Chapter 1927

His body was drenched in blood, like a mouse he crouched and fled through the street alleys, not daring to look at the weeping people on the road, nor at the corpses lying everywhere.

It's false to say he has no feelings; once, he truly believed he could become the next leader, and he wanted to protect those who believed in him! The Safe Zone wasn't big; he knew almost everyone there, yet while fleeing without looking back, Zhuang Lin could only repeatedly push away those disbelieving hands trying to grab him. The incessant wails were like knives stabbing his heart, making him wish he could hear nothing at all!

"I can't save you! I can't hear, I really can't hear ahhh!!"

His emotions gradually collapsed; looking at the forest beyond the Safe Zone in the distance, Zhuang Lin wailed like a madman, trying to plug his ears, as if doing so could ease the guilt in his heart.

Moreover, he didn't know whether, besides deceiving everyone, he had also caused their deaths. If it weren't for his claim that this place was absolutely safe, nobody would have needed to avoid this chaos—would none of this have happened?

Under immense pain and torment, he dared not imagine what state the Safe Zone behind him was in, or how horrific the scene of that wedding had become.

He wanted to turn back, to save Ruan Yan, but the fear deep in his bones made him unable to control his fleeing legs.

"Don't stop.. if you don't stop, it's okay; I can't hear, I heard nothing at all!"

His fists clenched until they bled; almost mad, the youth was about to charge into the endless jungle when a voice, as if from another world, suddenly echoed in his mind.

"You really... can't hear?"

His steps halted; before the youth's pupils could even contract, he thought he was hallucinating.

The next second, his consciousness seemed to be instantly pulled back to that blood‑stained white cloth.

"What you can hear, you also know."

"Ruan Hongtian, this stern, dignified middle‑aged man regards you as his own child; though he knows you are deceiving him, he silently helps you cover everything, doing all he can to aid you, just so that one day you might truly fulfill your promise."

"He clearly knew he was no match for these people, yet he still chose to charge forward without hesitation, merely to buy you and his daughter time to escape."

"But you let him down again."

"Do you see? He fought until the very last moment, even without his hands. Now he is about to die."

Song Ming, a fellow Hua Guo national like you. After the Apocalypse broke out, he followed you; he always smiled foolishly, regarded you as his idol, and was willing to sacrifice himself for you. You once promised him, telling him you would bring him back to his hometown, but now his head has been cut off.

Did you see his eyes, dead and unclosed? He saw you...

He fled.

Did you see that pile of minced flesh? Those are the children blown to death.

You once harbored grand ambitions to educate a group of children from a young age; they followed behind you, constantly asking what lay on that land. You always proudly told them that the place was filled with people as brave as you, and that you would soon slaughter all the monsters and win this Apocalypse.

But in fact, before they died, all they saw was your cowardly fleeing back; you even trampled on their corpses to escape.

Who are you!? Who are you!!?

Don't say it anymore! Don't say it anymore!!!

At the edge of the jungle, Zhuang Lin seemed to have gone mad, shouting at the sky, tightly covering his own ears, yet a line of blood tears continued to flow.

He couldn't bear to listen any longer; he couldn't take it, as if the voice placed him right on the scene, forcing him to watch everything unfold.

However, the owner of the voice seemed to have no intention of stopping.

Who I am is not important.

I'm just curious—do you really not want to hear? Do you really think that by covering your ears you won't hear her voice?

Ruan Yan, a pure and kind-hearted girl. You remember how many times she argued with you and her father; you also remember who gave you that bite of food when you fainted from hunger. You remember how she stole her uncle's Equipment just so you could complete a mission, only for you to secretly sell it off, exchanging it for the potion that made you an Awakened One. She was harshly scolded and confined, yet she stubbornly slipped out to find you, handing over her life-saving Props.

She unconditionally believed in you; no matter how clumsy your lies, she would convince herself that you loved her.

She personally prepared her dowry, readied her wedding, and even the token of your love—that ring—was deliberately left by her where you could see it.

You thought yourself fortunate, always smug, even considering her a bit foolish.

Now, she too is about to die.

To be honest, do you truly not love her? Do you really dare to look into her eyes?

I'm curious—do you truly feel no guilt at all toward those who love you, who have helped you, who are willing to be deceived by you?

Do you really think this Apocalypse has been fortunate for you, allowing you to rise from a lowly good-for-nothing, boasting and deceiving your way to this position?

Do you truly not hate, lacking even the courage to turn back...?

Don't say it! I beg you, stop saying it! Ahhhhh!!!! I beg you, I beg you...!

Breaking down in tears, the youth could no longer take that final step; each sentence of the voice felt like it was killing him, laying his already agonized heart under the scorching sun to be carved open blade by blade.

He knelt on the ground, repeatedly slamming his hands hard against his ears, striking his own head, as if doing so could drive that voice away.

But for some unknown reason, before his eyes it was like a movie scene, constantly flashing those smiling faces, those expectant eyes; then, in an instant, they transformed into vengeful ghosts, staring at him fixedly.

The voice did not cease; after a brief silence, it sounded again.

You actually hate, right?

You have hated yourself countless days and nights for not being real; you have hated yourself for, no matter how hard you strive, never becoming the person you claim to be.

You don't hate others, nor do you hate those man-eating monsters; what you hate is yourself.

Now.. turn around! Open your eyes! Go and see the outcome of this tragedy!

Before that, perhaps I can give you a chance to stop all of this!

In three seconds, I want to hear your answer!

The voice ended; the youth seemed to lose his senses, dazedly turning his body slowly.

Only to see, above the scarred Safe Zone, Ruan Yan, seized by the neck by a Three Fourth Rank, floated midair, her eyes likewise fixed on him.

Cut open her belly to force that brat out.

Fingers all severed, she sought to protect their child.

3..

2..

1..

No!!! No!!! No!!!

Promise! I'll promise anything!! Give me power! I beg you, give me power! I will be escaping, won't!!

With his back to the endless starry sky, Lin An silently gazed at the azure planet beneath his feet.

Like an eternal, unchanging deity, it gazes upon every person in this world. Satellites drift, strands of faint light, like the sun rising from darkness, grow ever brighter, gradually lighting the sky.

In the reflection within Lin An's pupils.

Under a leaden sky that seemed to never see the sun, a knife was gripped tightly in the girl's hand.

He saw red light permeating the downpour.

He saw a roar burst forth from the crashed helicopter.

He saw blood‑covered people rushing toward the sky, toward that wisp of white gauze.

He saw a child crawling out from beneath a mountain of corpses.

He saw aged hands propping up beneath the monster's feet.

Sizzle

Electric currents crackled; an invisible solar storm struck the magnetic field, and the aurora flared wildly.

Lin An slowly closed his eyes; in an instant, a faint spark, like a firefly in the night, ignited beneath his feet. Perhaps a second, perhaps two, as the first point of light lit up on the earth, it was like the first spark of a wildfire igniting in the wilderness.

In an instant, brilliant rays flashed across all continents, as if linked together, erupting into sky‑reaching light.

Gathering..

Begin!

Like a command.

Beneath the dark‑gold mask, Lin An snapped his eyes open; at this moment he felt a new power surge like a newborn dawn, wildly expanding in his mind.

Boom!!!

Endless flames instantly engulfed his body, as if he became the sun; a hazy yet immensely solid will appeared instantly before his eyes.

Lin An knew this will came from the will of 107 fire seeds, a roar against injustice, hatred for all evil, the obsession to avenge the monsters, an absolute conviction to fight even unto death.

In the darkness, at the moment conviction began to coalesce, Lin An seemed to hear the roar of countless beings.

End! End! End!! End all this!!! Revenge upon the infinite!!

Hearing that roar that shook the world, Lin An suddenly realized it was the sound that had once echoed across countless worlds.

It was the indignant fury of those who, before revenge, before the end of all, would not let their souls rest even after dying a thousand, ten thousand times.

The sound faded.

Gazing at the countless threads linking his self, formed from myriad pure lights, Lin An slowly reached out to touch it.

Behind him lay endless starry skies; beneath his feet, the earth bathed in light.

In an instant, within Lin An's mind, a layered voice, like that of a deity, resonated infinitely at the moment of contact.

My name.

My...... name..

Ling An.

Ling..... An!!