Chapter 368 - 352: Storybooks Are Just to Fool Children!!

Chapter 368: Chapter 352: Storybooks Are Just to Fool Children!!

SPURT—!

Blood sprayed wildly as a severed arm flew through the air, tracing a parabola.

And yet—[Righteous Light] glanced at the flying arm and immediately flew into a rage:

"Hey! Don’t throw that arm away! It’s still got the bracelet I looted off your junior brother’s corpse! Do you have no respect for my private property? And is that any way to treat my arm?! If it were up to me, you’d be locked up for life!"

He craned his neck. Even though both of his arms were gone, his imposing aura didn’t falter in the slightest. "I’m telling you, you’ve successfully managed to piss me off! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the young... Hey! It took me so much damn effort to pull that thing off, and you let it fall in the mud before I even got to use it! Fuck your mom! Pay up!!!"

Bone-Fiend: "..."

’What in the world is this monster?! Your arms are gone, and you’re telling me *I’ve* pissed *you* off? Besides, that bracelet originally belonged to my sect. Why do you talk like it was yours to begin with?’

’Look at you now, you’re practically a human torso. What are the consequences of pissing you off? Are you going to jump up and bite my kneecaps? Or are you going to stare me to death?’

’Could it be... that my dead junior brothers from the Qi Refining Stage were swarmed to death by a bunch of madmen like this, who feel neither fear nor pain?’

’How on earth did the Daqian Dynasty cultivate such a group of talents who do not fear death? If that’s really the case, then it’s no wonder my junior brothers died.’

To verify whether this was the only abnormal one, Bone-Fiend abruptly turned his head to look at the other players on the ground.

"Still talking tough, are we? How about this?!"

With a flick of the bone whip in his hand, he instantly coiled it around the neck of another player nearby and yanked it tight!

SPLAT—!

The player didn’t even have time to speak before their entire head was pulped by the barbs on the bone whip. Their body was instantly torn to pieces, turning into a pile of mangled chunks.

Bone-Fiend looked back at [Righteous Light] with great anticipation, hoping to see even a sliver of grief, fear, or despair on his face after his companion’s gruesome death.

’Even if you can’t feel pain, seeing your comrade torn to pieces should trigger some basic instinct. Shouldn’t you get angry, shed a tear, or at least tremble in fear?’

However, [Righteous Light] merely glanced at the twitching pile of flesh on the ground, his expression... utterly unfazed.

He even clicked his tongue and sighed with an envious look on his face. "Tsk, this guy’s so lucky. Even my death is dragging on."

Then, he looked up at Bone-Fiend with a sincere expression. "Bro, can we make a deal? Could you kill me first next time? Being a human torso is really uncomfortable! Just kill me already! Quick!"

Bone-Fiend’s composure began to crack.

’Don’t you feel pain? Don’t you have anyone you care about? Your companion dies right in front of you, and you don’t even blink? Are you all just unfeeling walking corpses?! And you’re even begging me to kill you quickly.’

’My favorite pastime—giving these rats hope only to crush them with despair, then watching them break down—how has it completely failed today while I’m just trying to take a city! It really is no wonder my junior brothers died!’

"A bunch of... a bunch of lunatics!!"

Bone-Fiend was exasperated. He was about to go on a killing spree and crush all these freaks who were giving him zero satisfaction.

Suddenly, an extremely faint trace of a living person’s aura drifted over from the shadows of some nearby ruins.

Bone-Fiend’s movements abruptly halted.

’That direction... it was supposed to be an empty lot, with no sign of any living aura.’

’But just a moment ago, it was as if the breathing and heartbeats of several dozen living people had appeared out of thin air, and now they seem to have vanished again.’

Bone-Fiend smiled. It seemed he had discovered something interesting.

...

「Deep inside the collapsed secret passage of the Tongli Money Shop」

Dark, damp, and narrow.

Su Wenxuan crawled like a real mouse, using both his hands and feet to squirm through the tight gaps in the rubble, which were filled with debris and dust.

But he didn’t dare to stop.

The superficial scrapes on his body were nothing compared to what had happened at the mouth of the passage a quarter-hour ago. The memory was like a massive boulder crushing his heart, leaving him breathless.

Though small, the crevice felt like the maw of a beast, ready to devour anyone who entered.

Just a short while ago, his mother had been holding him tightly. Although they had discussed it many times, throughout their entire escape, she had refused to let him get anywhere near the entrance to this passage.

"No! Absolutely not! Xuan’er is still so young! It could collapse at any moment in there!"

His mother’s shrill cries seemed to still echo in his ears.

Their escape had been horrifying.

They had run here by stepping over the corpses of city guards and common folk, by crossing over the severed limbs of countless neighbors.

The sight of endless rubble and the sound of screams and slaughter had driven the couple from the Su Family, who were used to a life of comfort and often gave to charity, to the brink of a mental breakdown.

Looking at the hellish scene outside, even if he was "the hope of the entire village," how could she possibly feel at ease sending her only son into this black hole that looked like a tomb?

Mr. Su, his eyes bloodshot, roared at the towering [Kabuta Giant], "Why have we fallen so far that we need a child to save everyone..."

The [Kabuta Giant] had a helpless look on his face. He pointed at the crevice, which was only the size of a doggy door. "Sir! I’d like to, but look at my size! If I could just swap outfits and squeeze in there, do you think I’d be begging this little ancestor?!"

"Only his body type can fit through! Besides, he has the soulbound invisibility Magical Artifact, the [Heart Guarding Pendant]! If anyone else went in and got discovered, it would be certain death!"

The shadow of death loomed over everyone.

The neighbors, people who would normally greet each other politely on the street, now had different looks in their eyes, all driven by fear.

They looked at the escape route, no bigger than a doggy door, then at the Su Family’s small, thin young son. The instinct to survive had overwhelmed everything else.

"Mr. Su... why don’t we... just let Xuan’er give it a try? This... this is to save all of us..."

"That’s right, Mr. Su!" Wang Sheng and Mrs. Li were in the crowd as well. Wang Sheng in particular had been planning to leave in a few days, but then this disaster struck. "If we don’t break through that-that bewildering formation and call your daughter for help, we’re all going to die here! Once the Magical Artifacts run out of power, none of us will survive!"

"And... and besides, Miss Su took over Anhe City before... Even though we haven’t been paying tribute... she’s still from the Su Family..."

"Shut up!!" Mr. Su whipped his head around, his finger trembling as he pointed at his neighbors. "What right do you have to make him go?!"

"Protecting Anhe City from an Evil Cultivator invasion is supposed to be the Celestial Furnace Sect’s job! It’s the Daqian Government Office’s job! Since when did it become my child’s turn to be sacrificed?! When Ling’er was doing good deeds, every single one of you was smiling from ear to ear! Now that there’s trouble, you push our family to the front and suddenly remember who’s in charge?!"

"What kind of logic is that?! Huh?!"

He pulled the bewildered Su Wenxuan protectively behind him. "You’re afraid to die... but my son isn’t?! He’s the only son I have!"

Beside them, his little sister, Su Wenjing, pressed her lips together tightly, her small face as white as a sheet.

The Spiritual Power stored in the [Mirage Gauze] in her hand was slowly draining away. She looked at her brother, shielded behind their parents, her eyes filled with fear and helplessness.

Faced with Mr. Su’s furious rebuke, the crowd faltered for a moment and lowered their heads in shame.

Under the shadow of death, that shame was quickly devoured by the instinct to survive, turning into a series of mumbles.

"We... we don’t have a choice either..."

"Exactly... We can’t just watch everyone die here..."

"As long as it saves everyone, I’ll be a son to the Su Family from now on! I’ll even perform all my filial duties for you two elders!"

"Stop arguing, we’re out of time!" The [Kabuta Giant] was so anxious he looked like he wanted to ram his head into a wall. "If we drag this out any longer, forget calling for help, we’re all going to die!"

’When the time comes, we’ll just respawn as vagrants, but if you die, you’re *really* dead! Why are you guys still dithering!’

Su Wenxuan took a deep breath and touched the rat-head mask on his head.

An image appeared in his mind: the day before his sister’s wealthy merchant friend had completely disappeared, the man had appeared before him alone and even entrusted him with the legacy of the Nine Streams Sect!

In that moment, the clamor faded away.

The man stood with his back to the setting sun, his figure seeming impossibly tall. He told him his name was Lin Qingfeng, that he wasn’t some sworn brother to his sister, but the Sect Leader of the Nine Streams Sect!

Back then, with his back to him, the man had spoken in a world-weary voice, "The Nine Streams Sect roams the four seas, free among the nine streams!"

"Little Brother Wenxuan, you must remember, in the days that I am gone, you must carry the burden of the Nine Streams Sect."

He had also said that in the storybooks, countless martyrs of the Nine Streams Sect had fought and died on the battlefield to protect their homeland! And every word of it was true!

In that moment, Su Wenxuan felt that he was the last spark of the Nine Streams Sect in this chaotic world!

He had accepted that man as his boss, joined the Nine Streams Sect, and put on this rat-head mask. He absolutely could not bring shame to his boss or the sect!

"Father, Mother, let me go." The boy’s voice was young, but it carried the chuunibyou-like conviction that came from a diet of storybooks. "The stories say, ’When gratitude calls, what is death?’ Heroes have always risen from humble beginnings! This is a job only I can do!"

After hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Su were completely dumbfounded. Their eyes went wide as they stared at their usually obedient and sensible son, who was now spouting insane gibberish they couldn’t understand at all.

"No! Son! Those are just storybooks!! They’re just stories to trick little kids!!!"

However, Su Wenxuan wasn’t listening. At this moment, he was completely immersed in his own self-aggrandizing heroic epic.

Taking advantage of his mother’s momentary stun, he used his small, agile body to instantly slip out of her embrace.

"Your son is off!" Before anyone could react, the small, rat-masked figure had already resolutely plunged into the tunnel that led to who knew if it was life or death.

"Xuan’er!!!"

Mrs. Su reached out to grab him, but only caught a trace of dust left behind by the corner of her son’s clothes.