Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Tom’s Diary, Sequence Upgrade
Holding the iron shell in his hand, Lu Ce glanced at it, and a disgusted expression appeared on his mask (￣_￣|||).
That iron plate had some disgusting, leather-like stuff stuck to it. On closer inspection, it was clearly human skin.
Tom had actually welded the entire iron shell to himself!
“Does this even make any sense?” Lu Ce frowned and muttered to himself.
That’s not what Mechanical Ascension is supposed to mean!
No wonder it smelled like human flesh—this guy welded himself to the iron, but a human body’s natural functions definitely reject metal.
Pus, scabs, and fusing with metal... even welding!
This guy had probably been doing this over and over again for who knows how many years in this Demon Asylum!
When it came to self-torture, Lu Ce was just messing around for the fun of it—if you wanted a true top-tier masochist, it had to be our Great Tom!
Hearing the voice in his head, Lu Ce realized he had gotten a little too close to the searing-hot metal.
But it was fine. The whole reason he chose to go in head-on was for Pain Points anyway.
“Tom... your illness really isn’t minor.”
Tom was stepping on his chest, but just from that one sentence, for some reason, Tom suddenly snapped.
“The Great Tom*! Call me *The Great Tom!”
He roared, blue arcs of electricity flashing from the palm of his right hand, as if ready to fight back again.
Boom!
A stomp backed by 30 Strength points crushed Tom’s shoulder, pinning his body to the pile of steel wreckage.
【Chosen of Agony, Pain Points +1!】
The searing metal and razor-sharp edges continued to tear into Lu Ce’s flesh, but he didn’t care. These weren’t fatal wounds—he couldn’t give the guy a chance to turn the tables.
*Crack!*
The iron plate over the right shoulder was peeled back, revealing the skin underneath.
【Chosen of Agony, Pain Points +1!】
*Crack!*
Half of the iron helmet on the Iron-Skin Robot’s head was torn off, exposing a face so gruesome it’d definitely be censored.
【Chosen of Agony, Pain Points +1!】
Boom!
The tread mechanism of the lower half was shattered, revealing twisted, deformed legs folded in on themselves.
They couldn’t even be called legs anymore—just piles of folded-up flesh.
It was like the ancient foot-binding practice had been applied to the entire lower body and shoved into the tracks.
【Chosen of Agony, Pain Points +2!】
Lu Ce stood atop the massive pile of metal wreckage, raining down punches and kicks on Tom, dismantling him limb by limb, ignoring his own injuries to smash through his opponent’s defense.
By the end, Lu Ce had torn off half of Tom’s iron armor with his bare hands, revealing the small, misshapen body within.
His horrific appearance made Jiu Tian, not far away, instinctively lower his head, unable to bear the sight.
But the moment he looked down, he saw Lu Ce’s severed hand—then awkwardly looked back up.
【: Holy sh*t, this is the most messed-up patient? Okay, I admit it.】
【: People really do this to themselves? That’s like giving yourself daily torture.】
【: I’m gonna puke. I can’t take this.】
Everyone was too grossed out to even be amazed by Lu Ce’s last-minute comeback—they just felt sick at the sight of Tom with his shell peeled off.
Lu Ce’s main goal was to destroy all the motors in Tom’s body. Now that it was done, he stopped peeling off more armor.
Honestly, for someone who welded iron armor onto himself, tearing it off was basically the same as flaying.
“Actually, I’ve got a fun fact for you.”
“You could’ve just made a humanoid mech and worn it like a suit.”
Tom’s mouth was wide open, his twisted face showing two eyeball-like things flashing with hatred.
“Die... just die for me...”
“Call me... the Great...”
Tom mumbled vaguely, grabbing an iron spike again, trying one last attack.
Bang!
Just the basic mode of Hell Roar—one shot ended his deformed, wicked life.
Life Energy +4%!
This time, the boost was especially high.
The enemy was dead, and the Pain Points disappeared with him. Lu Ce, exhausted, sat down silently on the pile of steel wreckage.
This game instance really was a bit tough...
If he hadn’t had Hell Roar and decided to go all-in, things might’ve gotten real risky...
Now only Lu Ce and Jiu Tian were still alive among the Completion Players—the rest of the patients were mostly dead, and the other combat-support “veterans” were squatting on the ground like soulless husks.
At that moment, something glowing floated out of Tom’s corpse, like loot popping out after a boss fight.
“What the hell, it’s actually this game-like?”
Lu Ce looked speechlessly at the book floating in front of him and reached out to grab it.
——Tom’s Diary.
Who the hell keeps a diary?
Oh right, he’s a mental patient. That checks out.
Lu Ce didn’t know what the book was for, so he naturally flipped it open.
【Work hard, fight on!】
【I’m gonna make big money! Next year, hot girls at the club!】
【Work hard, fight on!】
He had barely opened it before Lu Ce went full "old man on the subway with a phone" meme.jpg.
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t even a diary—it was some kind of metaphysical item that made a flood of scenes appear in your mind. Scenes from Tom’s past.
Tom was unmotivated, short, and from an average background, but firmly believed in the principles of success culture. He believed he’d strike it rich.
Every day he boasted online, inventing grand backstories for himself, and got a kick out of arguing with strangers and pissing them off while staying untouchable.
Eventually, his parents got old and couldn’t support him anymore, forcing him to find a job.
So he started fantasizing like crazy about getting rich.
He heard short videos made money—so he filmed short videos.
He heard being an influencer made money—so he dreamed of becoming one.
He heard writing novels made money—so he wanted to write novels...
He joined every kind of group chat—startup groups, job-hunting groups—and “worked hard” like a maniac.
“Boss, you’re awesome! Boss, take me with you!”
“Boss must be making millions a year, so humble. When can I be a boss too?”
“Not sleeping tonight, gotta grind!”
“........”
He licked up to the pros and acted like one to belittle the newbies.
He kept up this kind of “hard work” for over a decade, ending up broke and useless.
Tom lost it.
“Work hard, fight on, I’m gonna make big money...”
“I want to control everything, I’m the greatest, the most... I want to... I want to...”
In his endless whispers of despair, a strange power guided him.
He arrived at a prison...
Lu Ce suddenly threw his head back and shook it violently, slamming the book shut.
Something was wrong with this thing!
He had barely skimmed a few pages, yet an overwhelming amount of information had flooded into his mind.
And that information was all frenzied, negative emotions—stuff from the darkest corners of human nature: laziness, stupidity, numbness, perversion...
If he didn’t already have a mask and a naturally chaotic mental state, he might’ve fallen right into it!
This thing’s powerful as hell! Lu Ce thought in shock.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.
【Relevant Sequence item detected.】
【Relevant Sequence item found in inventory.】
【Proceed with Sequence Upgrade?】