Life Game In Other World
Chapter 693: The Death of ’He Ao’? (Super Long - , Seeking Monthly Passes)

Chapter 693: Chapter 693: The Death of ’He Ao’? (Super Long Chapter, Seeking Monthly Passes)

"My lord, we wish to serve you!"

At this moment, several C-level monsters nearby saw that He Ao was being suppressed and immediately rushed forward.

Hearing these words, Deres merely looked up at them without stopping them.

Their hearts leaped with joy, thinking that Deres had tacitly approved their actions, then they charged forward.

But just as they were less than two meters away from He Ao, everyone’s bodies instantly contracted and twisted into a mass.

"My lord... why?"

The one in the lead looked up at Deres, struggling to reach out to him.

However, there was not the slightest change in Deres’s expression; he just quietly watched He Ao.

Atop this tall building, the dim sky began to spread with a purple radiance, and countless twisted lines writhed like spirit snakes through the hazy glow.

"Ah! What is this... what is this..."

Suddenly, distorted lines surged out of the bodies of those C-levels fused with Polluted Monsters, winding around their figures.

"My lord... it hurts so much... it hurts... what is this..."

These people immediately started to howl in agony, their already mutated limbs entwining as if they were octopuses being boiled alive.

Still, there was not the slightest change in Deres’s expression.

And in He Ao’s field of view, under the gaze of Super Memory, the souls of these people were being rapidly pierced and torn apart by the twisted lines.

Following this, twisted holes began to appear on their bodies, as if something was voraciously devouring their flesh and souls alive.

Soon, the painful screams stopped, and those people completely lost their voices, their bodies dissolving into the invisible devouring force.

Only the purple blood on the ground and scattered remnants indicated they might have once existed.

As these people died, He Ao also clearly saw that on Deres, some twisted lines were circling, and the oppressive sensation that almost left him unable to breathe was steadily increasing.

"Were they the sacrifices you had prepared?"

He Ao looked at Deres, his voice hoarse.

"Yes."

Deres’s gaze remained calm.

"Are all these ’fusionists’ the sacrifices you had prepared?"

He Ao continued to ask.

"They could be."

Deres’s gaze remained calm.

"Ha."

For some reason, He Ao suddenly let out a laugh upon seeing him this way.

"Old friend, have you thought of something?"

Deres looked at He Ao with a calm gaze, his tone even, like that of an old friend from years past.

"I just thought that these people, who breed Polluted Monsters and refer to ordinary people they capture as ’feed’,..."

He Ao, clutching his wounded belly, seemed to twitch his abdominal muscles with his recent smile, "are themselves nothing more than feed raised by someone else."

In his eyes, Deres’s soul was pure and did not bear the stitching that comes with a union with Polluted Monsters.

Deres was still a pure human Transcendent.

This ’Hidden Face Man’, the creator of the Evolution Acolytes, didn’t actually believe in the Acolytes’ creed of ’fusion’ and ’evolution’; he was merely raising the right sacrifices.

So he didn’t care whether the members of the Evolution Acolytes truly worshipped the so-called ’gods’ because they weren’t raised to be ’believers’ in the first place.

At this moment, He Ao also realized why Deres, compared to the Shadow Cutters, favored the ideologically incompatible ’Night Hawk’ to be his successor.

Because Night Hawk was a ’human’, while the Shadow Cutters, no matter what, were just sacrifices.

Thinking this, a smile grew wider on He Ao’s face.

Blood spilled from his abdomen.

Deres calmly watched He Ao, the twisted power swirling within his body; he didn’t respond to He Ao’s reflection but raised his hand, his soft sword wrapped in the twisted lines amidst the purple glow,

"Old friend, let me send you on your way."

At this moment, his might had completely overwhelmed He Ao, and following the sacrifice, his power seemed to have been elevated yet again, far surpassing He Ao’s.

He displayed the greatest strength he could muster here, one out of respect for He Ao, and two, to prevent any unforeseen complications.

He knew well that against a talent like He Ao, who might cause problems if delayed, he had to act thunderously from the outset, killing him completely without giving him any chance to grow or escape, to achieve the final victory.

Even though He Ao was now so aged, old as if he no longer had time to grow.

In some sense, he was indeed frightened by the "Talent" that He Ao had just displayed.

"Old buddy," he looked at He Ao and raised his weapon, stepping closer, "you shouldn’t have come today. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an opponent with such heroic spirit and Talent."

"If I hadn’t come today, would you still say I have a heroic spirit?"

He Ao let out a difficult, hoarse laugh.

And as the Sacrifice by Deres was successful, the terrifying pressure bearing down on him intensified, yet he never fell to his knees; instead, his hunched body was gradually straightening.

The power that oppressed his Soul was now seeping into his body, destroying its structure, rapidly weakening him.

Deres watched He Ao calmly and thrust his sword directly toward He Ao’s heart.

He Ao struggled to lift his longer cane to block the sword, but Deres forcefully knocked it aside, and the cane went flying.

But He Ao used the force from that knock to sidestep, causing the flexible sword to veer off. Though it pierced through his chest, it did not succeed in stabbing through his heart as intended.

Deres was not the least bit surprised; if He Ao had not resisted, it would have been he who felt puzzled.

He did not withdraw his sword to strike He Ao again; in fact, he was well aware that powerful Transcendents are very hard to kill, and he did not expect to kill He Ao with one blow to a vital spot.

As the flexible sword pierced He Ao, terrifying and twisted lines followed the blade and Deres’s hand into He Ao’s body, rapidly destroying it along with the oppressive force.

This attack was his real finishing move to kill He Ao; where it struck was, in fact, irrelevant.

At that moment, the two men were very close to each other.

And in that instant, He Ao suddenly smiled. His hand, which had been holding the Butterfly Knife and covering his stomach, suddenly traced a bloody arc on his own body with his index finger.

The next second, countless twisted lines appeared in He Ao’s mind, and a loud, chaotic dance played by his ears, his Soul immersed in these lines.

A series of twisted corruptions spread along his consciousness, and as the pollution emerged in He Ao’s mind, the terrifying pressure abruptly diminished.

The oppressive sensation from Deres did not originate from himself but from the twisted lines in the sky.

And of course, He Ao knew well what those twisted lines came from.

Winding Hill.

Deres was actually leveraging his own ability to communicate with Winding Hill, using its status and power to oppress He Ao’s Soul.

But he was not the only one capable of connecting with Winding Hill.

Especially since this oppression Deres exerted felt to He Ao as "unbeliever’s oppression."

It seemed like a conceptual pressure from a Punishment Knight on the heretics who didn’t believe in their Divine Being, which might well be the Punishment Knight’s "ability."

While He Ao did not worship Winding Hill, he had been there before, and had reflections of Winding Hill in his mind.

In a sense, his connection with Winding Hill may even be deeper than Deres’s.

This meant that while tapping into Winding Hill’s power, He Ao’s "unbeliever" tag would be neutralized by the power of Winding Hill, weakening Deres’s "constraint."

Of course, even without this neutralizing effect, He Ao could still attempt to use this similarly sourced corruption to assault Deres’s oppressive power.

However, this move could only be used once; once Deres realized what was happening, he would be on his guard.

Therefore, He Ao had not revealed this connection, nor had he activated this pollution before; he was waiting for an opportunity, for a chance when Deres would get close without any defenses.

And in that moment, Deres also came to realize something was wrong.

He was planning to instantly withdraw his sword and move away, but at this moment the twisted lines had already nearly destroyed He Ao’s body; letting go now might give He Ao a chance to escape.

And if he stayed, it would only take a moment for He Ao to be undoubtedly killed; even if He Ao counterattacked, it was uncertain whether he could hurt him at all, he could afford to trade injury for He Ao’s life.

At this moment, he was caught in a dilemma.

But seasoned in battle, he made his decision almost instantly, ready to withdraw his sword and retreat.

And in that instant.

Ease Thought!

He ultimately did not make the motion to draw his sword.

It was a very brief pause, but everything was already enough.

He Ao put forth his last bit of strength, lifting his Divine Sense-enhanced Butterfly Knife, and stabbed directly through the middle of Deres’s chest.

In that moment, Deres finally realized something, but everything was already too late.

He couldn’t find He Ao’s vital point, but He Ao could find his.

Deres may have been strong, but he hadn’t undergone the genuine pollution mutations bestowed by a Divine Being; he remained a pure human, not one of those special Talent Sequences, with only one energy core.

He couldn’t find He Ao’s vital point, but He Ao could find his.

"Your Talent Sequence is more than just..."

Deres opened his mouth.

"Old buddy,"

He Ao’s hand, which had lost the cane, now wrapped around Deres’s shoulder from behind. Under the destruction of the twisted lines, his body had long since lost much of its strength.

With both hands exerting force, one pulling and the other pushing, he plunged the butterfly knife deeper into Deres’s body, its sharp tip piercing through Deres’s back, and he continued, "’Listen’ corresponds to ’Narrate’, and the ’Listener’ corresponds to..."

He paused, "The one hiding in the background, is the ’Orator’, right?"

Deres’s pupils suddenly contracted, and then he slowly revealed a relieved smile. At this moment, his breath was so feeble it was nearly gone. The energy hub had been destroyed, and the scattered energy had completely wrecked his body,

"Old pal, though I have no idea how you managed to have two Talent Sequences, the battle to come is now yours."

This powerful ’Punishment Knight’ had his life cut off forever at this moment.

He Ao slowly stepped back, pulling the butterfly knife out of Deres’s body.

Without his support, Deres’s body fell forward to the ground.

At this time, hurried footsteps came from the stairwell.

A squad dressed in the uniforms of the Pollution Cleaning Department surged up.

As they arrived, they saw Deres lying on the ground, momentarily stunned, then they looked up vigilantly at He Ao, not daring to move forward.

"Got any flowers?"

He Ao merely glanced at them, asking softly, "I need the best bouquet."

The surrounding people were taken aback, looking at each other in bewilderment. After a brief silence, someone who seemed to be the leader turned around and muttered a few words, sending someone from the back of the line into the stairwell.

After a while, the person who had left ran back up, holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

He had planned to give the flowers to his superior, but as soon as he arrived, everyone promptly stepped aside, clearing a straight path for him to He Ao.

Taken aback, he had no choice but to steel himself and walk towards He Ao, handing over the flowers.

"Thank you."

He Ao’s bloodstained hands took the flowers. He held the bouquet and slowly placed it in front of Deres’s corpse, then he grasped the hilt of the sword embedded in his own chest, and yanked it out forcefully, extracting the flexible sword.

Accompanied by the splatter of fresh blood, the people crowding around involuntarily stepped back.

He Ao placed the flexible sword beside Deres’s body, then slowly stood up.

If Deres had not used the Punishment Knight’s skills in the end, had not tried to suppress He Ao with the power of Winding Hill, if He Ao didn’t have the power of ’Super Memory Ease Thought’ to alter his choices.

He would be the one lying here.

Deres was, in fact, far stronger than him, likely the most powerful fighter in this city.

But from start to finish, from displaying his Talent to make Deres wary, to the last moment when Deres was about to kill him, he used the power of Winding Hill to trap Deres in a choice.

Using the ’Super Memory’ mark that had been discreetly placed on Deres long ago, untriggered, he altered Deres’s final choice.

In reality, Deres was also steadily stepping into He Ao’s trap, although it was a trap that He Ao continually devised and completed throughout the fight.

This battle contained a great deal of gambling, but without gambling, he wouldn’t have been able to solve this predicament involving four C-level players.

Would he really have managed to escape if he hadn’t attended the banquet today?

Even though part had entered the city, the large force of the Kajet Mercenary Corps was still stationed outside.

Without gambling, death was certain, with gambling, there was a sliver of a chance.

He Ao picked up the cane from the ground, supporting himself as he moved step by step towards the dining table.

There were two items on the table.

One was a book, the very one that Deres had genuinely been reading when he arrived.

Its title was simple: "The Mystery of Talent Sequence."

He Ao extended his bloodstained hand, picking up the book and quickly flipping through it.

His movements were fast, as if he were speed-reading; those surrounding him thought he was just casually flipping through it for fun.

Then He Ao turned back, looking towards the bookshelf behind Deres’s chair.

The bookshelf was filled with books on current affairs or military strategy. He Ao casually chose a few that looked appealing and speed-read through them before placing them back.

Finally, he walked around the dining table, returning to his seat, then he looked at the briefcase on the tabletop, slowly hugging it to his chest.

He then stood there, motionless.

The shadow of the dining table stretched long under the lights of the terrace.

A good while later, people began to gather around him cautiously.

The crowd’s gaze fixated on He Ao.

Soon, someone noticed that the elderly man with greying hair still had his cloudy eyes open and fixed ahead, but his chest was no longer rising and falling.

They waited a bit longer.

The elderly man still made no movement.

Gradually, the people crowded closer.

"Dead?"

Uncertainty rippled through the crowd.

One by one, they stepped forward, staring at the pair of eyes—bulging, yet murky and lusterless.

"Seems like he’s dead?"

A daring young man stepped forward, gave a gentle push, but couldn’t move him.

However, the elderly man showed no reaction.

So, he pushed hard once more, thrusting the elderly man forward.

The body of the elderly man finally fell back stiffly, still clutching the suitcase in his arms.

"Really dead?"

The young man was stunned.

In that instant, a breeze stirred the lamplight, casting quivering shadows.

By the time everyone regained their composure, the elderly man’s body had vanished.

"Not dead?"

The crowd was startled and quickly dispersed.

After a while, as nothing else happened, the people gradually quieted down.

"Just now, that was..."

Some whispered amongst themselves.

"Perhaps a Shadow Hound?"

"Shadow Hound? The one with Night Hawk? Didn’t Night Hawk die?"

"Night Hawk’s death doesn’t necessarily mean the Shadow Hound is dead. That creature is cunning; it’s not the first time it’s outsmarted us."

"And this old fellow...?"

"Maybe he’s dead?"

"Just like Night Hawk..."

"Then the chief..."

---

"Sir."

A man in military uniform entered the hall. He looked toward the elderly man sitting in the hall, his back to him.

The bright light illuminated the silent chessboard in front of the elderly man, whose gaze traveled beyond the chessboard, fixating on the brightly lit city, "Speak."

"Deres..." The man hesitated, "is dead."

The elderly man looked calm as he slowly lowered his gaze to the chessboard in front of him. After a brief pause, he picked up the ’white queen’ blocking his path, removed it from the chessboard with a sigh, "After all, he was getting on in years,"

Then he looked at the black rook that had shared a square with the ’queen,’ "Cito?"

"Yes,"

The man in uniform nodded, "According to the people on-site, he sustained severe injuries and lost his vitality, but his body seems to have been taken away by the Shadow Hound that was with Night Hawk."

Hearing this, the elderly man was silent for a moment, gazing at the black rook.

But ultimately, he didn’t remove the piece from the board.

The man in uniform stood at the doorway, waiting.

After a long time, the elderly man’s eyes stayed on the inside of the chessboard, on a ’black pawn’ that had been cornered, and he slowly asked, "Is that ’YiXiya,’ who once had contact with Cito, still alive?"

"Yes, she escaped the encirclement and is probably hiding somewhere in South City or West City."

The man in uniform replied.

The elderly man’s eyes landed on the black rook that had advanced close to him, "Contact the underground brokers in South City and West City, especially those smuggling people out of the city, and have them look out for ’YiXiya’s’ news."

"Yes."

The man in uniform nodded, turned around, and left the room.

And the elderly man continued to stare at the chessboard in front of him.

Besides that black rook whose fate was unknown and the black pawn cornered, the black pieces facing him included a king turned at his back, a black bishop, a black queen, a black knight.

And several disordered black pawns.

The quiet of the night once again closed in slowly,

The elderly man raised his head, gazing into the city lights.