Chapter 2089 - Empathy

“This is rather splendid, isn’t it? The beehive prison has been constructed according to Imperium’s best standard. Half a million prisoners can be kept here at most. It also boasts the abilities to imprison, transport, and interrogate prisoners of the Nascent Soul Stage.”

In the hollow part of the beehive prison that was filled with cold air, the warden introduced to Li Jialing very proudly, “Of all the private prisons in the Imperium, we are definitely the best in terms of scale, facilities, or the danger level of the prisoners kept inside. There is only a slim gap between our prison and the ‘Godly Might Penitentiary’, the prison of the highest level in the capital of the Imperium.

“Lord Wuying asked me to see that your every need in training is fulfilled. A spacious chamber for rest has been arranged down there. Here are the files of the three thousand prisoners that I have carefully selected. How about it? If you have a few candidates, I’ll have them delivered here immediately so that you can enjoy yourself.”

The warden’s hands moved and tapped quickly on the sphere light beam. All the files of the thousands of prisoners poured down like glittering waterfalls.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Aooooooooo!

Watching them slowly pass by on the floating disc, the dangerous prisoners caged on various levels of the beehive prison were all uttering inhuman roars and crashing the tempered glass hard with all their strength. Sticking their bizarre, hideous faces to the transparent glass wall until their skin was broken and their heads were bleeding, they showed no intention of stopping at all.

The devastating blood left burning marks on the tempered glass, which turned into twisted masks that looked even more creepy.

“What kind of people are locked here?”

Li Jialing browsed through the files of the prisoners quickly. “They all look rather interesting.”

“They are mainly all kinds of traitors who initiated riots, sabotages, or strikes at the rear when the army of the Imperium was fighting arduous battles against the Covenant Alliance in the frontline, trying to disrupt the Imperium in such a way.”

The warden said, “However, those traitors are generally rather weak. Many of them are even hominoids. They won’t be of much help with training.

“If you have to choose them, I suggest you select this batch. Yes. We have run a lot of modifications on those people. They have survived the deadly screenings with rates of elimination that were higher than 90%. So, they all boast some combat ability right now.

“Or maybe the criminals who have committed felonies here. They were mostly the poor wretches who failed the internal competitions in their families or sects and sought illegal approaches to take everything back despite the risks. But then, they were stupid enough to be discovered by other people. As a result, they were sent to this place eventually.

“Those people were Immortal Cultivators in the beginning. So, they are all rather tough.”

Li Jialing blew a whistle. “From the record here, those people are all ferocious and dangerous. Can you ensure the absolute safety of the beehive prison?”

“Of course!”

The warden grinned confidently. “As you have seen, the entire beehive prison is soaked in a super magnetic field, which is generated by a great array that we call ‘Dragnet’.

“All the walls and floors that make up the cells of the beehive prison are made of very special magnetic materials, which have been specially modified. They are mutually attracted by the shackles on the prisoners’ wrists, ankles, and necks, restraining them as tightly as invisible chains. The prisoners have to use tremendous strength just in order to make a step forward.

“Under the most extreme circumstances, if we activate the array of ‘Dragnet’ to the maximum, the pulling force that it generates will equal to the maximal impetus of a crystal warship when it is launched!

“Whoever dares to move recklessly will be pulled to the floor, the wall, or somebody else’s shackles by the super magnetic field. If they are determined to struggle free, they will only squeeze their bones out of their body, until it falls apart and breaks up!

“Therefore, even the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage can barely escape after they are caged here!”

While talking, the warden displayed a simple illustration of the defense array of the beehive prison on the light beam, which allowed Li Jialing to see the energy supply flowchart of the entire beehive prison and the location of the source of the energy.

Narrowing his eyes, Li Jialing asked calmly, “So, are there any experts in the Nascent Soul Stage that are caged here?”

The warden smiled. Such a sensitive question was beyond the permissions that Wuying Lan had granted. It was naturally inappropriate for him to reply.

“Alright. I’ll pick those three first.”

Li Jialing clicked three random names on the light beam, pretending that he had just asked the question casually.

…

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three utterly deformed prisoners who looked like human-shaped animals attacked Li Jialing, who was wearing a pure white, light, and graceful crystal suit, from three directions respectively, only to be blown backward by him again and again into the wall of the training room, leaving devastating traces of blood there.

But the three prisoners seemed to have been injected with excitants that far exceeded the extreme dosage before they were delivered to Li Jialing for testing. They had completely gone into the berserker state, and although their faces were bleeding, their joints were broken, and their guts were flowing out of their chests, they did not stop lunging at the enemy crazily.

“Just break all their limbs.”

Li Yao couldn’t help but remark, “Completely cripple them so that they wouldn’t be able to move anymore. Chances are that they can still survive. Otherwise, they will not stop attacking until they die.”

“You are going to save the lives of those crazy, demonic prisoners?”

Li Jialing snatched the wrist of a prisoner as quickly as a flash of lightning. After a slight shake from him, the bones in the entire arm were shattered into pieces no larger than fingernails.

Then, his legs burst out like cannonballs and completely blew up the knees of the prisoner after earsplitting explosions. Eventually, he kicked the prisoner right in the chest, knocking him to the wall on the opposite side into a flower of blood.

The young man said coldly, “You haven’t answered my question just now. What are the real Cultivators? You obviously have the unparalleled strength to do anything you want to be unbound by any rules, but why do you want to be part of the silly Cultivators?”

After a brief silence, Li Yao said, “I’ll spare you the boring philosophies. After all, even if I preach them to you right now, you wouldn’t believe them. Let’s just talk about the beginning. I wanted to become a Cultivator at the beginning perhaps because of only a simple word—’empathy’.”

“What do you mean by ’empathy’?”

The young man turned into a streak of brilliance and opened his hand, grabbing the head of the second dangerous prisoner and throwing him to the ground. The spiritual energy was passed to the back of the head from the jaw and wrecked his spine completely, terminating his ability of action.

“It is a very simple logic.”

Li Yao said, “For example, many innocent or guilty prisoners are kept in this beehive prison. But innocent or guilty, all of them are suffering inhuman tortures that they do not deserve for their crimes. Just listen to the screams and roars outside that never cease day or night, and you should understand how terrifying the torture is.

“The same torture once happened to you, too. It is a past that you would rather never recall, right?”

Li Jialing’s pupils constricted violently as he tossed the second prisoner who couldn’t move anymore far away.

“When you hear the screams of other people, you remember your pains in the past and realize that the prisoners are the same as you. You are the same kind who suffer the same misfortunes. That is ’empathy’.”

Li Yao said, “When you think of how terrible the pains you bore in the past were, and that such terrible pains are being imposed on some ordinary people who cannot even catch a chicken, or the innocent little girls and the white-haired old ladies, it is only natural that you feel pitiful and even angry. You will feel the urge to do something.”

“I am different from them.”

Li Jialing held the third prison’s iron fist that was punching at him. Staring at the man who was like an ape without hair, he said coldly, “I totally understand.”

Li Yao said, “After feeling the pain of other people, there will be two choices. The first is, naturally, to consider the victims as your own kind and even your family. You will try to extricate them from their pain without bothering anything and to destroy the guys who have caused mutual agony for you.

“But the path is too difficult to be finished after all. Too many prices must be paid, and you may not see the end of it at all.

“So, there is another path that is much simpler. You can try to hypnotize yourself and make yourself believe that you are different from them. Or rather, those people do not deserve to be called real ‘humans’ at all. They are simply ‘hominoids’, nothing better than swine and ants.

“In such a way, you have removed your ability of empathy and changed into someone cold, ruthless, and self-deceiving. Naturally, you can turn a deaf ear to the screams and cries of your own kind and a blind eye to their bleeding, miserable situations.

“You must’ve guessed it. The first path is the Cultivators’ choice, and the second one is the Immortal Cultivators’.

“In fact, even I feel that the Immortal Cultivators’ choice is simple, straightforward, and free. I do not want to always meddle in other people’s business and ask for trouble, at the risk of being criticized for petty kindness. But it can’t be helped. No matter how I hypnotize myself, I cannot completely eliminate the slight bit of ’empathy’ deep inside my heart. Just because of the bit of ’empathy’, I have suffered too many unfortunate things that I could’ve avoided. But what choice do I have? I am quite upset, too!”

Li Jialing scorned. “Empathy…”

“Exactly.”

Li Yao smiled. “Did you know? A long, long time ago, I grew up in a place where the environment was extremely harsh. In the beginning, I was as ruthless and coldhearted as you, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for my survival. The jungle law of survival of the fittest was my intrinsic belief, too.

“But somebody from the sky planted a seed of ’empathy’ at the bottom of my heart, which changed everything later!”