Scalding, sticky.
Even through the Shadow Armor, Guan Tong could still feel the warmth of Adam’s blood splashing onto him.
For a moment he couldn’t bring himself to look back at Adam, he knew that amount of bleeding could completely kill a person.
Guan Tong could only stiffly stare ahead at the little girl standing with her small hands raised, who looked no older than two or three. Her flushed, rosy face was absolutely Adam’s daughter.
Memories of what Adam had told him rose in Guan Tong’s mind: his daughter was born with powerful Mind Power, and she had inherited abilities from both her father and mother.
That meant Adam’s field just now had been neutralized by his daughter using the same ability when she was teleported in.
And because it was his daughter who appeared in the teleportation array, Adam froze the moment he recognized her, forgot to defend, and took on fifty times gravity head-on.
But how could this be? Had Paul mentally controlled her?
Guan Tong’s Shadow Blades drifted around his body, just like their master, wavering and unsure.
Then he suddenly saw two lines of tears spill from the expressionless girl’s eyes.
Slap.
He felt his ankle being grabbed, and when he looked down he saw a hand stained red with blood.
A very weak voice rang in his mind.
“Shadow... don’t kill... her... save... her...”
“Adam!” Guan Tong’s voice trembled as he turned, only to see shards of metal exoskeleton scattered on the ground and a sight he could not bear to look at...
He turned back, knowing Adam could not speak in his final moments, and managed only to leave that last sentence through the Mind Network.
A deep, helpless feeling spread through him. The Shadows beside him seemed to sense his pain, uncontrollably distorting in response.
“Father.” The little girl turned, pointing to the tear tracks on her face, “This, why?”
Yishan and Guan Tong both jolted when they heard the girl call Bruce “Father.”
Bruce frowned slightly, then said gently, “It’s nothing, you’re just not used to it yet.”
The little girl nodded, her body going limp as she fainted, like a physical collapse after exhausting Mind Power.
Bruce steadied her with one hand while keeping his other hand pressing on his scepter.
“Bruce...” Guan Tong’s voice called out. Bruce looked up.
He saw a mass of twisted Shadows surrounding Guan Tong, radiating an extremely dangerous aura.
“What did you do to Adam’s daughter?” a deep voice came from within the Shadows.
Bruce replied coldly, “She is no longer Adam’s daughter. She is my son Gaelid.”
At those words, Yishan, seated not far away on the floor, widened her eyes and said, “Gaelid... my brother... how could...”
She could not believe her brother was still alive, but how could that be her brother?
“You transferred Gaelid’s memories into Adam’s daughter’s brain. The Eden Project’s real purpose was not to breed some savior, but to find a powerful host for your son to inhabit.” Guan Tong said.
Only then did he understand why the Eden Project ended so abruptly, why Bruce insisted on capturing Your Holiness Paul alive, and why Bruce was obsessed with memory digitization to the point of neglecting state affairs.
Bruce fell silent for a moment after hearing this, then said in a low voice, “This world is cruel. Any weakness invites destruction. Adam didn’t understand this, so even though he possessed the powerful ability to control fields, he still died because of his own weakness.
You are the same, Shadow. Even if you know I downloaded Gaelid’s memories into her brain, what can you do? Kill her? You had the chance to act just now, but you hesitated because you saw the tears she left behind and thought she retained some consciousness, so you couldn’t bring yourself to strike.”
Countless Shadows lunged at Bruce. He forcefully pressed the button on the side of his scepter, and with a cracking sound the scepter shattered. A barrier formed, enveloping Bruce.
This was a special barrier, immune to the effects of the Shadow Domain. All shadow attacks were blocked; even when Guan Tong pushed his Mind Power to the maximum, he still couldn’t break through.
“You wouldn’t kill her, so you would kill me, then take her away and try to peel Gaelid’s memories out. That was your choice, wasn’t it?”
A teleportation array lit up beneath Bruce’s feet. He looked at the Shadows coldly, with eyes that saw through Guan Tong.
“Shadow, here’s a piece of advice: take your abilities and hide in some deserted corner to complete the Rules challenge. You might have a better chance of surviving until the end.
If you keep involving yourself in this world’s affairs, you’ll face more cruelty. This world treats no one kindly, no matter how strong they are.”
With that, the teleportation glow vanished. Bruce and Ye Dang’s daughter disappeared without a trace.
Wensilisa Castle fell silent. Heads littered the floor, red mingling into a small river. The shattered metal fragments of the altered bodies floated like tiny boats.
The Shadow Domain lifted. Guan Tong, still clad in the Shadow Battle Suit, stood motionless for a long time.
There was one living person left in the hall: Yishan, sitting on the floor.
Bruce hadn’t taken her—perhaps he hadn’t had time, or perhaps he never cared whether she lived or died from the start.
“Shadow, kill me.” Yishan’s face was ashen as she spoke mechanically.
She wasn’t as clever as Bruce or Han Qiu, but she was capable enough to see through what had happened.
Her wedding had been bait from the beginning; her father Bruce had lured Adam there to kill him, severing the chance that Adam’s daughter—who retained fragments of her father’s consciousness—might someday recognize her real father.
And her fiance Han Qiu—she had once believed him ignorant, but she had been wrong. Han Qiu was worse than Bruce; he treated everything like a virtual game and had never genuinely cared for her.
Now Bruce, in order to “resurrect” Gaelid, had downloaded his memories into a little girl’s brain. Yishan thought he had gone mad, and that the world had gone mad.
She only wanted to leave this insane world.
Guan Tong turned his head slightly toward her.
Separated by the Shadows, she couldn’t see his eyes, but she felt he wasn’t looking at her; he was looking beside her.
Beside her?
Yishan turned her head. Where Han Qiu’s head should have been—severed by shadow hands—there was nothing at all. The spot was empty.
What happened? Han Qiu?!
You grab at it with bare hands and there’s nothing, where did this corpse go?!
She looked up at Guan Tong, hoping for an answer, only to see him wrap the broken remnants of Adam with Shadows and turn to walk into the castle.
Guan Tong ignored her and quickly vanished from sight.
The hall was left with only Yishan alive. She looked around, covered her face, and wept.
After an unknown length of time, she felt her tears run dry. Bruce’s words to Guan Tong suddenly surfaced in her mind:
“This world is cruel. Any weakness invites destruction.”
Why can they treat me so cruelly and blame it on the world? Why can’t I be just as cruel to them?
Yishan stood up. At this moment she no longer wanted to die.