Baron Cullen

Beep, beep, beep—

Chen Yunfei's last thoughts were on the stark white ceiling of the ICU ward and the gradually flattening sound of the electrocardiogram monitor.

The excruciating pain and organ failure caused by late-stage stomach cancer were like a fire that ultimately consumed his remaining life.

However, the anticipated eternal silence did not come.

Instead, there was a jolt, and a strange memory mixed with fear and despair.

He suddenly opened his eyes, and what came into view was no longer a hospital ward, but a rusty iron fence.

He was in an extremely narrow iron cage, his whole body swaying and rocking as the wheels rolled over the uneven road surface.

This is a prison van.

He looked down and saw that he was wearing a dirty linen prison uniform, with heavy iron shackles on his wrists and ankles. The cold touch made him shiver.

"I...I'm not dead?"

The thought had barely formed when it was overwhelmed by a flood of unfamiliar memories.

The owner of this body is Karen Waller, son of Viscount Jocelyn Waller of Breathless City.

He was an ignorant and incompetent playboy who only cared about enjoying himself because of his family's power.

Besides his father and his deceased biological mother, the family also includes a foster sister, Cecilia Waller, with whom he has no blood relation.

"Have I...traveled through time?" Karen's pale face was filled with confusion. "But why am I in a prison van?"

Although he was incredibly shocked, the unease of suddenly being in an unfamiliar environment made him decide to quickly process the memories in his mind that did not belong to him.

My father, Jocelyn, as the Viscount of Breathless City, was ordered a month ago to go to the Imperial City and the Papacy to escort an extremely important holy artifact back to the Church of Saint Celeste in Breathless City.

However, just as the transport team was safely returning from the capital, they were suddenly attacked by a group of men in black robes in Black Wind Gorge, not far outside the city.

The team suffered heavy losses, but most importantly, the sacred artifact was destroyed on the spot!

According to the laws of the Kanvia Empire, damaging sacred artifacts is blasphemy, a heinous crime deserving death!

So a few days ago, the whole family of three was imprisoned and today they were escorted to the Judgment Square in the City of No Breath to be publicly burned at the stake!

The poor original owner suddenly realized he was about to be burned alive in the prison cart. The extreme fear overwhelmed him, and he died of fright in the cart.

"Burning at the stake..."

Karen's face remained pale, and upon learning what she was about to face, a chill ran down her spine and straight to the top of her head.

Having just escaped the pain of a terminal illness, he is about to be burned alive in the blink of an eye?

Is this fate mocking him?

That would be rather cruel.

Outside the prison van lay the gloomy streets of the City of No Breath.

The buildings on both sides were low and crowded, and most pedestrians avoided the procession of prisoners.

However, some people still pointed and whispered at the prison van, their eyes filled with disgust and contempt.

At that moment, they seemed like rats crossing the street.

Occasionally, some daring children would pick up stones from the roadside and throw them at the prison cart, making a loud banging sound, which would draw shouts from the escorting knights.

Karen did not break down and cry like the original owner.

He simply leaned silently against the cold fence, his sharp gaze sweeping over everything around him.

He forced himself to calm down and began to sort through the chaotic fragments of memory in his mind.

But at that moment, I suddenly felt a strange sensation in my right eye, as if blood was flowing!

At first, he thought it was a physiological reaction of the body under extreme fear or his own illusion.

But this strange feeling lingered and gradually became clearer.

It was as if something had awakened deep within his right eye.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a sharp pain in his right eye!

The pain made him instinctively cover his eyes, and even the muscles in his entire body tensed up.

Deep within his consciousness, an extremely complex and obscure rune was slowly emerging.

The rune emitted a dim light and pulsated rhythmically, like a living thing.

Just as Karen was wondering what was going on, the pain in her right eye quickly subsided.

However, when he opened his eyes again, he found that the perspective in front of him seemed to have changed.

He could see the dust floating in the air, the composition of the iron bars on the prison van, and even the flesh and bones beneath his skin became exceptionally clear.

He was startled and incredulously conducted multiple verifications.

He quickly came to a conclusion.

His right eye underwent a strange change, which allowed him to see the essence of any object and even capture things that are invisible to ordinary people.

Karen's heart was instantly filled with a storm of emotions!

He immediately realized the value of his right eye; if used properly, it might become his capital to gain a foothold in this strange world!

However, a strong sense of disappointment quickly overwhelmed his excitement and exhilaration.

He's about to die.

Moreover, he was burned alive in front of many people.

Karen grew increasingly anxious.

Having finally escaped the torment of a terminal illness and even transmigrated to another world to gain mysterious abilities, he didn't want to die like this.

There must be some way!

Just as he was frantically processing the original owner's memories, the prison van slowly drove into a wide square in a somber and oppressive atmosphere.

This is one of the several squares in the City of No Breath, called the Trial Square, which is used to publicly execute those who have committed heinous crimes.

In the center of the square, there was already a huge stone platform with several dark pillars of pyre erected on it.

The stone platform was surrounded by a dense crowd of people who had come to watch the execution.

Directly in front of the stone platform is the judge's bench.

Seated in the center is the supreme ruler of the City of Breathlessness, Lord Delano Kirk.

His face was imposing with sharp eyes, and he wore magnificent clothes that symbolized power. Just sitting there, he exuded a suffocating sense of oppression.

Beside the city lord Draenor sat Albert Baylans, the bishop of the Church of Saint Celeste in the City of No Breath.

He wore a white bishop's robe embroidered with gold patterns, held a scepter, and had a kind face, but the sharp glint that occasionally flashed in his eyes sent chills down one's spine.

As for the seats on either side of the judge's bench, they were reserved for the nobles of the City of No Breath to observe the proceedings.

At this moment, they all looked at Karen and the others who were being led off the prison van, their eyes filled with indifference or undisguised schadenfreude.

After being pushed off the carriage by knights clad in silver armor, Karen first looked at the figures on the judge's bench.

He subconsciously focused his mind and awakened the mysterious rune deep within his right eye.

A peculiar perspective once again enveloped the world before him, and those figures were dissected layer by layer under his gaze.

Whether it was meridians, flesh and blood, or bones, everything was presented to him with unparalleled clarity.

"What is that?"

However, the next moment, he saw something different inside the bodies of the people.

Those were sparkling points of light, like stars, that he didn't have, as if they formed a small world within him!

That's... extraordinary elements!

In a daze, an unfamiliar word appeared in his mind.

In the original owner's memories, this was a world where the extraordinary existed, and everything in the world contained extraordinary elements.

Ordinary people, with the help of the secret medicine, have the opportunity to transform and awaken, gaining the ability to absorb extraordinary elements and thus become extraordinary beings.

It is said that those high-level superhumans can even destroy a city overnight!

Karen shook her head, trying to clear her mind of those thoughts.

He wasn't thinking about any of that right now; he was only focused on how to survive.

He turned his head and saw his father, Jocelyn, who was also being taken off the prison van, and his sister, Cecilia.

My father's face was deathly pale and his eyes were dim, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

The younger sister was trembling with fear, her little face completely pale.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could speak, the knight behind him roughly shoved him to the center of the stone platform and forced him to kneel down.

"quiet!"

At this moment, the representative of the city lord's mansion, standing in front of the judge's bench, shouted loudly, and the noise in the square gradually subsided.

Lord Drano slowly stood up.

He first looked around below, his gaze sweeping over the three kneeling Waller family members before finally settling on Jocelyn. He spoke in a deep voice: "Jocelyn Waller, as the Viscount of Absolute Breath, you were ordered to escort the Holy See's sacred artifact, but you neglected your duties, resulting in its destruction. This is blasphemy and a provocation against the laws of the Empire!"

Now that the evidence is irrefutable, do you plead guilty?