Chapter 663: Exiled (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
“Hmph…” A sliver of contempt and disdain flashed across the eyes of the army officer as he growled. “Start it up!”
Hum hum hum hum~~~~~~~~~~~
Following the white coat figure’s press of a b.u.t.ton, the sparkling runic transmission array started to spin about furiously.
The appearance and noises of the outer world were instantly separated by the high-speed rotating light barrier, transforming everything into a stretch of whiteness. Under this rotating light barrier, the various runes started to transform into streams of light, coming together to form a mysterious picture, one that was filled with various kinds of mysteries and laws.
Spontaneously, w.a.n.g Zhong felt enlightened; it was as though his comprehension of the appearance and formation of those runes had unexpectedly come together to form a faintly discernible domain. This was a visible expression of the laws, appearing exceedingly mysterious. Only those with a deep understanding of runes would be able to sense this. Furthermore, the visible expression of the laws on such a deep level might be something that even the creators of this dimensional transmission device weren’t aware of. Precisely speaking, it seemed that technology wasn’t entirely developed by the Federation.
Nevertheless, this new knowledge had come too suddenly, and it was too much of a shock for him. Before he could calm his heart down to take a more detailed look, a frightening spiral of light descended from the skies. An incomparably ma.s.sive suction appeared within the pillar of light, accompanied by an intense crus.h.i.+ng pressure. Everyone immediately felt as if their bodies were being torn apart, as though they were getting ripped apart by the terrifying spiral of light. As everyone clutched their heads in pain, the terrifying shrieks from the women sounded like pigs being slaughtered. However, even their voices were getting warped and shattered by the distorting radiance, causing them to sound like shattering gla.s.s in other people’s ears! In fact, they could see each other’s bodies being pulled, broken, and turned into countless bits and pieces! All of their faces broke as everyone was enveloped in a mysterious force that continuously pulled them apart, before forcibly squas.h.i.+ng them together, just like countless cubes being separated and rearranged together randomly.
Finally, as the humming reached its highest point, everyone noticed each other’s “fragmented” bodies being forcibly pulled and absorbed by the light. All of their flesh, blood, bodies and even consciousness were pulled rapidly into the air, rus.h.i.+ng into a vast and unknown s.p.a.ce!
w.a.n.g Zhong felt his entire body being torn apart. In fact, this was something he noticed with his Heart’s Eye, and not from any of his other senses.
At this moment, while still in the transmission pa.s.sageway, he could feel a boundless pillar of energy rus.h.i.+ng towards the skies, appearing to pierce right through the endless s.p.a.ce, going through the void, towards a mysterious location far, far away.
When this pa.s.sageway had just appeared, he could still hear the gla.s.s-shattering shrieks of pain coming from the others around him. However, at this instant, he could no longer hear anything. Instead, the only thing he could see was countless bits and pieces of bodies being transported by this pa.s.sageway, him included.
The others had most probably fainted by now, or were incapable of focusing their consciousness. It was only due to his incomparably strong spiritual soul that allowed his consciousness to be unaffected by the terrifying pillar of twisting light. Now, he could no longer feel the existence of his body, allowing him to feel quite a bit more relaxed, as the twisting pain from earlier had disappeared. After all, he was a formidable person who had used his Spiritual Soul to travel to the Hyperdimension. It was also due to the strength of his Spiritual Soul that caused experts like Mu Zi and Aiolos to sigh in admiration.
Time continued to rapidly fly by. Not long after — approximately 4-5 minutes — they arrived at their destination.
Upon seeing the other end of the pillar of light, the transmission was already over.
Present beneath them was a standalone runic array that spanned approximately 6-7 meters in diameter, completely identical to the runic array engraved in the transmission array on Earth.
Hum hum hum hum…
Upon discovering this fact, his body had already rushed out from the pillar of light.
The intense, body-tearing pain immediately reappeared, pus.h.i.+ng w.a.n.g Zhong to the point of cold sweat pouring out from every pore of his body.
Clenching his teeth, he started to hear the rest of the people around him shrieking away, before seeing their bodies starting to reconst.i.tute together from the countless bits and pieces they had become during transmission. Everyone proceeded to kneel and sprawl on the ground, their bodies continuing to shake and tremble. The foul-mouthed woman, little loli, as well as the bespectacled man, were all groaning powerlessly, their bodies scrunched up as their entire being was racked in pain. The last person, a robust-looking man, clenched his teeth as big droplets of sweat rolled down his forehead. Nevertheless, despite the continuous shaking of his body, he did not make a single noise at all.
This wasn’t the comfortable method of transmission he was used to, unlike the one with his Spiritual Soul. Like the robust-looking man, w.a.n.g Zhong continued to quietly endure the various feelings of pain, soreness, and numbness throughout his body, causing him to teeter at the brink of unconsciousness for ten more minutes before finally starting to wane.
As the discomfort started to gradually dissipate, and he got accustomed to them, w.a.n.g Zhong struggled and climbed to his feet.
Having previously ascended into the Hyperdimension, his understanding of the place could be considered pretty good. However, this time, the feeling he was getting from his surroundings was completely different from that of the Hyperdimension.
In the previous times he had been here, with his Spiritual Soul, he had felt much more powerful than he actually was. His Spiritual Soul body was much more tough and resilient than his fleshly body. After all, strength was the core essence of the Hyperdimension. However, at this moment, what he felt was a rapid increase in the gravitational force bearing down onto him.
The gravity here was at least 7-8 times stronger than on Earth, which was near the limit of normal gravity training rooms. Other than the ma.s.sively increased gravity, the surrounding temperature was also rather high, at approximately 50 degrees Celsius. If ordinary people were tossed into this place, they would definitely suffer a heat stroke within a short 1 to 2-hour span from dehydration, and possibly even death. Although new humans had a greater adaptability to harsh environments like this, they would still face much difficulty in trying to survive in such places.
Astonis.h.i.+ng brilliance was radiating down from the skies. Raising his head slightly, w.a.n.g Zhong could see through his squinted eyes, a sun-like celestial body hanging in the skies. This sun was rather large, while the intense rays of light it was radiating made it impossible for people to look directly at it. Nevertheless, it seemed to be extremely distant, resulting in the relatively high, but still tolerable temperatures here.
Looking down, his surroundings were filled with scalding-hot sand. Focusing his gaze into the distance, he could see swirling heat waves rising from the flat surface of the ground, distorting the distant scenery into a blurry mess.
What was this place? From what the foul-mouthed lady had mentioned earlier, this seemed to be some kind of place where exiles were banished to.
w.a.n.g Zhong immediately noticed that there definitely was a problem with this training, as even he had heard of the blessed lands before. However, this place had nothing in common with the blessed lands.
If this was a ploy from some power or influence to kill him, was there a need to go through all this trouble? Furthermore, the so-called banishment ruling by the Federation would generally result in one’s citizens.h.i.+p or aristocratic t.i.tle being removed, before being banished outside of the city walls to let nature take its course. The majority of the exiles would end up being members of refugee camps. However, someone had paid such a gargantuan price to transmit him to this strange place as a “criminal”. It was really difficult to understand why anyone would put in so much effort just for the sake of banis.h.i.+ng him.
Nevertheless, the people who were transmitted alongside him seemed to have a better understanding of the situation. Perhaps, he would be able to glean some information from them. Not feeling worried, w.a.n.g Zhong looked around at his surroundings. This was a rather strange and weird group of people.
There was a middle-aged, robust-looking male who had a large scar running from his forehead to the corner of his mouth. The terrifying scar had disfigured his original appearance, leaving behind a rather fierce visage. His thick and broad body and muscles brimmed with exceedingly strong vitality, with his Soul Power responses were also extremely high. Upon landing on this place, a thin layer of silver-colored Soul Power had already enveloped his entire body.
This was a Heroic Soul Stage soldier who was wearing an exceedingly grave and stern expression on his face. He was also the first person to completely recover from the pain and torture from the transmission, a testament to the incredible strength he possessed.
Present beside him was a woman dressed in an exceedingly alluring attire. From her appearance, she should have been a rather good looking beauty, though it seemed that it had been too long since she had properly taken care of herself. The originally perfect makeup was now smeared, warping her look. Her head full of golden hair had already lost its original l.u.s.tre, knotted together and covered in grease, giving her an overall ugly look.
At this moment, a thin silver radiance had similarly covered her body, showing that she was also a Heroic Soul Stage soldier. Nevertheless, the strength of her Soul Power defense appeared to be somewhat weaker than the scarface.
However, the 2 of them weren’t the only people in the Heroic Soul Stage. The young man dressed in a western suit was also covered with a faint silvery radiance, and more interestingly, so was the 14-15-year-old looking girl. Nevertheless, the silvery radiance coming from her was clearly the weakest among the 4, though it was truly astonis.h.i.+ng for her to be able to reach this level at such a young age.
Then again, it also wasn’t too abnormal.
The so-called geniuses who partic.i.p.ated in the CHF were all of the Casted Soul Stage, though all of them seemed to have forcefully suppressed their souls just to remain in the Casted Soul Stage. If they wanted to progress quickly, they would usually be able to break into the Heroic Soul Stage by around 13-14 years old. Stuart’s Wu Li was a good example of this.
As for those great aristocratic families ,as well as a few ma.s.sive conglomerates, that were rather skilled in the nurturing of Heroic Soul Stage soldiers, they were all able to let children awaken their Soul Sea within a short span of 1 to 2 years. As long as these children tempered their bodies slightly and raised their adaptability, casting their Heroic Souls would be just a matter of taking some medicines and drugs.
Naturally, people who casted their Heroic Souls in that fas.h.i.+on would have relatively weak and superficial foundations, and most of them wouldn’t possess much combat strength. This method of reaching the Heroic Soul Stage was specifically tailored for those aristocratic soldiers who wanted to extend their lifespans. After all, the body would undergo a ma.s.sive qualitative change upon casting the Heroic Soul, increasing the person’s lifespan by approximately twofold. There were many aristocratic families that possessed gargantuan levels of wealth, and did not have to get involved in combat. Therefore, parents would arrange for their children to take those medicines and drugs at a young age, to allow them to enjoy their long lives in leisure. After all, the earlier the Heroic Soul was casted, the longer one’s life would be extended. The little loli before him was clearly one of these people.
At this moment, everyone had already regained consciousness, and all of them seemed to have some knowledge about the place they were in. Without much astonishment showing on their faces, each one of them grabbed a backpack from the ground.
w.a.n.g Zhong had also grabbed one. Opening up, he saw 10 transparent square containers neatly packed within, each of them containing different items.
w.a.n.g Zhong had seen these items before, when he was in the Diamond Dimensional base camp. These were highly compressed containers made by the Federation’s armed forces. Half of them contained food, while the other half contained liquids. One container of food and water was enough for an ordinary person to eat and drink for a month. Even new humans with their greater appet.i.te and energy requirements would be able to sustain on these 5 containers for 2 to 3 months.
The first thing the foul-mouthed woman did was to take out the compressed water container. However, instead of drinking it, she carefully poured some on her hand.
The compressed water quickly melted under the near 60-degree temperature, forming beads of water before flowing together into a small pool, which the woman immediately tossed onto her face.
Seeing this, the suit-wearing man’s voice immediately rang out. “The high temperatures will drain your body’s water level at an abnormally high rate. That might be the water needed to save your life.”
“Screw you! This old lady’s face is my life!” The woman snapped back fiercely. “Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds didn’t even give me anything to drink over the past few days! They’re worse than b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
The suit-wearing male shook his head, before carefully pouring a droplet of water into his mouth. The parched feeling was instantly relieved by quite a bit, allowing him to slowly recover from the intense depletion of strength caused by the transmission.
Even Heroic Soul Stage soldiers would find it unbearable to have such a terrifying sun hanging above their heads.
As for the little loli, she had started to cry, her small face now filled with terror and dread. Clearly, this environment had scared the living daylights out of her.
Standing by her side, the scarface said in a cold voice: “The more you cry, the faster you’ll die.”
His cold and indifferent voice appeared contained a terrifying edge, causing the little girl to immediately stop crying.
“Hey hey!” Not afraid of the scarface, the woman snapped back pluckily. Patting the little girl’s shoulder, she proceeded to shout back at the scarface. “Is there any meaning to a grown-a.s.s man scaring a little girl?”
The scarface snorted coldly, before looking around to size up his surroundings.
At this moment, everyone had already recovered from the painful transmission ordeal. Other than the little girl, the rest seemed to have stabilised their emotions, and weren’t in a hurry to leave this area. Clearly, they had a better understanding about this place than a completely lost fellow like w.a.n.g Zhong. Not in a hurry to ask questions, he waited quietly for the right moment to do so.
Finis.h.i.+ng her face wash, the woman cleaned away her makeup as best as she could, revealing a rather beautiful appearance. She proceeded to drink a small mouthful of water, using much less than the amount she had used to wash her face. Nevertheless, her actions weren’t fine and dainty, but had the thick flavour of a female gangster, as she cleaned her mouth with gusto.
The suit-wearing male gave a dry cough. Pus.h.i.+ng up his spectacles, he started to speak. “Everyone should know about the general situation we’re in. Now, we’re in the cursed lands, and it isn’t that easy to get out of here. If you want to live on, we definitely need to work together with sincerity. Let’s do a self-introduction first to let everyone get an understanding of each other, okay?”
Cursed lands? A slight wrinkle appeared on w.a.n.g Zhong’s forehead.
The cursed lands were the opposite of the blessed lands in the Hyperdimension. He had previously seen some fragments of it being mentioned while browsing through the cla.s.sified information on his Skylink. Although those were relatively superficial information, they were sufficient for w.a.n.g Zhong to make some inferences about his current situation. It seemed that it was much worse than he had thought. There was a 90% chance the Gui Family was behind this. Furthermore, they should have come to some kind of agreement with the Parliament. The reality of the matter wasn’t too far from w.a.n.g Zhong’s expectations.
The scarface didn’t give any reply, while an emotionless expression hung on his face. In fact, he did not even turn around to look at the suit-wearing man. Instead, he continued to look into the distance, as though something extremely heavy was present within his heart.
In contrast, the woman was exceedingly straightforward. “Let this old lady start the ball rolling.”
She started out by straightening her messy hair. In the end, she was still willing to use her potentially life-saving water to wash her hair. “Cao Hong, previously in the business of creating happiness. You can just call me big sis Hong or little Hong. There’s a fatty who always relies on an extremely distant relative bloodline to the Gui Family, and didn’t want to pay me money after having fun, so this old lady ended him. Never did I expect that he really had a relations.h.i.+p with the Gui Family, so this old lady ended up here…”