Chapter 525: The Final Variable

——

In an instant, Lin Fan arrived.

The Black Water long sword lay across Jiang Yuan's chest, its blade touching the tip of the Eyeball Staff.

A red dot struck the Blue Flame of the Nether.

There was no flamboyant probing.

There was no superfluous dialogue.

Two kinds of rules clashed hard in the air.

Gray Mist, like being gnawed by a living thing, emitted a harsh, strange screech, retreating inch by inch along the staff.

Hellfire crawled up the shaft of the staff.

The Living Eyeball spun violently, its pupil burned and contracted, Gray Mist seeped from the sclera, then was shattered by the tongues of fire.

Sai Men wore a deep gray Mask, concealing any expression.

But that black staff, never once leaving his hand, for the first time was held steadily in midair by someone, not even a half‑inch could be pressed down.

Rain fell on Lin Fan's shoulder.

A white shirt clung to his body; the youth's frame remained slender.

Yet he stood there, Black Water supporting his feet, his right eye a blue hue, his left eye bearing the ruthless vigor unique to the living.

He looked nothing like a savior.

More like a creditor crawling out of an old grave, intent on settling scores.

Sai Men tilted his head.

Behind the Mask, two black holes stared at Lin Fan.

A moment later, he smiled.

It wasn't the previously poised, affected elegance.

But an uncontainable, sickly, radiant delight.

"Ah."

"This really is......"

He leaned forward half a step, the staff still pressed by the blade, Hellfire already scorching the metal rim at the staff's tip.

Sai Men did not retreat.

He even lowered his head, and through the Mask, gently sniffed the resentment on Lin Fan's blade.

"Fragrant."

"Too fragrant."

"Resentment, Hellfire, love, obsession, rule‑defying Symbiosis, and a touch of irrational recklessness."

He raised his hand, fingertips lightly tapping the air, as if critiquing a freshly plated dish.

"The off‑track answer sheet the chief examiner most wanted to see has actually walked into the exam hall itself."

Lin Fan stared at him.

"You talk a lot of nonsense, too."

Sai Men laughed until his shoulders trembled.

"Nice, even the sarcasm comes so straight."

"I like it."

"Much more interesting than those who constantly shout 'for humanity, for order, for the greater good'."

In the distant ruins, Liang Wen was half‑kneeling; hearing that, his face covered in blood, he still tried to crawl.

"Hey, Mask man, who are you talking about?"

The Black Flame Knife was lodged at his side; he tried twice before he could prop himself up.

"This Dark-Blooded King's line is copyrighted."

Gray Mist rolled up from the ground, about to crush Liang Wen.

Black Water swept across.

Gray Mist was burned through by Hellfire.

Su Ming, on the other side, clutched his chest as the Time Marrow Worm writhed beneath his skin.

His gaze fell behind Lin Fan.

Ling Xinyu stood at the crest of the Black Water tide, her long hair moving without wind.

She said nothing.

Yet the entire expanse of Black Water responded to her.

Su Ming muttered low, "Absurd."

"This couple really is overpowered, huh?"

Jiang Yuan was carried by Black Water to the edge of a ruined wall.

He leaned against the wall, his chest heaving violently, his throat filled with the taste of blood.

That strike was just a thin layer away from his heart.

Had he been half a beat later, he wouldn't have even had the chance to self‑detonate his source.

Jiang Yuan looked at the silhouette ahead.

Familiar.

And strange.

Back then in Jiang Hai City, Lin Fan was still the boy driven to madness by Ling Xinyu's death.

Later, revenge, flight, Symbiosis, vanished into the sea fog.

Now he stands before Sai Men, blocking a strike that even the Allied Forces' topmost combat power could not stop.

Jiang Yuan rasped, "Lin Fan."

Lin Fan did not turn around.

"If you're still alive, shut up and tend your wounds."

Jiang Yuan's lips moved.

"Did you come here to decide to fight the gods together with the Federation?"

When the words fell, many around looked at Lin Fan.

Allied Forces soldiers.

The Deceiver.

People from Eden Garden.

Even the gravely wounded Chen Shao, hanging from Reinforced Steel Bar, lifted his eyelids.

Everyone was waiting for an answer.

In the Black Water, Ling Xinyu's hair tips gently brushed Lin Fan's shoulder.

Lin Fan turned his head to the side.

That face was still young.

But what the once sunny youth had left behind had been ground by countless life‑and‑death battles into cold, hard bone.

"Don't misunderstand."

He spoke.

"I'm not here to be a knife for the Federation."

In Lord Wei's communication channel, many held their breath.

In the headquarters command room, the old man sat before the massive screen, his teacup already cold.

Lin Fan's voice transmitted back through the battlefield equipment, each word clear.

"When you fed the rational Fierce Ghost as rations to Lu Yu, you never thought about doing it together."

"Now we can't win, asking whether I should join you."

Lin Fan looked at Jiang Yuan.

"Jiang Yuan, you are a good person."

"But the Federation is not."

Jiang Yuan fell silent.

Those words were harsh.

Harsh to the point of being indefensible.

Liang Wen lowered his head, wiping blood and rain from his face.

Su Ming did not reply.

He knew better than anyone that the accounts left by the Dragon‑Feeding Project could not be smoothed over by a few lofty ideals.

Sai Men lightly clapped beside him.

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

"Brilliant."

"The moral interrogation segment is always more entertaining than a headshot."

Lin Fan's blade turned toward him.

"You also shut up."

Sai Men spread his hands.

"Alright, esteemed wayward examinee."

"Please begin your answer."

The Black Water beneath Lin Fan rose.

Hellfire spiraled on the blade, a blinding blue.

He stared at Sai Men, his voice chillingly hoarse.

"I came here not to be the Federation's savior."

"I care even less about your petty power struggle."

"But you?"

Lin Fan stared at the Gray Mask.

"You only want to watch people die."

Sai Men swung his cane lightly.

"Correct me on one point."

"I also want to see people struggle while alive; dying too quickly is meaningless."

Lin Fan's grip on the blade tightened.

The shadow behind was stretched by the rainy night.

Within that shadow, long hair fluttered, a white robe stained with resentment, Ling Xinyu's outline rose from the Black Water.

She pressed against Lin Fan from behind, a half‑real, half‑illusory hand covering the back of his hand.

One person, one Fierce Ghost.

One left, one right.

The living's hot blood, the Fierce Ghost's resentment.

Clamping at the hilt.

Lin Fan's left eye burned with resolve.

Lin Fan's right eye inhaled and exhaled the Blue Flame of the Nether.

Lin Fan spoke word by word.

"But if this world truly is to be manipulated by you monsters,"

"Then I will personally cut off this mistake."

The words fell.

Black Water rose from the ground.

It was not a stream.

It was a surge of anger after resentment was pressed to the limit.

It surged from the battlefield fissure, flowed past the corpses, overturned the rules beneath the Gray Mist, and spread across half of the ruined cathedral.

The Blue Flame of the Nether burned on the water's surface.

Water and fire are supposed to counter each other.

But on Lin Fan and Ling Xinyu, they strangely formed an unreasonable new set of rules.

Su Ming's pupils contracted sharply.

"The Symbiosis rules have upgraded."

Liang Wen grinned, blood sliding from his teeth.

"Not to mention, it's pretty cool."

Jiang Yuan said softly, "It's not an upgrade."

"It's that they never belonged to any system to begin with."

Chen Shao, hanging on the Reinforced Steel Bar, forced a laugh out of his throat.

"A stray dog outside the script."

Sai Men heard.

Sai Men gave no rebuttal.

The crimson behind the Mask lit up deep within the eye socket.

"Stray dog?"

"What a friendly nickname."

"But I would rather call it a variable."

Gray Mist churned.

Sai Men lifted his staff, and the gray chaotic realm reassembled.

The thousand‑foot chasm that Lin Fan had just sliced open began to close, rule fragments stitching together in the air, forming countless gray‑white threads.

Each thread linked to a certain cause-and-effect on the battlefield.

Heartbeat.

Breathing.

Movement.

Choice.

Even fear.

Sai Men gently nudged one of them with his staff.

In the allied camp, a severely wounded soldier suddenly raised his gun to his own temple.

Black Water leapt from the ground, coiling around his wrist.

A blue flame licked his forehead, and that gray thread burned and snapped on the spot.

The soldier collapsed, crying in a pitiful manner.

Sai Men clicked his tongue.

"Reverse control, reverse causality, reverse contamination."

"Truly a version answer."

Lin Fan gave no reply.

Lin Fan lunged forward, dragging his blade.

Black Water paved the ground beneath his feet, his form passing through the rain curtain, and in a blink closed in on Sai Men.

The blade tipped upward.

Hellfire brushed the staff.

Sai Men sidestepped, the gray ripple supporting his half‑step retreat.

After the half‑step, Lin Fan's second slash was already pressing against the throat.

Fast.

Ruthless.

No superfluous movement.

Each strike aimed to kill the opponent.

Sai Men finally stopped handling it with a theatrical pose.

He swept his staff, and the gray rules coalesced into a circular ring.

The ring ensnared the Black Water long knife, trying to erase the concept of "attack" from the battlefield for Lin Fan.

Ling Xinyu raised her hand.

Her long hair was thrust into the Black Water.

Countless faces of resentful souls rose on the water's surface.

They opened their mouths and let out silent, sharp howls.

Hellfire burned back along the ring.

The gray rules cracked, sprouting fissures.

Sai Men stepped back.

The first step.

On the battlefield, everyone saw it.

Sai Men retreated.

The feral wolf lay in the pit, face covered in blood, yet still grinned.

"Ha ha."

"Mask kid, you're retreating too?"

Sai Men ignored him.

His attention was wholly on Lin Fan.

That sickly excitement outweighed his arrogance and his mockery.

"Excellent."

He whispered.

"Excellent."

"The chief examiner will like you."

Lin Fan pressed his knife down.

"Make him roll out."

Sai Men's mask tilted slightly.

"It's not yet time for a meeting."

"Moreover, strictly speaking, he's been watching the whole time."

Lin Fan's knife stopped a half‑inch short.

"Deity?"

Sai Men bowed lightly, offering a comical yet graceful salute.

"Correct."

"I'll reward you with an even grander stage."

The next instant.

The gray chaotic realm unfolded completely.

The raging Black Water slammed head‑on.

Two forces gnawed at each other in the center of the battlefield; the ground was gouged into a deep trench, the ruined church walls collapsed in sheets, and a distant armored vehicle was overturned, rolling several times in the mud.

Jiang Yuan raised his hand, propping up a Shadow Wall to shield the nearest wounded.

Su Ming clenched his teeth and activated the Time Marrow Worm, buying the retreating team a few seconds.

Liang Wen dragged the Black Flame Knife and shouted toward the rear, "All retreat! Don't stay here as spectators! This isn't a VIP seat, it's the front row of a crematorium!"

No one hesitated any longer.

The crowd moved outward.

Inside the storm's core, Lin Fan and Sai Men had already collided.

The Black Water long knife sliced through the Gray Mist.

The staff shattered the Hellfire.

Ling Xinyu's long hair swept from behind Lin Fan, coiling toward Sai Men's neck.

Sai Men lifted his hand and grabbed; the gray rules turned into chains, winding around the hair in reverse.

Lin Fan's right eye glowed a deep azure.

"Xin Yu."

Ling Xinyu pressed close to his back.

Their breaths converged in a brief exhale.

On the blade, the Black Water compressed into an ultra‑thin line.

Lin Fan roared.

"Cut!"

The line sliced into the gray realm.

The Gray Mist dispersed.

Sai Men's suit at the chest was slashed open, the dark‑red shirt split with a long gash.

Beneath the mask, a pale jaw was exposed.

A drop of gray blood fell into the rain.

Sai Men lowered his head and glanced at his chest.

Then, he laughed even more wildly.

My defense is broken.

I actually broke my guard.

"Lin Fan, you really should applaud yourself."

Lin Fan gave him no chance to speak nonsense.

Black Water's raging wave rose from behind, turning into a high wall, bearing Hellfire to press down on Sai Men.

Sai Men opened its arms.

Gray chaos rose up.

The two realms collided without reservation.

The sky darkened.

Rainwater surged backward.

In the battlefield's center, all colors were swallowed, leaving only deep blue and gray‑white to clash.

At the same time.

The distant Jiang Hai City.

First Hospital, Cardiac Surgery Office.

Chu Che stood in front of a vase.

Outside the window, the sky was gloomy, and the city was very quiet.

His slender fingers held a white rose, trimming away excess leaves; his movements were delicate, gentle, flawless.

The Weird Editor on the table was shaking violently.

The page turned by itself.

Chu Che lifted his hand and nudged his Gold Thread Glasses.

The lenses reflected an image of deep blue colliding with gray‑white.

"Welcome to the game."

"The final..."

"Variable."