Otherworldly Desert Dust-Chapter 403 358 Biological Battery

His eyelids gently fluttered open,

though his body still retained some inertia, engaging in repetitive tasks. Just as Wu Hen's spirit became clear, his motions persistently continued, still washing the instrument before him.

Wu Hen felt puzzled.

Shouldn't he be in an herbal garden, with lush green sky overhead, surrounded by dark blue woods, unknown wildflowers dotting the scenery, and the air mingled with the fragrance of grass and fruits…

Instead, why was he standing in a dim underground factory, where the air was dense with dust, rich as sulfur, choking his respiratory tract and creating a sensation of sticky suffocation in his throat and lungs, and most importantly, the whole area was unbearably hot, like being in an airtight steamer?

"Cough, cough~"

Someone coughed heavily.

Wu Hen turned his head to see the old man, Ding Di, working beside him, cleaning machinery. Occasionally, debris would get caught in the swiftly moving metal gears, requiring extraction by hand, which could easily drag one's entire body into the machine.

"Mr. Ding?" Wu Hen asked, puzzled.

"You're awake?" Ding Di looked around, confirmed that the prison guard called Dragonfly was not nearby, then slowly walked over.

"Where are we? The dark radiation here is extremely strong," Wu Hen said.

Not only was the dark radiation full here, but other forms of pollution were also severe.

Da Xuan's technology was undoubtedly robust, but it also produced a significant amount of cosmic waste gases, which could affect human lifespan and harm bodily functions or, worse, transform into vile Evil Spirits...

"Prison Town has been captured; we are now labor slaves in Eagle City," Ding Di explained.

"Eagle City?" Wu Hen was shocked.

He activated his Fourth Rank Spiritual Vision, beginning to scan his surroundings broadly.

Soon, the enclosed factory transformed into an outline of lines; Wu Hen's vision expanded three hundred sixty degrees, turning all objects into sketches, merely displaying their structures...

However, these simplified architectural structures were layered upon each other, placing Wu Hen in a forest of steel, his view constantly shifting between layers, forming overhead views, yet the entire city's layer was still vast and complex, teeming. The lower layer factories like anthills, foundational machinery intertwined with city engines, connected like veins to the middle-layer residential areas, where buildings capable of advanced automation stood densely and orderly upon this mountainous strata.

The underground work area, middle residential district, and upper sanctuary district.

As Wu Hen's vision attempted to pierce the upper sanctuary district, his Spiritual Vision was obstructed; perhaps some prohibitions were in place there, or the materials used were unique, preventing him from glimpsing the upper district.

"Is this the Living City of the Da Xuan Dynasty?" Wu Hen voiced in surprise.

Seeing the villages and towns move across the earth as living behemoths, hunting, and gathering resources, Wu Hen had theorized that cities on the same scale as a Living City were doing similar things.

Yet, even standing within this steel engine, Wu Hen was still profoundly shocked by the tightly interlocked, clear-veined enormity of this steel city, unsettling his inner peace.

The immense weaponry of Prison Town, its unparalleled combat power, showcased to Wu Hen that high-dimensional technology also held a dazzlingly dominant position among Desert Dust's billions of lives; now, Prison Town had become prey within the food chain, swallowed by this Steel Eagle City, whose contained energy was vast to the extreme, not inferior in the slightest to the high-dimensional Black Unihorn!

Wu Hen knew, of course, that his battle with the Black Unihorn within the Divine-end Principle was merely one percent of the high-dimensional insect's strength.

Now, this Steel Eagle City possessed the might not less than the Black Unihorn in its prime, suddenly making Wu Hen understand why Ding Di persistently advised him not to be overly arrogant.

"What about the others? Are they all right?" Wu Hen swiftly asked, thinking of the people from the towns and villages.

"Many can't adapt to this pollution and have fallen seriously ill," Ding Di replied.

"But even with annexation, according to Da Xuan's Law, shouldn't everyone in the town continue their original jobs, live their previous lives, and just provide the town's resources on time? How could everyone end up thrown into this dark radiant factory?" Wu Hen asked, confused.

"Not all leaders on this land abide by the rules as strictly as the Prison Director Levi," Ding Di sighed. "Some seemingly respectable and thriving cities, behind their facades, act no differently from vampires."

Wu Hen furrowed his brow.

He had planned to cooperate with Levi to expand and strengthen Prison Town.

Little did he know, the town was also lower in the food chain and, without the protection of a legally affiliated city, could become prey for some ambitious cities-etheless, once captured, all of them would be deprived of their rights and reduced to the bottom layer of labor slaves in the city, serving the local residents and the city's elite!

"Is this a place for people to stay?" Wu Hen's perception had grown stronger; he clearly knew how terrible the radiation was in these lower factories...

Indeed, these underground factory environments were even worse than the prisons in the town.

The air quality and clean environment of the town's prison were better than here.

The residents of the small town and the villagers were now living lives worse than the former prison inmates!

"I'll rest in a while, and then you'll get to meet the other people in the town," Ding Di said.

"Okay," Wu Hen nodded.

This Steel Eagle City was extremely formidable, an Otherworldly Living Entity, and Ding Di repeatedly cautioned Wu Hen not to act rashly.

"They are searching everywhere for Transcendents, Xuanzhen Practitioners, and Otherworldly Predators, and they use them as Biological Batteries to power the entire Steel Eagle City, a fate even worse than death row; you must be very careful!" Ding Di said.

"Biological Battery?" Wu Hen was unfamiliar with this term.

"They have super technology that can convert the power released from Transcendents like you into Dark Energy. So when they haven't found a Dark Energy Spring Eye, they use evolved lives for power generation, which is not only a physical imprisonment but also a destruction of the soul, an extremely inhumane method..." Ding Di explained.

Wu Hen took a deep breath, astonished that the Da Xuan had such terrifying technology.

That meant, in the face of stronger technology, Cultivators, Immortals, Extraordinary Cosmic People, Mutants, and Evolvers, all became their fuel; once captured, they became the biological engines, ceaselessly powering the entire Hao City, making oil, solar power, nuclear fusion, and Dark Energy seem less convenient than the energy from Transcendent beings!

…

Wu Hen didn't act impulsively, as his overzealous actions could have harmed the residents of the town.

Finally, when the work shift ended, Wu Hen and Ding Di stepped out of the dark, abandoned wastewater factory.

He had thought they could go up to the surface streets and experience the bustling big city.

But Wu Hen discovered that even after leaving the work district, their living area was still underground, not in the sunny, bustling city areas.

The subterranean living area had only cheap lighting and cheap food, produced by inferior technology. Though the meals looked clean and tasty, Wu Hen, a Taste Spiritual Awakener, knew instantly that this was contaminated food that could lead to people's bewilderment...

In the dim and polluted communal dining area, Wu Hen saw the other residents of the town.

Despite it not being long since they arrived, everyone appeared to be in terrible spirits. It was evident that having been relocated to this supposedly more prosperous city, they had become the oppressed, never again seeing the soft morning sun or enjoying a laid-back afternoon. Even their rest periods were just temporary compensations for their spiritually shattered conditions, after which they would continue toiling.

"How long must we serve for them?" asked a lady who used to sell flowers.

"They said that once they win the next battle, the defeated citizens of the next town will take over our current jobs, and we'll move up to live in the upper city areas, becoming citizens of the Steel Eagle City," said a man who used to be a prison guard.

"They'll be battling with the Grand Canyon City, and whether or not they win depends on how cleanly we've maintained the combat weapons, so don't lose hope. Just do what you need to, and if they are victorious, our hard days will also end."

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"Yes, if we could live in the city areas, life wouldn't be too bad. We might enjoy many amenities and perhaps land higher-paying jobs. Our children might have the chance to become part of the commanding layer; to establish a foothold in such a big city is no small feat."

Though everyone was in a poor state of mind, they still exchanged words of encouragement.

However, a sense of resignation could be heard in their voices.

After all, it was a town primarily known for its prison industry, and now it had spawned an Evil Spirit, sealing their fates.

"Don't worry, the Mayor and Miss Fan have status; they've been reassigned to the armory, and they'll help the Steel Eagle City defeat Grand Canyon City..."

"It's just a pity, our town is gone, such a beautiful place, I thought we could live there for a lifetime."

The townspeople's mentality remained relatively healthy, albeit somewhat resigned.

But they really didn't have many options; it was the way of the land, caught in a cycle of mutual predation, plunder, and division...

Hearing their conversation, Wu Hen furrowed his brows.

The concentration of Dark Radiation here was too high; not only would it drastically reduce their lifespan, but it could also cause people to get lost or even transform into Evil Spirits.

As for them becoming city citizens once they 「won」 the next battle...

Wu Hen simply didn't believe it.

For those who already occupied the abundant conditions of city citizenship, they would never share even a small piece of their benefits with these outsiders.

All the outsiders entering the city paid a high health price and often received very little in return; they would never be able to comfortably settle down, much less enjoy the prosperity of a big city.

In their own world, there was an endless inflation of housing prices.

What was horizontally present in this Otherworldly Living City, Wu Hen did not know yet.

But regardless of the societal dimension, the pattern of painting a false future always existed.

Seeing the poor environment and oppressive principles here, Wu Hen finally understood why, in an era when the entire city was driven by The Dark Engine, there were still agrarian villages wandering on the outskirts... they hid and stayed away from the powerful Living Cities.