Chapter 267: I Don't Want It

Just as Zhang Wenda was enduring the pain, the creaking sound returned. The enormous red mass outside pushed the security bars into an arch, as if it were about to burst in at any moment, like a living creature.

Trembling all over, Zhang Wenda clenched his jaw and wrapped his hands around his head, muttering to himself, 'Calm down, calm down. Don't let them get to you! You're here to get the blue, don't let them affect you.'

SLAM! A hand lined with sharp claws slammed down on the table. The bowl of seafood noodles flew into the air before crashing back down, spilling soup all over the tabletop.

It wasn't Zhang Wenda who had done it, but the smaller of the two scythe monsters.

She stormed furiously over to the larger scythe monster. "Our son just got back! What's with the high-and-mighty act? You only know how to act tough in front of your family! You wouldn't dare say a damn thing in front of anyone else!"

But the larger scythe monster immediately shot back. "He ended up like this because of what your brother taught him! And hanging around with scum like Biaozi, he'll end up dead in a ditch just like him sooner or later!"

"Whose blood is he? Yours! Everyone in the Zhang Family is rotten to the core!"

As they spoke, the two scythe monsters' voices grew louder and louder until they were roaring at each other.

The shadows they cast in the red light looked like two phantoms locked in mortal combat, gradually enveloping the form of Zhang Wenda, who still had his hands clasped over his head.

At first, Zhang Wenda tried to endure it, planning to wait for them to finish arguing before doing anything else.

But their voices seemed to possess some strange power. As they echoed around him, the red within Zhang Wenda began to stir uncontrollably.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Enough!" With a furious roar, Zhang Wenda flipped the entire table over. Side dishes and seafood noodles scattered everywhere.

"What's all the fighting about! You've been fighting for years! Are those scythes in your hands just for show? Why don't you just shove them into each other's necks? Just kill one another and get it over with!"

It was hard to say if Zhang Wenda's outburst had worked, but the two of them finally stopped arguing. They both turned to look at him. The three of them stood face to face, chests heaving in rhythm with the pulsing red mass outside the window.

Then, Zhang Wenda saw the smaller scythe monster give the larger one a hard shove. She walked over to him and said, her voice now tinged with gentleness, "That's not what your father and I meant. Look at you... time flies, doesn't it? We haven't seen you for a bit, and you've grown so big."

As she spoke, she reached out as if to stroke Zhang Wenda's hair, but she pulled back when she saw the sharp scythe that was her hand. "Son, we've actually reflected on it since then. We didn't do right by you when you were little."

"But things were hard for us back then, too. You have to try and understand. The family was so poor we could barely put food on the table. Society was in upheaval, and we didn't know anything after leaving our government jobs. It was hard for your mom and dad, too."

Seeing that she was finally willing to talk, Zhang Wenda took a deep breath and forced down the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.

"I know our family used to be poor, but does this have anything to do with money? At school, no one ever called me a poor bastard or a pauper. They called me Haozi. Do you know why?"

"I know, son. Your father and I know we were wrong. I really know I was wrong."

She reached her hand toward Zhang Wenda's. The contact between their crossed, sharp scythes produced no warmth, only the grating screech of metal and a shower of sparks.

"We were wrong. We shouldn't have let our conflicts affect you."

At this, her voice took on a pleading tone. "So, can you forgive us for everything in the past? Just let all the unpleasantness go, okay?"

"Forgive? Let it all go?" Hearing this, Zhang Wenda froze. He suddenly remembered something and whipped his head toward the window. The red mass was no longer moving, as if waiting for him to make a decision.

'Is forgiveness also part of the rational blue?' The thought popped into Zhang Wenda's head. The trial of red had appeared so abruptly, and its solution was so simple.

If his guess was correct, then all he had to do was say three words, and he would obtain the blue.

Zhang Wenda hadn't expected the test to be this simple. All he had to do was say the words. Just say the words.

But faced with such a simple test, Zhang Wenda felt as though his mouth weighed a thousand pounds. 'It's just one sentence. Say it! Say it, and the blue will be yours! You can even just pretend!'

Zhang Wenda understood the logic, but his body seemed to instinctively resist, fighting against his own will. His teeth were clenched tight.

As Zhang Wenda felt two gazes boring into him with physical weight, his head felt like it was about to explode.

At this critical juncture, the crisp sound of a doorbell shattered the oppressive atmosphere in the room.

The larger scythe monster looked at the silent Zhang Wenda and snorted coldly before turning to open the door. "I give you an out, and you still expect your elders to beg."

As Zhang Wenda looked toward the door, he saw the larger scythe monster pull it open and let in several people dressed in camouflage uniforms, carrying stun batons.

A small badge hung on their chests, on which a line of text was clearly written: "Linyi City Internet Addiction Treatment Center."

The familiar scene caused something buried deep in his memory to surface, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

From the moment he had turned back into a child, it seemed fate had already decreed that his past—both good and bad—would be relived.

After the men in camouflage came in, they quickly scanned the room, glancing at the food on the floor and then at the stunned Zhang Wenda. "Is that him?"

"Yes, that's him. He's become so ungrateful all because of the internet!" the larger scythe monster said, pointing his scythe at Zhang Wenda without hesitation.

As he watched the men in camouflage menacingly approach him, Zhang Wenda smiled, a smile of release. In that moment, he completely let go of his self-restraint. He finally didn't have to endure it anymore. The endurance had been so, so painful.

As his body and mind finally came into alignment, the feeling was absolutely euphoric.

"I don't want it! I don't want the blue anymore! I don't need any 'tides of thought'! All I need now is red, more and more red! Endless red! I'm going to kill them all!"

The moment Zhang Wenda's words fell, the red outside the window flared brilliantly. Like a blazing sun, it smashed through the security bars and shattered the glass, surging inside without hesitation and merging completely with him.