Above the Galaxy
Chapter 366 - 235: A Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart!

Chapter 366: Chapter 235: A Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart!

"What?"

"Burned to death..." Lu Yu finally looked up, his eyes meeting Tang Fei’s as he said hoarsely, "It was my son."

The secret he had buried in his heart for many years, the painful torment he had struggled with day after day, year after year, and the deep-seated hatred that wouldn’t dissolve, all found a confidant to confide in, an outlet to vent.

By the time he finished his sentence, his eyes were red with blood and tears streamed down the wrinkles that creased his face.

One drop, and another.

Oh, the pain!

It pierced through his heart!

His heart felt as if it were being stabbed repeatedly by a knife, relentlessly.

Upon hearing the old man’s response, Tang Fei’s face turned deathly pale, his expression one of horror. A buzzing filled his ears and his mind thundered incessantly.

It was as if countless warplanes were roaring inside his head, screaming, and firing angry cannonballs that whipped his mind into wave after wave of tumultuous storm.

His thoughts were in utter disarray, and he could find no peace for a long time.

Tang Fei had seen that fire execution video.

Every time, it pained him to the point of suffocation, yet he couldn’t help but watch it over and over again.

That man was his father, that woman was his mother.

He had no recollection of his parents, so he could only look for their visages in the video.

Like those children who had lost their parents.

He had also speculated, if he was still alive, who was the child tightly embraced by his mother? Who was the child screaming as he burned in the raging fire?

Whose child was suffering the fiery ordeal in his stead? And who had had their life snatched away prematurely in his place?

It was just a child...

All along, he had been unwilling to think about this question, even deliberately avoiding it.

This was why, after obtaining the video, he had never asked the old man who that child was.

What difference would knowing make? It would only add to his own feelings of guilt and sinfulness.

It would feel as if he had stolen someone else’s life and livelihood.

So, to make his own life easier, he chose to feign ignorance and ask no questions.

He had imagined countless possibilities, but he had never thought the truth would be so inconceivable, so bloodily cruel.

The one who was burned to death was the old man’s child; the old man had used his own child as a substitute...

Thus, Lu Qingshan said he had taken away his grandson.

The old man claimed to be Lu Qingshan’s grandson, and Lu Qingshan chose to believe without hesitation.

Because he could hardly believe...

That someone would personally kill their own child.

Who could have imagined such a thing?

Stunned for a long while, Tang Fei asked tremblingly, "Why...?"

All this time, he thought he understood the old man.

Sly, cunning, unscrupulous in his actions, ruthless in achieving his goals.

Eighty percent of his own nature was influenced by him, and the remaining twenty percent was pure and good at heart.

For revenge, he would do anything, including sacrificing himself and his family.

Like how he could leave his family and hide in the Old Land for over a decade, or how he recognized a new grandpa to secure resources offered by the Lu Family...

Even though the deceived person was his own biological father, he spared no effort.

As long as it was beneficial for revenge, he would do it.

Even if he wanted to find an infant to replace himself, he could just randomly pick a child, someone else’s child...

That was what he should have done.

But why did he use his own son? Why sacrifice his family’s child?

"Because you are Tang Li’s son," the old man said solemnly. "You have Tang Li’s blood in you, you are still a banner..."

"You are alive, then those hidden in the darkness are willing to step out to help you. You are alive, then there is still hope for revenge."

"If you died, the Tang Family would be completely eradicated, leaving no chance at all..."

"Your father’s death, your mother’s death, the death of your Tang Family, and the deaths of so many who were loyal to your father, they were not alone; whole families were slaughtered..."

"It wasn’t one person or just tens or hundreds; it was thousands... Because there were so many killed, Imperial Square turned into a slaughterhouse, and the blood stained the groundwater beneath Phoenix City red..."

"They cannot die in vain; those executioners must pay a price..."

The old man gritted his teeth, his voice wailing in grief, "A blood debt needs to be repaid with blood."

"Why must it specifically be his own child? Why... must it be him?" Tang Fei asked.

That was what he found the hardest to understand.

He knew, if it were him, he couldn’t do it.

What kind of father could send his child off and watch him burned alive?

A cruel smile appeared on Lu Yu’s face as he said, "At that time, the Royal Family was searching nationwide for Tang Family traitors, and anyone even slightly connected was captured and thrown into prison to be tortured for information; friends and colleagues were targeted heavily, even if your dad had just visited a barbecue shop or your mom had clothes made at a tailor’s, none were spared..."

"Later, when too many were captured and the prisons couldn’t hold them anymore, there wasn’t even a need for a trial, they were just taken out and chopped..."

"Your family of three was held in the Beehive of Phoenix Palace, under the personal watch of Chen Fenglei, that old dog... To swap you out, the child had to be taken into the Imperial Palace."

"Do you think just any child could be taken into the palace? And how could they surreptitiously find a child of matching age without the Monitoring Bureau’s spies noticing?"

"This matter could only be known to a very few; the slightest hint, and the whole plan would fall through..."

"Not only would it be impossible to rescue you, but everyone involved in the plan would have to die..."

"So... so..." the old man, fighting back his grief, said, "My son was born on the same day as you... My wife and the Empress of the Zhong Family were close friends... After the child was born, the Empress wanted to see the baby..."

The old man looked up at the sky, doing his best to keep his tears from falling.

"She personally carried the child into the palace... but after entering, the child was sent away..."

"She was carrying you to see the Empress, while our child... was sent into the Beehive..."

Pain!

Tang Fei felt his heart wrench, making even breathing difficult.

What kind of couple were they?

The husband set up this earth-shattering plan to save his best friend’s son, while his wife resolutely handed over their own child...

How excruciating and heartbreakingly sad must the mother have been at the moment she handed over her son?

Thinking of that scene, Tang Fei felt a shivering pain all over.

It felt as if thousands of arrows were piercing his heart.

"She..." Tang Fei, unable to meet the old man’s gaze, asked with red-rimmed eyes, "What about her?"

"Dead?"

Tang Fei’s lips quivered, wanting to ask how she died, but...

Such a question had no more meaning.

Dead; isn’t that a kind of release?

Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m