Chapter 97
The Silent One walked closer, his steps neither hurried nor relaxed, but measured—like an executioner walking toward the gallows where the condemned already hangs with a rope around their neck, waiting only for it to be cut.
Yet the executioner is not in a rush, because he relishes every second of the suffering he creates.
Because he wants to feel what it is like to be a god who determines life and death with a single movement of the hand, a single breath, a single blink.
"You know, The Lazy One—and you too, Ling Xu, because you deserve to hear this before you die—my plan to remove you from the realm of Humanity and from the dwelling place of humankind has succeeded perfectly. I was certain that you would only return to the realm of Humanity after decades had passed. And when that truly happened, when you finally rose from your downfall, when you managed to gather back the power that had shattered into the Lower Star, then the plan of the soul of the God of the Vast Cosmos—which, unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, had taken over my consciousness since before the Harmony Conflict ended—to reunite its soul and physical nature into one would proceed without the slightest obstacle."
He stopped in front of Huan Zheng and Ling Xu, only three steps away—close enough for Ling Xu to smell the stench coming from Pendiam's body.
A stench no longer like that of a human, a god, or any living being.
But the stench of death.
The stench of decay.
The stench of something that had died long ago yet still moved, still spoke, still laughed, as if death were merely a concept that did not apply to him, because he had transcended it, had become something that could not die because it had never truly lived.
"At least, that was what I originally planned, The Silent One That was what I expected to happen. But you—"
He laughed again, a shorter laugh than before, yet no less disgusting, no less horrifying.
A laugh that made Ling Xu want to cover his ears, even though he knew it would be useless because the laughter did not enter through the ears, but seeped directly into his consciousness.
Poisoning his mind.
Making him want to vomit but unable to because his stomach was empty.
Making him want to scream but unable to because his throat was choked by a disgust so deep, so absolute, so inhuman.
"—You, The Lazy One, have always been a thorn in my flesh.
Even when you fell, even when you lost everything, even when you became only a shadow of your former self, you could still make me wary. You could still keep me from sleeping peacefully. You could still make me doubt whether my plan was truly perfect or merely an illusion I created to soothe my insatiable ego."
But then, amidst laughter that began to fade, amidst joy that began to turn into boredom as he realized that nothing is more boring than winning a battle against a powerless opponent, Pendiam raised a finger—the same finger he once used to erase all of Huan Zheng's attacks with a mere flick of his wrist.
He moved it left and right, like a teacher reminding his student that the lesson was not over.
That there was something more important than merely acknowledging who stood behind all this.
That his victory would not be complete without revealing the most bitter truth.
A truth that even Huan Zheng—with all his laziness, with all his indifference, with all his ability to ignore anything that did not disturb his sleep—would not be able to ignore.
"But what you need to underline here, The Lazy One—and this is important, very important, because this is the part of my plan that I am most proud of, the part that makes me smile every time I remember it, the part that will make you cry if you still have tears left to shed—is that although I did intend to remove you from the realm of Humanity and from the dwelling place of humankind, the party involved as well as the one you protected—leading to you being accused as a murder suspect—was orchestrated and planned by the very person you protected."
He paused, savoring the confusion that radiated from Huan Zheng's half-conscious face.
Savoring the tension creeping through Ling Xu's body as he continued to hold Huan Zheng tightly.
Savoring the final seconds before that devastating truth left his mouth.
Because he knew, with absolute certainty, that after these words were spoken, there would be nothing left to save Huan Zheng from despair.
There would be no reason left for him to keep fighting.
There would be no meaning left in every sacrifice he had made for years.
"Do you want to know who it is, The Lazy One? Do you want to know who willingly came to me, who willingly offered themselves as bait in my plan, who willingly sacrificed you for their own safety?"
He smiled—a smile no longer confident, no longer bitter, no longer resentful.
But satisfied.
Satisfied in a horrifying way.
Satisfied like a cat that has just finished playing with a mouse that is still alive but can no longer move because all its legs have been broken one by one.
"Huan Mei, The Lazy One. Your wife. The woman you married decades ago. The one you protected from all kinds of threats. The one you loved with all your heart, even though you were too lazy to express it in words. She came to me, knelt before me, kissed my feet, and begged me to save her from your shadow, which she said was suffocating her more and more, choking her, making it impossible for her to breathe. She said, 'I can't take it anymore, The Silent One I can't stand living under the shadow of a husband who never comes home on time, who never pays attention to his children, who never says that he loves us. I want to be free. I want to live without him. Help me.'"
Ling Xu, who heard all of that, felt his chest tighten.
Not because of the Cancer plague, for that plague had already become part of him.
But because of a pain that suddenly emerged from a place he thought was already empty.
Already burned away by the flames of revenge that he drenched every night with tears that never truly dried.
A pain born from imagining what it feels like to be betrayed by the one you trust the most.
By the one you protect with all your body and soul.
By the one you love, even though you are never good at expressing it.
And unconsciously, he gripped Huan Zheng's hand tighter.
His cold, trembling fingers slipped between the man's fingers.
Like two tree roots entwining to withstand an endless storm.
Like two rivers meeting at the estuary and deciding never to part again, even though their waters had been polluted by poison, waste, and filth.
Like two souls that had shared death eleven times and now had to share a betrayal that might be more painful than death itself.
"Huan Mei… and Huan Zheng's two beloved daughters, Huan Shu and Huan Yan, who were exactly 20 years old at the time," The Silent One continued, his voice no longer filled with horrifying excitement, but flat and empty.
Like someone reading a grocery list in a marketplace.
Because to him, those names were nothing more than tools.
Nothing more than pawns he could move at will on a chessboard he had designed long before Huan Zheng was born.
Long before this universe existed.
Long before time was named by the first being who dared to give meaning to passing seconds.
"They were all involved, The Silent One. They planned this together, sitting at the dining table you used to use for breakfast before you went to battle. Sipping warm tea while discussing the best way to trap you. The best way to make you look like a murderer. The best way to ensure that you would never return. That you would be sentenced to death. That you would vanish from their lives forever."
To be continued…