As usual, the bookstore's business was dead.
All day, there hadn't been a single customer.
Ling PingAn had happily and quietly played games throughout an entire day and night.
Finally, when dizziness and blurry vision struck him, he put down his phone.
Looking at the newest medal he'd received that was displayed on his phone's screen, he felt smug.
"Tsk, tsk,..." Ling PingAn thought to himself haughtily, "...heroes in the rift are just fodder waiting to be slaughtered!"
"Too easy! Too simple! Too effortless!"
From the afternoon until the evening, he'd only lost one game.
And this was partly because his team had had only two dcs [1], whereas his opponent was hacking, constantly pushing and applying pressure to the lanes that caused the losses.
At other times, almost everything they did were one-sided stomps.
Thus, soon Ling PingAn rose into the Diamond rank.
Rubbing his sore temples, Ling PingAn grabbed a cup, found the bag of unknown leaves from the drawer, took out a few and made himself a cup of tea.
Drinking the fragrant, sweet tea, his whole body's exhaustion and aches and pains were swept away.
Ling PingAn checked out the time on the computer.
It was 8:30 a.m.
"I'm going to do a new chapter today," he said to himself.
Next thing you know, he'd sat down at the counter and started typing.
...
The shadow from Han Li's figure rose and fell from between the tall buildings that had long been abandoned.
She arrived swiftly at a building that still looked glamorous, which was located in the northern section of the former downtown of Donglin City.
On the glass front of the building, the logo of Zhentai Industries still hung.
She raised her head and looked up at the 55-story, 160-foot-high skyscraper.
The ravings by her ears skittered around.
The edifice before her had gradually changed its appearance as she was looking at it.
The once-glorious edifice looked now like a piece of driftwood.
The smooth glass exterior which Han Li had thought she was looking at was actually covered with various molds.
Han Li walked forward expressionlessly, pushed open the glass door, and entered the building.
The lights that still hung in the hall to welcome guests lit up one after another.
Then Han Li could hear the sound of sobbing and crying rising from all directions.
Gusts of chilling winds blew out of the building toward Han Li, causing her to feel an inexplicable coldness.
But she just smiled.
"Puny ghosts, how dare you be presumptuous toward me?" Han Li waved her hands, and the long scarlet whip she had brought with her could be seen in her hands.
Clap!
The long whip struck the air, giving off a crisp sound.
With the sound of the whip, the lights hanging in the hall fell to the ground, one by one.
The sound of sobbing and crying disappeared completely.
Even the cold winds ceased blowing.
But the long whip in Han Li's hand continued to stretch forward.
It was as if it had a mind of its own. It seemed to be pursuing something.
Finally, the whip found what it had been looking for.
Han Li yanked on it and the long scarlet whip returned to her, dragging something in red clothes with long hair covering its face along with it.
The ravings by her ears skittered and urged her on.
Han Li was struggling.
However, in the end, she couldn't resist the exhortations of the noise by her ears.
She squatted down and looked at the thing that was still struggling as it was bound by the whip.
Its long hair that had seemed to grow from its head was actually covering its whole body.
When looked at carefully, it was evident that this thing, in fact, only consisted of red clothes and long hair.
Underneath the red clothes and long hair, there was only a cloud of ash-gray gas, which seemed to be shaped like a human.
Actually, Han Li could see that even the red clothes and long hair didn't exist.
The whole thing was just a cluster of light with a vaguely human shape.
Looking at it, Han Li couldn't help but drool.
Then, she put out her hands subconsciously, grabbed the thing, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Gnaw, gnaw...
Han Li's eyes gradually turned red.
She looked like a ferocious beast.
Vicious and cruel...
She munched on the ball of light with gusto as if she was eating the most delicious thing in the world.
This was an Evil Spirit that countless demon hunters had once folded their hands at helplessly.
An Evil Spirit that even the United Nations Security Council couldn't eliminate.
To Han Li it had become food.
Because this was indeed inherent in it.
In the Abysmal Maw, all ghosts, souls, and earthbound spirits were just food for demons.
In essence, demons were an existence that fed on souls.
Devouring the Red Devil Spirit completely, Han Li stood up and looked around her. Everything had become completely different once again.
The hall that once had been clean and tidy because of the Red Devil Spirit's existence had now turned into a dilapidated place full of dust and cobwebs.
Several skeletons were lying scattered around beside the sofa in the hall.
Han Li stuck her tongue out and licked her plump, bright lips.
"Tasty!" she commented on the Red Devil Spirit's taste.
The Red Devil Spirit, which had been entrenched in this edifice for more than ten years and had caused much disappointment to countless demon hunters, had now ceased to exist.
...
Elizabeth was now no different from a skeleton.
All her flesh and blood had become fuel.
She had been converted into a magnificent, powerful piece of machinery guided by the turbulence of her steam turbine.
Now, she hauled all the tanks and armored vehicles together, piling them up into a mountain of steel and machinery that looked oddly pleasant and inexplicably logical.
The first prototype of the Altar of Steel had been constructed.
The pedrail wheels had become the foundation.
The armor served as its outer wall.
The turret had been configured into its holy emblem.
The engine and generator were powered by eikons.
Boxes of ammunition and barrels of fuel had been placed in the center of this mountain of steel.
"More is excellence! Big is beauty!" She raised her head and looked at the great altar in front of her, the sacred Altar of Steel. Her eyes were full of piety and awe.
This underground munitions warehouse had been altered beyond recognition.
Everything had been transformed.
However…
Elizabeth lowered her head and looked at the Gospel for Synthetic Beings that she held in her hands.
Suddenly, at this moment, this scripture of machinery had flipped into a brand-new chapter.
One by one, the characters that were made of iron and steel slowly turned into molten metal and flowed into Elizabeth's body, causing her scrawny body to become plump once again.
The Gospel also made sure to inform her of what she would need to accomplish during the next step in constructing this Altar of Steel.
"Only with blood can iron and steel be given a will."
She confirmed, "Only after the infusion of life can the machinery be awakened!"
Therefore, she was going on a hunt.
She needed to hunt down the minions of Diablos and use their blood to water this sacred altar.
She had to capture the descendants of Diablos and infuse their lives into her machinery.
"Almighty spirit of all machinery!" Elizabeth worshipped at the altar in front of her piously. "You are one and also the 10,000--the existence and the void!"
"You are the savior of the world and the apocalypse of destruction!"
"You are the steampunk!"
"You are the Buddha of Steel!"
"You are the Father, the Blessed Virgin, and the Holy Spirit!"
"May your words travel across all universes and roar in every world like a machine's engine!"
She stood up and walked out of the warehouse.
The two laser knives extended from her arms.
Flesh and blood were pumped into the steam turbine. The turbine was burning.
She was going to take part in a massacre!
...
Sitting at the counter, Ling PingAn's inspiration burst forth like a tide.
He had almost finished a chapter of 2,000 words in less than half an hour.
All of a sudden, he fell into a trance.
All the inspiration came to an abrupt halt.
There seemed to be noises in his ears.
Vaguely, he thought he was hearing a series of blurry sounds of unknown meaning.
This sound resembled that of an engine of a car when it was in the middle of breaking down.
However, it also seemed like it was the sound of prayers in Taoist and Buddhist temples.
It lasted about two seconds at most.
Then, the noise vanished completely.
Ling PingAn dug his fingers into his ears, "F*ck!"
"What is this?"
"I'm having auditory hallucinations at such a crucial moment...?"
"Man!"
Looking at the Word document that was already at 1,725 words, he wanted to cry.
It was 275 words short.
This wasn't a problem that adding water could solve.
So…
Ling PingAn stared at the computer and said, "Today's update has probably just gone down the drain!"
"But I didn't upload it yet, so it's not that big a deal."
Besides…
To be frank, for a terrible author, even if they go back on their promises...
So what?
Nobody would care at all.
Receiving death threats and being forced to update their chapters was a treatment that only great authors would have.
As for terrible ones…they were unworthy!
He raised his head and looked at the clock.
"It's only a little past 9:00 a.m." Ling PingAn was surprised. He grabbed his phone, "Not playing a few games on such a beautiful day would truly be a disservice to such a gorgeous day!"
At that, he went into the rift.
******
[1] A dc is a person who has disconnected from a game.