3

Lightning lashed across the sky like silver snakes, illuminating the entire chemical plant with Mark's fury.

"Burned to death by lightning!" I wrote the last character with my pen.

In an instant, the lightning in Mark's hand went out of control. The arc of electricity that had been heading towards me suddenly reversed, swirling back at him like a hungry wolf pouncing on its prey. Blue-white lightning enveloped him, his body convulsing and burning in the lightning, emitting screams that were inhuman.

"No! Impossible! I am an Awakened One!" Mark's voice twisted and distorted amidst the lightning. "You're just trash! A piece of trash—"

Before he could finish speaking, he was engulfed by lightning and turned into a pile of charred remains.

An unprecedented deathly aura surged from Mark's corpse, more than ten times denser than the deathly aura of ordinary people. This deathly aura rushed into my body, repairing my near-collapse injuries, but at the same time accelerating my demonization process.

I felt a chilling power coursing through my veins, my muscles grew stronger, and my senses became unusually acute. But most terrifyingly, my craving for killing intensified.

Hela gasped, " You haven't even fully adapted to the death energy of a hundred mortals, and you 've already killed off an Awakened One ? And... look at your eyes!"

I walked up to a piece of broken glass and saw my reflection.

His originally blood-red pupils have now turned into a deep blackish-red, with black flames seemingly leaping within them.

The black patterns on his skin became more complex, resembling some kind of ancient magical runes.

[Slay a mid-level Awakened]

[Death energy has increased significantly]

[Demonization increased to 25%]

[Unlock Ability: Dying Will Enhancement]

I could feel my reason slipping away little by little, being replaced by some primal, violent desire.

But strangely, I wasn't afraid. On the contrary, I felt a freedom I'd never felt before.

"How are you feeling?" Hela floated in front of me, her voice filled with obvious unease.

"Very good." I searched Mark's body and found a black access card with the golden Dawn City emblem on it. "Never been better."

This is a high-level access card for the Upper District.

With it, I can enter the world of those powerful and wealthy people.

I straightened my blood-stained collar; despite the tattered clothes, at least I didn't look like a madman.

Then I walked toward the exit of the chemical plant, my gaze fixed on the core area of Dawn City in the distance.

Those towering steel spires gleamed under the artificial sun, as if mocking the suffering of the lower classes.

"Where are you going?" Hela asked, her voice trembling, as she followed behind me.

"Upper District." I weighed the access card in my hand. "There's a grand banquet there tonight."

Every first Friday of the month, the powerful and wealthy in the Upper City gather on the top floor of the Golden Glory Building for a so-called "charity dinner for the reconstruction of civilization".

"Leo, listen to me..." Hela's voice grew urgent, "You must stop! Your demonization is already severe. If you continue killing, especially stronger Awakened ones, you will completely lose your humanity! In the end, you might even kill innocent people!"

I stopped and slowly turned around.

Those dark red eyes made Hela take a step back.

"An innocent person?" My voice was hoarse, unlike anything I'd ever heard. "Hela, do you even know what 'innocent' means?"

"Leo..." Hela didn't know how to answer.

"Three years ago, when the news of my parents' deaths in the war came, Uncle Thomas held me and wept, saying he would take care of me for the rest of his life." My voice grew colder and colder. "He said I was his only nephew, and we were family, bound by blood."

Hela fell silent.

"And then? The next day, he showed up before the review committee with a forged psychiatric evaluation report, claiming that I had become mentally unstable due to excessive grief and needed him to safeguard my assets. Those damned officials didn't even glance at me before handing over the 500,000 Aurora Coins in compensation and that mid-level awakening potion to him."

"And me? I was thrown into the Rust Belt, working like a dog in a chemical plant. And that family? They used my parents' blood money to move into a mansion in the Upper City, and that good-for-nothing David used my awakening potion to become a mid-level Awakener."

Hela's voice trembled even more: "But Leo, if you continue, you'll become a monster even more terrifying than them!"

"A monster?" I burst into laughter. "Hela, you're mistaken. I'm not becoming a monster—I'm becoming what this world needs. These scumbags only speak one language: fear."

"You're afraid." I stared at her. "Hela, the Grim Reaper, is afraid of me. Interesting."

Hela remained silent for a long time before finally saying softly, "Leo... I've seen too many souls consumed by revenge. In the end, they all lost everything they wanted to protect."

"I have nothing left to lose." I turned and continued walking. "Thomas Carson... Three years. It's time to settle the score."

Leaving the chemical plant, I boarded a subway train heading to the upper town. The carriage was mostly filled with middle-level employees heading home, dressed in respectable uniforms, discussing stock prices and real estate. When they saw me, a lowly resident of the Rust Belt covered in blood, they all showed expressions of disgust and quickly moved to the other end of the carriage.

I don't care.

Soon, their eyes will turn to fear.

The subway passes through layers of barriers, rising from underground tunnels in the Rust Belt District to elevated tracks in the Upper East Side.

Through the car window, I saw the dividing line between two worlds—a fifty-meter-high alloy wall that divided Dawn City into two completely different parts.

Inside the wall is heaven, outside the wall is hell.

The subway stopped at the Upper East Side Central Station. I swiped my card to get off, and the access control system scanned Mark's premium card; the green light came on.

"Welcome to the Upper Town, Mr. Smith," a mechanical voice announced.

As I stepped out of the train carriage, a completely new world unfolded before me.

A spacious marble plaza, an exquisite fountain garden, and pedestrians dressed in fine clothes strolling gracefully.

The air was free of the stench of chemical waste; instead, it was filled with a faint scent of perfume and coffee.

The artificial sun overhead is set to be exceptionally warm, ensuring a perpetually comfortable twilight experience here.

At the end of the square, the Jinhui Building stands like a giant, with warm light shining through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor.

I know the dinner is being held there.

I started walking towards the Golden Glory Building. Pedestrians on the street cast strange glances at me—not out of disgust, but out of confusion and fear. They couldn't understand why someone would appear in the Upper City dressed in such tattered clothes, and more importantly, the deathly aura emanating from me made them instinctively uneasy.

But it's okay. I have an access card.

As I approached the entrance of the Jinhui Building, two security guards in black suits stopped me. The moment they saw me, their hands instinctively moved towards the weapons at their waists.

"Sir, please show me the invitation." one of them said nervously.

I weighed Mark's access card in my hand: "Manager Smith, something came up and I need to come urgently."

The security guard scanned the card, then looked at my dark red eyes, a look of fear on his face: "Manager Smith...you..."

"It's for work," I said calmly, but my voice was hoarse and unsettling. "Just got back from the Rust Belt, dealt with some...trouble."

The security guard shuddered, but ultimately let them through.

After all, the access card was genuine, and they didn't dare offend an Awakened who looked dangerous.

The elevator ascended to the top floor. The moment the doors opened, a luxurious world unfolded before my eyes.

Crystal chandeliers, marble floors, men and women in elegant attire conversing gracefully while sipping champagne. The air is filled with the aromas of expensive perfumes and gourmet food.

One dinner here is enough to feed the people of the Rust Belt for a year.

My arrival silenced the entire banquet hall for a few seconds.

Everyone turned to look at me, the uninvited guest, their eyes filled with shock and disgust .

My gaze swept across the crowd and quickly locked onto a familiar figure.

Thomas Carson.

He was wearing a tailor-made black tuxedo, his hair was neatly combed, and he held a glass of red wine in his hand.

When he saw me, the smile on his face froze instantly, and the wine glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the marble floor with a crisp sound.

Beside him was my cousin, David Carson.

This good-for-nothing is now a beginner-level Awakener, and he's currently embracing a young and beautiful female companion.

When he saw me, his face turned pale instantly.

I flashed a devilish smile, my voice echoing through the banquet hall :

Good evening, everyone.

[Eye of Sin] is automatically activated.

Instantly, a dense array of scarlet charges appeared above Thomas's head:

Thomas Carson—embezzling orphanage property, forging documents, bribing officials, monopolizing water resources, indirectly murdering 372 poor people, and colluding with hostile forces...

David Carson—rape, murder, abuse of civilians, human trafficking...

I licked my lips, and the demonic power within me roared.

Tonight, the devil has come to feast.