Liu Xing did not move. His eyes were locked on the severed head on the floor, a trail of blood behind it. Yet, even as his eyes and focus were fixed there, his mind wandered. It replayed the memory of the girl dancing, of the girl doing her makeup, and smiling and chatting with her friends. He tried to imagine this place was not a gruesome island. Instead, he tried to imagine it as a normal, traditional island where the community was close-knit, and the girl called Thirty-Three was a normal teenager who worried about her makeup and her appearance, dreamed of meeting a prince charming, or talked about her dream wedding—anything that was truly normal. However, each time, reality pulled him back as if it wanted to point to the head on the floor and say, "Look, she's dead!" And indeed, she was dead.

  "How stupid," Liu Xing finally muttered through his shock. He gritted his teeth and gripped his weapons tightly. The girl could have lived, but she chose death. It wasn't really her fault, just as it wasn't entirely Liu Xing's fault. He had been late in realizing a key point about the girl; she didn't have a normal human perspective. She had probably been conditioned to believe that her ultimate purpose was to be eaten. She was like a cultivator about to attain immortality, and Liu Xing was an enemy standing in her way.

  Liu Xing inhaled deeply, trying to rein in his emotions. He loosened his grip on his weapons and tried to relax his shoulders. His eyes still looked at the severed head of the girl, and he said, "You've chosen wrong. You don't know that you were wrong. However, in the end, it's your choice. I cannot blame you for pursuing happiness." He paused, then added, "I am not entirely to blame either. It's indeed true that I've made a mistake. I should have understood that leaving you alone was stupid. However, blaming myself entirely is also not fair to me."

  In his heart, he disagreed with what he said; he felt it was entirely his fault that this girl died. After all, if he had not made a mistake, the girl would be alive. Liu Xing had been capable of actions that would have resulted in either her survival or her death. He was literally the line between her life and death. Yet, Liu Xing crushed that thought. He could not blame himself, or the weight on his shoulders would crush him. He needed to be logical. And while he was not entirely blameless, he was in a gray area, while the Nether Lotus Sect was pure black.

  Liu Xing inhaled deeply again, and again, and again. He tried to accept the situation. After all, crying over her was not a wise action. He needed to focus his energy on more important things. However, he also tried not to trivialize the girl. She was an important victim. He needed to tread carefully so as not to be too affected by her death, but also not too weighed down by it.

  Liu Xing stood for an entire minute. It was precious time. Yet, he needed to take his mental state seriously. If he did not, there was a chance that he would make another mistake.

  "Alright," Liu Xing finally said as he turned around. Then, he took a soft step, and another, and another. He left her there. The right action would have been to bury her, but it was not wise. Storing her in his spatial ring was logical, but it was not proper. So, Liu Xing simplified the situation by leaving her. It was a neutral choice, one that was not good but also not bad.

  Soon, Liu Xing began to jog. His mind replayed the memory of her head rolling on the floor, but Liu Xing shook his head and pushed the memory aside. To do that, he sharpened his senses and tried to detect more qi around him. As expected, he could sense lots and lots of blood qi. It swirled and moved through the air. However, unlike before, it did not feel passive. Instead, it was clearly moving with intent, and he was sure it was trying to locate him. While his invisibility seemed to work for now, he needed to prepare for the elder to do something that would counter it. At that moment, he had two choices. One was to fight, while the other was to flee.

  Fleeing was a good choice, but only if he succeeded in retrieving his stone blade at the very least.

  Liu Xing moved in the direction where the qi grew denser. A while later, he found a staircase leading down. At the bottom, a white metal and sterile door was locked. Liu Xing punched the door. When his fist met the metal, the door caved in before it was thrown inward. Inside, Liu Xing looked around. This underground chamber—the heart of the facility—was actually small and dark. However, the air smelled sterile, like antiseptic, and there was something in the center of the room. It looked akin to an altar. Hundreds of cables—small and large—connected to the altar. A person floated atop it. He was a man with skin as white as chalk and a bald head. His eyes were sewn shut with black threads. Instead of full arms, he had only stumps, and from his waist down, there were only innards. Several cables and tubes connected to his back, neck, head, and severed arms and his stomach, tethering him to the altar.

  Liu Xing took steps forward as he tried to sense him. The cables and tubes and the qi around him made him feel different, not like a spirit beast or a treasure, and certainly not human. He reminded Liu Xing of the puppets manning the ships. He was a puppet made from a human. He was probably the core of this facility, the thing that controlled the automation within this place.

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  Liu Xing arrived right in front of him, and when he saw him up close, he could not help but sigh and mutter, "What a cruel fate you have right now."

  To his surprise, the puppet, while his eyes were sewn shut, turned his face directly toward him, smiled, and said, "Indeed. This is cruel beyond belief. This is my personal hell." His voice was cracking and a little high-pitched. It was clear that the man rarely used his throat.

  "You can talk?" Liu Xing asked, surprised. Not only that, but the man also knew his general location despite his invisibility.

  "Thanks to you, I am," the man said. "You destroyed the parts that always demanded my attention. Once they were gone, part of my mind was freed. Now, finally, after hundreds of years, I have a little freedom!" He smiled wider, his voice sounding excited. "Not for long, though. So, let me tell you the most important thing first. For the love of heaven, please kill me! I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to be dead! Give me my eternal peace! In exchange, I can give you some information."

  Liu Xing's expression was neutral, not because he was calm, but rather because he did not know how to respond. His mind began to wonder whether other facilities had people like him too, and he was quite horrified by the implication. However, since the man said he wanted to be killed in exchange for information, Liu Xing latched his focus onto that topic.

  "What kind of information?"

  "Whatever you want about this island," the man said. "We're connected with each other, albeit not fully."

  "Alright," Liu Xing nodded. Since the man said that he would not have freedom for long, he needed to be swift. "Tell me about the place within this island that stores treasures or things that the elder of this place deemed important enough."

  "I will tell you," the man nodded, the action making some of his cables and tubes creak. "But only if you promise to kill me later."

  Liu Xing looked at the man, at the altar, at the cables and tubes that connected to him. He suddenly remembered Thirty-Three. At a glance, what this man wished for and what the girl had wished for were similar. However, the root of the girl's wish came from lies, while this man's likely came from agony.

  "Is there any way to save you from this situation?" Liu Xing asked.

  The man chuckled. "You're a kind one. However, you don't need to be concerned with my safety. I am not a human anymore. You see the blue tube on my back?"

  Liu Xing peered over his shoulder. The blue tube was the largest tube connected to his back.

  "It's the only reason that I'm still alive. It pumps me with qi that prevents my body and my soul from decaying. It is also painful as fuck. It feels as if my body and my brain are on fire. The moment you sever that tube, I'll be dead. However, if not, then I will slowly decay here, perhaps for hundreds more years, until I will truly be a mere husk. You're a kind one, are you? You wouldn't leave me to that kind of suffering, would you? Promise me you will kill me!" Toward the end of his words, his tone grew higher, and the sound of madness seeped into his voice.

  Liu Xing pinched his chin. If what the man said was true, then indeed, killing him would be the kindest thing to do.

  "Alright," Liu Xing nodded, "I promise."

  He reminded himself that this situation and Thirty-Three's situation were as different as heaven and earth.

  "Good!" The man smiled warmly. "As for your question, it's an easy one. In the center of this island, there's an underground level. It is directly beneath the Still Pond. There's a guy there, I don't know his name, but he has a fate even worse than mine. Say hi to him for me." The man paused for a moment. "Inside that place is where the treasures are stored. There's a mountain of gold there, and an impressive amount of spirit stones, too. However, I need to warn you. That is the exact reason why I am here."

  Liu Xing nodded. “What about the surveillance system here? I know it uses blood qi. What are its capabilities and weaknesses?"

  "That's an important question. I wish I had met someone who could have told me about it. Anyway, the answer is simple. Only the eyes can see you. Blood qi can only sense your general direction. I admit, though, that if I hadn't known you were here, I wouldn't have noticed your concealment. Your voice is also hard to discern and drifting. An impressive feat."

  Liu Xing noted that information in his mind. What the man meant about the eyes must have been the red eyes of the birds. Using the birds' eyes, the master of this place could see him. However, he soon thought that it was probably not only the birds' eyes, but puppet eyes too, and perhaps even the eyes of some of the disciples. As for the blood qi, it was good news. It meant that it was not so precise.

  "Any other questions?"

  Liu Xing opened his mouth, about to ask about the human farm here, when the man suddenly cursed.

  "Fuck! The system is about to reset. Hurry, kill me, kill me!"

  At his words, Liu Xing could see that the threads sewing his eyes shut began wriggling, as if they were worms trying to free themselves from their position so that the eyes would open.

  Instantly, Liu Xing moved to the side and shot an Exploding Fist bullet, destroying the tubes and cables that connected to the man.

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