"Ah, my head is splitting…"
Guard: "Hmm, so you've finally woken up."
"Who are you? Where am I?"
James felt a bit disappointed. He thought that if he fainted or died, he would finally wake up in reality—though he had no idea what would happen when he woke up in reality, after all, his head had been severed and he had died.
In this case, only one conclusion remained: Everything he was experiencing was real.
He had questioned this a lot, so now he could accept it. Still, there was a sense of meaninglessness in his eyes.
"How did I wake up in this body? Consciousness is something even modern medicine and science still can't fully explain. So, did the electrical signals zipping between my brain synapses suddenly enter this body? No, even if that were the case, I couldn't have such comprehensive memories. Besides, in this world, medicine isn't that advanced—they use something called Supremacy, a kind of magic. Wait, is this magic?"
"Putting everything aside, why are there humans here? Humans are the result of a 2-million-year evolutionary process. 2 million years ago, the first primate; 500,000 years ago, the first homo genus; 200,000-100,000 years ago, homo sapiens; and for the last 10,000 years, modern humans."
"Did they come to these planets from Earth? Physiologically and mentally, they're exactly the same as humanity on Earth. Then what about the evolutionary process? How can a natural event that happened on Earth be replicated exactly in a different space-time? Is that possible?"
A few options come to mind:
1. The concept of science on Earth is completely a lie. These 'Supreme' beings are manipulating Earth's knowledge.—This is the weakest hypothesis, but I definitely want it to be true.
2. I reincarnated in a parallel universe.—This seems exciting, but it's the one I least want. The second weakest hypothesis.
3. The enemy state we were at war with kidnapped me and put me in a simulation.—This is the strongest hypothesis; after all, no other explanation makes sense to me.
"Among these, the only one I want is option 1. If I'm in a different point of the same universe, I can return to Earth and see my mother, father, and her again…"
"Ahh, Isabella. I miss you so much…"
At that moment, while still analyzing in his head, coming up with hypotheses, and drifting into dreams, he had forgotten—or his brain didn't want to acknowledge—where he was and who he was with.
The guard banged his stick against the iron bars and shouted:
"Snap out of it!"
"What do you mean by 'Who are you? Where am I?' Are you pretending to be an idiot to save yourself?"
When James heard these words, he couldn't help but feel pleased. Not because he was a masochistic pervert who enjoyed insults, but because he could understand a few words in the speech.
Words like "You," "Where," "Who," "Idiot" he could understand and say.
On one hand, he drifted into thoughts again.
"The last thing I remember is being kicked, then standing with a sword in my hand and bleeding from every pore. The memories after that are hazier. I saw a ranked guard suddenly disappear from in front of me and appear behind me… Beyond that, I can't remember what happened."
"What happened then? It seems I inherited some of the memories of this body's original owner, the one called 'Weldan Bloodbreaker.'"
"Concepts involving blood, rituals, swords, Supremacy, movement techniques, and other martial arts were vaguely forming in his mind."
"The strangest part is being influenced by his life philosophy. Suddenly, I shifted from the 'Every Life is Sacred!' philosophy to viewing villagers in a completely different light—as ants and cockroaches."
In that world, he valued every living being. He was careful not to step on ants while walking, wouldn't kill cockroaches found at home but throw them outside, followed a vegan diet. To him, every soul was equal and deserved to live together. He saw eating sheep as massacre, milking cows as zoophilia-based sexual harassment.
But suddenly, the people in front of him were just insignificant creatures that could at best serve as food for him.
They weren't even creatures; no different from lifeless stones.
"I remember everyone constantly using the word 'Devil' about Weldan. How many crimes did he commit?"
He set these malevolent thoughts aside. Right now, he was in the middle of an important matter. He couldn't waste time.
James: "I, I, water, water!"
He said these words to the guard. He had inherited some of Weldan's memories but couldn't form sentences yet.
Guard: "…"
When had this devil become so polite?
Two days ago, you were trying to enslave my friend, you sly bastard!
He quickly calmed his anger and said:
"Mm, kid. It seems the beating our team captain gave you caused some changes in your head. You no longer have that air as if you created the Ten Thousand Mountain Ranges yourself… Hehehe."
The guard's mood improved. Thinking of Rick Feodor Bloodbreaker's precious son being bent double in front of him felt good.
"Alright, you can have some water."
James raised his chained hand and took the water glass. Normally, this body would crave blood when thirsty.
But in the last battle he fought, he had lost a lot of blood. Blood is 90% water. So he needed quite a bit of water. If he didn't drink, his blood couldn't regenerate. For Weldan's body, this was like a gun without bullets: Useless.
At best, you could engage in close combat with the gun's butt. That's quite pointless; better to use your fists.
James drank the water as if he had never seen it before and said:
"Please, again, water, please…" With a pleading look.
The guard's hairs stood on end. Those sly looks, that bastard!
"No more water. The team captain said giving you water would strengthen you." He said indifferently.
James didn't mind. Of course, they didn't want to strengthen Weldan's body, which even he himself was incredibly cautious about. That was perfectly normal.
James began thinking about Weldan again. Was that state of madness coming from him? Clearly, he was an egoistic, psychopathic pervert who ate rats (not to mention leaving the tail…), stole food and animals, threatened elderly people with torture, saw everyone but himself as insects, worshiped only power, performed various blood rituals to strengthen himself, and harassed young girls.
James cursed his luck. In his first life, as a "Kafir," he had fallen into the hands of a fanatical religious organization. In his second life, just when he saw a chance to return home, he was faced with the possibility of an unimaginable criminal taking over his mind at any moment.
"From what I heard from the guards, that psychopathic state is called 'Insanity of Blood.'" Or at least that's how he understood it. Beyond 40-50 words, Weldan hadn't given him any useful information.
The reason James was so terrified of Weldan was that remnants of Weldan's consciousness were still somewhere in his brain. Couldn't Weldan's consciousness return to this body over time? Two kings couldn't exist in the same kingdom; one would eventually suppress the other.
"The terrifying part is that Weldan's consciousness has absolute superiority over mine."
His hairs stood on end again. What had this demonic scum experienced?
If he allowed the thing called Insanity of Blood to happen again, his consciousness would definitely be suppressed.
"I'll die again…"
He had already died once; he couldn't allow a second time.
"I need to improve myself… I vaguely remember a few letters of the alphabet used in this village. Using the spellings of the words I know, I'll learn the alphabet, then learn everything I can from books and take action!"
With a determined look in his eyes, he plunged into thoughts.
At that moment, the guard came to the front of the cell and lightly tapped the iron bars twice with his stick.
"Kid, you're quite lucky. The Village Supreme himself has come to judge you. Bow your head immediately and prostrate!" The guard said this in a loud tone.
Next to the guard was a hunched man about 1.60 meters tall. It was clear he was barely standing, leaning on his cane.
Still, a unique yellow aura rippled around him. Malevolent spirits seeing this holy aura would flee miles away.
It could be understood from the aura alone: This man was extremely powerful!
James couldn't even imagine getting within 10 meters of him in a fight. He would die just from the spiritual pressure.
"If there's such a divine being, why didn't they kill Weldan earlier?" With curious eyes, he tried to resist the spiritual energy coming from the old man. His own demonic aura began to swell as if it couldn't stand being in the same place as this man.
Guard: "Cut it out, you stupid brat!! Suppress your killing intent immediately and prostrate! You insolent devil!"
He was raging with fury. This disrespect toward the most divine being within tens of thousands of kilometers felt like frying his heart in hot oil.
As he tried to grab his whip to punish the demonic entity, the Old Supreme lightly raised his hand to stop him. Calmly and with a loving tone, he said:
"Ahahah, no problem, no problem. This child is good at heart; he's just been heavily influenced by his father's demonic teachings…" He spoke with a sorrowful tone. He had a compassion as if talking to his own grandson. He was emitting an impressive holy aura.
Guard: "B-But esteemed Supreme, that person showed disrespect toward you—" His words were cut off. The old holy man took a step forward and gently said:
"Ah, son of Rick Feodor Bloodbreaker, how have you been since we last met?" He was smiling.
James lifted his head with an eerie look. It was quite a cold atmosphere.