Chapter 122: Purgatory on Earth
The blow left Ji Ke’s vision blurry. She spat out blood and collapsed onto the floor.
She was a pathetic sight.
[Remember, do as I say. Don’t think about anything else right now. Just stay alive.]
The System’s grave, calm voice arrived along with a powerful surge of energy.
Ji Ke was trembling in agony. She wanted to scream; she wanted to go mad.
Everything she had dreamed of—why was it turning out like this?
[Tell them you have an otherworldly System they’ve never seen before. Tell them your life is linked to Chi Wan’s—if you die, she dies!]
[Be confident. Be arrogant and ruthless. Given their knowledge and the bizarre nature of this star system, they will seriously consider the credibility of that statement.]
The ship Chi Wan boarded traveled through several star systems.
The journey took a full ten days.
After all the other passengers had disembarked, the manager who had brought her aboard approached her.
“There are only two stops left before this ship begins its return journey. Have you decided which system you want to get off at?”
“Which system is the most remote? Where do the fewest people go?”
“That would be the next stop, the ELN Star System.”
“Then I’ll get off at the next stop. Thank you.”
Chi Wan, of course, knew nothing about the ELN System.
Communication between star systems was limited due to vast differences in culture, environment, and customs, as well as the total coverage of pollution.
Furthermore, interstellar travel permits were extremely difficult to obtain, so the systems didn’t exactly educate their citizens on other systems.
Even so, Chi Wan had a general idea of what ELN would be like.
She assumed it wouldn’t be too different from the ALP System.
But when she stepped off the ship, Chi Wan was completely stunned.
The ELN System had no space station; ships flew directly to the planet’s aeronautical station.
She surveyed the desolate, empty station, clutching her sleeves nervously as she walked out.
Passing through the old, yellowed corridors, she looked up and froze in her tracks.
Everything she saw looked like a purgatory on earth—ruins, scorched earth, shapeless buildings, and pitch-black clouds hovering over dark soil.
Black. A darkness that never saw the sun.
Looking at it, it didn’t seem like a world or a city; it looked like a dead land abandoned by the gods.
Chi Wan swallowed.
She finally understood why the manager had called ELN the most remote.
Who would ever come to a place like this?
Since I’m here, I’ll make the best of it. Pulling her hood lower, Chi Wan walked forward with a firm step.
She stepped over the white bones littering the ruined path. Before long, she reached the station exit. The black-yellow security walls were draped with human skeletons that hadn’t fully dried. Chi Wan looked up and met a gray, terrified pupil.
It was a head currently being gnawed by maggots. A black vein suspended a single eyeball that stared directly at her. There was a massive black hole in the head, crawling with flies and insects. The brain matter had long since dried, leaving only an unidentifiable mixture of black, yellow, and red.
Chi Wan furrowed her brow and looked away, her stomach churning. Beneath her black cloak, her hand gripped a dagger.
She continued forward.
In the security booth at the exit sat a thin, hunched old man.
Hearing Chi Wan’s footsteps, he cast a dull, lifeless glance her way.
But when he caught a glimpse of the fair skin beneath the hood, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.
No one here kept skin like that. An outsider, then.
He shook his head and looked away without a word.
Noticing his expression, Chi Wan stopped.
“Hello. I wanted to ask where the city center is.”
She needed to find a place to stay. She had brought some interstellar currency—star stones—so her funds were sufficient.
The old man remained silent for a moment before rasping in a voice like rusted iron:
“It seems you’re new here. If it’s not too late… leave this place.”
Chi Wan could see for herself that the environment was atrocious, but she asked anyway:
“Thank you for the warning, but I’m curious—why?”
She couldn’t leave.
The ship was gone.
“This is no place for humans… if you can’t leave, find a way to get to the ‘Elysium’.”
He gave Chi Wan a flat look.
“If you have the ability.”
Chi Wan pursed her lips.
From the way he spoke, it seemed there was a way out.
Where there was a way, there was hope.
She said sincerely, “Thank you.”
Chi Wan walked forward.
Passing through the massive wreckage of a black starship, a horde of pollution entities appeared in her sight!
Sensing her approach, they stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her with sinister eyes.
Chi Wan gripped her dagger, preparing for battle.
But these pollution entities didn’t attack her. She could tell they were all high-level entities.
“What are you standing there for? Run!”
Her cloak was violently yanked back!
Chi Wan turned and saw the old man from before. Sensing no malice from him, she immediately followed him. The pollution entities behind them sensed something and gave chase!
The old man pushed Chi Wan into a rust-covered car. The engine roared to life, emitting a foul smell of low-grade gasoline.
It wasn’t fast.
Chi Wan looked back; the pollution entities were about to catch up!
Just as she was considering whether to reveal her energy to strike back, a powerful surge of energy erupted from behind them!
She turned in shock. A lean, dark-skinned middle-aged man with a grim expression ran toward them. He leaped onto the roof of the car with a violent thud, and his rusted blade swung out, cutting off the pollution entities’ path.
Chi Wan felt his mental power. He was at least an SS Sentinel!
The pollution entities stopped. The leader spoke, its vocal cords sounding sticky and its pronunciation slurred, but Chi Wan could just barely make it out:
“Tang Lian… if you want to protect her… you owe us.”
“One barrel of fresh human meat, or our contract is void.”
Recommended Reads
![Enemies on a Narrow Road [Esports]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/enemies-on-a-narrow-road-214x300.jpg)
![[ABO] After Accidental Marking, I Became Everyone’s Darling](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ABO-225x300.jpeg)
