Chapter 1: Living Is Truly Meaningless

Chapter 1: Life's a Drag

"SQUEEEEEE—!!!"

A high-frequency sound wave inaudible to human ears suddenly pierced the gray sky.

Tentacles of thick black mud erupted with a fury so human it was creepy, madly lashing the air around them, while pustules on the tentacles burst with a series of squelching pops, making the already pungent air even more foul.

"YEEHAW—!"

An off-road vehicle shot out from the center of the black mass, swerving left and right with a wild, agile drift, weaving through the flailing tentacles in an instant and vanishing into the vast yellow sand, escaping without a trace.

"Later, asshole!"

As the excited primal whoop faded, a deafening explosion instantly obliterated the writhing chaos behind the vehicle.

"Boss, we finally got this damn thing." The scrawny guy in the back seat, craning his neck to watch the dazzling pillar of fire, looked at the driver.

One elbow hooked out the open window, the man turned the steering wheel lazily with the other, slumped back like he owned the seat. Beneath his clean, short, slightly tousled hair, his perfect face was on full display—long brows, deep-set eyes, a straight nose, thin lips. When he tilted his head, his sharp jawline and prominent Adam's apple were cut-glass sharp.

His combat suit was already tattered, large patches of beautiful muscle highlighted by dark shreds and straps, with fine wounds oozing traces of blood. Yet he didn't bother to cover up at all, looking like he definitely wasn't in a legit line of work.

This man dripped raw machismo, and if not for his half-lidded, bored eyes that screamed "I'm so over this," the swagger rolling off him would have been enough to reach the heavens.

Lin Su switched hands lazily, pulled a snow-white, diamond-shaped crystal core from the chest pocket, and tossed it to the back seat.

"Analyze." His low, husky voice gave no more than two words. Though his voice was bewitching, he wasn't as generous with his voice as with his looks, speaking as little as possible.

The other passenger in the back, a woman with long straight black hair, caught the crystal core and deftly inserted it into the analyzer in her hand. A moment later, a flat, robotic voice announced: "Special purification crystal core, maxed out, 3S rare crystal core. Boss, our guess was right. It can purify genetic contamination. It is the hope of saving humanity."

The scrawny guy let out a long sigh: "The most disgusting plant crystal core in the world turned out to be a special purification core—who would have thought? Thank god our boss is a freaking genius!"

Lin Su curled his lips in satisfaction and said lazily, "Initiate the Purge Protocol."

At these words, the two in the back seat instantly froze. After a suffocating silence, the scrawny guy spoke with difficulty: "Boss, we're not at that point yet. We can take our time, seriously, no need to rush, Senior Brother!"

The long-haired woman opened her mouth, but no words came out; she mouthed weakly: "Senior Brother..."

Lin Su stopped the car, got out, and waved a lazy hand at them, dismissively saying, "Go. I'm handing the base over to you and the juniors. Live well."

"Don't let me down."

With that, he strode into the desert without a backward glance.

The jeep behind him watched him go in silence, until his figure disappeared, then creaked away reluctantly.

Lin Su found a large rock as a windbreak and slouched against it, boneless.

He ticked off the seconds, one by one. After who knew how long, he stirred again. First, he casually pulled a dagger from his boot and, without blinking, jabbed himself a few times, while simultaneously shattering the spiritual pill he had painstakingly forged from a crystal core inside his body.

Fresh, mouthwatering spiritual energy flowed out with his blood...

Meanwhile, the off-road vehicle frantically crashed into the base. The news that Base Leader Lin was severely injured and missing spread throughout the base in an instant. Countless superhumans scrambled out for a rescue operation.

But faster than them were the advanced aberrations disguised among the surviving humans. These monsters, lured by the spiritual energy exploding into the air, swarmed out from their hiding places.

These freaks, like sharks smelling blood, ripped off their human disguises, desperate not to be beaten to the prize and take the shortcut to godhood.

Lin Su watched as his blood slowly flowed, pooling into small pits in the yellow sand. Countless advanced aberrations gathered around him like ghosts, drooling over him.

But before they could reach him, these monsters would be wounded by their own kind, so for a time, none could approach Lin Su. Seeing that the spiritual energy inside Lin Su was about to dissipate, these high-level freaks started tearing into each other, eyes red.

"Come on, let's see who's got the guts to join me." Lin Su lowered his head and curled his lips. His almost inaudible voice made him look like a dead man walking.

Seeing this, the aberrations fought even more fiercely. Rotten limbs fell like rain, and stinking pus splattered everywhere.

The final four aberrations could not decide a winner, and Lin Su's patience ran out.

Suddenly, a drop of pus splashed onto Lin Su's face, seemingly suicidal. His expression instantly fell. The stench was so nasty a dung beetle would hurl; he couldn't stand it.

Disgusting as hell.

Suddenly, the blood on the ground came alive, binding the corpses of the advanced aberrations, forming a bizarre runic array in an instant, and finally entangling the four still-living advanced aberrations.

Before they could react, the energy erupting from Lin Su's dantian acted like a fuse, instantly detonating countless advanced crystal cores around him. The resulting energy surge swept across a zombie and aberration tide spanning several kilometers in radius.

Lin Su, along with all the advanced aberrations and most of the mid-to-low-level aberrations, disappeared into the vast yellow sand.

Before losing consciousness, Lin Su took one last look at this world. The reluctance in his eyes vanished instantly when his mind flashed to the base's dark food—so terrible that even a god couldn't save it.

He lazily drooped his eyelids and sighed wearily—

Living is truly meaningless.

Goodbye. See you never.

Pain!

-

It hurts so much!!

Damn it hurts!!!

A crunching, cracking sound of skin, flesh, and bones—like crumpling a plastic bag and newspaper, like a watermelon splitting with a crisp sound, like shattering glass and the hidden fissures deep within a glacier.

Lin Su knew this was the sound of his skin splitting open, the sound of his blood gushing wildly, and the sound of his bones breaking.

Lin Su knew that a crystal core self-destruct would be powerful and deadly, but no one told him it would be a death like being cut to pieces alive?

Shouldn't a self-destruct be instant? Why did it feel like several centuries?

It hurt so much, ahhh!!!

Lin Su could no longer endure it. In the midst of the vibration, he vaguely bumped into something that seemed to ease his pain!

He no longer cared about anything, and slipped into it in a flash.