Shackles of Humanity

Luo Kai slipped into the city without a sound. The surrounding flames, collapsed buildings, and rampaging Fierce Beasts painted an apocalyptic scene.

He saw no signs of human life along the way, only mutated creatures fighting viciously over scraps of food.

On the street ahead, a pack of hyena-like mutated creatures was surrounding a mutated bull with massive horns.

Unlike the livestock humans once raised, mutated creatures lived up to their name. It wasn’t just their bodies that had changed; so had their habits. They no longer distinguished between herbivore or carnivore—they were all omnivores. They ate anything. When especially hungry, they would even take a few bites of wood, dirt, or anything containing organic matter.

The mutated bull was no easy prey. It charged through the street like a bulldozer. One hyena, failing to dodge in time, was flung more than ten meters by a swing of its horns.

But the hyenas were numerous and coordinated. The two largest drew the mutated bull’s attention from the front, while the others swarmed its flanks and rear, looking for a chance to tear into its soft underbelly and hindquarters.

The mutated bull was immensely strong, but it was hopelessly outnumbered. Soon, the pack of hyenas brought it crashing to the ground. The moment it fell, they swarmed it, their sharp maws ripping away flesh and hide, which they swallowed whole without chewing.

The hyenas were incredibly aggressive. One snatched a meaty rib from another, mangier-looking one, instantly infuriating it. The two beasts immediately flew into a rage, tearing at each other.

Before long, the entire bull had been picked clean. The pack didn’t even spare the skeleton, their powerful jaws crunching on the bones as they tried to get at the marrow inside.

Luo Kai bypassed them, his expression impassive. The hellish scene around him failed to stir the slightest ripple in his heart. Ever since that night by the sea, his state of mind had shifted once again.

In the past, a scene like this would have filled him with killing intent. Now, however, everything happening around him was like smoke before his eyes, unable to provoke any emotional response. Even the city’s Evil Energy, thick with resentment, couldn’t disturb the fluctuations of his consciousness. His calm was so absolute that even he found it unbelievable.

…

He transformed into a faint wisp of green smoke, weaving through the Fierce Beast-infested city. He first arrived at Granny Hua’s small courtyard. The earthquake had barely affected it; the courtyard was still intact, and the plants within remained lush. But there was no trace of anyone.

’Thinking about it now, Granny Hua was also quite mysterious. She seemed to know a great deal about Extraterrestrial Creatures, even down to their biological makeup. Lu Qing’s sudden death couldn’t have been simple.’

He breathed in the lingering, familiar, sweet fragrance in the courtyard and sighed softly before turning to leave. He then made his way to Pan Shi Sports School. The place had been taken over by a two-headed, serpentine Fierce Beast. Its belly was distended, and it was coiled up, napping on the athletic field.

Luo Kai drew his Severing Blade. Gathering his power for a moment, he burst from the shadows. The light of his blade flashed like a bolt of silk, circling the monstrous snake in a blur. Two heads fell, spouting blood. He gave the beast’s still-twitching, writhing corpse an indifferent glance and walked further into the campus.

The monster was only a Growth Stage Fierce Beast; its physical durability was no match for his blade.

Fierce Beasts are divided into four stages: Juvenile, Growth, Mature, and finally, Complete Form. Each advancement brings about a heaven-and-earth-shattering transformation. A Juvenile Stage Fierce Beast is roughly equivalent to a human Martial Artist. Once it reaches the Growth Stage, even a High-level Martial Artist is no match for it. A Mature Stage Fierce Beast is even more formidable than a human Body Master. As for the final stage, a Complete Form Fierce Beast is a truly destructive existence—just look at Longyang City, which was annihilated in an instant by one.

Different Fierce Beasts excel at different abilities, so their actual combat strength varies. Take the Insect Mother Luo Kai killed, for example. Although it was at the Mature Stage, it had few means of attack once separated from its swarm. The Insect Mother’s power lay in its nature as a hive creature. If it had an endless swarm to command, its combat strength would be comparable to a Complete Form Fierce Beast!

People distinguish between Fierce Beasts and mutated creatures for a reason: they are not the same. Mutated creatures possess little intelligence and act mostly on instinct. Fierce Beasts, however, are different. They possess high intelligence and immense evolutionary potential, to the point of gradually creating their own civilization. This is now Earth’s dominant biological civilization, and humanity is merely a sub-species within it.

There had clearly been a fierce battle on campus. The acrid smell of gunpowder hung heavy in the air. The ground was littered with mangled corpses, both human and mutant, but there was no one left alive.

’The two Complete Form Fierce Beasts from earlier today were focused mainly on destruction. Other than myself and Su Chengbo, they didn’t seem to deign to hunt ordinary humans personally. Many survivors must have escaped after the earthquake.’

Luo Kai stood silently for a moment atop a still-intact building in the school. He extended his senses for a while but detected no sign of living people. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted the figure of a blond man on the athletic field below. The man was furtively approaching the Fierce Beast Luo Kai had just killed, leaning down, and greedily gulping its blood.

’Isn’t that the guy from yesterday who looked like a Vampire?’ Luo Kai floated lightly down from the building, walked over, and asked, ”What are you doing here?”

The blond man was startled, but upon seeing it was Luo Kai, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground. ”I-I didn’t know you were here, Blood Ancestor!” he stammered in terror. ”I’ll leave right now!” With that, he began to scramble backward.

Luo Kai’s expression shifted. ”Wait,” he said. ”Do you know what’s happening in the city? Did anyone escape?”

The blond man remained prone on the ground and said cautiously, ”Many people fled after the Fire Simurgh and the Earth Dragon left. I don’t know who Your Lordship is looking for, but I can be of service.”

”You know of those two Fierce Beasts?” Luo Kai was greatly surprised.

The blond man replied respectfully, ”My homeland is south of the great sea. It is called the New Wei Continent—or, as you on the Eastern Continent call it, the Land of the Red Pole. The Fire Simurgh and the Earth Dragon came from there, as did many of the other Fierce Beasts here.”

Luo Kai took a few steps forward. ”Tell me what’s going on,” he pressed. ”Why are the Fierce Beasts from your homeland attacking this place?”

The blond man seemed unable to withstand the aura of authority emanating from Luo Kai. He shuffled back a short distance before speaking. ”Back home, we’ve had continuous high temperatures since last year. This year, the outdoor temperature has been at least seventy or eighty degrees Celsius. The earth has cracked, all things have withered, and life can no longer survive. That’s why they’re crossing the deep sea en masse, searching for a suitable land.”

”Are there human nations there as well?”

”Yes. Our home was a nation called the New Wei United Kingdom, with a population of several hundred thousand. Three months ago, our king organized a fleet to cross the deep sea, but we encountered the Heaven-Swallowing Fierce Beast. I was the only one to survive, and only because I had once received the grace of a Blood Ancestor from the Western Continent.”

Luo Kai frowned. ’So this guy really is a Vampire,’ he thought. ”Meaning you arrived here long ago. Why didn’t you warn this country’s rulers?”

The blond man looked up, bewildered. ”We are the noble Blood Race. Why would we warn lowly humans?”

Luo Kai’s body trembled, and he almost drew his blade to kill the man on the spot. He waved his hand dismissively. ”Get out of here. And don’t let me see you again.”

The blond man looked as if he had been granted a great pardon. He retreated slowly, kowtowing with every step.