This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 247 "...Ping Xing Dou?!"

The air in Liang Zhenduan's office seemed to freeze.

The calm smile on Hao Yao's face contrasted strangely with the starlight flickering in his eyes.

He sat calmly opposite Liang Zhenduan, as if he were not confronting an enemy, but rather having an academic discussion.

"The Star God Cult... it's you. It's always been you."

Liang Zhenduan's voice was low and heavy, carrying a sense of sudden realization. Many things that he couldn't understand before suddenly became clear at this moment.

"If it weren't for Ping Xingdou, you would be the director of the Gushi Planetarium... Do you hate him that much? So much that you would infiltrate his side, pretend to wholeheartedly agree with him and assist him, and then... use such vicious means to twist his soul, turning him into a paranoid, arrogant bastard who ultimately betrays him?"

He pointed at the skull-shaped star stone in Hao Yao's hand, his eyes blazing with barely suppressed rage.

Upon hearing this, Hao Yao smiled and shook his head. Starlight shimmered in his eyes, but his mind seemed unusually clear, even carrying a condescending pity.

“No. You’ve misunderstood, Mayor Liang.” His voice was gentle, even soft: “Quite the opposite. Ping Xingdou is that kind of person. Arrogant, stubborn, intolerant of any dissent, and willing to abandon everything else in pursuit of what he wants.”

"All I did was help him... peel off the old-fashioned morality and let him unleash his true self."

“Truth?” Liang Zhenduan chewed on the word, feeling a wave of nausea: “What kind of obsession do you have with ‘truth’?”

Unexpectedly, Hao Yao shook his head again, his smile widening even further, radiating a preacher-like fervor.

“It’s not an obsession,” he corrected, his tone becoming solemn. “It’s a responsibility.”

"Responsibility?" Liang Zhenduan almost laughed in anger.

“Yes. A noble responsibility,” Hao Yao affirmed.

He slightly raised his chin, his ordinary face seemingly illuminated by an inner radiance. He placed the '著' (zhu) from his waist on the table, pushed it towards Liang Zhenduan, and pointed to the three large gold-embossed characters on the leather cover—

The Shining Star Sutra.

It reminds one of the "Gan Shi Xing Jing".

"Passing on knowledge, remembering the past, broadening horizons, and exploring truth—this is the right path for the survival and development of human civilization! Isn't it!" Hao Yao's voice suddenly rose, carrying an almost obsessive tone: "We must dispel the fog from this chaotic and ignorant new world, guide the way, and save the future of humanity! For this, sacrifices are inevitable. Of course, we carefully chose the time when Nie Weiyang left; he has too many secrets, and we will explore them slowly..."

"Go to hell!!" A roar filled with anger and pain exploded out! Liang Zhenduan stirred up a gust of wind and rushed straight at Hao Yao!

He somehow broke free of his restraints, his eyes now bloodshot, his face contorted with rage. He gripped a gleaming scythe in his hand, and without a word, swung it down in a wide arc, aiming for Hao Yao's face!
"Fuck your father! Did you save humanity like this?! You're just using a big flag as a shield, you idiot!"

The attack came too fast and too fiercely, completely catching Hao Yao off guard. His composure vanished instantly, replaced by shock. He instinctively raised his arm to block, his body jerking backward!

Tsk-!
The scythe's blade severed the arm. The severed arm flew into the air, blood vessels constricting, blood gushing out—if Hao Yao hadn't dodged in time, this blow would have truly disemboweled him!
Hao Yao groaned in pain, staggered backward, and knocked over the chair behind him. He clutched his bleeding arm, staring at Liang Zhenduan, who looked like a mad tiger, with a mixture of shock and anger, his eyes flashing intensely.

"Are you crazy?!" he shrieked.

"You bunch of bastards have driven me crazy!" Liang Zhenduan roared. The usually calm and refined man raised his sickle again and charged forward recklessly. His professional combat skills, typical of a soldier, made Hao Yao tumble and crawl: "Is this never going to end?! How many days have the city's residents been getting a good night's sleep?! I'll fuck your grandpa! Hao Yao!"

Even if Lao Nie isn't here, I'll still chop you up!
"Even if I don't want to live anymore, I'll still kill you all! Every single one of you!!!"

……

Han Jiangxue's fingers tightened, and with a crisp sound of bones breaking, another cultist collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Her movements were clean and efficient, even possessing an almost artistic elegance, but the ferocity hidden beneath her calm face secretly alarmed Yi Jian.

She hadn't slept for nearly seventy-two hours, and so had Yi Jian.

Now, her already somewhat aloof demeanor due to emotional isolation has been further enhanced by a layer of cold weariness, like a taut string that could snap at any moment.

Her already meager athletic ability was now further weakened. The prolonged overexertion made her steps unsteady, but she used floating ice blocks to support herself and moved with astonishing speed, following the clues left by the enemy across mountains and valleys, like a cold scalpel dissecting the network laid out by the Star God Cult in Central Continent.

At this moment, they stood on a desolate mountain.

—On a crater mountain.

Ahead lies the ruins of Zhongzhou No. 1 Xunshan.

Since the second administrator blasted this mountain into an upright cylindrical structure, it was studied for a period of time, but it soon ceased to be a focus of attention.

After No. 2 Xunshan was bombed flat, it once again became the highest point in Zhongzhou.

Han Jiangxue stared intently at the center of the mountain, where there was a shockingly huge cylindrical structure—a smooth, mirror-like obsidian well formed by the instantaneous vaporization of rock layers by pure light energy, resembling a natural telescope pointing towards the sky.

Now, this seemingly man-made, seemingly natural wonder has been desecrated.

The cultists had clearly modified it. The well walls had been polished smoother, reflecting an eerie light, and a complex ritualistic field had been erected around the wellhead, inscribed with enormous runes related to the trajectories of the stars. Crystals shimmering with starlight were embedded in key nodes, continuously supplying energy into the well. Throughout the entire area, an eerie humming sound, like chanting, prayer, or confession, permeated the air with the starlight.

Han Jiangxue and Yi Jian lay hidden in the shadows of the rocks, carefully observing the movements below.

There were quite a few hundred cultists gathered here, surrounding the deep well, seemingly conducting some kind of preparatory ritual.

Yi Jian has excellent eyesight, which is a basic quality of a top shooter.

His gaze swept across the crowd like a hawk's, and soon his pupils contracted sharply as he stared intently at a figure standing at the edge of the well, directing others to install lenses.

The man was tall and thin, dressed in tattered clothes that still vaguely revealed his original appearance. His hair was disheveled, and his face held a mixture of fanaticism and weak excitement.

What is most striking is his eyes—there is no distinction between iris and sclera in those eyes, only a chaotic, swirling nebula!

“…Ping Xingdou?!” Yi Jian practically spat out the name through clenched teeth, his voice filled with disbelief.

(End of this chapter)