“Please die.”


    Everyone froze at Qing Wani’s words.


    He caught everyone off guard. No one, not even Li Huowang, had anticipated him to say something like that. They didn’t think he was capable of it.


    “Fuck!” Ba Nanxu cursed.


    With a deep drag of her cigarette, she prepared to blow Qing Wani’s head off.


    However, Zhao Shuangdian stopped her. “Don’t be rash. Let him finish.”


    Unlike the others, Zhao Shuangdian remained eerilyposed.


    Qing Wani turned to Li Huowang. “I need you to die. The projections on both sides must shrink simultaneously. You don’t see what I see, Li Huowang. You can barely contact the other projection, but I have a way to contact my true self and figure out what to do. This is the only way.”


    Li Huowang’s eyes narrowed. “Every projection? Every projection? Are you saying everyone here—including the Simings—is just a projection to you? You want to destroy everything? <em>This </em>is your n?”Qing Wani nodded confidently and without hesitation. “Li Huowang, you have to see the bigger picture. Some things must be sacrificed for the greater good.”


    Li Huowang stared at Qing Wani as though seeing him for the first time.


    Qing Wani smiled faintly and patted Li Huowang’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I know what you’re afraid of. But our death this time is not the end—it’s the beginning. We’re just projections, less important than you think. Once the crisis is over, we can be projected again and live in peace.”


    Li Huowang’s mouth parted slowly. “You crazy bastard!”


    Li Huowang finally understood what kind of person Qing Wani was. He wasn’t just misguided. He was <em>deranged</em>—a madman, a lunatic!


    Disappointment flickered briefly in Qing Wani’s eyes. “Li Huowang, you’ve let me down. I thought you’d understand. I thought you would be my ally.”


    Li Huowang opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. He lowered and shook his head.


    There was no point in reasoning with a madman. Trying to change a madman’s mind was futile, which he had learned the hard way.


    “Qing Wani, I know Da Nuo has gone mad, but I didn’t expect the Three Ancient Ones, the holder of the Heavenly Dao of Truth, to be just as deranged. Your craziness is one thing, but dragging me into it is something else. If the heavens fall, someone must hold them up.”


    Li Huowang reached behind his back to secretly unsheath his knife.


    “Are you always this quick to dismiss those who don’t think like you?” Qing Wani asked. “Are you really gonnabel me as insane or mentally ill just because I don’t share the same perception? If that makes me insane, then what about the rest of you? Are you all not crazy too?”


    Qing Wani turned and pointed at everyone.


    “If I’m crazy by your standards, then to me, all of you are crazy too! All of you are mentally ill too!”


    Ba Nanxu frowned and nced at Zhao Shuangdian, who was still typing away on herptop. “Hey, I think I’ve heard enough. Let’s just kill him.”


    The next instant, Li Huowang lunged. His injuries reopened from the movement, but he refused to stop. He drove his knife toward Qing Wani’s waist, determined to kill him.


    The Three Ancient Ones had descended into madness and wanted to kill everyone. Li Huowang had to kill Qing Wani and seize the Heavenly Dao Of Secrets. Only then could they have a better chance.


    The de struck, but no blood flowed. Instead, a loud ng echoed across the hall.@@novelbin@@


    Li Huowang’s eyes widened in surprise—Qing Wani was wearing a vest beneath his shirt.


    Without hesitation, Li Huowang shifted his grip and shed upward, aiming for Qing Wani’s throat.


    “Nana, shoot him! st his head apart!”


    Yang Na didn’t hesitate. She raised her gun and fired.


    But Qing Wani was faster. He twisted his neck and dodged the bullet. As he did, he grabbed Li Huowang’s wrist and wrenched it aside to make him stumble. Then, he quickly took out his own gun and pressed it against Li Huowang’s temple.


    “Don’t move!” Qing Wani yelled.


    Now, no one dared to shoot. They were afraid that the other party would shoot first.


    Qing Wani looked down at the severely injured Li Huowang and smiled. “Stay still. You’ve already lost too much blood. I chose the moment to show myself carefully. If you were at your peak, I might have actually died.”


    <em>Bam! </em>


    Behind Qing Wani, someone kicked the door open.


    A man entered the room, bombs strapped to his chest and a detonator clutched in his hand. Reflective sunsses obscured his eyes, and he seemed oddly nonchnt, idly ying a game on his phone with his other hand.


    “Don’t move!” he barked. “One wrong step and we all die!”


    The presence of the explosives created a tense atmosphere.


    Even Zhao Shuangdian stopped typing, ring at Qing Wani. “Qing Wani, do you really think it’s appropriate to weaken our forces before the final battle?”


    Qing Wani shrugged. “Appropriate? Do you think unity will help us win? Don’t be foolish. You don’t even understand what we’re facing. Isn’t that right, Li Huowang?”


    He turned to Li Huowang, his usual smile missing. “If you calcte with the flow of time in this projection, you should know that that thing will reach the real world in eight days. Eight days! That’s all we have.


    “We have no time to waste. If my n fails within that time, not only will our projections on both sides be destroyed—our real bodies will vanish too.


    “The oue is set no matter what we do in those eight days, so why not destroy our projections on both sides now? That way, our true selves have a chance of survival.”