Meanwhile, Xiao Ping regained consciousness and slowly opened his dull, weary green eyes, wondering exactly where he was. He pondered to himself: Was he still in that dilapidated shack? Or had he died, and it was time to be held accountable for all the actions he had committed throughout his life?!
But there was nothing to see except the bright, radiant light surrounding him, making everything around him clear, yet he had no idea what exactly existed in this luminous void.
There was nothing—no sound, no touch, not even a sense of anything around him. All his senses were shut down except for his eyes. Not to mention movement, he felt as if he were bound by powerful chains all over his naked body.
Unable to speak or utter a word, he remained silent, floating in the bright emptiness. He could do nothing but recall the conversation he had heard while dying inside the shack.
He never expected the villagers to be so despicable and vile. They knew there was a lonely person on the mountain suffering from poverty and hunger, yet they offered him no help.
Thoughts of annoyance, hatred, and anger raced through Xiao Ping's mind. He even thought about taking revenge on them—burning their houses and farms to show them who they had messed with and make them regret it.
But he pushed those personal thoughts aside.
He didn't even have the strength to carry a corpse with his frail body, let alone burn and destroy the villagers' homes! They would surely resist him, and that was the problem—they outnumbered him, and his body was too weak. He believed that if one of the villagers punched him, he would die from it! But then he remembered he had a gun he found on the dead man's body. Yet, what could he do with it? He wasn't skilled in shooting, and he didn't even know if it had any bullets left.
He kept pushing new thoughts into his mind. He had longed to explore the world, but unfortunately, he ended up dying from hunger and exhaustion. His death was pitiable, so much so that he decided to abandon his revenge because he didn't even know whether he was dead or alive.
Memories flooded back to him—when he was on the verge of death, he saw the black-covered book flying in front of him just as he was about to close his eyes. It showed him the preface he had never cared about before and asked for his approval. At that moment, Xiao Ping had no choice but to accept, since he was going to die anyway—or so he thought.
After that, exhaustion overwhelmed him, and he closed his eyes. When he woke up, he found himself here.
He then realized that the book was not as ordinary as he had thought—that it was merely a children's book.
As thoughts swirled in his mind, a hoarse, emotionless voice echoed in the luminous void. His sense of hearing had returned:
"Do you want to take revenge on them?" Before adding: "Forget it, you're just weak now. Perhaps in the future." The voice sounded indifferent to Xiao Ping's petty revenge.
At that moment, everything around him changed from bright white to a bloody red with ominous darkness. The peaceful and serene atmosphere was replaced by one of savagery.
As the atmosphere shifted, Xiao Ping's feelings turned to danger, fear, and awe.
He tried to speak, but his lips remained motionless, sealed together without moving.
When the entity saw that there was no response to its words, it spoke again, this time with a tone of amusement:
"It seems I forgot that you can't move. But no matter, I'll let you speak soon."
After the entity finished speaking, a wave of powerful energy surged toward Xiao Ping at high speed. At that moment, Xiao Ping felt that savage energy wrapping around his body, enveloping him entirely with force. He felt as if he were being strangled to death, but it didn't stop there—it continued to press down on him so hard that he felt he would explode at any moment!
He tried to scream, but not a single sound escaped his lips. At that moment, he could only curse inwardly. He thought to himself: "Didn't this entity say it would let me speak?!"
With every passing second, Xiao Ping felt such intense pain that he lost consciousness once again.
"Huh, what?" The entity was surprised by what it saw.
Upon seeing that his little toy had lost consciousness so quickly, the entity could only say: "Tsk tsk, what a weak human! How dare you lose consciousness before I allowed it!" Its tone suggested anger.
Once again, it directed energy toward the unconscious Xiao Ping, but this time toward his soul rather than his body.
At that moment, a powerful heartbeat was heard from Xiao Ping's unconscious body.
Thump... thump...
His body suddenly jerked. His eyes widened, and his breath came in rapid gasps as if his chest could no longer contain the world. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, and his hands trembled as he stared at the bloody, oppressive atmosphere around him while floating.
He looked around again and realized he was back in the same situation, but this time he could move, and his senses had returned.
He felt overwhelming joy, but soon his expression twisted, and he shouted in a firm voice: "Who are you? And why did you strangle me earlier?" He paused for a moment and added: "And what do you mean by 'in the future'? Do you know me?"
Xiao Ping could only doubt the entity's words about "the future," but he was cautious with his words. He knew that if he angered it, he might be strangled again or worse! So he was very careful and made sure not to show any hatred or hostility toward it.
"Hehehehe, you're such an entertaining human for a toy..." The entity let out a devilish laugh and added: "Do I know you? Hehehehe... It seems you're implying that I don't know anything about you."
After those words, a powerful wave of bloody energy surged toward Xiao Ping. He tried to avoid it, but it was already too late.
When it hit him, he felt as if his body had been completely shattered—his bones broken, nothing left intact. He felt his internal organs under tremendous pressure, as if they were being squeezed from the inside.
"Aaaaaaah!" A painful scream escaped Xiao Ping's mouth as he tried to rise up and escape the wave swallowing him. But since all his bones were broken, he couldn't do anything.
"Yes, yes, keep suffering, hehehehe, this is so entertaining. You're like a worm trying to climb out of a bucket of water. Keep suffering more and more..." Seeing Xiao Ping screaming and suffering, the entity could only laugh madly and mock him.
Xiao Ping could hear its laughter but couldn't see it. He thought to himself: "Damn it, who is this bastard? And why does he enjoy watching me suffer? Why does he love torturing me? Why, why?!"
"Will I really die from this pain? It's ten times worse than the pain I felt before, so why haven't I passed out like last time?"
As he said this, he finally understood the reason his body couldn't faint to reduce the pain from being tortured in this way.
The entity was controlling his mind, preventing his body from entering a state of unconsciousness—all just to increase his suffering!
"Damn you..." Upon realizing this, Xiao Ping endured the pain and cursed the entity that continued to torture him.
Deep hatred welled up inside Xiao Ping because of the evil entity's actions. It was enjoying itself while torturing him—how could he not be angry?
He gritted his teeth again and shouted with all his strength: "You damn entity or whatever! Stop hiding like a coward and show yourself to fight me like a man, you idiot!" He no longer tried to calm himself, so his words revealed immense resentment and anger toward the entity. Of