Chapter 00265: The Disaster of No Light
# The Disaster of No Light
Chapter 265
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 265: The Disaster of No Light
The narrow underground chamber was filled with thunderous noise.
In mere moments, the generator overloaded, the manual engine was pressurized, power transmission and hydraulic energy storage all activated.
From the crude exoskeleton, unbearably hot heat leaked out.
Violent forces transferred through the sharp screeching of metal rubbing against metal.
Steel reinforcements over the shoulders wailed as they cracked open, unable to bear the weight.
And the oversized, mournful iron hammer descended from above with a swing from Ji Jue.
The burst of airwaves spread in all directions alongside thick, viscous blood spraying out.
It was like smashing a ripe tomato.
The malformed creatures that charged through the door literally blacked out before their eyes—then blacked out again.
After taking a full hit from the hammer, before they could react, Ji Jue swept horizontally, sending it flying into the wall.
The impact cracked the wall again.
In pain, countless limbs converged into grotesque forms that howled wildly.
Limbs flailed in chaos, desperately holding up their misshapen bodies as they quickly regenerated.
They were already a bundle of raw, mangled flesh.
Ji Jue’s two heavy strikes had basically given them a complete makeover.
At this moment, eyes opened one by one on their “shoulders,” “waist,” and even “six legs,” glaring fixedly at Ji Jue.
Without any warning or wind-up, they charged forward in an instant!
Their speed was beyond belief.
They came like a phantom, crashing upon him in a split second.
Ji Jue didn’t even have time to raise the heavy hammer.
The vital spot on his neck and head was exposed beneath a large mouth suddenly opening wide on the creature’s chest.
Then...
Bia~!
The twisted creature abruptly stuck itself to the giant shield that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere in Ji Jue’s other hand.
Sharp spikes welded onto the shield pierced through its limbs and then out the back.
Like it was seeking its own death.
Only now did it realize, with whatever limited thinking ability it had, that that ridiculous huge shield in Ji Jue’s hand was none other than the very iron door just sealed into the wall a moment ago!
With pre-set connectors, a gentle tug easily loosened the deliberately damaged bolt.
Then, under layers of twisted iron cables being pulled taut, the massive iron door fell into Ji Jue’s hands, turning into a shield large enough to cover his entire body.
The sharp scrap metal welded onto the back of the door became a perfect gift for the malformed creature.
In the split-second clash, the creature didn’t even get a chance to react before it was jammed onto the shield.
Next...
Ji Jue powered up the hammer, and the sharp monster cry affixed to the hammer roared out like a wild banshee, colliding fiercely with another “fellow” pinned to the shield in a meteor-like embrace!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The iron door vibrated violently and shook as countless shreds of flesh and bones flew into the air.
The struggling malformed fused creature blindly released venomous liquid and spikes like bullets.
Unfortunately for it, none of its attacks could hit Ji Jue.
Even if a few bone spurs grazed him, his iron plating outside the protective suit stopped them cold.
Yeah, that plating was ripped off a barrel inside the room.
The coating was intact, the quality excellent—those barrels designed to hold hazardous chemicals made quick work of stopping a bone spur.
Every blow from the wailing hammer tore large chunks of flesh from the malformed creature.
Tendrils snaked from the maw on the hammer’s head, snaking quickly around the monstrosity, sucking blood and gnawing on bone, forbidding any easy escape or struggle.
Foes from the same kind truly wished for the death of one another.
The corrupted abominations were no different.
Howls continually echoed.
Giant mouths gaped open and shut, screams bursting forth again and again.
The massive twisted creature was nearly halved by blows.
In a desperate struggle, it finally broke apart the old steel pipes and iron scraps piercing its body.
Then, with a sudden yank causing hair-raising sounds of flesh tearing...
It forcefully broke free from the hammer and shield’s grip, terribly wounded, but it no longer dared to attack Ji Jue standing just a few paces away.
Instead, it began crawling wildly on the ground.
Sheer panic and terror surfaced in its mind like never before.
In a battle so bizarre, it even began doubting which of them—the creature or Ji Jue—was the true source of this corrupted evil.
At that moment, realizing it could not win, it forsook its lower body, dragging a mess of proliferating flesh behind as it turned and dashed for the basement exit.
It ran!
Ji Jue roared in anger.
“Running? Not a chance! You’re not allowed to run!”
He’d put in so much effort, wasted so many materials, barely worn the thing down to low health, and now it wanted to run after just dropping so little? Where was the honorable duel promised?
But he simply couldn’t catch it.
The hastily assembled transmission structure was crude from head to toe and could barely manage swinging that hammer.
The legs were struggling, nearly collapsing beneath the hundred-pound weight of the suit—it was best not to expect it to actually move properly.
Ji Jue sighed helplessly.
Then, stepping on a nearby pedal...
At that instant, the taut iron wire suddenly snapped.
Following it was a crisp burst.
Right in front of the doorway now missing the actual door.
Above the doorframe, a compressed canister hanging there exploded, pierced by sharp, rusty nails.
Sticky foam gushed out rapidly and detonated.
In an instant, it drenched the malformed creature’s face.
Inside the spray-can-like compressed tank, the leaked dark gray foamy substance reacted immediately upon contact with the air, hardening and sticking fast.
In less than a second, it solidified into nearly weightless chunks.
It wrapped around most of the corrupted creature, gluing it to the ground.
“...”
The malformed horror froze, dazed, struggling instinctively.
After more effort, small cracks formed in the hardened foam.
Freedom was in sight.
But it was too late...
Within seconds, Ji Jue dragged the heavy exoskeleton forward, stepping closer.
He lowered his head, casting a black shadow over the twisted, convulsing face.
Suddenly, he smiled.
“Running? Why’ve you stopped?”
Ji Jue pointed and asked, “I just said ‘hello’ earlier. But you ran off without even saying ‘goodbye’. Isn’t that rude? Don’t you look down on me?”
The malformed creature was stunned.
Those broken faces exposed on its flesh twisted and writhed, as if about to speak.
But then, beneath the rapidly looming shadow, an explosion roared!
The iron hammer crashed down!
“You’re the fucking one knocking, huh!”
Boom!
“You’re the one with the loud mouth?!”
Boom!
“You’re the one who’s rude!!!”
Boom!!
Amid the endless rumbling, the sound of bones shattering and flesh deforming sounded like a torrential rain of blood sprayed out, splattered all over Ji Jue’s handsome face.
It dyed his smile red.
And he was laughing.
Through the anguished wails and cries, he couldn’t hold back the wild laughter any longer.
At that moment, in front of the Tower of Myriad Transformations’ glowing illusion, the proctors had fallen into long silence, lasting a very long while...
For just a moment, Jiang Tongguang almost felt like forcing a smile and saying, “Well, it’s not so bad after all,” but no matter how he looked at the scene, it simply felt wrong!
More importantly...
“What is that?”
Gustav pointed over at the door, at the canister that sprayed foam.
Jiang Tongguang squinted, staring carefully for a long while.
“Hmm, it seems to be... half a can of gaseous compressed gel originally stored in the workshop?”
Just like the gray tiles and other parts, these were consumables intended to repair the workshop and maintain equipment for the examinees.
After all, it was an exam.
Even Gustav wasn’t cruel enough to toss candidates into an empty wasteland to fend for themselves.
They had to be given some basic tools.
But something seemed off...
Gustav grew more puzzled. “If he used the gaseous compressed gel here, then what did he use to patch the cracks in the workshop walls?”
“Umm... surprisingly excellent masonry skills.”
Jiang Tongguang called up recordings of the rewind light’s footage.
Watching the scenes, he had to admit even he was impressed.
He rubbed his eyes repeatedly.
“But honestly, this skill is pretty damn good. He even smoothly leveled and smoothed the walls!”
“...”
The rewind light recordings faithfully reproduced Ji Jue’s actions.
Including using gray tile fragments, ashes left in the furnace, and powder crushed from many discarded parts—all purified and lifted—mixed finally with grease to make a barrel full of glue that he could barely get through.
To be fair, it was convenient and workable.
But the strength simply wasn’t enough!
A brief calculation showed it was only enough to hold for a short while...
Oh, well, that was exactly his intention.
No problem.
Gustav was silent for a long time, then finally asked:
“What about the corrupted pollution that leaked inside?”
“...”
Jiang Tongguang’s expression twitched.
He pointed at some cables attached to the wall in the footage.
“They all fed into the furnace, used as catalysts to cultivate that malformed creature. Hmm, the effect was outstanding.”
In the quiet, the two exchanged a glance and simultaneously sighed in speechless agreement.
What a damned genius!
Ye Xian had truly found a demon...
“At least it proves the report from the Haizhou Association was accurate. His skills and abilities...”
Jiang Tongguang nodded in approval, “There’s definitely a lot of untapped potential here.”
Setting aside other factors, the ability to react quickly, improvise rapid modifications, and deploy unexpected countermeasures aside, just being able to directly turn corrupted creatures from the furnace into tools alone was “fast, precise, ruthless, and venomous”!
Ordinary apprentices encountering this would be crying from fear, barely able to move.
How could they laugh like this and act like they’d struck gold?
But he really had.
Materials refreshed right inside the furnace.
What else could you call that but hitting the jackpot?
“If you tell me this is his first time dealing with corrupted creatures, I won’t believe it.”
Jiang Tongguang sighed, flipping to Ji Jue’s resume, reading a work review from the Haizhou Association’s Quancheng Recycling Division: “Superior, understands the big picture, takes care of colleagues, brave to shoulder responsibility, and has some experience handling corrupted creatures.”
He’d thought it was just polite praise.
After all, aren’t done-up young masters generally like this? But the one thing he didn’t expect was the Quancheng supervisor was actually too damn conservative.
“Some experience,” huh?
Watching how smoothly Ji Jue handled corrupt creatures in the forge, his familiarity was almost better than his own!
If it weren’t for the complete absence of any demonic connections on him, plus three masters vouching for him, Jiang Tongguang would have thought he was one of the big shots from the Yōuyōu Association coming undercover.
And judging by how solid his fundamentals were, plus his knowledge of ancient alchemy and nimble operations...
“Good heavens, each generation is stronger than the last.”
Jiang Tongguang clicked his tongue in admiration.
“Ah, old Gu, this kid has real talent!”
Gustav only stayed silent.
Seeing Ji Jue hammer that malformed creature half to death, then put the door back in place and repaired it, and then tossed the corrupted creature in the furnace thinking about recycling it... he’d already lost words.
Fortunately, only Ji Jue was this ridiculously uncanny candidate.
He could still look at other projections to calm his blood pressure.
---
Right now in the workshop, intense activity buzzed on.
After reinforcing the workshop, Ji Jue, piloting the nearly worn-out exoskeleton, tirelessly folded and squashed the dying corrupted creature repeatedly, stuffing it violently into the furnace.
As the fierce flames burned and spiritual matter disintegrated and reconstructed, the overloaded furnace shook violently, cracks constantly appearing, only to be repaired by Ji Jue with various materials.
The motto was simple: as long as it doesn’t explode, it can keep going.
Besides, it was spinning just fine for now.
From inside the furnace, familiar wails and screams arose again.
In a corner, the freshly forged flesh-and-iron hammer trembled silently, afraid to make a sound.
The bursts kept coming.
Bulky, useless parts and tissues burned to ashes while viscous blood slowly oozed from the cracks, pooling into a growing bloodstain on the floor.
So tragic.
Ji Jue sighed in regret but promptly scooped up the blood into a basin to avoid waste.
Judging by quality, this corrupted creature was stronger than the one that crawled out from the furnace, but still limited in power—just scrap.
Several chosen corpses merged and corrupted to form the malformed monster.
It would have to do.
Resources were limited.
No one could afford to be picky.
In times of hardship, mutual endurance for the greater good was the way forward.
What’s that? That’s called “bearing with each other for the public good!”
“Don’t worry, soon.”
Ji Jue patted the furnace in reassurance. “Once you finish counting the scratches in the furnace, you’ll turn into one of those handy tools soon enough!”
The screams grew even more piercing with the rising heat.
Ji Jue stepped through the blood pool, dragged over a chair, and outside the workshop amid thunder, heavy rain, and various eerie sounds, he comfortably sat by the fire.
Whistling, he began to sing.
---
For every examinee, this long, grueling night finally came to a close, leaving behind panic and anxiety new to all.
Almost like a nightmare.
The corrupted infestation at night, creatures wandering outside the door, malformed beasts emerging from the furnace, unknown things crawling through pipes in the dead of night, and then the violent earthquake and collapse at dawn...
Each event, one by one, wore out the candidates’ souls completely — tormenting them to the brink of death.
Yet when the black night finally ended, no sun rose.
The first candidate who mustered courage, fully prepared, stepped beyond the vanished air barrier—and saw utter devastation amidst the ruins.
Buildings once rather sturdy were now on the verge of collapse.
Outside the basement, corpses lay everywhere.
The damp rotting bodies already attracted many strange insects that feasted upon them.
Flies buzzed up and down; foul stench spread through the air.
Seeing the sign hanging on the wall, bearing the words “Lu Ye Frontier Observation Center,” their hearts finally dropped into the abyss.
At this point, they understood the origin of this exam’s template...
—The Disaster of No Light!
One hundred and forty-one years ago, in the far west of the Endless Sea, the frontier of current civilization suffered a terrible calamity known as the Disaster of No Light.
Due to lack of budget and long neglect, the head of the Lu Ye Frontier Observation Center abandoned their post, missing many warning signs.
Eventually, in the heavily polluted sea area, a terrifying corrupted beast rated “Terminal” level was born and hatched.
At its first cry, an unprecedented tide of corruption flooded all the nearby waters for thousands of miles.
Thick fog rolled in, spreading wider to cover dozens of islands including Lu Ye Island.
For three and a half months, those corrupted and polluted seas did not see the sun.
Wherever the disaster beast called the “Dark Sea Worm” passed, every living thing was instantly consumed.
The world was transformed into a demon realm.
Had it not been for the sparse islands and sparse population of the Endless Sea’s west, this disaster might have ranked among history’s worst.
When the Empire and Federation formed a joint fleet to finally exterminate the beast using the “Heavenly Work” designation, it was already three and a half months later.
Even now, the pollution in that sea area still hasn’t cleared.
Predictions say it will take over two hundred years for nature to heal naturally.
Unexpectedly, though, when the association’s investigation team arrived at Lu Ye Island to retrieve data, they found... unexpected survivors in this disaster.
One apprentice nobody had cared about.
When the corruption struck, the apprentice just happened to be forced to labor inside the workshop, escaping destruction.
For the next three months, this apprentice — one who had failed the craftsman exam multiple times — hid inside the observation station.
Relying on nearly expired stored food and only barely capable skills for patching up repairs, they surprisingly survived until the investigation team arrived.
After surviving such a brutal disaster, the apprentice gave up on further studies and becoming a craftsman.
Following association screening and quarantine, they cooperated with the association’s publicity as a mascot while the buzz lasted, making quite some money and passing into ordinary old age.
Thanks to the ether records extracted from him after by the association, scene replays and analysis found that his seemingly miraculous survival was actually not that hard.
Lu Ye Island was just out of the core corrupted pollution area, and the corrupted creatures and demons bred on the island weren’t much interested in a mere scrap of flesh and spirit from a living person.
One might say: sometimes being too weak is a blessing.
At least that little sweetness wasn’t worth the demons’ attention... and those interested couldn’t find or kill him.
As long as one weathered the first wave of attacks, maintained and repaired the observation station cautiously and low-key, survival was not impossible.
In truth, the whole process was pretty simple—you just needed hands!
It was a shame, looking back through history, everything seemed easy.
Even knowing the methods and measures brutally smooth the path and bring success, when such a harsh reality struck every candidate, all went black before their eyes.
Especially when they climbed the broken observation tower, looking down over the whole island.
Under the faint, dim light, strange shadows writhed silently across the large island.
Groups of twisted creatures ran wildly, howling—unceasing cries filling the air.
Huge corrupted beasts took root in the barren island, extending countless tentacles.
Above the misty sky, rotting giant birds spread their wings, crying out hungrily.
The world had fallen to demons, the entire Lu Ye Island a nightmare hell.
In the Tower of Myriad Transformations’ simulation, this three-month ordeal of survival hadn’t even begun yet, and already countless candidates were losing hope.
All except Ji Jue.
“Are you serious? Is this really an exam?”
He put down the telescope, rubbed his eyes, lifted it again, and carefully inspected.
It was hard to believe.
“Why is there good timber and beautiful jade everywhere outside?!”
(End of Chapter)