He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 111 [Strict]

The deeper you go, the more complex the terrain of the alley becomes. In addition to the giant shipping containers that can be seen everywhere, there are also many ruins in sight. These tilted and piled-up broken walls look like the skeletons left behind by some kind of giant animal after it died. They are decaying and have a rotten smell. The deeper you go, the stronger the eeriness becomes.

As the radiance from the zenith gradually dimmed, even though it was still far from night, the ambient light here had already reached a point where it was almost impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face. This indicated that this place had even reached the edge of the "outskirts." Further ahead, what awaited people was no longer ruins, but the outer wall of the entire nest, the [dome].

Although they live inside the hive, almost no citizens of Hallownest have ever truly reached the edge of the "hive." The great thing called the "Dome" is a boundary marker that seals off and separates the known from the unknown. Everyone can see it when they look up. After all, it is a giant enclosed structure that has replaced the sky. Countless autonomous machines that operate day and night maintain its sturdiness and stability, but almost no one has ever truly touched this wall.

Now, Ronan is practically standing at its feet.

Legend has it that the outer suburbs were not originally part of the Nest; they were an extension structure. Therefore, if the Holy Nest were to abandon this place one day, the dome of the outer suburbs could be detached "completely," along with the giant purifiers and water circulation devices, and banished outside the Nest.

Of course, whether they can still do such a thing after Gray Garden takes over is an unknown.

His eyes burned with a bright flame, enough for Ronan to see everything around him and avoid stepping into the pits that were everywhere, but he still couldn't avoid the fresh pools of blood in the narrow area.

Ronan kicked away a severed limb from all four sides, his lips twitching. He took a deep breath into the darkness and said, "You can't be so cruel to girls."

'

,

This time, unusually, he wasn't ignored. Xiao Qi briefly emerged from the darkness, gave him a long, quiet look, and said, "Boss, you said something similar to me."

—Wow, I got a serious answer.

Ronan tilted his head, somewhat moved, and nearly got his antlers stuck in a dented steel bar.

—Although the topic still revolves around that fox, at least this time I wasn't subjected to the silent treatment from my teammates, right?

The fire apprentice, who had been isolated the whole way, finally felt the chill on the back of his neck begin to warm up. Looking at the narrow, dimly lit passageway in front of him, he decided to seize this hard-won topic.

"Xiao Qi, how did you meet that fox—and the boss?" Ronan almost blurted out something wrong, so he quickly corrected himself and then fell silent first.

The moment he asked the question, he regretted it a little. No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't going to be a heartwarming encounter.

After meeting Xiao Qi and Ai Yi, Ronan still couldn't understand one thing: why the "mastermind of the money pit" hadn't died. Given the fox's personality, he should have sentenced that scoundrel to death when he saved Inchu, yet he's been allowed to escape until now.

—Is it so that Xiao Qi can take revenge himself?

Not knowing the difference between the two foxes, Ronan was destined to remain puzzled: while waiting for a possible response, he could only slightly increase the firelight around him to make the place a little brighter.

The endless passageways were completely different from the previous container workshops—the materials that made up this place really resembled some kind of "skeleton," and the narrow spaces seemed like the cavities of a giant creature. Bone-white fragments, resembling wall plaster, kept falling in the flames, foreshadowing the antiquity of this place.

Upon entering the deepest part of the dark alley and reaching the "near the nest wall," the environment changes to this—the last remaining faction that still retains its resistance can only hide here—and will be exposed sooner or later.

Those "rats" who dare not even face their enemies —

If Ronan were to predict, the chances of these guys passing the soul purity screening are probably less than 1%—the previous group of mafia members probably had around 50%—indeed, there are differences even among bad people. The guys hiding here in the end have probably committed crimes against humanity, and even the laws of the Nest City can hardly measure the filth of these souls.

Leaders of various low-class industries, remnants of cults, former secret societies in the suburbs, and the so-called "mentors" they follow.

As a high-ranking henchman who was parachuted in, Ronan did not participate in the initial cleanup operation, but through his conversations with Connor and Lynn, he learned some details about the operation.

The dirtiest places are definitely the underground industries.

Their crimes are utterly baseless and beyond moral comprehension. Among their main operations—the least serious being human trafficking and the dumping of contraband—the rest are all 18g-rated, and even mentioning them might not pass the think tank's AI review.

For example, taking in certain high-ranking individuals in the shadows, a little dark pleasure is like the patrons of certain clubs, who use money and resources to satisfy their desires that they cannot fulfill in the lower city.

In the remote suburbs, outside the law, the distribution and delivery of goods are handled.

Those high-ranking employers have long been tainted by the filthy blackness of human nature. In their eyes, the age, race, or even gender of their "goods" are unimportant—their desires are so pure they are nauseating: lust, a need for control, a violent urge, and even—

Appetite.

From the soul of the patron who ran Elysium, Gray Garden unearthed some little-known facts: mermaids, merfolk, and other humanoid species with fish-tailed sexual characteristics, actually have tails that taste like fish, described as delicious by some diners.

"Tsk."

The brief memory brought forth an uncontrollable rage, and the fire of anger instantly dyed the surroundings crimson. The high temperature of the passageway was like a furnace. Ronan took a deep breath to calm his violently beating heart, and then suddenly heard a soft whisper beside him.

"At the beginning, the boss told us to call him 'sir' or 'mentor'."

At some point, Qi materialized from the shadows and silently walked in front of Ronan. Her voice was no longer as cold as before; it sounded somewhat dull and soft, yet it finally carried a touch of the vibrant spirit of a child.

So Ronan held his breath and listened silently.

"Actually, I can't quite remember my first impression. I only remember that the boss at that time took me out of that disgusting place. Although I couldn't hear anything at that time, he could still talk to me in a magical way. His voice just appeared in my head out of thin air, which startled me."

Today was a very special day for Qi, so she sounded preoccupied. "At first, I thought I had fallen into a more terrible hell—my first boss was much scarier than this one—he was just standing next to me, and death seemed to be everywhere."

"At that time, I even thought it would be better to just die like this and forget everything that happened before. Foolish me—what was I struggling with? Even though there was nothing left, what was I still thinking about? Not wanting to die."

Xiao Qi paused briefly, then turned to look at Ronan, as if seeking some kind of validation for the first time: "Why would someone who has been through hell, someone who has no future, still want to live? It's strange, isn't it—for someone like me?"

Ronan was taken aback at first, then gave a wry smile. He asked softly, "Have you said these things to the boss?"

The girl from Qiu shook her head.

"Then I'm really lucky." He rubbed his nose. "Why didn't you tell him all this—that bastard fox usually seems carefree, but he cares most about you little guys. Does he think others can't see it? You, and those two dolls, he raises them like daughters—but you don't want to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. I don't know if this guy is stupid or arrogant, he just keeps his head down and researches, saying that one day he will repair your souls as well."

He shook his head and said helplessly, "The boss has it tough too."

Xiao Qi suddenly quickened her pace. Luo Nan glanced at her clenched fist and then secretly chuckled as he followed her.

"My boss saved me," Qi said. "I thought I could never be saved—from when I was five, from when my skin started to be covered in downy hair, from when the doctor diagnosed me with severe degeneration and classified me as an 'Indus', from when my parents abandoned me in a public care facility, from when I was evicted from the facility and then abducted."

"I should have died long ago; there's no reason for me to be alive now."

Qi said softly, "Perhaps it was a miracle that I was given a new life. Originally, I wanted to repay the boss for saving me with loyalty, but I never received any feedback. The boss used to always look terrifying. We respected him, respected his power and authority, and gave him our strength, but we no longer thought about anything else."

"And now—" she murmured, "the boss has changed. I long for him now—it's like, if I want to snuggle into his arms and act cute, he'll gently stroke my head and listen attentively to what I have to say, instead of asking me about my progress in studying the rules, like before—"

—Maybe I can start to understand my boss a little bit more.

"A new life—perhaps I'm not the only one facing this change." Xiao Qi had long realized that her boss had undergone some kind of incomprehensible rebirth at a certain point. She had felt lost because the person she was "loyal to" no longer seemed to be the same mentor she used to be.

"But I might actually prefer my current boss, right?"

Listening to Xiao Qi's heartfelt words, Ronan smiled like an aunt, "He might really like the way you two laugh. Go back and be more affectionate with him, smile more and stop being so cold. Don't be fooled by that old fox who's always laughing and joking; your boss still really wants to see you change."

—Damn, I need to get Ai to give me a promotion and a raise when I get back.

"But we still need to deal with this mess first—" He put his hands behind his neck, tilted his head back, and said softly, "Only by truly burning away everything from the past can we properly welcome a new beginning, right?"

The next moment —

Ronan tilted his head slightly, and a bullet that had appeared in the darkness whizzed past the spot where his head had been a second earlier.

—Tsk.

Sensing the temperature changes, flames silently leaped in his eyes, illuminating the pitch-black facility as if it were daytime. Malice flowed rampantly in this narrow space, accompanied by an unsettling "beep beep" sound.

Then the next moment—

"Bomb One"

A deafening roar, billowing dust, and violently shaking roof beams—light travels faster than sound. Behind Ronan's pupils, a cloud of swirling smoke and dust swept in from the end of the passage, accompanied by a dazzling flame, instantly burying the two tiny figures.

explosion!

"It's finally here."

Ronan licked his suddenly dry lips and, in the nearby flames, revealed a chilling smile.

—That's more like it! Digging tunnels, betraying, plotting, raiding—that's the kind of behavior that fits the stereotypes of people from the outskirts.

"A bunch of rats—" Ronan slowly spread his arms as he looked at the small mushroom cloud in front of him. His lips moved, but his next words were drowned out by the loud noise.

"————"

"

The fire and smoke obscured everything.

I don't know how much time has passed.

There were already enough ruins in the wasteland; one more wouldn't attract much attention. So, figures began to emerge from the darkness from all directions, like cockroaches crawling out of cracks and crevices.

"Is it resolved?" They hesitated at the edge of the ruins, the dust from the explosion still lingering, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

"He should be dead by now—we've brought out our best stuff." Someone said confidently.

"Brother, if this one survives, I'll eat it!"

Amidst the clamor of discussion, some bent over laughing wildly on the dark earth, while others pounded the ground and wept bitterly—the pressure that had accumulated day after day was finally released at this moment, and they had finally succeeded in defeating the authority of their enemy.

"Who's going to clean this up?" They looked at each other. "Dump the body in front of Gray Court!"

"No, stuff them into the canning machine, can them, and send them to them!"

"I can't wait to see—even those bastards are scared."

As they talked, the group cautiously made their way to the buried ruins.

And at the same moment—

A flame, initially faint but gradually surging, ignited in the hazy dust. The moment it appeared, the violent wave of flames instantly ignited everything in its path, imprinting pairs of eyes frozen in fear deep within them.

"Even foundations have to follow these rules, but some people just don't understand them —"

The apprentice of fire spreads his arms forward, his body, covered in soot and black as cast iron, resembles a cross driven into the earth, a sacred and invincible silhouette.

—No harm even with smoke.

The flames burned away the soot from his face, revealing Ronan's menacing white teeth to the crowd.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, you bastards."

He said that dragging the giant sword, which was half a person's height, behind him, he carved a deep mark on the ruins, and the weight of the iron pressed the earth into a trench—every step was like a demon walking on earth, trampling on the already shaky courage of the lowly.

"Next, we'll kill, you run."

The next second, the flaming greatsword in his hand transformed into a powerful arrow, hurled with resolute force, cutting through the crowd in a scorching arc, pinning the loudest rat to the spot.

Someone tried to snatch the sword, but instantly turned into a howling fireball.

Ronan strolled leisurely into the circle of people, pulled out his Everlasting Flame and slung it over his shoulder, then turned and smiled.

"Now, the game begins."

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