumphantly escaped from the Demon Ape Zone, the maternity ward, and the rhino dung heap finally arrived, cursing all the way.
"Damn it, what kind of shithole is this? It’s even more remote than that rhino latrine..."
"It’s all that Lu Ping’s fault for insisting on this mission. Now that demon Su... I mean, Miss Su, is making us do it too. What rotten luck."
They were about to step forward and push open one of the stone doors to investigate.
Suddenly, a series of faint screams drifted from behind the stone door.
"Hm? A noise!"
The group immediately halted and pricked up their ears.
"Aaargh—! Yes! Right there! Harder! AAAAAAAAAAGH!"
A complex cry—pained, high-pitched, yet tinged with a hint of pleasure—drifted out from the row of sealed chambers.
The agents outside exchanged glances, their expressions freezing on their faces.
"I... I didn’t mishear that, did I?"
"It sounded like... they were shouting ’harder’?"
"And... ’more, give me more’?"
Then, more voices echoed from the different chambers, rising and falling in succession.
"Becoming stronger... truly requires the ultimate torment of body and mind... Does it hurt?"
"My chest... it hurts so much! It really... really hurts!"
"AAAAH! My Dao Heart! My Dao Heart is... ascen-DAAAAAAAGH! This little... bit of pain... is noth... ing at aAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"It’s coming! It’s coming! My little baby is about to... AAAAAAGH! This feeling of breaking free from a cocoon! It’s so wonderful! AAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"One more time! I can take another ten... no, two times!"
"Ascen... AAGH... ding!"
The agents outside were collectively petrified, their mouths hanging open.
They stared at the row of sealed stone doors, an icy chill creeping into their hearts.
’What in the world... is happening in there???’
’Are these people... all insane?!’
’No wonder these guys chose to stay in this demonic sect. They must be here for the abuse!’