Chapter 2092: Chapter 2092

"Could it be that all the souls here are from the same era as me?"

Jenkins asked as he carried the wooden plank, searching for the next place to dig.

The corpses on the table couldn't answer, but the rotting head could:

"Of course not. Take me, for example. I'm definitely not from the same era as you."

"I was just wondering... if that skeleton exists to explain the mandatory rules of this Mysterious Realm, then what is your role here?"

"I am the second path prepared for you."

"You know, I have a way of telling when someone's lying." Latest content publıshed on novel✶fire.net

"...If you see that fire as your civilization, it is the greedy one, openly plundering everything. I, on the other hand, am the villain who helps you, but in doing so, I'm actually flaying you to the bone. Do you understand now?"

"...I think I get it. They're both traps."

Once it was placed on the obsidian table, there was no more room for a fourth. A fierce wind blew, sweeping more souls from the ground into the body.

The third corpse opened its eyes and began to tell its story.

Most of these souls came from a time five or six years before the present day in the material world. In the era of their deaths, the flame of civilization had reached its zenith. Unique steam technology had propelled the 18th Epoch to a moment of unprecedented prosperity.

But it wasn't just the nobles clinking glasses at banquets who supported this prosperity. Every single person of that era, even the destitute in the slums, was a cornerstone of the age.

Unlike the souls within the first two corpses, the third group didn't have stories of deep-seated bitterness or profound tragedy. They were simply born in the slums, lived lives of hardship, and then died. They appeared in obscurity and departed in obscurity, leaving nothing behind but the marks of lifelong toil and malnutrition on their bodies.

As a result, the souls within the third corpse were far more numb than those in the previous two. When Jenkins tentatively suggested using their bones to fuel the fire and their flesh to feed the greedy head, they didn't even object.

"These people were lambs to the slaughter when they were alive, not even realizing they were being slaughtered, nor questioning why. So, they certainly won't resist now, because they don't know how. What are you waiting for? Carve off their flesh for me. No one will condemn you, because they were born this way, and they died this way."

Jenkins nodded, walked over to it, and then violently stomped his foot down, grinding the head back into the earth. Only after Jenkins had walked away did it burrow back out, complaining:

"But I was telling the truth!"

"I refuse to believe that all the corpses here are like that."

Jenkins picked up the plank and began digging again, and he soon found a fourth corpse. But there was no room on the obsidian table. A body could only absorb souls once placed on the table, and both the bones and flesh had to be infused with souls to be of any use. Dissecting an ordinary corpse was pointless; otherwise, Jenkins would have just created some himself.

He tried to pull the first three corpses off the table, but all three were stuck fast, as if their backs had been glued to the surface. He couldn't budge them.

"We want to lie here. It's more comfortable than the mud."

The souls within the corpses said.

"But if you lie here, you'll be butchered by me."

"So what? Even if you butcher us, we don't want to go back to the ground. It's more comfortable here."

They insisted stubbornly.

"You see, these souls are not worth your pity. They understand nothing. You don't need to concern yourself with their thoughts."

The metal skeleton raised its hand again, tracing letters in the air.

"I'm here to save all of this. Even if they understand nothing, I won't let them become sacrifices to light my path forward."

"Do you have a better way, then? The fire is about to go out again."

The head reminded him.

Jenkins shook his head.

"I truly don't see a way out of this Mysterious Realm this time," he admitted, "but since I bear this mission, I must press on. I believe I have to keep the flame of civilization burning. If I'm not prepared to sacrifice myself, and instead just keep letting others sacrifice for me, then what kind of Savior would I be?"

With that, he strode to the bonfire, took a deep breath, and reached out to touch the blue flames.

He closed his eyes and tilted his face to the sky. Beneath it, he was swiftly engulfed by the ethereal blue fire. The pain seared his very soul, making it impossible to even stand, yet he merely trembled a few times.

When he opened his eyes again, the blue flames—fed by his own body and soul—had illuminated the entire world. Sky and earth, shadows and corners, every part of this realm was now brightly lit.

Looking up at the sky, the light revealed the abyss in its entirety. Jenkins could even see a black glint at the very apex of the inverted chasm—the core of the Undying Abyss. Considering the power manifested here had been altered by the Difference Engine, he figured the core would likely take a mechanical form.

The light produced by his self-immolation finally caused the gateway out of the Mysterious Realm to appear at the edge of the tombstones—a shimmering, white, and somewhat unstable portal.

The flames continued to lick at his body and soul. His soul was too powerful to be destroyed, but it felt like being pierced by countless needles. His physical body, however, was charring bit by bit in the fire. The Spirit within him was being consumed at an alarming rate, and he was drawing dangerously close to the threshold that would trigger his Undying Man ability.

He stepped away from the bonfire. The metal skeleton had claimed the fire couldn't be moved, but it followed Jenkins, continuing to burn him.

Enduring the agony, he used his mental power as a form of telekinesis, levitating the two remaining metal cocoons and his backpack to float behind him as he moved toward the gate.

But when all the flames had left the bonfire, leaving the bones within it cold and dark, the seated metal skeleton suddenly stood up.

The rotting head cried out and immediately burrowed into the earth. The three corpses on the obsidian table began to tremble violently, but they could no longer leave.

Still burning, Jenkins raised his head and saw with perfect clarity that the sky was falling. It might be a difficult concept to grasp, but he understood. The power of the Undying Abyss had been activated.