Humans were never meant to work!
Since they are born free, they ought to enjoy freedom.
Work is torture and devastation to any free living soul.
The words above came from Feng Mingge after seven straight centuries on the clock. Right after saying them, he took a ten-year leave of absence and went off to fool around.
A perfectly fine Mighty One had been so thoroughly tainted by the daily grind that ten years away couldn't wash off the stench of wage slavery. One could imagine just how deeply work had harmed him.
Over a thousand years had passed now, and neither Feng Mingge nor Chi Feihong wanted to keep doing this job. Thus, Yu Xian needed a few new beasts of burden.
Yu Xian felt Gong Yinhu would be a great fit.
The man had decent character, was familiar with the Zhen Realm, and, above all, was hardworking.
He had taken part in almost every event. Even if his ranking fluctuated, he never picked and chose; he treasured even the smallest reward.
What did that show?
It showed that Gong Yinhu deeply cherished his second chance to enter the Zhen Realm, and that he clearly knew it was his only path to changing his destiny.
Yu Xian decided to give him an opportunity.
He would grant Gong Yinhu permission to enter the Zhen Realm repeatedly, but each time he went in, once he became a Mighty One, Gong Yinhu would have to work for him for a hundred thousand years.
For instance, the next entry would cost one hundred thousand years. If he failed again and entered the time after that, it would become two hundred thousand years—compounding until Gong Yinhu finally became a Mighty One capable of working for him.
***
Yujia'ao Prison.
Gong Yinhu leaned his back against the wall, gazing through the window at the moon.
He always felt as though he had forgotten something, yet when he thought carefully, it seemed he hadn't forgotten a thing.
These past few days, he had been brooding constantly, out of step with the rest of the prison's inmates. Some of them even suspected he had caught some kind of mental illness, so they all began keeping their distance.
[Ding.]
[This is an indenture contract. Do you wish to open it?]
Suddenly, amid the dead silence of the night, a peculiar chime rang in Gong Yinhu's ears.
The moment the chime sounded, his lost memories surged back like a flood. In an instant, he remembered everything. He had already entered the Zhen Realm twice. The first time, he had been defeated by Yu Xian. The second time, he had grown careless, thinking that having once succeeded at +10 enhancement, a mere +8 wouldn't be an issue. In the end, he couldn't withstand the immense power, and his body had shattered.
At this moment, tears welled in Gong Yinhu's eyes. Thank goodness, he remembered! If he could never recall those memories, how would he be any different from a dead man?
He then looked at the light screen. With a single thought, the indenture contract slowly unrolled.
After reading its contents, wild joy broke out on his face. What was a hundred thousand years? Even if it were a million, ten million, or one trillion years, he would sign it without hesitation!
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than his expression froze—because the '100,000 years' on the contract literally changed into '1,000,000,000,000 years.'
"Um... actually, a hundred thousand years seems like quite a lot already." Gong Yinhu figured a real man knew when to bend and when to stand tall, so backing down now was the smarter move.
Sure enough, the number on the contract reverted to one hundred thousand years.
Yu Xian knew full well that a hundred thousand years was already a huge amount of time. After all, the job was sheer torture; unless someone was a hardcore Earth shut-in, an ordinary person genuinely couldn't endure it, even with the internet.
Besides, as someone who valued freedom, Yu Xian didn't really like tying others down too much.
He had merely sensed Gong Yinhu's thoughts and played a little joke on him.
"Lord Yu Xian, is it possible to add extra working time in exchange for specifying my class?" Gong Yinhu whispered, knowing full well that Yu Xian was the only person who could possibly offer him this contract.
In the Zhen Realm, Yu Xian, who was popping grapes into his mouth, paused. Then his eyes lit up, prompting everyone to look at him in surprise.
"A genius! That's a truly ingenious idea!"
"Gong Yinhu, you're a fucking genius!"
Yu Xian couldn't hold back his laughter. Only when Cheng Pi asked did he explain what he had just done to the group.
"So you plan to grant his wish?" Nora asked curiously.
Yu Xian smiled. "Of course. But as for the price..."
The very next moment, Gong Yinhu in Yujia'ao Prison received a reply: not only could he designate his class, but he could even log into an account that had already died before.
However, the higher the tier, the steeper the price.
For instance, Gong Yinhu's base working time was originally a hundred thousand years. If he chose his very first account—the Level 250 account with full +10 enhancements across the board—the time he had to work for Yu Xian would be 100,000 multiplied by 250, then multiplied by 10, by 10, and by 10 again. In other words, he would have to work for Yu Xian for twenty-five billion years.
Once Gong Yinhu understood the rules, he closed his eyes and pondered for a very, very long time.
Finally, he opened his eyes slowly, having arrived at his answer. As long as he could reclaim that power, what was twenty-five billion years?
In fact, he felt like dropping to his knees right now and banging his head on the floor in gratitude to Yu Xian. He was certain that if Yu Xian offered this so-called contract of servitude to anyone else in this world, they would bow their heads in submission without hesitation.
A Mighty One.
As long as you didn't court death, your lifespan was boundless. A mere twenty-five billion years really wasn't that long.
***
Kemokexiya-Dragon World.
Many beings in this world noticed something strange.
Their blades seemed to have become sharper than usual. Slicing vegetables and chopping melons had once left weak housewives panting for breath, but now they finished without breaking a single drop of sweat.
The natives of this world began investigating in droves, trying to uncover the reason behind the abnormal sharpness of their blades.
Meanwhile, the culprit behind it all, Zhang Shou, was currently staring at a little mouse. Gazing in astonishment at the white-furred rodent before him, he asked, "Are you Siberian Rat?"
"B-big brother, I... I am Siberian Rat," the little mouse replied in a tremulous whisper, shivering as it looked at Zhang Shou.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground with curiosity, Zhang Shou asked, "What's your deal? I saw nothing but dinosaur folk outside and thought this was a world of dinosaur folk."
"Dinosaur folk? You must mean those dragonfolk. They're monsters infected by the blood of the Demonic Dragon. Ever since they took over the world, humans were completely wiped out by them," Siberian Rat answered.
Zhang Shou asked in surprise, "There were humans in this world?"
"Mhm, there used to be. Back then, the Demonic Dragon wasn't a demonic dragon yet, but the Holy Dragon. Under the Holy Dragon's protection, humanity carved out one city after another.
"Then one day, the Holy Dragon suddenly turned into a demonic dragon. Those dragonfolk shifted from guarding humanity to attacking humanity, and before long, humans were all dead.
"At first, those dragonfolk even slaughtered each other and attacked any living creature nearby. But about fifteen years ago, they seemed to regain a sliver of sanity and became somewhat normal again.
"The cities and tribes you see now were rebuilt by the dragonfolk after the Demonic Dragon fell asleep," Siberian Rat explained.
After hearing this, Zhang Shou felt a jolt of shock in his heart. Could it really be such a coincidence that he had stumbled right into the demonic fall phenomenon?
Chapter 622