Elegy from Another World

After the initial panic, the chaos of my broken body, and the profound despair, a powerful will to survive forced me to calm down. The persistent burning pain distorted my senses, but it couldn't dispel the emptiness of having my life forcibly taken away. I took a deep breath and began to carefully observe my surroundings.

It was an extremely cramped space, the walls and ceiling made of slightly pulsating, warm flesh, as if I were inside the abdominal cavity of some enormous creature. I lay on the slippery floor, unable to move. The wounds on my limbs were healing extremely slowly; at this rate, it would probably take several hours for them to begin to regrow. My spatial backpack and the steel bar were gone; presumably, that mysterious person had taken them.

I tried to mobilize my magic, but my body was completely empty. The previous battle and the Disintegration Magic had almost drained my reserves, leaving only a faint trickle of magic that was almost unusable. However, as I examined the wounds on my limbs, I noticed that those crimson little flowers had bloomed again on the skin around the cuts. They quietly opened at the edges of the mutilated limbs, carrying an eerie yet tenacious vitality.

"We can only wait for recovery..." I thought helplessly. In such an unfavorable situation, any rash action would be foolish.

However, just as I was about to wait and see what would happen, another unexpected event occurred! Two slender tentacles with sharp tips silently extended from the fleshy walls on both sides and pierced into my ears with lightning speed!

"Ugh!" A strong sensation of something intruding struck, my eardrums felt like they were being pierced instantly, and the sounds of the world seemed to be muffled by a thick layer of cotton. But then, a clear voice rang out directly in my mind:

[Oh my god, you're still alive!]

My heart pounded, but I forced myself not to show excessive panic. Was it telepathy? I tried to respond in my mind: "...Lizia. And who are you?"

My name is Xiao Bei, and I'm the auxiliary management system for this maze.

A system? A certain possibility immediately occurred to me: "An auxiliary management system…are you artificial intelligence?"

"Yes." The voice that identified itself as Xiao Bei answered crisply. "You look confused."

"Isn't that obvious?" I couldn't help but think to myself. "Explain yourself! Where exactly is this place? Who is that man? What does he want?"

Xiao Bei's voice was calm and even as she began to tell me a long-forgotten story:

The human you met was once a favored child of the gods. He was born with extraordinary abilities and knowledge, and at a young age joined the ranks of the heroes of yesteryear, fighting alongside them to successfully defeat the Demon King. Upon his triumphant return, he was naturally appointed captain of the Kingdom's Knights, reaching the pinnacle of his prestige.

However, just days after he took office, a terrifying plague suddenly broke out in the capital. Those infected would have their bodies dissolve from the inside out, eventually dying from massive bleeding or severe infection. Even those who miraculously survived would be left with lifelong disabilities. The plague raged, countless people died, and the entire city was plunged into despair.

Strangely, he alone remained unharmed throughout the disaster, showing no signs of illness. Gradually, rumors began to circulate—some believed he had brought the plague and possessed the antidote, which he kept secret. As the death toll rose, suspicion turned to hatred, and panic escalated into madness. Finally, the absurd claim emerged that "killing him will end the plague."

To quell public anger, the king personally signed the execution order. The former hero became a public enemy overnight. To survive, he was forced into constant flight, eventually escaping to the depths of this abandoned, gloomy forest.

"And here," Xiao Bei paused, "this was once a frontline soldier production base built by the Demon King for the war. Although destroyed by the hero's party, its core structure remains. Here, he encountered an apostle of the Demon King's remaining will. Driven to desperation and utterly disillusioned with humanity, he made a pact with the Demon King, becoming a new apostle."

His mission was to resurrect the Demon King. But resurrection required an unimaginable amount of energy. After a series of modifications and experiments, he successfully created a device capable of directly converting the 'pleasure' produced by a living being into pure energy—the 'Pleasure Converter'.

So that's how it is... The root of it all was the tragedy of a hero being forced to become a demon king. I remained silent for a moment, processing this information.

Just then, Xiao Pei's voice rang out again, posing a question that startled me:

So, now that you know all this, would you be willing to stay here?