Chapter 163
Chapter 163: Upgrade, Great Love for Time!
After reading the God-Slaying Spear's information, Jiang Nan's eyelids twitched violently.
This overwhelming aura of Grand Love washing over him...
It was absolutely the Ancestral Dragon Emperor's doing again!
‘As long as you burn someone else's soul, you can stack True Damage infinitely?’
Jiang Nan lowered his head, glancing at the Human Sovereign Lantern hanging at his waist.
At this very moment.
The Human Sovereign Lantern was crammed full of several hundred high-quality Dried-Corpse Scholars and sour old Confucian masters, freshly restocked from the Scholar's Dojo.
They were currently packed together in one designated area, wailing miserably.
Human Sovereign Lantern (Super Soul Battery) + God-Slaying Spear (True Damage energy glutton)!
What an absolutely heaven-made capitalist's combo set!
Jiang Nan tightened his grip around the God-Slaying Spear and casually twirled a spear flourish.
‘It seems these stubborn old fossils aren't just good for working the sewing machines as fertilizer—they've now got a brand new job title: 【Fuel】.’
He stood up. ‘It's time to make a trip inside the Human Sovereign Lantern.’
With a single thought, he dissolved together with the Human Sovereign Lantern into black smoke and vanished.
Meanwhile, inside the Human Sovereign Lantern's Small World.
The space had already been divided by Jiang Nan into 3 completely distinct zones.
The 1st zone was the Confinement Cell.
Inside a dim and empty room, Tiffany was squatting in a humiliating duck-sit on the floor.
She trembled with rage as she felt the strange sensations coursing through her body.
She clenched her fists. "That damned brute!"
"That crude savage! Not even the slightest bit of tenderness!"
"Just wait until my great Evil God master senses something is wrong and rescues me from this wretched lantern!"
"I'll make sure you beg for life and beg for death!"
However, Tiffany, lost in her fantasies, had no idea she had long since become a caged bird with no hope of escape.
A soul-body in front of a Confinement Cell expert like Jiang Nan was basically helpless.
And the Evil God was like a powerless husband who could only watch on uselessly.
At this very moment, Jiang Nan was concealed in the void above the Confinement Cell, gazing down at her.
Hearing the woman's curses, the corner of his mouth curved slightly upward.
‘Heh, beg for life and beg for death, you say?’
‘Very well...’
The Dragon Nature he had been suppressing for so long suddenly felt like it was slipping out of control.
In the next instant, Jiang Nan's figure descended abruptly into the Confinement Cell!
Before Tiffany could even scream, Jiang Nan's mind stirred with a single thought.
He directly consumed a full 10,000 Grand Love Points and activated 【Grand Love Upon the Future】!
Immediately after, sounds emerged from the Confinement Cell—Tiffany's voice.
"Wh-what, you again!?"
"Stay back! I'm warning you, I serve the Evil God!"
"No! Don't, wuuuuuuu!"
At first, it was her haughty curses and defiant resistance.
But it quickly turned into screaming, followed by pitiful pleading...
Until at last, complete silence, leaving only...
The sound of thrusting...
In the real world, barely half a minute had passed.
But inside the Confinement Cell, a full 12 solid hours had ground by.
Hum!
Jiang Nan floated refreshed back up into the void.
Down on the Confinement Cell floor below.
All that remained was Tiffany, collapsed on the ground, eyes glassy and unfocused.
‘Warm-up complete. Time to get down to real business.’
Jiang Nan straightened his hem and shifted his gaze toward the other 2 zones inside the Human Sovereign Lantern.
The 2nd zone was the Grand Love Production Hall, buzzing with feverish activity.
Head Nurse Charlotte led the group, her sewing machine pedal pumping so furiously it was throwing off sparks!
Chief of Orthopedics Sean, Warden Ye Desheng, Gambling Hero Chen Daozi, Prison Guard Shi Zhongshan!
All of them were working with desperate intensity—one could even say cutthroat competition!
Because earlier they had watched Tiffany inexplicably vanish.
And she still hadn't come back!
The terror of the unknown was the most frightening thing of all!
They were terrified that if they slowed down even one second, they would end up disappearing just like Tiffany, vanishing without a trace.
So even though their souls were already exhausted to the point of near-collapse—
They ground their teeth and stamped on those pedals with everything they had, frantically generating value for Jiang Nan!
But among this trembling, shuddering crowd, Head Nurse Charlotte was an outlier!
Not only was she without a shred of fear, she actually wore a flush of unhealthy rosy excitement on her face.
She was pumping the sewing machine so fast it blurred into an afterimage, humming an off-key little tune to herself.
Just waiting for Jiang Nan to appear and praise her.
Jiang Nan, watching all of this from the void, gave a nod.
‘Not bad.’
Jiang Nan applauded wildly in his heart. ‘Especially the Head Nurse—truly a heaven-chosen livestock saint physique of the hospital world.’
‘That stress tolerance, that work ethic, that sheer durability—!’
‘Once the factory expands later, I'll have to set up a proper boss's office and call her in for some serious 'promoting'!’
Jiang Nan quietly sketched out a grand future in his heart for Charlotte.
Then his gaze drifted to the corner...
There was also a gaunt, rail-thin woman.
Her name was Tian Xiaoe, Nan Nan's mother.
The woman who had once endured inhuman torment at Seattle Mercy Hospital.
Who had ultimately tried to use her own death in front of Jiang Nan to coerce her daughter into getting on board.
Only to be grabbed by him and tossed straight into the Grand Love Factory.
Right now, she had clearly reached the end of her rope.
Because of her long, forced ordeal at that hellish hospital—selling herself against her will—she had even become dependent on a certain lethal forbidden substance.
Her frail, wrecked soul simply could not sustain her on this assembly line any longer.
Tian Xiaoe's consciousness had begun to blur, her legs shaking uncontrollably.
Beside her, Chen Daozi, working his own sewing machine, glanced over and couldn't bear to look.
He recognized this woman.
In the man-eating pit that was Seattle Mercy Hospital, ordinary people without any awakened abilities could only become playthings.
As head of the Card Players' Association, watching someone be ground into this state—
Chen Daozi felt a swell of guilt.
Although his association had many people and he couldn't watch over everyone.
But as the head of a faction, as a fellow compatriot—
He bore an inescapable responsibility.
"No!"
Chen Daozi steeled himself. "Hey, friend! I'm young and strong!"
"Can you add her half of the workload to me?"
"I'll take it—she really can't go on!"
Dead silence filled the void above. No response whatsoever.
Tian Xiaoe heard the voice and painfully turned her head.
"Thank you, but there's no need. This kind of suffering..."
"I'll bear it myself..."
"It's not much different now anyway..."
Yet despite those words, her thin, weak legs could no longer push the pedal at all.
Just then, Shi Zhongshan, drenched in sweat at the neighboring machine, also stopped.
He let out a sigh and spoke up.
"Girl, stop pushing yourself. Just accept the help."
A man at his age couldn't bear to watch this kind of thing.
Though Shi Zhongshan himself was already so exhausted he was nearly falling apart.
But the sense of responsibility that had been forged into his bones as a people's police officer still remained.
"Count me in too! Pile on the work!"
"I'll share some of the load for her!"
"Count me in too!"
From another sewing machine, Warden Ye Desheng called out alongside him.
If a gambler and a near-retirement old prison guard were willing to step up—
What kind of face would a warden like him have to hide behind them?
As for Head Nurse Charlotte and the Chief of Orthopedics on the other side of the assembly line—
They showed absolutely no reaction to this touching display of human virtue.
In their eyes, only the boss's KPI mattered. What did these people's lives and deaths have to do with them?
In fact, the speed of their pedaling increased by a few more notches.
And at this moment, Jiang Nan in the void above quietly watched this scene unfold.
‘Very good.’
Jiang Nan felt genuinely gratified.
‘No abandonment, no giving up, mutual aid and support—truly worthy of the 'Grand Love' name this factory bears!’
But touching as it was, the rules couldn't be broken.
【Detected that laborer 'Tian Xiaoe' is in a critically injured state. Consume 1,000 Grand Love Points to repair?】
‘Repair!’
With a single thought, Jiang Nan directly spent 1,000 Grand Love Points!
In an instant, a beam of red light descended from above, enveloping Tian Xiaoe below!
"Ahh~!"
Tian Xiaoe felt a surge of vitality pour into the deepest part of her soul, and she let out a soft cry.
The toxins left behind by the forbidden substance were purged in an instant.
Her emaciated body began to fill out and bloom.
The humiliating scars and hidden ailments were smoothed away entirely!
The light dispersed, and Tian Xiaoe stared at her own hands in disbelief.
Not only had she been restored to full condition—
Her entire being had been brought back to a state of health and striking beauty!
"This... this is..."
Tian Xiaoe was moved to tears, overcome with emotion.
She understood immediately who had saved her.
It was that lofty, aloof boss above.
The benefactor who had shown no mercy, yet was willing to take in her daughter.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Tian Xiaoe immediately pressed her forehead to the floor and kowtowed toward the void.
Then, feeling the abundant strength flooding through her body—
She turned around and planted one foot on the sewing machine pedal.
Clack clack clack clack clack!
The machine was stamped into a shower of sparks by her, running more than 10 times faster than before!
The 3 people watching nearby were left slack-jawed, then exchanged glances and smiled, all breathing a collective sigh of relief.
It seemed the boss who had captured them—
Though his methods were ruthless, he was not a completely cold-blooded, heartless monster.
However, Jiang Nan in the void above, watching Tian Xiaoe below, rubbed his chin.
‘These people are still too young.’
Jiang Nan muttered internally. ‘Compared to that kind of haphazard redistribution of workload…’
‘Which would easily throw off the factory's attendance rules and cause inefficient, disorganized requests...’
‘I simply spend a little energy to fix the broken machine at the root.’
‘Isn't that far more in line with the Grand Love Factory's sustainable development strategy?’
Having savored this moving little drama of workplace mutual assistance, Jiang Nan retracted his smile and turned around.
Hands clasped behind his back, he gazed down at the Human Sovereign Lantern's final zone.
There, the newly captured fresh-batch laborers had just been brought in.
Before that, Jiang Nan had checked the Human Sovereign Lantern's panel to confirm the current state of his assets.
【Human Sovereign Lantern】
【Type】: Cursed Instrument
【Grade】: S (Conditions for next grade upgrade: 500,000 Grand Love Points, plus imprisonment of 20 S-Grade or above powerful 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
Current Number of Imprisoned Souls: 555
Current Number of S-Grade and Above Powerful Souls: 5
【Current Grand Love Point Balance】: 880,000
‘880,000.’
Jiang Nan mentally ran through the numbers.
This was the final figure after completely sweeping through the Scholar's Dojo and accounting for the labor output of the current occupants, minus the cost of just repairing the machine.
One could say that in order to spread Grand Love across the land—
He had transformed himself into an emotionless lawnmower and reaped a bountiful harvest.
‘500,000 Grand Love Points is enough, but to reach the 20 S-Grade powerful souls needed for the upgrade, I'm still short by a full 15.’
Jiang Nan's brow arched.
S-Grade anomalies were rare and hard to come by, but during his earlier sweep, he had discovered a loophole.
These scholars and masters could transfer their own Righteous Aura onto others.
Using it to forcibly elevate someone else's grade!
‘Isn't this basically a natural S-Grade fraud assembly line?’
Jiang Nan let out a cold laugh. ‘It seems no matter what era you're in, watered-down goods will always have a market.’
Without any hesitation, Jiang Nan dropped his concealment and descended before them.
The 500-plus scholars and masters inside the zone immediately fell to their knees the moment they saw him.
【You have 5 minutes.】
Jiang Nan tossed a note in front of the nearest master.
【No matter what method you use, immediately use your Righteous Aura to assemble 15 S-Grade powerful souls for me.】
【After 5 minutes, if the number falls short—】
【One short, and I'll feed every last one of you to the dogs.】
Those words sent the scholars and masters instantly into soul-scattering terror!
After learning Jiang Nan was the Dragon God, they had already been frightened out of their wits.
Now they didn't have an ounce of resistance left in them.
"Dragon God Sir, please spare us! Spare us!"
"We'll do it! We'll assemble them right now!"
One of the older-looking masters took the lead and kowtowed.
"Dragon God Sir, please be clear-eyed about this!"
"We were all deceived by that old dog Scholar Chun, and those 2 charlatans Daoist Hou and Daoist Lu!"
"That's the only reason we dared to disrespect you and the Ancestral Dragon Emperor!"
Once someone took the lead, the other scholars immediately swung around and joined in the blame-shifting, frantically passing the buck.
"Right, right! It was all because of that old dog Chun and those 2 sorcerers!"
"When the Burning of Books and Burial of Scholars happened, those 3 wretches ran faster than anyone!"
"It was innocent students like us who got buried alive!"
"If it weren't for the Ancestral Dragon Emperor's later wisdom, sending men to drag all 3 of them back and burn them again—"
"Those 3 old scoundrels would probably still be somewhere living it up!"
"Our loyalty to you and the Ancestral Dragon Emperor is 100 parts sincere and 1,000 parts reverent!"
"Please see the truth, Sir!"
Watching the anomalies below sling curses at the masters they had been fighting for just a moment ago without the slightest hesitation—
A flash of revulsion crossed Jiang Nan's eyes.
Nothing but weathervanes.
Mouths full of benevolence and righteousness, yet not a single shred of backbone in their very bones.
This kind of person was born to be rare livestock.
Jiang Nan let out a cold snort and stamped them all with the label 【Reserve Fuel】.
These pieces of garbage were only fit to serve as labor and expendables.
"Stop wasting words. Get moving!"
Jiang Nan said impatiently.
"Yes, yes! Right away!"
The efficiency of these scholars was surprisingly high.
Several hundred people instantly began channeling their Righteous Aura between each other.
Beams of green light threaded through the crowd, ultimately converging entirely onto over a dozen of the old masters.
Accompanied by a string of breakthrough sounds.
In barely under 3 minutes, 16 auras barely reaching S-Grade erupted from within the crowd!
They had even overdelivered out of caution, squeezing out 1 extra!
Ding!
Simultaneously, the Human Sovereign Lantern began alerting Jiang Nan that the upgrade conditions had been met.
【Detected that the number of S-Grade powerful souls imprisoned in the Human Sovereign Lantern has reached the threshold (21/20)!】
【Grand Love Point balance meets upgrade conditions!】
‘Very good.’
Jiang Nan nodded.
Cold as he was, even he couldn't mask the satisfaction the upgrade brought him.
He glanced at the 16 watered-down S-Grades below and left behind a note.
【Congratulations. You've just earned yourselves a path to survival.】
Upon hearing their pardon, every single master and scholar below wept openly and kowtowed.
"Thank you for your mercy, Dragon God Sir!"
"Dragon God Sir is merciful!!"
However, Jiang Nan had no time to deal with them.
He turned away, directing his full attention to the panel before him.
"Upgrade the Human Sovereign Lantern immediately!"
【Ding! Consumed 500,000 Grand Love Points! Human Sovereign Lantern has successfully broken through from S-Grade to S+-Grade!】
In an instant! The Human Sovereign Lantern began to undergo earth-shattering transformation, its inner light shifting from its original gold!
Becoming a pure, sacred white!
And combined with that black aura that made one instinctively want to kneel in reverence—
It delighted Jiang Nan even more!
【Human Sovereign Lantern (S+)】
【Current Grand Love Point Balance: 380,000】
【Space Expansion】: Small World volume increased to 1,000 cubic meters!
【Kill Line Elevated】: Raised from 35% to 40%!
【Detected old function upgraded!】
【Grand Love Upon the Future has officially evolved to Grand Love Upon Time!】
【New Function: Grand Love Upon Time】
Description: You may consume Grand Love Points to freely accelerate or decelerate the flow of time within the Human Sovereign Lantern's Small World!
True mastery over the passage of time!
【Deceleration Exchange Rate】: 10,000 Grand Love Points = 1 day inside the Small World = 1 minute in the outside world.
【Acceleration Exchange Rate】: 20,000 Grand Love Points = 1 day inside the Small World = 1 minute in the outside world.
‘Time acceleration?!’
Upon seeing this new function, even Jiang Nan's deadpan expressionless face finally couldn't hold back a grin.
This was practically the ultimate divine technique tailor-made for a capitalist like him!
Though the price of Time Acceleration was a full double that of Time Deceleration—
In Jiang Nan's view, this was completely within the acceptable range of a profitable operation!
Think about it—just activate Time Acceleration and lock several hundred workers inside.
Those laboring livestock would efficiently churn through a full day's work!
Wasn't that 10,000 times better than any black-hearted sweatshop?!
‘With this skill, I can pump out word count and rack up Grand Love Points.’
Jiang Nan's eyes lit up with terrifying brightness.
‘So next...’
‘It's time to properly sort out you lot's employment situation.’
Jiang Nan turned his gaze to 【Purchasable Equipment】.
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 (Unlocked)
Grand Love Production Line (S-Grade): Price 500,000 Grand Love Points/line, produces 5,000 Grand Love Points per hour (Locked)