Chapter 577: Damage Sharing

Su Ming's words came through the Communicator.

Jiang Yuan gave no reply.

He looked up at the family of three.

The man held his wife and child, and all three wore the same smile.

The child had just been shouting "Dad."

Now, he raised his hand and brushed the blood on his father's face.

"Dad."

"Turns out not crying really is easy."

The card in Jiang Yuan's hand hovered in midair.

He has seen monsters kill people.

He has seen the Weird tear people apart.

But this scene before him was even harder to handle.

Lu Dou didn't drive them mad.

He made people become docile, become peaceful, stop struggling.

Then, using that peace, he devoured another person.

"Jiang Team."

Qin Zhixia's Communicator emitted a gasp.

She stood outside the safe house, her white hair already hanging to her shoulders, the joints of her mechanical prosthetic arm steaming.

Three monsters were sliced by her into fragments.

Those fragments were still writhing on the ground.

She had no time to look back.

"The safe house's door won't hold for long."

Jiang Yuan swept across the Square.

On the left, the crowd had already been split by shadows into a passage.

A female policeman led a dozen policemen, dragging the wounded toward the safe house.

On the right, the Smiler embraced relatives and pulled them into the Gray Mist.

Lu Dou stood in the middle.

The White Umbrella didn't get a single drop of blood on it.

He watched those embracing each other, his expression very calm.

"You always say freedom is precious."

"But most human suffering actually comes from freedom."

"Choosing the wrong job is painful."

"Loving the wrong person is painful."

"Being betrayed is painful."

"Just being alive can be painful."

Lu Dou raised his hand.

Gray Mist spread across the ground.

"I'm just giving them an answer that requires no choice."

"Shut up."

Jiang Yuan spoke.

Lu Dou looked at him.

Jiang Yuan no longer looked at the Infected.

If he kept looking, his strike would become slower.

And Lu Dou was waiting for this.

Su Ming propped himself on his knee and stood up.

The Time Marrow Worm's backlash could no longer be suppressed.

Fine cracks surfaced on the back of his hand, blood dripping from his fingertips to the ground.

"Jiang Yuan."

"At most I can still lock the transmission line for a while."

"Enough."

Jiang Yuan answered quickly.

Su Ming stared at him for two seconds.

"Are you going over there?"

"Mm."

"There are forty‑seven monsters around him."

"Quasi‑S five, A Ji eleven, the rest all above B Ji."

"I saw it."

"Then you're still going?"

Jiang Yuan raised his hand toward the Card Bag.

Inside, only three Black Cards remain.

One is used to block.

One is used to slash the Rules.

The last one is the finishing card.

He kept it until now, not because he was reluctant to part.

It's Lu Dou who has been hiding behind the crowd all along.

Jiang Yuan has no chance.

Now there is one.

"Lu Dou is the source."

"If he doesn't die, everyone will eventually become like him."

Su Ming didn't try to persuade any further.

He took a broken syringe from his pocket and jabbed it into his arm.

The Time Marrow Worm's power was forcibly squeezed out.

The patterns on the ground lit up again.

The white lines that were spreading slowed down.

Lu Dou looked up, gazing at Su Ming.

"Su Ming, I know you, the Reincarnated."

"You have experienced death."

"Why are you still willing to risk everything for these people?"

Su Ming wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Because someone fought for me before."

Lu Dou was silent for a moment.

"That's regrettable."

"You still haven't learned; humanity is not worth saving."

"You haven't learned either."

Su Ming stared at him.

"Living isn't for a life without pain."

"You turn everyone into the same mind; it does save effort."

"But that's not saving people."

"That's called laziness."

Liang Wen emerged from the monster crowd, his Windcoat torn in half, his hair a mess.

He landed and immediately kicked away a half‑woman that lunged at him.

"Sir White Umbrella."

"I, the king, have listened for a while; let me summarize for you."

"Your plan is to put all the Patients to sleep and then claim a 100% cure rate for the hospital."

Lu Dou gave Liang Wen a glance.

"The sleeping ones won't feel pain anymore."

"And the dead won't either."

Liang Wen brushed the ash off his face.

"Don't rush to become a philanthropist."

"Your business involves a lot of forced buying and selling."

Lu Dou ignored him.

He lifted the umbrella handle.

An elderly monster with a mouth full of teeth lunged at Liang Wen.

Liang Wen raised his hand.

Brandished a blade.

The monster's half body was cut off, but the other half emerged from the other side, still repeating that line.

"Are you tired?"

Liang Wen's cheekbone twitched.

"Tired."

"But I haven't reached the time to lie down yet."

He sidestepped the monster and tilted his chin toward Jiang Yuan.

"The Flying Cards."

"You go."

"These small fry, I, the king, will clear the field for you."

Jiang Yuan said nothing.

Shadow contracted from beneath his feet.

The black domain that had covered the Square receded quickly.

The gaps torn open by the monster also closed.

The unrestrained monster surged toward the crowd.

Jiang Yuan interlocked his five fingers.

Hundreds of Shadow Soldiers rose from the ground.

Yuyi Tufu dragged a long blade, standing at the front.

The White Bone Sword Ghost stepped out of the shadows, its Bone Knife sweeping, severing the legs of the three‑headed Monster Tale.

Jiang Yuan pressed all his remaining strength onto it.

He couldn't save everyone.

At least, he needed to make room beside Lu Dou.

"Qin Team."

Jiang Yuan spoke.

Qin Zhixia was cleaving a faceless monster with a single slash.

Her white hair was soaked with blood, and a crack opened in the shell of her mechanical prosthetic arm.

"Speak."

"Give me time."

"Have you decided?"

"I've decided."

Qin Zhixia glanced at Lu Dou.

Then glanced at Jiang Yuan.

She didn't ask about the success rate.

Even if she had asked, it wouldn't help.

"Liang Wen."

"Here."

"Clear the way."

Liang Wen twisted his mouth.

"Received."

He put on the high‑grade Weird device gloves, pressing both hands onto the ground.

Two dark rifts opened among the monster crowd.

The rifts couldn't swallow the monsters altered by the Happiness Rules.

They might hold them back.

Liang Wen's arm began to turn gray.

He raised his head and shouted.

"Everyone, move aside for me!"

"I won't work overtime today."

"Whoever blocks the way is the chief culprit of overtime!"

A faceless monster lunged forward.

Liang Wen lifted his leg and kicked it into the rift.

"Especially you."

"Looks like the company's HR, just irritating to look at."

The monster got stuck in the rift.

More monsters pressed in.

The edge of Liang Wen's rift began to crumble.

Qin Zhixia swept past from the side.

A blind white slash cut open a passage.

With each swing, the tip of her hair grew a few shades whiter.

"Jiang Yuan!"

"Go!"

Jiang Yuan moved.

The shadows retracted to the limit.

His body merged into the blackness of the ground.

The next second.

He had already crossed the monster crowd and appeared before Lu Dou.

Eight meters.

Lu Dou did not retreat.

He looked up at Jiang Yuan.

The White Umbrella tilted to one side, revealing that overly clean face.

"You finally came over."

Jiang Yuan gave no reply.

The Black Card in his hand flipped.

Lu Dou stared at the card.

"Kill me, and the pain will still exist."

"It also still exists outside the Square."

"In the hospital, in the water dungeon, in the welfare institute, in the poor district."

"Humans have never solved these problems."

"You are just used to enduring."

Jiang Yuan's steps did not stop.

Lu Dou continued speaking.

"Join us."

"You will have countless brothers and sisters."

"They will share sorrow, share fear, share life."

"No one will ever be alone again."

Jiang Yuan stopped in front of him.

The distance was less than half a meter.

Lu Dou made no defensive move.

There was no fear in those eyes.

He even raised his hand, wanting to touch Jiang Yuan's shoulder.

"Jiang Yuan."

"Those you protect will fear you, doubt you, and continue to hate this world even after being saved."

"But here, they will no longer betray each other."

Jiang Yuan looked at him.

"What you said is correct."

Lu Dou's hand stopped.

Jiang Yuan continued speaking.

"People will betray, will fear, will make mistakes."

"But they have the right to choose for themselves."

"You do not."

The Black Card swept past.

There was no extra motion.

Jiang Yuan's hand was steady.

The black card face grazed Lu Dou's throat.

Fresh blood spurted out.

The White Umbrella fell to the ground.

Lu Dou's body swayed slightly.

Jiang Yuan did not loosen his grip.

He stared at Lu Dou's neck.

This cut was very deep.

If it were any Curse Warden, their head would have fallen.

The Square also fell silent for half a second.

The policemen who were retreating stopped.

At the safe house door, Qin Zhixia held the Tail-Head Snake, and did not draw another blade.

Su Ming leaned against the wall, staring at Lu Dou.

Liang Wen was pressed half-body by a three-headed monster, yet still did not forget to raise his head.

"Hit?"

Jiang Yuan did not answer.

Because Lu Dou did not fall.

He stood there.

Blood flowed from his neck, staining his white clothes red.

But that wound was closing.

Skin and flesh joined together.

The blood stopped.

Lu Dou raised his hand, wiping across his neck.

His fingertip was stained with blood.

He glanced at it, then let out a soft sigh.

A miserable cry came from Jiang Yuan's back.

It was not just one spot.

It was more than ten spots.

He turned back.

In the crowd, thirteen Infected simultaneously covered their necks.

Their throats split open at the same time.

Fresh blood spurted out.

The closest to him was that family of three from just moments ago.

The man collapsed on the ground, still clutching his wife and child.

The child covered their neck, and the smile finally disappeared.

He opened his mouth but couldn't speak.

The young mother knelt beside, wanting to press the child's wound.

But her own blood first flowed over her hands.

"Medical Team!"

Qin Zhixia's shout came over.

The Medical Team rushed out.

But those thirteen people had already collapsed.

Jiang Yuan held the Black Card, his hand unmoving.

The wound on Lu Dou's neck had already disappeared.

Lu Dou bent over and picked up the White Umbrella.

"I am not alone."

"From the moment they accepted happiness, we began sharing each other."

"Pain, injury, death."

"All can be shared with every family member."

Su Ming's pupils constricted.

"...... Share the injury!"

"He has already formed a cluster with the infected."

L's projection flickered at the corner of Jiang Yuan's goggles.

"Data confirmed."

"Lu Dou's vital signs have recovered."

"Thirteen infected have lost vital signs."

"The injury sharing ratio is approximately 7.69%."

Liang Wen emerged from under the monster's claw.

He looked at the blood covering the ground, and the joke on his face vanished completely.

"How can we still fight?"

"Strike him with one blade, and a whole group will fall first."

Qin Zhixia stood in place.

Her blade tip drooped half an inch.

Wu Ming can still be used.

But she dared not move.

If she strikes with one blade, Lu Dou may not die.

But the infected in the square will be cut first.

Lu Dou raised the White Umbrella.

He looked at Jiang Yuan, his face still gentle.

"Your blade has killed thirteen innocent civilians."

"Jiang Team Captain."

"Do you still wish to carry out your justice?"