Chapter 21: Begging for Life, Pleading for Death
Su Han moved in immediately, using his body to shield Shen Chengyin from Li Tiangan’s line of sight while gently supporting the man.
Li Tiangan didn’t notice Su Han’s guarded stance. He walked over to the operating table, checking Wang Jiafu’s pulse and breath.
“He’s not dead yet, and the bleeding from his wounds has been stopped.”
Hearing that only made Su Han worry about Shen Chengyin even more.
It couldn’t be that Wang Jiafu had suddenly lashed out and wounded the male lead, could it?
As he was turning it over in his mind, something icy was suddenly pressed into his palm. Su Han looked down—it was a translucent, lustrous spherical crystal core.
He froze.
A spherical core belonged to an ability user. This one was a deep, radiant blue, signifying a water-element power.
This was Wang Jiafu’s core.
Yet Li Tiangan had just said Wang Jiafu was still breathing.
Su Han’s mind snapped to Shen Chengyin’s life ability. With Shen Chengyin’s capabilities, it was entirely possible for him to carve open a man’s chest, rip out the core, and use his power to knit the flesh back together.
The weight pressing down on his shoulder suddenly grew heavier, making Su Han stumble slightly. Immediately after, the core in his palm was plucked away by Shen Chengyin.
“The stench of blood is too thick in here. I’m going out for some fresh air. Li Tiangan, keep an eye on this place.”
Tossing that brief instruction to Li Tiangan, Su Han helped Shen Chengyin down the corridor and slipped into a utility closet near the rear exit.
The closet hadn’t been swept in ages, the stagnant air heavy with the choking smell of dust.
Away from prying eyes, Shen Chengyin leaned against the wall, slowly straightening his posture. Cradling Wang Jiafu’s crystal core in the center of his palm, he allowed Su Han to watch in plain view as the crystal shrank inch by inch until it vanished entirely.
[He absorbed it!]
System 111, which had been silent for ages, suddenly piped up and startled Su Han.
[Ability users can boost their strength by absorbing cores… Shen Chengyin’s absorption speed is disgustingly fast. No wonder he was chosen as the sole candidate for godhood.]
In the original novel, Shen Chengyin eventually awakened the Law ability, becoming the only true “deity” birthed from this apocalyptic god-making blueprint.
A tragedy that by the time he ascended the divine throne, he had grown so profoundly disillusioned with the world that he chose to annihilate it along with himself.
Su Han silently watched Shen Chengyin finish absorbing the core. He understood that this was a veiled warning.
Shen Chengyin could easily have hidden the process from him.
“You didn’t kill Wang Jiafu—you just stripped his ability?” Su Han asked.
Shen Chengyin paused, then replied flatly, “I crippled one of his legs, too.”
In the end times, abilities dictated everything. Stripped of his power and reduced to a limping cripple who couldn’t lift a weapon or haul supplies, Wang Jiafu’s fate was painfully obvious.
For a man like him, this was a hell far worse than a swift death.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Su Han mirrored Shen Chengyin’s posture, leaning casually against the opposite wall. “A brilliant method. Pity that aside from you, no one in this world has the power to strip another person’s ability.”
Shen Chengyin let out a low chuckle.
Simply severing the ability and turning Wang Jiafu into a lame cripple was nowhere near enough. The horrors he truly envisioned for him were far more suffocating.
Such as trapping Wang Jiafu’s consciousness inside a bottomless mental purgatory, forcing him to relive the agony of near-death every single second of eternity.
Or plunging him into the bowels of the earth, letting molten magma scorch his flesh to cinders over and over, only to knit him whole again with divine power.
It was merely a pity that he lacked the strength to manifest those visions just yet.
The two stepped out of the utility closet side by side. When Li Tiangan saw them returning, his brow was locked in a tight scowl.
“Something happened. A massive blast just went off near the main gates for some reason. The horde will probably converge there in three hours at most.”
The main gate was the widest entrance into Hope Base, reinforced with custom alloy plates designed to be virtually impenetrable.
Su Han gave a faint start, his eyes shifting toward Shen Chengyin.
Shen Chengyin’s dark pupils remained completely unruffled, devoid of the slightest ripple.
“Let’s go take a look,” the man said.
