Above Destiny

Chapter 777 Always the Same (Thanks to Legendary Orange Cat for the Silver Alliance)
The very beginning was filled with cries.

In just a moment of confusion, the world seemed to have changed completely.

The moment the lighthouse's beam illuminated Ji Jue, the blazing flames, like pupils, slowly opened. His eyes awoke from the flames and looked at him.

There was neither resentment nor pity, only a calm and indifferent gaze looking down.

He looked at Ji Jue.

Ji Jue was also looking at him.

And so, those distant cries came rushing in once again like a tidal wave!

"It's all a fucking lie."

In the chaotic slum, a desperate man screamed at the debt collectors, grabbed a shovel, and waved it wildly, shouting madly: "You knew all along! You knew all along that the water wasn't clean, you knew all along that this disease was problematic, and even to buy your medicine, I had to borrow money from you, I owe you money..."

I have nothing left! Absolutely nothing! What else do you want?!

Bang!
"Don't talk nonsense, buddy. We didn't force you to borrow the money. Didn't I advise you to think it over carefully when you signed the contract?"

The debt collector's expression darkened, and his subordinates swarmed forward, pinning the indebted man to the mud and holding him down tightly. Iron bars swung down, shattering his teeth, causing him to vomit blood and a broken tongue.

"You have to accept the consequences of your bet. You signed your name yourself. You borrowed the money yourself. Even the medicine was lent to you by us. Now that you've been treated, you say you can't pay it back? It's not that simple."

The debt collector waved his hand indifferently and pointed to the dilapidated shack behind the man, "Take them all away."

The crowd filed in, and there were screams of terror and cries of children. But soon, all the sounds disappeared, except for the man whimpering in the mud, struggling in vain, being pulled up, shoved into the car, and the door was closed.

In the deathly silent shacks, no one dared to speak. Only the debt collector turned the page in his hand and looked at another address.

Next one.

Soon after, the sound of crying rang out again.

Gunshots rang out on the dock, and the chaotic crowd fell silent instantly. Under the guns of the army, the ship owners who had resisted in vain stared at the collection order in front of them, trembling, their expressions twitching. Finally, they lowered their heads in exhaustion and closed their eyes.

He signed his name on the repayment agreement.

To sell out everything for the rest of one's life.

Or perhaps, a hysterical resistance results in being hit on the head with a rubber baton, falling to the ground in a sorry state, being trampled over, and watching helplessly as one's last possessions are chained up and handed over to a tugboat to be taken away...

Many more crew members, with nowhere to go, wandered the streets, looking around blankly, seeing the once warm and welcoming smiling faces now cold and unapproachable.

In the narrow alley, the disheveled man skillfully tied a tourniquet, gritted his teeth, injected medicine into his wrist, and soon fell into a deep sleep in a blissful trance.

Amidst the stench of rotting flesh and blood of the monstrous beast, the hunched and emaciated poor huddled in their shacks, panting and turning over, scratching their wounds, tearing off piece after piece of sharp scales, and howling in agony.

I closed my eyes in the dim light, trying to fall asleep, but the crying outside became so loud.

Someone was shouting and roaring hoarsely.

He frantically smashed everything in his hands, trying to deny everything before him, to deny the outcome of this high-stakes gamble, but he couldn't stop the continuous stream of bad news.

Until the last straw broke the camel's back, falling silently.

"all fake!"

The insane woman, clutching her dead child, knelt in the street, wailing desperately, "Those medicines were all just flour flakes, they were completely useless!"
They're all scammers..."

In her arms, the dead infant was covered in scales, its face contorted, and thick, foul-smelling liquid oozed from its mouth and nose, from which maggots crawled.

She sold all her possessions, gambled her entire future, and even sold her body at a pittance, only to receive a single pill in return that contained no effective ingredients whatsoever.

It's just a counterfeit product made from starch and painkillers in a shoddy workshop.

"Where can I find any medicine?"

As the angry mob stormed into the workshop, the man who had been hanging there wept uncontrollably: "The real medicine was all sold off by those beasts long ago... I had no choice, I really had no choice... I was forced into it... I... I didn't..."

"Burn him! Burn him!!!"

Ferocious faces, filled with rage and utter madness, surged forward and set the entire workshop ablaze. Amidst cries of despair, the flames spread.

In those crowded shacks, tiny sparks of fire spread faintly, stretching out until finally turning into a blazing inferno that burned the entire sky crimson, billowing smoke that blotted out the sun, and roaring sounds that echoed incessantly.

The firelight illuminated Ji Jue's eyes.

He saw it: a massive crowd surging into the streets, angrily brandishing their weapons, and wreaking havoc on everything in their path.

Riots are spreading.

The crowd surged toward the magnificent city lord's mansion and the seemingly serene upper district, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones into the air.

Bang!
The flames crossed the formation and landed in front of the commander. A weak flame crawled to the edge of the boot, which was then lifted up and cruelly extinguished in the mud.

"shot."

When the order from the city lord's mansion came through the walkie-talkie, the commander coldly raised his hand and chopped it down!

Then, gunshots rang out, one after another. Amidst the roar, blood splattered, and the densely packed crowd collapsed like straws in the raging wind.

The roars and shouts were gone, leaving only screams and wails.

The streets were stained red with blood, and the ashen-faced corpses lay on the ground, their festering faces still bearing pustules and scaly scars.

Ji Jue lowered his head and saw those empty pupils.

Their lips parted as if they were still saying something, but no sound came out. Only their eyes, which had long since dried up, stared at the blazing red sky, gradually dimming and losing their luster.

At that moment, a desperate scream rang out.

From the crowd, from the dying wounded and the dead, the spreading crimson seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, converging towards the center.

Towards the patients who have already suffered greatly from the distortions...

The emaciated body was rapidly expanding; from the writhing flesh, jagged scales and armor grew out of the flesh and the muzzle of the gun. The broken arm stretched out quickly, like tentacles and tendrils. Sharp barbs grew from the exposed white bone.

Distortion and alienation!
Amidst the corpses and blood, the deformed beings, their faces unrecognizable, rose up and screamed!

The face, devoid of human features, was now filled with the resentment and madness of a beast, roaring as it lunged at the machine gun and soldiers before it.

The distortion spread rapidly, like a torrential downpour.

Right in front of Ji Jue.

This time, however, the wailing crowd did not scatter and flee. Instead of retreating in panic as usual, they bent down, picked up their weapons, and followed their mutated comrades, charging towards the magnificent city gates!
Like a spreading fire, it could no longer be contained.

Hatred, resentment, pain... those driven to desperation turn into beasts, bloodthirsty and frenzied. Even as their remaining consciousness and mind rapidly dissipate, their scarlet eyes remain fixed on the highest point.

It screechs loudly!

They ran wildly, destroying and unleashing this painful power.

They charged headlong into the once insurmountable palaces, fearlessly scaling the walls, ignoring the hail of bullets, and devouring the high-ranking nobles.

Even if it means being completely disfigured and utterly deformed, it doesn't matter. We'll sacrifice everything to make those people pay the price!

But there was no price to pay—

Ji Jue closed his eyes.

boom!
As the melodious music and dance mingled with the sounds of hooves, someone in the extravagant hall frowned and waved his hand expressionlessly.

So, some of the guests wiped their mouths, got up, and left their seats.

He drew his sword.

The mutated beast was severed in half!

When the radiance of supreme good emerged from the chaos, all turmoil came to an abrupt halt, and the out-of-control beasts lay dead on the spot beneath the blades of the Chosen Ones.

Carapaces and scales shattered beneath the iron and stone, while bones and blood burned in the flames.

Hatred is meaningless, as are resentment and pain.

Even if one were to be reduced to the level of a beast, it would be meaningless.

The cremated remains turned to charcoal, and the riotous crowd scattered, wailing in despair.

The singing and dancing never stopped from beginning to end.

as always.

"Okay, then let's clean it up."

The chief physician, listening to the report, impatiently interrupted, waving his hand, "Anyway, there's plenty of stuff, don't waste my time."

He smiled, raised his glass, and thanked the returning guests.

The singing and dancing continued in front of Ji Jue.

This time, no sound interrupted the singing or disturbed the banquet.

It can't even be called a riot; it's just a series of minor disturbances over the years. It's nothing more than hardship, and there's no sound of wailing.

Under the reorganized army's suppression, the crowd was completely dispersed, and the city returned to silence, with only truckloads of corpses being taken to the incinerator.

The crowd, which had been grieving and sobbing, became restless once again.

People rushed into the streets, eager to receive the city lord's mercy and compassion. Boxes of medicine and expired food appeared on the black market, sparking a frenzy of buying.

As Ji Jue watched them scrambling to offer him money, his face still bearing bruises and bloodstains, he saw them doing so with obsequious flattery.
He saw the infected people on the verge of death, the mutated ones in the sewers, the homeless shivering in the cold wind... and many more, many more people who dared not go out, counting on their fingers how long their food and savings could last.

They accepted reality.

Despair or numbness caused them to lower their heads, sucking up the dew that might allow them to survive for even one more day.

Once again, and again, for who knows how many times...

I don’t know how many times it has happened before, and I don’t know how many more times it will happen in the future.

In the distance, thick smoke rose from burning corpses.

Ascending into the sky, which was ablaze with flames.

From beginning to end, he saw nothing unusual, no great calamity, no destruction, no redemption, and he did not find his enemy.

But at some point, he could no longer hear the crying.

"Dad said that when he comes back, we can move into a house where we won't get cold." The young child looked up at the haggard old woman, full of curiosity: "Grandma, will things get better from now on?"

In front of the extinguished stove, a pair of cloudy eyes stared blankly upwards as the person shook their head: "I don't know."

"Then... will things get worse?"

"do not know."

She held the bewildered child close, they nestled together, she stroked her yellowish hair, and murmured softly, "Perhaps, it will be like it is now."

"I can't understand what Grandma is saying."

"You'll understand when you grow up."

The old man's expression twitched, it was hard to tell whether he was crying or laughing, as if he had no strength left and was just numb.

"They're all the same, always the same."

To live as one would normally, to suffer as one would normally, to endure torment as one would normally, and finally, to die as one would normally…

Isn't it always been this way?
Why be troubled and confused?

And so, those empty eyes opened once more, finally waking from one beautiful dream and fantasy after another that was destined not to belong to them, and looking at everything before them with a start.

The final realization came.

perhaps……

This is the way the world is.

And so, in the distant darkness, laughter that had been waiting for decades finally broke out, unable to be contained any longer.

The final offering is hereby made!
Ji Jue finally saw it...

The world fell silent, and ripples appeared once more on the seemingly lifeless ocean.

The sea of ​​suffering is churning.

The true flames of corruption that belong to this world were ignited from the lighthouse!
(End of this chapter)