Chapter 872

"Mm-hmm, it's definitely the last one!"

Seeing the Water Bottle retreat, Li Ang's lips curled slightly, and he immediately asked:

"What's going on with the Krook Kingdom? Why are they searching so desperately for energy—even willing to go to war with other nations?"

"…"

"Also, what's the situation with the Gemini Branch? What did you talk about with Atphi-01? Why did you abandon the Gemini Branch and leave with Nicole after your conversation? What's the current state of the Krook royal family? They…"

"Damn it! Is that one question?"

"Uh… you can think of it as me still asking the first question—'What's going on with the Krook Kingdom?'—and all the follow-ups are just parts of that bigger question."

"…"

If you're going to count it that way, just ask me everything I've been through in the past hundred years!

"Just one! No more!"

"Don't you want Nicole's life to be a little more…"

"Do you want to live or not? If not, I'll give you a quick death!"

Tsk… such a miser!

After mentally cursing the Water Bottle old man, Li Ang had no choice but to pick the one question he most wanted answered from the pile.

"What exactly is going on with Atphi-01 and the Gemini Branch?"

"I'm not even familiar with her!"

Fearing Li Ang would keep pestering him like glue, the Water Bottle Director didn't even count this as a separate question—he outright clarified:

"I'm not familiar with her like I'm not familiar with the Possessed Doe!"

So… Atphi-01 is also a member of that organization? Do you even recruit artificial intelligences?

Under Li Ang's stunned gaze, the Water Bottle Director spoke at breakneck speed:

"As for the Gemini Branch, all its members are now under control, unable to disobey her orders. The entire Krook Kingdom is hers, operating according to her will… Goodbye!"

"Then what exactly is her will?"

"Water Bottle?"

"Are you still there?"

"…"

Looks like he's really gone this time…

After asking twice while gripping his knife and hearing no reply, Li Ang let out a tsk, pulled the paper cutter from his neck, and weakly shoved the female reporter's backside:

"Move over—I need to get out."

"Wait a little longer!"

Unaware of Li Ang's conversation with the Water Bottle Director, the female reporter blocking the dog's mouth warned sharply:

"The Water Bottle Director might not have left yet. What if he attacks you the moment you come out?"

But your dad already attacked me—worse, he even chatted with me for a while…

"It's fine… I think he's gone…"

After muttering a vague reply, Li Ang—whose soul was as translucent as a plastic bag—used his last strength to pry open the Dog God's jaws, carefully crawled out, and collapsed onto the ground.

This time was really… my soul is still intact, but I got swallowed by a dog, then had my throat slit—no shortage of suffering. I feel like my soul is starting to float…

"Are you alright?"

After pulling Li Ang up, the female reporter, seeing his soul now drifting and as light as gauze, asked anxiously:

"Why don't you go back inside for now? Your soul is in bad shape, and near the Gate of the Dead, winds from the living world sometimes blow through—you don't want to be blown apart."

"…"

Indeed, if you weren't holding me, I might already be floating away with the next gust.

After sensing how unnaturally light his soul had become, Li Ang sighed, and though he didn't return to the dog's mouth, he circled half the corpse of the three-headed Dog God, finding a sheltered spot out of the wind to crouch.

Huh… wait, what's that smell?

As Li Ang, exhausted to the point of collapse, closed his eyes to rest, a strangely alluring scent suddenly flooded his nose—perhaps not just his nose.

Jerking his eyes open, Li Ang was stunned to find the three-headed Dog God behind him emitting an incomprehensible, terrifying pull toward his entire soul—making him want to…

Take a big bite!

"Don't look. I feel the same thing, but it's not hunger."

Noticing Li Ang's gaze, the female reporter quickly warned:

"Your soul is intact, but over eighty percent has been digested by the Dog God and absorbed into its body. Because of your own weakness, your soul is instinctively craving to reclaim what it lost from it."

"So that's how it is…"

Hearing the reporter's words, Li Ang nodded in sudden understanding, then hesitantly asked:

"If I ate it, could I recover my lost soul?"

"What?"

Stunned by Li Ang's question, the female reporter stared blankly:

"You… say that again? What do you plan to do?"

"I mean—can we eat it?"

Sniffing the "aromatic" three-headed Dog God, his eyes green with hunger, Li Ang gritted his teeth:

"With my current soul strength, I can't even control my body—I'd have to lie in bed for a year or two, even needing someone to feed me water… I can't accept this! We have to take back what was stolen!"

"But… but it's a true god…"

Looking at the massive corpse of the Dog God, Li Ang hesitated—eating something that could speak felt nauseating.

But then he thought of spending a year or more paralyzed in bed, powerless to move, and his resolve hardened instantly.

In less than a month, the Taurus Director ascends to the Palace. That damn Water Bottle old man might be up to something terrible. At such a critical moment, how can I lie there helpless?

Besides, the Princess hasn't yet taken the throne—things aren't fully stable. The mysterious organization targeting the royal family is still active. The Possessed Doe, who ruined Emma's life, still lingers. And Atphi-01, likely to invade the Thrush Kingdom, looms ahead…

With so many life-threatening matters pending, you want me to do nothing but lie in bed for a year, needing someone to carry me to the toilet and spoon-feed me water?

To hell with it!

"What does 'true god' even matter!"

Having made up his mind, Li Ang took a deep breath. Before the female reporter's horrified gaze, he pulled out a paper cutter with a wooden handle and silver blade, and slashed hard into the Dog God's body.

"Don't care what it is—a god or not. It tried to eat me. Now I have the right to eat it. That's fair!"

…

As Li Ang swung the paper cutter, carving flesh from the three-headed Dog God, a mournful, furious howl erupted from the summit of the End Cliff, the deepest part of the Underworld.

That howl, thick with bitter resentment, tore through the gloomy sky of the Underworld, spreading outward from its depths. It made the lost souls wandering the Path of No Return raise their heads—and drew the attention of every being in the Underworld.

Angsi's howl?

At the sound, every being in the Underworld wore expressions of shock.

By rights, the Three-Headed Dog God, guardian of death, should remain confined near the Gate of the Dead, never venturing deep into the Underworld.

But now, its cry came from the very summit of the End Cliff—the final destination of the dead. There was only one possible explanation…

The guardian of death had been killed.

At this once-in-a-millennium upheaval, the entire Underworld awoke. Nearly every ruler of the Underworld dispatched envoys to investigate; the impatient ones went themselves.

Countless thick streams of death energy pierced the night sky like boiling oil dropped into water, churning the dark gray heavens into a frenzy as they swept down over the land.

The Death Crows circling the Path of No Return shrieked in terror, abandoning their duty to guide souls, and scattered in panicked flight.

In the end, even the Path of No Return itself trembled with the Underworld's turmoil, roaring in a language no one could understand toward the stone statues lining its edges.

"Go find out for me—I must know who did this!"