Chapter 134: The Decision

"You're finally here? It's all over." By the time Liu Tian had finished putting his clothes back on, Lu Mingfei, who had been the closest, arrived belatedly.

"Where's Angers? Turned into fragments of a powerhouse?" Lu Mingfei asked as he deactivated Time Zero, immediately feeling a wave of intense dizziness wash over his brain. It took him quite a while to steady himself.

"Yeah, completely gone," Liu Tian said. "What a pity. A warrior whose state of mind fit the true essence of the Heavenly Martial Asura Path so well. If he had lived in the Sea Tiger universe, perhaps he would have been far, far stronger than he is now."

"Brother Tian, you don't seem very happy?" Lu Mingfei asked cautiously.

"A bit, though of course not because I obliterated Angers." As he spoke, Liu Tian spread his hands and pointed at the apocalyptic landscape around them. "Look, these people who were living here just moments ago did nothing wrong, yet suddenly met with this catastrophic disaster."

"I don't feel like I did anything wrong; even if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change my actions—I'm just feeling a bit contemplative. People without power are just like the weeds by the roadside, possessing no right to choose whatsoever. I need to become stronger, stronger, and stronger still."

"That's enough for today. I'm a bit tired, so you'll handle the cleanup—I'll credit you with double the points." Liu Tian suddenly let out a long sigh. Concentrating his entire body and mind to battle an entity capable of threatening his life for nearly an hour was not without its toll. Combined with the fact that the number of people who died because of him in this past hour was ten or a hundred times greater than all his previous kills combined, it left him—someone not entirely unhinged—feeling slightly melancholic.

As he spoke, Liu Tian controlled the electromagnetic field to suspend himself in the air. "When I was fighting Angers, I sensed another Dragon King down in the depths of the earth. It was nearly dead before, and by now it should be basically dead. Go bring its corpse back, and while you're at it, scavenge anything else that looks useful."

"I imagine that after this battle, no idiot will dare to stand in your way. If there are any, just kill them all—with Time Zero and 'Do Not Die' as your two bug-like Spiritual Disciplines, while simultaneously being able to nullify the Spiritual Disciplines of others, you are practically invincible to ordinary people."

"Don't fail the mission."

With a blessing, Liu Tian reached out. A satellite phone dropped from his spatial storage into his hand. With a thought, regular electromagnetic waves connected to the satellite in the sky, and soon, brand-new satellite images were transmitted to the phone.

"It looks like a crooked 'S' character." Glancing at the satellite photo and looking up at the moon gradually rising in the sky, Liu Tian suddenly conceived a new idea, and he possessed the ability to bring that idea to reality.

Since that was the case, he would just do it.

Wasn't my power born precisely to fulfill my desires?

Liu Tian raised his head and soared rapidly up into the sky.

"The way back isn't in that direction, sigh." Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "Whatever, Brother Tian might have other plans. I suppose I'll go handle the cleanup—double points! Combined with what I had before, I can redeem that silly dragon Clarke Athena. Our second anniversary since meeting is coming up soon; I'll use this as a gift for her."

Having settled on this thought, Lu Mingfei didn't even bother to look at the unfamiliar blonde man and the two unseen girls who had finally caught up, and instead turned and flew toward Cassel College.

Time was pressing; going over early might give him a one-in-a-million hope of bringing back a barely surviving Dragon King. Right now, there was no need to waste time talking to strangers.

Meanwhile, on another continent, a black-haired girl inside a massive mansion was learning how to make a birthday cake.

She was a girl who fit traditional aesthetic standards: long black hair, a figure that wasn't overly explosive yet possessed graceful, well-defined curves, with delicate eyebrows and clear eyes. Clearly sculpted with care, she looked gentle even when frowning. However, the way she rolled up her sleeves and furiously beat eggs was as frantic as the fat butcher holding two massive cleavers in *Cadillacs and Dinosaurs*, as if she were venting her inner dissatisfaction through the action.

*Why on earth did I redeem the mortal purification ritual first? Just so I could make a birthday cake with my own hands? Am I out of my mind? Hanging out with Lu Mingfei every day, that lunatic who goes crazy from time to time, has he driven me crazy too?*

While studying the instructional manual, Clarke Athena fiercely cursed herself inwardly.

Forget it, forget it. In another month, that guy will turn nineteen. He hasn't celebrated his birthday in ten years. I'll give him a surprise then and see if I can catch him weeping bitterly. I'll tell him then: it doesn't matter if nobody loves you, it doesn't matter if nobody remembers your birthday, your mother Clarke Athena still loves you.

Comforting herself in her mind and picturing the scene, a smile inexplicably blossomed on Clarke Athena's face.

………………

At Cassel College, a masked young man in tactical gear was struggling to explore the ruins—this was Old Tang, who had been chased out of the internet café not long ago.

Normally, at this time, by convention he would be exploring various mysterious ruins. In this world, due to the existence of dragons, exploring ruins carried high risks but yielded generous rewards; at worst, a single job would keep him fed for a year. It was thoroughly suited for someone like Old Tang, who inexplicably possessed a premonition of danger and a bizarre kind of luck.

This time, however, an anonymous employer had hired him, telling him that as long as he confirmed the death or survival of a specific person inside Cassel College after it completely collapsed, and took good photos, he would be paid one million credits.

Wealth moves the heart. With this money, Old Tang could finally realize his long-held dream of returning to the East to trace his roots. Therefore, gritting his teeth and knowing full well the danger, he accepted the mission.

Thanks to the mysterious person's instructions, Old Tang had managed to avoid Angers's massacre, and by sheer luck, he hadn't happened to cross paths with the route where Liu Tian and Angers fought. After everyone else had cleared out, the mercenary followed the directions, arrived at the ruined academy, breached a passageway, and trudged deep underground.

It was grueling.

The underground passages of Cassel College were already intricate to begin with, and following Angers's massacre and the battle between Liu Tian and him, the cave-ins made navigation even more difficult. Yet, relying on the instructions from the mysterious person in his earpiece and a tiny bit of luck, Old Tang gradually approached his target.

Yet the closer he got, the more Old Tang felt a strange sensation—a feeling he didn't particularly enjoy, an inexplicable urge to retreat.

Clearly, the target location in the instructions was right before his eyes. The employer had even lowered the requirements, stating that he only needed to look at that location and would be paid regardless of whether the person was there or not. There were no other living souls around either; it was as simple a task as deciding how many bowls of rice to eat for dinner.

Yet Old Tang simply didn't want to go—he *deeply* did not want to go. He stood before a sealed bronze door, his hand resting upon it, unable to summon the resolve to push it open. It felt as though what awaited him behind that door wasn't one million credits, but a pitch-black maw—a gaping mouth capable of swallowing him whole.

*Damn it, damn it, why am I hesitating so much? There's one million credits right in front of me! With this money, I can retire immediately. What on earth am I hesitating for?*

"Old Tang, oh Old Tang, that's a million right there! A million! What are you still hesitating for?"

After pausing for several dozen minutes, torn between his intuition and the million credits, Old Tang finally slapped himself across the face, muttered to himself, and made his decision—*time to slip away. Trust your gut; Old Tang, you're just not cut out to make a huge fortune. Better run for your life; you only live once.*

Just as Old Tang turned around to leave, a familiar voice drifted over: "Old Tang, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, whose voice is this? Old Lu?" Old Tang turned his head. A handsome youth with fine features, a slender build, and wearing a black military uniform—someone he had never seen before—appeared before his eyes. The young man had delicate facial features, a tall stature, and a black trench coat gently fluttering behind him. His expression was calm and indifferent, as if he had weathered countless trials and tribulations so that nothing in this world could ever break his composure again.

The moment he saw the newcomer, Old Tang even suspected that his covert activities had been exposed and that this bizarre, ruined academy had dispatched a legendary super-agent to silence him. Subconsciously, he began pondering what posture he should adopt to beg for his life.

It wasn't until Lu Mingfei patted him on the shoulder and greeted him with a smile that he snapped out of it: "With those signature droopy eyebrows of yours, you must be Old Tang. Don't worry, I'm an outsider too, sent by the leader to scavenge and clean up the battlefield. No need to be scared."

"Uh, so you weren't just bragging before?" The newcomer finally acknowledged his identity, yet Old Tang couldn't reconcile him with the 'Old Lu' from the internet who was constantly being carried by him, whose skills were terrible yet whose addiction to gaming was severe. After a long moment of speechlessness, he stammered out the question.

"How could that be? I hate lying—therefore, I never lie myself," Lu Mingfei said calmly.