Chapter 61: The Divine Grace of Suffering

"Xiao Li, that's all the basic precautions. Once you've read the files and understood the relevant information, there's nothing to fear from the forbidden object. Besides, this 'Painful Thorn' is low-risk in itself."

"Alright, I'll leave you to absorb the pheromone. Just remember not to touch the forbidden object directly, and come find me in the lab once you're done... We've still got the celebration banquet tonight."

After carefully explaining the safety measures, Jiang Lei left the study room.

Absorbing pheromones also causes mental erosion, so for safety, an absolutely quiet, undisturbed space is required. Security and emergency personnel were stationed outside the study room doors in case of accidents, but there was nobody else nearby.

In fact, there were scarcely any researchers left on the entire B23 floor. Director Frank's urgent project had already been completed ahead of schedule; the team's research report had passed departmental review with a high score. With a grand gesture, the director had declared a short break as per tradition, and tonight a celebration banquet would be held.

Frank's team wasn't the only one within the Control Bureau. Research on forbidden objects was split into multiple projects, each handled by at least two separate teams. Whichever team solved their project first and submitted the correct report would win substantial benefits for their group.

This was a healthy internal competition within the Control Bureau; similar mechanisms existed in all departments. Generally, the more dangerous and complex the forbidden object, the longer the research time. According to the rating of 'Constructs', this project should have taken at least a month.

But the urgent project had been completed in just ten days, thanks in part to Li Nanke. Though merely an intern and outsider, his "Universal System" allowed him to access the answer directly and then reverse-engineer the solution process, giving the team fresh research ideas and greatly accelerating their progress.

This had not only shocked the researchers on Frank's team, but delivered a devastating blow to the neighboring team led by Director Felix on B22. Rumor had it the lights in B22's research room hadn't gone out all night; the whole team was plunged into a marathon of overtime.

Frank planned to invite Felix to tonight's celebration banquet as well.

All this made Li Nanke increasingly popular among his teammates. After all, who wouldn't want a bonus and an early holiday, as well as the chance to outshine their rivals?

But the folks upstairs would gladly hang Li Nanke out to dry; his "cheating" made things easy for him, but forced them to work overtime until they bled.

Perhaps because of Li Nanke's outstanding performance, the forbidden object containing pheromones quickly became his reward.

Li Nanke glanced at the camera in the study room's corner, unconcerned whether he was being watched. He picked up the glass box containing the sealed 'Painful Thorn' and lay down on the long bench.

He pressed his hands against the glass box and closed his eyes. It looked as if he were practicing meditation to better absorb the pheromone, but in truth, he was sleeping—entering the dream through visualization.

Life and work in the laboratory were both fulfilling and relaxed, with excellent benefits. If Li Nanke hadn't suffered from a serious illness and hadn't entered the Great Beyond, such a life would have been a dream come true.

But after experiencing the indescribable thrills of the forbidden dream, having his senses pushed beyond their limits, and feeling the intense vitality within mortal danger, Li Nanke suddenly realized that even if the Great Beyond had no ninety-day limit, he would likely choose to enter the next dream of his own accord.

Perhaps this was his true nature, long suppressed by numb reality, now finally unleashed.

Calming his mind and using the Ugayi breathing technique to clear distractions, his consciousness soon grew vague and hazy, sinking into chaos...

...

...

Li Nanke awoke slowly, his eyes fluttering open.

His vision was blocked by an obstacle; only a narrow slit allowed light in, revealing a dim and desolate sky. He felt the cold, hard casing against his face and realized he was wearing a metal helmet with a slender opening.

A sharp discomfort pressed into his back—not just from the armor he wore, but because he was lying atop a pile of bodies, all clad in similar armor.

Several arms and legs, not his own, were draped across him. Their owners showed no signs of life.

The air was thick with the nauseating stench of blood and rot, and faintly in his ears echoed the thumping footsteps—"thump, thump, thump"—as if some massive creature was slowly moving.

Li Nanke pushed aside the limbs piled upon him and struggled upright from the mound of corpses.

Looking around, he found himself in a barren canyon. Along the sheer cliffs lay heaps of bodies, forming gruesome mounds of flesh and bone.

All wore the same medieval armor as Li Nanke, battered and torn. Swords and blades lay scattered, broken and damaged. The bodies had been dead for some time, most already rotting; rancid pus seeped from gaps in the armor, and flies buzzed thickly.

He gazed upward: at the distant horizon, the sun hung above the mountain peak, seemingly never setting, casting the world in perpetual dusk.

The thudding footsteps grew louder; a rising sense of danger gripped his heart.

From afar, at the canyon's end, a twisted shadow emerged.

At that moment, the emotionless synchronization prompt sounded, and blood-red words appeared.

[Dream—"God's Grace of Pain"]

[Dream Details: Suffering, pain, torment, self-mortification; from this, divine grace descends upon the world.]

[The faithful believe that only through suffering and torment—through devout "repentance"—can one receive holy blessings.]

[Grace may come as blessing and favor, or as punishment and guilt, but mortals can never comprehend the will of that great being. They do not know if grace will be bestowed upon them, nor in what manner it might arrive.]

[As time passes, this faith grows ever more twisted, spawning differing doctrines and sects regarding "repentance," with the "Sanctified Repentance Assembly" being the most powerful, granted immense strength by the grace of pain.]

[It was then that catastrophe swept the world. The warped faithful mostly mutated into monstrous abominations, ravaging the land.]

[The world descended into chaos, and the Sanctified Repentance Assembly, with its most perverse faith, became the source of all terror.]

[God's grace of pain descends, reviving you from death. Yet in such a twisted, deformed world, how will you repent?]

As the dream's synchronized information appeared, a rush of memory flooded Li Nanke's mind.

Edward, as a member of the "Mournful Fellowship," also worshipped the grace of pain, but maintained his sanity. Together with other believers, he fought against the Sanctified Repentance Assembly. Yet the Assembly boasted not only powerful disciplinary armies of fanatics, but also terrifying mutated monsters.

The Mournful Fellowship was brutally crushed by the disciplinary troops; Edward died here...

Li Nanke looked ahead. On the canyon road, the twisted giant shadow approached.

It was a powerful humanoid monster, mutated from a mad believer.

The footsteps made the ground tremble, each "thump, thump, thump" beating against his heart like a drum.

A tidal wave of danger threatened to engulf Li Nanke entirely.

"This forbidden object is supposed to be low risk—why is it that the moment I enter, I encounter such a formidable enemy..."

His expression was cold, his gaze steely.