DTTM 44

Chapter 44: Hell Echo

“I found it strange that I didn’t see you when I got out of prison. At first, Aunt Kou kept it a secret, but when I turned on the TV, all I saw was news about you… I thought you were just participating in an e-sports racing competition, how did you end up in a real-life battle royale?”

My phone projected a 3D image of Wei Bao onto the table. I held onto the edge of the table and did stretching exercises while chatting with him and adjusting my breathing.

“I didn’t want this either, isn’t this just pure bad luck?”

“Getting involved with those nobles never brings any good…”

Halfway through the conversation, the screen suddenly shook, and Wei Jiarui barged in, unceremoniously squeezing into Wei Bao’s arms, plopping down, and looking up at me.

“Daddy, when are you coming back to see me?”

I couldn’t help but laugh: “I’ll go back to see you in a few days.”

With Wei Bao released from prison and the next leg of the race to be held in Zengcheng, I plan to go back a few days early for a short get-together with them. After all, if I missed this opportunity, who knew when I’d see them again.

“A few days? How many is a few days?” Wei Jiarui pouted, then pressed on, “Daddy, have you… have you forgotten about me?”

“Isn’t Uncle here with you?” Wei Bao lifted his body up a little and rested his chin on the little fat boy’s head. “Your uncle will always be with you from now on and will never leave again.”

He had to get used to life without me.

Previously, because Wei Bao was in prison, there was no one to take care of the child, so I had to temporarily assume the role of “father.” Now that Wei Bao had been released from prison, Wei Jiarui had a real guardian, so it was no longer appropriate for him to live with me.

Our separation was destined from the start, and his need for me would soon fade as his memories of me diminished.

“How could Daddy forget you?” I stopped what I was doing, poked his round cheek in the projection, and promised, “Next week, I’ll go back next week, okay?”

After hanging up the phone and taking a shower, I opened the dormitory door, heading towards the team’s cafeteria. As I passed a courtyard, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure squatting by the fountain, looking rather suspicious.

“I’ll beat your little head until you’re dizzy and disoriented…”

Curious, I leaned closer to take a look and saw that Yi You pressing a yellow paper in the shape of a person with the word “haters” written on it on the ground with his left hand. He was holding a red slipper in his right hand and hitting it while muttering something.

He was so engrossed in his work that he seemed to be enveloped by a dark aura, completely unaware of my arrival.

They (Yi You and his haters) are constantly thinking of each other and entangled. How can this not be considered a mutual pursuit?

I shook my head and turned to continue walking towards the cafeteria.

It was lunchtime, and the cafeteria was quite full. As soon as I stepped in, everyone stopped talking, except for the screen on the wall, which continued to display the only hot news of the past few days, the Noble Human Hunt Incident.

“This morning, the Penglai police announced a major and heinous case that occurred at a private residence in Qunyu Mountain. The case revealed that the residence had been hosting illegal ‘human hunting’ activities for a long time, with victims including several Wo local residents and a Penglai citizen. The incident has shocked the public and continues to generate international discussion…”

Once I sat down, the conversations around me gradually resumed, though they became quieter.

Ignoring the various stares directed at me, I ordered what I wanted to eat on the electronic screen and then quietly started scrolling through my phone.

Thanks to Wuxi Chen, my name had been trending on social media for the past two days. Even people who didn’t follow GTC competitions now knew I existed.

This was undoubtedly a turning point.

Before this, “Jiang Man” represented only an “atypical success story”—the only Wo in the GTC racing circuit and a highly capable navigator for the Sun God team. But after the “Human Hunt” incident, and with extensive media coverage, “Jiang Man’s” image would be completely elevated from an “idol” to a “spiritual totem”.

My rebellion against the nobility will bring unprecedented hope to the people of Wo.

“According to the police’s investigation, multiple victims were detained, hunted, and seriously injured within the mansion. Among the ‘hunters’ involved were several noblemen from Penglai. On the night of the incident, the Wo Republic Army intervened, preliminary engaging in a firefight with the ‘hunters’ and forcibly removing Wuxi Chen, a Penglai nobleman suspected of orchestrating the operation, from the scene. Wuxi Chen’s current whereabouts are unknown…”

A moment later, the robot delivered my meal. I put down my phone and was about to eat when suddenly, Yi You, looking radiant, sat down opposite me.

“I’m so hungry after exercising, let me see what’s good to eat today…” As soon as he sat down, he picked up the electronic screen and started frantically ordering, “This looks good… this looks good too…”

“In the mansion’s collection room, police discovered an astonishing number of red eyeball specimens in multiple glass jars containing formaldehyde. In a hidden compartment, they also found a pair of blue eyeballs. Police have transferred the relevant biological tissues to the genetic testing department and are expediting the process of identifying the victim…”

“Have you ever tried the caramel pudding here? Let me tell you, it’s super delicious.” Yi You spoke in a deliberately loud voice to drown out the background noise of a news broadcast.

“Really? Then order one for me, I’ll try it.”

“Okay! You definitely won’t be disappointed!”

Perhaps afraid of triggering my psychological trauma, he kept talking to me, but only about trivial things, never mentioning anything related to human hunting.

My position gave me a perfect view of the electronic screen hanging above the cafeteria. Just as the caramel pudding recommended by Yi You was served, the screen, which had been broadcasting the midday news a second ago, suddenly started showing static.

Then, the screen went completely black, and in the center of the black background, three bright red letters slowly appeared—WRA.

The surroundings suddenly seemed to be muted; no one spoke, and even the soft clinking of cutlery disappeared.

“What’s wrong…” Yi You noticed something was wrong and turned around in confusion, his voice trailed off.

Everyone stared at the large screen. Then, the three glaring letters disappeared, and a video began to play.

That was footage of Wuxi Chen.

In the dimly lit room, he sat on a dilapidated yellow wooden chair, his hands tied behind his back, his mouth taped shut, his eyes filled with anger and fear.

A man in a white lab coat, whose image was cut off from the neck up, approached him with a syringe in hand. His voice, altered so that his age and accent were indistinguishable, said: “This is my latest and most potent ‘truth serum,’ called ‘Hell Echo.’ It will activate the hippocampus in the brain while simultaneously cutting off control of the prefrontal cortex.”

“Simply put… it triggers corresponding memories in the brain based on the interrogator’s questions, making the subject feel as if they have returned to the scene in their memory.” After saying that, the man in the white coat raised his hand and tore off the tape from Wuxi Chen’s mouth.

“Let me go! Do you know who I am?” Wuxi Chen struggled, like a cornered beast, only able to try to scare away the enemy with futile roars. “My father is the Prime Minister of Penglai, the head of the Wuxi family. He will come to save me soon! I’m warning you…”

The man in the white coat ignored his shouting and pricked his arm with a needle.

Wuxi Chen trembled: “No, no… Help, save me!”

He struggled more and more fiercely, but as the clear liquid was slowly pushed into his veins, he calmed down after a while, his pupils dilated slightly, and he became dazed.

“Tell me,” the man in the white coat said calmly, pulling out a needle. “Where is this? Where is your prey?”

“My prey…” Wuxi Chen’s eyes, the fear and anger in his eyes were replaced by a hollow ecstasy.

“Shh…” he whispered, trembling with excitement, “There it is… hiding behind the azalea bushes. That little Wo bastard, he’s only eleven or twelve, he runs so fast…”

“Did you catch him?” The man in the white coat stepped aside, giving the “stage” completely to Wuxi Chen.

“Of course!” Wuxi Chen suddenly burst into a piercing laughter. “I’m the best hunter, Father said, I’m just like him in that regard! Bang! One shot, and I broke his leg. Look, he can’t get up, he’s crying… Hahaha, calling for his mother while begging me to let him go… These bastards may be lowly, but they’re perfect for amusement…”

“So noisy, those Wo bastards are so noisy!” His expression instantly turned ferocious, and he spat into the air. “I have to cut off his tongue… It’s been so long since I’ve tasted their tongues, eleven or twelve years old is the most tender age…” As he said this, he licked his lips, as if savoring some delicacy.

“Who is involved?” the doctor in the white coat asked again.

“Who’s involved? Haha… Everyone’s here, can’t you see them?”

“That idiot Pei Yuan’s marksmanship is terrible… He missed a shot and blew that kid’s ear off. It’s hilarious. That kid’s clutching his head and spinning around like that…”

He took a breath, his expression turning resentful: “Lu Zhiping really knows how to play… He’s all sweet talk, but he’s the most ruthless. He said that girl’s leg was beautiful, and he insisted on using a stick to break it inch by inch to hear the sound… Tsk, he made a mess of blood all over the ground and even dirtied my boots.”

“Oh right, and Tang Yu too. I originally thought this down-on-his-luck little nobleman was just a lackey, picking up our prey, but I didn’t expect him to be so shrewd… He prepared his own stimulants, and when he saw those brats were about to die, he gave them a shot to prolong their lives… so we could have more fun with them… Hahaha, he’s a genius, a real genius…”

He then named several other people, all of whom were nobles.

This topic was really inappropriate to discuss at lunchtime. Some people couldn’t stand it, covered their mouths, got up, rushed out of the cafeteria, and vomited outside the door. Many more people were pale-faced, clearly having lost their appetite.

“Demon.” Yi You blurted out as he looked at Wuxi Chen, who was excitedly recounting the hunting process on the big screen.

“And, and Father…” Wuxi Chen suddenly gave the white-coated man in the darkness a fawning smile, as if he mistook him for Wuxi Kunpeng, “You used to play in the basement of the house all the time… killing those maids, those disobedient stablehands … It was boring. Those servants didn’t dare to run away. You tied them up there, and they didn’t even dare to scream…”

“I’m different. I don’t kill the ‘dogs’ at home. I go outside and catch those Wo people! Father, do you know? Those Wo commoners … they can run, they can resist, they can cry and shout to call the police… Hahaha, call the police? How ridiculous!”

The man in the white coat was probably shocked by Wuxi Chen’s beastly behavior, and after a long while, he asked, “In the old house’s collection room in Qunyu Mountain, there are many eyes. Did you kill those people?”

Wuxi Chen was completely immersed in his memories, his tone even carrying a hint of artistic appreciation: “Yes, those are all my spoils… They are my gifts to you!”

“Father, I know you’ve always treasured Yi Yingzhen’s eyes. I’ve secretly looked at them; those eyes, preserved in formaldehyde, were clearly dead, yet still full of life, as if they were staring at someone… You once said that the most perfect enemy is an enemy who never gives up… So I kept killing, kept cutting… I’m searching, to see if I can find another pair of eyes just like Yi Yingzhen’s to offer you…”

“That girl before had decent eyes, so I cut off her head and put it in the highest place… But I’ve found someone even better… Jiang Man, you’ll definitely like Jiang Man’s eyes!” Wuxi Chen’s face flushed an unnatural red. “Father, I will let you know who your son is! It’s me, it’s me, Wuxi Chen!!”

“Enough.”

Just as my stomach started to feel uncomfortable, a second voice suddenly rang out off-screen. Even with the editing, I could still hear the coldness in the voice.

The man in the white coat took a deep breath and stepped forward to seal Wuxi Chen’s mouth with tape again.

The screen went dark; there was no end credits, no closing remarks. On the black screen, only a line of scarlet text that looked like dripping blood, flickered:

[Metaverse public coordinates: N-44-%35-……]

[He’s here. He’s yours now.]

Realizing what this was, I grabbed my phone and rushed to the training room without even saying goodbye to Yi You.

I entered a neuro-navigation pod as quickly as possible and entered the red coordinates into the sky.

Before me stood a huge, aged white door, its surface densely inlaid with thousands of closed relief eyes.

As I gripped the doorknob, in an instant, all those eyes opened simultaneously, revealing vibrant, moist, and even bloodshot red eyeballs.

I slowly opened the door, expecting to see a gloomy dungeon or a bloody dismemberment scene. But there was nothing. What appeared was an endless, vast pure white space. There was no sky, no earth, only blinding white.

At the center of this space stood a huge, black, withered tree. Its branches were twisted, like a giant, charred claw reaching towards the sky.

Wuxi Chen was there. He wasn’t wearing the hunter’s red suit from the video; instead, he was wrapped in a white cloth, tightly bound by countless black thorns growing from the tree, and hanging in mid-air.

Thorns dug into his flesh, pierced his mouth and tongue, and strangled his neck.

The entire space was eerily quiet, except for the soft “plop, plop” of blood dripping from his toes onto the floor.

Above the withered tree, there was a black, undecorated floating frame displaying a string of constantly increasing numbers.

[5,223,384]

For every 100,000 increase in the number, the thorns on Wuxi Chen’s body tighten by an inch.

For every million more the number increased, the thorns on the brambles became denser.

I quickly realized that in this pure white space, everyone who entered by inputting coordinates became a “judge.” Our “gaze” was Wuxi Chen’s instrument of torture.

No need to lift a finger, no need to speak, just stand here and watch him…

The numbers in the pop-up window were skyrocketing at a rate of several thousand per second.

“Creak—” That was the sound of thorns tightening and rubbing against bones.

“Pfft—” That was the sound of barbs piercing the body and breaking a major artery.

At first, Wuxi Chen struggled and made muffled cries for help, but slowly, the thorns constricted his vocal cords, preventing him from making any sound. A large amount of blood splattered on the ground, causing him to lose a lot of blood.

He turned deathly pale. His eyes were filled with despair, just like those of the children he had once hunted.

This was undoubtedly a cruel punishment, and ending it would be simple: everyone just needed to leave the room. But after hearing his appalling remarks, how many people cared about his suffering?

The air was saturated with the stench of blood. I stood a few meters away from the tree, coldly watching the numbers in the floating frame jump to 10 million.

In an instant, the black, withered tree seemed to come alive, and all its thorns suddenly sprang into action. Countless sharp black thorns pierced through Wuxi Chen’s body simultaneously, entering from his chest and exiting from his back.

Black, white, and red, only three colors painted a masterpiece.

Wuxi Chen’s head drooped down, and at the same time, the connection was broken, and I was ejected from the neuro-navigation pod.

‎

‎

Police found the neuro-navigation pod where Wuxi Chen was trapped in a remote warehouse. When he was taken to the hospital, he was in severe shock and was ultimately declared brain dead that night despite resuscitation efforts.

Although I didn’t kill him myself, I still contributed. That evening, I opened a can of beer in my dorm to celebrate, had a few sips, and fell asleep slightly tipsy.

In the middle of the night, fueled by an overwhelming feeling of nausea and the instinctive warning of danger, I suddenly opened my eyes.

“Shh…” In the darkness, a man wearing a pure white electronic mask covered my mouth with one hand and extended his index finger with the other, pressing it against the mask.

I nodded to him to indicate that I wouldn’t shout, and only then did he let go of my hand.

“Did you need something from me?” I asked softly.

“Did you watch today’s ‘trial’?”

The only thing that happened today that can be called a “trial” isthat one.

“I did.”

“How about it?”

“Very…wonderful?” I chuckled. “You came to me just to ask about this?”

“Isn’t it worth asking?”

“It’s worth it, of course it’s worth it.”

In the darkness, it was difficult to see clearly, but I could vaguely make out that he was still wearing the same mask as before, and his clothes seemed to have changed, though still white. He was still wearing leather gloves, and he had taken good care of the “perfume” issue.

“Of course, besides that, there’s one more thing…” He pinched my cheeks and leaned down slightly, “Why did you lie? I was the only WRA member there that day. You should know better than me who those people who showed up later were.”