Qin Weiguo took a deep breath, the cold air carrying a strong scent of blood and decay, irritating his nasal passages.
He picked up a megaphone, and his icy voice echoed through it, resonating over the dead silent ruins, carrying an undeniable authority and… a trace of cold… final ultimatum!
“Ling Chen! I know you’re here! And… you heard it!”
His voice pierced the silence, clearly reaching everyone’s ears, and… entering the depths of those dead silent ruins.
“You betrayed your human identity! Degenerated into a bloodthirsty mutant! Murdered The Boulder’s warriors! Destroyed the fortress’s equipment!
Your crimes… are too numerous to count!”
“Now! Immediately! Put down your weapons! Disarm! Come out! Accept judgment! This is your… only way to survive!”
“Otherwise… The Boulder’s wrath! Will completely… level this place… to the ground!”
The cold threat echoed over the ruins, carrying an iron-blooded resolve. The soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, the atmosphere tense to the extreme.
Qin Weiguo turned slightly, his gaze falling on Chen Xue behind him, who was being supported by two soldiers, her face as pale as paper, her eyes hollow and despairing.
Her body trembled slightly, as if a gust of wind could knock her over.
“Chen Xue.”
Qin Weiguo’s voice was low and carried an undeniable command.
“You were his former… ‘benefactor’. Perhaps… he might listen to… your words. Tell him… to surrender! This is… the last chance!”
Chen Xue’s body trembled violently! As if struck by a whip! Immense pain and struggle instantly surged in her hollow eyes!
She looked at Qin Weiguo’s cold, undeniable gaze, then at the dead silent ruins, like the gaping maw of an abyss… her heart felt as if it was being tightly squeezed by a cold hand!
She didn’t want to come! She didn’t want to face it!
She couldn’t accept that the young man who once coughed weakly in her arms had turned into a… Bone Eater Realm monster! A… murderer! But… military orders were like mountains! She… had no choice!
The two soldiers almost half-supported, half-dragged her to Qin Weiguo’s side, stuffing a megaphone into her cold, trembling hand.
Chen Xue clutched the cold megaphone tightly, her knuckles turning white from the effort.
She raised her head, looking towards the depths of the dark ruins, her amber pupils filled with tears, pain, struggle, and… a faint glimmer of hope… that even she couldn’t understand?
She took a deep breath, the cold air cutting her throat like a knife.
She used all her strength to barely keep her voice from trembling too much, and through the megaphone, with a choked voice and desperate plea, it echoed over the dead silent ruins:
“Ling… Ling Chen… It’s me… Chen Xue…”
Her voice was clearly choked, appearing exceptionally fragile in the night wind.
“Will you… will you come out? Please… don’t… don’t kill anymore… okay?”
“I know… you… you might not… be willing… you might… be controlled by something… right?”
“You… you come back… come back… we… we’ll figure out a way together… to cure you… okay?”
“The Boulder… the fortress… and… and me… we… we are all… all willing… to give you another chance… truly…”
Her voice grew softer and softer, tears rolling down like broken pearls, mixing with the cold sweat and dust on her face.
Her words, rather than a plea for surrender, were more like a desperate girl’s… final, humble… prayer to the “critically wounded” young man in her memory.
Her words clearly reached the depths of the ruins.
Giraffe Pavilion Observation Deck.
Ling Chen stood silently in the shadows, his crimson pupils like burning flames, piercing the darkness, clearly “seeing” the girl outside the gate, shivering in the cold wind, tear-streaked, and choked with sobs.
A cold curve slowly formed at the corner of his mouth.
In that curve, there was a hint of… playfulness? A hint of… mockery? A hint of… indescribable… complexity?
He slowly raised his hand, palm up. A wisp of dark red blood seeped out like a living thing, condensing in his palm into a… small, earphone-like… blood crystal device.
He gently brought the blood crystal device to his lips, and his cold, slightly lazy and magnetic voice, through the will of the Soul Jade Physique, clearly, as if whispering in everyone’s ears, echoed over the ruins… into Chen Xue’s ears:
“Chen Xue…”
His voice was calm and unruffled, yet it carried a power that could pierce through people’s hearts.
“Thank you for your… ‘kindness’.”
“But…”
His voice paused slightly, a hint of… indescribable… indifference and… a trace of… weariness, as if from the abyss… flashed in his crimson pupils?
“We… can’t… go back.”
“This path… is one I chose myself. There’s no… turning back.”
“You… will never understand… what I’ve been through… nor will you understand… what… I need.”
“Give up. Leave here. While… there’s still time.”
His voice disappeared.
As if it had never appeared.
Leaving only those cold words, like the sharpest ice pick, piercing deeply into Chen Xue’s heart! Completely… shattering… her last faint glimmer of hope!
“Ugh…” Chen Xue let out an extremely suppressed, heartbroken sob! Her body swayed violently! The megaphone in her hand clattered to the ground!
As if all her strength had been drained, she slumped softly into the arms of the soldier supporting her, tears streaming out, but she could no longer make any sound.
Despair! Complete despair! It… completely… engulfed her!
Qin Weiguo looked at Chen Xue’s breakdown, his eyes devoid of any ripple, only cold resolve. He slowly raised his hand.
“Target confirmed! Stubborn resistance! Annihilation operation… begin!”
The cold command was like a death knell! It marked… the prelude to… the Blood Moon Final Battle!