# Chapter 2: A Familiar Place
The world introduction disappeared before his eyes, and Su Xiao found that everything around him was like paper being burned, gradually vanishing and turning to ashes. Spatial fluctuations swept over him, pulling him downward.
Darkness engulfed his vision once more. Based on the images he had seen and the information provided by the world introduction, Su Xiao gained an understanding of the general situation on "Ser Star."
First, this was originally a world of low mysticism and heavy technology, but after researching and testing nuclear bombs, everything changed.
Before this, one of the peak creations of the Second Era: Alchemical Civilization — a semi-metallic, semi-biological star — had, by chance, turned into liquid and appeared above Ser Star.
As technology developed, people naturally studied this iron-black liquid. Due to differing knowledge systems and vastly different civilizational dimensions, Ser Star's scientists always believed this iron-black liquid was harmless. They categorized it alongside many unknown substances in nature, naming it "Dark Haze" and classifying it as a natural phenomenon.
People accepted this, because this iron-black liquid had existed for a long time, dating back to the early stages of the Cold Weapon Era. So in people's eyes, the patches of black cloud-like "Dark Haze" distributed in the sky were quite ordinary.
The detonation of the first nuclear bomb transformed "Dark Haze" into "Black Rain," bringing about "Mechanical Pollution." Without all this, nuclear bombs would have brought peace in time.
After "Mechanical Pollution" appeared came the Post-Disaster Era. Several hundred years later, the various factions and races had basically stabilized.
Overall, there weren't many factions in this world: Humans, the Vassal Clans that split from Humans, and Aberrant Beasts.
These three sides had not achieved balance. The Vassal Clans were the strongest overall, and they were hostile toward Humans. However, in recent years, as the war between them had been pacified for over a decade, and with major factions entrenched within both races, the two sides weren't completely isolated from each other — occasional trade occurred.
As for Aberrant Beasts, also called Mutated Beasts, they would not interfere with Humans and Vassal Clans until their numbers reached a certain threshold. When their total population grew large enough, the false peace would be broken. They would gather and assault the major fortresses.
The leaders of the Aberrant Beasts were quite intelligent. They knew that when the Aberrant Beast population reached a certain level, food resources would become scarce, causing survival costs to rise. The Aberrant Beasts at the bottom of the food chain, along with the ordinary wild animals that had survived the disaster, would sharply decrease in number due to predation, eventually leading to multiple vicious cycles.
Conversely, gathering the mid-level, upper-level, and top-tier Aberrant Beasts to assault the major fortresses of Humans and Vassal Clans would both reduce the number of their own foragers and suppress the populations of Humans and Vassal Clans, preventing those two sides from achieving numerical dominance through reproduction.
Compared to the Aberrant Beasts, the internal factions within the Vassal Clans and Humans were far more complex. The three major fortresses of the Vassal Clans each represented a separate faction. Beyond this first tier, there were even more Vassal Clan factions in the second tier.
As for the lower-tier Vassal Clan factions, their numbers were difficult to calculate. It could be said that every mobile fortress was an independent faction plus a movable population gathering point, each with its own leader.
The Vassal Clans were not monolithic. The native Humans they had defeated were certainly even less united. Even during the period of all-out war with the Vassal Clans, civil wars among Humans never stopped.
In this world, many among the Vassal Clans, Humans, and Aberrant Beasts had metal skeletons, flesh-and-blood bodies, and normal organs. Many also had partially metalized bodies.
This metalization was not cold industrial metal but living metal. It could be understood as flesh and skin evolving toward metal, with blood still flowing inside.
Su Xiao pondered these questions in his mind. The spatial fluctuations that had enveloped him dissipated. First came a warm, damp sensation spreading over him, followed by the musty stench permeating the air. This smell was like a slaughterhouse that kept its heating on year-round without much cleaning, allowing the bloodstains and filth along the walls to rot and stink in the hot, humid environment.
Su Xiao opened his eyes. He was sitting in an iron cage embedded within a wall. To his left and right, above and behind, everything was damp, stuffy, dark brown walls. Only through the iron cage door in front came dim yellow light.
The height of the wall prison was about 1.3 meters. Sitting inside without standing up, Su Xiao wouldn't hit his head, and it was actually quite spacious. But he noticed that the wall above had been worn smooth and shiny, with reddish bloodstains on it.
This clearly indicated that large creatures were frequently locked in here. From the wear marks they had left, these were humanoid creatures about 2.0 to 2.4 meters tall. Their skin was relatively thick, and they had no hair on their heads. Su Xiao couldn't immediately guess what kind of creature this was.
As for the current initial entry location, Su Xiao was already accustomed to it. Not because he had been here before, but because he often started in prison.
Entering the world this time, Su Xiao had not equipped the [Sky-Sweeping Storm] title. Invading a world that was undergoing a World Conquest War while equipping that title to gain a higher initial identity would be far too arrogant.
Equipping the [Sky-Sweeping Storm] title when entering a world would make one hostile toward the World Child. Don't think the World Child is easy to deal with. Su Xiao had killed several World Children who styled themselves as righteous, running around the world picking up girls like bulldozers. What he truly feared were people like the Nameless Captain or God King Oss Tobiah.
If he encountered any such World Child and became hostile toward them, he could forget about doing anything else. Within this world progress, being able to fight such a World Child to the death would already be quite good. Trying to participate in the World Conquest War while also searching for alchemy-related knowledge and items in this world would be suicide.
Starting in prison — Su Xiao had experienced this more than once or twice. Relying on his rich experience in this area, he decided not to escape immediately but to observe.
Bubu Wang was in a wall prison 30 meters away, with no danger. Amu and Baha's locations were unknown. Beini had activated "Orphan Mode" and sent an email, but unfortunately, she was too far from Su Xiao, resulting in about a one-hour delay for the email.
Beini's task this time was arduous. She was responsible for monitoring the battle situation among contractors from Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, and Watchful Paradise, relaying intelligence through delayed emails.
Su Xiao looked out through the gaps in the iron cage door. The room was long and narrow overall. On both sides of the walls were prison cages embedded within them. The central aisle was about three meters wide. The dark gray floor was frequently washed, with water stains that never dried.
A bloodstain nearly half a meter wide was dragged along the aisle. Judging from the remaining blood residue, the victim hadn't died. The thin bloodstains from five fingers showed broken and staggered marks, indicating that the victim being dragged by an iron hook or other sharp object had clenched their fist from pain. They had the ability to move but hadn't tried to struggle violently, instead seeming resigned, waiting for death to come. Or perhaps they had already been tamed.
Creak, creak~
The sound of cart wheels rubbing came. Su Xiao occasionally heard clang, clang sounds of iron striking. This was someone using a long-handled ladle to pour semi-fluid food onto iron plates, then sliding the flat iron plates along the floor through the gap beneath the iron cage door into the wall prisons.
A few minutes later, a meal cart arrived in front. Through the gaps in the iron cage door, Su Xiao first saw the meal cart carrying three large barrel containers. The edges of the barrels were stained with a ring of yellow sticky substance, with a wooden-handled ladle stuck inside. A stack of iron plates that hadn't been cleaned in a long time and were reused was piled on the right side of the cart.
The "person" pushing the cart was about 2.3 meters tall, with a somewhat obese build. But this wasn't simple obesity — it was burliness. Beneath the not-too-thick layer of fat were muscles with good endurance. The seemingly simple build possessed both endurance and explosive power.
The newcomer wore heavily worn brown pants. The work jacket on their upper body was so dirty that its original color couldn't be discerned. Their fingers were thick but not short and stubby. The skin on their arms wasn't like human skin — it was rougher and thicker.
The most surprising thing was the newcomer's head. They had a pig's head, a protruding nose, and pig-like ears. The only difference was that their pig head was somewhat anthropomorphized, with eyes closer to human eyes.
This was a Pigman. His right ear had been half cut off, and his nose had a nose ring. From the thickness of the nose ring, this was definitely not decorative. It was used to control him more easily when he was disobedient, inflicting greater pain.
Seeing this Pigman, Su Xiao immediately recalled the mention in the world introduction that the Vassal Clans used artificial hybridization to cross two or even several types of organisms to create laborers.
This kind of Pigman should be a new race hybridized by the Vassal Clans using some humanoid creature and pigs. These new races weren't slaves — they were more direct private property. If the Vassal Clans wanted, they could even slaughter and sell this private property.
Clang!
Su Xiao's finger, wrapped in a crystal layer, knocked on the iron bars in front. The Pigman, who was using the long-handled ladle to scoop "pig feed" onto plates, showed no reaction.
"Where is this?"
Su Xiao asked. Compared to getting an answer, he was more concerned about how this Pigman would respond and what changes in expression would appear.
The Pigman remained silent, his gaze numb. He pushed the plate of semi-fluid food into the wall prison, then slightly shifted his gaze. Without moving his head or body, he used his peripheral vision to check if any guards were in the long, narrow aisle behind.
Determining there were no guards, the Pigman raised his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture — don't speak. He opened his mouth, letting Su Xiao see that his tongue had been cut off.
This Pigman was telling Su Xiao not to speak carelessly, or he would end up like him, having his tongue cut off by the overseers.
The Pigman's gaze remained dull and wooden. The occasional glimmer of spirit in his eyes indicated that the beast within him hadn't been completely tamed. Even though he had been whipped, his tongue cut, and most of his right ear removed, he still hadn't been fully domesticated.
The Pigman gave Su Xiao a very slight nod, then pushed the meal cart forward.
In the darkness of the wall prison, Su Xiao sat cross-legged, a faint blue light faintly visible in his eyes.
Pop.
A flame appeared. A cigarette was lit in the darkness. After a deep inhale, smoke was exhaled. This smoke gradually formed the shape of a skull — a skull that seemed to be grinning fiercely.