Chapter 552: Hostage

The door opened.

Zhou Ping stood at the doorway, rainwater dripping from his hair tips.

The ward's main light was off; the bedside lamp made the walls look yellow.

Zhou Ning curled up in the bed's corner, gripping the blanket, shoulders trembling.

A man sat beside the bed.

Gray Rock Mask.

Black suit.

Dark red shirt.

At the tip of the cane, the eyeball slowly turned toward the doorway.

Zhou Ping's foot stopped outside the threshold.

Half a second.

He saw the mask clearly.

Global broadcast.

Gospel Church leader.

Sai Men.

That madman, who had been besieged and killed by Jiang Yuan, Lin Fan, Su Ming, Liang Wen and others in a global livestream, had turned to ash.

Zhou Ping stared at him, squeezing out two words from his throat.

"Sai Men."

Zhou Ning heard their brother's voice, eye sockets instantly reddened.

"Brother......"

Zhou Ping didn't look at her.

It wasn't that he didn't want to look.

He simply couldn't.

He feared that a single glance at Zhou Ning would make him lose control, to the point that even the Rules couldn't restrain him.

Sai Men sat on the chair, his cane laid across his knees, his posture very particular.

"Wow."

He raised his hand and lightly clapped twice toward Zhou Ping.

"Sibling reunion, venue not bad, just a bit lacking in audience."

Zhou Ping stepped forward.

The ward door closed behind him.

Click.

The latch engaged.

Zhou Ping didn't touch the door.

Dark red lines crawled up from the back of his hand, and the phantom of the Seven-Eyed Crown rose above his head.

The first eye opened.

The second.

The third.

All seven red eyes opened.

Zhou Ning's blanket corner was pressed down by the dark red Rules, the cup on the bedside table shattered, and water flowed down the surface.

The wall plaster behind Sai Men began to peel.

The lights in the corridor outside the door went out one after another.

The duty nurse at the nurse station looked up at the monitor.

The picture was still normal.

Zhou Ning lay on the bed.

Zhou Ping stood at the doorway.

There was no third person.

The next second, the screen flickered.

Inside the ward.

Zhou Ping raised his hand, pressing his five fingers toward Sai Men.

"Stay away from her."

Dark red Rules spread across the floor.

Walls, ceiling, bed, and IV stand were all sealed by the dark red patterns.

The ward was cut off into an independent space.

Sai Men's chair slid back half an inch.

He lowered his head to look at his toe, his tone very satisfied.

"Beautiful."

"This is the Seven-Eyed Crown."

"Deprivation, domination, judgment, pollution."

Zhou Ping clenched his fist.

The chair beneath Sai Men was crushed to powder by the Rules.

But Sai Men didn't fall down.

He still kept his sitting pose, toes half an inch off the ground, as if seated on an invisible chair.

Zhou Ping furrowed his brow.

Not right.

The crown didn't bite in.

Before, when meeting a Weird User, even if they were S Ji, they would kneel before the Seven-Eyed Rules.

For those a bit weaker, the Fierce Ghost's origin would be forcibly dragged out.

Abilities would change surnames.

But Sai Men is different.

When the crown touched him, the feedback wasn't a Fierce Ghost, wasn't a Weird User, and wasn't ordinary Weird.

That was a more troublesome thing.

Sai Men raised his cane, the eyeball at its tip looking toward Zhou Ping.

"Don't frown."

"Your expression right now is exactly like just getting a max-level account, then jumping into a high-tier match and discovering everyone here is roughly the same level."

Zhou Ping didn't reply.

He wasn't here to chat.

Dark red blood sea surged up from the ground, turning into chains that directly wrapped around Sai Men's limbs and neck.

Sai Men lifted his cane and tapped the ground.

Thud.

Gray laws spread from under his feet.

The two rules collided in midair.

The wall monitor instantly went black.

The IV stand bent.

Dense cracks appeared on the glass window, yet it didn't shatter.

Zhou Ning covered her mouth, her body shrinking toward the head of the bed.

She doesn't understand the rules.

She only saw her brother's crown above his head growing clearer.

She also saw the masked man standing in the gray mist, with no sign of retreat.

Will big brother win?

She very much wanted to believe.

But Sai Men is too weird.

The news said he was dead.

But a dead person wouldn't sit beside her bed telling stories, nor would it make her brother show this expression.

Zhou Ning didn't dare to shout.

She was afraid that if she spoke, it would distract Zhou Ping.

Zhou Ping pressed his hand downward.

"Kneel."

The Seven-Eyed Crown rotated simultaneously.

The hospital ward space emitted a grating sound that made teeth ache.

Sai Men's shoulders sank downward.

The cuff of his black suit tore open, revealing a pale wrist.

The gray laws were cut a notch by the dark red chains.

Zhou Ping stepped forward.

One step.

Two steps.

With each step, the pressure on Sai Men increased by one.

Sai Men tilted his head.

The scarlet eyes behind the mask glowed strangely.

"Very good."

"Better than what 'that one' had estimated."

Zhou Ping's eyes turned cold: "That one?"

"You've got the wrong person."

Sai Men let out a laughing breath.

"A runaway kitten, even if the owner has forgotten it, will eventually be taken back home by the owner."

Zhou Ping clenched his fingers.

The dark red rules compressed into a ring, looping around Sai Men's neck.

"Then let you see how a cat tears up the house."

The dark red ring tightened.

Sai Men's neck was indented from being strangled.

Faint sounds of bone under pressure came from beneath the gray rock mask.

Zhou Ning clutched the blanket, tears swirling in her eye sockets but she didn't blink.

She could tell.

The older brother had the upper hand.

But Sai Men wasn't afraid.

He was even happy.

This was truly terrifying.

Sai Men raised his hand and grabbed the dark red ring.

His finger was shaved of a layer of flesh by the rules.

No blood.

Only gray mist rose from the wound.

"Zhou Ping."

He spoke that name, as if tasting a cup of wine.

"You know, what is your greatest weakness?"

Zhou Ping's action paused for half a beat.

Just that half beat.

Gray law drilled out from Sai Men's palm, climbing up the dark red ring in reverse.

The seven-eyed crown blinked simultaneously.

The crown mark on Zhou Ping's forehead heated up.

He muttered a curse.

"Don't give me a psychology lesson."

Sai Men stood up.

The dark red chains still wrapped around him, but gray law squeezed out from the gaps in the chains.

His suit was crushed and torn, his shirt also ripped in several places.

Yet he straightened his back, his posture still elegant enough to annoy.

"Psychology lesson?"

"Hehehe... I charge dearly for tuition."

Zhou Ping held back no longer.

The crown phantom sank down and pressed against the forehead.

Seven red eyes locked onto Sai Men.

The deprivation rules were fully unleashed.

All weird fluctuations in the ward were pulled toward Zhou Ping's palm.

The gray mist on Sai Men's body was torn open, leaving a blank.

Save Zhou Ning first!

Everything else can wait.

Zhou Ping gave his arm a sharp tug.

"Come out!"

The deprivation rules drilled into Sai Men's body.

This time, he finally caught something.

Not the Fierce Ghost's core.

Not the origin.

It was a segment of gray line.

The line's end was not in the ward.

Not in this hospital.

Not even in the logic of the world before our eyes.

Zhou Ping's facial muscles tensed.

He pulled hard.

The gray line was pulled out half an inch.

Sai Men's body began to shed ash, cracks appearing at the edge of the mask.

Yet Sai Men laughed even more wantonly.

"Ah, yes, that's it."

"Pain, anger, protectiveness, and a little rationality tainted by truth."

Zhou Ping forced the words out between his teeth.

"Shut up."

"You're not the first to make me shut up."

Sai Men lifted his head, his scarlet eyes piercing the gray mist to stare at him.

"But they all failed."

Zhou Ping pressed his other hand toward the ground.

"Then I'll be the first to do it!"

Dark red rules condensed into seven shackles, locking Sai Men from seven directions.

Each shackle had a red eye open.

Sai Men's gray rules were pressed back into his body.

He finally stepped back.

Zhou Ning's eyes brightened.

"Brother..."

Zhou Ping didn't turn back.

"Don't move."

The two words were hard.

But Zhou Ning could tell.

He was afraid.

Afraid she would be affected.

Afraid this madman still had a trick up his sleeve.

Afraid she would see his current state.

Zhou Ning sniffed, pulling the blanket tighter.

She suddenly didn't want to cry.

Her brother isn't a monster.

Monsters wouldn't fear their sister seeing them look ugly.

Sai Men lowered his head to look at the seven shackles on his body, evaluating seriously.

"Good design."

"If the target is an ordinary S Ji Spirit‑Binder, this suppression is already enough."

"Unfortunately, S Ji Spirit‑Binders are, to me who has undergone rebirth, merely......"

Zhou Ping's pupils contracted.

Sai Men's body dispersed within the shackles.

Not disappearing.

Turning into Gray Mist.

The shackles tightened, but only locked an empty shell.

Zhou Ping looked up.

By the sickbed.

The Gray Mist re‑condensed into a humanoid shape.

Sai Men stood beside Zhou Ning.

Zhou Ning, frightened, retreated backward, her back against the wall.

Sai Men didn't grab her.

He merely bent over, as if examining an exhibit.

"Miss Zhou Ning, look, your brother is strong."

"But the strong have a common flaw."

"They always think that as long as their fists are hard enough, they can protect those they want to protect."

Zhou Ping turned around.

Dark red rules swept across.

But Sai Men was faster than him.

The eyeball at the tip of the staff turned toward Zhou Ning.

Zhou Ning's body stopped uncontrollably.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak.

Sai Men reached out his hand.

Pale fingers fell before her neck.

No force applied.

But Zhou Ping stopped.

All the dark red rules halted in midair.

Less than three cun from Sai Men's back.

Zhou Ping's breathing grew heavy.

"If you touch her a bit."

"I'll chop you into pieces."

Sai Men let out a low laugh.

"Quite imposing."

"Unfortunately, just having presence..."

Outside the door.

The Nurse Station's monitor screen flickered a few times.

The on‑duty nurse spat out the coffee she had just sipped.

On the screen.

An extra person appeared beside the hospital bed.

Gray Rock Mask.

Black suit.

Walking stick.

He stood beside Zhou Ning, his hand covering the girl's fragile throat.

In the ward.

Sai Men turned his head, glancing at the camera in the corner.

Because he needed to divert strength to resist Zhou Ping's crown, he no longer erased his own presence.

The camera's red light was on.

He was very satisfied.

"Ah."

"Finally, there's an audience."

Zhou Ping did not move.

The Seven-Eyed Crown pressed low above his head, dark‑red rules spreading across the entire ward, yet not advancing another half‑inch.

Zhou Ning looked at Zhou Ping.

She wanted her brother to leave.

She wanted her brother not to worry about her.

But with Sai Men pressing down on her throat, she couldn't utter a word.

Zhou Ping understood her meaning.

He didn't listen.

From childhood on, whenever Zhou Ning said not to buy medicine, he bought it.

Whenever Zhou Ning said not to take leave to accompany her, he did.

Whenever Zhou Ning said not to bow his head for her sake, he had done so.

This time, he won't leave either.

Sai Men's fingers tightened a fraction.

A faint red mark remained on Zhou Ning's neck.

Sai Men looked at him through the gray mist, the line of his lips curving upward beneath the mask.

"Shh, owner of the crown, don't get agitated."

"The game has only just begun."