Chapter 115: The Boy in the Nutrient Solution

"I have received all of your sentiments... and it is I, Mu You, who should be thanking you..."

Mu You pressed his hand against his chest, feeling the gentle energy of the nuclear explosion that continuously nourished his body, and gradually tightened his fists. Now, Mu You felt not only that his strength had improved further, but that his very mindset was undergoing a metamorphosis.

He had seen too much despair—so much that the last shred of hope and attachment he held for this world had vanished entirely. The people of this world should not live within the "hope" packaged by those in power; that, in itself, was a deeper level of despair. Human slavishness was being rebranded by the elite as a form of compassionate cultivation. Nothing was more terrifying than a dead heart—the absolute numbness of being willingly, even ignorantly, enslaved!

Living like this had no meaning whatsoever! He, Mu You, would rather die than live that way!

"I will not run, and there is... nowhere left to run."

The last remnants of clarity in Mu You's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a look of silence—the weary expression of someone who no longer held any illusions about life, someone completely indifferent to the ways of the world. "Therefore, I will use my own hands to create my own world, to establish my own rules—the rules I believe to be right!"

As Mu You spoke, the other four were startled, then all showed expressions of approval. Standing side-by-side with Mu You in the endless, desolate underground space, they were imbued with a chilling aura of slaughter.

"It is not so much that this world is no longer suitable for the weak," An Ruxiang said, standing straight beside Mu You, "but that it is no longer suitable for those who still harbor hope."

"Then let us create a world of our own. Since the hope of justice cannot withstand the darkness of this world, then let us destroy it with... an absolute darkness that even the darkness itself cannot touch!"

As Mu You spoke, he stretched out his clenched fist before him. He drove his nails deep into his palm, and blood began to roll out, dripping onto the ground.

"I, Mu You, swear by my blood: I do not ask for a clear conscience, I only ask to achieve something meaningful!"

Seeing this, the others followed suit.

"I, An Ruohuan, swear by my blood: I do not ask for a clear conscience, I only ask to achieve something meaningful!"
"I, Dian Shao, swear by my blood: I do not ask for a clear conscience, I only ask to achieve something meaningful!"
"I, Jing Fei, swear by my blood: I do not ask for a clear conscience, I only ask to achieve something meaningful!"
"I, An Ruxiang, swear by my blood: I do not ask for a clear conscience, I only ask to achieve something meaningful!"

Five bloody fists collided. Five streams of blood of different colors slid onto the ground, bursting into brilliant light.

"What does it matter if the path is as difficult as ascending to heaven? Even if I die, I will descend into the Yellow Springs to summon my old troops, and with ten thousand banners, I will behead Mo Han!"

At this moment, Mu You shed his previous restraint. He was firing on all cylinders, his presence overwhelmingly domineering. There was a touch of evil in his rogue-like spirit—a frantic, wicked desire to pacify the world while all other living beings stood in silence.

As the five rays of light intertwined, a five-colored spider lily emerged from the ground. With their fists still joined, the group exerted their combined strength, and the magnificent, five-colored flower slowly rose to the center of the air.

"Since it began with a flower, let it end with one," Dian Shao said, his face flickering in the shifting, multicolored light.

"It is an end, but also... a new beginning!"

As Mu You finished speaking, the five of them clenched their hands simultaneously. The spider lily erupted with five beams of giant light. Under this radiance, all the withered vines, crystal coffins, and ruined towers in the space dissolved silently. The ground revealed beneath them, centered on the five, was a massive gate, with the pattern of a spider lily carved into its core.

The giant spider lily in the air slowly descended above their heads, its five-colored petals brushing against their cheeks before vanishing into the stone carving beneath their feet.

The group’s bodies began to sink slowly. As the light faded entirely, their figures disappeared into the now-hollow, deep-blue underground world.

*Forbidden Room of Desires* stage cleared. Casualties: Zero.

White. A stark, white light filled the entire space.

The group felt a sense of vertigo, and when their vision returned to normal, they had arrived in this strange spacetime. Looking around, there was nothing but blinding white light; there were no colors, no reference points. Mu You had no concept of where they were or how vast this place might be.

Although he could feel the solidity of the ground beneath his feet, Mu You had a bizarre sensation—a feeling somewhat like weightlessness, though not entirely. He tried to move, only to find that his feet felt as if they were rooted in place; he could not budge.

In his shock, Mu You tried to summon his Blood Ink Phoenix Feathers, but for the first time, his ability—which had always been as close to him as his own blood—refused to manifest. Mu You was instantly stunned.

What was happening?! The same panic he had felt upon first arriving at the Death Row Prison surged from the depths of his heart. His ability was his greatest reliance; without it, how was he any different from an ordinary prisoner?

"My ability... Sister, I can't use my ability!!"

Just as Mu You’s breathing grew unstable, An Ruohuan’s anxious voice came from behind. Mu You turned to see her expression was equally grim. He realized then that something was truly wrong. He noticed that the sisters' hair was hanging upward. In other words, all five of them were standing upside down in this space; it was only the gravity beneath their feet that had masked this from him.

Just as the five of them struggled to summon their powers, the white light suddenly dimmed, and flashes of blood-red light flickered. Five helmets appeared above their heads and clamped down without warning. Before they could even struggle, a powerful electric current struck them, knocking them all unconscious.

With that done, silence returned. Countless tentacles emerged from all directions, connecting to their bodies and suspending them in a peculiar position in mid-air.

The group did not know that the white room they were in was only a dozen square meters. Above this white room, a giant metal tentacle held it suspended in a pitch-black void. Looking into the distance, there were over a hundred such rooms, all held firmly in the air by giant metal tentacles. These hundred-plus tentacles converged into the body of a giant metal octopus doll. The upper half of the octopus was made of tempered glass, filled with a milky-yellow liquid. Within the liquid, countless metal tentacles of varying sizes were connected to a naked youth.