Xu Mo was deeply displeased with Liang Shuguang, cursing him out with a series of very “cordial” and “friendly” greetings in his mind.
If he hadn't sensed that the man's appearance heralded the final unfolding of the storyline, he would have had Bai Feifei throw a couple of punches right now, targeting his wheelchair first.
Bai Feifei's hands trembled slightly. Staring at Liang Shuguang's warm, gentle face, she gritted her teeth and asked, “You... knew about all of this? Did you order them to do it?”
Liang Shuguang did not hesitate, nodding calmly.
“Yes,” he admitted with complete candor. “It was all on my instructions. They were merely the executors.”
Bai Feifei's pupils contracted sharply.
Liang Shuguang suddenly smiled, a hint of playfulness creeping into his tone.
“Actually, I already mentioned it during the last Voting Assembly.”
“Haha... My apologies, though. I deliberately kept it vague back then so you wouldn't think too deeply about it.”
“I wasn't being entirely honest with you, so please accept my apologies.”
Inside Bai Feifei's mind, Xu Mo was stunned for a moment before the realization hit him.
Back then, the man's offhand remark about being the one pushing the development of the potion behind the scenes had instantly boosted the storyline completion by ten percent!
Looking back, he had basically handed them the answer key right then and there.
Damn, it really was him. He just gave us the final answer without showing any of his work!
Bai Feifei didn't think that far ahead. Still reeling from the shock, she stared fixedly at Liang Shuguang.
“Why? Why would you do this?”
“Did you not know there was something wrong with that potion? Did you not know those people were corrupt, and that cooperating with them would have dire consequences?”
Bai Feifei's chest heaved violently. With her Sanity already running low, her emotions were highly unstable.
She found it incredibly hard to accept that the mastermind behind the ultimate destruction of Dawn City was none other than its most beloved leader.
Those corrupt, parasitic families weren't even the core of the issue!
“What are you trying to achieve? Is it... to cure yourself?”
As she spoke, her gaze involuntarily drifted down to Liang Shuguang's useless legs.
She recalled Xu Mo mentioning that the City Lord had once been a peak Edgerunner before his abilities were ruined.
Liang Shuguang followed her gaze and looked down at his own completely numb legs.
He chuckled, patted his thighs, and fell silent for a few seconds before shaking his head in disappointment.
“You underestimate me,” he said.
He looked up. For the first time, the warmth in his eyes was completely gone, replaced by a profound, bone-deep exhaustion and sorrow.
It was the first time anyone had truly realized that he was, in fact, an old man past sixty.
“The pain of the disaster thirty years ago has not faded even to this day.”
Liang Shuguang's voice was quiet as his hands tightly gripped his paralyzed legs.
“Every single day, I feel that unforgettable, searing pain. It serves as a constant reminder of what humanity is truly up against.”
“The finest among us died right before my eyes, one after another. Geniuses are utterly insignificant in the face of natural disasters. At that moment, the entire generation of Dawn City's elite was virtually wiped out!”
“The awakening of the Evil Gods of the Old Days and the destruction of this world are inevitable.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
“Ever since that day, I have been thinking... In essence, all of humanity is simply waiting to die.”
“I had to find a way out for humanity.”
The scale of his words was simply too grand.
For a moment, both Wan Qianhong and Bai Feifei looked utterly bewildered.
What on earth are you talking about?
Aren't you supposed to be the villain here?
Why are you speaking as if you're some kind of savior?
“A way out for humanity?”
Standing at the back, Xie Xuan suddenly stepped forward, his voice laced with undisguised disdain.
Adjusting his glasses, he stared at Liang Shuguang in his wheelchair.
“Just by your hands?”
“So you're the one who decided to collaborate with those Turing traitors?”
“Researching potions to make people stronger and take shortcuts to power—is that your grand plan to save humanity?”
“Do you honestly think the Evil Gods of the Old Days care about any of that?”
Liang Shuguang didn't take offense.
Even when mocked to his face, he merely smiled and gave Xie Xuan a polite nod.
“Ah, someone from Turing City? It has been a long time.”
“Since things have come to this, there is no point in hiding anything anymore. Since everyone is here, let's have a chat.”
Leaning back in his wheelchair, Liang Shuguang addressed the crowd with complete composure, as if delivering a public speech.
“Potions that temporarily boost strength are ultimately useless. They only address immediate, short-term needs.”
“My true goal was to develop a potion that would allow humans to retain their sanity even after undergoing aberration.”
“Theoretically, I believed it was possible.”
“After all, Zhulong and his cohort have already proven that the actions of aberrations can be controlled to some extent, meaning they aren't entirely mindless beasts.”
“If we can turn all of humanity into aberrations when the apocalypse arrives while still preserving our consciousness... wouldn't that count as a form of survival?”
A stunned silence fell over the entire battlefield.
Though Liang Shuguang's voice was quiet, his words possessed a bizarre gravity that shook everyone to their very souls.
Even the cynical Xie Xuan froze, his mind seemingly racing as he began to simulate the scientific feasibility of such a concept.
Liang Shuguang looked up, his eyes suddenly shining with a youthful, bright clarity—a look only possessed by those driven by absolute conviction and hope for the future.
It was hard to believe that a man whose hands were drenched in blood could harbor such a pure gaze.
He looked at Bai Feifei, his voice earnest and laced with a touch of excitement.
“Forgive me, for a man of humble means has humble ambitions.”
“I lack the sheer courage of your Masked Hermit Society. When I first heard of your organization's ideals, I was truly astonished.”
“To think there was an organization in this world willing to confront the bleak end of reality with such sharp, unyielding resolve. I knew then that I was not alone on this path!”
He looked down at his useless legs, a trace of melancholy passing over his face.
“But this was the only way a minor figure like me could think of to ensure the survival of our species.”
Complete silence enveloped the area.
Stunned by the City Lord's grand ambition, the crowd stood in a daze, unable to fully process it. Ye Hanshan was the first to break the silence, muttering to himself:
“You call that survival? That's just fucking extinction...”
“The very concept of 'human' would cease to exist.”
Liang Shuguang did not take offense. He simply looked at Ye Hanshan calmly and said:
“Drastic changes in the environment inevitably lead to the extinction of species. Humans are merely one species among many. Sometimes, we simply let our own hubris make us believe we are special.”
“If we view the awakening of the Evil Gods of the Old Days as an unavoidable natural disaster, then what follows is simply natural selection. Survival of the fittest.”
He pushed his wheelchair, rolling forward a few feet.
“When apes evolved into humans, did those humans ever feel that they had betrayed their identity as apes?”
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