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

"Who do they think they are, to be my friends?"

"I could crush a whole bunch of those kinds of trash with one kick!"

Pan Gu vented his anger without restraint.

The soul fire suddenly surged, and the dark blue flames almost burst out of his eye sockets.

"And I'm not human anymore!"

"I'm a monster!"

"A monster that only eats people!"

Pan Gu's voice was no longer muffled, but carried an extremely suppressed roar.

"If I appeared before them looking like this, they would only see me as a monster!"

On what grounds?

Why can they keep their original appearance, while I have become this inhuman, ghostly thing?

Why can they live freely in the sunlight, while I am forever confined to the bone realm where I will never see the sun?

Why can they act like nothing happened, while I'm plagued by nightmares every day!

"elder brother!"

"Do you think there's any fairness left in this world?!"

Those tightly clenched, bony fists trembled slightly from the excessive force.

Seeing his appearance, Zhang Heng swallowed back the words of comfort that were on the tip of his tongue.

He just let out a long sigh.

There was no advice in that sigh, only a deep sense of helplessness and understanding.

Actually, the rock bone wasn't like this from the beginning.

The first to discover the traces of these humans was not himself, but the undead scouts under Pangu's command.

When the news reached the Endless Bone Domain, Pan Gu reacted more violently than anyone else.

That was true ecstasy.

Zhang Heng still remembers that day, his younger brother was so excited that he almost forgot what the world was like, and even asked to leave the Endless Bone Domain for the first time.

He thought he had finally found his kind.

After more than fifty years, he thought he could finally find a companion with whom he could communicate.

However, reality dealt him the heaviest blow.

That became his first Waterloo after he woke up.

He appeared excitedly before those humans, before he could even organize his thoughts and express his goodwill.

His response was a terrified scream and a hail of bullets.

"monster!"

"Fire! Fire now!"

As they roared hysterically, they unleashed everything they could fire at Pangu's massive body.

The bullets struck his rock-like bones, leaving not even a white mark, before clattering and falling to the ground.

For Pangu, this attack was nothing more than a tickle.

But those piercing cries of "monster" were more hurtful than any weapon.

Each sound was like a red-hot iron rod, striking his soul hard.

He frantically explained, waving his hands awkwardly, trying to tell those people that he meant no harm.

But to those humans dominated by fear, his actions were merely a harbinger of something even more threatening.

The attacks became even more frenzied.

He will never forget that day, or what those people said.

"Haha, as expected of 'Wasteland Era', the monsters here are really intelligent, they even know how to lie."

"Why all the nonsense? Attack their weaknesses!"

"Where is this monster's weakness? It doesn't even have a chick."

"Stop talking nonsense, kill this monster before it retaliates!"

"..."

In the end, Pangu retreated.

He returned to the Endless Bone Domain, his body reeking of gunfire and his heart broken.

From that day on, the anticipation and joy he felt for his fellow human beings completely disappeared.

Instead, there was an extreme coldness of disgust and hatred.

"I am a human being."

"But that was then."

Pangu slowly raised his enormous bone hand and spread it out in front of him.

It was a huge, sharp claw made of countless tiny bone fragments, indestructible yet so cold that it seemed devoid of any sign of life.

"Right now, I'm just a moving skeleton."

"A monster in their eyes."

"A monster that, in their eyes, only deserves to be killed and then have its source crystals recycled."

The wind in the woods seemed even colder.

"They abandoned me first, so I won't like them anymore."

"Never!"

Pan Gu gripped the heavy chains tightly in his hands, the chains rattling as he squeezed them, but he was completely unaware of it.

His soul fire gradually subsided, but the dark blue color became even deeper and colder.

"Friend, ah, those two words are too heavy for me to bear."

"I've lived alone for so long, I'm used to it."

"I don't want friends, and I don't need friends."

"Don't let me run into them again."

"Otherwise, I will not show any mercy."

His words were no longer filled with roars, but only with a deathly stillness.

"And those ants, if they appeared before me, would only deserve to kneel on the ground and call me 'Sir'!"

Pan Gu said a lot in one breath, so much so that he himself didn't even realize it.

He hadn't spoken so much at once in countless years.

Zhang Heng let out another long sigh.

This time, he didn't look at Pan Gu again, but turned his head towards the direction where Zhou Jian had disappeared.

Persuasion?

There's no need for that anymore.

Since they made a mistake, they should naturally pay the price for it.

I am a human being, that's for sure.

But in this world, he only has one younger brother.

Zhang Heng slowly reached out and gently patted Pan Gu's incredibly broad shoulder blades.

"I see."

His movements were very light, and his words were very calm.

"They'll regret it."

"The most important thing for you right now is to break through to S-rank."

"Believe me, once you truly reach S-rank, the things you consider important now will become unimportant."

The massive body of the giant bone trembled slightly, and the deep soul fire in its eye sockets finally showed a slight fluctuation.

He didn't listen to Ainz Ooal Gown's last words at all.

Will I regret it? Maybe.

But more likely, it's not regret they feel, but rather the realization that they are about to die.

Pan Gu didn't speak, but simply let the hand hang on his shoulder.

"Let's go back." Pan Gu turned and walked deeper into the dense forest. "Staying in that old woman's territory for too long just feels like bad luck."

Pangu dragged its massive bone shield and chains, silently following behind. The two figures, one tall and one short, quickly disappeared into the interlacing shadows of the trees.

......

The wind in the forest has returned to its original rhythm.

The leaves rustled in the wind, and the light and shadow dappled the ground.

Silence enveloped the small open space once more, as if nothing had ever happened.

In the distance, a small figure slowly grows larger.

It was Zhou Jian who had returned.

Zhou Jian has a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he can't sleep at night until he figures out this problem.

Notice.

After committing the crime, the perpetrator will most likely return to the crime scene.

So Zhou Jian didn't actually go far; he just wandered around for a bit and then came back.

It's easy to find out if he made a mistake.

You'll know once you come back and see.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

The grove of dead trees behind the small hill is now a mess.

The once barren forest was broken in half by something hammering it, with wood chips everywhere.

Zhou Jian stood in the forest of dead trees.

Centered on his footprint, countless fine and deep cracks spread out in all directions.

These cracks, dark and eerie, cut through the soil and grass roots, forming a bizarre spiderweb pattern.

Although he didn't know what this place originally looked like, these cracks were definitely not formed naturally.

And it looks very new.

It must have been after he left.

Zhou Jian looked up, and the corner of his mouth twitched violently.

"Goodness."

"I was like, 'Wow, that's amazing!'"

"You're quite the player, Ainz Ooal Gown!"