Chapter 1007: Death

Chapter 1007: Death

Staring at the slip of paper amidst the gore, Li Huowang’s pupils dilated in sheer disbelief; to have orchestrated this, Qing Wanglai must have planted this note inside his brain before it all even began!

In other words, this man had calculated every single contingency—had he even foreseen that Li Huowang would blow his head apart with a gun?

As the mangled corpse slumped into the pool of blood pooling on the floor, Li Huowang clutched his abdomen, which was burning with an ever-intensifying agony. Gritting his teeth in defiance, he snatched the blood-stained note.

“If you are reading this, it means I guessed correctly once more. How about that? Should these repeated successes not prove that my philosophy is the right one?”

“But whether you believe it or not is irrelevant now. The arrow has left the bow; once my plan is set in motion, it will not stop.”

“A word of advice: the poison in my body was chronic, but the one in the test tube is acute. I would never leave you a day or two to find an antidote.”

“Heh, you thought you had a day or two left, only for it to vanish in an instant. How does that feel? Are you afraid?”

“You will all die soon. My apologies, I misspoke—you are all projections. To be precise, you projections are all about to collapse.”

The sound of Yang Na’s pained moaning reached his ears, causing Li Huowang’s blood-slicked fingers to tremble and turn white from the force of his grip.

“As you projections collapse, a singularity will form across the entire projected world. Spreading outward from this point, it will be enough to retract every single projection in the real world within eight days.”

“Do not worry, this is merely the beginning. And without your interference, the projection on the other side will soon collapse as well, and my plan will reach its fruition.”

Li Huowang clutched his stomach, dropping to one knee. His vision began to blur, the words on the paper dissolving into illegible smears as the acute poison ravaged his body.

He rubbed his bloodshot, single eye with force and looked at the text once more.

“Li Huowang, your thinking is too primitive. Like Zhuge Yuan, you are ignorant, foolish, and lack all reason. Your education has gone to the dogs.”

“Fortunately, there is me. It is precisely because of me that the true world has not been destroyed by your childishness. I have saved the world; I am the savior.”

“Once this crisis passes, the real world will project again. At that time, I will project into a better Qing Wanglai. I will no longer be a mere projection; I will have taken a great step toward becoming a true existence.”

“Go to hell! Qing Wanglai!!” Li Huowang’s vision went black as he staggered and collapsed, the blood that had just begun to clot seeping out once more.

He forced himself to look at the others, only to find them in no better state, sprawled across the floor in disarray.

The pale-faced Wu Qi was drawing his own blood, seemingly searching for a way to treat the toxin.

“Nana! Nana!!” Li Huowang crawled over, stumbling, and helped Yang Na up from the floor as she clutched her stomach.

With a face twisted in agony and tears streaming from her eyes, Yang Na bit her lip hard, leaning into Li Huowang’s embrace. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum. “Huowang… my stomach… it hurts so much… am I going to die?”

Seeing Yang Na in such a wretched state, Li Huowang’s breathing grew ragged. He reached out, sliding his hand under her clothes to rub her abdomen gently. “Don’t be afraid, there will be a way. You won’t die, I’ll find a way! Just hold on.”

“Hahaha!” A sharp, piercing laugh erupted from nearby. “And you think you can find a way? In this situation, what could you possibly do? Your girl is finished. Hahaha!”

Li Huowang snapped his head up to see Dice, who was weak and slumped against the wall, pointing a finger at him and laughing mockingly.

A surge of fury rushed to his head. Li Huowang nearly lunged at him, ready to plunge his blood-stained military knife into the man’s chest.

But he forced the rage down, roaring at Dice: “What are you laughing at! Don’t forget, you were played by the Three Pure Ones too!”

“You were greedy for him to turn you into a Si Ming, and he was greedy for your life! And you call yourself the leader of the Zuowangdao! You’ve been played like a fool!! It’s shameful! Truly fucking shameful!!”

After the outburst, Li Huowang shifted his tone. “Dice! Forget the past; we’re in the same boat now. If you have any trump cards, use them! If you don’t, we’re dead!”

Dice pushed his reflective toad-eye sunglasses up his nose and shook his head indifferently. “I have no cards left. A bet is a bet. If someone uses their life to set a trap, it’s theirs to win.”

“No! That’s impossible!” Li Huowang lunged forward and hauled Dice up by his collar. “Dice!! I’ve fought you enough to know you! You must have kept an ace up your sleeve, right? You couldn’t have been unprepared for Qing Wanglai!!”

But faced with the interrogation, Dice opened his mouth in a lazy yawn and scratched his left armpit with his right hand. “Sigh, I thought this would be more interesting. Is this really it?”

When he pulled his right hand out from under his arm, he was holding a gun. Just as Li Huowang tightened his grip on his knife, he saw the man press the muzzle against his own temple.

“Not fun. Not fun at all. Not even as interesting as before.”

As Dice pulled the trigger, a bullet tore through his temple. He had simply committed suicide.

“Damn it!” Li Huowang kicked the corpse in a fit of rage, scanning the room for any other way to break the deadlock.

But to achieve his ends, Qing Wanglai would never allow anyone to easily dismantle his plan.

The poison had taken hold, and it was acute; in this desperate, fatal situation, there was no hope to be found.

With a soft thud, Chen Hongyu, a sausage still in her mouth, slumped to the floor, her head hanging low. She was dead.

Li Huowang understood that this was only the beginning. As the poison intensified, every Si Ming in White Jade City would perish!

The pain in his abdomen and the anomalies in his body worsened. Li Huowang’s eyes burned with intense resentment; he could not accept dying like this, nor could he accept the people he cared about perishing so easily.

He turned his gaze toward Zhao Shuangdian and walked over to her side. Her hands were still resting on the keyboard.

But she was not typing; the computer screen was cascading with data like a waterfall, as if calculating something on its own.

When Li Huowang gritted his teeth and tried to lift her up, he realized she was no longer breathing. She, too, was dead.

“Can’t you be of any use, damn it!!” Li Huowang roared, veins bulging, his voice tearing at his throat.

“Huo… Huowang…” Hearing the weak voice, Li Huowang dropped Zhao Shuangdian’s corpse and rushed toward Yang Na.

“Huowang… I’m sorry… I think… I’m going to die… you have to live on… wuwu…” As Yang Na wept, tears mixed with blood trickled from the corners of her eyes.

As she cried, her voice faded into silence. Her pale hands slipped limply from Li Huowang’s grasp.