Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

A deathly silence spread through the Taiji Hall like mercury.

It lasted a full three minutes.

No one spoke; even their breathing was kept to a minimum.

Changsun Wuji was awakened by the pain.

He hit the back of his head on the white marble floor tiles, and a large bump swelled up.

He opened his eyes in confusion.

The first thing I saw was my own hands raised in mid-air.

Those were dry, withered hands covered in age spots, with dirt still clinging to their fingernails.

My hands trembled like leaves falling in the autumn wind.

It lacks the smoothness of virtual code.

Only a rough, raw truth.

He turned his head.

The virtual images above the Taiji Hall have not yet been removed.

The coded avatar bearing his name was waving its hands repeatedly in mid-air like an idiot.

It looked exactly like a poorly made marionette.

"It's fake...it's all fake..."

Changsun Wuji muttered to himself.

The sound was so soft it seemed like a gust of wind could carry it away.

I learned that code immortality is just a scam pieced together with mosaics and behavioral data.

The last pillar in his heart that kept him alive.

It shattered completely.

He schemed his whole life.

They schemed against the imperial power, against the powerful families, and against the wealth of everyone in the world.

in the end.

They exchanged the wealth accumulated over generations for a bunch of ownerless code whose backend can be cleared at any time.

"puff--"

A mouthful of dark red blood spurted from his mouth.

It sprayed onto the pillar in front of him that was carved with a golden dragon.

Blood slowly flowed down the veins of the dragon scales, a horrifying sight.

Qi and blood flow backwards.

Changsun Wuji's originally pale face now flushed with an eerie red.

He leaned weakly against the dragon-patterned pillar.

His body was limp and weak, like a lump of mud that had been drained of its bones.

The shrewdness in his eyes was the result of a lifetime of scheming.

The cunning and scheming of the most powerful minister in the Tang Dynasty.

At that moment, large swaths of them dispersed.

All that's left is a pitiful, ordinary old man who's about to die.

"father!"

Changsun Chong scrambled over and grabbed his father's body.

Tears and snot covered his face.

"Dad, don't scare me! Dr. Cyber! Quickly, call Dr. Cyber!"

Changsun Wuji shook his head with difficulty.

He reached out his withered hand and patted his son's hand.

It feels cool to the touch.

Di-

Di-

Di-

The special-supply terminal bracelet on his wrist.

The countdown originally showed that there were still more than 900 days left to live.

The numbers are now plummeting.

The high-voltage electric shock that occurred in the black market basement was forcibly interrupted by Li Chengqian.

But the violent electric current had completely destroyed his already failing heart and nervous system.

"It's no use..."

Changsun Wuji's voice grew weaker and weaker.

He didn't look at his son, but turned to look at Li Shimin on the dragon throne.

Li Shimin stood blankly on the high platform.

Looking at my old companion of decades, I see life slipping away at a visible speed.

He forgot the emperor's majesty.

He tumbled and crawled down the steps.

Because his legs were weak, he tripped and fell heavily onto the floor tiles.

He didn't care about the pain.

He crawled to Changsun Wuji's side using both his hands and feet.

He pushed Changsun Chong away and held his old friend's growing cold body tightly in his arms.

"Wuji... Auxiliary machine!"

Li Shimin's voice was hoarse and his eyes were red.

"Hold on! I'll immediately have the best medical AI deployed by the Tian Shu system!"

"I will use the Great Snow Dragon Riders' reserve energy to extend your life!"

"His Majesty……"

Changsun Wuji managed to twitch the corner of his mouth.

He revealed a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Don't waste your energy."

He was breathing heavily.

A rattling sound, like the straining of a broken bellows, came from his chest.

That was the sound of alveoli rupturing on a large scale.

"This old minister... has lived enough."

Changsun Wuji's vision began to blur.

The ornately decorated dome of the Taiji Hall appeared as a double image in his eyes.

"This wretched body, though it may ache and rot..."

With his last ounce of strength, he grabbed the sleeve of Li Shimin's dragon robe.

Her fingernails dug deep into the fabric.

"But at least... it's true."

He felt the cold air in the hall.

The scent of ambergris that Li Shimin wore year-round filled with.

You can even feel the bone-chilling cold emanating from the white marble floor tiles through your clothes.

This is not just empty data feedback.

This is the temperature in the real world.

"Dust to dust... ashes to ashes..."

Changsun Wuji's voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

"This old minister... will not go back to that cold, lifeless box to be code..."

"This old minister...will die on this land of the Great Tang..."

The hand gripping the dragon robe.

Suddenly, all power was lost.

It slid down softly and landed on the stone slab.

It made a soft sound.

Beep——————

The terminal wristband emitted a piercing long beep.

A countdown timer on the screen.

Completely reset to zero.

Changsun Wuji, Duke of Zhao, was the first meritorious official in the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

They did not die in the illusory world of cyber digital immortality.

Instead, he truly died in the cold, real air of the Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin held the body of Changsun Wuji in his arms.

Tears streamed down like beads from a broken string.

It splashed onto the bright yellow dragon robe, spreading out in circles of dark water stains.

He didn't wail loudly, but only sobbed softly, suppressing his emotions to the extreme.

"Auxiliary machine..."

The surrounding veteran officials all knelt down.

Suppressed sobs spread throughout the hall.

Fang Xuanling stood not far away.

He looked at Changsun Wuji's gaunt face and sighed.

The old man's eyes were filled with desolation.

He slowly removed the purple-gold court hat from his head.

Bend down.

It was gently placed next to Changsun Wuji's body.

This was the final act of respect from a Tang Dynasty civil official to his colleague.

Just then.

The Taiji Hall main control holographic screen remained black.

Suddenly, without any warning, the lights came on.

It wasn't Li Chengqian's cold face.

It's not the same as those mechanically repetitive code forms we just saw.

The entire sky was filled with a dazzling crimson stream of light.

It tumbled violently in mid-air like fresh blood.

This red light flashes at an extremely high frequency.

It can even sting your eyes.

The lights throughout the Taiji Hall began to flash intensely in response to the red light.

That was a precursor to a large-scale overload of the energy system.