Chapter 535: The Final Round Begins

Sunlight falls on the rebuilding Qiu Ce Yuan.

A few panels are missing from the glass canopy, and wind rushes in through the gaps, making the construction tarp rustle.

The road outside the Cafeteria isn't very wide.

On one side is a freshly painted temporary barrier, on the other a flowerbed that was overturned by the battle's aftershocks and then replanted.

A few rose bushes that weren't moved in time are covered in dust, their petal edges curled, looking disheveled yet still alive.

Liang Wen didn't walk far before slinging his arm over Chu Che's shoulder.

The gesture is overly practiced.

"Dr. Chu."

Liang Wen lowers his voice, assuming the posture of a gang leader holding a secret talk.

"I, the Dark-Blooded King, officially announce today that you have passed our side's basic assessment."

Chu Che glances at him sideways.

His expression behind the Gold Thread Glasses is gentle.

"Is there an advanced assessment?"

"Of course."

Liang Wen pats his chest, making the black Windcoat sway dramatically.

"Next holiday, let's have a drinking contest."

Su Ming ahead halts his steps for half a beat.

"Last time you drank half a beer while hugging a Trash Can and calling it a Holy Grail."

Liang Wen's defenses crumble on the spot.

"That was tactical deception!"

Jiang Yuan adds a serious retort.

"The enemy is the pantry aunt."

Liang Wen looks at Jiang Yuan, pained and indignant.

"Shadow Lord, you've changed. You used to be a good kid who respected seniors."

Jiang Yuan thinks for a moment.

"Even seniors should respect the facts."

Qin Zhixia flips through a data terminal ahead and coldly throws out a line.

"Liang Wen, don't corrupt Chu Che."

Liang Wen is indignant.

"Qin Team, that's excessive. I, the Dark-Blooded King, am clearly fostering cross‑department friendship between the medical office and the combat department."

Chu Che lets him rest on his shoulder, walking at an unhurried pace.

"As for drinking capacity, I'm actually average."

"It's fine."

Liang Wen sweeps his hand dramatically.

"I, the Dark-Blooded King, handle the atmosphere; Su Ming handles the tab; Jiang Yuan moves the drunkards back to the dorm; Qin Team wakes us up with scoldings. You only need to be elegant."

Su Ming doesn't even turn his head.

"I refuse to pay the bill."

"Your refusal is invalid; the Rules deem it a failure."

Liang Wen finishes speaking and winks at Chu Che.

"Dr. Chu, next time you'll be on my side. The two of us—a compassionate healer and a compassionate Dark‑Blooded one—I've already thought up a team name: the Dual‑Heart Annihilation Squad."

Qin Zhixia's steps come to a complete halt.

"Say again?"

Liang Wen coughs.

"I withdraw that."

Chu Che smiles lightly.

"Actually, calling it the Clinical Observation Group would be more fitting."

Liang Wen freezes for a moment, then his eyes brighten.

"Tasteful. Professional. Premium. This one."

Su Ming comments softly.

"Done, another lunatic appears."

This stretch of road is walked very slowly.

There are no tactical orders.

There is no contamination alarm.

No cries come from the isolation pods.

Only the Cafeteria's oil‑smoke scent, the training commands from the field, and Liang Wen's perpetually ill‑timed chatter.

Chu Che walks among the crowd.

Jiang Yuan occasionally looks back, confirming with him the medical office's emergency kit update progress for the field teams.

Su Ming and Qin Zhixia discuss the perimeter defenses of Qiu Ce Yuan ahead.

"After the south wall is rebuilt, there are three thermal‑imaging blind spots."

Su Ming hands over the terminal.

"Here, here, and behind the storage room. The original Cognitive Shielding Device can't cover it."

Qin Zhixia tapped the screen with a mechanical prosthetic.

The metal fingertip touched the screen, producing a light click.

"Add two patrol squads. Don't fix the routes. An Inside Traitor like Xu Chen can probe the system, so manual patrols are even harder to predict."

"Agreed."

Su Ming crossed out the original plan.

"Also, I suggest adding an independent access control for the medical office."

Liang Wen interjected.

"Is this to protect Dr. Chu or to monitor Dr. Chu?"

Su Ming gave him a glance.

"Do the two conflict?"

Chu Che spoke in a warm tone.

"I accept."

Qin Zhixia turned his head.

"You don't have to accept everything."

Chu Che pushed his glasses.

"When I worked at the hospital, what I feared most wasn't strict rules, but rules that were strict only for ordinary people."

The words made everyone fall silent for a moment.

Jiang Yuan nodded.

"That's correct."

Liang Wen patted Chu Che's shoulder.

"Listen, this is what a cultured person is. I, the king, declare that from now on all statements from the medical office will be given priority entry into the Investigation Bureau's golden phrase repository."

Chu Che lowered his eyes.

The hint of gentleness at his lips was flawless.

He blended in far too naturally.

So naturally that even Su Ming, who habitually breaks people down into risk items, didn't give him a second look.

On this path, Jiang Yuan is a newly promoted S-Class Combat Power.

Su Ming and Liang Wen are the reborn and the Time System Core.

Qin Zhixia crawled back from the severed arm, with a dark life‑burning killing technique hidden beneath the mechanical prosthetic.

And Chu Che is merely the clean, gentle school doctor in the medical office.

He will remind them to have timely follow‑ups.

He will write the painkiller dosage clearly and precisely.

He will sit in the Cafeteria listening to Liang Wen's nonsense, and can catch every awkward joke.

He stood among them, the Doctor's Lab Coat and Black Combat Suit side by side, with no discord at all.

The Federation's last hope.

Humanity's sharpest blade.

They are all within his reach, having handed over their backs.

The wind poured in through a gap in the glass canopy.

Liang Wen was still talking about drinking contests.

"Let me tell you, Dr. Chu, a drinking contest isn't just about volume, it's also about momentum. When you enter, first place the cup on the table and say, 'Even this humble brew dares to disturb my Dao heart.'"

Chu Che halted his steps.

Liang Wen's hand was still on his shoulder, nearly pulling him backward.

"What's wrong?"

Chu Che looked into the distance.

His gaze passed over the playground, over the newly built high wall of Qiu Ce Yuan, over layers of anti‑aircraft arrays, over the city skyline.

That distance was beyond human sight.

But in his eyes, the world's boundaries have never had walls.

Nor seas.

Nor any national borders.

Thousands of miles away.

North America.

The Abandoned King's Court Weird Domain.

It is the pollution zone north of the old Chicago site.

The post‑nuclear black soil, collapsed overpasses, subway entrances buried in dust, and the skeletal remains of building clusters gnawed by Weird Domain rules.

The wind slipped under the broken billboard, stirring up gray‑white dust.

A few wild rogue manipulators were battling in the ruins.

They had no uniform gear.

Some wore bullet‑proof vests, others wore military boots stripped from corpses.

Each was so filthy that their original appearance was unrecognizable, wounds flared, blood glued the clothes to skin, and every step left a wet mark.

But no one retreated.

Because in the center of the ruins, there was a box.

Black.

Chains coiled.

Seven red eyes were embedded in its surface.

The thing was half‑buried in the mud, the surrounding polluted mist cleared completely, leaving a Weird circle.

A blond woman knelt on the ground, cupping a half‑cut blade in both hands, rasping a hoarse whisper from her throat.

"Don't touch it."

No one heard.

A man wearing a skull mask raised his gun, aiming at the back of her head.

"Ai La, you've already taken two Containment Objects."

The woman turned her head; under a face smeared with blood, only terror remained.

"That's not a Containment Object. It's leading us there."

Gunfire.

The woman fell into the mud.

The shooter hadn't even laughed when a short axe swung from behind, cleaving his neck side in one slash.

Blood spurted into the air.

The scar‑faced man rose from behind the corpse.

Half of his face was burned away, most of his eyebrows missing, and his left eye wore a cheap prosthetic that made a faint grinding sound when it moved.

"So much nonsense."

The scar‑faced man spat a mouthful of frothy blood.

"In these times, still playing modesty? Whoever gets it first becomes king."

Another lanky, tall trickster lunged from the side, gray‑green mist curling from his palm.

"Ma Luo, it's not yours!"

Scar‑faced Ma Luo grabbed a severed limb from the ground with his other hand, swinging it like a club.

Bone struck his face.

The lanky man's nose collapsed, and his whole body fell into the broken bricks.

Ma Luo stepped on his chest, his boot crushing ribs with a crackling sound.

"You think you can fight me for it?"

The lanky man still tried to raise his hand.

Ma Luo drew the short knife at his waist and thrust downward.

One thrust.

Two thrusts.

Three thrusts.

Mud and blood mixed, flowing down the cracks between the bricks.

The remaining living people around them froze.

Not out of pity.

But because that box moved.

The seven red eyes on the box's surface opened simultaneously.

The chains began to contract, emitting a grinding that made teeth ache.

Ma Luo's breathing grew coarse.

He stepped on his companion's severed limbs, advancing step by step.

Someone shouted, "Madman! You want to kill us?"

Ma Luo turned his head; the prosthetic eye lagged briefly.

"If you die, it's just a short life for you."

He reached out.

The instant his fingertip touched the box, the chains burst open from within.

No warning.

No buffer.

Black chain links sprang up one by one, slamming the air, and the seven red eyes opened to their limit simultaneously.

The box lid lifted.

Inside was not a treasure.

It was a crown.

Its base was black, patterned with blood veins; the rim was lined with fine teeth, and a shriveled heart hung at its center, its surface etched with names.

Ma Luo's hand was sucked in.

He tried to pull it out, but could only emit a broken gasp.

"Let go."

On the crown, the seven red eyes turned toward him.

Ma Luo's skin began to split.

It wasn't torn by external force.

It was the flesh and blood voluntarily yielding space for some kind of Rules.

He knelt down.

Above the ruins, the Weird Domain Shield emitted a glaring red.

In the next instant, a scarlet beam rose from the crown, piercing the polluted cloud layer and tearing through the sky dome of the ruined royal court.

The entire Weird Domain was dyed dark red.

Collapsed building.

Broken bridge.

Railway tracks.

Corpses.

Every corner was covered with a nauseating layer of blood color.

The beam continued upward.

The cloud layer was pierced.

In high‑altitude satellite footage, the North American Union's polluted zone showed a scarlet fissure, which then spread outward in all directions, moving so fast the monitoring system couldn't refresh in time.

Inside the North American Union command center, the duty officer stood before the screen holding a coffee.

The cup slipped from his hand.

Hot coffee splashed onto his trouser leg, yet he didn't move.

On the screen, red alerts scrolled line after line.

Ruined royal court energy tier transition.

Pollution index out of control.

Rule source spreading.

Global synchronized observation anomaly.

The officer opened his mouth, and only managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

"Notify the Federation."

Before he finished speaking, the entire command center's lights turned red.

At the same time.

Qiu Ce Yuan.

Chu Che stood under the glass canopy, his Doctor's Lab Coat being gently lifted by the wind.

He raised his hand and nudged his glasses.

In the lenses, a distant blood hue was taking shape.

Liang Wen sensed something amiss and released his hand.

"Dr. Chu?"

Chu Che withdrew his gaze.

"It's nothing."

He answered very naturally.

"The wind is a bit strong."

Liang Wen looked at the sky with suspicion.

The next second.

The sky turned red.

It wasn't sunset glow.

It wasn't polluted haze.

The whole sky had been forcibly painted blood‑red.

The cloud layer above Qiu Ce Yuan darkened from its edges, the dark red spreading, overwhelming the sunlight, the glass canopy's reflection, and the lingering warmth on everyone's faces.

Shrill alarms ripped through the base.

Highest‑level air‑defense alert.

Red lights lit up one by one along both sides of the road.

On the training field, the new trainees had just finished a weighted run and hadn't reacted yet when the Instructor already drew his gun and shouted.

"All personnel, enter the underground shelter!"

"Medical Team, take positions!"

"Seal off the outer ring!"

Someone in the Cafeteria dropped a tray.

The porcelain shattered across the floor.

The construction crane arm halted mid‑air, and the workers were urged by broadcast to evacuate.

Jiang Yuan was the first to look up.

His eyes shifted from clear to deep dark, shadows spreading from his feet, and several black Poker Cards formed between his fingers.

The Time Marrow Worm in Su Ming's pocket emitted a dying‑like screech.

The worm hammered wildly against the fabric, as if trying to escape from its host's body.

Su Ming pressed his pocket, his facial features tightening hard.

"This isn't an ordinary Weird Domain."

Qin Zhixia's terminal vibrated wildly.

She glanced at the screen, her pupils contracting.

"Global synchronized red warning."

Liang Wen reversed his grip on the Black Flame Knife that had materialized in midair, stripping away the frivolous aura he had just displayed.

The black windcoat was dyed a dark red by the alarm light.

"I've just finished my meal."

He curled his lips, but his tone was pressed low.

"Who arranged this post‑meal exercise? It's downright immoral."

Jiang Yuan had already turned away.

"To the command center."

Su Ming was faster than him.

"Notify Lord Wei, mobilize all satellite transmissions. Qin Team, seal the Qiu Ce Yuan intranet to prevent external cognitive contamination from syncing in."

Qin Zhixia lifted her mechanical prosthetic, the interface popped open, and the data cable was directly plugged into the terminal.

"It's already in progress."

Liang Wen's blade hung down.

"Dr. Chu, go to the underground medical zone."

Chu Che stood in place.

Red light fell on his Doctor's Lab Coat, the clean fabric being dyed a color almost like blood.

He looked at Liang Wen.

"There will be many wounded."

Liang Wen was startled.

Chu Che said gently, "A doctor should go to the infirmary."

"Understood."

Liang Wen offered no further persuasion.

"Don't try to be a hero. If something happens, call for help; this king will protect you."

Chu Che nodded.

"Thank you."

Jiang Yuan, Su Ming, Qin Zhixia, and Liang Wen simultaneously surged toward the command center.

Four figures cut through the panicked crowd.

The broadcast was still calling.

A guard vehicle sped past from the end of the road.

Armed drones rose into the sky.

The anti‑aircraft turret turned toward the heavens.

Everyone was running against the red light.

Only Chu Che stood still.

The crowd brushed past him.

Someone bumped his shoulder, whispered an apology, then hurried away.

Chu Che did not become angry.

He simply stood in the midst of the chaos, raised his hand and nudged his Gold Thread Glasses.

The lenses reflected the blood‑red sky.

Behind those eyes there was no fear, no tension, and no fanatical zeal of a so‑called victor.

Only the patience of a doctor leafing through charts during ward rounds.

The crown of the North American Waste King Court had already awakened.

Sai Men concluded.

Lin Fan, this variable, begins to challenge the board's Rules.

Jiang Yuan ascends the throne.

Su Ming takes the position.

Qin Zhixia rises from the wreckage.

All samples have completed the preliminary screening.

The world's surgery should now enter its final stage.

Chu Che lowered his hand.

The distant command center's doors had already opened, and Jiang Yuan and the others' silhouettes vanished beneath the red alarm lights.

He stood alone in the shadow of the shattered glass canopy, a corner of his Doctor's Lab Coat lifted by the wind.

Then, in a gentle voice only he could hear, he whispered softly:

"Then… the final round begins."