The Wasteland's Withered Folk: I Defy the Mandate of Heaven

Three hundred years after the disaster, Earth has become a hell of eroding bones. Bone-Eater Beasts roam the surface, while humanity huddles in underground fortresses beneath three iron laws. The withered folk are worth less than dogs.

Shen Yan, a withered folk numbered 927, lives in the darkest corner of the fortress. His only wish in life is to protect his frail younger sister, Shen He.

But when his sister’s name is carved onto the sacrificial list, he finds no help anywhere. His legs are broken and he is thrown into a dungeon. Only then does he understand that this world, which devours people, has never offered the lowly a chance to live.

On the brink of death, the ancestral black ring suddenly lights up, and the symbiotic AI “Lingshu” successfully binds to him!

“Host, your defiant will has activated me. If you want to save your sister, work with me: kill them!”

From then on, the world lost one numb wretch struggling to survive and gained one ordinary man who dared to defy the way.

He’ll risk his life for half a nutrition ration, and brave a deadly trap for a promise;

He’s greedy for money, clings to life, and takes revenge for every slight, yet he can still shield countless withered folk behind him with his own flesh and blood when faced with a million Bone-Eater Beasts.

Those who follow the way remain mortal; those who defy it become immortal.

But he cultivates the defiant way not to ascend to immortality or rule over the heavens.

A fortress prison? I’ll blast it apart with one shot!

The Heavenly Dao reaps lives? I’ll overturn it!

Every injustice, every oppression, every rule that devours people in this world: I’ll defy them all, one by one!

Three thousand paths of defiance, freedom is mine; wherever my heart leads, there lies the human world!