Purging Flame

Red Mist Bar Café. "Huh? Boss Snake, why are his odds so high, and there isn't even a betting cap? Aren't you afraid of taking a massive loss?" Patrons looking at the "Execution Betting" on the local channel found it rather odd that the "top pick" actually had odds of 1.65. Past experience dictated that the odds for top favorites were 1.0001 at most, or even lower, with a betting cap and a per-person limit. Because which person died in any given trial was usually obvious to everyone after glancing through the death row inmates' profiles, Boss Snake naturally wouldn't give away money for free. The popular bets in the pool were typically highly unpredictable categories like "Difference Between Highest and Lowest Votes," "Will the Highest Vote Total Exceed 150,000 Within 15 Minutes," or "Will Inmates Break into a Brawl Within 5 Minutes." Boss Snake, leaning against the bar, flicked out his tongue with a hiss. "Yeah, I'm losing my shirt. If all of you bet on him, I'll be in big trouble, hisss~" A customer chuckled. "Aw, I wouldn't dream of taking your money, Boss Snake. I just want to burn some cash for fun. In fact, I'm betting on the one with the lowest odds and a strict limit." Lorence stared at the betting pool on the light screen, wondering if he should play a round or two. He had spent well over a year at Shattered Lake Prison and hadn't touched gambling in a long time. Almost anyone could host a local betting pool like this with zero restrictions, but there was one catch: the bookmaker had to deposit a hefty sum of upfront funds into Kaimeng Commercial Bank beforehand. Otherwise, the bank wouldn't provide monetary wagering services for the pool, an effective safeguard against bookmakers welshing on payouts when suffering heavy losses. Skimming through the "Highest Vote" odds for the eight death row inmates, Lorence immediately knew who was most likely to be the redeemed soul of this Blood Moon Trial. The lowest odds naturally belonged to the candidate everyone considered guaranteed to die. Generally, the one with the lowest odds was the "favorite" easily identified from the profiles. But this time... "Interesting..." Lorence smiled and maxed out his wager beneath the candidate with the lowest odds. ... ... Yaxiu finally understood. Why Harvey had been so certain that tonight's "random" draw would most likely fall on him—the so-called randomness was audience voting! The death row inmate with the most votes won the grand prize: a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven! An Executioner would send you straight there! And why was Yaxiu doomed as long as it came down to an audience vote? Because Yaxiu had been the hottest news topic over the past few days! He was the "favorite candidate of the month," the "front-page cover star"! The news over the past few days had been all about Yaxiu Heath's sensational rise to cult fame, explained lucidly and narrated with flair. Even Yaxiu himself had read the reports with great interest, so it was easy to imagine that most of the audience was already quite familiar with him. What did it mean to have audience appeal? *This* was audience appeal! "Since you look so familiar, I'm voting for you!" Watching his vote count skyrocket, the crimson "Executioner" before him grew increasingly massive and ferocious. It took up almost the entirety of the platform, squeezing Yaxiu all the way to the edge until both his heels were dangling out in empty air. Every single cell in his body was screaming, bellowing for him to run! Just as Yaxiu was on the verge of losing his footing, a shriek suddenly erupted beside him! "Aaaargh!" The neighboring ogre inmate screamed like a little girl, as if seared by a red-hot branding iron! Having merely been grazed by the spectral blue flames dancing on his puny Executioner, the ogre retreated to the edge, trembling all over. Gripping the steel wire with both hands, he looked pitiful, weak, and utterly helpless! The other inmates began shrieking as well, each writhing in heart-wrenching agony. Clearly, there wasn't a single wound on their bodies, yet the agony looked as excruciating as tearing a fingernail off and jamming it backward into raw flesh. One goblin inmate, taking advantage of his light frame, even stepped directly onto the steel wire, swaying unsteadily. They would rather risk plummeting into the sea than stand beside an Executioner! *Does it really hurt that much?* Although he had always known they were death row convicts, the chips had suppressed their conduct, so Yaxiu had never gained a visceral sense of their brutality. Only now did a spontaneous surge of superiority well up inside him. *My, my, listen to you all screeching so pitifully! How terrifying, you hardened death row inmates! Not like me—I don't feel a speck of pain at all~* "A violation... This is a violation!" One inmate, having bitten clean through his lip from the burns of the Purging Flame, roared at the top of his lungs, "This violates human rights! The Blood Moon Trial cannot harm us during the voting phase!" "You're torturing us! You're trampling our dignity! You're using torture as a means!" "Human rights organizations and city council members must be watching this Blood Moon Trial too! File complaints against them right now! Stop them!" "Yeah! Aren't we supposed to be safe during the voting phase?! Shattered Lake Prison is violating the rules of the Blood Moon Trial!" "Abort this trial immediately! Hurry!" Yaxiu also found it strange. Judging from the general consensus and reports, only one person truly died in most Blood Moon Trials; the remaining seven returned to the prison safe and sound. In fact, the vast majority of prisoners Yaxiu had encountered were survivors of the Blood Moon Trial, some of them even frequent regulars who had skirted the razor's edge of danger multiple times. Moreover, the Blood Moon Country placed immense importance on racial rights and human rights (at least outwardly). They strictly forbade any punishment that aimed to torture or treated people merely as a means. Even interrogations had been standardized across the board into "memory retrieval." From arrest to imprisonment, criminals were never subjected to torture or forced confessions. Talk if you want, stay silent if you don't; we won't violate an iota of your human rights. Naturally, whether "memory retrieval" constituted a violation of human rights was another matter entirely. Therefore, the inmates' challenge against Shattered Lake Prison had some legal justification. Their present predicament was undoubtedly sheer torture, which contradicted the spirit of redemption in the Blood Moon Trial, blasphemed the Blood Moon Sovereign, and was a retrograde step against the equality of all beings! "Not at all," Nagu said, shaking his head. "The rules for this Blood Moon Trial have been approved by the City Council, human rights organizations, and various racial rights protection groups. There are no inhumane arrangements whatsoever. While everyone's current situation appears dangerous, as long as you remain where you are and do nothing, you will come to no harm." "Aah! Aaargh!" Right at that moment, the orc inmate's Executioner abruptly expanded slightly. A lick of the Purging Flame grazed the orc's skin, prompting a high-pitched, girlish shriek from the burly brute who otherwise looked forged from iron. "You call *this* coming to no harm?!" The inmates trembled with rage. "You... you natural-born mongrel bastard of an ogre and a goblin, are you only capable of spewing shit like those boar-tusked green-skinned pieces of trash?!" "You lowlife scumbag who grew up eating shit in an Underdistrict rearing institute!" "You virgin bitch who got fucked by goblin gigolos!" Only then did the death row inmates remember that all their shackles had been unlocked. No longer bound by rules of racial equality or polite speech, their combat prowess instantly erupted. It was as if they were vomiting up all the foul profanity they had swallowed over the days all at once—a single sentence managed to encompass regional discrimination, racial slurs, and sexist insults, leaving even Yaxiu listening in awe. Until he heard Harvey shout from beside him: "You fools who worship the Four Pillar Gods!" Yaxiu glanced at Harvey. Even though he wasn't a believer, he still felt personally attacked, so he shouted back, "You foul necromancer who loves sleeping with corpses!" Harvey glared over. Yaxiu refused to back down and glared right back. Then he heard the other man ask in a hushed tone: "How did you know?" "Huh?" The Executioner hadn't pushed Yaxiu into the sea, but those words gave him such a fright that he nearly stumbled three steps backward into the water.