“Run, run! Hurry up and run!”
The gatekeepers and the scouting team shouted as they sprinted through the area, scanning their surroundings for anyone still left outside. Their voices rang out urgently, “Run! Don’t just stand there! Move!”
Wei Qixuan couldn’t tear his gaze away from those pitch-black eyes.
It was a person—just an ordinary person—but his entire body was jet black, except for his face, which remained stark white. His pupils, dark as the abyss, held none of the emotions a human should have. They were empty, like those of a corpse.
Before the city’s gatekeepers had left, they had gathered everyone for a briefing, explaining how to identify the Nightmares. At the time, Wei Qixuan had thought distinguishing them would be difficult. But the moment he saw those eyes, he finally understood what it meant to be otherworldly.
From an instinctual level, he couldn’t sense anything human from that Nightmare Beast. It had nothing in common with humans except for the shell of its body.
That Nightmare Beast had once been a man—tall, lean, and powerful. In his hand, he wielded a black longsword, its surface absorbing the moonlight, making it appear even darker.
Only mercenaries carried longswords—blades designed to be used alongside Nightmare Beast-hunting weapons, meant for cutting them down.
This Nightmare Beast had once been a mercenary.
The sheer horror and despair of this realization gripped him.
Nightmare Beast seeds could push a human’s limits beyond imagination, burning their very life force to achieve extreme speed and strength—ten times that of an ordinary person. But what was even more terrifying was that Nightmare Beasts constantly spread their seeds. A single touch meant certain death.
Normal people had no chance against them.
And now, they were facing a Nightmare Beast that had once been a mercenary, someone armed with knowledge and experience in combat.
They had no weapons against the Nightmare Beasts.
All they could do was run.
Wei Qixuan snapped out of his shock and instinctively hoisted his younger brother onto his back. Though his brother didn’t understand what was happening, he immediately clung tightly to Wei Qixuan’s neck. At the same time, Wei Qixuan wrapped his arms around his younger sister, holding her close.
He didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want his siblings to die.
He wanted to escape—to get as far away from the Nightmare Beast as possible.
But he was too weak.
Hunger had drained him for too long. His legs could barely hold him up, let alone support the weight of his brother and sister.
Even so, he forced himself to run.
He didn’t dare look back.
He was terrified that if he turned around, he would see the Nightmare Beast right behind him. Fear consumed him, paralyzed him—he was so overwhelmed that he even forgot to cry.
Then, suddenly, a gatekeeper rushed up from behind and took his brother off his back. At the same time, a member of the scouting team pulled his sister from his arms.
The burden lifted instantly.
The next moment, someone from the scouting team grabbed his hand.
It was an adult’s hand—thin, bony, lacking warmth—but at that moment, it felt like the last lifeline of a family member.
“Uncle…” Wei Qixuan stumbled as he was pulled forward. The man glanced back at him, saw how unsteady he was, and, without hesitation, reached out and lifted him into his arms. Wei Qixuan was stunned. He hadn’t expected the man to carry him. Not wanting to be a burden, he instinctively wrapped his arms and legs around the man’s body, pressing himself as close as possible to shift his weight.
The man clenched his jaw. His strength was nearly depleted—sprinting from such a great distance to the outskirts of Hope City had drained almost all his energy. But now, with the child in his arms relying on him, despite the added weight, he somehow found the strength to keep running.
Wei Qixuan clung tightly to the man’s neck, peering over his shoulder.
In the distance, the man in black stood motionless, his long coat billowing in the night breeze. He wasn’t chasing them. He wasn’t moving at all. He was simply watching. As if mocking them.
And just as they were about to reach Hope City, in the blink of an eye, the Nightmare Beast that had been silently observing their escape vanished.
Wei Qixuan searched, but the Nightmare Beast was nowhere to be seen. Where did it go?
Just then, a gunshot rang out from another direction—The warning signal for everyone inside Hope City. Danger had arrived.
“The Nightmare Beast went after the other gatekeepers!” One of the scouting team members gasped out between breaths. Their pace slowed, exhaustion catching up with them, but the Nightmare Beast changing targets gave them a moment of relief.
Wei Qixuan was set down. He could hear the man’s labored, pained breathing. Without hesitation, he grabbed the man’s arm. “We can’t stay here. We have to get inside the city.”
The man’s eyes flickered with a trace of struggle. He raised his head and looked at the towering Hope City, his gaze filled with turmoil.
“Let’s go.” The man took Wei Qixuan’s hand. Wei Qixuan looked at this uncle, who was still considered tall, though not as imposing as before. Their city no longer had true gatekeepers; the ones chosen in haste were merely the tallest among the short. They were elderly men who had once contributed greatly to the city in their youth. He could still see traces of this uncle’s once-strong and broad frame, but now, his back was hunched, his posture stooped, fragile and weary.
Hope City was already restless. Screams and gunshots echoed from all directions as if warning them of the urgency and despair of their situation.
“What kind of Nightmare Beast is this?” one of the gatekeepers muttered, clutching his gun. Even though they all knew that firearms were useless against Nightmare Beasts, holding a weapon still gave them a sense of security.
Others noticed the gatekeeper’s unease. Alarm signals came from all directions—panicked, desperate, hurried. They stood at the highest point of Hope City, looking down at the gatekeepers who were now returning, sprinting back under the moonlight.
“Could it be that… there’s more than one?” someone trembled as they voiced their fearful speculation. “The sounds are coming from all sides. Maybe… maybe there are a lot of them.”
“They’re back. All the gatekeepers have returned. It seems… no one has been parasitized.” Slowly, reports began to spread. All ten thousand people had gathered inside the city, yet their voices were barely above a whisper as if fear had tightened around their throats, rendering them speechless.
Wei Qixuan looked up at the trembling people around him. His uncles, aunts, grandparents—all wore expressions of sorrow. Even the younger children, though still ignorant of the full situation, had been affected by the fear of the adults. Panic and terror were evident on their little faces.
He wrapped his frail arms around his younger siblings, holding them close. He lowered his head, wanting to comfort them, only to realize that they were unnaturally silent.
“Brother.” The youngest sister, noticing his gaze, slowly lifted her head. Her beautiful eyes locked onto Wei Qixuan. “Are we going to die?”
“We won’t. How could we die?” Wei Qixuan reassured her. But the more he tried to comfort her, the more his words felt like lies.
“We’re going to die. We will definitely die.” The little sister, despite her young age, kept murmuring, repeating the thought over and over. Wei Qixuan wanted to stop her, but no matter how he tried to console her, every word sounded hollow—like a deception.
A sudden frustration welled up inside him. He hardened his expression. Every time he showed this stern face, his little sister, unaware of the world’s complexities, would obediently quiet down. This time was no exception.
His sister fell silent. Just then, his younger brother wriggled out of his embrace, grasping Wei Qixuan’s hand. The boy’s small fingers rubbed over Wei Qixuan’s tightly clenched fist, and only then did Wei Qixuan remember the small cube he had been holding all along.
“Brother, this thing… it was left behind by that big brother who came a few days ago, right?” The younger brother’s voice was hushed, barely above a whisper, only loud enough for the three of them to hear. Everyone around them was lost in panic, too consumed by fear to notice them.
Wei Qixuan froze for a moment before finally nodding.
“What is it?” his brother asked.
Wei Qixuan shook his head. He had examined the cube countless times, searching for anything special about it. But no matter how he looked, it was just a cube—ordinary, unremarkable, with no apparent way to use it.
“This thing… maybe it can help you survive, Brother.” The boy’s voice was quiet, murmuring as if he wasn’t entirely sure or perhaps afraid that someone nearby might overhear.
Their little sister caught those words. She lifted her head slightly, gazing at her two older brothers with a puzzled, innocent expression.
“I don’t know. Even now, I still don’t know what this is,” Wei Qixuan admitted. Sometimes, he wondered if that mercenary had simply been playing a cruel joke on him—giving him this object just to make him stop following in his footsteps. Maybe this cube was nothing more than a mockery of his own powerlessness.
But even if that were true, he didn’t want to believe it. He had no other options left. This small cube was his only hope.
“If you figure out how to use it, Brother, then go.”
At that moment, his younger brother took their little sister’s hand. The two of them, his own flesh and blood, quietly held each other in an embrace. “Brother, you have to live.”
Wei Qixuan’s anger erupted in an instant. His emotions had been stretched to their limit, and his brother’s words became the final trigger. Without thinking, he slapped his younger brother hard. “We are family, we are brothers, we are bound by blood! You want me to abandon you and run away alone? Do you want me to live the rest of my life carrying the guilt of leaving my own siblings behind?!”
The boy, still just a child, couldn’t endure such a blow. His eyes welled up with tears. He bit his lower lip, his mouth trembling, his nose stinging with suppressed emotion—until he could hold it in no longer and broke into sobs.
He clung tightly to their youngest sister. “But, Brother… I feel awful.”
The moment the slap landed, Wei Qixuan regretted it. His younger brother didn’t understand—he was still too young. He couldn’t blame a child for failing to grasp the weight of his suffering.
Seeing his brother’s reddened eyes, guilt surged through Wei Qixuan. He wanted to reach out and comfort him, but then he heard what his little brother said next—and he froze.
“No food, no water… and the Nightmare Beasts will come to eat us. No one laughs anymore.” His brother’s voice was choked with tears.
“What are you talking about? Isn’t everyone happy right now?” Wei Qixuan forced a smile. “We don’t have to work hard in the city anymore. Every day, we can play, and we get to eat all kinds of grass we never ate before. Isn’t that great?”
His younger brother sobbed as he spoke. “You’re lying. No one is laughing. Everyone is crying.”
Wei Qixuan’s expression froze.
“Everyone cries—while working the fields, when they’re alone, all the time. Everyone is scared. They’re afraid of the Nightmare Beasts. The gatekeepers are gone, and the Nightmare Beasts will find us. They’re going to eat us.” His brother squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face in their little sister’s shoulder as if afraid of being hit again. But he still wouldn’t stop. “Everyone wants to leave this place. They always have. Everyone tried their best to get to other cities. No one wanted to stay here. We were abandoned. No one wants us.”
Wei Qixuan was speechless. His heart clenched painfully, each of his brother’s words twisting into him like a knife.
Then, his little sister murmured softly, “I miss how things used to be. When we had Dad, Mom, food… when we had uncles and aunties. Even though we were always tired and had so much work to do, at night, we would play together. And Dad and Mom would secretly hide and kiss each other. I want to see Dad and Mom kiss again.”
Even though Hope City had fallen—long before its destruction, signs of food shortages had already appeared—those days remained the only happy memories in the little girl’s heart.
“I want to go back. I don’t want this. I don’t want it.” She finally broke down, crying louder. “I want Dad. I want Mom. I want to find them. I want to find Uncle and Auntie.”
Wei Qixuan felt his heart ache as if it were being torn apart.
“I don’t want this.” His younger brother spoke with a hint of stubbornness. “Only you want to live, Brother. I saw you go looking for people from other cities. They took you somewhere else, and when you came back, you were covered in wounds. But they still didn’t take you with them.”
Wei Qixuan’s eyes widened instantly. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. His mind roared with noise, drowning out everything else.
“Brother, you always go looking for them, but they never take you. We don’t want to find them. We don’t want to be beaten and tricked by them.” His brother didn’t fully understand what death meant, but he knew that maybe dying would mean seeing their parents again. It had to be better than this—no more hunger, no more suffering.
The small cube slipped from his trembling fingers and fell to the ground. Wei Qixuan looked down, unable to believe what he was hearing. How had things come to this?
“Strange…”
At that moment, a gatekeeper standing at a high vantage point, scanning the surroundings, suddenly muttered. “So far, it seems like no one has actually come into direct contact with that Nightmare Beast. It’s like… it’s deliberately driving us together, forcing us into one place.”
As soon as he spoke, the other gatekeepers and scouting teams began to feel the same eerie realization.
“That’s true. When we first saw it, it was just standing there. But the moment we got close, it swung its blade at us.”
“And it kept chasing us… like it was intentionally herding us in this direction.”
As the scouting teams took notice of the situation, someone suddenly asked, “Could it be that it’s not a Nightmare Beast?”
“It is a Nightmare Beast. Absolutely,” a gatekeeper immediately replied. “We’ve all been seeing the same one. If it weren’t a Nightmare Beast, how could a person move so fast? How could it circle the entire city, herding us like this? It’s too fast—so fast that we can’t even see it clearly!”
“But if that’s the case, then why is it doing this?” The gatekeeper couldn’t understand the creature’s actions. If it truly wanted to wipe them out, it only needed to touch them. Just a single contact, and they would be annihilated.
Suddenly, another gatekeeper, pale as a sheet, murmured, “What if… what if it’s deliberately gathering us all in one place?”
Instantly, everyone’s expressions changed.
Nightmare Beasts had the ability to think. Or rather, the Nightmare Beast Seed altered the very nature of life’s thought processes, turning a living being into something that existed solely to propagate more Nightmare Beast Seeds. Nightmare Beasts had once been human. They still retained human intelligence—but they no longer felt any sympathy for their former kind. A Nightmare Beast could also be an animal. When an animal was infected, it would act according to its instincts, seeking out the best places to spread the Nightmare Beast Seeds.
This particular Nightmare Beast had once been a mercenary.
A mercenary-turned-Nightmare Beast would know exactly how to deal with a city.
“He knows we’re from an abandoned city,” a scouting team member stammered, voice thick with tears. “He’s deliberately forcing us all together. He knows what we’re trying to do. He’s toying with us. That mercenary must’ve been an absolute monster when he was alive.”
Everyone’s expressions grew even more despairing. Some who had not yet seen the Nightmare Beast finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
At last, someone couldn’t hold it in any longer. A trembling voice emerged from the crowd: “Is it time? Has the time come? Are we supposed to die now?”
They would all die together.
To avoid becoming Nightmare Beasts, they had chosen to end things themselves.
Below Hope City, piles of firewood had been stacked, waiting. All it would take was a single spark, and the flames would consume the entire city. They would perish in the very place they had dedicated their lives to.
The skeletal remains of the once-great Hope City would become their tomb.
This was a decision they had all made together. And now, it was time to act.
“Look! Over there!” A gatekeeper suddenly shouted. All at once, heads turned in the same direction.
In the distance stood a tall, shadowy figure. The moon was exceptionally bright tonight, its round glow seeming almost within reach, illuminating every corner it touched. Beneath that cold, silver light, the dark figure could not hide. He moved forward slowly—leisurely, like someone returning home—one step at a time, drawing ever closer to Hope City.
“He’s coming, he’s already here!” someone shouted loudly. “Hurry up, we… we have to light the fire quickly.”
At that moment, someone, trembling, took out a lighter. The bright flame illuminated a small patch of space. The soft, tiny fire flickered harmlessly, almost adorably, cradled in their hands, bringing waves of warmth.
As long as they dropped the lighter into the firewood, the carefully treated wood would ignite instantly. Fire was light, a brilliant light, and the Nightmare Beasts feared the light, refusing to come near. But in this raging blaze, they themselves would burn to ashes.
Not a single one of them would be parasitized by the Nightmare Beasts. They would not bring despair and suffering to other cities.
Perhaps because there were simply too many of them dying together, in moments like this, choosing death somehow became easier, as if the presence of others granted them courage. The elders embraced, kissed, and bid farewell, whispering their final parting words.
“Your cooking was really good. In your next life, be reborn in a better era and become a chef. If you still remember me, you have to treat me to a meal.”
“I’m sorry, my dear. Grandma couldn’t protect you. But it’s okay, my good child. Grandma will stay by your side until the very end. Don’t be afraid. I will always be here.”
“Though we never had the chance to be together forever, maybe we will in the future. Maybe if we die in each other’s arms, we’ll be able to be even closer in our next life.”
Amidst the rising voices all around, there was a sense of acceptance. It seemed that everyone was saying their final goodbyes to one another.
Wei Qixuan looked at his younger siblings. Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, he wanted to say something, hoping to offer them even the slightest bit of comfort in these final moments.
However, just then, he saw his younger brother staring at the people around them. His childish voice broke the silence: “Liars.”
Wei Qixuan was startled. “What did you say?”
His younger brother buried his face into their sister’s shoulder again. “They’re all liars. They’re lying. No one is smiling. They’re all crying… Wuuu wuuu wuuu…”
The more he spoke, the sadder he became until he finally broke into sobs. Even at the very end, their family was given no peace.
Wei Qixuan lifted his gaze. A dense crowd of people stretched before him, all shrouded in sorrow and despair. Everyone seemed to have accepted reality—accepted death.
But… was that really true?
Could people truly accept death so calmly?
Wei Qixuan didn’t understand.
He wanted to live. He wanted to keep living, to stay alive with his younger siblings. He would never, ever accept death.
“He’s almost here, hurry up.” The gatekeeper couldn’t stand this overwhelming atmosphere of sorrow any longer. The longer they delayed, the more fear and hesitation would set in after their initial determination. Meanwhile, the Nightmare Beast was nearly at their doorstep. If it parasitized them, everything they were doing now would become a joke—everything would be over!
At that moment, someone with trembling hands reignited a lighter that had unknowingly gone out. The sudden burst of firelight flickered unsteadily, mirroring the uncontrollable shaking of the person holding it.
Everyone fell silent. They simply watched, waiting.
At this point, there was no turning back. Each of them was urging both themselves and one another toward death—for the sake of everyone, for the sake of those still alive, they had to go through with this.
Yet, no one noticed a small, frail child darting swiftly through the crowd. The moment the lighter was about to be released, the child lunged forward, seized the object, and hurled it forcefully to the side.
The flame was extinguished. Everyone was stunned.
For a moment, no one knew what to do.
Wei Qixuan had stopped this grand act of collective death. He curled up, clutching the lighter tightly. “No, I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die at all. I want to live. I want to live! I want to live, I want to live, I want to live…”
Wei Qixuan could no longer say anything else—he just kept repeating, “I want to live.” He wanted to live. More than anyone else, he wanted to live.
“Xuanxuan, what are you doing?!”
A middle-aged woman suddenly rushed out from the crowd and grabbed at Wei Qixuan’s tattered clothes. “Hurry and hand over the lighter!”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”
Even as she yanked at him painfully, Wei Qixuan refused to let go of the lighter.
His stubbornness delayed them. In that delay, the desperation that had consumed everyone transformed into overwhelming fury.
“You brat, do you even understand what you’re doing? If we turn into Nightmare Beasts, we won’t just die—we’ll bring disaster to other cities as well! Don’t you have any friends, any family in those cities?!”
“Hand over the lighter, now!”
The enraged adults struck him with fists and kicks, but Wei Qixuan gritted his teeth and endured it. Then, all of a sudden, he roared, “I don’t want to die! Even if it’s just one more second, I don’t want to die! You clearly have other lighters, but you just have to take mine! You don’t want to die, either! You’re all liars!”
The moment those words came out, the people attacking him froze. A brief silence filled the space.
Because he was right, they had other lighters. They had plenty of ways to start a fire.
But…
“What’s the point of living?”
Suddenly, a woman’s voice finally broke into sobs. “Even if we don’t burn to death, we’ll still die when the Nightmare Beast’s seed parasitizes us!”
“I don’t want to die, but we have no choice! We’re going to die! The Nightmare Beast is already downstairs! We can’t kill it—no one in this world can! Not even the biggest cities can stop a Nightmare Beast! We’re doomed, we’re all going to die!”
“We know that. We know that! But I really, really don’t want to die…”
At that moment, everything collapsed. Screams, wails—Hope City, once a beacon of promise, became a true ghost town. Within it, the future dead poured out their despair, their sorrow consuming the air itself.
Down below, at the foot of the building, a man with pitch-black pupils lifted his head, gazing up at the world above. The grief from above seemed to seep down to his feet, wrapping around him.
Wei Qixuan knelt on the ground, his fingers digging harshly into his palms.
Then, all of a sudden, he hurled the lighter onto the ground.
Liars.
They were all liars.
This whole world—nothing but liars!
However, just as the cube landed, streaks of blue light flickered across its surface. Suddenly, a massive screen materialized in front of everyone, as if a giant display had emerged. Every single person present could see what was on it with absolute clarity.
It was…
A phone icon. The small cube was making a call!
The sudden transformation stunned everyone. No one needed an explanation—they all recognized what it was. It was communication.
The tiny phone rang twice before the call was picked up from the other end. On the enormous holographic screen, the face of a young mercenary who had been here before appeared.
“Hello? Who is this?” The boy’s crisp voice carried no hint of alarm. He appeared to be in an empty room. Everyone was momentarily frozen, including Wei Qixuan.
A voice repeated several times through the connection, “Hello? Can you hear me? Is anyone there? Hello?”
“Yes! Yes! It’s me! It’s me! Big brother, it’s me!” Wei Qixuan stumbled forward, nearly tripping in his haste as he rushed to the screen, his voice urgent.
“You… Who are you?” The boy on the other end tilted his head in confusion, seemingly unable to grasp the situation. “Uh, can you flip the communicator around? I can’t see you. Sorry, I don’t think I remember your voice.”
“It’s me! It’s me!” Wei Qixuan immediately turned the cube over several times.
“I see, I see. Got it, stop flipping it. Oh, it’s you—Xuan Xuan, right? I didn’t expect you to contact me.” He Fang’s voice came through, completely devoid of tension. His tone carried a kind of magic, making everyone present fall silent the moment they heard him speak.
“Big brother, you’re a mercenary, right? I’m in Hope City. A Nightmare Beast has appeared here… Can you—can you save us?” Wei Qixuan’s eyes shimmered with desperate hope as he clung to He Fang as their last chance.
“What’s the situation right now?” He Fang asked.
The moment Wei Qixuan heard that He Fang was willing to listen, it was as if he had found his anchor. He spoke as fast as he could, “All ten thousand of us are gathered at the top level of Hope City. The Nightmare Beast should be downstairs—I don’t know which floor, but it’s coming up! Big brother, please save us! We’re willing to pay any price!”
He Fang frowned. His delicate and handsome face showed a hint of hesitation. “The Nightmare Beast is too close to you. We’ve already traveled far away. If we rush back now, we might not make it in time. Do you have any way to hold it off for a while? It’ll take us about half a day to return.”
Did they have a way? No, of course not. No one here knew how to fight a Nightmare Beast. Even the thought of survival had only come as a last resort.
At that moment, the gatekeeper suddenly stepped forward and said, “We have guns. What can we do to hold out until you get here?”
Everyone held their breath, waiting for He Fang’s answer.
However, He Fang frowned deeply, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, he shook his head and said, “Guns are useless against a Nightmare Beast. You don’t even have a single weapon designed to fight it?”
“No…” The gatekeeper’s face darkened with despair.
“Then, is there any way you can retreat into a sealed space and block the Nightmare Beast outside for now?” He Fang suggested again.
But the gatekeeper’s expression grew even grimmer. The dilapidated Hope City had almost no secure hiding places. The only enclosed area was on the lowest level—but they could no longer get down there.
He Fang’s brows furrowed tightly. He clearly had no solution either.
At that moment, the very people who had previously hurled insults at He Fang and his group suddenly stepped forward and fell to their knees in front of the camera. They prostrated themselves, bowing as low as possible.
“We’re sorry, we’re sorry… We were wrong before. We’re willing to do anything to make up for our mistakes. Please… please, save us…”
He Fang’s expression was visibly conflicted. He let out a slow sigh and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to save you… but I really can’t make it in time. The Nightmare Beast is too fast—you know that. This is like trying to put out a fire with water that’s miles away. I truly have no way to help.”
Wei Qixuan stood there in a daze, his face ashen.
It was useless.
Even their last hope had shattered.
At that moment, the entire Hope City sank into an even deeper despair—one far more terrifying than before. This was the despair that came after seeing hope, making it even more agonizing. It crushed their emotions, leaving them numb.
He Fang blinked as if observing something. He remained silent for over ten seconds before suddenly saying, “I do have one method… but it’s beyond what you can imagine. I don’t know if you’d be willing to try it.”
“What method?” Wei Qixuan asked immediately. The others also slowly lifted their heads, though their eyes still held traces of numbness.
“Do you believe in gods?” He Fang spoke slowly, making sure everyone could hear him clearly. “Pray. Pray before the statue. The gods will help you. You may not believe it, but it’s real. I wouldn’t joke about the lives of so many people.”
“Gods? What gods? Are there even gods in this world?” Someone let out a bitter laugh. “Are you mocking us at the very end?”
For a moment, it almost felt like this was the hope they had been waiting for. But… gods?
If gods truly existed, would they have faced the apocalypse?
They had prayed countless times during the end of the world—had any god ever answered them?
Was this mercenary making fools of them?
“I believe!” Wei Qixuan suddenly shouted. “Big brother, I believe! Please, let me pray!”
“Are you sure? This might go against everything you’ve believed in. If your faith isn’t sincere, it might not work,” He Fang said with a troubled expression, clearly hesitant himself.
“I believe!” Wei Qixuan declared firmly. He wouldn’t let go of any chance—he wanted to live more than anyone else!
“……” He Fang carefully studied the child through the video. The boy’s burning gaze was filled with hope, like fireworks erupting into the most brilliant colors. Finally, He Fang spoke, “I will now project the statue of the god directly into your location. Then, offer your most sincere prayers.”
“Thank you, big brother,” Wei Qixuan said softly.
The projection gradually expanded, and a massive white statue appeared before everyone’s eyes. It was a sculpture of an impossibly strong and handsome man, so breathtakingly majestic that words could not describe him. At his feet coiled a fierce beast—a monstrous creature with the body of a lion and the tail of a dragon. They seemed intertwined as if they were one. Perhaps this was a true god, or perhaps an evil demon. Beauty and darkness merged, stirring a profound sense of reverence in all who beheld it.
Wei Qixuan knelt down.
He didn’t understand what it meant to pray. He didn’t know how to truly believe in a god. But at this moment, he devoted himself completely to this unknown deity, offering his loyalty and his faith.
Around him, the people of Hope City exchanged uncertain glances. They watched the young boy—then, one by one, they too, knelt before the statue.
There was no uniform posture, no set ritual of faith. No one knew exactly what they were praying for in their hearts. But at this moment, an unnatural silence blanketed the air.
A sudden footstep echoed through the previously silent space, landing heavily on the staircase. The weight of the step seemed deliberate as if meant to press down with such force—turning each thudding step into the final straw that would break their mental defenses. The cruel nightmare beast was making its way up, ready to devour the prey it had set its sights on.
A long blade scraped against the steel framework of Hope City, producing an ear-piercing screech. On the staircase, a black shadow gradually emerged—short, jet-black hair, chilling eyes, pale skin that appeared corpse-like under the moonlight, bloodless and icy lips, and a long black coat. Step by step, the figure revealed itself to all who watched.
The towering nightmare beast embodied absolute beauty, absolute evil, absolute dominance, absolute malice.
And now, within Hope City, there was nowhere left to run.
The nightmare beast advanced—slowly, deliberately—torturing everyone with each unhurried step.
It paid no heed to the massive white statue, its gaze fixed only on the living.
The long black blade was raised high. Within the beast’s pitch-black pupils, nothing was reflected.
Yet at that moment, as the people cowered in fear and despair, the colossal, illusory divine statue suddenly burst into an intense, pure-white light. The brilliance illuminated the entire space, turning it as bright as day.
The overwhelming radiance forced the inhabitants of Hope City to squint in reflex. And when they opened their eyes once more, they were met with a sight so earth-shattering that it shattered the beliefs they had been indoctrinated with since birth—a scene they had been told would never, ever come to pass.
