The end of the world is approaching, I'm handing myself over to the country.

The shadow looked at the lie walking ahead, snorted coldly, and went in the completely opposite direction.

Seeing this, Lie quickly followed: "What do you want to do? Don't forget Lord Desire's mission."

The shadow scoffed, "I could have completed Lord Desire's task on my own anyway. Go wherever you want!"

"If we don't see eye to eye, there's no point in talking," Shadow thought, not wanting to spend even a second longer with the guy in front of him.

If they stayed together, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control his hands.

After saying that, the shadow's body turned into black liquid, melting into the shadow on the ground. In a few flashes, it disappeared before the lies.

"You..." Lie reached out, ready to stop Shadow's actions, but before he could finish speaking, Shadow disappeared into the distance.

"You bastard..." Lie sighed, feigning helplessness.

Until that volatile and frenzied shadow completely disappeared without a trace at the edge of sight.

The lie remained, its face full of reproach.

Like an honest person facing an ignorant fellow.

Until half a minute later.

He confirmed that there was no trace of life left in the surroundings, and that even the suffocating gaze from above had completely disappeared.

All the expressions on Lie's face vanished instantly.

It was like a noisy stage suddenly having its power supply abruptly cut off.

There was no transition, no buffer.

The humble, ridiculous, and shameless lie he told just a moment ago, which was only meant to save his life, is now as flat as a stagnant pool on his face.

He completely rejected all the joking and flattery.

"Heh~"

The lie stretched out its hands, moving its somewhat stiff expression.

He then slowly lowered his head, gently brushed off non-existent dust from his collar with two fingers, and then gave a disdainful sneer.

"Everyone thinks I'm a piece of trash with no morals."

"Everyone thinks I'm a liar with boundless ambition, and that my affected performance of crying and begging in the face of desire today was just to win favor."

"They even thought I was willing to give up all my dignity just to survive."

At this point, a slight smile suddenly appeared on Lie's face: "But unfortunately..."

Lies raised his head, his calm eyes gazing at the devastated black stone ruins. His voice was extremely calm, yet it carried a chilling depth.

"I have no ambition whatsoever."

In a world where everyone is fighting tooth and nail for power and territory, his lies show that he is the one who sees through it all most clearly.

"Power? Territory?"

"Relatives? Close confidants?"

The lie casually lifts its foot, then slams it down, crushing a crawling insect on the ground.

The sarcasm in the lie was almost palpable: "Ha, it's all bullshit!"

"Once you have territory, you must defend it to the death; once you have subordinates, you must manage them with care; once you have great power, you will become a target of everyone's attacks. You must always be vigilant about your own safety."

"A bunch of self-righteous idiots who have no idea what it means to be a tall tree that catches the wind and will surely be destroyed."

Lie raised his hand and touched his chin, a faint mockery in his eyes.

"Although I really like the language of the Earthlings, with its stale and tedious nonsense, and even read it late into the night, my favorite saying is still, 'All good things must come to an end.'"

"This is the truth."

"In my life, anyone could leave halfway through, and anyone could become a rotten corpse lying on the roadside in the next second."

"The forest is dead, the shadow will die sooner or later, and even the lofty desires... may not survive forever in this torrent."

"Only by living, only by surviving to the end, is one's only bargaining chip."

The lie turned away, its back to the direction where desire had just been, and muttered to itself, "Nothing else matters, only my own life matters. Living my own life well is better than anything else."

"No matter how terrible the floods are outside, I have my own ways to protect myself!"

At this point, Lie's eyes gleamed: "And what's most hateful isn't death, but betrayal."

"People are selfish."

"But as long as I don't trust anyone, I won't be betrayed by anyone!"

The lie vanished into thin air: "As for this battle, regardless of who wins or loses, what does it have to do with me?"

"Why bother taking on that bunch of useless burdens?"

To build up power and fight head-on? To risk everything for the lives of others.

He wouldn't do something so thankless and stupid.

Those so-called vassals, when it comes to a life-or-death situation, wouldn't even be sturdy enough to be used as a shield.

"As long as I live, no matter where I go, countless vassals will gather around me like wild dogs. But if I die, that's the real end."

Thinking of this, a strange light suddenly flashed in Lie's eyes, one that no ordinary person could possibly detect.

Even if the worst happens.

"Even if the Netherworld is completely defeated in this chaotic battle, wiped out, and its entire territory is occupied by those unreasonable players..."

"I remain fearless."

"I still have a trump card." The lie was spoken in a very low voice, as if reassuring himself: "If the time comes, my master will definitely not abandon me!"

Thinking of this, Lie raised his head, looked at the gloomy, dark sky, and burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Unrestrained and arrogant laughter echoed through the deathly silent ruins.

The next second, his body transformed into countless distorted, transparent light and shadow, completely disappearing from the spot.

.......

the other side.

Inside the grocery store.

"Buzz—!"

A muffled but dangerous explosion rang out in the quiet shop.

An extremely pungent, acrid smell instantly filled the air, as if hundreds of high-voltage power lines had simultaneously short-circuited and burned through.

Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes.

He was covered in sweat, panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead and stung my eyes.

He slowly raised his right hand.

His slender fingers were twitching slightly out of control, and at his fingertips, a few extremely fine strands of silver lightning, exuding a violent and destructive aura, were jumping and dissipating erratically.

Crackling sound.

The last spark of lightning flickered briefly on my index finger before going out completely.

Lin Mo slumped in his chair like a fish with its bones removed, the veins on his forehead throbbing with pain, his mental energy feeling terribly empty.

I've quit.

He completely withdrew from the state of enlightenment of the Thunderous Authority.

At the edge of the counter, a round sparrow that had been preening its feathers with its beak stopped.

He turned his little head, his beady eyes staring at the slumped Lin Mo, and raised his non-existent eyebrows in an extremely human-like manner.

【Hey, why does it look so wilted?】

The sparrow hopped a couple of times on the wooden cabinet, its chirping filled with undisguised mockery.

Did it work?

Hearing this obvious, pointless question, Lin Mo rolled his eyes and hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his still trembling hand.