Squeak, squeak...
The squeaking of a wheelchair echoed across the battlefield, which had suddenly fallen dead silent.
Keeping her head lowered, the secretary pushed a wheelchair into the center of the battlefield, which had been left in utter ruins by the rampaging experts.
And sitting in that wheelchair... was none other than the City Lord of Dawn City!
“A job well done, Bai Feifei.”
At this moment, he still wore his signature warm, sunny smile. He clapped gently and gave Bai Feifei a thumbs-up.
Staring at Bai Feifei's current Spotless White state and sensing the divine aura radiating from her, his eyes were filled with nothing but admiration.
“So this is the Masked Hermit Society. Truly remarkable.”
Everyone was dumbfounded by his arrival. They stopped whatever they were doing and stared blankly at the suddenly appearing City Lord.
“City Lord? Why did you come here in person?” Ye Hanshan was also utterly bewildered as he looked at Liang Shuguang in confusion. “It's very dangerous here.”
Deep within her mind, Xu Mo let out a soft “oh.”
He muttered to himself in a strange tone, “What an unexpected yet not-so-unexpected figure indeed.”
“As expected, this really has to do with you...”
Bai Feifei was completely stunned.
Although the Old-Timer had previously hinted that something might be off about the City Lord, she had never expected that this matter would ultimately trace back to him.
She stared at him blankly as memories of their private conversation after the last Voting Assembly involuntarily flooded her mind.
During that conversation, the compassion and ideals he had displayed had earned her deep admiration. At one point, she had even believed that if anyone at the highest levels of Dawn City was corrupt, it had to be Liu Yun.
Moreover, for so many years, Liang Shuguang had been universally recognized as a diligent, tireless, and exceptionally good leader—the best City Lord Dawn City had ever seen...
She never imagined that the person appearing here at this moment would be Liang Shuguang.
Yet, Liang Shuguang paid no heed to Bai Feifei's shocked gaze. He spoke as naturally as an elder chatting about family matters:
“Is Zhulong dead?”
With just one sentence, he shattered the last shred of illusion in Bai Feifei's heart.
He knew about Zhulong's existence...
With her mind and body currently unstable and her Sanity steadily draining, Bai Feifei chose to deactivate her Spotless White state.
Her light wings vanished, and the armor enveloping her dissolved into white energy before disappearing entirely. Bai Feifei slowly descended to the ground, landing not far from Liang Shuguang.
“Yes,” Bai Feifei replied dryly.
Liang Shuguang asked casually once more, “Did you also retrieve the thing over there?”
The “thing” he referred to was likely the Mother of All Souls' blood vessel.
Feeling somewhat dazed, Bai Feifei nodded blankly once again.
Liang Shuguang smiled, his tone carrying a hint of genuine admiration:
“So that thing really was related to the Evil God...”
“Remarkable. As expected of the Masked Hermit Society!”
After saying this, he turned his gaze toward Xu Linyuan, who had tried to flee earlier but had suddenly frozen in place, and let out a soft sigh.
“Thirty years... you've worked hard,” Liang Shuguang said calmly. “However, it's a pity.”
Xu Linyuan trembled violently. Looking at Liang Shuguang, he stammered, showing the terrified expression of a mouse cornered by a cat for the very first time:
“No, no, it wasn't hard at all. You are the one who has worked hard.”
“C-City Lord, please don't...”
Liang Shuguang did not wait for him to finish. He simply raised his hand.
Xu Linyuan's bloodcurdling screams suddenly erupted.
His body began to swell and twist uncontrollably. Beneath his skin, it looked as if countless worms were writhing—a clear precursor to aberration.
Having just undergone the agonizing baptism of the Source of Bloodline, this sudden onset was the final straw. Xu Linyuan collapsed onto the ground, twitching like a dying stray dog, completely stripped of the dignity befitting the head of one of the five major families.
“Aaaaargh!”
Cracks began to spiderweb across his entire body, yet no blood seeped from them. His voice was a shrill, inhuman shriek:
“City Lord! You can't kill me! Please! I can still be of use! I'm Liu Yun's... cousin!”
By the time his final words left his mouth, his body had completely ruptured, scattering flesh and bone across the ground.
He had no power to resist, and for some unknown reason, he hadn't even attempted to use an Escape Art. He simply died just like that.
Next, Liang Shuguang shifted his gaze toward Li Tai and Huang Xin, letting out another sigh.
The two of them instantly shook with terror, desperately trying to open their mouths to speak.
But this time, Liang Shuguang did not even give them the chance to beg for mercy. Sitting calmly in his wheelchair, he watched as their bodies cracked open one by one, their agonizing screams cutting short as they died.
Everyone was utterly horrified!
Wan Qianhong stared at Liang Shuguang in sheer disbelief. She had imagined ten thousand possibilities, but never a scenario like the one unfolding before her eyes.
This man, whom she had always believed to be the finest City Lord Dawn City had ever known, had just casually executed the heads of three major families right in front of everyone!
How did he do it?!
Ye Hanshan and Zhou Qingfeng also stood frozen in place, completely unable to comprehend what was happening. A chilling dread washed over them.
Wasn't the City Lord supposed to be a cripple?
Even Xu Mo was stunned at this moment.
Having witnessed the destruction of Dawn City countless times in the game, he had never once seen Liang Shuguang display any form of combat power.
As it turned out, he was actually a terrifying wheelchair-bound powerhouse? Damn, why didn't anyone mention this earlier!
Had he finally triggered the ultimate hidden storyline?
This was practically an easter egg!
“...I knew you had something up your sleeve, but I didn't expect you to be this wild!”
He couldn't help but marvel deep within Bai Feifei's mind as he glanced at the game panel.
Yet, the man's level was still a greyed-out Level 69, indicating that he was a top-tier Edgerunner whose abilities had been ruined, rendering him unable to harness his power.
This was truly bizarre!
For the first time, he began to feel a genuine sense of anticipation toward this game's plot.
Bai Feifei also watched the scene in dumbfounded shock. Snapping back to reality, her gaze locked onto the man in the wheelchair.
“So, you were the mastermind behind everything all along?”
She thought of the mass grave beneath the coal mine, the potion experiments in the North District, and the countless lives lost because of them. Her heart sank inch by inch.
The best City Lord in the history of Dawn City...
Liang Shuguang turned to look at her and said earnestly:
“I am not your enemy either. Strictly speaking, I consider myself a fellow traveler of your organization. It's just that I am not as powerful as you all, and the path I have chosen is different.”
He paused, pushing his wheelchair forward a few inches. His gaze swept over everyone present before finally resting on Bai Feifei once more.
A look of solemn gravity appeared on his face as he raised his right hand, extending a single finger.
“If we are to speak of enemies, we all share only one common foe.”
He looked straight into Bai Feifei's eyes, pronouncing each word with absolute clarity:
“And that is the soon-to-be-awakened Evil Gods of the Old Days!”
Hearing these words, Bai Feifei was temporarily at a loss for how to react.
Xu Mo: ...
Hearing Liang Shuguang spew such grand, righteous nonsense right to their faces once again, Xu Mo was truly on the verge of losing his mind.
“Fuck! You really can't say a single honest word, can you? I've been sick of your face for a long time!”
Rate on N.U.
