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Perhaps it was the extremity of anger that made Qin Chu laugh in response. "Two against two, and you call it bullying? Besides, isn’t Wu Jiqing standing right beside you?"
"You!" Wu Jiqing, though visibly disheveled, understood that the current situation was not in his favor.
And deep down, he also harbored a growing suspicion of Su Weishang.
He unconsciously took a small step back, so slight that it went unnoticed by most. However, this subtle movement left Su Weishang completely exposed to Qin Chu's gaze.
Ji Chuancheng's handsome and profound face remained as calm and indifferent as ever, but his gaze was like a fiery thread that was tightly coiling around Su Weishang and causing his face to flush red.
Su Weishang was left speechless.
After what felt like an eternity, the silent man suddenly let out a deep sigh as his expression tinged with sorrow. "Su Weishang, tell me, why... did you kill him?"
His voice no longer carried the earlier grief and anger, but instead, it was filled with a sense of hopeless resignation.
It was as if he was asking a simple question, and the answer no longer mattered.
Su Weishang stared intently at Ji Chuancheng for a long time before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Hahaha! Ji Chuancheng, are you begging me?" His laughter was maniacal and teetering on the edge of emotional collapse.
Qin Chu, seeing this, snapped, "Su Weishang, are you admitting it?! How could you do something like this..."
"I want to know why you’re so fixated on this. It brings you no benefit, and once exposed, it would be your downfall. But... why?" Ji Chuancheng's cold, low voice trembled slightly. Qin Chu turned to him in surprise, only to see his eyes bloodshot and his lips parting slowly. "I’m begging you, Su Weishang."
Hearing Ji Chuancheng's almost pleading words, Su Weishang's emotions gradually calmed.
He looked coldly at this man who had become so fragile and no longer the strong figure he once was.
The emotions swirling in his eyes were too complex to decipher.
After a long pause, he suddenly smiled and said, "That’s exactly why. It’s because all of you are like this that I can’t help but..." His voice suddenly rose sharply, "I can’t help but wish he would die quickly!!!"
By the end, his voice was almost breaking, but Su Weishang continued to shout hysterically, "Why! Why! We’re both from the Jing family, so why don’t I even have the right to bear the Surname Jing? Why? Just because Jing Xia has a good mother? Did I get to choose my mother? Did I want a despicable, shameless, business-secret-stealing, kidnapping, blackmailing mistress as my mother? None of this was my choice, so why am I so different from Jing Xia? Why..."
"Su Weishang!" Ji Chuancheng's voice was no longer calm and composed as usual.
He shouted in refutation, "No one has ever mistreated you! You were provided with food, clothing, and raised to adulthood. Even Uncle Jing was more inclined towards you in his heart because you knew how to flatter and act obedient. Even Wu Jiqing mistreated Xiao Xia because of you. What exactly are you dissatisfied with? The world doesn't revolve around you. You already possess so much, yet nothing can fill the greed in your heart. You..."
His choked voice suddenly stopped.
The words, filled with extreme collapse and sorrow, seemed to have drained all his strength.
The man who had been holding on and enduring finally reached the peak of heartbreak over such a trivial reason.
Because of such a small and insignificant reason, he had forever lost the person he held dearest in his heart.
Because of such a pale and powerless reason, and because of this reason he had never thought of in a thousand ways, this person dared to commit such an act that defied morality and human ethics!
Why!
Why!
Why was it this reason!
Why...
The reason was so small that it made him feel scared, made him feel guilty, made him feel...
That everything was his fault.
He had protected that person too well.
Just one kidnapping incident had made him build a high wall around that person and isolate them from all dangers. But he forgot that the most fundamental way to protect someone is to make the person who needs protection strong themselves!
Why... why!
Hot Vital Essence streamed down from Ji Chuancheng's eyes, following the firm lines of his jaw and falling to the ground that left deep marks.
Hatred and guilt now filled his scarred heart.
At this moment, he suddenly slowly curled his lips into a faint, relieved smile.
Ji Chuancheng rarely smiled because he carried too much on his shoulders that caused him to forget the instinct of joy.
But now, he looked at the trembling and horrified Su Weishang with a calm, liberated smile. He gazed for a long time, then suddenly spoke, "Su Weishang, I rarely get angry."
Qin Chu's hair stood on end all over her body.
She couldn't help but take a step back.
Because she had spent enough time with him, she had ample opportunity to understand this man, to understand... the magnitude of his current rage.
Su Weishang opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
Ji Chuancheng didn't even intend to get an answer from him.
The tear stains on his cheeks had already dried up.
His deep, dark eyes now seemed like a stagnant pool of dead water and devoid of any emotion, any touch.
He looked at Su Weishang for a long time with the gaze of looking at a dead person, and said, "Now, I am very angry. I am very angry. I am really... extremely angry."
What would be the consequences of this man's anger?
Qin Chu probably never wanted to recall it in her lifetime.
At the blood-soaked Bund, the smell of rust covered all the saltiness in the air. Su Weishang's final look of terror and fear, his constant pleading and humble posture, were forever etched in Qin Chu's heart, and never to be forgotten.
When the bloody and brutal scene finally ended, even Qin Chu couldn't help but stagger back a few steps while staring in shock at the man covered in blood.
He had several wounds, the deepest of which exposed bone, and blood continued to stream down his body.
On the other side, apart from Su Weishang, who had long since stopped breathing, only Wu Jiqing remained, but collapsed on the ground and was on the verge of death.
Qin Chu's lips trembled slightly.
When she tried to speak, she realized that she had been trembling all over.
Faced with this unfamiliar King of Asura, she began to feel fear, but the companionship of over twenty years gradually calmed her. With a trembling voice, she urgently said, "Young Master... let me treat your wounds. They're severe, and you need..."
"Qin Chu."
A stiff, mechanical voice interrupted her.
She looked up and saw Ji Chuancheng tilting his head slightly while gazing at the still clear and blue sky, and slowly asked, "Have I... done something wrong all these years?"
Qin Chu forced a smile and said, "You haven't done anything wrong. You only wanted what was best for him, it's just that..."
"I shouldn't have isolated him from those filthy things, shouldn't have blindly believed in my own strength, and most of all... shouldn't have done things in my own self-righteous way, only to end up... achieving nothing at all."
Qin Chu was left speechless.
That day, Ji Chuancheng's tall and upright figure stood on the riverside dock and not saying a word, just standing there.
His blood-stained silhouette was completely enveloped in the warm embrace of the setting sun.
When the last ray of light disappeared and the sky gradually darkened, he suddenly lowered his head to gaze at the vast expanse of the river while lost in thought.
The people from the S City Base had already taken the two lying on the ground away for care.
Qin Chu wanted to speak up and offer treatment several times, but each time, the words caught in her throat.
The air grew colder, and the night without sunlight became desolate and bleak.
Just as Qin Chu stood there in confusion, a deep, hoarse male voice suddenly broke the silence: "Qin Chu, I'm very tired." The tone was desolate and carried a sense of world-weariness that frightened Qin Chu.
A sense of foreboding began to rise in Qin Chu's heart, but she consciously suppressed it as she forced a dry laugh as she said, "Young Master, let's go back first. We just signed the agreement today, and there are still some matters we need to arrange..."
"Qin Chu, I'm really tired."
Qin Chu fell silent and no longer spoke.
Warm tears began to gather in her eyes and lingering on her lashes.
In the night breeze, her slender body trembled uncontrollably.
She began to feel afraid and softly pleaded, "Young Master, let's go! If we don't hurry back, the people at the base will worry!"
"Qin Chu, how long have we known each other?"
"Twenty-three years and nine months."
"And how long have I known him..."
Qin Chu remained silent.
"It's been exactly twenty years and fifteen days."
Listening to the relief and joy in that voice, Qin Chu could no longer hold back: "Young Master, please come down! We need to leave, or the others will start to worry! It's just a ten-year peace treaty; there are still many years of war ahead between humans and Mutated Beasts. If you're not here... if you're not here..."
Her sobbing made it impossible for Qin Chu to continue speaking.
Yet, Ji Chuancheng never turned back.
Dragging his exhausted and injured body, he stood like a towering pine on the boulder at the harbor.
The last glimmer of blue light was being pushed to the edge of the horizon by the encroaching night.
It seemed he could no longer hear Qin Chu's words, as he suddenly reached out his hand, as if trying to touch the fading light.
"Young Master!!!"
"Thud—"
The loud splash unleashed Qin Chu's heart-wrenching cry.
Without hesitation, she rushed forward and leaped into the water.
She then searched for a long, long time.
The entire S City Base searched for a long, long time.
That night, the waters of the Huangpu River were too turbulent, as if surging with the helpless grief and despair of a heart, wishing him to follow the one who had long since departed, to a place free from all troubles.
There, Jing Xia was waiting.
As long as Jing Xia was there, Ji Chuancheng would never be alone.
He still owed him a word, a sentence buried deep in his heart for twenty years.
It was an "I love you" that he had never dared to speak, which, over the years, had become far from simple and pure.
It was stained with countless drops of blood, endless tears, and the vibrant, burning lives of two people, forever vanishing in this vast, boundless world.
Death was never the end.
But a long-awaited, finally faced liberation.
Ten years later, when all humans on Earth were on guard against the possible return of the Mutated Beasts, the dull peace left them utterly baffled and led them to believe that the Mutated Beasts had no intention of waging war again.
What they would never know was that ten years ago, a pale-skinned king clad in black had stood on the massive head of a Mutated Orca while expressionlessly gazing down at a body floating from the distant sea and remaining silent for a long time.
Since then, he had chosen a tiny, isolated island and forever sitting beside the tallest coconut tree in its center.
He floated in the air, as if seated on an invisible throne while leaning against the sturdy, thick trunk and staring endlessly at the distant blue horizon, lost in thought.
After waiting for a whole year, the Mutated Orca and the Mutated Conger Eel finally decided to leave, only returning once a month to check on their king.
In their hearts, the king had perhaps found an interesting game to pass the dull, desolate decade.
However, they never expected something to happen.
Just two years later, and only three years after this highly intelligent King of Mutated Beasts had sat by that tree.
On a silent night, this ruthless and dangerous king slowly curled his lips, revealing a pale, handsome face...
A sudden smile of relief appeared.
It slowly raised its head to gaze at the vast, boundless starry sky and murmured with a smile, "Human love... truly, it's so lonely."
The next day, this King closed its eyes forever.
Humans are lonely, and Ji Chuancheng chose death.
Mutated Beasts are even lonelier, and the one and only King chose death.
The ocean remains as vast and boundless as it has been for thousands of years, sometimes raging with storms, sometimes calm and still.
It has flowed on this Earth for billions of years, witnessing the migration of lands and the evolution of life. And now, it has also witnessed—
A death chosen out of loneliness.
A death chosen out of despair.
Translator:
I'm literally tearing up while translating this chapter. It's so sad, full of despair and loneliness that I also felt like my heart was broken.