Chapter 532: Curtain Call

"Esteemed Saints, we admit we have made mistakes."

He paused, then spoke in an even more subordinate tone:

"But humans are not saints; who can be without fault? We are also human, we also have moments of weakness, and we can make wrong choices when faced with temptation."

"I have family," he said, "three children, seven grandchildren; the youngest is only four this year, and when she calls me 'grandpa' she shows a smile missing two front teeth."

"She doesn't know what work her grandpa does; she only knows that every time grandpa visits she brings her favorite strawberry cake."

His voice trembled slightly.

"I want to live to see her again, I want to watch her grow up, go to school, get married and have children; I don't want her, when she grows up, to know her grandpa only from photos."

Behind him, a middle‑aged man stepped forward.

"I still have unfinished endeavors; we are developing a new biodegradable material, and if successful it can replace plastic and save countless marine creatures!"

"This project was driven by me alone; without me, it might die out!"

He looked at Yu Lin, his eyes full of earnestness.

"Society still needs me! Those patients waiting for medication, those employees waiting for work, those communities pointing at our company's taxes—they all need me!"

Another person stepped forward.

"I was forced too! I don't want to do those things, but what can I do? In that environment, if you don't act, you're kicked out!"

"You have to act to stay at the table, to have a chance to do a little good! I've donated so much money to charities, I've funded the construction of over a dozen schools, I—"

He spoke incessantly.

One after another.

Some spoke of aging parents needing support, some spoke of their young children who cannot be without a father, some spoke of how much money they donate each year and the good deeds they perform, some spoke of being coerced by higher‑ups, having no control.

They spoke with feeling and tears, as if they alone were the most aggrieved and innocent in the world.

The white‑haired elder finally concluded, his voice hoarse and sorrowful:

"Esteemed Saints, we admit we are guilty. But we also ask you, on account of our families, our enterprises, the good deeds we have done… grant us a chance."

He bowed his head deeply.

Behind him, the whole group bowed their heads.

Yu Lin quietly watched them.

Watching those lowered heads, those trembling shoulders, those clenched fists.

Silence lingered for a long time.

Long enough that the people began to exchange glances secretly, long enough that a faint hope appeared on someone's face—

Then Yu Lin smiled.

"It sounds," he said, "like you really want to live."

The group jerked their heads up, the surprise on their faces almost spilling over.

"Then," Yu Lin said, "I need to think…"

The surprise turned into ecstasy.

Some began to gasp heavily, some even drew a cross on their chest, thanking God—

"Sorry."

Yu Lin's smile turned mischievous, like a prankster comedian who succeeded.

"I forgot."

The group's smiles froze on their faces.

"You are sentenced to death outright."

"Considering how much you just said, we'll give you a quick end."

The words hung in the air.

The group hadn't had time to beg for mercy, to shout, to react—

A light flared.

But it wasn't from Sever Immortal Platform, nor from the heavens.

It came from behind Yu Lin.

The massive statue of the suffering Jesus.

The Jesus statue standing before ShengbideDajiatang, overlooking the entire plaza, now glowed.

It wasn't WhiteLight.

It was Black Light.

Pure, viscous, as if it could devour everything Black Light.

The light poured down from the suffering statue like a black waterfall, like a giant hand reaching out from the abyss, sweeping toward the crowd!

Sweeping along with it, an endless—

Sin.

The moment the people were enveloped by Black Light, they all froze.

Not because of fear, not because of pain.

But because they saw.

They saw the sins they had committed.

The white‑haired elder saw a document he had signed.

That document caused a small hospital to close, and he profited millions.

The community where that hospital stood thereafter had no affordable medical care.

Many people died.

Those people's faces from just before death are now pressed against his face.

Pale and emaciated, their eyes full of pain and unwillingness!

The drug researchers saw that they themselves, in order to speed up the new drug's market release, had suppressed a batch of adverse reaction reports from clinical trials.

After that batch of drugs went on sale, it caused liver failure in seventeen patients, six of whom died.

The faces of those six people now form a circle, looking down at him.

Some still had blood flowing from their liver area, some had a waxy yellow complexion like paper, some had purple lips, and some still had tear stains at the corners of their eyes.

"Why? We just believed you......"

The man who claimed he was forced to do so saw the demolition order he himself had signed ten years ago.

That old urban area housed over three hundred households, of which twenty-three refused to sign.

Three months later, the houses of those twenty-three households experienced "accidents" one after another—gas leaks, electrical short circuits, and falls from height.

Some were still struggling before death, some were still calling for help, and some were still thinking about going to petition the next day.

Now, they all stand there.

Not one missing.

And some saw something else——

A middle-aged woman saw that she had put drugs into a rival's drink in order to climb higher.

After being fired by the company, that person went mad, jumped from a building three months later and committed suicide, and the whole family ended up on the streets.

A young man saw the mother and daughter he had killed while driving drunk.

A bald old man saw the "underground organ trading network" he had raised.

Those who had been deceived, kidnapped, and forcibly had their organs taken now stood before him one after another.

Some were missing a kidney, some a liver, some a cornea, and some had been emptied of everything and discarded like trash.

They looked at him silently.

They said nothing.

They just looked.

The girls or boys who had been raped to death were covered in wounds, their eyes empty.

Those who had been framed and imprisoned, ultimately dying in jail, wore tattered prison uniforms and still bore the marks of beatings.

They walked out of the Black Light.

One after another.

Layer upon layer.

Forming a circle.

They stared fixedly at that group of people.

That group of people opened their mouths, wanting to shout but could not make a sound; wanting to run but could not move; wanting to close their eyes not to look, but their eyelids seemed to be propped open by something, so they could only stare wide-eyed.

They looked at the people they had killed.

They looked at the faces of those at death's door.

They looked at the things they thought would never be known.

The white-haired old man was the first to collapse.

He knelt on the ground, clutching his head with both hands, trembling all over, murmuring: "Sorry…… sorry…… I didn't mean to…… I just……"

No one responded to him.

Only the dead people remained standing there silently, looking at him.

The Black Light gradually gathered.

Like a giant hand, it gripped that group of people together with the vengeful spirits beside them.

Then——

It disappeared.

Together with that group of people, it disappeared.

Not even a chance to go to Hell!

From then on.

Yu Lin turned to the other viewers around the world, turned around, and waved his hand:

"Curtain call."