"Hah…"
"He's alive! Finally alive!"
…
In a dazed state, Xie Shen heard shouts of joy ringing in his ears and abruptly opened his eyes.
He looked around and found himself in a dimly lit room.
Inside the room was another emaciated figure, who was staring at Xie Shen with a crazed, almost deranged expression.
What's going on?
Didn't I already die?
Xie Shen remembered clearly: after crossing over from Earth to the cultivation world, he had tread carefully, cultivating diligently all the way to the Great Perfection stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
Then, while attempting to break through a bottleneck, he unfortunately attracted a heavenly tribulation and perished, body and soul utterly destroyed.
The scene of his death, with nothing left of him, was still vividly etched in his memory.
But now, why had he inexplicably come back to life?
…
"You're awake…"
In the room.
Seeing Xie Shen regain consciousness, the emaciated man suppressed the hint of madness on his face.
He forced a faint smile, adopting a friendly tone: "Brother, I was the one who revived you. Do you remember your name?"
"I don't remember. My head hurts terribly right now…" Out of caution, Xie Shen didn't immediately answer directly. Instead, he countered with a question: "Where is this place? You said you revived me just now, so does that mean I was dead before?"
"You don't know how you died?" The emaciated man showed a thoughtful expression, then added: "Then do you at least remember where you lived before, or who you knew?"
This guy is suspicious…
Seeing that the emaciated man only asked questions without revealing any information himself, Xie Shen grew wary.
He didn't respond to the questions, but secretly tried to circulate the spiritual energy within his body, intending to use his Nascent Soul cultivation to subdue the other party.
But…
The moment he tried to circulate his spiritual energy, Xie Shen realized: after being resurrected, his late Nascent Soul realm cultivation had completely vanished along with his death.
He was now no different from an ordinary mortal.
"Hey! Why aren't you speaking?" Seeing Xie Shen remain silent, the emaciated man spoke again: "I asked you: what's your name, where do you live? Tell me so I can help verify your identity and register you."
"Register?" Xie Shen was taken aback.
The emaciated man continued: "Mhm… Everyone who is revived has to be registered. Then the space station will assign you work, along with a place to live, food, and water."
A space station?
Xie Shen gleaned two useful pieces of information from the other's words.
First: he was likely in a place called a 'space station'… and places called 'space stations' were often located in extreme environments unsuitable for human survival, such as the deep sea, outer space, or polar regions.
Second: this space station seemed to employ military-style management, suggesting that the humans here had likely encountered some kind of disaster.
Of course.
The above deductions relied on the premise that the other party wasn't lying.
Having formed a plan, Xie Shen put on a smile, his tone carrying a hint of apology: "I'm really sorry, my head genuinely hurts too much. Could you let me rest first, give me some water… Once I recover a bit, I'll cooperate. Is that alright?"
"You…"
Seeing that Xie Shen still refused to reveal any information about himself, the emaciated man dropped his previously friendly demeanor.
He grew increasingly flustered and irritable, finally unable to hold back a low roar at Xie Shen: "Can't you just cooperate? Why won't you cooperate?"
The emaciated man seemed to be afraid of something: as he growled, his eyes kept darting around the room.
Something's wrong…
Sensing danger, Xie Shen instinctively took two steps back.
Sure enough.
The next second, several mechanical arms extended from the ceiling, pinning the emaciated man firmly to the ground.
"I was wrong, I was wrong! Don't shock me!"
Pinned down by the mechanical arms, the emaciated man immediately began trembling and convulsing uncontrollably. No amount of pleading helped.
Clearly, he was being electrocuted.
To avoid being caught up in it, Xie Shen hurriedly shrank into a corner of the room, observing everything around him with full alertness.
A short while later.
Amidst the smell of something burning, the emaciated man was no longer recognizably human.
He seemed thoroughly dead.
After his death, an electronic synthesized voice echoed in the room:
[Revived individual: Deng Bin. Born: August 1, 2035, 09:13. Place of birth: Southeast Asia, Ethnic Chinese.]
Revived individual?
What does that mean?
The sudden voice startled Xie Shen, sending a shiver through his body.
He quickly scanned the room, finally settling his gaze on the floor, which was marked with a strange geometric pattern.
Under Xie Shen's watch, the surface of the strange geometric pattern began to emit a faint glow.
A few seconds later, a human figure materialized above the pattern, gradually shifting from illusory to solid.
The person was emaciated.
Judging by his appearance, it was Deng Bin—the same man who had just been electrocuted to death by the mechanical arms.
Such a bizarre sight left Xie Shen profoundly shocked:
Is this…
Some kind of spell that can resurrect a person out of thin air, without any cost?
So, was I revived by this same spell?
After witnessing Deng Bin's resurrection process,
Xie Shen quickly came to another realization—if he wasn't mistaken, the conditions for performing this resurrection spell were roughly two:
First, the strange geometric pattern needed to be drawn on the ground.
Second, the detailed information of the person to be revived needed to be accurately stated.
Perhaps that was precisely why Deng Bin had kept asking for Xie Shen's identity information.
As for why Deng Bin had been electrocuted to death by the mechanical arms…
In the room.
Xie Shen asked the resurrected Deng Bin: "You were electrocuted just now because you failed to get my identity, right?"
"Mhm…"
Deng Bin clearly wasn't experiencing being electrocuted to death by the mechanical arms for the first time.
After being revived, he showed no trace of fear. Instead, he grinned and said: "According to the rules, if I fail to get your identity, I have to be electrocuted to death by the Tower's mechanical arms."
Then he changed the subject: "And after that, it'll be your turn."
"My turn?" Xie Shen frowned: "What do you mean?"
Deng Bin didn't respond further, simply looking up toward the ceiling.
Following his gaze, the mechanical arms extended from the ceiling once more, effortlessly pinning Xie Shen against the wall.
—Although Xie Shen was a reborn Nascent Soul cultivator, after being resurrected, he had lost all the cultivation from his previous life. No matter how many techniques he possessed, he couldn't use them now.
"Brother, don't blame me." Seeing that Xie Shen was restrained, Deng Bin slowly approached him: "Everyone in the Tower goes through this."
"In a moment, when I torture you, you don't need to hold out."
"I'll ask you questions, and you should just answer whatever you can."
"Whether it's your parents, relatives, friends, or your own experiences—just say it all."
"Understood?"
Hearing this, Xie Shen finally understood Deng Bin's purpose.
He said with sudden realization: "I see… So you want to torture me to find out the names of my relatives and friends, then revive them here too?"
"Mhm."
Deng Bin seemed to eagerly anticipate Xie Shen showing a look of despair.
He patiently explained: "The purpose of this place is to revive and torture people… Things like electrocution, burning—they're daily routines. After you die, they revive you again, then torture you again. It never stops."
This…
Just hearing about it was enough to send a chill down Xie Shen's spine.
So what exactly is this place?
Hell?
Or some kind of horrific laboratory built by a deranged human organization?
I have to find a way to escape…