Chapter Twenty-Seven: Absolutely Unstoppable!

“I lived in this serpentine form for three whole years. I was only nine years old back then. They bound my limbs and forced me to crawl like a snake among jagged rocks. They fired at me with guns loaded with anesthetic and neurotoxin darts. I was terrified of both. When the neurotoxin entered my body, the pain was like being slashed with a knife, while the anesthetic would instantly paralyze me. If I couldn't move within five minutes and keep running, they would shoot me again with the neurotoxin, over and over, until I was screaming and scrambling to survive once more.”

The boy shuddered as he spoke, curling into a tight ball, yet still unable to stop trembling.

“During the final selection for the heir, the moment I—snake-like, monstrous—was released from the cage, I saw the terror on every face. I laughed. It was the first time in three years anyone had feared me, respected me. So this is what it feels like to be powerful. I saw those rivals who once tormented me, and my own brother, backing away in dread—my real brother. God, I missed him so much these three years!”

A cold, surging murderous intent rose, and in the boy’s eyes, the scenes of the past seemed to unfold once more.

“I, Byakuya, have been waiting for this day of revenge. For three years I couldn’t live as a human, only as a snake, scavenging in the forest, devouring birds, beasts, insects, and fish. I went mad, lunging at them, and all I could see was blood—blood everywhere. Scream, cry, beg, repent—and then I killed them, mercilessly. So this is what it feels like to be strong! I want to rise above all others. Those who become slaves are nothing but cattle, undeserving of pity, because they are too weak—just as I once was!”

Byakuya lifted his torso high, his degenerated hands open to the sky, his gaze brimming with longing and hope for the future.

“Listen—everyone is applauding me. When I stood on the stage of the heir’s ceremony, bloodstained, the beautiful ceremonial attendant wasn’t the least bit afraid of my serpentine form. As she placed the coronet on my head, she deliberately brushed her ample bosom against my face. I inhaled her fragrance greedily. So this is what a woman feels like—I want it! Money, status, women—I want them all! All the clan stood and cheered, even the parents whose children I’d killed came forward with enthusiastic congratulations. I knew they hated me, hated me to the core—but so what? I was the final victor. Listen—no weeping, no wailing, only laughter and peace. How beautiful it was, a world only the strong can possess!”

Byakuya let out a long breath—a sigh of true exhaustion and release. He lowered his gaze to his grotesque body, his eyes gradually losing focus.

“I thought the nightmare had ended, that it was over, that I was finally free. I thought I would no longer wake each day to find that reality was the true nightmare. Then they told me: every heir must undergo body modification. ‘Don’t be afraid, it’s just a tiny implant; all your nightmares will be over.’ I didn’t hesitate—I agreed joyfully. If the nightmares had continued, I would rather have died... Later, they performed the surgery. Medical anesthetics no longer worked on me; three years of exposure had made me completely immune. I saw what they were about to implant—a blood-red insect, its head raised high as it probed around in the glass vessel, alert, like a tiny blood snake, perfectly matching my own condition. In that moment, I understood—it had all been planned from the start. As the Meridian Soul-Devouring Parasite crawled, inch by inch, into my body, I cried. I realized that my previous despair was because I still clung to hope. But now, I would be bound to the clan forever, with no more freedom, and raised, bit by bit, into... someone else’s despair. From that moment, I swore it would be the last time I ever cried. I would take revenge on this world, fill the emptiness of my childhood with their despair. I would revel in the veneration of the supreme. If anyone dares stand in my way, I will... kill them!”

Byakuya slowly wrapped himself around Mu You, silently observing his still face, then grinned. “Looking closely, you’re actually quite handsome. I swing both ways, you know, but right now, I’d rather kill you. Anyone who knows my secret must die. How about ten times the usual dose of anesthetic and neurotoxin, secreted by my own Meridian Soul-Devouring Parasite? You’re a dangerous death row inmate, so you must have a complete parasite in your body, too. I’ve never killed someone quite like you. Let me taste the blood of a dangerous convict.”

With that, Byakuya opened his mouth, revealing long venomous fangs, each dripping with red and green poisons.

He pressed his mouth to Mu You’s neck. Their posture was strangely intimate, almost like an embrace. Slowly, he bit down, injecting both poisons, then began to drink Mu You’s blood.

Gulp… gulp…

Just as Byakuya swallowed his second mouthful, a familiar voice sounded by his ear, casual yet chillingly cold.

“Who’s killing whom, exactly?”

In that crucial instant, Mu You was suddenly able to move. As he spoke, he bit down hard on the vulnerable spot at the base of Byakuya’s snake neck—a savage rip, tearing away a large chunk of flesh!

Blood gushed. Byakuya howled in agony, tearing himself away from Mu You. In that moment, the “Moonlit Shattered Realm” crumbled, scattering into ethereal fragments, vanishing like snow.

“How… How can you move?”

Byakuya stared at Mu You in shock. Not only had he broken free of the “Moonlit Shattered Realm,” but even the poisons that had just been injected seemed to have no effect on him.

“If it were yesterday, I’d be dead for sure. But today, I’ve completed my transformation. I really have to thank you—for immobilizing me just now. Otherwise, during the agony of the ‘Final Sentence,’ I’d have howled so loud I’d have bitten through my own tongue, and the noise would have attracted more Freefolk. But because of you, I had the perfect shield. Turns out, the most dangerous place really is the safest.”

Mu You flexed his limbs. Just as Tong Yao had said, the secretions of the Meridian Soul-Devouring Parasite from the “Final Sentence” were no joke. As soon as they entered his body, Mu You felt every cell soaking up this potent elixir, transforming furiously. Now, his full-force strike was at least twice as strong as before. If he met Hulei again, even if the other was cheating, he could at least hold his own.

“Impossible—absolutely impossible! My parasite is a high-tier worker, the clan paid a huge price for it. It could even evolve into a subordinate queen! And yours, inside the ‘Final Sentence,’ is at least a mid-tier worker. Even as a dangerous convict, your body could only withstand a low-tier worker at most. How could you possibly be immune to the secretions of a high-level parasite? No—impossible! You haven’t endured the hell I have! How could you possibly withstand a parasite at the level of a subordinate queen? Death Row Paradise would never allow such a mistake!”

Byakuya, so stunned and livid that he forgot to staunch the bleeding from his torn throat, pointed at Mu You in utter disbelief. Mu You only shrugged, replying in a tone as infuriating as it was smug:

“Sorry, but I’m just that damn good!”