Chapter 4

4

Bad News

I grew tired from running around, so I returned to my room to sleep . I arranged for Laurel to live on the floor below mine . I lived on the 13th floor of the Westside Residence, and Nie Zun lived next door to me .

When a person lives in this place for a long time, they often forget that they're actually just an intangible soul, and they live like any ordinary person would . This place was about the size of a small city, and it was split into four districts—the Eastside, Westside, Southside, and Northside .

The Northside was Blondie's turf, and it included the split zone's center, the large hall that I first arrived at . As the head of Split Zone No . 13, Blondie lived there, taking care of all the administrative business .

Each district has its own residential building, thirty stories tall, extending across the district . Every room was the same size, sufficient for one person to live in . Everyone here, aside from Blondie, lived in the same type of room, regardless of status .

Life was very simple .

Every district had its own jurisdiction system too . Aside from the expansive residential building, each district also had a school and marketplace building .

There were only these three buildings in each of the districts .

Life here was rather dreary for most, so they could freely decide to enroll in school, either as a student or a teacher . Some people continually spent their time at school, learning many things, waiting for the day that they'd meet their soul splitter . When they returned to the physical world, their accumulated knowledge would be useful, and they wouldn't have just wasted all their time .

Personally, I felt their concerns were unnecessary . The passage of time here was different from the world we came from . While I didn't know the exact conversion, no one here died from old age . So, time must pass by much slower in this world than that one, and that meant we'd be unlikely to see our physical bodies die .

This place seemed like it would exist eternally .

Aside from going to school to learn, people here could go to the market to sell and buy things . The selling and purchasing of goods was more of a bartering system, as there was no currency here . If you needed something, you asked for it, and if the seller liked you, they'd give that thing to you . Or maybe you'd help them with something in exchange for the goods .

The items in the marketplace were all provided by the blond man . If one wanted to operate a business in the market, they could apply to their district commander . The district commander would relay the request to the leader, and if he approved, he would distribute goods to be sold .

Though our appearances were formed by our consciousness, we were unable to produce something from nothing .

Most people who used the market were those who had certain items they really liked . Others only occasionally visited out of boredom .

While each district here had its own administrative system, you weren't allowed to kill in this world . And because we did not die in this world, loneliness grew to become our biggest enemies .

Just think about it for a moment . When you truly have an unlimited time to do anything, perhaps you'll find that you don't know what you should do . Everything ends up being the same . When everything is eternal and endless, things seem to lose all value . This is true of time as well .

But then, I awoke the next morning to panicked pacing downstairs, and then startling screams broke through the peace of the Westside .

I quickly grabbed my bow and arrow and opened the door .

Nie Zun was also exiting his room . His black hair was messy, and a pair of bewitching dark eyes swept over the area .

Following his gaze, I saw that a lot of people were rushing downstairs .

Seeing me exit my room, several people fearfully called out, "Commander, the 12th floor! The 12th floor! Something bad's happened!"

No one seemed to be able to spit out a complete sentence, so I waved them away and ran downstairs, my bow on my back . Nie Zun followed behind me .

On the 12th floor, the corridor was jam packed .

Most of the people living in Westside had ordinary appearances, so I just tried to shove my way through the crowd . When they saw me, many moved to let me pass .

I finally made my way through, but the scene I saw before me caused me to stop in my tracks .

A bone chilling feeling crept up from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head .

The door to the room was opened . The furnishings inside looked just the same as every other room's .

The only difference was that in the center of the room, there was a long and slender metal pole .

It was very long, extending from the ground up to the ceiling .

The pole had pierced trough a female body .

Laurel .

Young Laurel's body was skewered onto the pole, traveling from her bottom, up and out the top of her head, into the ceiling .

Her body was covered in blood, and the room was covered in bloodstains .

Her body was covered in blood, and the room was covered in bloodstains .

Because the pole had stabbed through the top of her head, Laurel was nearly beyond recognition . There was a faintly discernible mark on her neck, a small butterfly symbol that would have once glowed dimly . It was no longer lit because there was now a key inserted into it .

That meant that someone had both tortured the girl and then killed her with a splitting key . That's why she'd died in such a tragic manner .

The bloodstains around the room were likely from the killer, after they burst apart . There was no way to identify them now .

Under my administration, it had been a long time since anyone had died such a wretched and bloody death .

My eyes couldn't move, fixed on the sight in front of me . Laurel's hair was no longer soft and beautiful, but was now matted with blood . Her big, opened eyes were covered in blood, creating an unsightly image .

An anger that I'd never felt before suddenly surged through me .

This was Westside, the Westside that had always been opposed to murder . Who would suddenly do such a hair-raising thing? Or had someone encouraged this activity?

Cruelty was, after all, the only delight to be had in the split zone .

People here were too lonely . I realized, not long after my arrival here, that this pace was also very cruel .

The abilities that our bodies can make use of in this world rely on our mental force (MF) . That means that our mental force can be turned into physical strength .

For example, someone with 20 MF who used 10 of their levels to create a superhuman appearance, would have 10 levels remaining . If you wanted to have superhuman powers, like being able to jump 5 or 6 meters at a time, you would have to utilize more levels . If jumping 5 meters required 2 MF, when you jumped, you'd drop 2 levels, which would replenish when you landed .

This applies in a similar fashion when people fight . One's strength is dependent on the amount of levels they have to transform .

When trying to determine someone's strength, you cannot look at their appearance . Rather, you had to consider their willpower and their mental force .

People can choose to live ordinary lives here, and they can even eat . But you can also do nothing, if you'd please . Because our bodies here are formed from our consciousness, whatever you can think up goes . If you don't want to do anything you could very well lay in bed all day, and you still wouldn't die .

But the feeling of pain still exists .

That's why there are always people, who've grown too lonely, who decide to harm others for their own amusement .

This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak .

It was much crueler than the world of the living that we came from .

It was much crueler than the world of the living that we came from .

The only thing that was impossible here was to use your mind force to create things from thin air . Our mind force could only be used to enhance ourselves .

Items could only be bartered for in the market, and these items were provided solely by the blond man .

For the reason that this world is so merciless, it was split into four districts, led by commanders with high mental forces .

The Northside was a bit different from the other districts, as it was ruled by Blondie, who kept some mysterious people there . But the remaining three districts had their own sets of characteristics too .

The Southside was governed by a man named Si Luo . While I'd been here for more than a year, I'd yet to see him . The Southside was home mostly to people with an MF of 20 or lower, a very vulnerable group of people . For that reason, the Southside rarely had any murders or battles . They were all alike, weak .

But they say that, leaving Blondie out of the equation, Si Luo had the highest MF in the split zone, at 77 .

An MF of 77 was not only rare, he was the only one to have that one of that level .

That's why, even though the residents of his district were weak, people from other districts wouldn't easily encroach on them . For that reason, the Southside had also become known as the Promise Land . It was forever safe, and life there was simple and calm .

Contrary to that, Sly S's Eastside reeked of blood and murder, and was filled with violence and people out to plunder .

Those who lived in Eastside had higher than average mind forces . Any random person there would have an MF between 30 and 40 .

Ordinarily, a person's MF was between 10 and 20, which meant that Eastside was full of pretty strong people .

And so, the feeble had no way of surviving in the Eastside .

Sly S always had the appearance of a girl in a school uniform . She was a strange one, and her authoritative measures were as different from ours as black to white . She permitted an entirely destructive kind of lifestyle .

The remaining district, which was under my care, Westside, was the most half-baked of them all .

I was like a drink that people could never finish, halfway empty, sloshing around .

I don't know what Blondie was thinking when he decided, half a year ago, to make me the commander of Westside . My MF was only 52 .

While it was a relatively high value, it couldn't even begin to compare to Sly S or Si Luo's .

Sly S had an MF of 69, second only to Si Luo in the split zone . And me? I had a measly 52 .

While it was a relatively high value, it couldn't even begin to compare to Sly S or Si Luo's .

Sly S had an MF of 69, second only to Si Luo in the split zone . And me? I had a measly 52 .

Nie Zun arrived here at the same time as me, and he was also present when Blondie greeted me at the center . He'd arrived just an hour before me . When he first arrived, his MF was already 67, much higher than mine . It was very well known in the split zone, but he rarely exerted his mind force for anything . And since he didn't seem skilled in fighting, Blondie didn't give him a job . On that point, I could understand .

But even You Ji's MF of 51 was just barely less than mine .

Though there weren't many with a high mind force, at the least, there were enough people with one around 60 . I really couldn't understand why I was made commander of Westside .

So, I'd always remained rather carefree . I didn't concern myself too much with the happenings in Westside, leaving You Ji to take care of it in my stead .

You Ji had drawn up the rules for Westside, and under her governing, Westside was a considerably calm place . Even if it wasn't the haven that Southside was .

Most of the people who came to Westside were like me, not too heavily invested in things, just muddling along here .

There were still a number of violent acts here, but I was blind to them . It was always You Ji who took care of it .

We couldn't just randomly ask others to reveal their split symbols for us to see, and we couldn't use force to pressure others just to find our soul splitter either . Blondie wouldn't allow for such a thing .

Hence the purpose of a district commander, to lay down the rules and regulate the inhabitants of their district .

But I was completely useless . I'd been a commander for half a year, yet I didn't even know all the rules about Westside, because I left everything to be handled by You Ji and Nie Zun .

But now, in front of my eyes, there was a once beautiful young girl who'd just been waiting to return home . After her cruel death, I decided that I couldn't continue on in such an apathetic and idle manner .

Perhaps it was my attitude of paying no heed to things and of giving up on life that led to Laurel's tragedy .

Sometimes, we feel that being weak isn't a big deal, because as long as you aren't bullied, you can go on living a feeble life forever . But one day, you'll come to realize that weakness isn't yours alone . When you are weak, you will bring harm to those you care about .

Because you are weak, you will be unable to protect those who are important to you .

Nobody wants to force themselves to become powerful, but there will always be someone you want to protect . And then, all we can do is force ourselves to change .

Because, whether you are weak or strong, it doesn't only affect only you .

I looked at Laurel's small corpse, my hand tightly clenching onto my bow . My nails dug into my skin, and as fresh drops of blood appeared, my skin began to quickly regenerate .