He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 115 EGO·Paradise Restored

As an early member, the stranglers, led by Lionheart, have climbed to the top ranks: at least they have people who listen to them, and even the mysterious core members of Grey Court sometimes pull them over to do manual labor.

Even if it's just manual labor, the training opportunity given by your boss is a blessing. Besides, the work assigned to you is troublesome, but not dangerous—the main task is to keep these guys from fighting each other.

With the menacing gray fog watching from the sidelines, everything proceeded smoothly.

"It looks like a giant pyramid scheme operation—"

The core members of the Grey Court had already arrived at the scene. The chaotic scene below was unsettling. Mia, who had been pinging for a while, couldn't help but complain, "If this kind of illegal gathering happened anywhere in the lower city, the court would have to personally send down a couple of cleaners to keep order."

Lin seemed indifferent. "At least they can stay together peacefully for now, without beating each other senseless. That's enough for now."

These factions, some of whom were even hostile to each other before being violently co-opted, can now at least get together for meetings, which shows that what happened a month ago has indeed left a deep impression on them.

As for the people in the suburbs, no matter how strange and terrifying the power that Gray Court displayed was, it was of no consequence—as long as they were alive, they could endure almost any kind of suffering.

"It's just a powerful company that's beyond comprehension"—that's what many people think.

As for this long-planned coronation ceremony, the mastermind was Lin, who is now the head housekeeper of the suburbs: she knows better than anyone else what kind of people the people under her command are.

There might be high-level talents like "Ankasha" in it, but the probability is like getting a gold character in a single pull from a pool without a pity system.

Most people are like rats accustomed to scavenging in garbage dumps, or vultures circling above carcasses. Their numb minds can only think about "how to survive," making them no different from animals lacking initiative.

—Loyalty is a question that lies beneath the surface of things, or rather, the concept of loyalty simply doesn't exist in the eyes of people from the outskirts of the city—while Lin places her hopes on her boss.

That fox—maybe it has a solution?

"Hmm—" But upon closer reflection, Lin suddenly realized her plan seemed a bit flawed. While Ai could be quite intimidating at certain times, having him display his authority in front of everyone was a mistake—

—Uh, really?

"Manager."

Lin shuddered, but before she could continue thinking, she was interrupted. A lion over two meters tall, covered in fur, walked in. "The time for the announcement is approaching—most of the able-bodied people in the entire suburbs are gathered here. When does the ceremony begin?"

Lionheart was also annoyed by the free-spirited suburban folks, but in front of Lin, who only reached his navel, he could only suppress his emotions. "Please understand—the integration has been too short. Although most people are sensible, there are always some who don't understand the situation and can't comprehend the greatness of that person."

"How long can they stay here quietly—" Lionheart murmured, then slowly fell silent, looking somewhat comical with his terrifying appearance, but Lin understood his subtext.

—It means: We don't know how long we can keep the situation under control, and when the boss will arrive.

"Where's the lighting crew? Are they in place yet?——" Not knowing what was going on with Fox, Lin kept sending him private messages to urge him on while abruptly changing the subject.

Although it was a makeshift stage, everyone pulled out everything they could from the outskirts for this ceremony, including a temporary stage (converted from a pulpit) and a dozen searchlights brought from Kane. These were originally used by a certain idol band from downtown when they came here for a charity performance, and now they were being used to light up the fox.

"Can it really work?"

Mia witnessed the entire process of the makeshift stage going into operation, and couldn't help but feel dizzy. If it were any other occasion, she could take it as a joke, but in her own boss's coronation ceremony—it was a bit hard to accept.

"This all depends on our boss's free rein—"

Thinking back to Ai's usual image, the antler girl shuddered. "A pure deer person, I think this is doomed."

Building a prestigious image is difficult, but its collapse can happen in an instant—similar to the case of an authority figure.

Lin was about to roll her eyes at her when Nie, who was standing to the side, tugged at her sleeve.

"It's coming." She pointed to the dimly lit distance, then silently walked to a corner and crouched down, covering her head in defense.

"?" Seeing Nie's unusual behavior, Lin was stunned for a moment, and then she noticed that Ronan on the other side had also noticed something and silently raised his head, the fire in his eyes suddenly flaring up.

"What is it?" he muttered something strange, but the next moment he trembled, his burning pupils like candle flames that were almost blown out.

Lin tilted her head in confusion, a familiar chill suddenly rising from the bottom of her heart.

"etc"

She stiffly raised her head.

A blinding spot of light fell directly into the center of the field of vision.

It wasn't a month ago.

Stepping onto the unchanging, pitch-black earth, Ai thought to herself.

—Even if it were just a few days earlier, he wouldn't have been able to reach this state: the height of the first stage of ascent was an absolute numerical weakness, and even with the foundation of gray, he couldn't unleash the full potential of this power.

But things are different now.

The second base provides a more solid support for the Gray Mask: because severity is also a form of inhumanity—

As for myself—

The shift in thought brought about a change in the mind. The leap from "finding a fulcrum" to "becoming a fulcrum" made Ai Yi feel like she was reborn.

The pain and confusion that were once unbearable become insignificant when viewed from a more grand perspective.

Now, the mere gray matter, lingering in the remote suburbs, can help him complete this manifestation—even if it's just supporting an empty shell, it still falls under the name of "taboo," a terrifying posture that transcends mortal understanding.

—Such a ceremony—

Ai couldn't help but burst into laughter: "It will definitely leave everyone with the most profound impression of their lives."

The next moment, he took a step forward and disappeared into the gray door in front of him.

The time for the ceremony has arrived.

The wait was unbearable for the people in the suburbs. They had never participated in any kind of gathering in such a "united" way before, not to mention that there was hostility all around them. The lingering gray fog was unsettling, and the "vigilance and suspicion" that the surrounding crowd constantly exuded made them feel like they were sitting on pins and needles.

Although order can be maintained with difficulty, under such heavy pressure, the restoration of chaos is only a matter of time.

—Have you ever met the Father of Light?

None—we haven't even seen that messenger.

—A new ruler—and so powerful.

—And what's different?

—I really hope I'm still alive when they fall—

Similar conversations were spreading every minute of every day. After all, in such a short time, a regime established through violence simply couldn't generate any semblance of cohesion.

So, a voice suddenly transcended all media and seemed to ring in everyone's ears.

"In the prophecy of the Father of Light's return, I had it sung aloud—"

No one could find the source of the sound, and the commotion instantly swept through the crowd—although their guns had been confiscated before they entered, the competent suburbanites could still pull out strangely shaped weapons from various parts of their bodies—to aim at the strangers who were still chatting enthusiastically just a second ago.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

But that gentle voice, like some kind of natural law, still flows into everyone's mind without bias.

"I said, inform every ear in the suburbs, tell those fools who call themselves the lords of the suburbs, those faction agents, that they are lowly scum who can't wait to make their presence known while I'm away for a while."

An unknown chill took hold of everything at some unknown point in time—it rose from the scalp fluid, and by the time everyone realized its effects, they were already unable to do anything.

In a powerful surge of emotion, like moths drawn to a flame, gazes began to lift up and fixate on the direction of the sky.

Everyone can see that shadow.

He froze in the void, like a broken silhouette, yet like the darkness of the earth, he became the constant background color of this place, a part of the world.

"A pack of ungrateful dogs—"

A radiant glow flowed around him, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

I don't know how much time has passed.

Time wrinkled and curled up as he approached, stretched and rubbed inch by inch, yet it still reached that promised end.

And so, the twilight season finally passed.

Darkness suddenly descended.

The silence is the bait of fear; people are like orphans in a lost era of the Way of Light, infants who dare not cry in the strong swaddling clothes of darkness, or young beasts hiding from their predators in deep caves.

Before the mercy of light had arrived, just as in the eternal ignorance before creation, the next moment, silently lit from the boundless darkness, was a pair of eyes.

That person is laughing.

"now----"

At the very center of that trembling, madly charged iris, surrounded by turbidity, flowed a blood-red and azure light in its perfectly round pupil, as if blocking the abyss that dissolved divinity, etching its merciless radiance into the depths of every trembling mind: "The true master has returned."

The suburbs had never been so silent. Sounds were swallowed back between countless trembling lips, the oxygen-deprived feedback coming from deep within the throat. The cold, rotten air, dulled, solidified, and froze in the even more biting light—

The cold is unfathomable; unable to follow the wind, they choose to follow the light instead.

Everywhere there was a hazy light and fog—the light path was not transparent at all, as if it had been cast from a frosted glass container. Transparent and sticky limbs emerged between the light beams, intertwining and growing to become a curtain covering the dome.

This light curtain is not breathable, not vibrant, and terribly cold, like dead iron.

The world feels infinitely cramped, like an embryo being squeezed back into its womb.

The red liquid imprisoned within flowed with shrill cries.

"Gurgle————"

'

Lin nestled Nie against her chest like a pillow, the silence shielding her from the bone-chilling cold, finally allowing her frozen lips to move and utter a faint sound, "Holy shit."

Mia huddled behind Ronan, and although the fire in his eyes flickered weakly, she still held the antlered girl to her chest, constantly taking deep breaths to suppress her wildly beating heart.

"Boss————"

.

The gray color is level with the horizon.

This petite shadow, just like the upheaval that triggered the "Light Erosion Disaster" a month ago, disregarded the distance that lay between nothingness, like a resolute mark that connected spirit and reality, etched behind the pupils of every living being.

"You can cover your eyes, do whatever you want."

—because covering it up is useless.

The soft voice wasn't terrifying, but it was cold enough.

Gray mist spread out, and the broken wings behind the figure leaned against the shadow. The huge mechanical body was like a bleeding cross, and the glow was like blood, dripping down the pure white wax wood behind him and disappearing into the soil.

"I am here, so all life will be illuminated by me—like returning to the womb and the eggshell, everything will be reborn in blood—"

Black and white crows and pigeons circled the cross above the earth, raising feathers that filled the sky. Their mournful cries were like elegiac songs, until those tightly curled mechanical wings were suddenly unfurled in a ferocious manner.

"I still cherish the memory of the time when the sun still hung high in the sky, and all those who were illuminated by its light must praise my radiance and remember the mercy I bestowed."

Hatching behind those layers of mechanical wings was a huge, smooth egg.

"then----"

The egg's surface was covered with scales arranged in layers like a serpent's body. Countless eyes, interpreting reason perfectly through geometry, split open from the center of each oval scale, revealing a bizarre and blasphemous scene, yet at this moment, it was sacred and beyond reproach: as if this form were the correct orthodoxy, the offspring of propriety.

""

Even though Ronan wasn't the one chosen by the main body that was affected, he still couldn't stop his mouth from going dry as he watched this scene from afar.

"This is—the true form of that forbidden being—"

Its grandeur is as if it were born from the scriptures of mythology!

At this moment, coldness and heat are intertwined and dissolved into a single substance.

His pupils burned fiercely, but his heart froze.

Witnessing that a great mind is the residue left after being washed away by the great tide, all "anger," "despair," "fear," and "doubt" are dispersed by the great power in the eyes and turned into weathered sand and gravel.

In the very end, all that remains is the most basic instinct of life.

—To Worship—Offering with Devotion Countless wide-open eyes are the channels for receiving mercy. Pupils are like doors, and whether it is flesh and blood, or a prosthetic body, or even a cold inorganic matter, all must tremble under the gaze of light.

Then comes the rising pride and glory.

Holy! Holy!

The kneeling crowd surged like waves, their raised necks a greedy attempt to swallow mercy. They used their pupils as mouths to drink the radiance pouring down from the eggs, like travelers in the desert swallowing a living spring, like children cutting milk and honey from a tree.

The light shone for a long time, and after dusk ended—which should have been the darkness of nightfall—the entire suburbs were now shrouded in a flowing crimson glow.

Until the egg murmured.

"Kindness is earned with love and blood."

A gentle voice, like the sun's low-hanging red flames.

The next instant, the murky pupil hanging high in the sky suddenly went out.

Infinite silence.

The people kneeling in the darkness looked at each other in bewilderment.

—Light—Where is the light?

—Where did He go?————

Anxiety breeds and grows in the cracks of fear until it engulfs everything.

"Crimson—Crimson—"

In despair, someone cried out, "Offer His blood—we must be merciful, we must be merciful!"

"The mercy of illumination—the grace of light—"

—No merit, only bloodshed.

Thus, life chose to exchange blood for mercy.

And so, people's eyes cracked open, and blood seeped out from within, one second at a time.

"Click," a sound came from the darkness, like striking a match in a black box. After the soft sound, a faint flame illuminated a face—Ai's face.

As he emerged from the giant egg behind him, the light was rekindled.

The light is not blood-red at this moment.

Instead, it was azure—

The dark blue light, like tiny icicles, refracted from behind the sealed curtain, seemingly rising and falling in a surging ocean—the tide of light refracted the turbidity that nurtures all things, and the vividness of a sunset—it was a transparent whale, breathing a long, heavy breath in its eternal flow.

Ai took a step forward.

—A messenger who was born from the womb of the Father of Light and arrived in the present world.

From then on, Grey and Ai's identities formed a closed loop.

—The light of inhumanity, the egg of mercy.

"All done," the fox chuckled.