Chapter 1: The Cocoon of Intense Desire

August 21st, 8:00 PM.

[Next Disaster Realm Walk: 0 days 0 hours 3 minutes]

Zhou Yan withdrew the image of a supernova from his mind, gradually calming his rapidly beating heart and the blood surging throughout his body.

He glanced at the countdown before him.

“Time to set off again—the fifth journey.”

In the fifteen days since his return, his life in the main world had changed dramatically.

He had won the exchange tournament, becoming the top newcomer in Wing City.

Alongside two sisters, he bid farewell to the Nanming Sword Pavilion and joined the Demon Extermination Division of the Li Fire Pavilion. From now on, he would develop his career in Wing City and gradually come into contact with real-world anomalies such as the “Chaos Rift.”

He had experimented with the communication function of [Order], entered the realm of interaction twice, and met six of the other thirteen Order Walkers—three of whom had been absent at the first meeting. He learned that the world indeed contained levels beyond master: the “Transcendent” tiers.

He mastered the Star-Chasing Secret Chart, a cultivation technique accessible only to those at the Transcendent level. After these two weeks, aided by the blessing of spiritual burning, he finally reached the beginner stage.

Now, Zhou Yan could, without relying on spiritual burning, weave the image of a “supernova” in his mind. This triggered his heart to beat rapidly, driving blood flow throughout his body and enhancing his physical functions.

The next step was to channel this rushing blood according to his will, adjusting its path and speed to align with the cultivation method of “self-rotation,” thereby maximizing its combat effectiveness.

In terms of personal attributes, through the Crane’s Cry breathing technique, which lavishly consumes life essence without regard to cost, his physique had increased by six points within merely fifteen days. Such a pace was unimaginable for ordinary people, and even the most gifted prodigy would find it hard to match.

Two reasons accounted for this: first, the special enlightened state of spiritual burning exclusive to Order Walkers.

Second, the unique product of [Order]—“Life Essence,” a pure form of life energy that the body could instantly absorb without obstruction, transforming it into abundant energy and nutrients. Beyond healing injuries, its greatest use was as a consumable resource for cultivation.

Though the Suzaku Palace provided secret medicinal supplements with similar effects, being mortal-made, they contained impurities. While they met energy requirements, their “conversion efficiency” was limited—in other words, drinking more was futile, as the body needed time to digest, absorb, and convert it into usable energy.

Even prodigies with access to better medicines could not surpass this conversion efficiency barrier, limiting the speed at which they could use breathing techniques to strengthen their bodies. The duration for running such techniques daily was capped.

Zhou Yan, however, had no such problem; he trained all night every day.

Agility, an attribute dependent on physique, grew even faster than his body under the foundation of his life-suit’s formidable physical strength. His agility rating had risen from 14 to 22.

Spirit, existing independently of physical function, lacked a specific training method at hand. However, wearing his life-suit had boosted his spirit beyond 100, gradually increasing his spirit attribute to 23.

Currently, his personal rating on the status panel had improved from “0 stars, 1st rank” to “0 stars, 2nd rank.”

Though not matching the life-suit’s growth pace, it was a steady rise, bringing Zhou Yan comfort.

Time flowed slowly as he pondered.

Finally, the countdown reached zero.

* * *

Sinking, falling—

Passing through the illusory boundary.

Zhou Yan’s vision cleared, his footing steady; he realized he had completed the traversal.

He quickly scanned his surroundings and found himself atop a skyscraper’s rooftop overlooking a modern city under the night sky.

In the next moment, a series of information flashed before his eyes.

[“Disaster Realm Walk” Location Confirmed]

[Disaster Realm ID: 366759]

[Depth: 2]

[Disaster Cause: Cocoon of Extreme Desire]

[Disaster Realm Summary: A month ago, countless black cocoons mysteriously fell from the sky over Desire City. When humans approach, these cocoons rapidly latch onto them, residing within their bodies. Feeding on desire, they grow until they hatch into butterflies. Correspondingly, the humans hosting these cocoons transform during this process into various forms of “Desire Beings,” enslaved to their own twisted, extreme cravings, causing endless chaos.]

[Primary Task: Survive for seven days]

[Secondary Task 1: Resolve three “Major Incidents” (0/3)]

[Secondary Task 2: Eliminate six “Great Desire Entities” (0/6)]

[Secondary Task 3: Eliminate one “Extreme Desire Entity” (0/1)]

[Superlative completion of “Disaster Realm Walk” will yield higher evaluation]

Zhou Yan reviewed the notifications from [Order] without much expression.

“Depth is the same as the previous Hundred Ghost World—‘2.’”

“The primary task duration is shorter, only seven days, unlike the last world which was longer.”

“The tasks are relatively simple. Except for the first task, resolving incidents, which might be tricky, the other two involve killing.”

“No enemies encountered yet; cannot gauge their strength or the difficulty of the tasks.”

Using the depth rating, Zhou Yan tentatively equated the enemy strength ceiling to that of the previous Hundred Ghost World.

The strongest foes would likely not surpass the “Great Ghost” and “Shuten Doji” from that realm by much.

He set aside his thoughts and began a thorough self-assessment.

As before during his Disaster Realm Walk, he landed clad in his life-suit.

Dark silver metallic armor covered his entire body, shimmering faintly with golden light under the city’s neon glow.

His entire head was encased in a helmet shaped like an eagle’s beak, exposing only his eyes and a small portion of his face.

Zhou Yan instinctively knew that with a mere thought, he could generate a full faceplate to protect the exposed areas.

This was the life-suit’s complete combat form, now enhanced with the “Armor” rank, granting stronger defense and performance than before.

“If it were other Order Walkers, this should be their combat attire.”

“However, this is a modern city. For convenience, I don’t need this armor for now. Something more ordinary will suffice.”

He thought silently and activated the life-suit’s mimicry function.

The metallic armor rapidly transformed, finally becoming a simple black tracksuit, with a suitable eyepatch forming over his right eye.

Then, Zhou Yan raised his left arm—still missing—and with a slight mental command:

[Equipping “Demon King’s Arm·Modified”]

In the next instant, his left arm fully regenerated.

“All set. Now, to see what’s happening.”

With preparations complete, Zhou Yan planned to seek clues to advance the tasks.

At that moment, a prompt appeared before him.

[Would you like to summon the life-suit spirit to accompany you? The first summon per entry into a Disaster Realm is free.]

Zhou Yan paused briefly, considering, then decided to put this option aside for now.

He hadn’t yet grasped the world’s situation; once settled, he would summon Long.

Turning, he headed towards the rooftop’s secure exit to descend.

“Help! Save me!”

“Oh my god! A monster!”

“Blood! So much blood! There are dead people!”

Just as Zhou Yan prepared to leave, his ears caught a sudden outburst of commotion from a nearby direction.

He immediately turned and ran to the rooftop wall, peering down.

Below the towering skyscrapers and intersecting streets at a certain intersection near the subway exit, a large crowd was fleeing.

They sprinted as if in a hundred-meter dash, shouting frantic words Zhou Yan did not recognize but could understand the meaning.

“As expected, the clues have come to me.”

Watching the scene, Zhou Yan’s heart stirred.

Based on his previous Disaster Realm experiences, [Order] seemed to deliberately place his arrival points close to key task clues.

This time was no different.

Without hesitation, Zhou Yan took a few steps back, then burst forward at top speed. Within a second, he leapt over the rooftop parapet!

[Equipping “Tengu Wings·Modified”]

Whoosh!

In the next instant, a black, flowing cloak appeared on his back, swiftly transforming into a pair of outstretched black wings.

He assumed the form of a flying bird and glided through the night toward the subway exit.

Meanwhile, inside the subway exit, as the crowd fled outward at breakneck speed—

A young man, dressed in a uniform and wearing a police cap, dashed against the flow into the subway.

Agile and quick, he weaved through the panicked masses with determined eyes tinged with fear.

In just over ten seconds, he passed through the corridor and, like a stuntman, vaulted a few obstacles.

Descending the increasingly sparse escalator, he reached the underground subway platform.

What met his eyes made his whole body tremble uncontrollably.

A scene straight from hell—blood, flesh, and severed limbs scattered everywhere.

Occasionally, the agonized wails of gravely wounded people echoed.

Though shaking like a leaf, the young man quickly scanned his surroundings, locking his gaze on a pillar in the distance.

“Hey! You monster over there, let the person go!”

He shouted as he charged forward.

Where he headed stood a tall, slender humanoid creature.

Its body was grotesquely mutated, covered in countless tendril-like flesh buds.

Most exaggerated was its right arm, wrapped in these flesh buds, transformed into a massive tentacle longer than its own body, tipped with sharp bony blades.

At this moment, those bone blades pierced a crew member’s chest, suspending him high in the air.

Hearing the young man’s shouts, the tentacle creature slowly turned its head and revealed a grotesque, chilling smile.

It murmured as if to itself:

“Don’t want to... I don’t want to... go to work.”

“Kill them all!”

In the next second, its right arm suddenly “bloomed,” the sharp bone blades spinning as they sliced the suspended crew member into pieces.

“I don’t want to go to work!!!”

***

What a slap in the face—how embarrassing, not only was the update late, but it was short by a thousand words. (Delayed by family matters)

Tomorrow’s update will be 9,000 words to make up for this missing part!

Also, a recommendation for a friend’s novel: “I Know Too Much!”

In the Land of Bliss game, filled with countless opportunities and dangers, Qin Lu discovers that he knows far too much.