Chapter 74 - 66: I Just Want to Win Once, Even If Only Once

Chapter 74: Chapter 66: I Just Want to Win Once, Even If Only Once

Luocheng, South City District. At the dilapidated residential building where Zhao Lu lived.

Bian Shouyi walked out of the stairwell with an expressionless face, holding a bag containing a square box. He stopped at the bottom of the building and glanced back at the stairwell walls, which were plastered with small advertisements, as if recalling something.

A moment later, he walked out of the residential complex and hailed a taxi.

"Where to, buddy?" the taxi driver asked enthusiastically.

"The suburbs, Old Factory Street."

"Old Factory Street? That place has been abandoned for a long time."

Bian Shouyi didn’t explain. He simply pulled out a Hundred Yuan Bill and handed it over.

Seeing this, the driver swallowed his remaining words. If the passenger had the money, he called the shots. He took the Hundred Yuan Bill, slammed on the gas, and sped off toward the Southern Suburb of the City.

Not long after the taxi departed, a black sedan began trailing it from a distance. One after the other, the two vehicles headed toward the Southern Suburb of the City, an area that had long been reduced to ruins.

...

As the yellow taxi entered the Southern Suburb of the City, a desolate, abandoned urban sprawl filled with crumbling walls and debris unfolded before Bian Shouyi and the driver.

These ruins were the aftermath of the havoc wreaked by the Black Lotus Sect in Luocheng ten years ago. Had it not been for that turmoil, this area in the South City District would have remained one of Luocheng’s most prosperous districts. But that great battle a decade ago had reduced everything to rubble.

Coupled with other subsequent factors, Luocheng’s development center eventually shifted toward the relatively well-preserved North City and East City District. As a result, the South City District gradually fell into decline, becoming Luocheng’s notorious old town. The areas further south regressed entirely into rural suburbs.

This desolate outskirt was exactly where Bian Shouyi was heading today.

After passing through a Desolate, uninhabited stretch, the yellow taxi finally pulled up to a long-abandoned intersection.

"We’re here, buddy," the driver announced.

Bian Shouyi nodded and stepped out of the car. Looking heavily preoccupied, he didn’t even wait for the driver to hand him his change.

Stepping into Old Factory Street felt like crossing between two different eras. He had transitioned from a bustling, modernized city center into a dilapidated alleyway etched with the heavy marks of time.

After navigating a labyrinth of twists and turns, Bian Shouyi finally arrived in front of a small billiards hall. Staring at the hall’s half-open rolling shutter door, his eyes turned cold. Without a moment’s hesitation, he ducked under the metal gate and slipped inside.

Inside the dimly lit hall, billiard balls were scattered across the floor alongside piles of dust-covered junk. Bian Shouyi didn’t linger. He walked straight through the main area, making his way to a corner deep in the back that looked like a storage room.

"Shouyi, you actually found me." A voice drifted out from the storage room before he could even get close.

Pushing open the door, Bian Shouyi was greeted by the sight of a small, makeshift arcade. Ten old arcade cabinets lined the room. Zhao Lu, who had been missing for days, sat in front of one of them, playing a retro fighting game. Even though the billiards hall had been abandoned for years, Zhao Lu had somehow scavenged a rust-covered generator and wired it up to power the cabinets.

In the dim room, Zhao Lu was Proficient in executing various combos to challenge the game’s boss. He smiled and said, "I knew you’d find your way here. After all, I’m the one who brought you to this place years ago."

As he spoke, Zhao Lu pulled over an extra chair, motioning for Bian Shouyi to sit down and play with him.

But Bian Shouyi didn’t sit. Instead, he carefully placed his bag on an adjacent cabinet. He stepped up beside Zhao Lu and unfastened the cuffs of his suit jacket.

Glancing at Bian Shouyi’s expressionless face, Zhao Lu seemed to understand. But before he could even react, a fist smashed violently into his face.

BAM!

Zhao Lu was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a machine behind him. The dilapidated cabinet instantly shattered under the impact.

Staring down at Zhao Lu, who was slumped against the ruined machine with his head bowed, Bian Shouyi demanded in an icy tone, "Why didn’t you go see your mother one last time?"

His hair disheveled, Zhao Lu let out a bitter laugh. "...I didn’t dare."

"You didn’t dare?"

Enraged by his tone, Bian Shouyi closed the distance in a flash. He grabbed Zhao Lu by the collar, hauled him to his feet, and pinned him forcefully against the arcade machine, pressing his forearm hard against Zhao Lu’s throat.

"Do you have any idea that if it weren’t for you, your mother wouldn’t have gone out searching for you in the middle of the night? She wouldn’t have died! And now you have the nerve to tell me you *didn’t dare*?"

Glaring into Zhao Lu’s dim, lifeless eyes, Bian Shouyi’s fury remained unquenched. He threw another punch.

BAM!

Zhao Lu crumpled to the floor. He stared hollowly at the ceiling, looking as if his soul had been sucked out of him.

Whether his anger was finally spent or he had just become utterly disappointed in Zhao Lu, Bian Shouyi simply sank into a nearby chair and fell silent.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhao Lu finally pulled himself up from the floor and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Shouyi, have you ever felt the despair of knowing that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never catch up? That you can only watch them slowly pull further and further away?

"Have you ever felt the sheer helplessness of seeing your future but being completely powerless to change it?

"No, you haven’t. Because you’ve been a genius since the day you were born.

"You’re like a mirror. Every time you appear, all you do is reflect my own absolute mediocrity.

"Shouyi, do you know what our classmates secretly called me back in middle school?"

Bian Shouyi didn’t say a word. He merely watched him in silence.

"They called me a parasite," Zhao Lu said with a bitter laugh. "They said my mother worked as a maid in your house, while her son acted as the young master’s little lapdog, greedily latching onto the Bian Family to suck your blood."

"We never thought of you that way."

"I know. And it was precisely because I knew you and Uncle Bian never thought of us that way that it stung even more. That’s why there hasn’t been a single day where I didn’t want to prove myself. I wanted to prove that I wasn’t just some parasite leeching off the Bian Family."

"...Is that your reason for choosing to become a Fallen Demon of the Demon Dao?"

"My reason? Maybe."

Zhao Lu let out a self-deprecating chuckle. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed deeply. "But after these past few days of hiding, I’ve finally figured it out.

"The real reason I was so desperate to get stronger—the only reason I’ve ever had—was to defeat you.

"Shouyi, I just wanted to beat you. Even if it was only once.

"And for that, I was willing to pay any price."

Bian Shouyi fell into a long, heavy silence.

"Why do you want to win that badly?"

"Why...?" Zhao Lu paused, his tone laced with complex emotions. "Maybe it’s because I’ve never once won against you, so I couldn’t let it go. Or maybe it’s because I thought that if I could just beat you, everyone would finally look at me differently. Shouyi, can I ask you for one last favor?"

"Say it."

"I want you to fight me fair and square one more time, just like when we were kids."

"Alright."

Hearing this, Zhao Lu pushed himself up from the floor. The despondent look on his face gradually morphed into one of renewed vigor.

Bian Shouyi stood up and stepped out of the makeshift arcade room, moving into the relatively spacious main area of the billiards hall.

As Zhao Lu followed him out, he caught a glimpse of the plastic bag Bian Shouyi had placed on the arcade cabinet. The bag sat perfectly square; it clearly contained a box. However, Zhao Lu couldn’t care less about what was inside it. His mind was completely consumed by his impending final battle with Bian Shouyi.

After spending the last few days in hiding and constantly spotting Foundation Establishment Cultivators flying overhead on their swords, Zhao Lu knew his luck had run out. That was precisely why he had chosen to hole up in this dilapidated billiards hall. It wasn’t so much that Bian Shouyi had tracked him down, but rather that he had been waiting here for Bian Shouyi all along.

...

PS: My apologies. I had a company team-building event today, and Pang Hu really couldn’t get out of it... I rushed back right after dinner to start typing, so today’s update is a bit late. There will be one more Chapter uploaded in a bit!