No. 1 was certain that he could shatter the binding of fate. He knew that he had the other kids standing behind him. He believed that nothing was impossible as long as they worked together. The other kids had confidence in No. 1 too. They had done everything for No. 1 to create a miracle.
“I don’t care what persona you have. No one can kill me on my altar!” The red pupils made from despair stared at No. 1. Gao Xing’s soul in the orphan awakened.
“When we decided to hunt you down, we’ve already examined all the branches of fate. You have no hope of escaping.” No. 3 silently stood behind No. 1 and took out his notebook again. “To allow No. 1 to swing this punch, we’ve investigated the location of all the figurines and controlled the workers at the pharmacy to sneak the cursed items of the New God into your sacrifice.”
No. 2 slowly raised his arm. The chains on No. 1’s wrist started to loosen. Two forces crashed together, and each link of the chain trembled. The red pupils sensed danger. The pupils turned around as if they were trying to escape from the boy’s body.
“It’s pointless.” No. 3 showed the boy his notebook. “We purposely let you see this. All the kids that could sustain your soul are already under our control.” The notebook turned, and a page filled with bloody names entered the boy’s eyes.
“It’s not a coincidence that we have found you. We targeted you a long time ago. We openly challenged you after we made sure you have no escape.” No. 3 burned the notebook and turned to No. 1. “All miracles are based on endless preparations and coincidences. I made the preparations, and No. 1 created all the coincidences. No. 1 created the miracle itself.”
The fate chains crumbled. Then, nothing could stop No. 1 anymore. The power of his persona pierced through the blind boy’s body and hit the ugly soul underneath. The lock over the city seemed to break. As the soul crumbled, the clouds above the city lightened. Starlight shone on the ruins of humanity again.
“You…”
Gao Xing’s past soul was the weakest. It had to suffer the consumption of fate, but even so, it was not weak by any means. As long as there were still orphans meeting his requirement in Hope City, his soul could transfer at any time; as long as Hope City still had one of his figurines, it could mobilize the altar’s power.
Gao Xing was defeated by these kids who had experienced the deepest despair. They understood Gao Xing too well because they were once people who struggled in despair too.
“The soul of your present has been consumed. The soul of your past has been eliminated. If you can’t even protect your future, then the altar will be fully overwhelmed.” No. 2 said purposely. Gao Xing’s soul inside the boy’s body screamed. Before it disappeared, it destroyed all the figurines in Hope City. With the city center as the focus, the presence of an Unmentionable spread everywhere. Soon, the starlight in the night sky twisted. Pure Hatreds approached the edge of the city, and endless ghosts walked out of their hiding spots. Gao Xing sensed danger, and it was ready to raise the new tides of tragedy!
The highest level of siren rang in Hope City’s buffer zone. The Pure Hatreds, who were ready to sacrifice Hope City, had made their move due to Gao Xing’s stimulation!
The lights in the city flickered. There were footsteps everywhere. The door of the inner city opened. The core combat strength of Hope City moved out. The city that represented humanity’s last hope had enjoyed peace for far too long. It was like a slumbering beast that had forgotten how to defend itself. The sound of a siren overwhelmed all the other sounds. The citizens went into hiding, and the city sunk into darkness.
“What we’re doing… is right, yes?” No. 4 saw the city change. However, this was just the beginning. Crueler things would happen in the proceeding days.
“Pure Hatreds and part of the city’s admins share the same idea. They plan to sacrifice the whole city. If we didn’t intervene, their plan would have succeeded.” No. 2 turned to look at No. 4. “Now, both parties are caught by surprise. This is the best situation for us. The chaos meant that more survivors could escape too.”
No. 2 was not a good person, but he was not evil either. In a way, he was not even a person anymore. The soul that represented Gao Xing’s past was shattered by No. 1. No. 2 collected the pieces, and the kids left the inner zone as soon as possible. However, they didn’t leave the city because the blood sacrifice had officially started.
They returned to a home in the middle zone and entered the basement the owner dug out for them. Inside the basement was an altar constructed a few days ago. The altar was very new, but many sacrifices had been made on it already. The figurine on it looked like it would open its eyes at any moment.
“No. 0, it’s time for you to wake up. We don’t want to owe you anything.” No. 2 sacrificed Gao Xing’s soul. At that moment, Mad Laughter’s figurine started to grow flesh. In the future, Mad Laughter might really walk out of the figurine!
The battle between Hope City and Xin Lu’s old city had begun. This was the largest war between the survivors and ghosts. The buffer zone of more than 10 km would be a battlefield. There was no way to retreat. The ground trembled, and the night wept. Black rain fell on the land. This was only the first night, but there was already a lot of death.
…
“Han Fei!”
Someone called his name from the abyss. Han Fei’s eyes focused, and he soon noticed something. He was using Gao Cheng’s identity so that in the altar world, everyone would call him Gao Cheng and not Han Fei. He turned in the direction of the caller. Han Fei seemed to see another version of himself. He was very far from Han Fei. They would never touch each other.
“Mad Laughter?”
The pain came from the back of his brain. Han Fei’s eyes flew open, and he noticed he was lying in the greed abyss. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. After consuming Gao Xing’s soul, his persona world changed tremendously.
Above him was the sea of stars made from personas, and underneath him was a sea of flowers made from souls. Life and death formed a perfect cycle here. Some strange lifeform began to appear in his world.
“This is like the altar world of an Unmentionable!”
Using his memory and experience as the framework to create an isolated world, Han Fei seemed to have found an independent path to create an altar world. “So a living person can reach this stage even without the need to die.”
In this worst future created by Gao Xing, Han Fei saw hope.
“The system said that I’ve reached the limit of this altar world. Does this mean that if I manage to break through for the ninth time, I’ll become an Unmentionable?”
Gao Xing was an Unmentionable, so his altar world wouldn’t birth a second Unmentionable. However, Han Fei was never one to follow the rules. He merely wanted to usurp the owner.
Examining the world of sins that radiated with life, Han Fei felt like everything he did was worth it.
Mental corruption couldn’t affect him anymore. With God’s eyes and the fleshy underworld, if he wanted, he could be the biggest source of mental corruption.
The healing persona and the other souls in the sky united. Han Fei’s mental strength was at least 10 times stronger than before. This improvement was permanent. Even after he left the altar world, it would stay with him.
Han Fei sensed that he could now simultaneously control up to seven Pure Hatreds at the same time. He also had the secret trump card, Immortal.
Immortal, that was slumbering in the center of the world, was the strongest ghost entrapped by Han Fei. Even Han Fei had no idea how terrifying this creature was.
