owlsbooks Chapter 100 Do you want revenge?
Chapter 100 Do you want revenge?
Chapter 100 Do you want revenge?
The walls of the detention cell were padded, beige, and without any sharp edges.
The surveillance camera overhead flashed a regular red light, like a tireless single eye.
Jiang Ming sat on the only iron bed, his hands handcuffed to the headboard railing.
The two young sheriffs guarding him sat on chairs by the door, talking in hushed tones, occasionally glancing at the "extremely dangerous" college student with a mixture of curiosity and fear.
"You mean, this kid really killed someone?"
"Who knows? I get chills just looking at those eyes. Besides, didn't the preliminary report from the forensic team just come out?"
The cuts on those victims were horrifying; they were all severed in one swift motion.
"Shh—is that Zhang Wei still causing trouble?"
"He's making a scene. He just got yelled at by Captain Cheng and is giving a statement next door. To be honest, that kid doesn't look like a good person; he looks shifty."
Jiang Ming closed his eyes, ignoring the discussions around him.
He's counting down the seconds.
The system time in the lower right corner of the retina is ticking silently.
【23:55:12】
There are less than five minutes left until midnight.
Since that meal of braised pork, the false sense of security that belonged to civilized society had not numbed his senses.
On the contrary, as time went on, a familiar, chilling throbbing was rekindling in his veins.
That's the [Perception] attribute triggering an alarm.
Just as ants move their nests and birds circle low before a storm.
Jiang Ming could sense that the surrounding space was becoming "thinner".
That solid, physically governed space of Earth is becoming soft and even beginning to show invisible distortions, like a damp biscuit.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" Jiang Ming suddenly asked.
The sheriff at the door was startled and instinctively reached for his waist. Realizing the man was handcuffed, he said irritably, "What's the rush? The procedures aren't finished yet. The higher-ups are being very careful in classifying you all. The results won't be available until tomorrow at the earliest, or three days at the latest."
"Three days?"
Jiang Ming's lips twitched slightly, revealing a meaningful expression. "It's been too long."
"You think it's too long? If you think it's too long, why did you commit the crime in the first place?" The sheriff said with some displeasure. "Just stay put. It's only because the situation is special now. If it were before, a serious criminal like you, suspected of multiple murders, would have been in shackles long ago."
Jiang Ming did not refute.
He simply looked up at the surveillance camera whose red dot was flashing.
In a civilized society, his current situation would indeed be a desperate predicament.
He used a controlled knife to commit murder, and he killed several people.
Even for the sake of survival, in a society that values chains of evidence and legal procedures, he would at least face a lengthy investigation and imprisonment.
Zhang Wei knew this, which is why he dared to bite like a mad dog.
but.
What if civilized society itself is just a brief "halftime break"?
【23:58:00】
"I want to drink water," Jiang Ming said.
"So much trouble," the sheriff on the left muttered, but still stood up, picked up a disposable paper cup, and walked towards the water dispenser.
The sound of water flowing into a paper cup was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
Jiang Ming watched the sheriff's retreating figure, his eyes gradually growing deep.
His Silver Knight Full Armor had been stored in his storage card, and he was now wearing a gray hoodie issued by the Security Bureau, which made him look somewhat thin.
But he could feel that the power hidden within his body—that terrifying power belonging to Lv.10, with all attributes more than twice that of an ordinary person—had never disappeared.
The system panel is still there.
The skills [Gravity] and [Iron Will] in the skill bar are still lit up.
This is his greatest source of confidence right now.
If we have truly returned to the absolutely safe Earth, why weren't these killing techniques sealed away?
This shows that the strange events involving time travel within the school have not ended at all.
【23:59:30】
The sheriff carrying water came over and handed the paper cup through the iron bars: "Here, be careful, it's hot."
Jiang Ming extended his hand.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the edge of the paper cup.
【23:59:58】
【23:59:59】
【00:00:00】
The world suddenly went silent.
There was no transition.
No dizziness.
There wasn't even that common "sudden blackout".
In that instant, the blinding incandescent light disappeared.
Instead, the air was dim, oppressive, and filled with the smell of engine oil and stale dust.
The paper cup that was handed to them disappeared into thin air.
Jiang Ming's fingers grasped at empty air.
But he wasn't panicked at all. Instead, as if he had expected this scene, he clenched his fist and felt the air around him suddenly become thick and filled with malice.
Click.
A lightness on my wrist.
The metal handcuffs that had been tightly binding him disappeared as if they had never existed.
Jiang Ming slowly straightened up.
The floor beneath my feet was no longer the cold cement floor of the detention cell, but the workshop floor covered with anti-slip mats.
The walls weren't upholstered; instead, the space was filled with scrap metal parts, lathes, and workbenches.
Moonlight streamed in through the broken window.
It's not the cold, clear moonlight of Earth.
Instead, there were two crimson moons, like bloodshot eyeballs.
The training building, second floor, metalworking workshop.
He is back.
That sheriff, that detention cell, Zhang Wei taking a statement, and that so-called "civilized trial."
Within that one second, they were all thrown into another dimension of spacetime.
"Oh.
Jiang Ming let out a short chuckle, cracked his wrist, and his knuckles popped.
Since we can't go back to the peaceful days we used to live.
Then let the wildness continue to grow.
Just then, in the previously empty darkness, faint white lights began to appear one after another.
That was the light of teleportation.
"Ah—! Stop hitting me! I really don't know Jiang Ming well!"
A gasp broke the silence of the workshop.
Jiang Ming turned his head and looked at the guy who had just revealed himself a few meters away, his eyes filled with mockery.
The one screaming was Zhao Yanzhi.
He was still crouching with his head in his hands, wearing that ridiculous hospital gown, and even holding half a half-eaten steamed bun in his hand.
Clearly, just a moment ago he was receiving "care" in some corner of the hospital, or trembling like a startled quail.
"Shut up."
Jiang Ming's voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap in the empty workshop.
Zhao Yanzhi's screams came to an abrupt halt.
He raised his head blankly, and by the red moonlight, he could see the scene around him.
Familiar machine tools, familiar piles of scrap metal, and that familiar figure standing in the shadows, like a demon god.
"Brother Jiang—?"
The steamed bun in Zhao Yanzhi's hand fell to the ground, rolled twice, and became covered in oil.
He rubbed his eyes hard and pinched his thigh hard until he grimaced in pain before he dared to believe that this was not a hallucination.
"We—we're back?"
His voice trembled, filled with a desperate sense of impending collapse.
Just seconds before, he was being brutally beaten by those guys.
But now, that nightmarish world has dragged him back.
"Old Jiang?!"
On the other side, two beams of light flashed.
Wang Yang and Li Bin appeared at the same time.
Wang Yang was still holding a pen in his hand, signing something, and wearing a slightly cleaner T-shirt.
He remained frozen in his writing posture, staring at Jiang Ming in front of him, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"Damn it! I was just signing a confidentiality agreement! That sheriff said he could send me a phone number to contact my family after I signed it!" Wang Yang slammed the pen on the ground and cursed, "Is this guy kidding me?!"
Li Bin was calmer than him.
He pushed up his glasses, which were new ones issued to him by the police; the old ones had long since been broken in the battle.
"It seems your guess was correct."
Li Bin looked at Jiang Ming, his face pale, but his eyes revealed a strange sense of relief. "That's halftime over there, this is the home field."
97
Following that, Xu Shishi, Su Xiaoxiao, and the few surviving members of the archery club also appeared one after another.
Without exception.
Everyone's face was filled with fear, confusion, and helplessness.
Some people even broke down in tears on the spot, collapsing to the ground, shouting "I want to go home" and "I want to find my mother".
The feeling of falling from heaven to hell in an instant is enough to shatter any fragile psychological defenses.
"Everyone, stand up!"
Jiang Ming did not give them time to vent their emotions.
With a thought, a pale gold card appeared at his fingertips.
Portable storage card.
The card wasn't confiscated by the sheriff because, in its inactive state, it looked like an ordinary frosted sticker, which Jiang Ming had kept on the inside of his palm.
A flash of light.
The Silver Knight Full Armor, stained with countless drops of blood and exuding a chilling killing intent in this dimly lit workshop, appeared out of thin air and covered Jiang Ming's body piece by piece.
Click.
The faceplate closed.
The naiveté and naiveté of college students vanished instantly.
In its place came the Ironclad Tyrant, who had once carved a bloody path through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, striking fear into the hearts of orcs.
Clang!
The heavy Black Iron Horse-Slaying Sword slammed heavily onto the ground, sending sparks flying.
"Have you cried enough?"
Jiang Ming's voice came through the mask, carrying a metallic coldness and majesty.
The crying gradually subsided.
Everyone looked up at the fully armed figure.
Inside the police station, facing fully armed special police officers, Jiang Ming was a suspect being interrogated, a silent outcast.
But here.
On this wasteland.
This armor, this greatsword, are the absolute law, the only sense of security.
"Look around carefully."
Jiang Ming raised his hand and pointed to the two scarlet moons outside the window.
"There are no sheriffs, no laws, and no confidentiality agreements here."
"The civilized world that wanted to imprison us has already spat us out."
"Now, you only have two choices."
Jiang Ming turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
"First, keep crying and wait for the monsters outside to smell you and come to tear you to pieces."
"Second, take up arms and fight alongside me to survive until we return to the civilized world!"
Wang Yang was the first to react.
Without any hesitation, he rushed to Jiang Ming's side, his timid demeanor from the police station completely gone.
"Brother Jiang, whatever you say goes! Damn it, I've had enough of Zhang Wei's jerk behavior, it's much better here!"
Li Bin also silently walked to the side and rummaged through a pile of scrap metal to find a steel pipe with a red "X" on it. His "Poisonous Piercer" was hidden in there.
"Thankfully—" Li Bin said briefly, "we didn't find it."
"Hmm." Jiang Ming looked at Zhao Yanzhi.
This former rich kid and president of the archery club is now trembling as he gets up from the ground.
"Zhao Yanzhi," Jiang Ming called his name.
"Here—Here!" Zhao Yan instinctively stood at attention.
"Why were you holding your head when you traveled through time?"
Jiang Ming looked down at him, his voice coming through the mask with the cold, hard texture of metal, "And all these fresh injuries you've sustained, don't tell me you fell and hurt yourself."
Zhao Yanzhi was taken aback.
He subconsciously touched his swollen eye sockets and gasped in pain.
The pain cleared his muddled mind slightly and reminded him of what had happened a few minutes earlier, or rather, in another world.
"It's—it's those bastards."
Zhao Yanzhi gritted his teeth, his voice trembling with a hint of humiliation, "I had just finished my examination at the hospital and was placed in the emergency observation room. As a result, a few of the student council members who were less seriously injured sneaked in under the cover of darkness while the nurses weren't looking."
"They hit you?" Su Xiaoxiao covered her mouth in surprise. "No wonder! Before I transmigrated, I seemed to vaguely hear screams from the next ward. I thought it was because your wound was hurting."
"Why did I hit you?" Jiang Ming asked, his tone as calm as if he were asking what you had for dinner.
Zhao Yanzhi opened his mouth, his eyes flickered, and he secretly glanced at Jiang Ming twice. He stammered for a long time without uttering a single word.
"Because of me?" Jiang Ming said it for him.
Zhao Yanzhi stiffened and nodded dejectedly.
"They said—that I was your lackey." Zhao Yanzhi lowered his head, his fingers digging into the cement cracks in the ground. "They said I helped you bully them at school, and they also said—they also said that after you're sent to prison and executed, I'll be next."
"Several of them held me down, kicking and slapping me, and even stole the two steamed buns I bought—if I hadn't suddenly traveled back in time, I probably would have continued to be beaten."
By the end, Zhao Yanzhi's eyes had turned a little red.
It's so frustrating.
He was a figure of some importance at school, and these past few days following Jiang Ming, he'd been doing exceptionally well, killing goblins and shooting orcs.
As soon as he returned to Earth, he was thoroughly humiliated by the student council members he usually regarded as useless, and he didn't even have the courage to fight back.
Because that is Earth.
There are sheriffs, laws, and order there.
He dared not move.
"Oh."
A soft laugh came from under the helmet.
Jiang Ming opened his mask and looked directly at him.
"Look at me."
Jiang Ming's eyes were as deep and unfathomable as a pool in the darkness. "Do you feel wronged?"
Zhao Yanzhi nodded heavily.
"Do you feel frustrated?"
"How frustrating!"
"So, do you want revenge?"
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