Chapter 232: Just in Time

—Thump. Thump.

That was the sound of a heartbeat, also a death‑rushing countdown.

Xu Cheng'an lay on the marble floor, his hands clawing fiercely at his shirt‑covering chest; the force was so great that two buttons flew off and clattered onto the coffee‑table leg.

His face, usually well‑kept, swelled into a bruised purple, his eyes bulging outward, a breath stuck in his throat, unable to go in or out.

Next to him, Li Juan fared even worse; as a woman her heart's tolerance was low, and now she was already rolling her eyes white, her body twitching like a dying catfish stranded on shore.

Each heartbeat felt as if a barbed iron hand clenched violently inside the chest, then released just as brutally.

Blood surged backward, vessels moaning.

The harder a rule is to evade, the lighter the punishment; conversely, the easier it is to evade, the harsher the penalty—this is balance.

Had it not been that Xu An's rule was too hard to evade, the two would already have died from exploding hearts.

That's right.

Xu An tilted his head, watching his parents struggle in agony, and a glimmer finally appeared in his murky eyes.

That glimmer was called pleasure, called the great revenge fulfilled.

The Red Wood Ruler in his hand still dripped black blood; as his delight grew, the dark veins on its surface seemed to come alive, greedily sucking up the fear that hung in the air.

Then he rolled his eyes toward the troublesome intruder.

According to the rule, this guy in a combat suit should already be kneeling in begging or have his heart explode and die.

After all, this is the iron law of the Correction Place.

But—

Jiang Yuan stood perfectly upright.

Even his breathing rate remained steady.

He was like a silent statue, standing in the wrecked living room's center, and the aura of "justice" that repulsed Xu An not only persisted but grew stronger.

Xu An's sutured mouth twitched sharply.

How could that be?

As long as one is alive, as long as a heartbeat exists, punishment must be meted out. This is the absolute Causality Law, the authority he cultivated with one hundred and thirty‑seven lives.

Unless…

Jiang Yuan moved.

He neither launched an attack nor tried to flee; instead he made an extremely odd gesture—raising his right hand and gently pressing it against his left chest.

There, the spot where the heart should beat most fiercely.

"Your rule is indeed interesting."

Jiang Yuan spoke, his voice steady to a disquieting degree, nothing like someone trapped in a Strange Rule, "Using the victim's physiological functions as a punishment mechanism is indeed a death sentence for ordinary people."

As he spoke, his fingertip pressed lightly, indenting the black combat suit fabric beneath.

"But you overlooked one thing."

Jiang Yuan stared at Xu An, his gaze bearing an almost inhuman calm, "If a heartbeat is evidence of a violation, then simply stopping it would mean no violation, right?"

What?

Xu An froze, even the hand that wanted to swing the Red Wood Ruler hung stiff in mid‑air.

The next second, a scene he would never forget unfolded.

Without any warning, the life force around Jiang Yuan snapped in an instant.

Like a machine unplugged from power, completely extinguished.

The sensation was jarring; the man still stood there, could speak, could show expression, yet in Xu An's perception the young man had already become a corpse.

A cold, heartbeat‑less, pulse‑less corpse.

Jiang Yuan's blood ceased flowing, his body temperature dropping, yet his eyes grew eerily bright. Within his Shadow, a mass of pitch‑black viscous substance churned wildly—that was the Shadow Ghost, now his true source of life.

—Using a ghost to command humans.

He temporarily handed bodily control to the Weird within him that bears Jiang Yuan's consciousness, using its energy to drive muscles and bones. At this moment, Jiang Yuan was no longer human, but a ghost cloaked in human skin.

A ghost has no heartbeat.

Since there's no heartbeat, how can there be a violation?

Jiang Yuan lowered his hand from his chest and took a step forward.

The black shadow beneath his feet rippled like boiling tar, spreading wildly across the floor, covering most of the living room in a blink.

The all‑covering black mass suddenly surged upward!

Swish—

Countless thick black chains erupted from the Shadow, intangible yet feeling harder than steel, ignoring distance, leaping several meters in an instant, coiling around Xu An's limbs like predatory giant serpents.

Snap!

Xu An tried to swing the Red Wood Ruler in retaliation, but the weapon capable of crushing skulls struck the black chains as if hitting a bottomless pool of dead water, not even a ripple forming.

An absolute disparity in power.

"Ugh—!!"

Xu An let out a beast‑like muffled roar from his throat, struggling desperately. He emitted wave after wave of gray, decayed resentment, trying to break the shackles, but it was futile.

Jiang Yuan's Shadow Ghost was like a greedy black hole; no matter how much resentment he released, it was instantly devoured, even becoming nourishment that reinforced the chains.

In the blink of an eye, Xu An was hoisted up.

Limbs splayed, hanging in mid‑air.

The scene felt all too familiar.

Once, in a little black room called the "Treatment Room," Instructor Lei had also hoisted him up, stabbing his abdomen with an electric baton while laughing and asking if he knew his mistake.

That bone‑deep helplessness descended once more.

Only this time, the aggressor was replaced by that young man in a black uniform.

"It's time to end."

Jiang Yuan watched the boy suspended in midair, a flash of compassion crossing his eyes, but more so resolve.

He loosely clasped his right hand, and within the Shadow a massive black vortex gradually emerged, a cage that contained Weird.

As long as Xu An is thrown in, this mission will be considered complete.

The child is indeed pitiful, but letting him run wild outside will only create more tragedies.

Just as Jiang Yuan prepared to unleash the Shadow Ghost to completely devour the target, an indescribable chill, without warning, surged up his spine.

This chill was a hundred times stronger than when facing Xu An.

If Xu An is a sharp knife, then this sudden aura is a mountain hanging over his head.

That sense of oppression even caused the restless Shadow Ghost inside him to instinctively shrink.

Jiang Yuan snapped his head around, looking toward the direction of the main door.

The spot where the security door had been erased by Xu An's Weird Domain power was now a void of darkness.

Yet within that darkness, a hand abruptly appeared.

A slender, clean, impeccably maintained hand was performing a "push door" motion.

Even though there was no door there at all.

Squeak—

In the air, a genuine sound of a door hinge turning rang out, crisp to the point of being harsh.

Immediately after, the barrier that separated reality from the Weird Domain burst like a punctured soap bubble, popping and shattering.

A man in a meticulously tailored black suit strolled in at leisure.

He wore no combat gear, carried no weapon, and the suit bore not a single crease. He seemed like a distinguished guest attending a high‑end cocktail party, mistakenly entering this blood‑stained living room.

The man didn't even glance at Xu An suspended in midair, nor at the Xu Cheng'an couple rolling on the floor.

His gaze swept over the sky‑filled, wildly dancing Shadow Ghost chains, finally settling on Jiang Yuan.

That look was calm, yet tinged with a lofty indifference.

The man lifted his hand to adjust the sunglasses on his nose, the motion elegant as if posing for a movie poster; then his thin lips moved, uttering a sentence that left everyone present feeling as if they had fallen into an ice cavern:

"It seems I have arrived at precisely the right moment."