Chapter 19: How Can I Live Without My Phone?

While Wang Baojie and the other potato people were shocked by the "big move" Chen Jin proposed, in a dark, vast underground cavern of the exiled lands, furious roars of rage constantly emanated from deep within the earth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Damn it... Damn it... Damn it, aaaah!"

"Humans, humans!"

"The, damn... exiles!"

"Chen... is, Jin... Chen is Jin! Zzzt kkkkkk."

No human had ever dared to ignore Him, challenge Him, or even resist Him like this! That was just a weak human who had just arrived in the exiled lands, just awakened his abilities, how dare he destroy His avatar!

No, even if weak, the energy emanating from him was exquisitely delicious!

That energy was pure and brimming with vitality, surely coming from a world teeming with life.

He would never give up such a delicious meal.

But that damned human had destroyed His sensor avatar; He could no longer steal his energy through the avatar, nor could He sense his current location, emotions, and all he intends to do!

The enormous shadow in the cave paced restlessly on a sticky, black web. This cannot be; the prey caught in His web cannot escape so easily!

"Hehe... hehe... no matter... no matter, there is still a way."

"No human can escape the sensor and, the eyes!"

"The eyes! The eyes—"

"The Omniscient Eye! The Omniscient—Eye—"

His final roar, laden with immense energy waves, nearly destroyed everything inside and outside the cave, and along with this energy wave, countless twisting black threads were also flung out.

A few breaths later, the monsters crawling chaotically inside the cave suddenly halted, emitting a cackling laugh from the darkness.

Found it.

Connected.

The omnipresent eyes! Open!

Behold the new delicious prey!

No human can defy or challenge Him! If such a person exists, then let him become a meal for all devourers, a target for slaughter among all exiles, a stray dog in the exiled lands with no peace ever!

To die a miserable death in the end.

* * *

In various gatherings of the exiled lands.

The enclaves are the hard-earned safe zones that many exiles have established in this dark world over years of effort, both large and small.

When exiles gather in numbers, the smaller monsters of the exiled lands dare not attack them at will, and even the weaker devouring monsters cannot swallow them whole or drag them into the devouring world.

This allows the exiles to catch a breath, at least to some extent.

But this does not signify lasting safety.

The exiled lands are too vast and wide.

No one knows where its boundaries lie, nor how many monsters it harbors.

It is an endless dark sea, where giant and terrifying "big fish" always swallow the helpless "small fish."

The enclaves that a devourer cannot consume might one day be devoured by another colossal entity, turning into a dead land.

Thus, there is no permanent peace in the exiled lands, only constant devouring, slaughtering, and then standing at the top of the devourers.

Only today, the enclaves have witnessed something different—

In almost every enclave, the "All-Seeing Eye" and "Sensory Wall" underwent changes simultaneously.

On the Sensory Wall, the names of the top ten on the bounty list suddenly all shifted down one spot.

Then, a blood-red name appeared at the top of the exiled lands' bounty list.

"Chen Sijin... a bounty of a million energy points?! Who is this? His bounty actually surpassed that of Le Zi Shen and Feng Shen?!"

An exile quickly noticed this change and exclaimed in disbelief.

"His name is in blood red! Blood red! A bounty by a sovereign-level devourer! Good heavens, what exactly did he do? Provoked a sovereign-level devourer?"

Exiles at various safe points began discussing fervently, and at this moment, the blood-colored, huge eye hanging high next to the Sensory Wall also emitted red light, slowly opening.

"The All-Seeing Eye has opened?!"

The exiles, still in heated discussion, simultaneously showed astonishment.

They collectively turned and rushed toward the gigantic eye.

The All-Seeing Eye, true to its name, can see everything in the exiled lands.

It sees everything, knows everything, and can even observe the "Devouring Worlds" created by the devourers.

Thus, exiles often glean information about various Devouring Worlds and basic details about devourers through the All-Seeing Eye at the enclaves.

The devourer of the Phone City is one such Devouring World frequently showcased to human exiles by the All-Seeing Eye.

This is why Wang Baojie warned everyone not to look at their phones.

But the All-Seeing Eye isn't a human-controlled television that humans can watch whenever and whatever they want; it reigns supreme over humans, only displaying what it wishes to show.

Such as the moments humans are controlled, the moments they slaughter each other, and the moments of their despair, pain, and death.

It never broadcasts a complete world, only showcasing snippets with a sense of superiority and mockery, watching its human viewers in terror and pain, then absorbing their negative energy.

This time, however, things seem to be different.

Exiles in communication with each other quickly learned that the All-Seeing Eyes in all enclaves had simultaneously opened or switched the Devouring World they were displaying.

As if this time, they were set to witness an extremely crucial act of slaughter.

Thus, within those vast eyes, the anxiously tense exiles saw —

A lake rippling with clear waves, and a young man suddenly looking up by the lakeside.

The All-Seeing Eye's perspective suddenly zooms in, as if to allow the exiles at the enclaves to clearly see the features of this young man.

Indeed, this young man has a remarkably handsome and captivating face; perhaps in the City of Beauty, he could easily complete the survival task.

But beauty is almost useless in the Land of Exile and could even invite disaster. If it were only for his looks, the All-Seeing Eye wouldn't bother focusing on him. So, could he be the one...?

As countless exiles speculate about the identity of this young man, the handsome figure in the All-Seeing Eye's view suddenly looks up.

His sharp, phoenix eyes accurately target the focal point of the All-Seeing Eye, as if seeing through the Eye to the countless gazes beyond.

His originally graceful and polite demeanor abruptly shifts to one of extreme intensity.

"Hiss!"

"Ah!"

Someone can't help but gasp, as if the people inside the box saw beyond it for a moment.

But what truly shocks all those observing through the All-Seeing Eye comes next—

They see the young man accurately catch their focus, then, with thin but vivid red lips slowly curving up, his sharp gaze turns into a cold sneer. Under the watch of countless, he directs a middle finger towards the focal point of the All-Seeing Eye.

Holy! Shit!

As countless exiles internally scream at this sight, they witness the normally unchanging All-Seeing Eye suddenly expand and contract violently, with three blood veins abruptly bursting on the surface of the immense eyeball.

Exiles: Bro, that's awesome!

Having been in the Land of Exile for so long, this is the first time they've seen a human inflate the All-Seeing Eye with anger.

Just for that one middle finger, no matter which devouring world it is, no matter how bloody and desperate the content, they're determined to watch till the end!

Then, the exiles hear a voice coming from the All-Seeing Eye.

"What are you looking at, bro?"

Chen calmly retracts his middle finger and looks down.

"Nothing much, I just find the sun up there a bit irksome." Ever since entering this world, there's been a feeling of being watched by something, even here in the Land of Exile, that gaze feels ever-present.

As if an evil eye, ever-present like the sun, hangs high in the sky, omnipresent.

The sunlight may be warming, but the gaze is nauseating.

Ah Fei is puzzled: ???

Ah, how is he supposed to respond to a gripe about the sun being displeasing?

Fortunately, Wang decisively speaks up: "You said you want to... take down this world, are you serious?"

Just uttering such words made Wang's tone stiff and hesitant, but he still managed to continue with difficulty: "Do you realize how difficult that is?"

"This is your first time in a devouring world, maybe because of your strong awakened abilities and exceptional upgrade, you might not find the devouring world terrifying or the world task challenging.

"But I must tell you, achieving this was extremely difficult, a truly perilous adventure with slim chances of survival, bordering on certain death."

"Let me give you the simplest example. If we only complete the survival tasks, then the mutated citizens of the City of Phones will only attack us at night, disguising as normal people during the day."

"But if we aim to complete the world mission, then everything in the entire world will become our enemy!"

Wang Baojie's voice was heavy: "The Devourers brought us into their world to extract a greater variety of negative energies produced by fear, anger, greed, and jealousy from us, not to seek their own destruction.

Although their core also resides within the Devouring World, it's absolutely untouchable."

"If we follow their game rules and complete the survival tasks, they'll mercifully let us off as an inexhaustible source of energy, adhering to their rules.

But if we attempt to turn the tables on them, this is no longer just a game but a genuine fight for survival."

"A life-or-death world mission does not play by the rules."

Wang Baojie looked at Jin Chen and spoke a brutally realistic truth.

"With the abilities of the nine of us left, even if we added a dog and a big-eyed sidekick, we wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps between the Devourer's teeth. Perhaps as soon as we entered the mobile labyrinth, we would be overwhelmed by swarms of mutants."

"Even so, do you still want to go through with this big venture?"

What's the difference between this and seeking death?

Upon hearing this, Chen Shijin looked at him calmly, "If we don't take on the world task, does that mean we can survive?"

Wang Baojie instantly shut his mouth.

He had already considered that if they didn't find someone to take their place, they were on a path to certain death with the survival task.

And he himself had not reached such a dehumanized state.

Most importantly, compared to mere survival, he indeed preferred to take on a bigger challenge.

Wang Baojie suddenly clenched his fist: "Then tell me, how do we do it?!"

"At the very least, let us stand before the world's core! Not just to be cannon fodder!"

Chen Yijin then laughed: "Of course, the first step to a BOSS battle, let's start with a prayer!"

Wang Baojie: ???

Wang Baojie: ……

Watching the young man suddenly put his hands together in prayer, Wang Baojie felt as if his fervor was doused with cold water.

He really wanted to roar out loud, if praying worked, then what's the need for striving to level up?!!!

Then, the young man's slightly husky, pleasant voice rang out:

"I pray, let each of us level up three times for half an hour!"

Wang Baojie and all the other buried "potatoes" wore masks of agony.

But their agony didn't last long; to their astonishment, they actually started feeling their energy levels rising?!

The young man's prayer continued.

"Alright, if not three levels, then let us level up two times for an hour!" Adjusting quickly due to the rapid energy consumption.

Wang Baojie became the first to level up.

When he burst through the soil with his muscles bulging and brimming with immense power, he could hardly believe what was happening before his eyes!

He had actually leveled up! Leveled up!

From level two strength [Power to Lift Cauldrons] to level three 【Power to Uproot Mountains】!

He looked towards Chen Yijin as if seeing a ghost, then, as if possessed, he clasped his hands together fiercely and prayed loudly:

"God, let me level up once more!" I'm going to take down this damned world!

Afterward, those watching in front of the All-Seeing Eye saw the group of "potatoes" buried in the soil suddenly emerge, glowing with energy and jumping out in various manners, laughing and shouting about their level-ups.

Then, these leveled-up individuals, as if conducting some bizarre ritual, gathered around the handsome young man and started praying together with hands clasped—

"We pray, let us level up two more times!"

The almost praying exiles: ……

The devourers lurking in the shadows: !!!!!!!

"This is impossible!"

"What kind of heaven-defying prayer ability is this!"

"Who is he?!"