Shen Ge had pulled out the demons’ fangs and claws, but he didn’t kill them. Instead, he placed weapons into the hands of the young boys and girls they had victimized, igniting the blazing flames of vengeance within them.
As the rebellion unfolded, these youths poured out all the fury they’d bottled up over those horrific days. Some bludgeoned their tormentors’ heads into pulp yet still kept pulling the triggers, firing round after round.
And some, after killing those who had wronged them, turned the guns on themselves and pulled the trigger without hesitation—no longer holding any attachment to this world.
Of the dozen or so young captives, only six remained: four boys and two girls. They sat dazed among the corpses, their eyes shifting from rage to confusion, then to hollow emptiness. But unlike those who had turned their weapons on themselves, they didn’t seem ready to give up—as if dying now would be too great a loss.
“Who… who saved us?” one of the boys finally looked up, scanning the area. Having witnessed the vile nature of these Neo-Theist Church filth, he didn’t believe in gods.
If there were any gods, they were surely “demons.” In his mind, whoever saved them had only done so to claim their souls, and would collect them once their revenge was complete.
“It’s God! It’s God—God has appeared!” Another boy and a girl, upon hearing those words, immediately looked around in awe.
The first boy snorted in disdain. “Bullshit. If God really existed, would the world have become like this?”
He stood up, walked past the pile of corpses, and knelt in an open space, bowing to the empty air. “I, Sun Wu, was abandoned by my parents and offered to the Neo-Theist Church—a worthless life. I’ve clung to survival only to take revenge on that Church. Whether you’re a god, a ghost, or even a demon come to claim our souls—today, you let me have my revenge. My life is yours. You can take it whenever you wish!”
With that, he kowtowed three times heavily.
Clap.
Clap, clap.
Suddenly, the sound of clapping echoed through the air, startling the remaining youths into raising their guns toward the empty space before them.
Then, a man materialized out of thin air in front of them.
Shen Ge looked at the one who called himself Sun Wu. “Kid, those words make you sound like a real man. I didn’t waste my effort saving you.”
“You… you saved us?” Sun Wu still seemed in disbelief, but recalling how the demons had been struck by invisible forces and how the weapons had been handed to them, the ability matched what this man who appeared out of thin air had just displayed.
Shen Ge nodded. “I’m a soldier of the Exploration Corps. I was ordered to scout this stronghold and uncovered the Neo-Theist Church’s atrocities here, so I came to rescue you. If you want to live and take revenge on the Neo-Theist Church, I’ll arrange for you to join the Exploration Corps. If you’d rather forget the past and live a normal life, I’ll have people give you new identities and return you to the shelter—no one will ever mention your time with the Neo-Theist Church.”
“R-really?” a girl asked nervously.
Shen Ge nodded. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the Exploration Corps. We’re sworn enemies of the Neo-Theist Church, and we came here precisely to root out their remnants and wipe that filthy, hypocritical cult off the face of the earth!”
“I’ll follow you!” Sun Wu said excitedly.
His words sparked immediate agreement from several others. But one boy and one girl hesitated. After a long moment of biting her lip, the girl asked tentatively, “I… I want to start over. C-can you help me? I just want to live a normal life.”
“Done!”
Shen Ge nodded, then turned back to Sun Wu. “Here’s a test for you: take them to hide in the neighboring building. I’ll go deal with the rest of the Neo-Theist Church followers, then come back for you.”
“I can help you!” Sun Wu said, gripping his gun and moving to follow Shen Ge.
“If you want to help me, at least wait until you’re strong enough to be useful,” Shen Ge said with a smile. Then he walked to the window and leaped out from several stories up, landing steadily on the ground before heading toward the elevator entrance not far away.
Sun Wu watched Shen Ge’s retreating figure, then looked at the gun in his hand. Clenching his jaw, he turned back to the others. “Come on, let’s wait in the ruined building.”
“Aren’t we… going to help?” one boy asked.
Sun Wu gave a bitter smile. “Have you ever seen ants help an elephant?”
“…”
…
Shen Ge reached the elevator entrance. He didn’t even bother activating his “Incorporeal” trait—he walked right up openly. The two guards at the door spotted a stranger crossing the defensive line and approaching, so they raised their guns and barked, “Who goes there!”
Bang! Bang!
Their answer came in the form of two bullets from the Aberrant-Killing Revolver, which pierced their foreheads. Shen Ge didn’t even have the interest to reply.
He stepped into the elevator and saw only one button for floor B2, so he rode it down.
With a soft ding, the elevator doors slid open. As Shen Ge had guessed, this was an underground laboratory converted from a parking garage.
But “laboratory” wasn’t quite accurate either—it looked more like an underground factory. Ragged workers operated machines under the watchful eyes of Neo-Theist Church followers.
Dim yellow light streamed down from the ceiling, illuminating the dust-filled air and the dilapidated machinery. These workers wore tattered clothes, their faces etched with numbness and despair.
Hammers and chisels in hand, under the threat of the followers’ whips, they reluctantly dripped their sweat onto the cold metal. Every hammer strike sent sparks flying, the metal echoing as if crying out in protest against this apocalyptic world. The slaves’ figures seemed frail and powerless beneath the shadows of the machines, their heavy breaths blending with the roar of the machinery into a dirge for the end times.
The followers stood by, coldly overseeing it all, their whips like demonic tentacles ready to lash at any worker who showed the slightest sign of slacking. There was no pity in their eyes—only the enjoyment of power and greed for exploiting labor. Whenever a slave’s shoulders trembled from exhaustion, a satisfied smile curled at the corner of their lips, a boast of successful oppression.
Piles of discarded tools and machine parts sat in the corners, and waste oil drums gave off a pungent odor. The lingering industrial smell mixed with the slaves’ sweat, creating a suffocating atmosphere.
In this underground factory, human dignity was ruthlessly trampled, and the meaning of existence seemed reduced to endless toil and the torment of waiting for death.
Shen Ge noticed that the parts being produced contained spectral energy reactions. Activating his Spectral Eye for a closer look, he realized they were using machines to mass-fuse Aberrant flesh with mechanical components—clearly preparing to manufacture spectral-energy equipment.
Shen Ge had thought that the world’s anti-Aberrant equipment was rather primitive. But from the look of it, the “tech tree” was actually in the hands of the main villains.
Recalling Priest Jiang and other priests’ “Mutant powers,” as well as the more advanced anti-Aberrant gear they used compared to the Exploration Corps and Aberrant-Hunting Corps, it was highly likely that a Mutant organization was pulling the strings behind the Neo-Theist Church. Otherwise, there was no way they could have achieved this level of technology.
Based on what Deng Yuqi and Fang Mingyue had told him, the shelter’s situation was somewhat similar to the Special Tactics Division Shen Ge had yet to join. Aberrant corpses determined the supply of spectral-energy equipment, so the front-line Aberrant-Hunting Corps was technically the shelter’s most “well-equipped” force.
But while that was the case on the surface, behind the scenes, the Neo-Theist Church—quietly building up its followers—was actually the one with the best gear.
After all, the Neo-Theist Church’s status in the shelter was akin to a “logistics department.” They didn’t even need to fight Aberrants on the front lines. So where did they get all their spectral-energy equipment and Aberrant corpses?
Parliamentary support alone couldn’t account for it. Whether it was the Aberrant-Hunting Corps, the Exploration Corps, or the City Defense Forces, most of the Aberrant corpses they obtained through combat were kept for “internal digestion,” with only a portion handed over to balance the books.
Even if the Parliament gave every Aberrant corpse submitted to the Research Department to the Neo-Theist Church, it wouldn’t have been enough to build them up to their current state.
And besides, if all the corpses handed to the Research Department were actually funneled to the Neo-Theist Church, such an obvious move would certainly have been detected by the Exploration Corps and other departments.
So Shen Ge believed that the Neo-Theist Church was far more complicated than Deng Yuqi and Fang Mingyue had suggested. The most likely scenario was that a Mutant organization was secretly pulling the strings.
That worked in his favor. Shen Ge could use this opportunity to probe the Mutant organization’s background. Maybe he could even glean some intel from this world’s Mutant organization that would be useful against the “real” one.
Shen Ge stepped out of the elevator. Normally, only the factory’s overseers and supervisors came and went through this elevator, so the patrolling guards didn’t pay much attention. But this time, after a few seconds of waiting without the usual “boss” barking orders, they grew curious and looked toward the elevator—only to see a stranger.
“Who’s that?”
“Who goes there!”
“Stop!”
“Intruder in the factory!”
With a series of clicks as safeties were released, over a dozen guns aimed at Shen Ge. But he didn’t slow down at all, continuing to stride forward.
“Who’s in charge here?” Shen Ge’s gaze swept over the patrolling guards and supervisors. The sudden appearance of a stranger put all the Neo-Theist Church followers on alert.
As for the “slaves” buried in their work—whether they were numb to everything or just too afraid to look up—they kept their heads down and continued laboring.
“Who are you? This is Neo-Theist Church work premises—unauthorized personnel are forbidden! Get down on the ground with your hands up, or we’ll open fire!” barked the lead patrol captain.
Shen Ge’s face remained cold as he asked again, “Who’s in charge here?”
“I’m warning you—”
Bang!
Before the patrol captain could finish his sentence, a bullet hole appeared in his forehead. His eyes widened in shock—he hadn’t even seen when Shen Ge fired.
Thud.
The captain collapsed. Everyone around was frozen in terror. Since becoming senior followers of the Neo-Theist Church, even members of the Exploration Corps, Aberrant-Hunting Corps, and City Defense Forces had treated them with courtesy. Who knew this guy would just fire without warning?
“Last time—who’s in charge here?” Shen Ge asked.
At that moment, a bald, fat man—easily provincial-level in size—let go of the two young women he had been holding and pointed at Shen Ge, shouting, “Hey! We’re with the Neo-Theist Church! Don’t you dare—what are you all standing there for? Grab him! No—shoot! Shoot! Kill him!”
Shen Ge’s gaze landed on the fat man, and he raised an eyebrow. “So… you’re the one in charge here?”
The moment the words left his mouth, the guards and supervisors saw a blur. Shen Ge vanished from their sight in an instant, reappearing right beside the fat man.
Squelch—
Blood sprayed across the floor. When the guards looked again, Shen Ge was holding the fat man’s severed head in one hand—the man’s face frozen in shock—and a blood-dripping butcher knife in the other.
“I’m in charge here now. Any objections?” Shen Ge asked, his gaze sweeping over the guards and supervisors.
Everyone his icy eyes touched involuntarily shuddered. He could kill someone a dozen meters away and return to his original spot in the blink of an eye—a power more terrifying than any demon’s. Who would dare object at a time like this?
“Good. Now—Neo-Theist Church followers on the left, everyone else on the right. You have two minutes,” Shen Ge said. Immediately, the supervisors and patrolling guards scrambled to the left.
But even after Shen Ge had fired his gun and killed the fat man, the “slaves” standing at the machines continued working mechanically, completely unaffected.
“The hell—the boss said get to the right! What are you standing around for? Get over there now!” One of the supervisors lashed the nearest man with his whip, sending the man to his knees, begging for mercy, before he scrambled to the open space on the right and knelt, pressing his forehead to the floor.
Then, turning back to Shen Ge with a sycophantic grin, the supervisor said, “Boss, these scumbags just need a good lashing—they don’t listen to nice talk, you gotta—”
Bang!
Before he could finish, a bullet appeared in his forehead. He collapsed to the ground with a look of stunned disbelief.
Shen Ge glanced at the slaves still hunched over their work and sighed inwardly. Thinking of those who had committed suicide right after taking their revenge upstairs, he wasn’t surprised by this outcome. Once a person’s humanity had been ground away, they were little different from the walking dead.
Rehabilitating them and bringing about change would take time—time Shen Ge didn’t have. He would have to leave this to the Exploration Corps and Deng Yuqi.
Meanwhile, back at the temporary base, Deng Yuqi had been waiting for Shen Ge’s reconnaissance report, preparing to deploy forces for a decisive strike on the secret laboratory. But suddenly, she received word that she needed to lead her team to take over the base. Even Deng Yuqi—and the reinforcements who had rushed over, including Captain Liu Jiayi and Tu Doubi—were all dumbfounded.
Weren’t they just supposed to scout?
How did a reconnaissance mission turn into capturing the stronghold outright? So did we all rush over here in a frenzy just to… support nothing?
Liu Jiayi and Deng Yuqi exchanged a look. The former was stunned. “So this is what you meant by a ‘newcomer’ who just joined the corps… with ‘passable’ strength?”
