6: Flesh Furnace

"Are your legs broken? Walk faster!"

"Keep dawdling and I'll throw you into the Corpse Decomposition Pit right now!"

The sky was a ghastly white. The morning wind, smelling of rust, whipped across the faces of every Mine Slave like a blade, carrying the overseer's spittle.

Chen Feng blended into the group, keeping his head low. All around him were despairing, dejected whispers.

"It's really over this time..." the person on his left chattered their teeth.

"Don't be afraid. I heard it's strong acid. You go in, it goes 'sizzle,' and you're gone. It doesn't hurt," the person on his right said, as if self-hypnotizing.

"Bullshit!" someone behind cursed with a sob. "Old Zhang saw it with his own eyes—the flesh dissolved but the bones were still moving! They were scalded to death alive in that acid!"

The crowd fell into a deathly silence, leaving only the sound of heavy footsteps.

Chen Feng didn't make a sound. His eyes darted rapidly behind his disheveled hair, scanning ahead like a radar.

Fear? A useless thing.

He was looking for a way out.

Vision locked—thirty meters ahead, an abandoned 'Asset Registration Room.' The paint on the door was peeling like rotten sores, and the metal door was slightly ajar, appearing to be rusted shut.

That was the only blind spot, and the only way to live.

As the line reached the door of the registration room, a Guard expressionlessly extended an electric baton and began the final headcount. His gaze didn't look like he was watching people; it was like he was counting pigs for slaughter.

The opportunity would only last a second.

Chen Feng took a deep breath, adjusted his facial muscles, and instantly switched from 'sinister' to 'weak.'

The moment he passed the Guard's side, he seemingly accidentally tripped, his whole body tumbling toward the registration room door like a broken sack.

"Ouch—!"

The scream was extremely exaggerated.

Just as he hit the ground, his wrist flicked, and the [High-Purity Energy Crystal] hidden in his sleeve slid out.

The black crystal bounced twice on the cinder-covered ground, tracing an enticing parabola and letting out a crisp 'clink' as it stopped precisely by the Guard's tactical boot.

The interior of the crystal seemed to seal a galaxy within; its purity was terrifyingly high.

"Of-Officer!"

Chen Feng lay on the ground, trembling all over, shouting in a tone of extreme humility, "Your... your treasure fell!"

The Guard instinctively looked down.

When he saw clearly what was by his foot, his deadpan face instantly became animated.

Was that an energy block?

No, that was three months' worth of money to squander at the black market! That was a fortune that could be traded for the latest model of exoskeleton!

"Mine?" The Guard was stunned for a moment, greed instantly overwhelming his reason.

"Yes, yes, yes, it just slipped off your belt, I saw it!" Chen Feng's eyes were so 'sincere' it could make one weep.

No Guard could refuse such a temptation, let alone a 'tribute' offered by a Mine Slave about to be executed.

The Guard instinctively bent down, reaching out to grab the crystal.

This bending motion perfectly blocked the line of sight of everyone behind him.

Now!

The humility in Chen Feng's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a beast-like predatory glint.

Ignoring the sharp pain of his scraped knees, he launched himself like a cannonball, slamming his shoulder hard into that stuck metal door!

Angle, force—perfect.

"Open for me!"

Bang!

With a muffled thud, the rusted door was forced open by this desperate power, creating a gap just wide enough for one person. Chen Feng rolled on the spot, sliding inside like a loach!

Turn, pull the door, bolt it.

The series of movements was smooth as flowing water, as fast as if he had rehearsed it countless times in his mind.

Click.

The backup physical bolt dropped, completely isolating him from the outside world.

"You little bastard! You're dead!!"

Outside the door, the Guard, having realized what happened, let out an exasperated roar that sounded like a stray dog whose meat had been stolen.

Chen Feng leaned against the door, panting heavily, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat. He ignored the cursing outside and with trembling hands pulled out the pale green syringe from his chest pocket.

No alcohol swab, no hesitation.

The needle aimed at the carotid artery and plunged in!

His thumb shoved it all the way to the bottom!

"Open the door! If you don't open up right now, I'll skin you alive!"

The door panel was kicked repeatedly with a clanging sound.

At the same time, that cold mechanical voice rang out in his mind, sounding like a death knell, yet also like a battle hymn:

[Warning: Low-quality Repair Fluid detected.]

[The reshaping process will be accompanied by level ten intense pain. Fatality rate: 30%.]

[Good luck, Host.]

The next second, hell arrived.

"Ugh—!!"

A scream was crushed between Chen Feng's tightly clenched teeth.

This was no repair fluid; it was practically molten lava being poured directly into his veins!

The bones in his entire body felt as if they were being crushed inch by inch by an invisible giant hand, then crudely hammered back together. Every nerve was screaming, and every inch of muscle was being torn apart and reorganized.

Pain.

It was too much pain.

So painful his soul was trembling.

Chen Feng curled up on the ground, biting down hard on a piece of moldy rag, his body twitching like a fish out of water. His eyes were bloodshot and rolling back, and sweat mixed with the black tainted blood expelled from his body, instantly forming a pool beneath him.

"Break it down! Get me some explosives!" The Guard outside was truly desperate now.

Bang!

Bang!

Each impact sounded like the Grim Reaper knocking on the door.

But this sound instead became Chen Feng's only anchor in the waves of pain.

Can't faint... if I faint, I'm dead... "This bit of pain... is nothing..."

He cursed wildly in his heart, using this hatred to forcibly hold onto his collapsing consciousness. The power within his body was being reborn through destruction; his originally withered muscles began to fill out, and his broken bones became as hard as steel.

Time seemed to pass in a second, yet also felt like a century.

Just a moment before Chen Feng felt like his head was about to explode, the intense pain receded like a tide.

In its place was an unprecedented sense of power.

The power to control life and death.

He had survived.

Boom—!!

The already overburdened metal door was finally blasted open by brute force.

Amidst the rising dust, the burly Guard rushed in with two subordinates, the electric baton in his hand crackling with blue arcs of electricity.

"Little bug, you're quite good at hiding."

The Guard approached with a sneer, his cruelty undisguised. "That little trick you pulled earlier was decent. As a reward, I'll break every bone in your body one by one."

In the corner, the blood-stained figure slowly raised his head.

Chen Feng wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and cracked his neck with a sharp 'pop.'

He looked at the arrogant Guard with eyes as cold as if he were looking at a corpse.

"The game is indeed over."

Chen Feng slowly stood up straight, his lips curling into a manic arc.

"Now, it's hunting time."