Pretending To Be A Boss

Ju Mang smiled and said,

"Look, that's how it is. It's just that this never actually happened, so your reaction is quite normal. Zero, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"Xi He once wrote some diaries, detailing the things he did to Zero. Considering that I might need to help Zero suppress other emotions later on, the idea was to control the child's emotions through surgery and, therefore, control him. That's why I've read that diary too."

"He, of all people, would write a diary?"

"Yes, you've pinpointed the crux of the matter. That diary is actually a bell to awaken memories. To put it plainly, it's the key to unlocking emotional suppression or rather, catalyzing Zero to recall his past. So, it was essentially written for Zero. Xi He did care deeply for Zero, seeing him as a child with even more potential than Akasi."

"What's written in the diary?"

"A good girl like you wouldn't want to know. As I said, Xi He and I, we are very cruel people."

Li Xiaoyu didn't ask any further.

Ju Mang continued,

"The love one person has for another is considered a manifestation of responsibility and humanity in your eyes, but to Xi He, it's a weapon. Kritos has love for his family, and Akasi is fond of number nineteen."

"And there is a corridor that connects love with despair. The distance between sweetness and pain is equally short."

After finishing a cigarette, Ju Mang prepared to leave; Dong Ran at her side hadn't heard the conversation between her and Li Xiaoyu.

As he was about to come over to refill his cup, Ju Mang pinched Dong Ran's cheek,

"I hear you're the dumbest one around here. Want me to help you smarten up a bit?"

Dong Ran had never been teased by a woman before and didn't know how to respond.

Li Xiaoyu's thoughts, however, still lingered on the previous topic.

"Will Yuan Wu... get angry because of someone?"

"That depends on his fate, but a person who has never been angry, once they do get angry, it is bound to be a wrath that reigns over the world. Alright, Madam of Baichuan City, it's time for me to go. You have a heap of matters to attend to, don't you?"

...

...

In the mining area, the Sin Snatching Territory.

The Xuanniao watched the battlefield coldly, not having intervened up to this point. To its surprise, Bai Mansheng, the leader of the Nvwa Snake, could withstand the attacks of the Gold-Breaking Beast and Taowu even after being covered by that purple-tier creature.

But it was not in a rush.

Because no matter what kind of armor, once petrified, it would no longer hold the capability to resist an orange-tier creature.

All that was needed was to keep Bai Mansheng preoccupied, believing that after the human riddled with doubts was trapped by the web, the dark mist surrounding the Gorgon would soon disperse.

On the other hand, it was the duel between the queens of the fox tribe that caught the Xuanniao's attention. It couldn't see clearly through the flames of the battle, but since Qing Jiuye's strength was not lesser than Qing JiuYu's, it was peculiar that the fight hadn't ended yet.

As for another part of the battlefield, the human boy had been completely overwhelmed by the horde of iron-cutting beasts and the fox tribe, his dismemberment was just a matter of time.

However, the Xuanniao felt a vague unease, an indescribable, unsettling feeling. Its centuries of combat experience and sense of danger made it particularly concerned about this unease—

Coming from that human boy who should have been the weakest.

The boy was already being crushed under the beasts, perhaps having his flesh gnawed at by the iron-cutting creatures; perhaps it was a mere brutal torment of prey, as a cat plays cruelly with a mouse before eating it.

"The seventh experiment, everything is stable, his emotional fluctuations are all within our calculations—sadness, fear, confusion. Perhaps due to the loss of memory, he can't remember who the girl is. So this time, I've decided to let him remember everything, to show him the contents of the diary. He has already witnessed death six times."

"The death of a most beloved person will lead to sorrow and anger; it is the simplest emotional 'chemical reaction' formula. Then what about the same scene of anger experienced dozens of times in a row? Does this anger stack? What an interesting experiment, isn't it?"

Yuan Wu lay on the ground, the excessive use of telekinesis only hastening the disintegration of his consciousness.

His sensitivity to pain was no longer sharp. He could feel the iron-cutting beasts tearing flesh from his arm, but he couldn't feel the pain. Death was near, and what recurred in his mind was the content of a diary.

As memories of his final moments slowly awakened, at the same time, it was as if something... something capable of destroying both heavens and earth as well as himself, was stealthily arriving.