It's here... this moment is finally f*cking here!
Li Bei gazed at the incredibly familiar faces before him, faces he was, in a way, seeing for the first time. He used almost all his primordial strength just to keep his actions and expression composed.
Although this meeting was something he had planned for a long time, now that things had truly progressed to this point, he couldn't help but feel nervous.
It was a case of "all previous efforts wasted at the last moment." If he messed up this performance, he feared that even screaming at the top of his lungs wouldn't be enough to cover things up.
With the acting skills of each of his clones having been tested countless times, the responsibility for this final exam now fell squarely on him, the main body... Although Li Bei disliked striving, for his own future, he had to make this final effort!
To live a peaceful and secure life, Li Bei was willing to pay many prices—such as performing a sacred severance on his own clones!
And to make the severance even more perfect, to ensure that the emotional debts incurred by these clones would never entangle him again, Li Bei had meticulously laid out the current plan.
Why did Lihua suddenly mention a slip of the tongue from long ago? Why did shoko, who had been missing for so long, suddenly appear before Denji? Why could similar energy fluctuations suddenly be detected between the clones?
The reason was simple: because Lee Bei had orchestrated all of it!
Lee Bei knew this group of people he had once observed all too well. It was no exaggeration to say that most of them were extremely suspicious.
Even if he truly chose to confess, to stand before these humans and hand over his clones, would they believe his words and live peacefully without causing trouble from then on?
Impossible!
The only way to make these people believe was to let them discover the flaws themselves, and then, through their own efforts, bit by bit, defeat what they perceived as the [truth]!
To this end, Lee Bei had arranged everything for them… clues, companions, and the final Boss—himself.
Although it was a classic "hero slays the dragon to save the princess" script, its enduring popularity also meant there was definitely something to be learned from this trope.
And what Lee Bei needed to do now was to become a sufficiently qualified villain, to ultimately be defeated by these people without leaving a trace, and to offer up several clones.
The biggest difficulty now lay in how to be defeated by this group without arousing their suspicion… After all, in terms of raw power, just one Twilight was enough to deal with everyone present, and Lee Bei, who not only combined the abilities of all his clones but was also stronger than them, was even more so.
Lee Bei stood in place, his eyes disdainfully looking down at the people below.
Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to use his original appearance. The him here now was merely a puppet prop bought from the system store, with added disguise effects.
His appearance was completely like one of those shadowy figures from Detective Conan, almost indistinguishable except for emitting light and having a slightly different color.
However, with his formidable strength backing him up, this appearance wouldn't make the people below burst out laughing.
"Who on earth are you?!"
Although an immense weight still pressed down on her, making it incredibly difficult to even move a finger, Eleanor, at this moment, was like a cornered cat, hissing fiercely at Lee Bei in the sky, even though she knew the disparity in their strength was vast. "Give Lord Lihua back to me!"
"Give her back to you… When did you get the delusion that she was your possession?"
Lee Bei sneered, then slightly raised his hand. A white-haired figure with closed eyes emerged from the void beside him.
Upon seeing Lihua reappear, Otto and the other two showed unconcealed excitement. However, the next moment, just as Lihua opened her eyes as if waking from a dream—
Crack.
A crisp, soft sound was so distinct in the dead-silent air. Eleanor stared blankly at the figure whose neck had been snapped. The words she had been about to say could no longer form a single syllable.
"You wanted her, so here you go."
The next moment, Lihua's body was carelessly thrown onto Eleanor like trash. The power that had bound Eleanor's movements also vanished at this moment, allowing Eleanor to use her trembling hands to carefully cradle Lihua's face.
But at this moment, those gentle eyes had lost their light, leaving only stillness. Only blood slowly trickled from the corner of her mouth.
She futilely tried to heal her injuries with the Abyss Flower and White Lily, but in the end, she only met with disappointment.
This Divine Key, which possessed healing powers and had been entrusted with great hope, always failed to save the person she wanted to save at the critical moment.
Lihua was dead… right in front of her, within her reach, her neck snapped by someone.
For some reason, Eleanor, who usually had a fiery temper, seemed as if her soul had been stolen at this moment. She stared at Lihua's corpse in her arms, too stunned to utter a single word.
"You—You bastard! I'll kill you… I'll definitely slaughter you!!"
Unlike the wooden-faced Eleanor, Kallen and Otto at this moment exploded like ignited powder kegs. Their bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Lee Bei, as if they wished they could devour his flesh and tear apart his bones—it was just a pity they couldn't move.
Not only them, but even the other enraged people beside them could only maintain their previous postures, unable to act.
The reason was simple: Lee Bei had only released his control over this one idiot, Eleanor.
What if he released everyone? What if they really scattered and went to blow up the Blue Earth? Even if they didn't blow up the Blue Earth, it would be bad if those smarter ones discovered that Lihua's corpse lying there was actually a "good person card" he'd exchanged for.
It wasn't necessary to go so far as to nearly kill off his clones just for an act. Now even his main body was in danger. If he was really cornered by these people later, it would be a truly devastating loss.
It was already hard enough; now, even acting as a corpse required real, life-threatening action from others. This was too deranged… Alas, his moral standards were still too high.
Amidst countless curses and imprecations, Li Bei's expression remained indifferent. He merely snapped his fingers silently.
The next moment, the corpse held in Eleanor's arms suddenly vanished, reappearing in mid-air—and then slowly opened its eyes.
"Eleanor…? Everyone…?"
"Who allowed you to speak?" Li Bei 's emotionless voice sounded, and Lihua, who was about to say more, instantly and uncontrollably closed her mouth.
Amidst everyone's shock, Li Bei looked at them calmly and sneered, "Now you understand, don't you? They are not your possessions at all… On the contrary, they are mine, because I am the one who created them. Whether they live or die is merely a matter of my whim."