Chapter 129
Chapter 129: S-Class Emperor Lamp
A massive explosion bloomed 10,000 meters in the sky.
Flames, black smoke, and countless shattered soul fragments scattered in every direction.
Among those fragments were Tiffany's, Chen Daozi's, Ye Desheng's...
And countless innocents who had been devoured by the Fate Slot Machine.
Jiang Nan folded his dragon wings and hovered in midair.
"Go!"
The Sovereign Lantern flew out, releasing countless chains!
【Imprisoned Special-Grade Powerhouse Soul·Tiffany!】
【Imprisoned S-Grade Powerhouse Soul·Chen Daozi!】
【Imprisoned S-Grade Powerhouse Soul·Ye Desheng!】
【Upgrade Requirements Met!】
【Consume 50,000 Grand Love Points to upgrade?】
The scattered remnant souls across the sky were pulled into the lantern one by one.
Jiang Nan lowered his head and glanced at the wreckage of the Fate Slot Machine, which was wrapped in Tribulation Flame and plummeting toward the ground.
He shook his head slightly.
This S+-Grade Cursed Object had been completely bonded to Christopher.
Bound together in fortune, bound together in ruin.
With the fall of its master, it too could not escape being incinerated by the Tribulation Flame.
Also burned away by the Tribulation Flame was the oppressive black mist that had shrouded Seattle Mercy Hospital year-round.
Sunlight, for the first time in many years, finally shone upon this cursed land again.
At the same time, terrified wails echoed from within the hospital.
Those wandering Supervisors, the moment the Fate Slot Machine collapsed, began to disintegrate.
One after another, they dissolved into black smoke and vanished.
The humans who had survived by hiding were first stunned, then...
They charged madly toward the exits.
They burst through the hospital's front doors, fell to their knees in the plaza, tilted their heads back, and let the sunlight sting their eyes.
Some wept.
Some laughed.
Some pressed their faces to the ground and kissed the long-missed earth.
It was over.
This nightmare, which had lasted for who knew how many years, was finally over.
Jiang Nan beat his wings and descended.
The dark-gold dragon wings traced a streak of light through the air as he landed in the plaza before the hospital entrance.
The armor dissolved into specks of light and scattered, revealing his figure.
Guo Shuai was the first to rush forward.
"Boss!!!"
He was so excited he could barely string words together.
"Incredible!!! That was absolutely incredible!!!"
"One punch sent that monster from underground up to the sky! One shot blew him into fireworks! Is that something a human being can actually do?!"
Quanquan mimicked him, pumping her tiny fists and bouncing up and down.
"Big Bro's the coolest!!! Big Bro is unrivaled under heaven!!!"
Piano, on the other hand, went weak at the knees and dropped straight to the ground, pressing her hands together in prayer.
She was endlessly grateful she had lost herself to Jiang Nan.
'Master...Master truly is a god...'
'For me, Piano Cassone, to serve as Master's dog in this lifetime—this must be fortune accumulated across eight lifetimes...'
Guan Ming steadied Ye Yilin as they stood a little further away.
Watching the figure surrounded by the crowd, his gaze was complicated.
He had once been a detective—a guardian of order.
But in this moment, he only wanted to say...
‘Thank goodness. This monster is on our side.’
Han Fei stepped out from the crowd.
She stood before Jiang Nan and was silent for a few seconds.
Then.
She bowed deeply.
"Thank you."
Her voice was quiet, but firm.
"Thank you...for saving Yilin."
Jiang Nan looked at her.
This middle-aged woman with half-white hair had no tears in her eyes right now—only relief.
"No need."
He spoke, his voice indifferent.
"It was nothing."
Han Fei straightened up and smiled.
"Either way, I owe you a life."
"If there's ever a use for me in the future, just say the word."
Jiang Nan gave a nod, accepting that.
Then.
Without another glance at the others, his gaze fell back to the Sovereign Lantern in his hand.
‘Upgrade.’
He thought inwardly.
5 souls of S-Grade and above powerhouses—they were finally all gathered.
The instant the thought fell, the Sovereign Lantern erupted with boundless black aura!
Pure, sacred black!
Clearly the deepest darkness, yet it stirred no fear in anyone who saw it—only the urge to kneel in reverence.
At the same time, a sound like heavenly music drifted out from within the lantern—prayer-like chants.
Called prayers, but listening closely...
It sounded more like livestock wailing in anguish.
"......"
The corner of Jiang Nan's mouth twitched slightly.
The designer of this wretched lantern was absolutely a degenerate.
The black aura gradually receded, and the Sovereign Lantern's new form finally revealed itself.
Its overall silhouette was far more imposing than before, with dark-gold tracery emerging along its body.
Even the pressure it exuded...
Was stronger by more than one entire tier compared to before.
Sovereign Lantern (S-Grade)
【Consumed 50,000 Grand Love Points! Sovereign Lantern successfully upgraded from A-Grade to S-Grade!】
【Current Grand Love Points Balance: 258,000】
【New Function Unlocked: Grand Love Upon Industry!】
Jiang Nan's thoughts stirred, and the detailed information on the new function surfaced in his mind.
【Grand Love Upon Industry】: Tend the sheep well before shearing!
You may purchase machinery and have the imprisoned souls inside the Sovereign Lantern's Small World labor and build, continuously producing Grand Love Points.
【Available Machinery】
Grand Love Sewing Machine (B-Grade): Price 5,000 Grand Love Points/unit, produces 50 Grand Love Points per hour
Grand Love Loom (A-Grade): Price 50,000 Grand Love Points/unit, produces 500 Grand Love Points per hour (Locked)
Grand Love Production Line (S-Grade): Price 500,000 Grand Love Points/line, produces 5,000 Grand Love Points per hour (Locked)
【Other Functions】: Devouring livestock-type Cursed Objects to obtain corresponding machinery……
"Just as I expected—this wretched lantern finally has a sustainable development function."
Jiang Nan stared at the panel.
"Give me 20 units! Stock them up in advance. I'll need to catch even more high-quality livestock to work them later."
【Ding! Consumed 100,000 Grand Love Points. Successfully purchased 20 Grand Love Sewing Machines!】
【Auto-deploying to the Sovereign Lantern's Small World……】
Jiang Nan rubbed his chin, mulling it over.
The current sole weak point was that the Small World still had no time acceleration function.
Grinding Grand Love Points at normal time flow was still far too inefficient.
He pulled up the Sovereign Lantern's detailed panel again:
【Sovereign Lantern】
【Type】: Cursed Object
【Grade】: S-Grade (Next grade upgrade requirements: 500,000 Grand Love Points, plus imprisoning 20 S-Grade powerhouse souls)
【Functions】: Slaying and Imprisoning Souls, Grand Love Upon the Body, Grand Love Upon the Future, Grand Love Upon Industry.
Current Kill Line: 35%
Current Small World Size: 500 cubic meters
Imprisoned Soul Count: 6
Charlotte·Severely Injured
Tiffany·Near Death
Shi Zhongshan·Near Death
Chen Daozi·Near Death
Ye Desheng·Near Death
Chief of Orthopedics·Severely Injured
【High-quality laborers detected in combat-damaged state. Consume 100,000 Grand Love Points for full restoration?】
"Restore!"
Jiang Nan didn't hesitate for a moment.
What a joke—these were all future banknote printers. Who was going to be his livestock if he didn't fix them up?
Meanwhile, inside the Sovereign Lantern's Small World.
It was a strange grey space with red light suffusing the air.
As 100,000 Grand Love Points poured in.
The 6 remnant souls that had been sprawled haphazardly across the ground began to reconstruct at a visible pace.
The first to recover was Charlotte.
The burned skin across her body shed away layer by layer, and fresh, fair skin grew back in its place.
A full head of pink hair also regrew down to her waist.
On the other side, Tiffany, Chen Daozi, and Ye Desheng—who had been left with nothing but their heads—had bodies that coalesced out of thin air.
More interestingly, except for Charlotte, who retained her nurse uniform from life—because she was the primary soul—Charlotte
—the forms that materialized on the rest were all black-and-white striped prison uniforms.
On the chest of the uniform, bold characters were emblazoned in plain sight: 【Grand Love Alliance of Heaven and Earth】
Chief of Orthopedics Sean and Prison Guard Shi Zhongshan received the same wardrobe treatment.
The current Director Sean, shed of his monstrous shell, had reverted to the appearance of a serene white-haired old man.
Director Sean (Chief of Orthopedics)
The souls awakened one by one.
Here, there was no distinction between the living and the supernatural—all were equal, all were prisoners.
"Where is this place?"
Shi Zhongshan patted his perfectly intact body, completely bewildered.
Shi Zhongshan
"Hey? Officer, you're here too? Are we...in the underworld?"
Chen Daozi flexed his newly grown limbs, stepped forward, clapped Shi Zhongshan on the shoulder, and smiled bitterly.
"Not sure."
"But...compared to the underworld, I'd say this looks more like a prison."
He reached out and pointed not far ahead.
There, 20 sewing machines were arranged in a row, as if beckoning to them.
"Damn Joker! Damn Thousand-Face Demon Lord!!!"
A hysterical shriek suddenly erupted nearby.
Tiffany stared down at the prison uniform on her body and stamped her foot in fury.
"Once I return to my Evil God's side, I'll make you miserable crawling insects pay for this!"
Even reduced to a single wisp of soul, Arashin-kai's 7th Seat remained immersed in her own delusions.
Director Sean paid no mind to the raving Tiffany and walked up to Charlotte.
"Head Nurse Charlotte, have you seen Director Christopher?"
Charlotte shook her head. "No, Director Sean."
"I'm not clear on what happened either."
"No need to look for him. Christopher has been reduced to ash."
A voice cut into their exchange.
Ye Desheng, wearing his prison uniform, walked over.
As the former vessel of the Thousand-Face Demon Lord, his soul had retained the most intact memories when it was shattered.
"He was personally wiped out by the Revolver God."
"We are currently inside that man's Cursed Object."
"He collected us in here."
"The Director...is dead?"
Director Sean froze for a moment, then lowered his head in brief contemplation and let out a relieved smile.
"So be it."
"For a demon like him, consumed entirely by his own desires, this was the end he deserved."
Charlotte, upon hearing it was the Revolver God, felt her heart skip a violent beat.
‘It's him!’
‘That man saved her!’
Her face flushed red at that instant. She lowered her head and twisted her fingers together, trying to hide her racing heart.
Ye Desheng looked around at the bunch of former "colleagues" whose faces he had once found repulsive, and couldn't help his eye twitching.
"I'm a little curious...weren't you all rational-less supernatural entities before?"
"Why do you all look...completely normal now?"
Director Sean and Charlotte exchanged a glance.
"I haven't the faintest idea myself."
Sean shook his head. "After becoming a supernatural entity, I only had a faint sliver of awareness—my body was entirely driven by some kind of instinct."
"There's actually nothing that curious about it. Supernatural entities were human once too."
Charlotte explained softly. Her domain had given her closer access to the essence of power than most.
"The body is merely a vessel—the soul is the root."
"During the time we spent as supernatural entities, it wasn't that our souls were damaged—it was that they were contaminated by something indescribable..."
"Polluted."
"It was as if the malice in a person's heart had been amplified ten thousand times, completely swallowing reason."
She looked around. "But now, our souls have been forcibly purified and reforged by a far greater power."
"That pollution was stripped away, which is why we've recovered our pre-death awareness."
Ye Desheng nodded in sudden understanding.
When he had been body-seized by the Thousand-Face Demon Lord, he had indeed experienced something similar—an overwhelming sense of being drowned in endless malice.
Right at that moment...
"Silence."
A vast, resonant voice rang out across the entire Small World!
It shook every soul into a turbulent tremor, causing them all to clutch their ears in pain!
"Everyone, within 1 minute!"
"Get to your stations and start working the sewing machines!"
Chen Daozi, a man who had spent his life navigating casinos, was not lacking in social awareness.
One listen to that killing-intent-laced tone was all it took. Without another word, he grabbed Shi Zhongshan and bolted toward the sewing machines.
"Officer, you know how to use these things? You're a prison guard—you've watched inmates work them every day. Teach me?"
"Relax, leave it to me."
Shi Zhongshan was also a man who knew which way the wind blew.
He immediately sat down at a machine and began passing on his sewing expertise to Chen Daozi.
Charlotte heard the voice, and her eyes lit up in an instant.
‘It's him!’
An infatuated smile spread across her face involuntarily as she willingly sat down at the very first sewing machine.
Tap tap tap—she worked the pedal.
Director Sean and Ye Desheng exchanged a look, smiling helplessly.
Since they had landed in that jinx's hands, if they didn't want to be obliterated, they had no choice but to be obedient livestock.
The 2 of them found empty seats and sat down.
Only Tiffany remained standing where she was, her face a picture of disbelief.
"What are you?!" she shrieked into the void. "How dare you make me work a sewing machine?!"
"Don't even dream of it! I am the 7th Seat of the Arashin-kai!"
"A servant of the great Evil God! How could I possibly do this kind of lowly work alongside these commoners?!"
The others seated at their sewing machines stared at her as if watching a fool.
"This idiot probably still thinks the Evil God came to save her."
Ye Desheng muttered while working the pedal.
"Speaking of which, what exactly is an Evil God?"
Director Sean asked with curiosity, deftly threading a garment while he worked.
Ye Desheng lowered his voice. "I caught a glimpse from Christopher's memories."
"The Evil Gods are not beings native to our Savage Realm—they come from higher-dimensional domains."
"They are terrifying entities that transcend Special-Grade."
"They descended upon this world for one purpose: to harvest the Abilities and souls of Sequence-Type users..."
"Truly frightening creatures."
Sean sighed and turned to look at Charlotte. "What do you think, Charlotte?"
But Charlotte wasn't paying him any attention at all.
Her hands were flying, her feet working the pedal so fast they left afterimages!
In this moment, only one thought occupied her mind.
‘I have to work hard at this machine!’
‘If I work fast enough and produce enough value, he'll definitely come see me!’
‘When that happens, I'll confess my feelings to him again for certain!’
Director Sean's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
‘True to her role as Head Nurse. This is quite simply a livestock saint's physique of the rarest kind—she's fallen into the role far too quickly!’
……
Outside the Small World.
Jiang Nan sensed the situation inside, and his brow furrowed slightly.
That creature named Tiffany was still chattering away in her impotent rage.
Under normal circumstances, Jiang Nan could simply crush her with a slap.
But having just activated the Dragon God Imperial Armor—
The side effect known as Dragon Nature was running rampant inside him, nearly impossible to suppress.
‘Man!’
‘Since you love thinking so highly of yourself...’
Jiang Nan's gaze turned cold.
With a single thought, he carved out a mere 4-cubic-meter space from the edge of the 500-cubic-meter Small World and turned it into a...
Confinement Cell!
Then, with another thought, he forcibly dragged Tiffany's soul inside.
Immediately after, Jiang Nan consumed 10,000 Grand Love Points and activated Grand Love Upon the Future!
Target: Confinement Cell!
The scene shifted.
Tiffany only felt a flash before her eyes.
"Who are you?! Where is my Evil God?!"
Catching sight of this unfamiliar man before her, she screamed in terror.
Tiffany's eyes went wide as she instinctively backed away.
But the space was too small—her back hit the wall almost immediately.
"Where is this place?!"
"Let me out! I am the 7th Seat of the Arashin-kai!"
"Do you know what happens to those who cross me?!"
The man said nothing.
He simply extended his hand.
Tiffany wanted to retreat further but had nowhere left to go.
That hand.
Pressed down on top of her head.
Then, Tiffany's eyes went wide.
‘What monstrous size is that?!’
The next second.
A sticky note was pressed onto her face.
【I'm in a very bad mood right now.】
Tiffany's pupils contracted sharply.
"You...what are you going to do?!"
"I am a servant of the Evil God!"
"You can't...mmmph mmmph mmmph!"