Hearing this somewhat familiar voice, Wan Qianhong's back tensed instantly, and she spun around.
She was all too familiar with that voice, but hearing it again now felt like listening to a ghost story.
Her gaze swept back, and her heart trembled. Sure enough!
On the wheelchair, the supposedly dead Liang Shuguang had opened his eyes once more, with that blood sword still impaled in his chest.
Inside the horrific, torn-open wound, nothing could be seen. Only now did Wan Qianhong realize that his flesh and skin weren't curled outward at all.
Liang Shuguang nodded to Wan Qianhong, seemingly recognizing her identity even through her armor. A smile appeared on his pale face.
“Not bad, young lady.”
“Only when placed in an extreme environment can one see the choices in everyone's hearts.”
“Let us watch together.”
Wan Qianhong's mind went completely blank.
Before she could even begin to ponder what kind of feigned death technique this was, a sudden realization slammed into her mind.
—In theory, no one besides Liang Shuguang knew how to fully activate this city defense array!
The Edgerunners who activated the array must have been Liang Shuguang's lackeys all along.
No, there was something wrong here!
She flew up into the air, casting aside her doubts for the moment, and shouted down at the crowded citizens:
“Everyone, don't be fooled!”
“This array is for external defense! It has no practical value for internal threats. Activating it now is a trap!”
Her voice was laced with urgency. She even resorted to using her Word Soul, attempting to manipulate the blood of everyone in the city to force them to calm down.
But it was already too late.
She had underestimated the panic gripping the citizens. In moments like this, logical reasoning and rational analysis were completely useless.
Mass after mass of the Inner City populace closed their eyes and pressed their hands together.
In the face of this sudden crisis, they had no time to distinguish right from wrong.
Prayer was the only thing that could offer them a sense of security.
Some even fell directly to their knees, closing their eyes devoutly while muttering unintelligible words under their breath.
The kneeling figures spread outward from the center of the plaza like a field of wheat flattened by the wind.
In the blink of an eye, the array was fully formed.
A vibrant green barrier enveloped the entire city, trapping all of Dawn City beneath a massive, translucent dome.
“Oh?” Xu Mo looked up at the fully formed array and couldn't help but chuckle in admiration.
“What must come will always come, I suppose.”
In every previous playthrough, during the fall of Dawn City when they were besieged by a tide of aberrations, this final defensive barrier would rise.
This time, the major external threats had been dealt with, and there was no siege of aberrations. Yet, the barrier had still risen—all because of him.
How ironic.
Now, with the barrier active, the smugness on the faces of the attackers grew even more insolent.
This was perfect! No one could escape Dawn City now.
Their own strength would be amplified by the array, and anyone on the outside would be completely blind to what was happening within the city!
Kill these two women! Today, Dawn City would undergo a complete revolution!
The leading elders smirked and turned to look at Wan Qianhong. They were about to mock her, but the words caught in their throats.
Because at that exact moment, they all witnessed an unbelievable sight.
The figure sitting in the wheelchair, who was supposed to be dead, was now staring right at them with open eyes.
Everyone: !?
In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.
Standing beside Liang Shuguang, Liu Yun watched the man come back to life. Her eyes held neither shock nor joy.
Instead, the deep sorrow within her seemed to intensify.
“How are you feeling?” she asked softly, looking at Liang Shuguang.
“I am fine,” Liang Shuguang smiled.
He lifted his head, his gaze sweeping forward with a touch of nostalgia.
His gaze drifted over the pale-faced attackers, over the citizens kneeling in prayer, over the crimson figure in the air, and over the Scavengers besieging Wan Qianhong.
One of the elders trembled, speaking as if he had seen a ghost. “You... you're not dead?”
Hovering in mid-air, the purple light on Wan Qianhong's armor surged restlessly. She stared at Liang Shuguang, sharing that exact same ghost-seeing feeling.
“How are you still alive?”
“What exactly are you right now?!”
She from beginning to end could detect neither heartbeat nor blood flow from Liang Shuguang. His state felt incredibly eerie to her.
Hearing her interrogation, Liang Shuguang laughed.
“Why am I still alive? Heh... that is indeed a philosophical question for me.”
He looked down, touching the blood sword impaled through his chest, and reached into his own body to feel around gently.
The scene was exceptionally bizarre and horrifying.
“I have long since lost track of whether I am dead or alive.”
He withdrew his hand from the chest wound, placed it back on his lap, and let out a long sigh.
“I am nothing more than a rotting husk and a fragmented consciousness.”
Then, his eyes narrowed slightly. He stopped looking at Wan Qianhong beside him and turned his attention to "Bai Feifei" in front of him.
“Have I... passed your test now?”
Xu Mo raised an eyebrow. Hearing that Liang Shuguang was still in the mood for such banter, he almost lost his composure.
Studying the resurrected Liang Shuguang, he offered a rather stingy critique:
“Mediocre. Barely passable.”
“But there is one thing I am quite curious about. You are currently a cripple, so how are you using those special methods of yours?”
“If I'm not mistaken, these dogs of yours becoming Edgerunners so easily is all thanks to you. And if you wished, you could reclaim their power at any moment, couldn't you?”
Instead of answering directly, Liang Shuguang kept him in suspense.
“You want to know? Hehe, there will be an opportunity.”
“However, courtesy demands reciprocity. You must also pass a test of mine.”
As he spoke, the City Lord's eyes—which had been gentle for decades—slowly turned, sweeping over the Edgerunners who had just been surrounding Bai Feifei.
His smile faded, replaced by an exceptionally sharp expression.
“Does my being alive disappoint you so much?”
No one dared to utter a word.
Liang Shuguang's voice suddenly rose, carrying the weight of an absolute command that left no room for refusal:
“What are you all standing there looking at? Don't you know how to entertain a guest?!’
The pupils of those Edgerunners contracted sharply.
In the next instant, they lunged simultaneously as if possessed, carrying freezing intent to kill as they pounced on “Bai Feifei” from all directions!
Even with fear in their hearts, they did not dare hesitate for a single second.
Holding his sword with one hand, Xu Mo's eyes instantly filled with a thick, swirling blackness, like a rift tearing open into the abyss.
“Your test... what is this, a turn-based game?”
“Sending dogs to bite me is useless. I suggest you come at me yourself!”
Rate on N.U.
