Chapter:1 Land of Exile

 

A deafening roar-

 

a deep purple lightning bolt streaked across the sky, urging pedestrians on the road to quicken their pace.

 

It was already evening, and people hurrying home had no time to look up at the impending rain.

 

Until red raindrops began to fall,

 

landing on people’s heads, faces, and bodies.

 

Chen Shijin reached out and caught a drop of red rain. The crimson color spread across his palm, then blended into the fine lines of his hand.

 

He looked up and saw a sky completely obscured by dark red clouds.

 

“Heavens! What’s going on?! It’s raining red rain?!”

 

“Mom, my head is bleeding!”

 

“It’s not blood, it’s red rain. Strange, how can there be red rain?”

 

Pedestrians on the road looked up at the sky with expressions of confusion and fear, quickly searching for shelter and running away.

 

Chen Shijin dodged someone who was about to bump into him and heard the voice of an old man in the chaos.

 

“Red rain falls from the sky, horses grow horns! Ominous, extremely ominous!”

 

Chen Shijin frowned, looked up at the sky again, wiped away the red raindrops that had fallen on his forehead and the corners of his eyes, and opened his mouth as if to say something.

 

But just as his excessively red lips were about to open, he suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure, as if an invisible hand was choking his throat, as if an unspeakable horror was staring intently at him from the blood-red clouds.

 

He couldn’t speak.

 

When he realized this, a look of surprise appeared on his usually overly indifferent face.

 

So he looked up for the third time, at the blood-red sky and the torrential blood rain, and smiled.

 

How interesting.

 

He just wanted to stop the rain.

 

There was only one situation in which he would be “unable to speak,” which meant that the “fruit of words” he wanted to say exceeded his current power. And he hadn’t had this experience since he was three years old.

 

It seemed that the old man was right, something extremely ominous was about to happen.

 

And he was powerless to change it.

 

Chen Shijin lowered his eyes and quickened his pace home.

 

He didn’t know if the ominous thing that was about to happen would befall him, but at least he didn’t want to rampage through the streets like a blood-red water ghost.

 

So, he could temporarily speed up-

 

 

and so, amidst the panicked screams of the crowd, the young man’s figure flickered and vanished in a flash. None of the hundreds of people fleeing in terror noticed this completely illogical scene.

 

Chen Shijin arrived at his apartment number seven, intending to quickly change his clothes and wash off the red stains. But as he reached for the keypad, he heard screams and laughter coming from inside.

 

He frowned.

 

Why was it so noisy everywhere?

 

Couldn’t they just shut up and be quiet for a while?

 

…Wait.

 

This seemed to be his apartment. He was outside, so who was making noise in his apartment?

 

Chen Shijin entered the password.

 

[Beep, Access Denied.]

 

Chen Shijin remained silent.

 

He looked up at the apartment number again, confirming that the apartment belonged to him.

 

Suddenly, the screams inside grew louder, loud enough for Chen Shijin to almost hear their conversation clearly.

 

“Ah! Ahh~ Hmm~ Brother! Harder!” “You little devil! I’ll kill you.”

 

Chen Shijin raised an eyebrow, pausing for three seconds outside the door.

 

Then he took out his phone, turned on the recording, intending to make the guys inside pay for his mental anguish.

 

A second before the recording started, Chen Shijin smirked at the keypad lock that couldn’t be opened without the password, his voice like a gentle breeze in the rain.

 

[Open.]

 

The door opened in response. The keypad lock didn’t even react.

 

The screaming buddies inside were completely oblivious.

 

Thus, their disheveled, huddled, and kissing scene was clearly recorded by Chen Shijin.

 

“…….”

 

As expected, the one rolling on the carpet was none other than his grandmother’s ideal man, his fiancé Liu Dakal, and his aunt’s most caring cousin, Lü Jun.

 

The scene fell silent for a moment.

 

Even the crows couldn’t say anything when they arrived.

 

Chen Shijin could see his fiancé’s face go from hard to soft, his expression one of shock.

 

His cousin, meanwhile, glared at the phone in his hand, screaming in astonishment:

 

“Chen Shijin!! How did you get in, you mute? I clearly changed the password!!”

 

Chen Shijin didn’t answer. He looked at the two men’s stupid expressions and slowly curled the corners of his mouth upwards.

 

Boom-

 

Another red lightning bolt ripped through the night sky, the bright lights in the room went out instantly, and raindrops pounded against the floor-to-ceiling windows, as if a storm would rage in at any moment.

 

“What are you laughing at?!”

 

“Even in this situation, you can still laugh?!”

 

Lü Jun looked at the young man standing by the window, and for a moment seemed to see a huge, terrifying ghostly figure behind him, baring its fangs and overlapping, as if it could devour everything at any moment.

 

Before he could even feel fear, he and Liu Dakai saw the young man, who had been mute for twenty-three years, who hadn’t uttered a word in twenty-three years, slowly open his mouth:

 

“Idiot.”

 

 

 

“Do you know that messing around will ruin your penis and butt?”

 

 

 

The deep, slightly hoarse voice wasn’t unpleasant, it even had a strangely soothing quality. But to Lü Jun and Liu Dakai, it sounded like an extremely terrifying curse.

 

They both widened their eyes, staring at Chen Shijin as if he were a ghost.

 

“How dare you speak to us like that?!”

 

“No!! Chen Shijin, how can you, a mute, speak?!

 

Amidst lightning and thunder and their screams, the French windows, battered by the torrential rain, shattered, and a bolt of red lightning ripped through the void, striking the room directly. As the red rain and lightning flooded the room, the shocked Lü Jun and Liu Dakai vanished instantly.

 

Chen Shijin, standing by the window, watched the lightning that cleaved the sky and the red rain drops and lightning falling on him, seemingly carrying an infinite pulling force. Before he could utter a sound, his body swayed, and he was also carried away from this world by an invisible hand-

 

When he opened his eyes, he was in a completely different place.

 

!?

 

 

 

Chen Shijin found it difficult to adjust to the boundless darkness.

 

Modern humans are accustomed to brightly lit nights, and darkness is no longer a symbol of fear

 

However, the place he had been pulled into was pitch black, without a single ray of light, yet a chilling wind swirled around him from all directions.

 

Roar-

 

squeak-

 

hiss…hiss….

 

Besides the darkness and the chilling wind, there were various sounds, near and far, hidden within them.

 

Chen Shijin clicked his tongue.

 

This seemed like a deadly place.

 

He took a step forward, preparing to speak and probe.

 

But a voice rang out faster in his ear:

 

【Welcome to the Land of Exile.】

 

【You have become an “Exile.”]

 

[To devour or be devoured will be your endless fate.】

 

 

Chen Shijin frowned, abruptly looking up at the sky above him, only to see pure blackness.

 

He felt something watching him from the darkness.

 

And… the title “Exile” was certainly not auspicious.

 

[You have been locked onto by the Devourer!) 【Power Assessment: Unable to resist! Unable to escape!]

 

[Forced entry into the Devouring World in three minutes.] [

 

You now have the opportunity to gather your strongest power, desires, beliefs, and emotions to awaken your innate talent.]

 

[This innate talent will be your power to survive in the Land of Exile.]

 

[Becoming a king or dying is up to you!]

 

[Come on! Unleash your power! You-]

 

Hearing the voice growing louder and more abnormal, Chen Shijin finally couldn’t stand it anymo re and pressed his ears.

 

“Shut up.”

 

“You’re disturbing me.”

 

[What did you say-zzzzzz-uh uh uh?!]

 

[Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh?! Uh uh uh ka ka ka zzzz-]

 

After an even more ear-piercing, chaotic sound, silence finally returned to Chen Shijin’s ears.

 

He scoffed..

 

What did he need to awaken his innate talent for?

 

He had been awake for twenty-six years and was almost bursting at the seams with power.

 

But soon, Chen Shijin looked at the boundless darkness and felt happy again.

 

“Ouch.”

 

“In this world, can I… just say whatever I want?”

 

Roar-

 

Suddenly, a deafening roar swept in with a stench of blood. Chen Shijin only had time to catch a glimpse of its enormous outline before being swallowed by its gaping maw.

 

[You have been devoured by the Devourer!!]

 

“Hahahaha! More exiles have arrived! Go to the All-Powerful Eye in the settlement and see their foolish, pitiful state, devoured by death!”

 

“New…food…new…power!”

 

“Devour them…eat them!!”

 

“Eat them-”