The Gold Dragon King looked at Herzog before him, his eyes flashing with cold light. 'Smart guy, you've finally fallen into my hands today.'
"I didn't do anything! You must have the wrong person!" Herzog still tried to argue.
"It doesn't matter. We are not police. We don't need evidence, and we don't need your confession. You just need to enjoy the torment that follows," the Gold Dragon King said grimly. "You really enjoy experimenting on people, don't you? Today, I will let you taste true pain."
Ian's avatar raised his hand, and Immortal Power condensed at his fingertip. He then lightly sliced his finger across the air. Herzog's soul was immediately cut into dozens of pieces, each carrying a complete consciousness.
He injected these soul fragments into the body of each of Herzog's avatars.
"Now, you can simultaneously receive all the sensory input from every avatar."
"Enjoy yourself!"
The pain of the soul tearing made Herzog let out a bloodcurdling scream. He nearly died instantly, but Ian immediately sustained his life.
Ian did not stop. He retrieved several Body Stone from the Transmutation Tablet and embedded these stones into the flesh of each avatar. The stones then fused with the flesh.
This sustained his life, preventing him from dying while also enhancing his senses.
"Don't worry, you won't die so easily."
"You will live, and your consciousness will remain awake. You will enjoy every single bit of pain that follows."
Herzog wanted to scream, to beg for mercy, but he found he couldn't make any sound. He could only watch and feel.
The Gold Dragon King avatar looked at the numerous Herzog avatars lying on the ground, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. He then took away most of the avatars, leaving only two in place.
Herzog struggled to stand up, only to see several small, green-skinned, but muscular Goblins crawling out of the nearby grass. Their eyes were filled with greed and savagery, as if looking at food.
The Gold Dragon King, who hadn't gone far, flashed a golden light from his finger, which shot out and enveloped the Goblins. Their eyes suddenly became blank, and then they all excitedly fixed their gaze on one of the Herzogs.
"I just warped all of the Goblins' senses," the Gold Dragon King explained, a malicious pleasure in his voice. "Now, in their eyes, you are the most ideal XX."
He then waved his hand, opening a spatial gate. Beyond the gate was a dark, damp cave. Inside were various Goblins. The Goblins quickly grabbed the two avatars and dragged them into the cave.
"No!" The remaining avatars screamed simultaneously, as they shared the senses and could all guess what was about to happen.
The Gold Dragon King ignored his pleas and turned to the Goblin leader. The Goblin wore a crude bone crown, held a bone scepter, and had a belt full of skulls.
"I'm giving you a toy that won't break and food you'll never finish eating."
"I only have one request: do not let them escape."
The Goblin leader grinned, showing a mouth full of yellow teeth, and nodded excitedly.
Zambo suddenly appeared beside the Gold Dragon King, his eyes gleaming with a dark sense of humor: "Dragon King, I have a suggestion."
The Gold Dragon King raised an eyebrow: "Try me."
Zambo pointed to a particularly strong Goblin whose eyes were extremely zealous and said, "That Goblin seems especially excited. Why don't we let Herzog experience his perspective more deeply?"
'That's a good suggestion.' The Gold Dragon King grinned, immediately stripped a wisp of soul fragment from Herzog, and injected it into the particularly excited Goblin's body.
"Now, enjoy it thoroughly!" The Gold Dragon King looked indifferently at Herzog, who was trying to beg for mercy. "Enjoy this unique double experience."
The Gold Dragon King's figure then disappeared.
As his figure vanished, a large number of Goblins rushed toward one of the Herzogs, beginning to tear at his clothing. Before long, he let out a desperate shriek that echoed through the cave.
On the other side, some Goblins approached the other Herzog with cutlery. Soon after, he couldn't even scream.
Listening to Herzog's miserable shrieks, the Gold Dragon King contentedly closed the passage.
However, this was only the first of hundreds of punishments prepared for Herzog. Many more awaited him.
One Herzog avatar opened his eyes and found himself lying on a wide massage table. The surrounding environment was bright and clean, a stark contrast to the hellish environment of the other avatars.
'Is this... a massage room?' Herzog looked around in confusion, unable to believe it.
The door opened, and three muscular Iron Golems walked in. They were nearly three meters tall, their bodies gleamed with a metallic sheen, and red light flashed in their eyes.
Herzog instinctively wanted to run, but found himself pinned to the massage table by an invisible force.
One of the Iron Golems then began to step on his back.
"Aah!!!"
Then, the second Iron Golem joined in, massaging his shoulders and neck.
"Aah! It's going to break! Aah! It's broken!"
The third focused on his legs. The years of fatigue and old injuries Herzog had accumulated gradually dissipated under the Iron Golems' massage.
Of course, some other trivial things also dissipated at the same time.
"No! Stop!" Herzog shrieked.
But the Iron Golems paid no attention, continuing their "massage."
'Thanks to the Life Crystals, Herzog can continuously enjoy the Iron Golems' special service.'
Another Herzog was imprisoned and thrown into the Corruption Land. The Shulker King reached an agreement with the consciousness of the Corruption Land, which guaranteed that Herzog would not die.
Herzog was tossed into the center of the Corruption Land. Soon, he was surrounded by countless tiny Corrupted Worms. The worms slowly crawled towards Herzog, then bit into his skin with their small, half-body-sized mouths, constantly tearing at him.
Some worms even burrowed into his body through the openings on his person.
Herzog could still groan at first, but soon his throat was also full of worms.
As time passed, the worms continuously multiplied and grew inside his body. Herzog could feel his body constantly being gnawed away, only to be constantly repaired.
Yet another Herzog opened his eyes and found himself hanging over the center of a huge lava pool. Then, the rope broke.
With a splash, the scalding lava submerged his body. His skin quickly carbonized in the high temperature, only to be regenerated again.
The boiling, scalding lava poured into Herzog's nose and mouth. The searing heat spread from his esophagus all the way to his abdominal cavity. The feeling of suffocation made him open his mouth, only to swallow more lava. The energy sustaining his life kept him alive, forcing him to continuously experience suffocation and burning.
Herzog struggled in the lava, trying to swim out, but found all his efforts were futile.
Another Herzog was fixed on a stone platform. Behind him, Zambo was fiddling with a device the Gold Dragon King had taught him to use.
Redstone circuits, a lever, sticky pistons, and End Rods.
After setting it up, Zambo pulled the lever, and a miserable shriek rang out.
Herzog tried to struggle, but found his body was tightly restrained, unable to move.
"Enjoy yourself," Zambo greeted him, then left.
Several of Herzog's soul fragments were commissioned by the Gold Dragon King to the Artifact Forger Villagers to be made into Soul Lanterns. As they continued to burn, Herzog's screams constantly echoed.
Several Herzogs were locked inside an array placed by the Array Master and were continuously having their souls and flesh extracted.
Of course, if he could adapt to all these tortures, the Gold Dragon King had prepared the ultimate torment for him: a pure white cage with a hundred million times time acceleration. The internal space was tiny, devoid of anything, and even sound would be absorbed by the walls. He would be locked inside for billions of years.
(The next section is a bit disgusting, I'll put it at the end just in case, you can skip it.)
Soon after, another one of Herzog's avatars woke up amid a nauseating stench. His nasal cavity was choked with foul odor.
He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dim, damp space. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered in some kind of viscous brown substance.
"Where is this?" He tried to prop himself up, and his hands immediately sank into the "chocolate" beneath him. He withdrew his hands in horror, seeing them covered in "chocolate."
Herzog's eyes widened. He finally realized that the entire room—walls, floor, ceiling—was made of "chocolate."
"No!" He let out a scream, followed by a violent bout of vomiting.
Soon, a curled-up figure in the corner of the room caught his attention. Herzog struggled to crawl over and found a figure with empty, lifeless eyes.
"Hey! Where is this? Quickly tell me how to get out?" Herzog grabbed the Fisherman's shoulder and shook him violently, but the man didn't react at all, his eyes remaining hollow.
"Speak! You useless trash!" Herzog punched the Fisherman hard, but the Fisherman still maintained his dull expression, his eyes empty and lifeless.
Despair surged in his heart. Herzog began to dig at the walls, hoping to find a way out. But the "chocolate" walls seemed to possess self-healing properties, and every spot he dug out was quickly filled with new material.
That's right, the Fisherman's Happy Room has been upgraded.
"Let me out!" Herzog cried out in collapse.
A few hours later, Herzog collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, his body slowly sinking into the "chocolate."