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Chapter 1612 Final Chapter: Crossing the Sea [69] "Saints and Sinners (2)"

"Why should I believe you?" Su Ming'an lowered his head and looked into her dark, inky eyes.

“With my life, and yours.” The bronze mirror was right in front of her, but the woman kept her head down, refusing to look at it for fear of catching a glimpse of Su Ming'an’s face. “Even if you plunge the silver hairpin into my throat, rendering me unable to scream, the landlady will become suspicious when I linger to pack my belongings. She will then seal off this place, leaving you with no way to escape. It would be better to spare my life. I will pack my belongings and leave, never mentioning you again. If I break my oath, you will implicate me. I am but a drifting duckweed; once I arouse suspicion here, I cannot survive.”

She spoke fluently and logically, without the slightest panic.

Su Ming'an simply asked, "Where is the exit?"

“There’s no secret passage here. Go out the window and turn right. There’s a storage room. Go in, put on the clothes, and you can leave through the back door. All the clothes here are women’s, so they’re not suitable for you,” the woman said. “I’ll distract the landlady from your presence.”

"Are you Chen Fang's good friend?" Su Ming'an asked.

“Yes, we grew up in this building. She… did what I longed to do. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the courage.” The woman sighed softly, “My name is Song Lanting.”

Su Ming'an slowly released his grip. Wang Xingkong's cheeks flushed red as he gazed at the beautiful woman, not daring to look up.

"This is so beautiful, just like on TV..." Wang Xingkong covered his face.

"Let's go." Su Ming'an ignored Wang Xingkong's shyness.

They climbed over the wall, crouched down, walked along the second-floor corridor, and crouched into a storage room.

The room was filled with various costumes and musical instruments. Su Ming'an looked around, picked up a plain robe and a dark wig, and suddenly heard a "click" behind him.

"—Don't move."

A heavy breathing sound rang out, and a blood-covered, red-haired youth with a hideous scar on his face sat in the corner. He gripped Wang Xingkong's neck, pointed a gun at the back of Wang Xingkong's head, and said viciously, "Don't make a sound—who are you? Where is Lanting?"

Su Ming'an and Wang Xingkong exchanged a glance. It seemed the soldiers hadn't wronged them... There really was a seriously injured person hiding here. Could he be a member of the "Nest" the soldiers mentioned? It sounded like a malevolent force that hated Su Wenli. They wondered how the Radiant Mother Goddess had vilified this force established by Si Que.

"...Big brother, we also wandered in by mistake, wandered in by mistake..." Wang Xingkong hurriedly raised his hand, terrified: "That woman really did lie to us!"

"Lanting? What have you done to Lanting?" the red-haired youth asked fiercely.

“She’s fine. She just gave us directions and said we could change clothes here,” Su Ming’an said.

The red-haired youth relaxed his brow, clutched his bloodied chest, and sat down. The gun was still pointed at the two men, but the tension was no longer so palpable: "Change your clothes and get lost!"

“You are all members of ‘The Nest,’ and you are here to thwart the war started by Su Wenli,” Su Ming’an said.

"Shut up, don't force me to kill someone." The red-haired youth's eyebrows shot up.

“You’re in trouble,” Su Ming’an said. “I don’t think it’s safe here. Now that things have come to this, you should take Lan Ting and leave this place as soon as possible.”

"She has her responsibilities and must stay here—you hurry up and change your clothes and get out!" The red-haired youth pointed at Su Ming'an: "If Lan Ting hadn't shown you the way, I would have shot you all dead."

"boom!"

Suddenly, another huge tremor came from the attic.

Before the dancers could recover from their shock, they saw a huge shooting star flying in from afar.

No, that wasn't a shooting star, it was... a cannonball.

"Run!"

"No--"

"Damn it, Lanting!" The red-haired youth's expression changed drastically. Ignoring his wounds, he pushed open the door and was about to rush out. In an instant, screams and cries of agony rang out. Flames engulfed everything, and the three people in the room were thrown about. The wooden pavilion collapsed with a crash, and huge beams pressed down on them.

"Qi Zhou!" Su Ming'an shouted. The cat-eared youth appeared instantly.

The next moment, the flower-covered pavilion collapsed with a crash, turning into ruins.

The fire spread like wildfire, leaving charred corpses and broken pieces of jewelry scattered everywhere as logs were crushed.

All the splendor and dazzling lights turned to dust. Countless young people in the prime of their lives died, and the neon signs lost their luster.

"Hmph hmph hmph~ la la la~"

At that moment, a beautiful girl with blonde hair and purple eyes walked over from the ruins, humming a song. She stepped on the devastation and casually crushed the charred bones of a dancer.

The girl bent down and picked up an R card. The card had a slime drawn on it, and it was exceptionally cute.

"It wasn't for nothing that I blew up this building." She smiled and held up the card, its surface gleaming brightly in the sunlight. "The card is mine!"

She carefully put away the cards, humming a song as she left, as if the deaths of countless people were no match for a single slime card.

Modern and contemporary, ancient and new, serious and absurd, clash fiercely at this moment.

"Click." A pitch-black hand reached out from under the rubble and grasped the girl's ankle. It was the beautiful proprietress, but now her face was charred, her eyes were bulging, and she was barely breathing.

"You... will suffer... retribution..." the landlady gasped.

The girl smiled sweetly, pressed the card against her red lips, and leaned down to whisper:
"Do not."

She whispered in the landlady's ear, her voice alluring: "Retribution only befalls those who are not loved by the world."

"You, you are..." The proprietress recognized the girl and exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe." The girl smiled slightly. "I am one of the eight protagonist candidates... Hui Zi. Do you understand? Even if you report me to the authorities and accuse me of blowing up a building for a single card, it can only be considered 'normal competition.' That's just how the rules of this world are. All right and wrong are determined by card battles..."

"If you're so capable, then fight me with your cards and defeat me."

"Otherwise, you are wrong, and I am right."

She ignored the dying man, humming a song as she turned and left.

Suddenly, she saw a white-haired boy standing by the ruins, tossing coins.

"It's you, Bai Ran." Hui Zi's expression immediately turned dull. "What? Did you bring your evil god lover to eat souls?"

Behind Bai Ran stood a tall figure of unknown form. Upon hearing this, Bai Ran smiled and said, "Little Black only smelled the aura of the Lin Clan."

"The Lin Clan?" Hui Zi said in surprise, "The Lin Clan has already produced three sons in this generation, so there can't be a fourth. Even if you want to find allies for the Maritime Feast, you won't find this place."

"Hmm...it's just strange." Bai Ran scratched his lover's chin behind him like he was petting a cat: "Xiao Hei definitely smelled it. Could it be mixed-race? I've never heard of mixed-race people."

He shook his head, gazing at the ruins below: "Let's see who survives, maybe..."

……

"There are people watching outside." Qi Zhou was about to lift the wooden board when he suddenly stopped.

Beneath the ruins, Su Ming'an, Wang Xingkong, and the red-haired youth were all unharmed.

"What, what level of card is this? Yu Hang, you..." Wang Xingkong looked at Su Ming'an in shock.

"Shh." Su Ming'an held up one finger.

He remembered that the Lin Clan judged based on the soul, so after he possessed Chen Yuhang, Chen Yuhang also became a member of the Lin Clan.

—In this era where three members of the Rin clan have already been born, he is the fourth Rin clan member to emerge.

The struggle between the eight main characters is in full swing. The Lin Clan is a partner they are vying for, and if they cannot obtain them, they will even destroy them. It is not advisable for me to get involved in this vortex at this time.

At this moment, the card-embroidered purple timidly said, "The purple outside, that was me before..."

Qi Zhou raised an eyebrow: "I didn't expect you to have committed so many evil deeds before." Although this is a fanfiction about the Mother Goddess, it is based on history, so the characters' appearances won't deviate too much.

"I...I don't remember." Hui Zi's voice was low. "After I was possessed by a conscious being, my soul became thin, and I forgot many things...I don't even know if I was this kind of person before..."

"Lanting..." the red-haired youth murmured, but he was very calm, no longer shouting for battle. He realized that the three of them had to be on the same side now: "The two main characters are outside. How did these two big shots get here... Hey, are you going to charge out, or play dead?"

“I’ll go.” At this moment, Qi Zhou calmly said, “Isn’t it said that Su Wenli is the orphan of the world’s ruler? I should look more like him. I’ll go and scare them both. It’s not advisable to fight with the protagonist now, or it will attract the attention of the Mother Goddess.”

"Okay," Su Ming'an said, "I'll find a way to find Su Wenli."

"—You want to join the Li Dogs?" The red-haired youth looked at Su Ming'an coldly, as if he regarded Su Ming'an as an enemy. Clearly, he and the dancer belonged to that "nest" and hated Su Wenli. It seemed that if Su Ming'an answered incorrectly, he would lift the wooden plank and die together with him.

"Don't forget that I saved you," Su Ming'an said coldly without any argument.

To his surprise, the red-haired youth was in high spirits after this counterattack.

……

[NPC (Si Nian) Favorability: 20+40!]

[Current Affection Rating: Trust and Shared Relationship (Friendship)]

……

Su Ming'an almost forgot that he came in reverse mode, and everyone in front of him was an masochist, and being scolded would increase his favorability.

“I never expected you to side with Li Gou. You are truly a sycophantic lackey who covets wealth and power. In that case, you will be my friend for life!” Si Nian said sincerely, holding Su Ming’an’s hand tightly.

“…Okay.” Su Ming’an sighed.

While Qi Zhou distracted the two, the three of them waited a moment before lifting the wooden plank and leaving. After walking for a long time, until Hui Zi was completely gone, Si Nian saw the dying Song Lanting.

Her hair was disheveled, and she was pressed under the broken neon lights, her bones broken and her organs spilling out.

"Ah, I'm coming to save you..." Wang Xingkong realized halfway there that he had no healing abilities!

Moreover, with such severe injuries, including a broken spine, even a miracle worker couldn't save him.

Song Lanting coughed up mouthfuls of bloody foam. She couldn't speak, but she pointed to her chest once, then, trembling, pointed again.

Si Nian stood silently, but instead of shouting in sorrow, he quickly tore open her clothes.

"Hey, you pervert, what are you doing!" Wang Xingkong immediately tried to stop him.

However, Si Nian kept his eyes straight ahead, took out a folded piece of paper from her clothes, tore off the sealing wax, stared at it for a moment, and quickly folded it up.

There was only one line of blood-written words on it, which she wrote with her finger before she died: "[Northern Land surrenders to Tianyu, beware of the wandering sinner]..." She had spent many years listening to the grand discussions of the bosses of various forces in the dance hall, and this was the last message she delivered.

"Give me...one..." she gasped, looking at the three men, "...for the best."

She endured enough pain to drive a person mad, and with a strong will to survive, she persevered until now to pass on the note.

Si Nian seemed to have gotten used to this scene, and drew the dagger from his waist.

"Wait a minute." Su Ming'an stepped forward, bit his finger, and a few drops of golden blood seeped out and fell into Song Lanting's mouth.

As the golden blood entered her body, Song Lanting's wounds improved, and her breathing gradually became smoother. Her dark eyes looked at Su Ming'an in surprise, as if she had realized something.

“Carry her on your back,” Su Ming’an said.

“She can’t move yet,” Si Nian said.

...Perhaps because she had just arrived, the regenerative power of the Lin clan blood was not as strong as Su Ming'an had imagined. Although her life was saved, she was still in a state of broken bones, and would bleed profusely with the slightest movement.

Su Ming'an hadn't expected this either. He had come to test his identity and to save people, but he hadn't anticipated that he wouldn't be able to take them with him.

"It's alright. Luckily you saved her. Leave her here. When our men arrive, someone will take her away," Si Nian said.

“Okay.” Su Ming’an didn’t reveal anything and walked forward.

Si Nian is a veteran who wants to take them to the military camp. The higher-ups know where Su Wenli is, so Su Ming'an can go and negotiate.

The three walked forward, and after a while, Si Nian suggested that something had been left behind and they should go back to find it.

Su Ming'an and Wang Xingkong waited where they were. After a short while, Si Nian returned and said to the two of them, "Let's keep going."

The three walked in silence. Wang Xingkong whispered to Su Ming'an, "I'm still worried about Song Lanting. What if she dies there before we can get help? Should we go back and check on her?"

“No,” Su Ming’an said calmly, “She is already dead.”

Wang Xingkong's eyes widened in disbelief.

“Just now, Si Nian turned back to retrieve something, actually to deliver the final blow to her,” Su Ming’an said. “Those who can’t be taken away might fall into the enemy’s hands, so it’s better to eliminate future troubles. I believe this was also Song Lanting’s intention, but seeing that I saved her, she didn’t say it to our faces, choosing to leave us with a beautiful illusion. Even if…”

He spoke softly:
"Let's repay the debt of gratitude..."

"There are no follow-up personnel at all. This place is just an information hub. As an undercover agent, Huang Li will only be destroyed once her identity is exposed. We won't waste any more manpower to save her."

To repay the debt of blood.

It gave her a few more minutes to live.

She was clearly such an intelligent and calm woman, yet in just a moment, she turned into bones.

Wang Xingkong stood there, his fists clenched, his eyes reddening.

"You seem... to know a lot about war?" Wang Xingkong said softly after a moment of silence.

“Hmm…” Su Ming’an recalled the war-torn world of ruins: “I’ve watched many war movies.”

He didn't say that even if Si Nian hadn't killed Song Lanting, he would have gone back to kill her. Since they hadn't succeeded in rescuing her, she couldn't stay where she was, waiting for people to smell the blood of the Lin clan; what awaited her was terrifying torture. From the moment they waved goodbye to her, she was destined to die.

However, seeing how clueless Wang Xingkong is, let's give this high school student some beautiful fantasies, after all, he's still a child.

He lowered his head, stroking a piece of jade. This was the last thing Song Lanting gave him. It seemed to be a family heirloom of the dancer Chen Fang, who wanted Song Lanting to help deliver it to her grandparents... However, Chen Fang was unable to return, and neither was Song Lanting.

All the splendor and beauty, all the fleeting glory and withered bones, are but a single shot fired.

Meanwhile, a blonde beauty, untouched by the dust, stood amidst the ruins, watching the three quietly depart.

A thoughtful look flashed in his blue eyes as he stroked the white token with his fingers.

“…Go and inform my brother that the ‘Sage’ has arrived,” he instructed his brother.

A shadow guard obeyed the order and disappeared into the shadows.

……