Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 271 The Realm of the Dead Tide: The Killing of the Fox Queen
Some stars are not meant to illuminate the future.

Rather, it was so that during the fall,

Let burning tell you—

There was someone who refused to remain silent.

boom--!
Von Blanc's realm of war, like an iron curtain constructed of cold logic, still roars and howls across the battlefield.

The entire battlefield now resembled a fully armed chessboard, with star-marked lines spreading out from the ground to form a precise array;
The high-frequency oscillations of the signals tore through the air, creating layers of sound barriers at various war zone nodes.

Argos the Jaeger stood atop the scorched earth, slowly raising his main cannon amidst the roar of steam.

Its massive, tower-like arms seemed to bear the wrath of the entire arsenal, and black and red light gathered at the muzzle. The next round—a full-map attack—was already imminent.

"Mysterious Master No. 0423, Lin Wanqing, already recorded."

"Number 0752, Vera, target locked."

"Number 0007 - Si Ming".

"Highest priority".

"Prepare for firepower overload."

"Main gun - Polar orbit cluster - Loading".

Von Blanc's voice emanated from the logic center of the war zone, no longer like a soldier's roar, but like a cold, ruthless decree.

Emotions have long been stripped away by steel and algorithms; his eyes no longer "see people," but only "search for variables."

This battlefield is not for fighting.

Rather, it exists to verify whether the war was justified.

"You—have no reason to exist."

The muzzle light condenses, and the polar energy flow gathers to a critical point.

The next second will bring the annihilation of iron and fire.

But at that very moment—

The copper bell rang.

the first time.

the second time.

the third time.

A crisp yet eerie sound pierced the silence of the battlefield, like a drop of ink splashed into a lake of mechanical logic, creating chaotic ripples.

"...This place is the ferry crossing to the underworld."

Zhuang Yege raised his eyes, his figure still and motionless. His voice was deep, yet it carried an irresistible pressure that penetrated every "logic node" in the entire war zone.

The ground beneath his feet slowly began to sink.

No, it is—manifestation.

A stone bridge spanning reality and illusion, connecting life and death, emerged in the center of the battlefield.

Beneath the bridge, the Netherworld Water flows slowly, shrouded in mist; the bridge railings are mottled and ancient runes shimmer.
One by one, the lamps of the dead were silently lit, illuminating the Gate of Judgment—a gate that had never appeared in the human world before.

[Domain Expansion: Crossing to the Underworld - Realm of the Dead Tide]

The battlefield has suddenly changed!

The temperature plummeted to minus twenty degrees Celsius in an instant, and the battlefield, which was originally as hot as a steel furnace, was swallowed up by an invisible ice fog.

The electronic systems began to malfunction; psionic guidance, targeting procedures, communication links... all became scrambled!
The enemy soldiers began to shiver, not from the cold—

But fear.

At the edge of the Bridge to the Underworld, amidst the wreckage.

The broken mechanical limbs moved slightly.

They are not rebooting.

It's not being repaired.

They are being awakened by the will to die.

[Rule Activated: Spirit Binding and Soul Driving]

The first body, the remains of a tactical hunting dog—soul drive complete.

The second one, the shattered armored doll—surging with spiritual light.

The third body, a fallen enemy Mystic—its remaining sanity struggled and screamed in the mist.

Zhuang Yege flicked his long robe, and three "Soul Drive Units" appeared like a ghostly army, their aura chilling and their killing intent silent.

"You have walked on the battlefield."

"But they didn't know that they were already dead."

"I will tell you all—when your lives are over, go to the Yellow Springs."

A low hum echoed from the mist.

The black dog "Swallowing the Night" makes a chilling entrance, its shadow lurking behind the mist, and leaps to lock onto the Argos identification core!
Zhuang Ye's hand seals fluctuated, and his spiritual energy surged!
[Skill Release: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons - Soul Summoning]

boom!
The netherworld mist churned, and the tide of souls roared!
That wasn't the wind; it was the roar of the underworld.

One hundred and eight soul shadows raced wildly along the bridge.

They have different postures and strange expressions, some crying, some laughing, some angry, and some resentful.

It is those souls, whose lives were "unseen and whose deaths were filled with unease," who answer the call.

They rushed in, seeking retribution for their unresolved fate.

Where the spiritual tide passed:
[War command system interrupted for 5 seconds]

[Frostbite status triggered: Enemy movement slowed]

[Location module briefly lost]

Algos's main control cabin alarms flashed incessantly, and the system screen flickered erratically. Von Blanc abruptly turned his head, his eyes narrowing, managing to utter only one word:

"--Varied--"

Then--

A spiritual tide surges through!

At that moment, Von Blanc's tactical logic center trembled for the first time, and his visual system experienced strong noise and blurring.

He "saw" something that shouldn't exist.

What emerges from the fog is not just the souls of the dead.

There is also the scepter of law enforcement in the hands of those who have reached the end of their lives.

Zhuang Yege chanted a spell in a low voice:
"Life is over, but the soul should return."

"Those who follow the rules enter the gates of the underworld; those who defy them return to stardust."

【Rules: Guiding through the Gates of the Underworld - Ferrying the Dead】

The whole audience fell silent.

Si Ming narrowed his eyes, watching the Bridge to the Underworld, with Zhuang Yege as its guide, stretch across the center of the entire war zone.

That is no longer a mysterious technique.

That is the embodiment of the rules themselves.

In this region, reality has been taken over by the "logic of death."

He gasped, "...This guy."

"Even the battlefield can be transformed into the underworld..."

"This is not a model of a 'rule implementer'..."

Lynn licked her lips, her voice low and soft, yet filled with reverence:

"No, it's Death itself."

von Blanc snapped out of his daze and roared as he mobilized his remaining strength to try and activate the emergency defense system!
However, in the system's identification process, he has been marked as a "person nearing the end of their life."

Even if the defense is activated, the rule judgment will forcibly negate 20% of the effect.

Zhuang Yege walked slowly forward, and with each step she took, the Bridge of the Underworld extended forward by an inch.

The fog engulfed the steel, and the souls cried out incessantly.

He looked at von Blank, his tone calm, like a god delivering his final judgment on mortals:

"This place is no longer your battlefield."

"This is—my Yellow Springs."

The misty fog rolled, and the Bridge to the Underworld—already spanned the entire battlefield.

Von Blanc's war orders were interrupted for the second time. Zhuang Yege's death tide domain was like a death iron curtain covering the logic of reality, freezing souls and steel structures together.

Taking advantage of this brief period of control over the battlefield, Si Ming and his companions have gradually approached the outer perimeter of the Hunter Argos.

Serian in Wild Hunt form swept across the battlefield like a scarlet cheetah; wherever her claws reached, swathes of steel soldier ants collapsed.

Nobuna's katana slashed like the moon in the mist, while the giant body of the former demon blocked wave after wave of firepower projected from the core of Argos.

But all of this was still not enough to end von Blanc.

He is the designer of the Zero-Type Secret Corpse Army, a remnant of the will born for war in the old battlefield, and the embodiment of the high-temperature steel furnace and the logic of war.

When the tide of death pressed in, and the rules of death attempted to end his domain—he played his final trump card.

[Domain Growth - Launch]

[War Extension Protocol - Activated]

Von Blanc's spine suddenly split open, and mechanical nerve threads violently sprang out from the base of his spine, plunging into the earth like snakes with a violent metallic twisting sound!
boom! ! !
The entire battlefield was once again enveloped by scorching shockwaves, as if the heavens and earth had been instantly recast into a high-temperature furnace.

The netherworld mist in the Death Tide domain was forcibly peeled away, the mist barrier receded slightly, a break appeared in the Path of a Hundred Ghosts, the soul tide stopped advancing, and cracks appeared at the entrance to the Yellow Springs Bridge.

Von Blanc's voice returned once more, as cold and clear as the tolling of a bell:
"Do they think that by obscuring reality with death, they can crush the will to fight?"

"wrong."

"I am war."

"It is you who should be eliminated."

boom--!
He suddenly detonated the high-frequency disturbance nodes deployed deep underground, and a shock wave intertwined with light and heat tore through the air like an overclocked megaphone, ripping apart the logic of the spiritual tide.

Zhuang Yege's expression changed, and he lifted his sleeves, forced to retreat for the first time.

Von Blanc forcibly used the "core of war" as an anchor point to launch a domain replacement intervention.

Tear a gap in the edge of the Death Tide domain, severing its control over the battlefield by the rules of death.

Although he has arrived in the underworld, the extradition process has not yet been completed.

“Almost there…” Lin Wanqing said softly, gazing at the torn boundaries of the battlefield.

“We must destroy the core of his domain,” Vera replied calmly. “Otherwise, all intervention will be temporary.”

“But the problem is…” she paused, “who can get through multiple layers of security and get close to him?”

She didn't finish her sentence.

A figure slowly rose from behind the wreckage.

That was someone I knew well, but hadn't dealt with in a long time.

Xiao Lianyin.

She walked slowly, her steps unhurried, dust swirling from her skirt, her long hair brushing against her face, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Si Ming's eyes flickered slightly, his voice low and deep:
"You're finally going to... use it?"

Xiao Lianyin nodded, "That's about it."

She slowly took out a slender red lacquered medicine tube from her clothes, a faint fragrance wafting in the air—Mirror Village · Xiao Family Secret Medicine.

It was a kind of igniter in the Mirror Realm, fueled by passion and fueled by reason.

Drinking it is tantamount to actively extinguishing the star of reason, using emotion as an anchor to guide consciousness into the deepest, most mysterious realm.

She didn't hesitate.

He drank it all in one gulp.

In an instant.

Two stars of reason—extinguished.

It wasn't shattering, nor freezing, but rather actively extinguishing it, as if one were personally blowing out two soul lamps.

Xiao Lianyin shuddered, her rational circuits faltering, and fine, alluring patterns appeared in her eyes.
A familiar yet eerie whisper echoed in my ears, a seductive whisper from the mirror.

Emotional imbalance, memory reversal, and overlapping hallucinations.

She felt as if she had fallen into a mirror-like lake deep within her heart, the surface of which reflected the night she turned eighteen.

She was forced to apply the family's secret lipstick in front of the mirror, her smile subtle and silent, yet destined to be known only as the "Queen of the Red Night" for the rest of her life.

Has she always been like this?

No.

What she chose was never temptation or deception.

Instead, it's about sacrificing self-awareness to awaken your true self.

She raised her right hand and reapplied that familiar deep red lipstick to her lips.

"I dare not speak of the oath I swore in the name of lust."

Reason, rekindle!
Two extinguished stars transformed into fox-flame starlight in the abyss!
The light and flames were like silk threads, like nine thin, blood-red lines extending from the void, intertwining behind her and converging into the shape of nine tails!

[Mysterious Unveiling: The Enchanting Path of Delusion - The Fox Queen's Long Song]

[Status Switch: Fox Queen's True Form - Activated]

In an instant, her figure sublimated, transforming into a phantom queen, surrounded by fox flames, her eyes turning a deep purple, her figure moving between humans and demons.

Enemy units are now under the [Charm] status!
[Abnormal state: Target confusion/Emotional interference/Command recognition disorder]

The steel soldier ants began to collide with each other, the skeletal golems swayed in place, and some of Von Blanc's cannons even turned towards their own side!

“The Fox Queen…” Siming whispered, his expression suddenly shifting, “She really summoned that state.”

Within the realm, the nine-tailed phantom treads on fire, its elegance unparalleled.

War and phantoms collide fiercely in the center of the battlefield.

And this moment——

Von Blanc's neural map began to tremble.

His logic—for the first time, was disrupted by "emotion".

He saw her.

A being that is neither god nor demon, yet controls the rhythm of destruction itself, between destruction and beauty.

For the first time, he felt uncertain.

Von Blanc sensed the sudden surge in spiritual pressure and was about to turn the turret around when, before the logic chain could be reconstructed, he caught a glimpse of a red shadow in his peripheral vision.

That red was neither flame nor blood, but something that seemed like a dream or a curse.

It sliced ​​through the remaining fog and fire lines on the battlefield, like a wisp of fire, drifting lightly between iron blood and dust.

The fox flames burst forth, its tail trailing an elegant arc like a crescent moon.

Xiao Lianyin was already three feet in front of von Blanc.

She seemed to be the protagonist walking out from the center of the stage, her expression relaxed, her steps leisurely, her nine tails swaying gently, and the flames of war behind her seemed to be extinguished for her.

She parted her lips slightly, her voice soft as a whisper, yet each word was like a blade:

"You shouldn't exist."

Von Blanc roared, the cannon barrel spun, steam condensed, and he prepared for the final barrage of fire.

But—he was a step too slow.

She had kissed him.

It wasn't a gentle kiss.

But a curse.

[Mysterious: Soul-Breaking Kiss] - Hit

[Target: Von Blanc]

[Judgment Failed: Target's Willpower Strength < Charm Strength]

[Status Change: Master Controller Locked]

[Determining...]

[Current Target Status: Foe/Friendly Discrimination is Ambiguous]

[System logic is crashing...]

[Core Link in the Warfare Domain: Under Interference]

That kiss, like the final vow in a dreamlike tale, gently landed on von Blank's mask, a mask crafted from gears and the flames of war.

Yet it was as if they had swallowed a fateful epitaph from the abyss of the gods.

He was stunned.

No more roaring, no more howling; the steel nervous system has fallen into a logical deadlock, all identification parameters have become chaotic, and the judgment of friend or foe on the battlefield has repeatedly gone wrong.

In the distance, Zhuang Yege looked up and saw the Gates of Hell wide open.

The Yellow Springs Bridge spans the battlefield. He holds the command to guide souls, standing on the border between the other shore and reality. The copper bell tolls, and before the sound of the bell ceases, the hundred ghosts have not returned.

He sighed softly:
"Finally—I can send you on your way."

On the bridge, the lamps of the underworld shone brightly, and the array of talismans and the tails of fox flames complemented each other.

Behind Zhuang Yege stood the immovable Yellow Springs Soul-Guiding Array, while in front of him stood Feng Blank, the "Soul of War" who refused to fade away.

At this moment, the underworld and the mirror world, death and karmic entanglements, resonate for the first time on the same battlefield in the same instant.

[System Warning: Control System Conflict]

[Fall in friend or foe identification failed]

[Neural Network: Pseudo-command Injection in Progress]

[Domain logic entropy spikes] [System query: Identity verification failed]

The "spark of war" within von Blanc's chest vibrated violently, emitting discordant clicking sounds. Sparks flew as the gears turned, as if the entire system was beginning to question itself:
who am I?
Whom am I supposed to kill?
Am I being manipulated by someone?
Am I already dead?
Xiao Lianyin stood quietly in front of Feng Blanke.

She stopped her aggressive attack.

Nine tails stretched out behind her like a dream, their fox flames dancing lightly. She stood at the boundary between war and ruins, like the only guide before the gates of hell.

She looked up and whispered, as if responding to the unspoken terror:

"You are trembling."

"Not because of fear."

"But you finally realized—"

"Even if you control the war."

"You can't control yourself either."

Von Blanc's system attempted to recover the instructions.

He was doing calculations.

He was struggling.

Command executed: Lock onto target: Xiao Lianyin.

Command to execute: Lock—Target: Myself.

Execution instructions: ...contradictory.

Command to execute: Kill.

Command executed: Self-destruct.

Instruction executed: Unable to determine.

[Domain Status Confirmed: Collapse]

[Domain logic determination: Failed]

[War Zone - Formal Dissolution]

boom!
Von Blanc's core domain—the "ordination logic core" built upon war calculations—began to distort!
The floating star marks on the ground gradually faded away, and the high-temperature steam suddenly turned into a deathly still icy mist. The battlefield was no longer the chessboard he had set up, but a script torn apart by reality.

Si Ming watched this scene from afar, narrowed his eyes, and murmured softly:

"This is the true Fox Queen."

In the distance, the spiritual tide still surges, and the bridge still stretches out.

As Von Blanc's figure gradually blurred, amidst the intermingling of foxfire and ghostly mist, he was no longer the "designer," "commander," or "embodiment of war."

He was merely a soul that had not yet been allowed to die.

Now, the gates of the underworld have been opened.

My destination—is already decided.

At this moment, Zhuang Yege slowly stepped forward.

The Bridge to the Underworld quietly extended beneath his feet, its structure composed of soul fire and runes, spanning smoke and scorched earth, stretching straight to Von Blanc's front.

Between him and von Blanc, the gates of Hades slowly emerged.

Runes swirled, whispers of death murmured, soul fires rose, and the gates burst open, as if the god of the underworld himself had opened the passage, awaiting only the final judgment of fate.

Zhuang Yege stood at the head of the bridge, his voice deep and resonant, yet seemingly etched into the very fabric of space:

"This is the final crossing."

He slowly began the incantation.

【Rule 3: Guiding the Underworld - Crossing the Dead】—Activated.

As the rules were triggered, a profound gravitational force suddenly emanated from the Gate of the Underworld.

Within a radius of sixty meters, all traces of death, remnants of souls, and even the "war memories" remaining in the core of the secret body processing within von Blanc's body are all locked and drawn in by this "final crossing rule".

Von Blanc let out a roar that ripped the heavens and earth apart!
His metallic body trembled violently, and the steel bones screeched as they rubbed together.

The mechanical spine twisted and tumbled in the air, like a severely wounded giant snake trying to break free of its restraints, but in the next instant, it suddenly realized—

There was no way out for me.

His war logic had long been interfered with by the enchanting language of the mirror world, the rules of the underworld, and the favor of fate.

Every link in his thought process was drawn into an irreversible "end".

This is not just a defeat.

This is a harbinger of the end of existence itself.

Xiao Lianyin stepped forward.

Her figure was shrouded in foxfire and smoke, her red battle dress already shattered into pieces of dazzling fire patterns, foxfire coiling around her arms, waist, and lips, her gaze cold and her killing intent as icy.

She looked at von Blanc, that once invincible steel behemoth.

She whispered:

"The Fox Queen does not kill mortals."

She paused, her red lips curving slightly.

"But you are not human."

"You are the echo of war."

"And I am the song that shuts you up."

She raised her finger, and the nine tails slowly rose, transforming into nine crimson soul-locking threads that wrapped around Von Blanc's body, sealing off every power node.

This time, she didn't hold back.

[Ultimate Technique: Nine-Tailed Demon Soul - Illusory Transformation - Final Style] - Release!
The nine tails converge!

The flames exploded, and the fox flames condensed in the sky into a huge phantom fox, wearing a star crown and with eyes as deep as abyss. It looked down at von Blanc below, like a god making judgment.

"You once ignited the flames of war."

"Then please, extinguish it yourself."

The fox flames transformed into a blade, its tail light falling like a meteor, carrying sparks and flames that pierced directly through Von Blanc's chest!

boom--! ! !
In an instant, the war data within von Blanc's body collapsed like fragments of logic, the life-mark explosion point was completely detonated, the Zero armor collapsed, and the spark shattered.

Silver-red fire rain soared into the sky, like stars shattering and falling.

Fragments of the soul, like shooting stars, transformed into streaks of light and were slowly swallowed up by the Gates of the Underworld.

Zhuang Yege waved his sleeve, and the copper bell rang three times.

The gates of the underworld slowly closed.

Von Blanc – was extradited.

Target clearing

The soul has been guided.

No possibility of reconstruction.

This organization has completely deviated from reality.

The space fell silent.

The mournful cries of steel ceased, and the logic of war came to an end.

The fox flames died down, the night wind blew, and the gates of the underworld closed completely.

The fox queen's figure smiled and gradually faded away in the wind, the crimson flames fell like petals, and the nine tails, as they dissipated, were like a dreamlike afterimage that swept across the ruined sky.

Xiao Lianyin's body slowly collapsed.

Her sanity had long been exhausted. The fox queen's true form had depleted her star energy, and the nine tails behind her disintegrated into thousands of fire points, like the final curtain call of a last dream.

Si Ming rushed forward and helped her up.

She was like a wisp of ember in his arms, faint yet still warm.

"Still alive," Si Ming whispered.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, her lips slowly curved into a smile, and her breath was faint.
"You won...right?"

Si Ming looked at her, and for a moment all the wind seemed to stand still.

He nodded slowly.

"Won."

They thought it was finally over.

--However.

The sky began to tremble.

The wind stilled, and in the lingering smoke of battle, a faint, chilling laugh quietly rose.

The voice was familiar, yet strangely unfamiliar.

"You guys are really... so useful."

Everyone turned around abruptly and saw a figure slowly walking towards them from the distance of the battlefield.

He walked with ease, his footsteps never igniting sparks on the ground, yet shattering the air itself, like a fictional character stepping out of a story.

Wang Yichen.

He approached, his figure gradually becoming clearer from the hazy outline, a gentle smile on his lips, but that smile no longer concealed kindness.

Step by step, he walked to the shattered armored remains of von Blanc, and without any hindrance, reached out and took out three cards from the core of its remains.

No one can stop him.

No system notification was received.

There was no countermeasure.

He turned slightly and looked at the crowd, his gaze as if he were examining the curtain falling on a meticulously crafted stage play.

A smile appeared on his face:

"I've been waiting for this scene for a long time."

"Thank you all for giving such a great performance."

"but--"

"The spoils of war should rightfully belong to me."

Si Ming stood up, and the Destiny Card appeared in his hand, causing the star chart to tremble slightly.

"You already—"

Wang Yichen raised his hand and lightly traced a line in the air with his fingertips.

A crack appeared.

The aura of a celestial calamity followed.

It was a cut that didn't belong to reality, as if a script was forcibly switching scenes. The light began to distort, and the colors in the air overflowed their outlines.

"Goodbye," he said softly.

Then, step into the crack.

His figure vanished, leaving only the half-open, unclosed Star Calamity Crack, like an undrawn curtain in a theater.

The whispers of the Star Calamity then arose, as if someone were speaking softly from the abyss:
"Crazy Thirteen said... the seed of destiny is not yet complete."

Where Wang Yichen disappeared, the crack still remained, slowly closing, like a gaze that hadn't quite ended in the blink of an eye.

The wind stopped.

The light began to become disordered.

Even though von Blanc was dead, and even though the battle seemed to have ended, an indescribable strangeness still permeated the entire battlefield.

A script outside of a script.

Si Ming stood silently, watching the crack slowly close.

No one chased after them.

No one moved.

Because everyone knows—

That's not something we can pursue right now.

“He was watching the whole time…” Rudolf murmured.

"Wait until we've exhausted our resources, wait until Feng Blank makes his move, wait until Lian Yin uses the Fox Consort..." His voice was filled with barely concealed anger and bewilderment, "and then we'll clean up the mess."

Nobuna's eyes grew colder, and her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

What did he plunder?

Vera's voice was deep:

“What he took away was—Von Blanc’s war structure.”

"He wants to construct his own mystery."

"In the new instance, he will no longer be just a player."

She raised her eyes, her gaze piercing through the scorched earth still wilted by the embers:

“It is the ‘Raider’…the earliest and most dangerous of the Mysterious Remains.”

"As long as you are patient enough and cunning enough, you can seize a key opportunity."

"You can break free from the system of fate, seize the achievements of others, and forge your own path to godhood."

Si Ming lowered his eyes, his voice as cold and hard as a blade:
This isn't the first time he's done this.

Vera's expression darkened:

"And we are not his first stage."

The air felt as if it had been plunged into stagnant water.

For a moment, the entire battlefield fell silent.

The embers of victory still lingered, and the extinguished flames of the Fox Queen gently fell to the ground, as if mocking the so-called "final victory."

It's just—another narrator's opening statement.

Zhuang Yege slowly retracted the Death Tide Realm.

The Bridge to the Underworld faded in silence, and the Gate of the Underworld turned into a phantom, dissolving into the ashes deep within the battlefield.

He gazed at the spot where the catastrophic rift had once stood, his voice low and deep, like the chanting of a Taoist scripture:

"Those whose lives have come to an end should return to the underworld."

"But if one's life is not yet over, one has already begun to steal another's life—"

"That is... 'taboo'."

He turned to Si Ming, his gaze intense:

Would you pursue him?

Si Ming gazed silently into the distance, his eyes reflecting the still-warm ashes of the cracks. The cut, which did not belong to this place, seemed to still burn in his heart.

His voice was so cold it seemed to have already entered a catastrophic realm:
It's not 'whether or not'.

"Yes—we must."

"Because he wants us to act in the next scene."

Nobuna sneered:
"Then he'd better be prepared to pay the director's fee."

Rudolf chuckled and curled his lips into a smile: "My fist has indeed been itching for a long time."

“But…” Lynn began softly, his gaze falling on the empty space where the Star Calamity Rift had once stood.

Her voice was soft and clear, like a drop of water falling into a deep well of the future:
"If he's carrying out some plan..."

"Is that Madman Thirteen—someone we're about to face?"

No one answered her.

But everyone knows the truth:

Yes.

It's not just Wang Yichen.

And that madman.

That entity that always remains hidden behind the scenes, whose script is based on fate and whose data revolves around the players—

He was watching them too.

Deep within a dungeon they have yet to enter, a door is slowly opening.

There is neither god nor demon behind the door.

Those are a pair of eyes.

It's not the eyes, it's—fate itself.

Calm, twisted, and waiting for fate to be wagered.

Si Ming slowly closed his eyes and gently exhaled.

He took out his mysterious card—the Lord of Fate.

The card trembled slightly between my fingers, as if touched by some distant being, emitting a low-frequency resonance.

He opened his eyes, his gaze unchanged.

All eyes were on him.

He only said one sentence:
"Get ready."

"Next time, we'll be more than just players."

"We are storytellers."

When a war ends, what remains is not ruins.
Rather, it was a price the victors failed to notice.

When you think you've won

Perhaps the real game has only just begun.

(End of this chapter)