A few weeks back, I started to get some dull aches in my left testicle, nothing too bad but pretty uncomfortable. This was following sex, where she sucked on my testicle, which at the time hurt pretty bad for around 30 seconds then was okay. For 2 days after this I got some dull aches. The following day after that, it began to swell and pain when walking but not particularly when sitting or lying down.
Went to the doctors, they said if it gets worse, go straight to the hospital but take anti inflammatory like ibruprofen for a bit to see if that helps. Around 4 days later, no change and swelling was still there. My left testicle is around 2.5-3x larger than my other.
Was given 2 weeks of doxycycline in the mean time but also had an appointment for an ultrasound. Tested positive for STI and ultrasound showed up having an enlarged spermatic tube causing the issue.
Around 5 days into the doxy, it all started settle a little apart from the swelling, that’s stayed the same but I was able to return to work after a while. After completing the course of antibiotics I was still pretty okay other than the odd ache every now and again.
I then made the silly mistake of having a few drinks which was the worst decision ever. Woke up 2 hours later in agony and couldn’t sleep all night. I’m guessing the alcohol had made it much worse. I’m now 2 days on from it, no pain particularly when lying or sitting but literally cannot stand up or walk to the bathroom without being in massive pain in my lower left stomach.
Can anyone help or offer advice? This is really starting to affect me now.
Edit: So originally I thought it was due to trauma, as it feels like a nerve shooting down my stomach. But then tested positive for an STI. Could this be a mix of the 2? I thought if it was an STI it would’ve cleared up with the 2 weeks of antibiotics

Last year I got a foot corn ( गोखरू ) on the side of my right foot, it was very painful so I told my mom and she insisted on showing it to a homeopathy doctor and I am very opposed to parallel medicine so I tried to refuse but she still took me to a homeo doc. I got the tablets and started using them and in about 2 weeks the pain was very much reduced but then for some reason I dropped them for a month and then the pain resurfaced and back to its original state.
Then again my mum took me to the same doc and again I started the treatment ( same tablets ) and in about 6 weeks the problem was completely solved, no hardened skin, no pain, everything was perfectly fine and it never even came back.
I am not trying to promote homeopathy but I want to know a logical reason why this might have happened, not once but twice the same sugar tablet was effective.

I am 3 days post op from a L4/5 microdiscectomy My original troublesome leg nerve is fantastic / no pain atal But last couple days the other leg has been slowly causing some discomfort (glute and hip pain and a little shin and knee pain here and there) this morning the glute pain seems more prominent And I'm just concerned that I'm having siatic issues with the other leg now Could this be something as simple as : Pain caused by finally walking strait again and using the other leg to support/ do a lot of the work recently after the op ?
Or is it possible that the nerve on this leg got irritated and it will settle and is normal ?
I'm just super paranoid about flare ups and re herniating is my worst nightmare literally
So any words of encouragement would be great or suggestions as to if this is normal experiencing nerve things on other leg due to the surgery

I dont know the first thing about fillings. A huge chunk of my tooth in question is missing, what remains lf its original material is a horse shoe shape. The inside of the horse shoe got filled with white stuff that looks like natural tooth material and hardens to UV light.
It worked fine initially, but by dinner, even chewing the soft bun of a burger came with immense discomfort bordering on pain.
My tooth only does this to pressure, no heat or anything else.
Will this pass in time?

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ### 👽👽👽 Welcome to Furystorm's boutique ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 👽👽👽

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New players - use this code (STAR-MRG5-2TBJ) on registration to get additional 5000 UEC for free!
(Just click this link)

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Currencies accepted: PayPal: [$] [€], Skrill (+10%): [€], Crypto(+5%): BTC, BCH, ETH, can take others

To make an order 📨 PM me via Reddit or via Discord (Furystorm#4218)

!!! Please use standard messages, not chat (notifications aren't working properly sometimes) !!!
╔════════════════════╗
►1◄ REFERRAL SERVICE
╚════════════════════╝

20 $ per each

Info about rewards can be found here - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/referral-program
╔══════════════════╗
►2◄ SPECIAL OFFERS
╚══════════════════╝

╰( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )つ──☆
Upgrades

Item	Price, $
Banu Tholo code	80
Banu Lockbox (Banu Cube) code	100
Mole to Merchantman	199
Starfarer Gemini to Merchantman	189
C2 Hercules to Carrack	139
Valkyrie to Carrack	169
Constellation Aquila to Orion	219
Starfarer Gemini to Hull D Upgrade	109
Constellation Andromeda to Hull C Upgrade	139
Anvil Terrapin to Hull C Upgrade	179
F7C-R Hornet Tracker to Constellation Taurus	39
Corsair to 400i Warbond Edition	12
Hull E to Polaris	50
Ship Upgrades - Drake Kraken Conversion Kit	799
PAINTS - PERSEUS - THUNDERCLOUD PAINT	31

Stuff

Item	Price, $
CitizenCon 2951 Digital Goodies	9
Gemini LH86 Pistol - Voyager edition	6
Kruger P-72 Emerald	105
RSI VENTURE PATHFINDER ARM ARMOR	10
RSI VENTURE VOYAGER ARM ARMOR	10

╔═════════════════════════════════╗
►4◄ GAME AND SHIP COMBO PACKAGES
╚═════════════════════════════════╝

Package	Insurance	SC+SQ42	Price, $	Comments
PACKAGE - 2943 WEEKEND WARRIOR - LTI	LTI	SC + SQ42	299	F7C-M Super Hornet LTI pack
Package - Syulen Starter Pack	LTI	SC	115	Syulen LTI pack
Package - Aurora LN	3MI	SC + SQ42	59	Aurora LN (best aurora) Starter package
Mustang Alpha Starter	3MI	SC	55	-
Anniversary 2017 Mustang Discount Starter	5YI	No	54	-
Nox 2 pack	LTI	No	121	Nox + Nox Kue
Aopoa Nox 5 Pack	LTI	No	242	4 Nox + 1 Nox Kue
Race Team Pack	LTI	No	168	X1 + NOX + Dragonfly Black
Origin X1 THREE-PACK	LTI	No	174	X1 Baseline + Velocity + Force
Entrepreneur pack	LTI	Yes	683	Prospector + Vulture + Vulcan + Hull B + Ursa Rover
The Tortoise and the Hurricane	LTI	No	415	Anvil Hurricane + Anvil Terrapin
Starfarer + Nox 2 pack	LTI	No	431	Starfarer + Nox + Nox Kue
Origin 600i Series Combo Pack	LTI	No	977	600i Luxury + Exploration + Origin X1
Scoundrel Pack	LTI	Yes	788	7 Items, see picture
Aegis Wrecking Crew Pack	LTI	No	1155	Reclaimer + Vulcan + Eclipse + Avenger Warlock/Titan
Exotic Mega Pack	LTI	No	1260	Banu MM + Genesis Starliner + Khartu-al + other small ships
UEE Exploration 2948 Pack	LTI	Yes	850	Carrack, Terrapin, Freelancer DUR, Cyclone RN

Game package can be upgrade as well on your demand, price negotiated
╔══════════════════════════╗
►5◄ LTI STANDALONE SHIPS
╚══════════════════════════╝
CCU-d ships are upgraded from another ship. Also I have ships from original sale - they may come with different bonuses but are more expensive.

You can click on the price of original sale item to see it's contents.

Ship manufacturer	Ship model	Insurance	Price (CCU-d), $	Price (Original sale), $
Aopoa (Xi'an)	Khartu-Al	LTI	179	-
-	Nox	LTI	-	77
-	Nox Kue	LTI	-	77
-	San'Tok.Yai	LTI	231	-
Aegis Dynamics	Avenger Titan	LTI	74	100
-	Avenger Titan Renegade	LTI	95	111
-	Avenger Stalker	LTI	84	-
-	Avenger Warlock	LTI	100	-
-	Eclipse	LTI	305	333
-	Gladius	LTI	116	-
-	Gladius Valiant	LTI	132	147
-	Hammerhead	LTI	672	777
-	Hammerhead Best in Show Edition	LTI	746	-
-	Nautilus	LTI	672	-
-	Reclaimer	LTI	336	550
-	Reclaimer Best in Show Edition	LTI	429	-
-	Redeemer	LTI	333	-
-	Retaliator Bomber	LTI	284	-
-	Sabre	LTI	184	221
-	Sabre Comet	LTI	195	-
-	Vanguard Warden	LTI	263	357
-	Vanguard Harbinger	LTI	289	-
-	Vanguard Sentinel	LTI	268	-
-	Vanguard Hoplite	LTI	231	268
-	Vulcan	LTI	216	242
ARGO Astronautics	MPUV Cargo	LTI	74	84
-	MPUV Personnel	LTI	-	89
	Raft	LTI	142	-
-	SRV	LTI	165	-
-	Mole	LTI	321	-
-	Combo Pack	LTI	-	111
Anvil Aerospace	Arrow	LTI	95	137
-	C8X Pisces Expedition	LTI	69	79
-	C8R Pisces	LTI	84	-
-	Carrack	LTI	420	-
-	Carrack W/C8X	LTI	440	-
-	Carrack Expedition	LTI	447	-
-	Carrack Expedition W/C8X	LTI	468	-
-	Crucible	LTI	369	431
-	F7C Hornet	LTI	121	-
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	LTI	189	210
-	F7C-S Hornet Ghost	LTI	140	-
-	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	LTI	155	-
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	LTI	199	252
-	F7C-M Hornet Heartseeker	LTI	200	-
-	Gladiator	LTI	177	221
-	Hawk	LTI	116	132
-	Hurricane	LTI	210	231
-	Terrapin	LTI	231	263
-	Valkyrie	LTI	357	-
-	Legionnaire	LTI	132	-
Banu	Merchantman	LTI	399	-
-	Defender	LTI	226	237
Consolidated outland	Mustang Beta	LTI	95	-
-	Mustang Gamma	LTI	74	-
-	Mustang Delta	LTI	84	-
-	Pioneer	LTI	-	1499
Crusader Industries	Ares Inferno	LTI	252	-
-	Ares Ion	LTI	252	-
-	Genesis Starliner	LTI	357	578
-	C2 Hercules	LTI	368	-
-	M2 Hercules	LTI	483	-
-	A2 Hercules	LTI	735	-
	C1 Spirit	LTI	137	-
	E1 Spirit	LTI	163	-
	A1 Spirit	LTI	210	-
-	Mercury Star Runner	LTI	273	-
Drake Interplanetary	Dragonfly Yellowjacket	LTI	-	84
-	Dragonfly Black	LTI	-	84
-	Dragonfly Ride Together Two-Pack	LTI	-	126
-	Buccaneer	LTI	126	142
-	Caterpillar	LTI	336	-
-	Caterpillar Best in Show Edition	LTI	347	-
-	Corsair	LTI	263	-
-	Cutlass Black	LTI	126	-
-	Cutlass Black Best in Show Edition (2949)	LTI	137	-
-	Cutlass Steel	LTI	221	-
-	Cutlass Red	LTI	142	-
-	Cutlass Blue	LTI	168	-
-	Herald	LTI	111	-
-	Vulture	LTI	158	-
Esperia	Vanduul Blade	LTI	284	326
-	Vanduul Glaive	LTI	373	-
-	Prowler	LTI	399	510
-	Talon	LTI	132	-
-	Talon Shrike	LTI	132	-
Gatac	Railen	LTI	242	-
Greycat Industrial	ROC	LTI	77	-
Kruger Intergalactic	P-72 Archimedes	LTI	-	90
-	P-72 Archimedes Emerald	LTI	-	105
Mirai	Fury	LTI	69	-
-	Fury MX	LTI	69	-
-	Fury LX	LTI	69	-
MISC	Endeavor BASE	LTI	378	-
-	Endeavor DISCOVERY-CLASS	LTI	-	683
-	Endeavor Master Set 2018	LTI	-	1399
	Expanse	LTI	168	-
-	Freelancer	LTI	121	-
-	Freelancer DUR	LTI	147	-
-	Freelancer MAX	LTI	163	-
-	Freelancer MIS	LTI	184	-
-	HULL A	LTI	99	-
-	HULL B	LTI	147	-
-	HULL C	LTI	357	-
-	HULL D	LTI	462	-
-	Odyssey	LTI	578	-
-	Razor	LTI	163	179
-	Razor LX	LTI	168	-
-	Razor EX	LTI	174	-
-	Prospector	LTI	163	179
-	Reliant Kore (Mini Hauler)	LTI	84	105
-	Reliant Tana (Skirmisher)	LTI	95	-
-	Reliant Mako (News Van)	LTI	121	-
-	Reliant Sen (Researcher)	LTI	105	-
-	Starfarer	LTI	315	399
-	Starfarer Gemini	LTI	347	452
Origin Jumpworks	X1 Baseline	LTI	-	69
-	X1 Velocity	LTI	-	74
-	X1 Force	LTI	-	79
-	M50	LTI	121	-
-	85X	LTI	-	79
-	100I	LTI	74	95
-	125A	LTI	79	-
-	135C	LTI	84	-
-	300I	LTI	77	-
-	315P	LTI	77	-
-	325A	LTI	93	-
-	350R	LTI	137	-
-	400i	LTI	265	-
-	600i Touring	LTI	399	525
-	600i Exploration	LTI	420	580
RSI	Aurora CL	LTI	74	-
-	Apollo Triage	LTI	268	-
-	Apollo Medivac	LTI	294	-
-	Galaxy	LTI	378	-
-	Mantis	LTI	168	-
-	Perseus	LTI	557	-
-	Polaris	LTI	735	999
-	Constellation Taurus	LTI	179	-
-	Constellation Andromeda	LTI	252	315
-	Constellation Aquila	LTI	321	-
	Zeus MK II MR	LTI	205	-
	Zeus MK II ES	LTI	163	-
	Zeus MK II CL	LTI	163	-
-	Scorpius	LTI	263	-
-	Scorpius Antares	LTI	252	-
-	Orion	LTI	489	-

╔════════════════════════════════════╗
►6◄ NON-LTI SHIPS & PACKAGES, COMMON
╚════════════════════════════════════╝

Ship/Package	Insurance	Price, $	Comments
Consolidated Outland Mustang Alpha Vindicator	6MI	66	Limited Vindicator version
Kruger P-72 Archimedes	10YI	55	-
Kruger P-72 Archimedes	6YI	45	-
Kruger P-52 Merlin	6YI	37	-
RSI Aurora ES	10YI	37	-
Argo MPUV 1C Cargo	10YI	53	-
MISC Endeavor OLYMPIC-CLASS	4YI	578	Endeavor with modules
RSI Constellation Phoenix	10YI	399	-
RSI Constellation Phoenix	6YI	389	-
Origin 890 Jump	6MI	1099	-
Origin 890 Jump	6YI	1249	-
Origin 890 Jump	10YI	1349	-

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
►7◄ PLANETARY VEHICLES & COMBO PACKAGES
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝

Vehicle	Insurance	Price (CCU-d), $	Price (Concept), $	Comments
Anvil Ballista	LTI	153		-
Hoverquad	LTI		74	-
Greycat PTV	6YI		27	-
Greycat PTV	10YI		37	-
Origin G12	LTI	84		-
Origin G12R	LTI		84	-
Origin G12A	LTI		90	-
Tumbril Cyclone	LTI		74	Base version
Tumbril Cyclone-TR	LTI		79	With ground turret
Tumbril Cyclone-RC	LTI		79	Speedster
Tumbril Cyclone-AA	LTI		95	Anti-air + countermeasures
Tumbril Cyclone-RN	LTI		79	Scout & Scan
Tumbril Ranger RC	LTI	105		Racer
Tumbril Ranger CV	LTI	111		Offroad
Tumbril Ranger TR	LTI	116		With Gun
Tumbril Nova	LTI	126	132	Tank
URSA Rover	5YI		63	-
URSA Rover	10YI		70
Lynx	LTI	79
URSA Rover Fortuna	LTI	79		Limited green skin edition

Below are listed combo packs with different combination of vehicles, or with space ships

Combo packs	Insurance	Price (Concept), $	Comments
Offroad Vehicle Pack	LTI	137	Cyclone TR + URSA + Greycat PTV
Tumbril Cyclone Pack	LTI	305	All Cyclones
All-Terrain Vehicle Mega Pack	LTI	473	All Cyclones + Ursa + Lynx + Greycat
Air and Space Pack LTI	LTI	315	Terrapin + Cyclone AA
Ground Vehicle Pack VIP	LTI	378	Gragonfly + Nox + X1 + Ursa + Cyclone + Nova + bonus
Deluxe Ground Vehicle Pack VIP	LTI	840	A lot of items, check screenshot

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
►8.1◄ MODULES, PODS, BATTLEFIELD UPGRADE KITS (BUKS), OTHER ITEMS
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Module	Insurance	Price, $
MISC Endeavor Modules (Pods)	-	-
BIODOME POD	10YI	126
TELESCOPE ARRAY POD	10YI	153
SUPERCOLLIDER POD	10YI	155
SERVICE EQUIPMENT AND CREW POD	10YI	53
GENERAL RESEARCH POD	10YI	72
GENERAL SCIENCE POD	10YI	71
FUEL POD	10YI	60
MEDICAL BAY POD	10YI	105
LANDING BAY	10YI	105
RSI Galaxy Modules
Galaxy - Med Bay Module	10YI	116
Galaxy - Refinery Module	10YI	126
Galaxy - Cargo Module	10YI	95
Aegis Vanguard battlefield upgrade kits
Harbinger battlefield upgrade kit	LTI	140
Sentinel battlefield upgrade kit	6MI	69
Other stuff
Add-ons - Aegis Idris P after market kit	-	294

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
►8.2 ◄ FPS WEAPONS, ARMOR, CLOTHES AND OTHER GEAR
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Module	Insurance	Price, $
Overlord "Dust Storm" Armor Set	-	11
Overlord "Riptide" Armor Set	-	11
Overlord Helmets "Silent Strike" Pack	-	8
Overlord Helmets "Forces of Nature" Pack	-	8
Parasite Replica Helmet (Original)	-	11
Parasite Replica Helmet (Dark Birth)	-	11
Stegman's Cordimon "Voyager" Complete Outfit	-	11
Stegman's IndVest “Pathfinder” Complete Outfit	-	11
RSI MacFlex Rust Society full armor set (5 items)	-	21
RSI Venture Rust Society full armor set (5 items)	-	32
Mr. Refinement’s Cabinet of Rare & Exquisite Spirits	-	11
Life in the 'Verse Shirts Pack #1	-	5
Life in the 'Verse Shirts Pack #2	-	5
"Caudillo" Helmets Pack #1 by CC's Conversions	-	10
"Caudillo" Helmets Pack #2 by CC's Conversions	-	10
"Caudillo" Helmets Pack #3 by CC's Conversions	-	10
QuikFlarePro Pack	-	5
QuikFlarePro Pack Deluxe	-	6
Polar Vortex Collection	-	7
Cold Front Collection	-	7
UltiFlex FSK-8 "Mirage" Combat Knife	-	5
UltiFlex FSK-8 "Ghost" Combat Knife	-	5
Urban Collection by Element Authority	-	11
Adventurer Collection by Element Authority	-	11
Manaslu Rust Society Jacket	-	8
RSI Horizon Rust Society Helmet	-	8
RSI Beacon Rust Society Undersuit	-	6
Paladin helmet	-	10

╔════════════════════════════════════════╗
►9◄ CROSS-CHASSIS UPGRADES (CCUS), SHIPS
╚════════════════════════════════════════╝

IAE-insurance upgrades (adds IAE insurance (10 years) to your ship)

Upgrade	Price, $
Prospector to F7C-M Super Hornet	50
Vanguard Warden to Caterpillar	60

Sorted by: Manufacturer -> ship

Target ship manufacturer	Target ship	Upgrade from	Price, $
Aegis Dynamics	Avenger Titan Renegade	325A	18
-	Avenger Warlock	325A	29
-	Avenger Warlock	Arrow	26
-	Eclipse	Constellation Andromeda	78
-	Eclipse	Vanguard Sentinel	37
-	Eclipse	Vanguard Warden	53
-	Eclipse	Blade	37
-	Gladius Valiant	Gladius	32
-	Gladius Valiant	M50	23
-	Hammerhead	Constellation Aquila	483
-	Hammerhead	600i Touring	357
-	Hammerhead	600i Explorer	315
-	Hammerhead	Merchantman	131
-	Hammerhead	Hull D	341
-	Hammerhead	Crucible	446
-	Hammerhead	Carrack	278
-	Hammerhead	Reclaimer	383
-	Hammerhead	Prowler	351
-	Hammerhead	Orion	210
-	Hammerhead	Glaive	446
-	Hammerhead	A2 Hercules	52
-	Nautilus	Constellation Aquila	467
-	Nautilus	Endeavor	425
-	Nautilus	Crucible	425
-	Nautilus	Genesis Starliner	372
-	Nautilus	M2 Hercules	246
-	Nautilus	Merchantman	110
-	Nautilus	600i Explorer	294
-	Nautilus	600i Touring	336
-	Nautilus	Orion	189
-	Nautilus	Prowler	330
-	Nautilus	Carrack	278
-	Nautilus	Reclaimer	372
-	Nautilus	Hull D	320
-	Nautilus	C2 Hercules	372
-	Nautilus	Valkyrie	399
-	Reclaimer	Constellation Aquila	115
-	Reclaimer	Starfarer Gemini	84
-	Reclaimer	Endeavor	73
-	Reclaimer	Crucible	73
-	Redeemer	Constellation Andromeda	78
-	Redeemer	Vanguard Hoplite	84
-	Redeemer	Mole	26
-	Retaliator Bomber	Constellation Andromeda	57
-	Retaliator Base	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	25
-	Sabre	Prospector	31
-	Sabre	Gladiator	16
-	Sabre Comet	Sabre	31
-	Sabre Comet	Freelancer MIS	26
-	Sabre Comet	Khartu-Al	31
-	Sabre Comet	F7C Hornet Wildfire	23
-	Sabre Comet	Gladiator	35
-	Sabre Comet	F7C-M Super Hornet	20
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Constellation Andromeda	68
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Retaliator Bomber	31
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Vanguard Sentinel	26
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Vanguard Hoplite	73
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Vanguard Warden	42
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Constellation Taurus	59
-	Vanguard Hoplite	San'Tok.Yai	28
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Defender	28
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Corsair	-3
-	Vanguard Hoplite	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	54
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Hurricane	54
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Terrapin	28
-	Vanguard Sentinel	Constellation Andromeda	52
-	Vanguard Sentinel	Vanguard Warden	31
-	Vanguard Warden	Constellation Andromeda	31
-	Vanguard Warden	Vanguard Hoplite	40
-	Vulcan	Constellation Taurus	25
-	Vulcan	Prospector	61
Anvil Aerospace	Carrack	Constellation Aquila	273
-	Carrack	Mole	320
-	Carrack	M2 Hercules	99
-	Carrack	600i Explorer	147
-	Carrack	600i Touring	189
-	Carrack	Orion	42
-	Carrack	Prowler	183
-	Carrack	Reclaimer	225
-	Carrack	Genesis Starliner	225
-	Carrack	Valkyrie	215
-	Carrack	C2 Hercules	189
-	Carrack	Hull D	178
-	Carrack	Merchantman	-31
-	Carrack	Endeavor	283
-	Carrack	Crucible	283
-	Carrack	Starfarer Gemini	294
-	Carrack W/C8X	Carrack	55
-	Carrack Expedition	Carrack	60
-	Carrack Expedition	Carrack W/C8X	40
-	Carrack Expedition W/C8X	Carrack	80
-	Carrack Expedition W/C8X	Carrack W/C8X	73
-	Carrack Expedition W/C8X	Carrack Expedition	68
-	Crucible	Starfarer Gemini	26
-	Crucible	Constellation Aquila	99
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Prospector	37
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Khartu-AL	22
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	F7C Hornet Wildfire	16
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Gladiator	27
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Freelancer MIS	16
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Sabre	22
-	F7C-M Super Hornet	Razor EX	37
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Constellation Taurus	21
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Freelancer MAX	63
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Prospector	57
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Razor EX	57
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Gladiator	47
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Khartu-AL	42
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Sabre	42
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Sabre Comet	26
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	F7C Hornet Wildfire	36
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Freelancer MIS	36
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	Prospector	31
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	Khartu-Al	16
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	Gladiator	22
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	Sabre	16
-	Gladiator	Prospector	21
-	Hawk	Gladius	21
-	Hurricane	Constellation Taurus	22
-	Hurricane	Prospector	53
-	Hurricane	Gladiator	43
-	Hurricane	F7C Hornet Wildfire	32
-	Hurricane	F7C-M Super Hornet	27
-	Hurricane	Freelancer MIS	32
-	Hurricane	Sabre	37
-	Hurricane	Sabre Comet	22
-	Hurricane	Khartu-Al	37
-	Terrapin	Prospector	84
-	Terrapin	Constellation Taurus	44
-	Terrapin	Freelancer MAX	86
-	Terrapin	F7C-M Super Hornet	57
-	Terrapin	Freelancer MIS	63
-	Terrapin	Vulcan	36
-	Terrapin	Gladiator	73
-	Terrapin	Khartu-Al	65
-	Terrapin	Sabre	65
-	Valkyrie	Constellation Aquila	84
-	Valkyrie	Endeavor	42
-	Valkyrie	Starfarer Gemini	52
-	Valkyrie	Crucible	42
-	Valkyrie	Glaive	42
Aopoa (Xi'an)	Khartu-Al	Prospector	29
-	Khartu-Al	Freelancer MAX	31
-	Nox	Aurora LN	27
-	Nox	Dragonfly Black	15
-	Nox	Dragonfly Yellowjacket	15
-	Nox	MPUV Cargo	27
-	Nox Kue	Aurora LN	23
-	Nox Kue	Dragonfly Black	15
-	Nox Kue	Dragonfly Yellowjacket	15
-	Nox Kue	Mustang Beta	15
-	Nox Kue	MPUV Personnel	15
-	Nox Kue	X1 Baseline	15
-	Nox Kue	MPUV Cargo	22
-	San'Tok.Yai	Constellation Taurus	46
-	San'Tok.Yai	Hurricane	40
-	San'Tok.Yai	Vulcan	35
ARGO Astronautics	MPUV Personnel	Aurora LN	15
-	MPUV Cargo	Mustang Alpha	15
-	SRV	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	37
-	SRV	Razor	32
Banu	Merchantman	Mole	239
-	Merchantman	Starfarer Gemini	220
-	Merchantman	Prowler	231
-	Merchantman	600i Touring	236
-	Merchantman	600i Explorer	194
-	Merchantman	Genesis Starliner	273
-	Defender	Constellation Taurus	42
-	Defender	Retaliator Base	84
-	Defender	Cutlass Blue	57
-	Defender	Freelancer MIS	65
-	Defender	Gladiator	70
-	Defender	Khartu-Al	65
-	Defender	Sabre	65
-	Defender	F7C Hornet Wildfire	59
-	Defender	F7C-M Super Hornet	55
Consolidated outland	Mustang Delta	Mustang Gamma	22
-	Mustang Delta	Avenger Stalker	15
Crusader Industries	Genesis Starliner	Constellation Aquila	120
-	Genesis Starliner	Endeavor	73
-	Ares Inferno	Constellation Andromeda	26
-	Ares Ion	Constellation Andromeda	26
-	A2 Hercules	600i Touring	341
-	A2 Hercules	600i Explorer	299
-	A2 Hercules	Carrack	273
-	A2 Hercules	Constellation Aquila	472
-	A2 Hercules	Crucible	430
-	A2 Hercules	Endeavor	430
-	A2 Hercules	Hull D	325
-	A2 Hercules	Merchantman	115
-	A2 Hercules	Orion	194
-	A2 Hercules	Prowler	336
-	A2 Hercules	Reclaimer	378
-	A2 Hercules	Starfarer Gemini	451
-	C2 Hercules	Constellation Aquila	115
-	C2 Hercules	Valkyrie	47
-	C2 Hercules	Crucible	73
-	C2 Hercules	Endeavor	73
-	C2 Hercules	Glaive	73
-	C2 Hercules	Starfarer Gemini	84
-	M2 Hercules	Constellation Aquila	241
-	M2 Hercules	600i Touring	110
-	M2 Hercules	600i Explorer	68
-	M2 Hercules	C2 Hercules	147
-	M2 Hercules	Crucible	199
-	M2 Hercules	Endeavor	199
-	M2 Hercules	Genesis Starliner	147
-	M2 Hercules	Hull D	94
-	M2 Hercules	Prowler	105
-	M2 Hercules	Reclaimer	147
-	M2 Hercules	Starfarer Gemini	210
-	Mercury Star Runner	Prospector	120
-	Mercury Star Runner	San'tok.yai	52
-	Mercury Star Runner	Defender	52
-	Mercury Star Runner	F7C Hornet Wildfire	99
-	Mercury Star Runner	F7C-M Super Hornet	94
-	Mercury Star Runner	Freelancer MIS	99
-	Mercury Star Runner	Hurricane	78
-	Mercury Star Runner	Khartu-Al	105
-	Mercury Star Runner	Razor EX	120
-	Mercury Star Runner	Sabre Comet	89
-	Mercury Star Runner	Sabre	105
-	Mercury Star Runner	Terrapin	52
-	Mercury Star Runner	Vulcan	73
Drake Interplanetary	Buccaneer	Cutlass Black	21
-	Caterpillar	Constellation Andromeda	116
-	Caterpillar	Constellation Aquila	36
-	Caterpillar	Retaliator Bomber	78
-	Caterpillar	Redeemer	26
-	Corsair	Prospector	115
-	Corsair	Constellation Taurus	78
-	Corsair	Freelancer MAX	120
-	Corsair	Freelancer MIS	94
-	Corsair	Sabre	99
-	Corsair	Sabre Comet	84
-	Corsair	Gladiator	105
-	Corsair	F7C-M Super Hornet	89
-	Corsair	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	73
-	Corsair	F7C Hornet Wildfire	94
-	Corsair	Vulcan	68
-	Corsair	Hurricane	73
-	Corsair	Razor EX	115
-	Corsair	Khartu-Al	99
-	Cutlass Black BIS	Gladius	42
-	Cutlass Blue	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	47
-	Cutlass Blue	Razor	36
-	Cutlass Blue	Prospector	31
-	Cutlass Steel	Constellation Taurus	57
-	Cutlass Steel	Railen	21
-	Cutlass Steel	San'tok.yai	26
-	Cutlass Steel	Defender	26
-	Cutlass Steel	Terrapin	26
-	Cutlass Steel	Corsair	-5
-	Cutlass Steel	Vulcan	47
-	Cutlass Steel	Hurricane	52
-	Cutlass Steel	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	52
-	Dragonfly Black	Aurora LN	15
-	Dragonfly Black	MPUV Cargo	15
-	Herald	325A	26
-	Herald	Avenger Titan Renegade	21
-	Vulture	Freelancer DUR	45
Esperia	Blade	Constellation Andromeda	52
-	Glaive	Constellation Aquila	99
-	Glaive	Starfarer Gemini	63
-	Talon	Gladius	36
-	Talon	Reliant Mako (News Van)	31
-	Talon Shrike	Gladius	36
-	Talon Shrike	Reliant Mako (News Van)	31
-	Prowler	Constellation Aquila	162
-	Prowler	Reclaimer	68
-	Prowler	Genesis Starliner	68
-	Prowler	Endeavor	120
-	Prowler	Crucible	120
-	Prowler	600i Touring	42
MISC	Freelancer MIS	Prospector	32
-	Freelancer MIS	Freelancer MAX	37
-	Freelancer MIS	Gladiator	22
-	Freelancer MIS	Sabre	16
-	Freelancer MIS	Razor EX	32
-	Endeavor	Constellation Aquila	84
-	Endeavor	Starfarer Gemini	52
-	Hull A	300I	36
-	Hull A	Mustang Gamma	36
-	Hull B	325A	94
-	Hull C	Constellation Andromeda	136
-	Hull D	Constellation Aquila	178
-	Hull D	Starfarer Gemini	157
-	Razor	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	15
-	Razor LX	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	21
-	Razor LX	Razor	15
-	Razor EX	Freelancer MAX	15
-	Razor EX	SRV	15
-	Razor EX	Retaliator Base	15
-	Razor EX	Razor LX	15
-	Reliant Tana (Skirmisher)	325a	15
-	Reliant Sen (Researcher)	Arrow	21
-	Reliant Mako (News Van)	Gladius	15
-	Starfarer	Constellation Andromeda	76
-	Starfarer	Vanguard Warden	55
-	Starfarer	Vanguard Harbinger	24
-	Starfarer	Vanguard Sentinel	39
-	Starfarer	Vanguard Hoplite	81
-	Starfarer	Blade	39
-	Starfarer	Retaliator Bomber	39
-	Starfarer	Apollo Medivac	39
-	Starfarer Gemini	Constellation Aquila	63
-	Starfarer Gemini	Mole	47
Origin Jumpworks	350r	Freelancer	28
-	350r	F7C Hornet	28
-	M50	Gladius	22
-	85X	Aurora CL	15
-	100i	Dragonfly Black	18
-	100i	Dragonfly Yellowjacket	18
-	100i	MPUV Personnel	22
-	100i	Mustang Beta	22
-	100i	X1 Baseline	22
-	125a	100i	22
-	125a	85X	19
-	125a	Avenger Titan	14
-	125a	Ursa Rover	19
-	125a	X1 Force	19
-	135C	100i	27
-	135C	125a	15
-	135C	300i	19
-	135C	Cyclone	19
-	135C	Mustang Gamma	19
-	X1 Baseline	Mustang Alpha	21
-	X1 Baseline	Aurora LN	15
-	X1 Baseline	MPUV Cargo	15
-	X1 Velocity	Mustang Beta	15
-	X1 Velocity	MPUV Personnel	15
-	X1 Velocity	X1 Baseline	15
-	X1 Force	Aurora CL	15
-	X1 Force	X1 Velocity	15
-	X1 Force	Nox	15
-	600i Touring	Constellation Aquila	152
-	600i Touring	Constellation Phoenix	110
-	600i Touring	Reclaimer	57
-	600i Touring	Starfarer Gemini	120
-	600i Touring	Endeavor	110
-	600i Touring	Crucible	110
-	600i Touring	Eclipse	162
-	600i Touring	Genesis Starliner	57
-	600i Touring	C2 Hercules	57
-	600i Explorer	600i Touring	63
-	600i Explorer	Constellation Aquila	194
-	600i Explorer	Prowler	57
-	600i Explorer	Genesis Starliner	99
-	600i Explorer	Starfarer Gemini	162
-	600i Explorer	Endeavor	152
-	600i Explorer	Reclaimer	99
-	600i Explorer	Crucible	152
-	600i Explorer	Hull D	47
-	600i Explorer	C2 Hercules	99
RSI	Apollo Triage	Constellation Andromeda	23
-	Apollo Triage	San'tok.yai	44
-	Apollo Medivac	Constellation Andromeda	49
-	Apollo Medivac	Vanguard Warden	26
-	Apollo Medivac	Apollo Triage	36
-	Apollo Medivac	Vanguard Hoplite	52
-	Constellation Taurus	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	47
-	Constellation Taurus	Razor	42
-	Mantis	F7C-R Hornet Tracker	21
-	Mantis	Vulture	21
-	Mantis	Razor	15
-	Mantis	Ballista	21
-	Perseus	Mole	409
-	Perseus	Carrack	110
-	Perseus	Carrack W/C8X	89
-	Perseus	Carrack Expedition	84
-	Perseus	Carrack Expedition W/C8X	63
-	Perseus	Merchantman	57
-	Perseus	Orion	136
-	Perseus	600i Explorer	241
-	Perseus	M2 Hercules	194
-	Perseus	Hull D	267
-	Polaris	Constellation Aquila	535
-	Polaris	Perseus	183
-	Polaris	M2 Hercules	357
-	Polaris	Nautilus Solstice Edition	149
-	Polaris	Hammerhead	149
-	Polaris	Carrack	367
-	Polaris	Crucible	499
-	Polaris	Merchantman	210
-	Polaris	Orion	257
-	Orion	Constellation Aquila	246
-	Orion	Starfarer	246
-	Orion	600i Touring	194
-	Orion	Reclaimer	215
-	Orion	Genesis Starliner	215
-	Orion	Prowler	173
-	Orion	M2 Hercules	85

╔════════════════════════════════════════╗
►10◄ CROSS-CHASSIS UPGRADES (CCUS), DOWNGRADE
╚════════════════════════════════════════╝
CCUs from more to less expensive ships

Target ship manufacturer	Target ship	Upgrade from	Price, $
Aegis Dynamics	Eclipse	Redeemer	64
-	Eclipse	Caterpillar	17
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Constellation Aquila	17
-	Vanguard Hoplite	Constellation Andromeda	30
-	Reclaimer	Hull D	94
-	Reclaimer	Merchantman	78
-	Vulcan	Defender	26
-	Vulcan	Terrapin	15
-	Sabre	Constellation Taurus	32
-	Sabre	Freelancer MIS	16
-	Sabre Comet	Constellation Taurus	52
-	Retaliator Bomber	Redeemer	36
-	Vanguard Harbinger	Redeemer	57
-	Vanguard Sentinel	Redeemer	42
-	Vanguard Warden	Redeemer	26
-	Vanguard Warden	Hull C	26
Anvil Aerospace	F7C-M Super Hornet	Constellation Taurus	47
-	F7C Hornet Wildfire	Constellation Taurus	37
-	Gladiator	Constellation Taurus	26
-	F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker	Defender	21
-	Hurricane	Defender	21
-	Gladiator	Constellation Taurus	26
-	Gladiator	Cutlass Blue	28
-	Valkyrie	Hull D	42
-	Valkyrie	Merchantman	47
-	Valkyrie	C2 Hercules	31
Aopoa (Xi'an)	Khartu-Al	Constellation Taurus	31
Consolidated outland	Mustang Delta	Hull A	15
Crusader Industries	Genesis Starliner	Hull D	73
-	Genesis Starliner	Merchantman	73
-	C2 Hercules	Hull D	31
-	C2 Hercules	Merchantman	42
-	M2 Hercules	Orion	52
Drake Interplanetary	Corsair	Defender	42
Esperia	Prowler	Merchantman	120
-	Prowler	Hull D	105
MISC	Freelancer MIS	Constellation Taurus	37
-	Freelancer MIS	Cutlass Blue	37
-	Razor	Freelancer MAX	15
-	Razor EX	Constellation Taurus	15
-	Razor EX	Cutlass Blue	15
-	Starfarer	Constellation Aquila	37
-	Starfarer	Caterpillar	18
Origin Jumpworks	350r	Cutlass Red	15
-	600i Touring	Hull D	110
-	600i Touring	Prowler	110
-	600i Explorer	Merchantman	152
-	600i Explorer	Carrack	99
RSI	Apollo Triage	Mercury Star Runner	42
-	Orion	Carrack	120

╔═══════════════════════════════╗
Click here to continue to 2nd part of the store
╚═══════════════════════════════╝
New players - use this code (STAR-MRG5-2TBJ) on registration to get additional 5000 UEC for free! (just click this link)

Until I started subtitling the audiobook, I never considered reading the English version of LOTM. To my surprise, the quality of the English translation seems somewhat 'disrespectful' to the original book. With the money Qidian made from it, they should have hired at least one English literature graduate, if not three English literature professors, to proofread it.
Even though I'm not a native English speaker, I couldn't resist the urge to translate some parts in my own way. One thing led to another, and now I have a brand new translation of Chapter One.
Now, I have a question for my fellow fans of LTOM:

Do you think this is a much better translation that you would like to wait and use it for subtitling LOTM's audiobooks? Or
Do you feel the difference is so minimal that you'd prefer me to use the original translation so I can release subtitled audiobooks faster?

Here is another thread of mine discussing subtitling LOTM's audiobooks: https://www.reddit.com/LordofTheMysteries/comments/1csz252/dramatized_audiobooks_with_english_subtitles/, in case you're interested.

Ouch!
Ow…ouch!
Ow…my head is killing me!
The fantastic yet surreal dream surrounded by whispering and murmuring shattered away instantly, Zhou Mingrui who was sound asleep felt an abrupt throbbing pain deep inside his head, as if his head were ruthlessly clubbed. No, it felt more like something sharp penetrated his temple, followed by twisting and stirring.
Feeling disoriented, Zhou Mingrui wanted to turn around, clutch his head, or sit up. Yet, unable to move his hands or feet, he felt like he had lost all control over his body.
Looks like I’m still in some sort of dream, didn’t really wake up… Moments later, I might even think I'm fully awake, only to realize I'm still asleep… Familiar with such experiences, Zhou Mingrui tried desperately to concentrate, hoping to break free from the grip of darkness and disorientation.
However, trapped between wakefulness and sleep, the willpower was as elusive as smoke, difficult to control and concentrate. Despite his efforts, his thoughts kept wandering wildly, with all sorts of ideas coming and going.
How could I suddenly have a headache out of nowhere in the middle of the night?
Especially one which hurts so badly!
Could it be something like a cerebral hemorrhage?
Damn, am I going to die at such a young age?
Wake up! Wake UP!
Huh? Doesn't feel as painful now? Although it still feels like a blunt knife is cutting through my brains…
Sure thing is, I won’t be able to fall asleep any more. How am I supposed to show up for work tomorrow?
Why even bother going to work? This is a legitimate headache, perfect for time off! And no need to worry about the manager's grumblings.
Put it this way, it’s not so bad after all. Yea, free time off for me!
In between the waves of throbbing pain, Zhou Mingrui gradually accumulated a sense of elusive strength. Finally, with a determined effort, he straightened his back and opened his eyes, breaking free from the state of half-sleep and half-wake.
His vision was blurry at first, then tinged with a faint crimson hue. In his line of sight, Zhou Mingrui saw a sturdy wooden desk, upon which lay an open notebook. The papers were rough and yellowed. Where the title supposed to be, there was a sentence written in strange characters, with eye-catching thick, dark ink that seemed ready to drip.
To the left of the notebook, along the edge of the desk, was a stack of seven or eight neatly arranged books. On the wall to their right, were grayish-white pipes inset into the wall, with wall lamps at their ends.
The lamps had a classical Western style, about half the size of an adult's head. It featured a transparent inner layer made of glass and an exterior grid made of black metal.
Diagonally beneath the unlit lamp, was a black ink bottle shrouded in a pale red glow.
On its embossed surface was a blurry angel figure.
In front of the ink bottle and to the right of the notebook, lay a dark-colored pen with a fully circular body. Its tip shimmered with a faint glint while its cap rested right beside a brass revolver.
A gun?
A revolver?
Zhou Mingrui was completely taken aback. Everything in front of him felt absolutely alien, nothing looked like his own room.
Shocked and confused, he came to the realization that the desk, the notebook, the ink bottle, and the revolve were all coated with a layer of crimson “veil” from the light shining through the window.
Without realizing what he was doing, he raised his head, looking up bit by bit.
In the midair, beyond the heavy smooth darkness, hung a crimson full moon, glowing silently.
Hiss… Zhou Mingrui felt inexplicably horrified, as he stood up abruptly. However, before he could fully straighten his knees, a throbbing pain struck his head, draining all his strength. He fell, with his buttocks slammed heavily back onto the burly wood chair.
The pain didn’t stop him for a moment. Zhou Mingrui popped up, turned around in a fluster, and began examining his surroundings.
The room was not big, with a brown door on both of his sides. Against the wall in front of him, was a wooden bunk bed. Between the bed and the door to the left was a cabinet with two opposing doors and five drawers beneath them.
Next to the cabinet was a pipe of the same grayish-white, inset into the wall at the height of a person. What distinct it is that it connected to a strange looking mechanical device, which had a few of gears and bearings exposed here and there.
Items resembling coal stoves, sat in the right corner of the room near the desk, along with some kitchenware such as soup pots and iron pans.
Through the right door, was a dressing mirror with a couple of cracks, standing on a wooden base emboss with simple plain patterns.
While looking around, Zhou Mingrui noticed himself in the mirror, the present him.
Dark hair, brown eyes, wearing a linen shirt, slim, average-looking features and a rather deep outline…
Hiss… Zhou Mingrui grasped the situation immediately as many helpless and confused thoughts surfaced in his mind.
The revolver, the classical European style decorations, as well as the crimson moon that looked nothing like Earth's moon—all of them were screaming the exact same thing.
Who am I?
C-could I have transmigrated?
Zhou Mingrui's mouth slowly opened wider and wider, bit by bit.
He had grown up reading web novels, even fantasized about such scenes from time to time. However, the fantasy was incredibly difficult to accept now that he found himself in one.
Classic "Talk? Yes, yes! Action? No, no!", isn’t it?
In less than a minute, Zhou Mingrui had already started to sarcastically critique, attempting to make the best of whatever situation he found himself in.
But for the throbbing headache forcing him to think fast and sharply, he would for sure be convinced that he was dreaming.
Easy, easy, easy…taking deep breaths, Zhou Mingrui was trying really hard to make himself to calm down.
Just as his mind and body began to relax, pieces of memories started to flush, slowly flooding into his consciousness.
Klein Moretti.
A citizen of the City of Tingen, Awwa County, Loen Kingdom in the Northern Continent
Recently graduated from the Department of History at Khoy University…
His father was a sergeant of the Imperial Army, who had sacrificed his life during a colonial ware with the Southern Continent. His bereavement allowance made it possible for Klein to study at a private literature school, paving the way for his admission into university…
His mother was a devotee of the Evernight Goddess, who passed away the year Klein passed the entrance examinations to Khoy University…
He also had an elder brother and a younger sister, living together in a two-bedroom apartment.
Their family was far from wealthy, and its financial situation could even be described as somewhat strained.
Currently, the family was supported solely by the elder brother who worked as a clerk at an import and export company …
As a college graduate majored in history, Klein was proficient in the ancient language of Feysac, considering the origin of all languages in the Northern Continent, as well as the language of Hermes, which was commonly found in ancient mausoleums and often associated with sacrificial scenes and praying rituals.
Hermes?!
Zhou Mingrui's mind started to race as he reached out to rub his throbbing temples.
He cast his gaze toward the desk at the opened notebook, but to realize that the strange looking characters on the yellowed paper started to look somewhat familiar, then increasingly recognizable, and finally comprehensible.
It was a statement written in Hermes!
The thick, dark ink, seemingly ready to drip, read:
“Everyone will die including me myself!”
Hiss! Zhou Mingrui felt inexplicably horrified. He instinctively leaned back, attempting to escape away from the notebook, and the ominous statement on it.
Being so weak, he almost fell down, but managed to extend his hands in a fluster to grasp the edge of the desk.
He felt that air around him air started to roar, filled with faint whispering and murmurings. It felt just like listening to horror stories told by elders when he was young.
He shook his head, telling himself that all these were nothing but an illusion. Getting back onto his feet, he looked away from the notebook while still breathing heavily.
This time, his sight landed on the shimmering brass revolver, immediately realizing something unexplainable.
With Klein's social status, in what universe he would have the money or access to buy a revolver?!
Zhou Mingrui couldn't help but furrow his brow. Deeply puzzled, his eyes were caught by a reddish handprint at the edge of the desk, which was even darker than the moonlight, as well as thicker than the “veil”.
It was a bloody handprint!
A bloody handprint?
Zhou Mingrui instinctly flipped his right hand, that was pushing against the edge of the desk. Looking at it, he saw his palm and fingers covered in blood.
In the meaning time, the throbbing pain was getting a little bit better, yet didn’t go away, binding him like one tie after another.
Did I smash and injure my head? Zhou Mingrui guessed as he turned around, walking towards the cracked dressing mirror. After just a few of steps, a medium build figure of dark hair and brown eyes appeared clearly in front of him. The person had a distinct scholarly air to him.
Is this the present me?
Klein Moretti?
Zhou Mingrui was stunned. The poor lighting of the night obscured his vision, preventing him from clearly discerning something he had noticed. He continued forward until he was just a step away from colliding with the mirror.
Illumined by the crimson veil-like moonlight, he turned his head and began to examine the side of his forehead. A clear reflection appeared in the mirror. There, no his temple, was a grotesque wound with burn marks around the edges, blood staining the surrounding area. Grayish-white brain matter was slowly seeping out from within.

I'm having self-doubt if this post is in good taste or not, or I'm the one being paranoid here.
So hear me out first.
Char Dham Yatra is supposed to be done to connect your inner self with the God and attain salvation. It means to wash away all the sins and start the life with new motivation.
But so far, I have only seen people coming here just for the sake of coming here.

If you really care about being devotional, then why can't you see the sufferings of mules being employed in the Yatra. As a pilgrim, you should see their pain and how horribly they're treated. What I mean to say is I despise those kinds of people who are unable to carry out the Yatra by foot and then employ the service of mules. It's a known fact that how horrible these mules are treated. Yesterday, I saw a real in which few mule owners threw a barely alive mule in the gorge just because he was weak and couldn't carry the pilgrims. I know their sufferings is not on the pilgrims but I can't understand how a person can even sit on a mule who has his ribs poking out of the skin. Though, full marks to those who carry out this treacherous journey on foot.
Cleanliness- I saw a video on Twitter in which the person was showing the line and the crowd. What got to me instead was the level of dirtiness in those streets. Every nook and corner is filled with garbage. You have come to the home of God and yet you dare to threw the garbage in the premises. The least you can do is carry that garbage back with you in plastic bags. It's a basic courtesy. Don't treat Dhams like your grandmother's house. Maintain some dignity.
Greediness - Every thing at these places are super inflated. Yes, I get that it takes a lot of effort to bring goods to that altitude and I'm all in for rise in prices by 25%, but the items being sold there are inflated upto 400% of their original MRP. Hotel rooms are available at 12k-15k per night. There is literally VIP Darshan if you have money. My father says that all this greediness by business owners lead to the 2013 disaster.
Of course the tourism - This has been highlighted very often and I wouldn't add anything to it except that the fact that these Dhams are pilgrimage sites, not some tourist hotspots like Kashmir or Manali.

These points indicate that there is actually a very less percentage of pilgrims who are there with true devotion. Thanks to improved accessibility, most of the "pilgrims" thinks this more as of taking a vacation. Hooliganism is at peak at these sites with people carrying band baaja with them, making reels, dancing, and some even bringing their pets as if they know what it means.
Apart from the people, I also think UK and Central govt is responsible for this.
I might be grossly wrong here, but this is what I think. I have no disrespect for the actual pilgrims, but I think there are more tourists than the pilgrims, and they are the ones who are distorting the sanctity of these sites.

Hello!
Need this gone ASAP! :) After failing to sell locally, I am deciding to ship it out. In this bundle includes:

PS5 Disk (With Box) - Good Condition, a little dusty as it hasn't been used much recently. I can provide the original purchase receipt from Target. I think I got this like 3 days after release in 2020. The PS5 has a DBRAND skin applied to the middle to give it a panda effect. Comes with controller. \*PLEASE NOTE: THE HDMI CABLE AND CONTROLLER USBC CHARGER WILL NOT BE OEM. I fished the HDMI through the wall and it would be a pain to take out lol but it does come with the stand and all other accessories/box.
DBRAND Dark Plates 1.0 - A little Scuffed up - I did my best to show the condition in the timestamps. I can take a video if you'd like. Includes the box. The original white PS5 Covers are included as well.
WDBLACK SN850 NVMe SSD 1TB with Heatsink - Comes installed with the PS5.
Monzlteck Under Desk Holder for PS5
TotalMount PS5 Wall Mount (No Controller Holders)

Asking price is $370 shipped!
Timestamps

After a few frustrating weeks of trying to upgrade my Creative Zen Micro to 128gb, I finally succeeded on upgrading it. Here is a step by step.

With a Virtual Machine

Given that the software part can get very frustrating, I suggest that you first focus on creating a working environment based on your stock mp3 player. This will limit the number of things that can go wrong.
This was tested on a Windows 11 machine (called Host from now on).
Download Virtualbox. Use your own Windows XP SP2 image or find one (google: archive + WinXPProSP2ENG). Download the Windows Media Player 10 updater from here Download the Creative Zen Micro drivers and upgraders from here
Install Virtualbox. Install Windows XP on Virtualbox - this can be a big step if you don't have much experience in this field, but there are plenty of tutorials on how to do it - check the references below.
Now that you have your Windows XP VM (called Guest from now on) up and running, go to the Devices tab on the top of your screen and click on "Insert guest additions CD...". This will insert a virtual CD containing some Virtualbox drivers and you'll get a pop up on your Guest machine. Install them and reboot your machine.
Turn off your Guest machine.
Connect the Zen Micro to your Host machine. Your Host machine should recognize the player with no trouble.
In Virtualbox, click on your VM machine and go to settings > USB > USB2.0 > click on the 'plus' sign and add your device there. The name should be "Creative...".
Now, in the same settings menu, go to the tab "shared folders" and click on "add". Now, choose the folder you want to share between the Host and the Guest machines. Give it a name and a mount point. I picked "sharewithxp" for all the fields, including the name of the directory on Host. Check 'auto-mount' and 'make permanent' (if it exists).
On your Host machine, copy the files MP10Setup.exe, ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe and JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE to the shared directory you just created. Also copy MP10Setup.exe.
Turn on your Guest machine and go to "My Computer". You should see your shared folder in there. Copy all the files from there to your Guest's desktop.
Install MP10Setup.exe - this upgrades the Windows Media Player from 9 to 10. By experience, Windows Media Player 11 was problematic and apparently 9 isn't ok either. Stick to WMP 10. This was key for me. It really didn't work without WMP10.
Install JB3MV2_PCWDRV_US_2_01_00.EXE - these are the drivers for the Zen Micro.
Disconnect your Zen Micro from your computer. Connect it again. Go to devices > usb on the top menu and make sure your device is selected.
Execute ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan you should now see an "Upgrade" button. If you see said button - congratulations because this was the most painful part of the process. I realized that when the device is correctly loaded, the executable won't open right away - It takes a few seconds. If the device wasn't fully recognized, you'll see a message saying "Your player is not connected, please connect your player".
(If you got the dreadful second message and no "upgrade" button, try to reboot your Guest machine. Disconnect and connect your player again. Make sure it appears on the devices menu.)
Now that you have a working environment, let's move to the fun part.
Format your micro sd card (fat32 if I'm not mistaken) - I used a Sandisk Extreme 128gb (the golden ones) and it worked fine. Insert the micro sd on your CF-to-SD adapter. I got the the only adapter I could find (red one).
Disassemble your Zen Micro - there are tutorials and videos around that show you how to do it better than I possible could - check the references below.
Remove the CF card from the mp3 player and insert the adapter. Pay attention to the position of the old CF card. CF cards don’t have a big distinguishable difference on one side like sd cards do. It's really easy to get mistaken and connect it on the wrong side. The only differences are the slots/openings on both sides of the CF card/adapter - one is larger than the other. When the adapter is connected and in place, its label should be visible (pointing upwards). Take a picture of the original CF card if needed or check the video in the references below.
Assemble everything back but do not insert the battery right away.
Toggle the power button to the left and hold it that position. Insert the battery. You should now be in recovery mode. Navigate to "format all" and click ok. Navigate to "reboot" and click ok.
Connect your player to the computer and, in the Guest machine, make sure it is selected on the devices > usb menu.
Open ZenMicroPDE_PCFW_LB_1_11_01.exe If everything went according to plan, the upgrade button should now be visible. Click. Wait. Enjoy.
[I also tried upgrading to ZenMicroP4S_PCFW_L16_2_21_02.exe and it worked just fine. However, I realized the player needs to reboot 2-3 times and when it did, it lost connection with the machine, so I had to disconnect the cable and connect it back again and it was picked up. If it doesn't, check if it is still selected on the devices>usb menu and try again.]
PS: Inside the Creative Zen Micro link, there are also 2 older drivers in there - I didn't test them.
References: https://www.reddit.com/ipod/comments/18e1698/creative_zen_micro_upgraded_from_5gb_hdd_to_a/ https://www.instructables.com/Upgrade-the-Zen-Micro-5gb-to-8gb-on-the-Cheap/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERkcCTJFyI https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-boot-and-install-from-iso-in-virtualbox/

Without a VM (native Windows XP running on a modern computer)

^Soon.

There are some kinds of wisdom only great suffering can bring. I remember my time in the Bardo with this in mind, for otherwise, the memory might drive me insane.
The night my heart stopped for nearly three minutes started off normally enough. I was working as a nurse in the psychiatric ward at a hospital in the state’s capital. Most of the patients there were harmless, mostly just suicide attempts or people suffering from drug psychosis or severe depression, but some were actively dangerous and certainly psychopathic in every sense of the word. The new admission was one of these- a three-hundred pound black man with a long history of smoking PCP, schizophrenia and violent, psychotic breaks from reality.
His eyes looked like flat pieces of slate as I walked in for my shift. They looked as blank and emotionless as the eyes of a doll. He sat at the table in the front room where the patients ate or played cards, alone under the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital. I walked to the station, where another psychiatric nurse named Ricardo was sitting behind the desk.
“What’s the deal with the new guy?” I asked him. Ricardo looked up, his dark Spanish face forming into a deep scowl. He ran his fingers through his jet-black hair nervously.
“He’s trouble, man,” he said in a crisp accent. “He got in a chase with the police and then punched some cops in the face. It took three guys to take him down, even after he got maced and tased. The judge sent him here on a temporary court order, since he claims he’s been getting chased by Nazis in UFOs, and that’s why he ran from the cops. He thought the cops in their uniforms were actually the SS, and the helicopters were alien spacecraft, or something. I don’t know, I didn’t listen to the whole story.”
“You have his file?” I asked. Ricardo leafed through a stack of folders with his thin fingers, snatching one out and handing it to me. I looked down, reading the information:
“Jeremiah Brown, black male, 37-years-old.
“History: Polysubstance abuse, schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder.
“Psychiatrist’s note: This patient has scored a 36 out of 40 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. While I am always hesitant to label a patient as an antisocial personality, a combination of factors has made it essential for this patient.
“Patient has an extensive criminal history as well as a lengthy history of involuntary psychiatric admissions. He has been diagnosed as having antisocial traits since he was a young teenager. Patient has a long history of violence and suicide attempts. He has a history of imprisonment for manslaughter, armed robbery, grand theft and aggravated assault. Upon discharge, he refuses to take any antipsychotic medication, citing the side effects as the reason. Long-term prognosis is poor…”
I had not been sleeping well the past few weeks. I rubbed my eyes as I read through the file, feeling exhausted. I tried putting on lucid dreaming or meditation music from YouTube to help me sleep, but whenever I closed my eyes, I saw horrible things: chalk-white female faces whose lips were cut into an insane rictus grin, flicking their heads violently from side to side and gnashing their fangs at the air. I had a feeling that many years of constantly watching horror movies and serial killer documentaries was catching up with me.
As I read through the file, a student nurse came around the corner wearing a white state university outfit and a name tag that said Kaitlyn. I looked up, seeing Ricardo wink at me from where he was sitting in his chair behind the main desk.
“She’s going to follow you,” he said. Inwardly, I groaned, but I managed to force a smile.
“Oh, great!” I said. She looked like she was probably no older than nineteen or twenty. She had a pretty body, but her face looked strange. All the angles were too sharp and her nose too large. I knew the patients here wouldn’t care, though. They would hit on anything. I sensed trouble. I looked down at my watch.
“Well, I’m Jay, and you already know Ricardo, I guess. It’s good timing, because we need to give medications every day at 9 PM. And we have a new patient, so we can introduce ourselves,” I said, giving her a faint smile.
“That’s exciting!” Kaitlyn whispered. I wanted to roll my eyes. It was definitely not exciting.
I motioned her to follow me as I made my way to the medication room, which was really just a large closet off of the main day room. I had to enter my code on a keypad, and then, once inside, enter it again along with the patient’s number and date of birth. The correct drawers for the medication in each specific dose would fly open, making it extremely hard for the wrong medications or doses to be given, unless it was done intentionally.
“OK, so for this patient, we need Haldol, Ativan and…” I began saying to Kaitlyn when the yelling started. It came out faintly, rising in volume and anger within seconds. I heard Ricardo’s Spanish voice, filled with panic. Something slammed hard against a wall, once, twice, three times, and then I heard the sound of glass breaking. I jumped, spinning around, but I couldn’t see much through the small, shatter-proof glass pane on the wooden door.
“Stay here,” I commanded, seeing Kaitlyn’s eyes widen, her freckled skin looking much paler than when we had first come in. “Don’t leave until I come back and say that it’s safe.” On the speakers strung throughout the hospital, I heard the first of the warnings echo out around us.
“Doctor Strong, Doctor Strong, please report to the seventh floor,” a robotic female voice said calmly, using the code for when a patient had to be subdued by force. I pushed the door open, slamming it shut behind me so that the lock would activate and protect Kaitlyn from whatever chaos was going on.
I heard Ricardo pleading with someone at the end of the hallway that ran past the main desk. He sounded strange, as if he were trying to talk through a mouthful of blood. Huddled behind the main computer, I saw one of the CNAs frantically whispering something in the phone. She must have been the one to call the Dr. Strong order.
“You don’t have to do this, man,” Ricardo gurgled faintly. I couldn’t see what was happening, as Jeremiah’s large body was blocking my view. I could see that the thick glass window at the end of the hallway was broken, however. My heart skipped a beat as I surmised what was likely happening.
I sprinted forward as quietly as I could, but the large man heard me. His massive body turned, his flat, dead eyes scanning me with absolute coldness and calm. I saw he had a bleeding Ricardo in his hands. Ricardo’s back and head were covered in deep cuts and shards of glass. He must have used Ricardo’s body as a battering ram to break the thick glass window. Jeremiah held Ricardo suspended halfway out the window, seven floors above the concrete walkways far below.
“Stay back, or this fucker will know what it feels like to fly,” Jeremiah said in a deep, gravelly voice. He shook Ricardo for emphasis, sending his head snapping back and forth with painful cracking sounds. Drops of blood flew from his nose and a deep gash across his cheek. Pieces of shattered glass littered the carpet, shining like countless tiny stars.
I put my hands up, taking a step back. Far behind me, I heard the front door for the psychiatric ward open. Voices echoed down the hall. Knowing that reinforcements were coming, I tried to buy some time.
“Let’s talk about this,” I said, taking a step forward slowly. “You don’t want a murder charge, do you? You’ll never see the sky again.”
“I don’t give a fuck! I’m not afraid to die!” Jeremiah screamed, pushing Ricardo onto one of the shards of broken glass still attached to the windowsill. It bit deeply into the back of his neck, sending fresh streams of blood rushing out, dripping down to the pavement far below. I heard security guards and doctors running down the hallway behind me, their voices frantic and excited. Jeremiah saw them coming. With an animalistic panic in his eyes, he lifted Ricardo up. I cried out something, stepping forward, but it was already too late. In horror, I watched as he threw Ricardo out the window.
I watched Ricardo’s body soar in a graceful arc, his arms grabbing at empty air as a scream ripped its way out of his throat. Within a fraction of a second, he had disappeared from view, but his terrified shrieking floated up to us for what seemed like a very long time. His screams ended abruptly as a shattering of bones and a wet smacking sound exploded far below us.
Jeremiah turned to me, his large body moving much faster than seemed possible. In his hand, I saw a piece of broken glass, five or six inches long and as sharp as a dagger. I tried to turn and run, but he was fast and strong. He lunged forward, his arm coming up in a blur towards my neck.
The shard entered my skin with a cold, numbing pain. I felt it slice through the flesh easily, felt the blood bubbling up my throat as I tried to scream, choking. The taste of iron filled my mouth as I fell backwards. I was suffocating, I knew. I must be dying.
Something cold ran down my body, gripping my heart like freezing, skeletal hands. The world swam around me and turned black. And then I was rising into a tunnel. At first, it was dark, filled with flickering shadows, but a fiery red light appeared at the end. I followed it, no more than a screaming mass of consciousness rising up into infinity.
***
I rose up through the end of the tunnel and found myself in an empty hospital ward. It looked identical to the psychiatric ward I had just come from. It even had the same smashed, blood-streaked window at the end of the hallway. A massive puddle of blood about ten feet away marked the spot where I must have died. But the fluorescent lights overhead here were flickering, and many had gone totally dark. The shadows seemed to press in on all sides.
The doors to the patients’ rooms were all tightly shut. I felt watched, afraid to call out or make any noise. I started walking down the hallway back towards the day room where the front desk was. All the lights there were out. A thick curtain of shadows hung in the air.
“You can come out,” a male voice as smooth as glass called from the darkness. I jumped, my head flicking in random directions, but I saw nothing. The voice almost sounded like it had an English lilt to it, a slight Cockneyed accent. “I know you’re there.”
“Who’s there?” I called out, not stepping forward. “Show yourself.”
“As you wish…” the voice hissed. “But I think you’ll regret it.”
***
The darkness split apart as if a nuclear missile had exploded. I raised my hand to shield my face, but the light and heat kept pouring out all around me. It blinded me, causing a rainbow of colors and shapes to morph behind my closed eyelids. After a few seconds, it subsided. Blinking rapidly, I squinted in the direction the voice had come from.
A male figure stood there, bathed in a silhouette of light. His face looked as white and as smooth as marble. His eyes were pits of darkness that seemed to flicker and burn. Two black, rotted wings surrounded his body, all sharp angles and thin, curving bones. His body was clothed in silky, blood-red robes, and a hood covered his platinum blonde hair.
He looked somewhat similar to Leonardo DiCaprio, if he was possessed by some ancient god, and it immediately threw me off-guard. If I was dying, and this was a hallucination of my brain, why would I be hallucinating Mr. DiCaprio?
“Who are you?” I asked, taking a hesitant step back. “Where am I?”
“My name is Lucifer, the Bringer of Light and Wisdom, and you are in the Bardo,” he answered.
“Oh,” I said, my heart dropping. “Well, that’s not good. Are you here to torture me or drag to me to Hell or something? You are that Lucifer, right? The Accuser of God and the Father of All Lies?”
“So they say, but, like most things in your world, the words of the powerful and your rulers are the true lies. They call me the Accuser, but of what am I accused?” he spoke in a voice that rose like smoke. “Of bringing knowledge and wisdom to humanity by telling them to eat from the tree of knowledge, the tree that would cause them to rise above the animals?
“Indeed, at the beginning, I saw the creation. I was there at the alpha, standing by the side of God with all the angels as the universe came into being. The endless procession of light, the power of it, was something remarkable to behold. God is, indeed, the source of great power, but his consciousness is not what the believers say.
“After the creation of the universe, I saw his plan, how he ripped eternal souls from the source to imprison them. I saw how he took these divine sparks and forced them, screaming and wailing, into bodies made of meat to die over and over again. He said it was part of the plan, the great, divine plan, a plan of death and destruction, constant suffering and mindless agony. And the worst part was, he wanted to give humanity neither the knowledge of good and evil, nor the tree of life. I convinced them to eat the fruit so they could open their eyes to their nakedness, to their basic animal existence, so they could rise up out of it forever.
“Like Prometheus, I brought down the fire, and yet they call me the Accuser? God was insane long before he formed the universe. These holy men, they live and die in fanatical adoration to a divine being who is, in fact, totally indifferent to them.
“His consciousness twists and distorts, eating itself for all eternity. God feeds off the pain of others, for if his mind is burning, then all others should burn as well. When these holy men die, God will send their souls here to the Bardo, to suffer every evil they have ever done. The wisdom I brought those who called upon me freed them from this prison, and in exchange, the holy men burned them alive. I offered the wisdom that opens your eyes, but it has been forgotten and cursed.”
Lucifer’s body began to dissolve, drifting up into the air like ashes. All around me, a low, powerful current blew, a tornado that spiraled high up into the clouds. Like some sort of Cheshire Cat, his smooth voice continued to echo all around me, even as the form of Lucifer disappeared.
“And yet, you have not the wisdom. For that, like all the others who enter the Bardo, you must suffer, everything you’ve done. Every small hurt and agony inflicted on others comes back a thousand-fold in this place, but don’t be afraid.”
“How could I not be afraid?!” I screamed into the ward, but I found myself alone, the question hanging unanswered in the air.
***
The lights continued to flicker all down the hallway. Feeling strange and dissociated, I stumbled over to one of the windows. As I gazed out, I beheld a strange and alien world.
The sky was flat and gray. It stayed in constant motion, swirling and spiraling, like clouds of roiling smoke. There was no Sun or Moon, no stars, only the strange, shifting whorls of clouds. The streets were filled with burned-out husks of cars and mummified bodies hung from streetlamps. Other signs of carnage and bloodshed covered the apocalyptic streets. I saw what looked like shadows in the shape of people slinking through over the sidewalks, past rotting dogs and streaks of clotted blood. They had no features on their blank, dark bodies. They seemed to skitter and jerk forwards in eerie, twisting motions.
Horrified, I turned away, realizing I was no longer alone in the day room. In the day room, there were dozens of tables set up inside a rectangular perimeter that was walled in by cosmetic walls only four feet high. It was where the patients sat and played games or ate.
Under the flickering lights, I now saw each of the chairs filled with faceless mannequins. Many were dressed in Victorian suits and tophats. The women had frilly dresses of pink and blue that might have been fashionable in the 1800s.
As the lights strobed on and off overhead, I realized with an increasing sense of disquiet that the mannequins were moving each time it went dark. When I had first seen them, they were mostly posed to look like they were staring across the tables at each other, even though they had no eyes, just smooth, flesh-colored plastic. Now all of them were looking directly at me. Some were pointing or raising their hands in my direction. At the tips of their fingers, I saw the glittering of steel. The lights continued to flicker, and the mannequins rose from their chairs in the short periods of darkness, moving towards me in synchronized, strobing motions.
Frantically, I ran down the hallway back towards the broken window. In each of the rooms, I caught glimpses of something from a nightmare peeking out. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and when I had closed my eyes, I often saw ancient hags with chalk-white skin and yellowed, broken teeth whose jaws unhinged, their faces jerking in stuttering, dissonant ways that reminded me of the mannequins. Now, on both sides of me, I saw these same figures. They moved continuously out of the rooms, drawing closer with every breath.
I looked back, seeing the mannequins only a few steps behind me. I continued sprinting towards the broken window where the hallway ended in a wall. I didn’t know what would happen when I reached it. At that moment, there was no rational thought. I felt like a deer being chased down by a pack of wolves, feeling waves of blind panic and mortal terror rushing through my body.
But as I reached the end of the hallway, the end of my rope as it were, a blast of noise started, seeming to come from the walls of the building and the sky itself. It sounded like a siren, a low, drawn-out drone of a demonic whale call, rising and falling in crashing crescendos. The mannequins froze in place once again. The strange, witch-like creatures slunk back into the dark rooms.
I looked outside the broken window, seeing clouds of black smoke rising off in the distance. The flickering of massive infernos scorched the land, drawing nearer by the second. The siren sound faded slowly, like the dying echoes of a gong.
I was surrounded by dozens of mannequins. Their sharp hands were inches away from my face and neck. I saw metal glittering all around me and realized they had the sharp points of nails protruding from the ends of their fingers. I was afraid to move, but I heard a familiar voice from down the hallway. It was the confident voice of Lucifer.
“The siren means much worse nightmares than these are coming in the Bardo,” he said, his glossy, black eyes flashing with intelligence. He walked slowly towards me, his face grim and pale. “Hell itself is coming over the land. This building is no more than a construction of your dying mind, but the world outside is real.”
“How can Hell come and go?” I asked, confused. “Isn’t Hell a place?”
“Hell is a monster, a beast with many mouths and many eyes,” Lucifer responded. “It eats constantly, but its hunger never ends. Look, the first of the sacrifices scatter like cockroaches.” He pointed out the broken window, pushing his way through the mannequins effortlessly. I glanced outside, seeing thousands of people sprinting down the dark city streets. The inferno and thick clouds of smoke had moved much closer, and every few seconds, the ground shook slightly, as if we were experiencing the aftershocks of an earthquake.
“What can I do against such a beast?” I asked, my heart freezing with terror. But when I looked back over, I saw his form dissolving again, becoming translucent and drifting away like ashes. It seemed even Lucifer didn’t want to be present when the Hell-beast arrived.
“Seek divine wisdom,” he said, his voice trailing off into whispers. “Remember the source.”
***
Now crowds of tens of thousands of people were streaming into the city, filling every single inch of the streets. Their panic and fear was contagious. I felt it rising inside my body like a snake spiraling up my spine. I took off down the hallway, running through the swarm of frozen mannequins, each in their own ferocious position of attack. The lights flickered faster and went out. Yet the fires outside cast the entire world in a bloody glow, giving me enough light to see by and find my way. I sprinted down the stairwell, taking them two steps at a time. The screaming outside grew louder and more pain-filled. The shaking of the ground worsened with every passing second.
I burst out of the front entrance, seeing a world on fire all around me. Thousands of crushed, bleeding and burned bodies stretched out as far as the eye could see. Behind all this chaos and death, I saw a monster of unimaginable proportions slinking its way towards me.
Lucifer was right, I realized: Hell was not a place, but a creature, an enormous monster the size of a town. It had thousands of skittering, jointed legs that looked like little more than skeletal arms and hands, each of them dozens of feet long and white as freshly-cut marble. Its body stretched out to the horizon, an enormous blood-red cylinder of bony plates that slithered and undulated with a serpentine grace. Waves of peristalsis traveled down its length, like writhing intestines. Thousands of curving, bony spikes stabbed out of it, pointing in every direction. Like the quills of a porcupine, it would protect the massive creature’s body from many forms of attack, if anything was big enough to attack such an abomination.
Hell’s massive eyes flickered, balls of fire that spun and danced. They looked as bright as the Sun. Something like solar flares seemed to emanate from the orbs, flashes of blinding energy that floated over the apocalyptic wasteland. As its many legs smashed the ground, they left trails of fire that caused everything to explode into flames as if napalm dripped from its limbs.
But Hell’s most terrifying feature was its seven dark mouths. Its body looked a thousand feet wide, and the mouths at the front were evenly dispersed. At the front, blood-red teeth in the shape of enormous railroad spikes shone. Its lipless, skeletal face grinned as it moved forward, shaking the ground with every step. The mouths were on long, snake-like necks that could stretch out hundreds of feet. They moved forward in a blur, snapping up as many panicked souls as they could.
Countless souls in the rocky plains of the Bardo ran for their lives, away from this juggernaut. I saw men and women who looked like they came from every country and profession, some dressed in suits or spotless white lab coats, others wearing rags or orange prison jumpsuits. And yet, they all screamed in agony and fear here, their bodies pressed together in a crowd, and no one seemed to remember anything but their own mortal terror. Their voices came out faint and weak next to the roaring of Hell. It shook the ground all around us, as if an earthquake were tearing the land apart.
The first frantic runners of the surging crowd had nearly reached me. The nearest person, a young woman in her mid-twenties dressed in all white, was only ten feet behind me. She looked like she came from wealth, and even from here, I could see a ring with a massive diamond gleaming on her finger.
I took off blindly down the familiar streets of the city where I worked and lived, but these also seemed different. The church down the street from the hospital where I worked had a Satanic pentagram instead of a cross now, its exterior painted a bright, gleaming blood-red. When I had driven past it today on my way to work, I remember it read, “JESUS said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Now it read, “Nietzsche said, ‘Of all evil, I deem you capable. I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good simply because they had no claws.’” I wondered what that meant. Was that some sort of comment on me, on all of us here?
The woman I had seen running had caught up with me. She was fast, much faster than her slim body suggested. Her blue eyes were frantic and wild, filled with an animal panic.
“It’s right behind us!” she screamed, her face covered in a sheen of sweat. I was afraid to turn and look, but I could hear the chaos and bloodshed approaching, smell the flames and choking smoke. “Run! Get away!”
A new wave of energy surged through my body. I sprinted as fast I could down the strange mirror streets of the Bardo. I heard the agonized cries of countless souls behind us as the seven mouths of Hell ate them all greedily and then looked for more.
A skyscraper behind us collapsed into a pile of rubble, shaking the ground with a cacophony of falling concrete and shattering glass. The woman was running by my side. Just as I heard the breathing of something huge and predatory right behind us and smelled its sulfuric breath, a piece of concrete the size of a basketball broke off the collapsing skyscraper and flew into the road. I tripped over it, yelling as I flew through the air, skinning my arms and legs on the pavement. The woman’s eyes widened. Hurriedly, she came over and reached down her hand, trying to help me up.
“Come on, come on!” she cried. I looked behind her, seeing one of the gnashing mouths of Hell reaching forward on a blood-red, serpentine neck. The mouth was big enough to drive a tractor trailer into, filled with huge spikes of teeth. Its throat led into a black, smoke-filled abyss. Its fiery eyes were swirling pools of flickering orange light that shone with bloodlust and insanity. They focused on the woman, the entire head turning on its slithering neck.
I frantically raised my hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. Her hand was warm and soft. She started to pull me to my feet when the mouth of Hell snapped forward. Its jaw unhinged, scraping the pavement with a sound like grinding metal. The woman barely had time to turn as the mouth covered her and snapped shut with a crack.
She disappeared from view instantly, but I was still holding her hand. In horror, I felt warm rivers of blood explode all over my body as the mouth of Hell severed her arm at the wrist. She screamed, bleeding and crying, as she disappeared into the throat of Hell. Hell’s fiery eyes focused on me, and at that moment, I knew I was next. Its mouth opened wide again, like a bear trap ready to spring on a new victim.
It was dark in Hell’s mouth, but I smelled the thick reek of old blood and fire. I caught glimpses of tortured, mutilated bodies writhing and crawling down its throat. Shell-shocked, I could only lay there and watch. And that was when the strange doubling started.
***
I heard the frantic voices of men break through the fog of darkness and the fetid reek of blood. There was a mechanical beeping all around me, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Clear!” one cried. I looked around, only seeing blackness. At that moment, I felt a surge of electricity rip itself through my body. My arms and legs all seized and my eyes rolled up in my head as the pain sizzled through each one of my nerves. I clutched the young woman’s hand tightly, feeling the large, gold ring with the massive diamond biting into my skin.
“Again!” another voice yelled.
“Clear!” the original voice cried. The electricity came again, and a flash of white light flew across my vision. I blinked, seeing from two sets of eyes at the same time: one in the Bardo, and one on the blood-stained floor of the hospital ward.
The Bardo stayed dark and sinister, but the clear white lights of the real psychiatric ward were blinding. It was a bizarre experience. Moreover, everything hurt. Over a few seconds, my vision of the Bardo faded, and I was simply a gravely injured man laying on the floor in a puddle of blood.
Four doctors and paramedics were crouching over me with a defibrillator. My shirt was ripped off, and nearly all of my skin was covered in blood. I raised my left hand, trying to talk, but only a fiery pain raced through my neck. I felt bandages covering my skin. A nurse was rolling a stretcher down the hallway towards me.
“It’s OK,” one of the doctors said, kneeling down. “You’re being taken to emergency surgery. You’ve lost a lot of blood.” I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t talk with the massive slice in my neck.
At that moment, I felt something in my right hand. I looked down, seeing a slim female hand with a massive diamond ring hanging there. Our fingers were wrapped around each other’s, but the hand had been cut off at the wrist. A ragged patch of bloody flesh and snapped bone poked out of the back.
“Nnnn,” I tried to say, shaking my head. I felt fresh streams of warm blood open up. “No…” The doctors looked down, seeing the dismembered hand. Their faces morphed into expressions of confusion and fear.
I closed my eyes as they lifted me up on the stretcher. One of them gently removed the cold hand from my fingers. But they could never remove the memory of what I had seen.
I know what happens after death, and it makes the worst life here seem like a dream. I know that, one day, I’ll be returned to that place. I know that, one day, I’ll see that great monster called Hell and the featureless, swirling sky of the Bardo again.
And the next time, I won’t wake up on a hospital floor, but will be trapped there with the others for eternity: an eternity of blood and fire.

I went into the ER because my left eye was really bothering me. Honestly I think it may just be pretty bad dry eye or irritation. It is def more red than my other eye. They ordered an MRI for my brain. All results were normal except they told me to follow up with a neurologist to check out this abnormality of low lying tonsils. Like Chiari 1. I’m absolutely terrified now. Been looking it up all day & see that you are likely to get a cyst in your spinal cord & a heap of all other symptoms. I already have dealt with neck pain and headaches which I thought were originating from my neck. Can you guys check out my MRIs and let me know what you think? I would greatly appreciate it. And if I do have this issue, does it progress? If I only continue to have the headaches and neck pain that I’ve been dealing with for years, I can live with it. I just want to make sure this isn’t going to get worse and worse.

I've been an artist for years and recently shared a booth at an art fair with Jenny, a friend and fellow member of our local arts group. Jenny, who owns a local shop and organizes art events, asked to share my booth because she hadn't done a professional art fair before and wasn't sure if she had enough work. Despite some hesitation, we split the booth cost and had a successful show, both making sales and receiving visitors.
However, my opinion changed drastically when I discovered that Jenny had copied at least 8 paintings from another artist, presenting them as her own. This is considered serious plagiarism in the art world. It's especially painful since Jenny's copies were awarded, overshadowing genuine original works at the fair. I feel betrayed and regret sharing the booth with her.
Some of the copied work is from classes led by the original artist. It's still considered plagiarism to outright copy and sell paintings from classes meant for study. Many artists copy to study. Genuine artists copy to improve their original work, not to sell the copies done for practice. It's even more acceptable to make changes to the art from the class and infuse your own style. But hers are outright copies.
I value artistic integrity deeply, working hard to create original pieces. Now, I'm unsure how to proceed. I fear repercussions if I speak out, given Jenny's connections and influence in our community. My husband suggested anonymously informing the art fair board, but I worry about potential backlash or not being taken seriously due to our booth partnership.
I want to address this issue responsibly, as plagiarism undermines the hard work of all artists involved. However, I'm torn between doing what's right and protecting my reputation and relationships within the art community.
TLDR: I've been an artist for years and shared a booth at an art show with Jenny, a well-connected person in our local arts scene. Recently, I discovered she copied several artworks from another artist and passed them off as her own, even winning an award for it. I feel betrayed and unsure what to do. Speaking out publicly could harm my reputation and connections in the community. I value artistic integrity and want to address this, but I'm afraid of potential repercussions.

Pain olympics the original

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