Above The Sky
Chapter 413 - 413 384 Despair Flesh 23

413: Chapter 384: Despair Flesh (2/3) 413: Chapter 384: Despair Flesh (2/3) Having his eyes gouged out, Yila’s life actually fell into a brief period of stability, as he could no longer see the eye of the wealthy household that had given him peace for a few months.

But afterwards, the lack of eyes became another source of their dissatisfaction.

What followed was seemingly endless brutal beating and abuse.

“You are definitely not our child, don’t pretend to be so happy!”

“Damn brat, why did you survive, why did my child die…”

Jealousy, insanity, grief, sorrow, all these emotions mixed together, eventually brewing into the darkest of poisons.

Perhaps before Yila went mad, his adoptive parents had already lost their minds.

Until the end, it was once again in the middle of sleep.

Feeling like he couldn’t catch his breath, Yila saw his ‘mother’ choking him with a sinister expression.

He couldn’t breathe, his face turned bright red, his neck felt like it was about to break, and the profound confusion and fear of life and death plunged Yila into complete despair.

Abandoned and sold by his biological parents, abused and harmed by his adoptive parents, the precocious and intelligent boy, without even his own name, cried out a question from the depths of his soul.

“—In your eyes, what am I supposed to be?!”

[If only I didn’t have this eye.]

[If only I could just be Yila.]

[If only they couldn’t remember anything about Yila.]

[The human world is so terrifying…]

[If only…]

[If only, I could forget all this…]

By the time Baron Leyan, upon receiving a hint, arrived at the rich family’s home at the edge of the village, the large courtyard had already turned into a hell on earth.

The previously quiet little courtyard was full of the bodies of servants, but strangely, all these bodies were twisted to the extreme, as if they were imitating some kind of animal.

And among many bodies, a child sat blankly between a man and a woman, chewing on the meat of despair.

“What are you eating?”

“Mad cow meat.”

…

“Uncle Moda, I think this man looks a lot like a pig.”

“Eh, Young Master Yila, that’s not polite, you can’t say things like that…

But why do you say he looks like a pig?

He doesn’t look fat.”

“I can see, he is lazy and gluttonous, always eating and then sleeping, and his mind is filled with all sorts of dirty thoughts—that’s a pig.”

“Haha, what about this gentleman?”

“This uncle is a bear!

Although he appears gentle, once he gets angry he’s very fierce, he beats up the people in his home, and he likes sweets!”

“Indeed, Bruley does have a bad temper…

How about this deer?”

“This deer is much like a horse!

It really loves to run and race, it’s just like a horse!”

“Hahaha, how can you tell?

And what about me?”

“Uncle Moda…

although you’re a bit naughty and greedy, you are good to me and Dad, you’re a human.”

…

The light of Spirit Energy in his eyes receded, and Ian ended this probe into ‘the past’.

At this moment, he realized that his newly evolved Foresight View ability, developed in the Southern Sea Relic Cluster, possibly required a place with a massive accumulation of ’emotions’ to be used.

Besides, he could follow someone’s narrative and peek into some underlying information through their account.

Right now, Moda was still talking about Yila.

“That’s pretty much it.”

In his view, Yila was just a child who had been brought home by Baron Leyan and had suffered from malicious abuse.

When the child first arrived at the castle, his tiny body was full of scars that looked almost lethal, yet he still managed to smile at the adults around him in a somewhat ingratiating manner.

And after Yila’s wounds were healed, he reverted to his true nature—lively and creative, with extraordinary talent in artistic expression.

His drawings of animals were vibrant and full of life, but the people he drew were extremely distorted and twisted, barely recognizable as human.

It’s just that…

“I never thought that the words he said to me were true…

He could modify my memory and other people’s, make one believe they were pigs, make human flesh and bones appear as building blocks and toys, and even make me feel that Young Master Yila’s vengeful spirit was a real living child…”

Simply speaking these truths was a huge devastation to the old steward’s spirit.

Spirit Energy Users who specialize in the mental domain are generally ineffective against Sublimators and other Spirit Energy Users, as the powerful Origin Substance Reaction inside a Sublimator can easily block the spiritual influence of others.

However, the permanent damage that mental Spirit Energy Users can inflict upon ordinary people, and certain conveniences, are matchless compared to other Sublimators.

Steward Moda had to constantly sift through his fragmented memories, selecting those already muddled beyond recognition.

His words were disjointed, and even the steward himself didn’t know what he was saying—but he still persisted, gritting his teeth as he finished, “That’s all, sir.

And Radiant Nun.”

“Young Master Yila has the Spirit Energy to modify memories and concepts, I…

probably volunteered to be modified.

I liked that false harmony…

I didn’t want to know the truth at all, so…

I never resisted.”

He tried to put part of the blame on himself.

“It’s not your fault.” The Radiant Nun traced two concentric circles on her chest, she cast her gaze downward and said softly, “You are neither a Sublimator nor a Spirit Energy User, nor a Cleric.

You have no power, which means you have no obligation to do anything.”

“Steward Moda, if you’re tired, you should rest.

We will continue the investigation on our own.”

“No!”

But the old steward’s face turned red, and in that instant, Ian could sense a powerful, indescribable surge of emotion burst forth.

He roared angrily, “Do you want to leave me behind?

I’m not that frail!

I must know, what on earth…

what on earth happened to the master and the young masters and young ladies!”

Those false memories had brought the old steward so much joy, but their essence was too fragile, like a castle made of sand.

Now, as the castle crumbled, his spirit was hollow, and if he could not fill it with some kind of truth or another lie…

He would surely go mad.

“Well then…”

With a soft sigh, it wasn’t that Ian wanted to leave him behind.

In fact, he was well aware that, if he didn’t let the old steward make some contribution, the Huai Guang Holy Hall Enforcer and the Noble Court, which were likely to arrive tomorrow, would tear him apart.

The former might not necessarily do so, but the latter definitely would.

The action now could actually help the Radiant Nun include a few more notes in their report, proving that he was a contributor with a positive impact on the case, a friend of the church.

This is the only way for ordinary people caught up in cases involving cults and nobles to get away with minimal damage.

But this path might be rather damaging to the mental health of ordinary people.

Feeling a bit of pity, but Ian remained very calm on the surface—he would remain as calm as possible in front of others, not letting anyone see his thoughts.

How could his heart remain still upon learning the fate and actions of Baron Leyan, as well as Yila’s past?

But Ian had to be calm.

“There are more people and powers involved in this affair than we imagine.”

Following behind Steward Moda, who was heading to the second child’s room, he whispered to the Radiant Nun, “Baron Leyan couldn’t have found a child who had awakened Spirit Energy without any clues—someone guided him there.”

——Even the excessively extreme emotional swings of that wealthy household, and the horrifying means they employed, made me feel that it might not be their own volition.

The youth thought to himself.

“You mean…”

The Radiant Nun quickly understood; connecting it to the cult she had been investigating along the way, her expression grew solemn, “Is it a cult—or rather, is there a group suspected of being a cult, that deliberately influenced Yila’s adoptive parents to mistreat him, thereby prompting Yila’s awakening of Spirit Energy?”

“Artificially creating an environment of immense malice, oppressing a child with potential for Spirit Energy, pushing him into despair…

and then an outburst?!”

She hadn’t seen the past’s true impacts through Spirit Energy like Ian, but she had also learned from the old steward’s account that Yila had once experienced inhumane abuse, even mutilation.

An abnormal, malicious intent.

That could indeed explain it.

Yingguang pondered earnestly and came upon many doubts.

In The Empire, human trafficking is indeed illegal, but the practice persists because there is always demand from both nobles and ordinary people, nourishing this abhorrent trade.

But for a wealthy family to spend a great deal of money to adopt a child and then continuously abuse him…

It’s not impossible, but such methods are too cruel, and the escalation of emotion too rapid, it’s as if something is prompting them from behind.

Someone is trying to create Spirit Energy Users by inflicting immense suffering artificially.

But aside from the question of whether it’s possible,

Even if it were successful—how many failures would there be?

Behind one successful, agony-stricken Yila, how many other failed, silently dead Yilas are there?!

The white-haired Dragon Maiden looked up, her vertical pupils revealing a glint of molten fury, “And these people, are they Baron’s hidden accomplices?”

Ian nodded silently.

If not for possessing Foresight View and having received relevant information from the Radiant Nun, he might not have noticed this.

But now was not the time to discuss these matters,

For they had soon arrived at the door of the second child, a boy named ‘Moqiu,’ who was so strikingly beautiful it was somewhat out of the ordinary.

All the way there, Steward Moda incessantly shared his memories of Moqiu’s past.

In fact, the memories related to Moqiu were not much altered.

The child was a refugee from the West Frontier Plains, due to the new war zones opened by Fiery Flame Land.

The West Frontier Plains, once a substantial rear area, now became the frontline.

Villages and towns were converted into fortresses on the spot.

While some stayed to cooperate with farming and fighting, many locals lost their homes and were displaced.

And those areas were where the Fiery Flame Land special forces had the deepest infiltration.

South Ridge naturally took in quite a few refugees from the West Frontier Plains, and some were settled in the hilly areas north of the Agate Stone Plains, where they could log trees to clear land and establish new homes.

But there were too many refugees, and the then underdeveloped Nanling Province couldn’t take them all in.

Meanwhile, the refugees couldn’t cross the borders of the Central Province and the directly administered regions so easily, so they could only move south.

The southward journey was filled with blood and tears, with inadequate supplies and food along the way.

Many escaping groups faced extremely tragic circumstances.

Cannibalism.

Or rather…

The practice of exchanging children for food.