Free Web NovelChapter 626: Chapter 243: A Turnaround in a Desperate Situation
The space-time rift was destroyed, but the Ten of Spades had already slipped into the rift, heading toward an unknown dimension.
Alpha stood still, his mind flashing with countless thoughts in the brief second.
He was uncertain whether those two wills were connected, uncertain whether Bai Yuan truly took his secrets with him before he died.
He was also uncertain whether, after learning that secret, they could comprehend it.
Too much uncertainty meant that even if he let the other go, perhaps they could achieve nothing.
Yet Alpha still cared a great deal.
He had to forcibly suppress his chaotic emotions and once again focused his gaze on Jing Si.
He still had enough time.
Even if the Sealing Array was mostly complete, with the time remaining, Alpha could easily annihilate his opponent.
But this time, he decided not to waste any more time; Bai Yuan had instilled in him a sense of crisis.
The secret of the Inner World, even if leaked, wouldn’t change anything; even if those fighting against him knew this secret, they couldn’t possibly achieve it.
One reason is insufficient capability, and the other is lack of resolve. Humanity might not be able to bear such a decision.
But Alpha always felt that today’s variables were indeed too many.
The arrival of Bai Yuan made Alpha realize that this world was not simple.
So unusually, he decided to erase everything and end the great battle of the day.
A murderous intent surged, filling the surroundings with the intent to kill.
"I will take back your immortal body. You, my most rebellious child, shall no longer exist in the twisted history."
Jing Si, still trapped in the mental world, couldn’t hear Alpha’s words, nor could he respond.
When Alpha’s hand touched Jing Si’s body, his body, just like Jing Wu when Jing Yi had gripped his throat, began to rapidly decay.
In the Inverted Well Starry Sky, stars shone brightly, but those lights could not elicit a response from beneath the starry vault.
They began to dim quickly, and the star field started to disintegrate bit by bit.
Within the Illusionary Realm of the mind, Jing Si didn’t even realize he should use Reincarnation.
Even if he did realize, in Alpha’s created isolated Twisted Realm, Jing Si might not be able to do anything.
This monster, capable of facing Alpha head-on, was now, in this moment, watching his life slowly drop to zero.
As he watched Jing Si dying, Alpha suddenly felt a bit nervous.
Time and again, someone would come to disrupt the battle situation, allowing Jing Si, who should have died long ago, to persist until now.
He released his divine consciousness, and the Power of Twist crazily filled this space.
For a second or two, Alpha would even look around due to the tiniest fluctuations of energy.
The greatest secret stolen, his composure had already been broken by Bai Yuan.
The calmness that comes from knowing that no matter how many contingencies the opponent has, I can break through with sheer power, had begun to crumble.
He wasn’t even sure if another enemy on par with Bai Yuan might appear, interrupting his process of dealing with Jing Si.
If such an enemy really existed, he could definitely win, but how much time would it cost?
These thoughts made Alpha’s actions more ruthless; he was determined to completely kill Jing Si, to extinguish humanity’s greatest reliance.
But this time, there was no turning point, no surprises. Destiny’s favor for Jing Si ended here.
He had lost all three of his confrontations with Alpha, but he had also managed to buy enough time for the human side.
In this battle, for the first time, Jing Si, with willpower, suppressed the chaotic emotions brought by the Well.
But in this fight, he was ultimately no match for Alpha.
In the mental world, unable to leave, Jing Si realized the greatest gap between him and Alpha—will and spirit.
Jing Si watched the world around him crumbling; he was well aware that his physical self in the outer world was dying, bit by bit.
He was like a drowning man, desperate to grasp at something, but there was nothing to hold onto.
Death came, this time without any surprises.
With various regrets, Jing Si awaited the end, full of guilt.
"Can my actions make up for the mistakes I’ve made?"
"After I die, will they mourn me?"
Memories of the past surfaced, and Jing Si suddenly realized that he truly was a vulnerable existence.
Time after time overwhelmed by chaos, time after time he had hurt his once dear friends.
"In the kingdom of Huangquan, will Professor Tao forgive me?"
With turbid tears streaming down, Jing Si, who had lived for a very long time, suddenly resembled a child.
His view of the world narrowed more and more, as if it were a movie screen, with pitch-black edges surrounding a grey and white center.
The girl, wearing a black cloak, revealed a radiant smile:
"Big brother, this is the end of the journey, huh? It’s such a pity to see you so soon."
"Yes, it is such a pity..."
The pitch-black borders relentlessly squeezed the central image, until the narrow picture could only display a single element.
The girl’s smiling face, and a mask that represented justice.
In the external world, that indestructible body was already disintegrating in the twist like black dust.
Only when it was completely extinguished did the murderous intent in Alpha’s eyes slowly fade.
The great battle of Denglin City, humanity’s strongest force, Jing Si, had fallen.
...
...
The Space-Time Labyrinth.
Li You walked through Denglin City as it was 137 years prior, her mood very heavy.
"Where’s the shorty? Why wouldn’t he participate in such a duel?"
To Alpha, Li You was truly a cat.
He let Li You wander freely not because he had a plan, but because in this world, no one except beings like Jing Si and Bai Yuan could pose a threat to Alpha.
Of course, there was indeed a certain connection between Li You and Alpha. She was like a chess piece for Alpha to probe with.
Li You didn’t know what Alpha had done, but she knew Alpha could find her at any time.
A cat is such a creature; against a being stronger than itself, it would dodge, and when it couldn’t, it would appear docile.
Once it realized that the other party had become fond of it, it would revert to its former noble laziness.
Li You, however, wasn’t really a cat. She had her own judgement.
If there was a chance for humans to win, she wouldn’t mind helping them.
If Alpha had the greater chance of victory, she wouldn’t kick humans when they were down.
But if Alpha was sure to win, not just likely but certain... she would naturally not put herself in jeopardy.
That was out of respect for Wu Jiu; otherwise, she wouldn’t have appeared on the outskirts of High Tower, nor would she have agreed to Bai Wu’s request back then.
Li You walked through the labyrinth, where it was extremely difficult to meet the not-so-tall man across all different times and spaces of Denglin City, be it decades or centuries ago.
But Li You... indeed encountered a living thing.
At the entrance of a huge, abandoned supermarket, she heard faint breathing.
Her figure shifted silently, preparing to approach the target, when suddenly, she felt a touch on the back of her neck.
"Don’t move, or I’ll kill you."
Li You obediently raised her hands.
Their confrontation lasted only an instant; she heard the other’s panting, and in that moment, the other had sensed her presence.
Just as Li You was about to approach, the other had already moved with greater speed behind her.
Jack of Spades.
An unhealable wound made Jack of Spades’s breath seem weak.
But even injured, he was still powerful, at least stronger than Li You.
The power of twist felt very familiar to Li You.
"I am no match for you, but it would take you some effort to kill me now. How about you let me continue my stroll, and I’ll pretend I never saw you?"
Jack of Spades furrowed his brows; what Li You said was indeed the truth.
It wouldn’t be hard for him to kill Li You now, but it would take some time.
This woman’s strength was very powerful, she had at least crossed the threshold of the Well Level.
The Ten of Spades retracted his hand:
"Are you with Alpha?"
"I am someone who will survive. Are you the one who fought against him, was defeated, and then fled?"
After Li You finished speaking, she felt that her question might be a bit damaging to one’s self-esteem, and added:
"Losing to him is not a disgrace."
The Ten of Spades did not speak. Indeed, losing to Alpha was not a disgrace. The power of Alpha’s Twisted Spear was truly beyond the Ten of Spades’s imagination.
The entrance to the Underworld was destroyed, and even fleeing into the fissures of space-time could not fully protect him.
He had already fled, but he was still affected by the aftermath of the Twisted Spear.
This Space-Time Labyrinth, in order to completely trap Alpha, actually cut off the feel of Temporal Power from the outside world.
As a result, the Ten of Spades had not escaped far; he had merely arrived at a place where Alpha could not immediately find him.
"You may go."
"Alright."
Li You did not know this person, but she could feel that his strength was extraordinary. The mere fact that he had escaped from Alpha’s hands said everything.
Therefore, if the other party wanted to kill her, it probably wouldn’t be a difficult task.
The Ten of Spades and Li You retreated in different directions, and once the two entered two different exits, the likelihood of encountering each other again in this labyrinth was very low.
But just as both were about to leave, an immense twisting aura descended, and the two golden spiral exits were suddenly blocked by the distorted aura.
Under the shroud of Hei Wu, a beam of black light revealed Li You.
At this moment, the Ten of Spades saw what seemed to be the future. His brain worked rapidly, and he had not expected at all that Bai, who had gambled with his life, would eventually fail due to fate.
In the brief instant, when the twisting aura enveloped everything, he had already guessed—
This woman carried some kind of "signal" that could be sensed by Alpha.
And without Jing Si’s interference, Alpha could freely go to where Jing Yi and Li You were.
The black column of light kept expanding, as if to fill the entire space, until a voice came from within the black light and only then did the radiance completely dissipate:
"We meet again. This time, do you think you can escape?"
The excitement in Alpha’s voice surprised Li You.
In Li You’s eyes, Alpha should be someone who is always calm and collected.
But she could feel that Alpha was now very excited.
Happiness, as if having found a precious treasure once lost.
Injury, and even the Temporal Power could not heal the twisted wound, coupled with the presence of Alpha.
At this moment, the Ten of Spades had no path of retreat.
Li You was astonished as to what the Ten of Spades had done to provoke such a strong killing intent in Alpha.
"Although the Space-Time Labyrinth has trapped me, it has also trapped you. You entered the labyrinth using the Underworld with the Power of Life and Death, but I have sealed off the Underworld."
That Twisted Spear was astoundingly powerful; it was Alpha’s trump card. In order to withstand that attack, the Ten of Spades used the Underworld as a shield.
Now that the shield was shattered, he was unable to flee anymore. The Ten of Spades looked at Alpha’s Red Pupil and suddenly felt a sense of weariness.
Bai Yuan had gone to great lengths to obtain the information, but in the end, he could not take it outside.
The Ten of Spades seemed to have foreseen his imminent death.
Everything seemed destined. In the countless grid spaces, he had just happened to encounter a person marked by Alpha.
"Where is Jing Si?"
The Ten of Spades wanted to buy a little more time, which seemed to be all he could do.
But Alpha did not give him such an opportunity; he wanted to annihilate this human completely.
Twelve Twisted Spears appeared in the void, surrounded by a dense Hei Wu, like twelve judges passing sentence on the Ten of Spades.
Each Twisted Spear was enough to kill the Ten of Spades ten times over.
Li You suddenly felt that she had made a mistake.
She did not know what this man, who was about to die at Alpha’s hands, possessed that made Alpha so anxious.
But this person indeed encountered himself before being located by Alpha.
The black Twisted Spear locked onto the Ten of Spades. freewёbnoνel.com
In this moment, the Ten of Spades saw the immense Power of Causality.
Alpha even went as far as to activate a variant use of the Power of Causality—the Law of Causality—to lock onto the Ten of Spades.
The so-called Law of Causality is the imposition of certain rules of cause and effect.
For example, Bai Wu once encountered a peculiar Sequence at the casino, Sequence 266—"The Sixth Attempt Will Surely Succeed".
This Sequence was a Causal Sequence, significantly increasing the success rate of the sixth attempt.
Alpha now also employed a similar power—"This Time Will Surely Hit."
This required tremendous consumption, but he didn’t care about all that because the Ten of Spades held a taboo secret.
He had thought the other party had already escaped, but unexpectedly... destiny ultimately favored the Twisted side, and Li You, this little cat, had actually sniffed out the prey’s location!
The twelve devastating Twisted Spears, all imbued with the Law of Causality for "Absolute Hit," meant that the life of the Ten of Spades could be said to have died in that instant.
In this vast Space-Time Labyrinth, the possibility of encountering each other again was extremely, extremely small.
He couldn’t believe there was anyone who could find Li You twice in a row.
First, letting Bai Yuan’s soul scatter, then eradicating Jing Si, Alpha’s killing intent reached its peak.
The spears that destroy everything...were unleashed at this instant!
The inverted Red Pupil, in this moment, seemed to witness the death of the Ten of Spades!
Immense Power of Twist crushed everything in its path; even without getting close, the Ten of Spades already felt the power that extinguished everything.
His body, crushed by the impact wave that hadn’t even approached yet, had its bones shattered.
At life’s end, the Ten of Spades thought of Bai Yuan’s words, and though there wasn’t enough time for his facial expression to change, a sense of irony had already risen in his heart.
"Sorry, if I die, you’ll die too. We could say we’re in shared death."
This was the conversation he had with Bai Yuan in the Inner World after he learned he’d been possessed.
This was undoubtedly another lie. But how he wished that it was true.
Because if it was true, it would mean the reason he could still live... indicated that Bai Yuan hadn’t died either.
But all of it had become meaningless now.
Truth or lie, he and Bai Yuan were indeed going to die together.
They had grown up together on the farm, and now they were dying together. Although there was a sequence to their deaths, if there really was a hell in this world, perhaps at this moment...
Bai Yuan would be waiting for him on the Road to the Underworld, right?
It’s just that the forbidden secret about the Sequence would ultimately be impossible to pass on.
The Ten of Spades suddenly felt like laughing, not because he was resigned to death, but at this moment, he suddenly accepted some things.
The showdown with Bai Yuan had finally reached its conclusion.
"I really am no match for you... Your death, after all, is of value, but mine, is utterly meaningless."
The horrifying energy destroyed everything, and the location of the Ten of Spades was devoured by endless distortion.
This energy did not spread out but instead formed a small domain. Within this domain, everything would instantly turn to nothing.
Even if Jing Si were to resurrect, it would be impossible to withstand Alpha’s strike.
The body of the Ten of Spades began to decay, the powerful Twisted Realm rending him to pieces.
The breath of death covered everything, and in this domain of nothingness and death, he awaited the final end.
But just when Alpha, Li You, and even the Ten of Spades himself thought this battle had reached its conclusion...
Slight changes occurred on the battlefield.
The Ten of Spades didn’t see Bai Yuan waiting for him in hell, although he should have long since died. Yet, around him, time seemed to have stopped.
In his line of sight, Alpha, the distortion, Li You, the decayed Denglin...none could capture his attention.
He slowly raised his head; in this domain where time moved infinitely slowly, he could see the Twisted force destroying him bit by bit, see how his body slowly rotted, turning into lifeless ash.
But he didn’t care about any of this because above his head...
A yellowed page appeared.
