Chapter 179: The Quarrel at Huanhuan Teppanyaki Foreshadows Qing Zizai

Late night

Huanhuan Teppanyaki.

The shop had no main lights on.

Dim wall lamps cast long shadows.

Li Haotian sat on a high stool in the corner.

His hair was still dripping, his white T-shirt clung to his back, revealing an indescribable fatigue.

Behind the bar, Yang Huan Ying gripped the wooden countertop with both hands.

Her breathing was heavy, her chest rising and falling violently.

"Xiao Tian, what did you say?"

"Say that again?"

Yang Huan Ying stared at Li Haotian, her voice hoarse with utter disbelief.

Li Haotian did not lift his head.

He stared at the water stains on the floor:

"I said, I didn't delete Lu Fa's genetic code—the Netherworld Legion has fully revived in armor."

Bang!

Yang Huan Ying snatched the glass from the table and slammed it down hard.

Glass shards mixed with cold water sprayed out, cutting Li Haotian's ankle, but he didn't move.

"Xiao Tian! Are you crazy?!"

Yang Huan Ying stormed out from behind the bar, pointing at Li Haotian's nose and shouting,

"A thousand years! My grandmother, my grandmother's grandmother—the Secret Cultivators have guarded this house for generations; how many gave their lives to seal these monsters?"

"You're telling me that, just because you wanted to know where your parents are, you released them all?!"

Yang Huan Ying's eyes turned red, tears welling in her sockets.

That wasn't resentment—it was extreme anger and despair.

"You're too selfish!"

She gritted her teeth,

"Do you think your hatred is so heavy? The innocent people killed by the Netherworld Demons a thousand years ago, ten years ago—don't their lives count?"

"All the painstaking effort of a thousand years has been ruined by your ridiculous doubt!"

Li Haotian clenched his fists, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

He still did not retort.

"I'll take responsibility."

His voice was low.

"Take responsibility? How will you do that?"

Yang Huan Ying snorted coldly,

Wu Gang stood aside, watching the two tense up, awkwardly rubbing his hands.

He already felt guilty for losing the Vajra Summoner in a bet, and now he was as restless as sitting on pins and needles.

"Well… Huan Ying, things have happened—don't get too angry. Xiao Tian didn't mean it; everyone has moments of foolishness."

Wu Gang stepped forward, trying to smooth things over, reaching to pull Yang Huan Ying's arm.

"Don't touch me!"

Yang Huan Ying whirled around and slapped Wu Gang's hand away.

Smack!

The crisp sound rang especially sharp in the quiet shop.

Yang Huan Ying coldly stared at Wu Gang:

"You think you can get away with it? Where's the Vajra Armor? You took it to the arcade and lost it to a stranger!"

"You're each more impressive than the last. I might as well hand this Earth over to Lu Fa!"

Wu Gang's face flushed, he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word of rebuttal.

The shop's atmosphere plunged to freezing point; only the patter of rain outside echoed.

Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds.

Land of Light Universe.

Universal Defense Headquarters.

Ultraman Saiwen crossed his arms, gazing at the enraged Yang Huan Ying on the screen, and nodded heavily.

"She has every reason to be angry."

Saiwen's voice carried the weight of experience,

"A civilization, to fight off foreign enemies, has sacrificed countless generations."

"Such a legacy must not be trampled on by personal feelings."

"If it were the Land of Light, someone who released Belial to find lost kin would never be forgiven by the Universal Defense Team."

Taro Ultraman sighed beside him:

"So many sacrifices, snuffed out by our own hands just as dawn appears—this despair is indeed harder to accept than defeat."

Wandering Earth Universe.

Navigator Space Station.

Liu Peiqiang floated beside the viewport, gazing at the blue light pillar of the huge planetary engine on Earth's surface.

He took a hard drag on his e-cigarette.

"I feel the same."

Liu Peiqiang exhaled smoke, his eyes turning cold,

"It's like, the Wandering Earth project has already proceeded to the final step, about to escape Jupiter's gravity, but then someone, in order to run back to the underground city to save a dog, pulled out the planetary engine's key."

Liu Peiqiang crushed the empty cigarette pack in his hand:

"If something like this happened on my space station, without the United Government ordering it, I would personally carry out the execution."

"On the scale of species survival, no willfulness is allowed."

Cybertron Star.

Decepticon Base.

Megatron sat on the steel throne, his crimson optical lenses flickering with contemptuous light.

"This is all self-inflicted!"

" Megatron sneered, the metallic synthesized sound echoing within the base,"

"The flaw of carbon-based life lies here. Being swayed by meaningless emotions, they lose the most basic strategic judgment."

"The warrior named Li Haotian, although he has power, lacks an iron-blooded will."

"What awaits them is only to be mercilessly crushed by a stronger power."

The sky-screen's image changed at this moment.

On the dark background, white subtitles slowly emerged, proclaiming the reckoning of fate.

【The Netherworld Legion revived, Lu Fa absorbed a thousand years of negative energy, using shadow power to fully strengthen his subordinates.】

【But the Armor Squad has already fallen into the most dangerous vacuum.】

The image began to flash back to the current state of the three.

Li Haotian, out of his inner curiosity, caused the Netherworld Legion to revive.

Wu Gang, because of his inner anger, lost his Vajra Armor summoner in a gamble.

And the last summoner.

Xu Tingfei.

The scene switched to the top floor of a towering skyscraper.

He wore an exquisitely tailored Italian haute couture suit, sitting in a wide leather executive chair.

Opposite him were several executives, silent as cicadas.

Xu Tingfei was drawing crosses on the document with a red pen:

"Why did the shipping profit for this quarter drop by two points? Redo it!"

He was completely immersed in the role of CEO of the Xu Shipping Group.

Former comrades, former missions, seemed to have been replaced by those dense business reports.

The Flying Shadow summoner lay quietly in the bottom drawer of the desk, a thin layer of dust on it.

【Three summoners, three utterly different fatal flaws.】

【This planted an irreversible root of disaster for the tragedy to come.】

The sky-screen's music suddenly became distant and desolate.

A line of large characters occupied the entire screen: 【The Death of Qing Zai】.